FOREIGN
THEOLOGICAL LIBRARY
VOLUME
I.
HENGSTENBERG'S
COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS.
T.& T. CLARK, 38,
MDCCCLXIX.
Digitized by Ted Hildebrandt at
Spring, 2007
COMMENTARY
ON
THE PSALMS,
BY
E. W.
HENGSTENBERG,
DOCTOR AND PROFESSOR OF
THEOLOGY IN
FOURTH EDITION, CAREFULLY
REVISED.
T. & T. CLARK, 38,
1869.
THE
BOOK OF PSALMS.
PSALM FIRST.
THE
Psalmist begins by extolling the blessedness of the right-
eous,
who is first described negatively, as turning away from the
counsels
of the wicked, ver. 1, and then positively, as having his
thoughts
engrossed with the Divine law, ver. 2. He proceeds
next
to delineate under a pleasant image the prosperity which
attends
him in all his ways, and places in contrast to this, the
destruction
which is the inseparable concomitant of the wicked,
vers.
3, 4. He grounds upon these eternal principles the confi-
dence,
that God will take out of the way whatever, in the course
of
events, appears to be at variance with them; that by His judg-
ment
He will overthrow the wicked, through whose malice the
righteous
suffer, and free His Church, which must consist only
of
the righteous, from their corrupting leaven; and, as it was
declared,
in vers. 3 and 4, that the Lord interests Himself in the
righteous,
and hence could not leave them helpless, while de-
struction
is the fate of the wicked, the former must in conse-
quence
be exalted above the latter, vers. 5, 6.
According to this order, which alone
secures to the "there-
fore"
at the beginning of ver. 5, and the "for" in ver. 6, their
proper
meaning, the Psalm falls into three strophes, each con-
sisting
of two verses.
The Psalm is primarily of an
admonitory character. What
it
says of the prosperity which attends the righteous, and the
perdition
which befalls the wicked, cannot but incite to imitate
the
one, and shun the other. In reference to this Luther re-
marks:
"It is the practice of all men to inquire after blessed-
ness;
and there is no man on earth who does not wish that it
1
2 THE BOOK OF
PSALMS.
might
go well with him, and would not feel sorrow if it went ill
with
him. But he, who speaks in this Psalm with a voice from
heaven,
beats down and condemns everything which the thoughts
of
men might excogitate and devise, and brings forth the only
true
description of blessedness, of which the whole world knows
nothing,
declaring that he only is blessed and prosperous whose
love
and desire are directed to the law of the Lord. This is a
short
description, one too that goes against all sense and reason,
especially
against the reason of the worldly-wise and the high-
minded.
As if he had said: Why are ye so busy seeking counsel?
why
are ye ever in vain devising unprofitable things? There is
only
one precious pearl; and he has found it, whose love and
desire
is toward the law of the Lord, and who separates him-
self
from the ungodly—all succeeds well with him. But who-
soever
does not find this pearl, though he should seek with ever
so
much pains and labour the way to blessedness, he shall never
find
it."
The Psalm has, besides, a
consolatory character, which comes
clearly
out in the last strophe; for it must tend to enliven the
hope
of the righteous in the grace of God, and fill them with
confidence,
that everything which now appears contrary to their
hope,
shall come to an end; that the judgment of God shall
remove
the stumbling-blocks cast in their way by the temporal
prosperity
of the wicked, and the troubles thence accruing to
them.
The truth contained in this Psalm is
as applicable to the
Church
of the New Testament as to that of the Old. It remains
perpetually
true, that sin is the destruction of any people, and
that
salvation is the inseparable attendant of righteousness.
Whatever,
in the course of things, seems to run counter to this,
will
be obviated by the remark, that a righteous man, as the
author
delineates him,—one whose desire is undividedly fixed
upon
the law of God, and to whom it is "his thought by day
and
his dream by night,"—is not to be found among the children
of
men. Just because salvation is inseparably connected with
righteousness,
an absolute fulfilment of the promise of the Psalm
cannot
be expected. For even when the innermost bent of the
mind
is stedfastly set upon righteousness, there still exist so
many
weaknesses and sins, that sufferings of various kinds
are
necessary, not less as deserved punishments, than as the
means
of improvement, which, so far from subverting the
PSALM
I. 3
principles
here laid down, serve to confirm them. The senti-
ment,
that "everything he does, prospers," which is literally
true
of the righteous, in so far as he is such, passes, in conse-
quence
of the imperfect nature of our righteousness, which alone
can
be charged with our loss of the reward that is promised to
the
perfect, into the still richly consolatory truth, that "all
things
work together for good to them who love God." Those
who
are blinded by Pelagianism, who know not the limited na-
ture
of human righteousness, and consequently want the only
key
to the mystery of the cross, do apprehend the truth of the
main
idea of the Psalm, but at the same time escape from it only
by
surrendering themselves to a crude Dualism. It is unques-
tionable,
say they, that the internal blessedness of life has no
other
ground than genuine piety; but as for outward things,
"which
depend upon natural influences, the relations and acci-
dents
of life, and the violent movements of the populace," one
can
make no lofty pretensions to them. Who can but feel that
natural
influences and such like things are here placed in com-
plete
independence of God, are virtually raised to the condition
of
a second God, and that we are at once translated from a
Christian
into a heathen sphere, in which latter, accident, fate,
Typhon,
Achriman, play a distinguished part, and all on the
same
ground, to wit, the want of that knowledge of sin, which
peculiarly
belongs to revelation? Such masters must not take
it
upon them to instruct the Psalmist, but must learn of him.
Whoever
really believes in one true God, the Creator, Preserver,
and
Governor of the world, cannot but accord with the doctrine
of
the Psalmist. It is impossible to disparage in the least the
doctrine
of recompense, without trenching closely upon the truth
of
one God. Internal good, as the
perfect, is contrasted with
external, as the imperfect. But
where, in reality, is the man,
who
enjoys complete inward blessedness—who, even though
labouring
under the greatest delusion regarding his state, can
spend
so much as one day in perfect satisfaction with himself?
