Psalms 18:29 - Exposition

For by thee I have run through a troop . The military key-note is at once struck. Gedud ( גְּדוּד ) is a marauding band of light-armed troops sent out to plunder an enemy's country. David "ran through" such a "troop," when he pursued and defeated the Amalekites who had plundered and burnt Ziklag ( 1 Samuel 30:17 ). It is called three times a gedud ( Psalms 18:8 and Psalms 18:15 twice ). And by my God have I leaped over a wall . Shur ( שׁוּר ) is a rare word for "wall," occurring in the Hebrew text only here and in Genesis 49:22 , though used also of the walls of Jerusalem in the Chaldee of Ezra ( Ezra 4:12 , Ezra 4:13 , Ezra 4:16 ). It may designate the walls of Jerusalem in this place, and David may intend to allude to his conquest of the stronghold of Zion from the Jebusites ( 2 Samuel 5:6 , 2 Samuel 5:7 ).