John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Psalms 118:5
I called upon the Lord in distress ,.... Or "out of that strait" F17 מן המצר "ex ipso angore", Junius & Tremellius; "ex illa angustia", Michaelis. ; when David was encompassed by Saul and his men, or when at the court of Achish, or when his own people talked of stoning him. As this may respect the Messiah, it may design his distresses in the garden, when surrounded with sorrow, and being in an agony prayed the more earnestly, and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood;... read more
Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Psalms 118:1-18
It appears here, as often as elsewhere, that David had his heart full of the goodness of God. He loved to think of it, loved to speak of it, and was very solicitous that God might have the praise of it and others the comfort of it. The more our hearts are impressed with a sense of God's goodness the more they will be enlarged in all manner of obedience. In these verses, I. He celebrates God's mercy in general, and calls upon others to acknowledge it, from their own experience of it (Ps.... read more