Besides,
is it not natural, that the external should go hand in
hand
with the internal? And have we any reason, on account
of
the troubles which befall us, to doubt the omnipotence and
righteousness
of God, and the truth of that doctrine of Scrip-
ture,
which pervades both economies, and appears in every book
from
Genesis to Revelation, that God will recompense to every
one
according to his works? Instead of running into such
4 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
mournful
aberrations, it behoves every one, when he reads what
the
Psalmist says of the righteous—"And he shall be like
a
tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his
fruit
in his season, his leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever
he
doeth shall prosper"—and finds that his own condition pre-
sents
a melancholy contrast to what is here described, to turn
back
his eye upon the first and second verses, and inquire
whether
that which is there affirmed of the righteous will apply
to
him; and if he finds it to be otherwise, then should he smite
upon
his breast, and cry, "God be merciful to me a sinner,"
and
thereafter strive with all earnestness to realize the pattern
there
delineated, by employing the means which God has ap-
pointed
for the purpose.
The subject of the Psalm is, as
might be judged from the
previous
remarks, quite general, and it is an error in several
expositors
to refer it to particular times and persons. There is
great
probability in the opinion of those, who suppose with
Calvin,
that this Psalm, originally occupying another position,
was
placed by the collector of the Psalms, as an introduction to
the
whole. Basilius calls it a "short preface" to the Psalms; and
that
this view is of great antiquity, may be gathered from Acts
xiii.
33, where Paul, according to the reading agreed upon by the
most
approved critics (Erasmus, Mill, Bengel, Griesbach, etc.),
quotes
as the first Psalm that which, in our collection, occupies
the
second place. If the first was considered only as a sort of
introductory
preface, the numbering would begin with the one
following,
as, indeed, is the case in some manuscripts. The
matter
of the Psalm is admirably suited to this application of
it.
"The collector of these songs," says Amyrald, "seems to
have
carefully placed before the eye of his readers, at the very
threshold,
the aim at which the actions of men should, as so
many
arrows, be directed." The position of the Psalm at the
beginning
appears peculiarly suitable, if, along with its admoni-
tory
tendency, the consolatory is also brought prominently out.
In
the latter respect, it may be regarded as in fact a short corn-
pend
of the main subject of the Psalms. That God has ap-
pointed
salvation to the righteous, perdition to the wicked—this
is
the great truth, with which the sacred bards grapple amid
whatever
painful experiences of life apparently indicate the re-
verse.
The supposition is also favoured, or rather seems to be
demanded,
by the circumstance, that the Psalm has no super-
PSALM I. 5
scription.
As from Psalm third a long series of Psalms follows,
with
titles ascribing them to David, it cannot be doubted that
the
collectors intended to open the collection therewith. So that
there
must have been a particular reason for making our Psalm
an
exception from the general rule, and it is scarcely possible
to
imagine any other than the one already mentioned.
It is justly remarked, however, by
Koester, that the suppo-
sition
in question by no means requires us to hold that the
Psalm
is a late production, and probably composed by the col-
lector
himself. The simplicity and freshness which characterize
it
are against this. That it must have been composed, at any
rate,
before Jeremiah, is evident from his imitation of it. A
more
determinate conclusion regarding the time of its composi-
tion,
can only, since the Psalm itself furnishes no data, be de-
rived
from ascertaining its relation to Psalm second.
It has often been maintained, that
the two Psalms form but
one
whole,1 and this opinion has exercised considerable influence
upon
various manuscripts (De Rossi mentions seven, and even
Origen
in his Hexapla by Montfaucon, p. 475, speaks of having
seen
one in his day). But this view is obviously untenable.
Each
of the Psalms forms a separate and complete whole by
itself.
Still, several appearances present themselves, which cer-
tainly
point to a close relation between the two. First of all,
there
is the remarkable circumstance, that Psalm second stands
in
this place, at the head of a collection, to which, properly, only
such
Psalms belonged as bore the name of David in their super-
scription.
We can hardly explain this by any other reason than
its
inseparable connection with the first Psalm, which being
placed,
for the reason above given, at the commencement, re-
quired
the second to follow immediately after. There is, further,
a
certain outward resemblance between them: the number of
verses
in Psalm second is precisely the double of those in the
first;
and in both Psalms there is a marked and singularly
regular
construction of strophes, the first Psalm falling into
three
strophes of two verses, and the second into four strophes
of
three. In regard to the subject, the first is admirably fitted
to
be an introduction to the second, for which it lays a general
foundation.
What is said in the first Psalm generally,
of the
different
taste and destiny of the righteous and the wicked, the
1 See the opinions of the Jews and
the Fathers in Wetstein, on Acts
xiii.
33.
6 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
second
repeats with a special application to the Messiah and His
adversaries.
The first Psalm closed with the announcement of
judgment
against the wicked, and at that point the second
begins.
On the other hand, the latter Psalm concludes with a
benediction,
as the former had commenced with it—compare
"blessed
is the man," with "blessed are all they that put their
trust
in Him." The expression in Psalm ii. 12, "Ye shall perish
in
your way," remarkably coincides with that in Psalm i. 6,
"The
way of the ungodly shall perish." Finally, the words,
"The
nations meditate vain things" in Psalm second, acquire
additional
force, if viewed as a contrast to the meditation of the
righteous
on the law of the Lord, mentioned in the first Psalm.
These circumstances are by no means
satisfactorily ex-
plained
and accounted for, on the supposition that the collector
had
joined the second Psalm to the first, from certain points of
connection
happening to exist between them; and nothing
remains
for us but the conclusion, that both Psalms were com-
posed
by the same author, and were meant by him as different
parts
of one whole. This conclusion may be the more readily
embraced,
as we have elsewhere undoubted specimens of such
pairs
of Psalms (as Psalm ix. and x, xiv. and xv, xlii.
and xliii.),
and
as similar things are not awanting in Christian poets, for
example,
Richter's two poems, "It is not difficult to be a Chris-
tian,"
and "It is hard to be a Christian."
