16 There is no king saved by the multitude of an army. A mighty man is not delivered by great strength.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
There is no king saved by the multitude of an host - By the number of his armies. His safety, however numerous and mighty may be his forces, is in God alone. He is the great Protector, whatever means men may use to defend themselves. The most numerous and the best organized armies cannot secure a victory. It is, after all, wholly in the hands of God. A wasting sickness in a camp may defeat all the plans of war; or success in battle may depend on contingencies which no commander could anticipate or provide against. A mutiny in a camp, or a panic on the battlefield, may disconcert the best-laid schemes; or forces may come against an army that were unexpected; or storm and tempest may disarrange and frustrate the entire plan of the campaign. See Ecclesiastes 9:11.
A mighty man - A strong man; a giant - as Goliath of Gath. "Strength" is not the only thing necessary to secure a victory.
Is not delivered by much strength - By the mere fact that he is strong. Other things are needed to ensure success; and God has power so to arrange events that mere strength shall be of no avail.
There is no king saved by the multitude of a host - Even in the midst of the most powerful and numerous army, no king is in safety unless he have God's protection. A king is but a man, and may as easily lose his life as one of his common soldiers.
A mighty man is not delivered by much strength - There are times in which his might can be of no avail to him: and unless the mighty, the wise, the honorable, etc., have the protection of God, there is no time in which their might may not be turned into weakness, their wisdom into folly, and their dignity into disgrace.
There is no (l) king saved by the multitude of an host: a mighty man is not delivered by much strength.
(l) If kings and the mighty of the world cannot be saved by worldly means, but only by God's providence, what do others have to trust in, who have not similar means?
There is no king saved by the multitude of an host,.... He may be at the head of a numerous army, and yet not get the victory over a lesser one, nor escape safe, but be taken by it: there have been such instances; and if he is saved, or gets the victory, it is not owing to the multitude with him, but to the Lord, that gives salvation to kings, Psalm 144:10. Hence it appears that even such men need salvation themselves, and cannot save themselves, though they have ever so many at command, and therefore are not to be trusted in; salvation is only of the Lord;
a mighty man is not delivered by much strength; as Goliath, with his great strength, could not deliver himself out of the hands of David, a stripling; wherefore the mighty man should not glory in his might.
Men's usual reliances in their greatest exigencies are, in themselves, useless.
No king - He instances in these, as the most uncontrollable persons in the world, and most confident of themselves. By which he strongly proves his general proposition, of God's powerful providence over all men. By an host - But only by God's providence, who disposes of victory and success, as he pleases, and that frequently to the weakest side.
*More commentary available at chapter level.