What is the meaning of Psalm 18:5? The cords of Sheol entangled me “The cords of Sheol entangled me” • David describes an experience so grave that he felt the realm of the dead tightening around him, as if ropes were already binding him for burial. • Sheol is not merely poetic imagery; it is the literal place of the departed (Genesis 37:35). Feeling its cords signals that David believed death was moments away. • Similar cries appear in Psalm 116:3, “The cords of death encompassed me; the torrents of chaos overwhelmed me,” and in Jonah 2:5 when the prophet says, “The waters engulfed me to the neck; the deep surrounded me.” Both passages show God-fearing people sensing they have crossed the boundary into death’s territory. • In 2 Samuel 22:6 (the historical parallel to Psalm 18), David recounts the same scene, rooting this language in an actual life-threatening event, probably during Saul’s relentless pursuit (1 Samuel 23:14). • The verse affirms that even God’s anointed can face circumstances that feel terminal. Yet David records the feeling so that believers recognize God’s salvation as clearly as they feel death’s grip. the snares of death confronted me “The snares of death confronted me” • The picture shifts from cords to snares—traps set to ambush prey. David isn’t merely caught; he is being hunted. • Psalm 140:5 echoes this danger: “The proud have hidden a snare for me and cords; they have spread out a net by the path.” Such verses reveal the deliberate, strategic nature of evil. • Satan is called the one who holds “the power of death” (Hebrews 2:14). When David sees snares, he is discerning the enemy’s hand behind human foes. • God often allows exposure to life-and-death traps so His rescue shines brighter. Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 1:8-10 that he “despaired even of life…so that we would not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead.” • Just as a bird escapes a fowler’s snare (Psalm 124:7), David will later declare, “He rescued me because He delighted in me” (Psalm 18:19). The confrontation ends not in defeat but in deliverance that magnifies God’s glory. summary Psalm 18:5 paints a vivid, literal scene: David senses death’s cords coiling and its traps snapping shut. He is not exaggerating; he is recording the precise terror that preceded God’s dramatic salvation. For believers, these lines validate the reality of deadly trials while pointing to the greater reality of God’s power to break every cord and spring every snare. |
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