Now, as there are important grounds
for ascribing the
second
Psalm to David, we should be entitled to regard him as
the
author also of the first; nor can any solid objection be
urged
against this conclusion. In its noble simplicity, its quiet
but
still extremely spirited character, it presents a close resem-
blance
to other Psalms, of which David was unquestionably the
penman,
and in particular to the xv. xxiii. viii. Psalms.
Ver. I. Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the
ungodly, and stands not
in the way of sinners, and sits not in the
seat of the scornful. That the righteous
should first be de-
scribed
negatively, has its ground in the proneness of human
nature
to what is evil. From the same ground arises the pre-
dominantly
negative form of the decalogue. As there the
thought
of something, to which our corrupt heart is inclined,
is
everywhere forced on our notice, so also is it here. hcf never
signifies
what Stier and Hitzig here understand by it, disposi-
tion, spirit, but always counsel,
as in Job xxi. 16, xxii. 18.
PSALM
"The
counsel of a man" signifies, in some passages, the counsel
given
by him; for the most part, however, it is the counsel
which
he adopts himself—his plans and resolutions. This lat-
ter
is invariably the meaning of the expression, "to walk in
any
one's counsel," which uniformly means, "to adopt his
plans,
to share the same designs,"—comp. 2 Chron. xxii. 5,
where
"walked after their counsel," corresponds to, "he walked
in
the ways of the house of Ahab," ver. 3, and "he did evil in
the
sight of the Lord like the house of Ahab," ver. 4; only with
this
distinction, indicated by the "also" in ver. 5, and the clause
following,
"and went with Jehoram the son of Ahab to war,"
that
while there a general agreement in thought and action is
spoken
of, here it is referred to particular plans and undertak-.
ings.
In Micah vi. 16, to "walk in one's counsels," is taken
as
parallel with "observing one's statutes and doing one's
works."
In Psalm lxxxi. 12, "they walked in their own coun-
sels,"
means, they walked in the counsels they themselves took,
in
the plans they themselves devised. Consequently, the expo-
sition
of Gesenius and others, who render the first clause of our
Psalm:
"who lives not according to the counsels of the un-
godly,"
must be abandoned, and this the rather, that in what
follows,
the discourse is not of a dependence upon the influence
of
the wicked, but of one's personally belonging to them. To
walk
in the counsel of the wicked, is to occupy oneself with
their
purposes, their worthless projects.
Olshausen, in his emendations on the
Old Testament, would
read
tdf
for tcf,
"in the company or band of the ungodly."
He
appeals to the strong parallelism, which the author of this
Psalm
employs, and, indeed, pre-eminently in this first verse.
The
parallels here fall into three members: who walks not,
stands
not, sits not. In each member there is a preterite, as
predicate,
with the preposition b following it, a noun as its com-
plement,
and a completely appropriate dependent genitive.
Two
of the nouns which serve to limit the preposition, to wit,
way and seat, may be local designations, as then
they would
most
fitly accord with the sense of the particular verbs. In the
first
noun alone, no such local designation is to be found.
Rightly
viewed, the word tcf has of course this meaning. The
proposed
change is certainly needed to make out this significa-
tion.
For the counsel undoubtedly refers to
the spiritual by-
way,
into which he wanders, who follows it. But the second
8 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
term,
the way of sinners, must also be
spiritually understood.
To
speak of standing in their way can only refer to their man-
ner
of acting,—to follow with them the same moral paths, or
to
act like them. bwvm, "the seat,"
is the only term that im-
plies
an external locality. The difference is, however, of little
moment,
since here also the outward companionship comes into
view,
only as the result of an internal agreement. If we ex-
amine
the matter more closely, it will be found that the altera-
tion
proposed is not only quite unnecessary, but also unsuitable.
For
tdf,
is excluded on the very ground which Olshausen
presses
against tcf.
According to the analogy of jrdb and
bwvmb, the preposition b must admit of being
rendered by on;
it
must designate the sphere in which the conduct is exhibited.
Now,
the expression: "on the counsel," is quite suitable; but
the
expression: "on the company,"
is senseless.
According to the common acceptation,
bwvm
must mean here,
not
"seat," but "session." Of the few passages, however, which
are
brought forward in support of this meaning, Psalm cvii. 32,
so
far from requiring, does not even admit of it. If the transla-
tion
be adopted: "in the session (assembly) of the elders they
shall
praise Him," we must decide on adopting the perfectly
groundless
supposition, that the elders had instituted separate
meetings
for the praise of God, apart from the rest of the
people.
None but general religious assemblies
are known in
history.
If it be rendered: "upon the seat, or the bench of
the
elders," then everything will be in order; "they shall
extol
Him in the congregation of the people, and praise Him
on
the bench of the elders," namely, first the whole, and then
the
most distinguished part thereof. The only meaning which
is
certain, is here also quite suitable. To sit in the seat of
the
scorners, is, in other words, to sit as scorners, just as, in the
preceding
clauses, the discourse was of such as stood, not beside
sinners,
but among them, who not merely follow, but also cherish
for
themselves the counsels of ungodly men. Luther has given
the
meaning correctly: "nor sits where the scorners sit." It
is,
perhaps, not an accidental thing, that the attitude of sitting
is
distinctively ascribed to the scorners. A mocking disposition
unfolds
itself chiefly in the company of those who are like-
minded,
who are inflamed with wine and intoxicating drink,
which
we elsewhere find mentioned in connection with mockers,
—as
in Isa. v. and Prov. xx. 1, where wine itself is called a
PSALM
mocker.
So, in reference to social meetings, the act of sitting
is
frequently alluded to; for example, in Jer. xv. 17, "I sat
not
in the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced;" in Psalm
1.
20, "Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother, thou slan-
derest
thine own mother's son;" Psalm lxix. 12, "They that sit
in
the gate speak against me, and I am the song of the drunk-
ards."
