How To Interpret Prophecy (4)

By: Pak Hendrik Wieland

In Psalm David uses a variety of images to describe God as a place of safety – a defensive and passive role.

He adds even more images when he writes, "The cords of death entangled me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me.

The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me.

In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help.

From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears" (Ps.18:4-6).

From images of the underworld, David now turns to images of heaven, and he puts the matter in cosmic terminology: "The earth trembled and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains shook; they trembled because he was angry.

Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it.

He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet.

He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind.

He made darkness his covering, his canopy around him— the dark rain clouds of the sky" (Ps.18:7-11).

David is using some of the same language that Canaanite myths use.
He is speaking of earthquakes and thunderstorms.

Is this literally the way that God rescued David from Saul?

No, that is not in the history – David is speaking in imaginative, poetic terms.