Psalms 18:12

"He made darkness his hiding place, his pavilion around him, darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies."

Key Reflection

The psalmist describes God's power and presence by likening His dwelling to a place of darkness and storm, imagery that would have resonated deeply with the Israelites' understanding of God’s divine majesty and authority. In their context, darkness was not merely the absence of light but also a symbol of chaos and the unknown—qualities contrasted with the ordered and controlled nature of God's sovereignty, emphasizing His ability to control even natural phenomena like storms.

From the Scholars: Barnes' Notes

At the brightness that was before him -From the flash - the play of the lightnings that seemed to go before him. His thick clouds passed -or, vanished. They seemed to pass away. The light, the flash, the blaze, penetrated those clouds, and seemed to dispel, or to scatter them. The whole heavens were in a blaze, as if there were no clouds, or as if the clouds were all driven away. The reference here is to the appearance when the vivid flashes of lightning seem to penetrate and dispel the clouds, and the heavens seem to be lighted up with a universal flame. Hail-stones -That is, hailstones followed, or fell.

More from Psalms 18

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