It is proper to add, however, that in Psalm xxvi. 4, 5,
sitting
is attributed to men of deceit, and evil-doers.
Cle (scorner), marks one
"who scoffs at God, His law and
ordinances,
His judgment and His people. In Prov. ix. 7, 8,
the
scorner is placed in opposition to the wise, whose heart is
filled
with holy reverence toward God and Divine things. In
opposition
to De Wette, who would here exclude the strictly
religious
scoffers, we can point to such passages as Isa. v. 19,
"They
say, Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we
may
see it; and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw
nigh
and come, that we may know it;" Jer. xvii. 15, "Behold,
they
say unto me, Where is the word of the Lord? Let it come
now,"—where
the words of such scoffers are expressly given.
Religious
mockery is as old as the Fall. The admonition in
2
Peter iii. 3, regarding scoffers, as appears to me, has some re-
spect
to the passage before us.
Men have often sought to discover a
climax in the verse.
But
there is no foundation for this, either in the nouns or in
the
verbs. In reference to the former, it was already remarked
by
Venema, that "they distinguish men as exhibiting different
appearances,
rather than different grades of sin." The fwr,
from
fwr,
denotes in Arabic, magna cupiditate et concupiscentia
fuit,
and in Syriac, perturbatus es animo; hence it properly
signifies
"the passionate, the restless man" (Isa. lvii. 20, "The
wicked
are like the troubled sea, which cannot rest"); it is de-
scriptive
of the wicked, in respect to their internal state, their
violent
commotions within, the disquietude, springing from sin-
ful
desires, which constantly impels them to fresh misdeeds.
The
word MyxFH,
"sinners," designates the same persons in re-
spect
to the lengthened series of sinful acts which proceed from
them.
Finally, the word Mycl, "scornful," brings into view a
peculiarly
venomous operation and fruit of evil. But in the
verbs
we can the less conceive of a climactic gradation being
intended,
as Stier's assumption, that the middle verb dmf signi-
fies
not, to stand, but to continue, to persevere, destroys the
10 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
evidently
intentioned combination of the three bodily states of
waking
men. The verse simply declares in the most expressive
manner
possible, the absence of all fellowship with sin.
Ver. 2. The fellowship with
unrighteousness, which the
godly
man zealously shuns, is here placed in opposition to God
and
His law, which he zealously seeks. But
his delight is in the
law of the Lord, and in
His law he meditates day and night.
hrvt never has the general signification often
ascribed to it here
by
expositors—doctrine; but always the
more special sense of
law. That this is the
import here, is perfectly obvious from
a
comparison of the parallel passages, which show also, that the
law
meant here, is that, written, according to Psalm xl. 8, in
the
volume of the book or roll, called the law of Moses, which
is
always to be understood wherever the law is spoken of in the
Psalms.
The writer does not mean the natural
law spoken of
in
Isaiah xxiv. 5, and throughout the entire book of Job, and
which,
being darkened and disfigured by sin, could be but little
regarded
and seldom mentioned by those who walk in the clear
light
of revelation. These parallel passages are, Deut. vi. 6, 7,
where
Moses says to the people: "And these words, which I
command
thee this day, shall be in thine heart. And thou shalt
teach
them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them,"
etc.
(xi. 18 ff.); and Joshua i. 8, where the angel says to him:
"This
book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but
thou
shalt meditate therein clay and night, that thou mayest
observe
to do according to all that is written therein: for then
thou
shalt make thy way prosperous." This last manifestly
stands
in a very near relation to ours, not merely from the
meditation
spoken of, but also from the prosperity connected
with
it. Just as what the angel speaks to Joshua rests on the
ground
of those passages of the Pentateuch, and points to it
(comp.
also Deut. xvii. 19, which contains a like word of ex-
hortation
to the future king of
Psalm
points to the exhortation addressed to Joshua, who stood
forth
there as a worthy type of the fulfilment of what is here
required,
and in whose experience, the reward here promised
found
a sure guarantee for its realization. How De Wette
could
think that the love and study of the law being enjoined,
is
a proof of the later production of the Psalm, can scarcely be
imagined,
since a profound investigation into the nature of the
law,
the converting of it into juice and blood, might be proved
PSALM
by
many passages to have been even held by believers of the
Old
Testament, to be the highest end of their life. How much
David
fulfilled this condition, how intimate a knowledge he had
of
the law, even in its smallest particulars, and how constantly
it
formed the centre of his thoughts and feelings, the delight of
his
heart, will be placed beyond all doubt, by this exposition.
Indeed,
the fifteenth Psalm, which the dullest critic must ascribe
to
David, may serve, notwithstanding its limited compass, for
ample
proof; for it contains close and continued verbal re-
ferences
to the Pentateuch. Comp. also Psalm xix. Besides,
what
is here meant, is not that habit of speculating and laborious
trifling
upon the law which was quite foreign to the practical
turn
of the Old Testament saints, but a meditation referring
directly
to the walk and conduct. This follows, as is well re-
marked
by Claus, from the whole context, which is throughout
practical.
The subject in ver. 1 is, " fellowship with sin:" in
vers.
3-6, "the different portions of the righteous and the wicked."
