he Lord, for He hath showed me His
marvellous loving-kindness in a strong city." Of course, the expression
may be purely a graphic figure for the walls and defences of the Divine
protection, as, indeed, it is usually understood to be. But the general
idea of the encompassing shelter of God has just been set forth in the
magnificent imagery of the previous verse as the tabernacle, the secret
of His presence in which He hides and guards His servants. And the
further language of the phrase in question, introduced as it is by a
rapturous burst of blessing and praise, seems so emphatic and peculiar
as to make not unnatural the supposition of a historical basis in some
event which had recently happened to the psalmist.

No period of the life will so well correspond to such a requirement as
the sixteen months of his stay in Ziklag, during which he was completely
free from fear of Saul, and stood high in favour with the King of Gath,
in whose territory he had found a refuge. We may well believe that to
the hunted exile, so long accustomed to a life of constant alarms and
hurried flight, the quiet of a settled home was very sweet, and that
behind the rude fortifications of the little town in the southern
wilderness there seemed security, which made a wonderful contrast to
their defenceless lairs and lurking-places among the rocks. Their eyes
would lose their watchful restlessness, and it would be possible to lay
aside their weapons, to gather their households about them, and, though
they were in a foreign land, still to feel something of the bliss of
peaceful habitudes and tranquil use and wont healing their broken lives.
No wonder, then, that such thankful praise should break from the
leader's lips! No wonder that he should regard this abode in a fortified
city as the result of a miracle of Divine mercy! He describes the
tremulous despondency which had preceded this marvel of loving-kindness
in language which at once recalls the wave of hopelessness which swept
across his soul after his final interview with Saul, and which led to
his flight into Philistine territory, "And David said in his heart, I
shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul" (1 Sam. xxvii. 1). How
completely this corresponds with the psalm, allowance being made for the
difference between poetry and prose, when he describes the thoughts
which had shaded his soul just before the happy peace of the strong
city--"I said in my haste,[M] I am cut off from before Thi