David achieved great success as a military commander during his time as king of Israel, whether he was fleeing from Saul or expanding the borders of Israel. He understood clearly that God was the source of his success. He gave thanks and praise to God in Psalm 18, which is largely paralleled in 2 Sam 22.
David described being at the point of death and calling out to God for help (vv 4-6), whereupon God came quickly and powerfully to rescue him (vv 7-19). David praised God's faithful treatment of his servants (vv 20-27) and acknowledged that God was the source of all his military success (vv 28-42).
The psalm ends by describing how God gives his anointed king victory over the nations (vv 43-50). This part of the psalm points ahead to the work of the Messiah.
The apostle Paul later quoted Ps 18:49 in Romans 15. In Romans 15:7, he urged Jewish and Gentile believiers in Rome to accept each other, as Christ had accepted them. He explained that it was God's plan to build a people from both Israel and the nations. Jesus had worked with Israelites (v. 8) , coming to carry out God's promise to bless all nations through the seed of Abraham. Paul showed that the nations were now praisiing God along with Israel, as predicted in scriptures like Ps 18:49, Deut 32:43, Ps 117, and Isa 11:10.
The Psalms have quite a lot to say about the inclusion of the nations in the people of God. Michael Heiser devoted a recent podcast episode to this topic, focusing on the "Zion psalms."
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