How,
in such a connection, could ver. 2 refer to the theoretical
study
of the law, and not rather to the occupation of the heart
with
the subject and matter of the Divine Word? To this re-
sult
we are led also by a comparison of the parallel passages,
in
which the reading and meditating are expressly mentioned
as
means to the keeping and doing. Luther remarks on the
words,
"His delight is the law of the Lord:" "The prophet
does
not speak here of such an inclination, or liking as philo-
sophers
and modern theologians talk of, but of a simple and pure
pleasure
of heart, and a particular desire toward the law of
God,
which possesses him whom this Psalm pronounces blessed,
and
who neither seeks what the law promises, nor fears what it
threatens,
but feels that the law itself is a holy, righteous, and
good
thing. Therefore, it is not merely a love for the law, but
such
a sweet pleasure and delight in it, as the world and its
princes
can neither prevent nor take away by prosperous or
adverse
circumstances, nay, which shines triumphantly forth
through
poverty, reproach, the cross, death, and hell; for such
desire
shows itself the most in necessities and distresses, in ad-
versity
and persecution. Now from all this it seems manifest,
that
this Psalm (unless it should be understood of Christ alone)
is
nothing else than a mirror and goal, toward which a truly
pious
and blessed man must strive and labour; for in this life
there
is no one, who is not conscious of lacking to some extent
12 THE BOOK OP PSALMS.
this
delight in the law of the Lord, by reason of the lust and the
law in his members, which
decidedly and wholly oppose this
law
of God; as
I
delight in the law of God after the inward man; but I see
another
law in my members, warring against the law of my
mind,
and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is
in
my members."
It is a great thing, therefore, to
have one's delight in the
law
of the Lord. The natural man, even when the conscious-
ness
of the holiness of the law is awakened in him, and he
anxiously
strives to satisfy it, never gets beyond the region of
fear.
Even the regenerate, although delight in the law pre-
dominates
in them, yet have constantly to struggle with their
sinful
propensities. Perfect delight in the law presupposes a
perfect
union of the human with the Divine will, perfect ex-
tirpation
of sin—for the measure of sin is the measure of dis-
like
to the law—perfect holiness. And since this is not to be
found
in the present life, what man can complain if he does not
experience
a perfect fulfilment of the saying, "Everything he
doeth
prospers?" Christ alone, who was the only righteous
one
on earth, could have laid claim to such a fulfilment: He,
however,
freely renounced it and bore the cross, when He might.
well
have sought to rejoice. Those who are compelled to suffer,
receive
a testimony that they are sinful; and the fact, that none
experience
uniform prosperity, is a declaration on the part of
God,
that there is sin still dwelling even in His saints.
On the "day and night," J.
H. Michaelis remarks: "Inde-
fesso
studio, ut cessante etiam actu, nunquam tamen cesset pins
affectus."
Instead of meditating, Luther has
speaking; but he
remarks
at the same time that "the speaking here meant, is
not
the mere utterance of the lips, which even hypocrites are
capable
of, but such speaking as labours to express in words the
feelings
of the heart." The construction with b, however (yet,
compare
rbd
with b in
Dent. vi. 7), and especially the mention
of
night, recommends the first
signification. Such meditation
day
and night, he only practises who, as Luther puts it, "has,
through
desire, become one cake with the word of God; as,
indeed,
love is used to reduce him who loves, and that which
is
loved, to one substance."—The construction of the hgh
with
b, implies, that the person who meditates, loses
himself in his
object.
PSALM
Ver. 3. And he is like a tree planted by the rivers of water,
that brings fort -his
fruit in his season, and whose leaf does not
wither, and whatsoever
he does he prosperously executes. The v,
and, is not to be
translated for. For the verse does
not contain
the
reason, but the carrying out of the yrwx. The meaning
was
perceived quite correctly by Luther: "After the prophet
has
described, in vers. 1 and 2, the man who is blessed before
God,
and painted him in proper colours, he goes on here to de-
scribe
him still further, by means of a very beautiful image."
lf, by,
properly upon. A thing is said to be
upon one, if it
projects
over, or generally rises higher. Hence this preposi-
tion,
which in common use is rendered by,
beside, when the
discourse
is of a lower object, in juxtaposition with a higher,
is
very frequently employed in reference to streams, springs,
and
seas.—The comparison of a prosperous man to a tree
planted
beside a river, which is peculiarly appropriate in the
arid
regions of the East, occurs also in Jer. xvii. 8. There,
however,
it is only the imitation and further extension of our
passage.1
Nothing but the greatest prejudice could have in-
verted
the relation of these two passages to each other. The
sentence
in Jeremiah has all the appearance of a commentary
or
paraphrase. In Psalm xcii. 12, "The righteous shall flourish
like
the palm tree," the particular is put instead of the general.
With
the expression "in his season," compare that in Mark
xi.
13, "for it was not the time of figs." Most of the older ex-
positors
refer the words, "bringeth forth his fruit," of good
works;
but the connection shows, that fruitfulness here is con-
sidered
merely as a sign of joyful prosperity. The figure was
embodied
in an appropriate symbolical transaction by Christ,
when
He cursed the fig tree. Because the Jewish people did
not
answer the conditions laid down in vers. 1 and 2, they could
no
longer be as a tree yielding its fruit in its season: to the
tree,
therefore, by which the nation was represented, the evil
word
was spoken, "Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward
for
ever," Matt. xxi. 19. In the words: "Whatsoever he doeth
he
successfully accomplisheth," the author returns from the
image
to the object, explaining the former. The word Hylch is
to
be taken here, not as many expositors do, in an intransitive
sense,
for then we should have expected vl, but transitively, to
1 See Küper Jerem. libr. sacr.
interp. p. 162.
14 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
accomplish successfully; so generally; see, for
example, 2 Chron.
vii.
11. The intransitive signification, when more closely con-
sidered,
does not occur even in the single
passage which Winer
has
referred to as an example of it, Judges xviii. 5. The hiphil
everywhere
retains its own meaning. There appears to be an
allusion
to Gen. xxxix. 3, 4, where the same expressions are
used
of Joseph, whose prosperous condition was a pledge of like
prosperity
to those who resemble him in disposition.
Ver. 4. The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff, which
the wind drives away. Luther: "When
Scripture speaks of
the
ungodly, take heed not to fancy, as the ungodly are prone to
do,
that it refers to Jews and heathens, or to any other persons
whatever,
but do thou thyself shudder before this word, as re-
specting
and concerning also thee. For an upright and godly
man
fears and trembles before every word of God." For the
understanding
of the figure, to which John the Baptist makes
reference
in Matt. iii. 12, as also to that of the tree in ver. 10
(which
occurs moreover in Job xxi. 18), we may remark, that,
in
the East, the threshing-floors are placed upon heights. They
throw
aloft the corn that has been threshed, until the wind has
driven
the chaff away.
