this psalm of david here quotes II samuel 22.27,
the context of the chapter is shown in
v1 'and david spoke the words of this song to the Lord in the day that the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the had of saul.
the remaining 50 verses are his song.
the immediate context of the verse considered is
v24 'i was also blameless toward Him,
and i kept myself from my iniquity.
therefore the Lord has recompensed me according to my righteousness,
according to my cleanness before His eyes.
with the kind Thou dost show Thyself kind,
with the blameless Thou dost show Thyself blameless;
with the pure Thou dost show Thyself pure,
and with the perverted Thou dost show Thyself astute.'
this truism we hear repeated in
galatians 6.8 for the one who sows to his own flesh shall from the flesh reap corruption,
but the one who sows to the Spirit shall from the Spirit reap eternal life.
in both passages God is said to be astute. the hebrew word for this, pathal, has the meaning of twisted. the english definition of the word is,
of keen penetration or discernment; clever, cunning; ingenious shrewd...synonyms: smart, quick, perceptive
the man God is dealing with is called 'perverted' (nas) in II samuel and 'crooked' in psalm 18,
but both are a different hebrew word, iqquesh, having the meaning 'twisted' with a twist you will learn below and will see that God is better at 'twisting' than man.
delitzsch writes of the II samuel verse...that God shows Himself perverse towards the perverse, by giving him up to his perverseness and references romans 1.28,
'and just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer,
God gave them over to a depraved mind,
to do those things which are not proper..
matthew henry's commentary on this verse says,
'those who turn aside to crooked ways He will
'lead forth with the workers of iniquity'
as He says in another place.
with the froward (willfully contrary; not easily managed)
He will wrestle
and those with whom God wrestles are sure to be foiled.
woe unto him that strives with his Maker!
God will walk contrary to those who walk contrary to Him
and be displeased with those who are displeased with Him.
as for the haughty,
His eyes are upon them,
marking them out, as it were to be brought down;
for He resists the proud.
for psalm 18.26 henry references leviticus 26
v21 if then, you act with hostility against Me
and are unwilling to obey Me,
I will increase the plague on you seven times according to your sins.
v23f..if by these things you are not turned to Me,
but act with hostility against Me,
then I will act with hostility against you:
and I, even I,
will strike you seven times for your sins.
below is from spurgeon's treasury of david on psalm 18.26..
the sinner's frowardness is sinful and rebellious and the only sense in which the term can be applied to the Most Holy God is that of judicial opposition and sternness, in which the judge of all the earth WILL ACT AT CROSS PURPOSES with the offender, and let him see that all things are not to be made subservient to wicked whims and wilful fancies.
calvin very forcibly says,
'this brutish and monstrous stupidity in men compels God to invent new modes of expression, and as it were to cloth himself with a different character. there is a similar sentence in leviticus 26. 21-4 (henry above), where God says,
'and if ye walk contrary unto (or perversely with) Me,
then will I also walk contrary unto (or perversely or roughly or at random with) you'.
as if He had said that their obstinacy and stubbornness would make Him on His part forget His accustomed forbearance and gentleness, and cast Himself recklessly or at random against them.
we see then what the stubborn at length gain by their obduracy;
it is this,
that God hardens Himself still more to break them in pieces,
and if they are of stone, He causes them to feel that He has the hardness of iron.'
the jewish tradition was that the manna tasted according to each man's mouth;
certainly God shows Himself to each individual according to his character. spurgeon
but doth the Lord take colour from everyone He meets or change His temper as the com0pany changes?
that's the weakness of sinful man:
he cannot do so with whom there is no variablenes nor shadow of changing.
God is pure and upright with the unclean and hypocritical, as well as with the pure and upright
and His actions show Him to be so.
God shows Himself froward with the froward when He deals with him as He hath said He will deal with the froward-
deny them and reject them.
God shows Himself pure with the pure, when He deals with them as He hath said He will-
hear them and accept them.
though there be nothing in purity and sincerity which deserveth mercy,
yet we cannot expect mercy without them.
our comforts are not grounded upon our graces,
but our comforts are the fruits or consequences of our graces. joseph caryl
here, as in the first promise, the two combatants stand contrasted-
the seed of the woman and the serpent-
the benignantly bountiful., perfect, pure One,
and the froward one, whose works He came to destroy,
and who made it his great business to circumvent Him whom he feared.
the literal meaning of the word is 'tortuous' or 'crooked'
and both the ideas of perversity and cunning which the figure naturally suggests, are very applicable to
'that old serpent the devil',
from the concluding part of the sentence, i think there is no doubt that it is the latter idea that is intended to be conveyed.
God cannot deal perversely with any one;
but He outwits the wise and takes the cunning in their own craftiness. john brown
(note: I corinthians 3.18-20)
the hebrew word in the root signifieth
to wrest or writhe a thing,
or to wrest or turn a thing,
as wrestlers do their bodies.
hence by a trope,
(any literary device, such as metaphor, that consists in the use of words other than their literal sense)
it is translated often to wrestle,
because a cunning man in wrestling,
turneth and windeth his body,
and works himself in and out every way,
to get an advantage of his adversary
any way;
therefore your cunning headed men,
your crafty men,
are fitly presented under this word;
they are like wrestlers who turn and wind themselves in and out, and lie for all advantages;
or as we speak, they 'lie at catch'.
a man knows not where to have them
or what they mean when they speak plainest or swear solemnest;
when we think we wee their faces, we see by their vizards;
(a mask for disguise or protection)
all their promises and performances too are under a disguise....
and this word is applied to the Lord Himself,
'with the froward Thou wilt shew Thyself froward';
that is, if men will be winding and turning,
and thinking to catch others, or over reach the Lord Himself
with tricks and turnings of wit.
the lord will meet and answer them in their own kind;
He can turn as fast as they,
He can meet and answer them in their won kind;
He can turn as fast as they,
He can put Himself into such intricate labyrinths of infinite wisdom and sacred craft,
as shall entangle and ensnare the most cunning wrestler or tumbler of them all.
He will cretize the cretans (?), supplant the supplanters of His people. joseph caryl
it is a similitude taken from wrestlers and noteth a writhing of one's self against an sdversary.
..deuteronomy 32.5 'they are a perverse and crooked generation',
the same two words that are her in this text;
the latter importeth that they wriggled and writhed after the manner of wrestlers that wave up and down and wind the other way, when one thinks to have him here or there. but all will not serve their turn to save them from punishment.
God will be sure to meet with them,
his word will lay hold on them,
and their sin shall find them out. john trapp
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