Tehillim 18 - Part 1

So, so now what does this Mizm- what is this Shirat David? What, what is it about? What's the story behind it? So it is tucked away at the end of Shmuel Bet, which is the end of David's reign, which is the, the p- [coughs] the peak of David's reign when all of his enemies had already fallen away and he had consolidated his power over the throne.

It is a few chapters after the death of his son, Avshalom, which was, like, probably the last major, uh, issue that David faced in his life.

So the, the story is actually brought down by the Abarbanel.

He explains that what happened is as follows, that this song, Shirat David, David had composed throughout his life.

And in the book of Shmuel, you have the version of the, of the song of David, which he did in his youth, which he sang for himself whenever he was saved from some calamity.

When he needed to thank God for something-

He would use that Shirat

...

he would use this Shira.

Now, when he got older, the Abarbanel says he made minor modifications to the song-

To make it more-

... and put it in the... and it ended up, up finding its way into the Tehillim to make it more applicable to the masses, so that it could become, it could become a song that everybody could use to thank God in their times of relief from distress.

Okay?

Yes.

[murmurs]

So the major, the major point of this, of this Mizmor, of Mizmor eighteen, is going to be that, that it's a song of, of... it's more of a happy song.

It was his version of Nishmat.

Maybe.

His or David's [laughs] melaveh malkah Nishmat.

[laughs]

Right? It's a happy song of thanksgiving, and it's not as, it's not as dark as some of the other Mizmorim that we saw, that he says, "I-- please Hashem, answer my tefillot, for I am in a place of darkness.

Please, Hashem, please, Hashem."

Yes.

It's more, it's more-

Here he went-- he passed that, uh-