Ver. 5. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment.
The
Nk lf,
therefore, occasions great difficulty
to those who fail in
perceiving
aright the relation between vers. 5, 6, and 3, 4. Some,
as
Claus, have been led thereby to adopt instead, the meaning,
because, which the phrase in
the original is alleged frequently
to
have. That the ungodly stand not in the judgment, they
consider
to be the reason why, according to ver. 4, they fly away
as
the chaff. But it has already been proved by Winer, what
is
indeed self-evident, that Nk lf never bears this
meaning, which
is
precisely the reverse of its usual one; that it always indicates
the
consequence, never the cause. Those who adopt the common
signification,
cannot properly explain how that should be here
described
as a consequence flowing from the statement in the
preceding
verse, which appears to be simply co-ordinate with it.
Amyrald
alone, of all expositors, seems to have got upon the right
track,
and thus paraphrases: "But although the providence of
God,
whose ways are sometimes unsearchable, does not always
make
so remarkable a distinction between those two kinds of
men,
still the future life (he erroneously understands by the judg-
ment,
only the final judgment) shall so
distinguish them, that
PSALM
no
one shall any longer be able to doubt who they are that fol-
lowed
the path of true prosperity." In vers. 3 and 4, the idea
expressed
was one which holds for all times in respect to the lots
of
the righteous and the wicked. And from this truth, which can
never
be a powerless and quiescent one, is here derived its im-
pending
realization: so certain as salvation is to the righteous,
and
perdition to the wicked, the judgment must overthrow and
set
aside the latter, and exalt the former to the enjoyment of
the
felicity destined for them. That the therefore
refers, not
simply
to ver. 4, but also to ver. 3, is clear from ver. 6, where
the
subject of both verses is resumed, and is advanced as the
ground
of what is said in ver. 5. When the narrow view of
the
therefore is adopted, it is
impossible to tell what to do with
the
first clause of ver. 6, "for the Lord knoweth the way of the
righteous,"
and we are driven to the interpolation of some such
word
as only or indeed. The universality of the conclusion, and
its
reference to both the classes of men with which the Psalm
is
occupied, are quite lost. Ver. 5 forms quite a suitable deduc-
tion
from vers. 3 and 4, if we only consider that judgment against
the
wicked involves also the deliverance of the righteous who
had
suffered under their oppressions and annoyances. Indeed,
ver.
6 requires us to view it in that as it can only then
form
a suitable continuation.
The whole context shows, that by the judgment we are to
understand
God's; in particular, it appears from the following
verse,
where the fact that the ungodly shall not stand in the
judgment,
is founded on the truth that the Lord knoweth the
way
of the righteous. The reference to a human judgment,
which
has again been lately maintained by Hitzig, is alto-
gether
objectionable. De Wette narrows the expression too
much,
when he would understand it only of general searching,
theocratic
judgments. Ewald justly refers the words to the
process
of the Divine righteousness, which is perpetually ad-
vancing,
though not every moment visible. All manifestations
of
punitive righteousness are comprehended in it. "For God
will
bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing,
whether
it be good, or whether it be evil." Eccl. xii. 14.
And
sinners (shall not stand) in the
congregation of the right-
eous; i. e. those who, by
turning away their hearts from God,
have
internally separated themselves from
the
shall
also be outwardly expelled by a righteous act of judgment.
16 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
The
external church or community can only
for a time be dif-
ferent
from the company or congregation of the righteous. For
God
will take care that it shall be purified from the leaven of
the
ungodly, which, however, will not be fully accomplished before
the
close of this present world. That the congregation of God,
in
its true idea, is the congregation of the righteous, embodies
a
prophecy of the excision and overthrow of sinners: An allu-
sion
is kept up through the whole verse to the expression used
in
the Pentateuch, regarding the transgressors of the Divine law,
"That
soul shall be cut off from his people," that is, it would
be ipso facto separated from the community
of God; and the
declaration
is commonly followed by an announcement of the
particular
manner in which the judgment, already pronounced,
should
be outwardly executed, or would be executed by God.
We
understand, therefore, the community or congregation of
the
righteous to be a designation of the whole covenant-people,
according
to its idea, in reference to which the Israelites are
elsewhere
(for example, Numb. xxiii. 10, Ps. cxi. 1) called
Myrwy, upright,
or even holy (comp. "Ye shall be
holy, for I
am
holy," Lev. xix. 2; Numb. xvi. 3). That this idea shall
one
day be fully realized, is intimated by Isaiah in ch. ix. 9,
liv.
13. hdf,
congregation, is a standing
designation of the whole
community
of
people
are referred to in the parallel passage, Ezek. xiii. 9, "And
My
hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and that
divine
lies; they shall not be in the assembly of My
people,
neither
shall they be written in the writing (book) of the house
of
Accordingly,
"sinners in the congregation of the righteous"
may
be regarded as equivalent to "sinners in the congregation
of
ample
of this reaction of the idea against a state of things at
variance
therewith, is to be found in the overthrow of the com-
pany
of Korah, of whom it is said, Numb. xvi. 33, "They
perished
from among the congregation." Then, also, in the fate
of
Saul and his party. The more careless men are in wielding
the
discipline of the Church, the more vigorously does God
work.
De Wette and others understand by the righteous,
the
elite,
the fortunate citizens of the theocratic kingdom who stand
the
test. But this is inadmissible, for the one reason, that the
words,
"they shall not stand," that is, "they shall not remain,
PSALM
among
the righteous," presuppose that they had belonged to
the
community of the righteous up to the judgment, which was
to
throw them off, like morbid matter from the body in the crisis
of
a disease.
Ver. 6. For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the
way of the ungodly shall
perish.
According to various exposi-
tors,
the two members of the verse do not correspond exactly,
and
something must be supplied in each. God knows the way
of
the righteous, and therefore they cannot fail to be prosperous;
He
knows the way of the wicked, and therefore they cannot fail
to
perish. But this exposition is not to be approved. The figure
of
"the way" is used in the Psalms in two senses, first of the
conduct, and then of the portion, the lot or destiny. The latter
signification
is by far the most common; comp. Psalm xxxvii.
5,
18, 23; Isa. xl. 27. Now, according to the above exposition,
the
first signification must be taken; but the second clause
shows
that the other ought to be preferred. The perishing
applies
only to the circumstances of the wicked. They who
would
refer it to the moral walk, must torture the word with
arbitrary
meanings (dbx
always means "to perish"), or cloak the
difficulty
by periphrases which introduce new thoughts. And
where
the parallelism is so marked, the way
must be taken in
the
same sense in the first clause. For understanding it of
the
affairs, the corresponding passage in Psalm ii. 12 may be
regarded
as a confirmation. Indeed, it would never have been
viewed
otherwise, if only the relation between this verse and
verses
3 and 4 had been rightly perceived, in which the things
befalling
the righteous and the wicked are alone discoursed of:
the
righteous are prosperous, the wicked are unprosperous;
therefore
the wicked shall not stand, etc. As here it is said of
the
way of the wicked, that it perishes, so of his hope, in Job
viii.
13; Prov. x. 28. The knowing here
involves blessing, as
its
necessary consequence. If the way of the righteous, their
lot,
is known by God as the omniscient, it cannot but be blessed
by
Him as the righteous. Hence there is no necessity, in order
to
preserve the parallelism, which exists otherwise, to explain
fdy by "curae cordique habere," a meaning
which it properly
never
has. It is enough if only God is not shut up in the
heavens
with His knowledge; the rest flows spontaneously from
His
nature, and needs not to be specially mentioned. How little
the
fdy
in such connections loses, or even modifies its common
18 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
signification,
appears from the parallel passage, Psalm xxxi.
"Thou
considerest my trouble, Thou knowest my soul in adver-
sities,"
where the knowing is parallel with considering or seeing.
It
is justly remarked by Ewald, that the issue in vers. 5 and 6 is
truly
prophetical, perpetually in force, and consequently descrip-
tive
of what is to be for ever expected and hoped for in the
course
of the world. To limit it to peculiarly theocratic affairs,
is
as certainly false as God's righteousness which is inherent in
His
nature, and consequently the moral order of the world, is
unalterable.
Luther: "At the close of this Psalm, I would
admonish,
as did also many holy fathers like Athanasius and
Augustine,
that we do not simply read or sing the Psalms, as if
they
did not concern us; but let us read and sing them for
the
purpose of being improved by them, of having our faith
strengthened,
and our hearts comforted amid all sort of neces-
sities.
For the Psalter is nothing else than a school and exercise
for
our heart and mind, to the end, that we may have our
thoughts
and inclinations turned into the same channel. So
that
he reads the Psalter without spirit, who reads it without
understanding
and faith."
PSALM
II.
The Psalmist sees with wonder, vers.
1-3, many nations and
their
kings rise against Jehovah and His Anointed, their right-
ful
King. He then describes the manner in which Jehovah
carries
Himself toward this undertaking,—how He first laughs
at,
then terrifies them with an indignant speech, and declares their
attempt
to be in vain, because they revolt against Him, whom
He
Himself has set up as His King. In vers. 7-9, the Anointed
proclaims,—detailing
at length, what the Lord had briefly
thrown
out against the insurgents,—that the Lord had given
Him,
as His Son, all the nations and kingdoms of the earth for a
possession,
and along with these, power and authority to punish
those
who rebelled against Him. The Psalmist finally turns, vers.
10-12,
to the kings, and admonishes them to yield a lowly sub-
mission
to the anointed King and Son of God, who is as rich
in
mercy towards those that trust in Him, as in destruction to-
ward
those that rise up against Him. In few Psalms is the
strophe-arrangement
so marked as in this. One perceives at a
PSALM II. 19
glance,
that the whole falls into four strophes of three members
each.
The verses, again, generally consist of two members;
the
last verse only has four, for the purpose of securing a full-
toned
conclusion.
There are the clearest grounds for
asserting, that by the
King,
the Anointed, or Son of God, no other can be understood
than
the Messias. It is generally admitted, that this exposition
was
the prevailing one among the older Jews, and that in later
times
they were led to abandon it only for polemical reasons
against
the Christians. In support of this position may be urged,
not
only the express declaration of Jarchi and a considerable
number
of passages in the writings of the older Jews, in which
the
Messianic sense still exists, and which may be found in those
adduced
by Venema in his Introduction to this Psalm, but also
the
fact, that two names of the Messias which were current in
the
time of Christ,—the name of Messias itself, the Anointed,
and
the name, Son of God, used by Nathanael in his conversa-
tion
with Christ, John i. 49, and also by the high-priest in
Matt.
xxvi. 63,—owed their origin to this Psalm in its Messianic
meaning.
The former is applied to the coming Saviour only in
another
passage, Dan. ix. 25, the latter in this Psalm alone.
But
though this is certainly a remarkable fact, we could not re-
gard
it as, by itself, constituting a ground for the interpretation
in
question. Neither would we rest upon the circumstance, that
the
New Testament, in a series of passages, refers this Psalm to
Christ
(it is so by the assembled Apostles in Acts iv. 25, 26; by
Paul.
in Acts xiii. 33, as also in Hebrews i. 5, v. 5; while the
same
Messianic sense lies at the basis of the plain allusions to
the
Psalm which occur in Rev. ii. 27, xii.. 5, xix. 15). Inas-
much
as typical Messianic Psalms are not unfrequently in the
New
Testament referred to Christ, and the Psalm really con-
tains
an indirect prophecy respecting Him, even though it be
primarily
referred to some individual living under the Old Cove-
nant,
the two contending interpretations are not so far asunder
from
each other as at first view they might seem; and, conse-
quently,
we cannot build with perfect confidence upon those
declarations,
though undoubtedly the fact, that the authors of
the
New Testament followed the direct Messianic view, renders
it
very probable that it was the prevailing one among their con-
temporaries.
But the proper proof we base on internal
grounds
alone, in regard to which we
remark at the outset, that we can
20 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
have
no interest in deceiving ourselves about their meaning,
since,
in our opinion, the Messianic kernel of the Psalm, and
its
application to the present, would remain quite unaffected,
even
though the internal grounds should speak for its referring
primarily,
for example, to David. What assured him of the fruit-
lessness
of the revolt of the peoples whom the Lord had subjected
to
him, to wit, his Divine installation, and the nearness of his
relation
to God, must be applicable with far higher force to
Christ's
relation to His rebellious subjects. But the internal
grounds
speak so loudly and so decidedly for the Messianic
sense,
that we can only ascribe the disinclination manifested
towards
it to causes, the investigation of which is foreign to our
present
purpose.
Many traits present themselves in
our Psalm which are ap-
plicable
to no other person than Messiah. Superhuman dignity
is
attributed to the subject of the Psalm in ver. 12, where the
revolters
are admonished to submit themselves, in fear and hu-
mility,
to their King, since His opponents shall be destroyed by
His
severe indignation, while those who put their trust in Him
shall
be made blessed. The remark of Venema: "Ira regis eo
modo
metuenda proponitur, v. 12, qui creaturm minus convenit
et
fiducia in eo ponenda commendatur ibidem, quae a creatura
abhorret,"
is too well grounded to be capable of being rebutted,
as
the fruitlessness of all attempts to refer to the Lord, what is
there
said of His Anointed, abundantly shows. Against every
other
person but Messiah speaks also ver. 12, where the King is
distinctly
called the Son of God, and vers. 6, 7, where the names
"His
King," and "His Anointed," are given Him in a sense which
implies
His dominion over the whole earth. Vers. 1-3, and vers.
8-10,
are decisive against all earthly monarchs; for they declare
that
the people and kings of the whole earth are given to be the
possession
of this King, and that they strive in vain to shake off
His
yoke. The extent of His kingdom is here described to be
what
the Messiah's kingdom is always described in those passages
which
are generally admitted to refer to Him;—comp., for ex-
ample,
Zech. ix. 10; Isa. ii. 2; Mic. iv. 1. De Wette en-
deavours
to support himself here, appealing to the pretended
liking
of the Hebrew poets for hyperbole, and the disposition
of
the enthusiastic members of the theocracy to conceive magni-
ficent
hopes." But in all circumstances, hyperbole has its limits,
and
exaggeration could scarcely, in this case, have referred to
PSALM II. 21
pictures
of the present, but only to the promises of the future.
Hofman,
in his work on Prophecy and its Fulfilment, p. 160,
thinks
that the words, "Ask of Me, and I will give thee the
heathen
for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the
earth
for a possession," mean no more than that "whatever
people,
whatever distant lands he desires to have for a posses-
sion,
these Jehovah would subject to him." But David was
modest;
he only besought for himself some small territories in
the
neighbourhood of
this
Divine appointment and plenipotence are held out against
the
kings of the earth, who have revolted against the King, their
rightful
Lord; and that, on the same ground, the judges of the
earth,
in ver. 10, are admonished to return to their allegiance to
their
proper King. And then, where shall we find in the history,
even
the smallest intimation that the Lord made such an offer to
David,
as if it had been in his option to decide whether he would
be
ruler over the whole world? Not even the sovereignty of a
single
people was offered in that manner to David. He never
waged
a war of conquest; he merely defended himself against
hostile
attacks. It is further to be regarded as conclusive against
an
earthly king, that the revolt here mentioned against the Son,
and
the Anointed of Jehovah, is so completely represented as a
revolt
against Jehovah Himself, that the nations are exhorted
to
yield themselves to Him with humility and reverence. It
would
be quite a different thing if enemies who aimed at the
overthrow
of the
who
stand forth here, have no other end in view than to free
themselves
from the yoke of the king. Although we would not
absolutely
maintain the impossibility of such a view, there are
still
no parallel passages to show that any such design would
have
been regarded as a revolt against Jehovah. The validity of
this
ground, which was already advanced in the first part of my
Christology,
is admitted by Hitzig. He denies still more de-
cidedly
than we would be disposed to do, that heathen nations,
which
had been subdued by the people of God, might simply on
that
account be regarded as Jehovah's subjects, and that every
attempt
to regain their freedom would be a revolt against
Jehovah.
To serve a deity, says he, is either to profess a re-
ligion,
or at least includes this, and presupposes it,—the
ites
served David, 2 Sam. viii. 2, not God. On this account,
though
he will still not declare himself for the Messianic inter-
22 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
pretation,
which reconciles all difficulties, he has felt himself
obliged
to ascribe the composition of the Psalm to the time of
the
Maccabees, when the attempt was first made to incorporate
vanquished
heathens with the people of God, by subjecting them
to
the rite of circumcision,—a supposition in which he will
certainly
have no followers. Finally, the Messianic sense is
supported
by the same grounds which prove that of Ps. xlv.
lxxii.
cx., which so remarkably harmonize with the Psalm now
under
consideration, that, as far as the Messiah is concerned,
they
must stand or fall together. These grounds are so con-
vincing,
that we find here among the defenders of the Messianic
interpretation
many even of those whose theological sentiments
must
have disposed them rather to adopt a different view,—in
particular,
Eichhorn, Bertholdt, Rosenmüller, Koester. Sack,
also,
in his Apolog., and Umbreit in his Erbauung a. d. Psalter,
p.
141, have advocated the same opinion.
Though the Psalm has no
superscription, yet that David
was
its author, as indeed he is expressly named in Acts iv. 25,
may
be gathered from the undoubted fact, that the relations of
David's
time evidently form the groundwork of the representa-
tion
which is given,—comp. the closing remarks, as also the
resemblance
to Psalm cx. The general character of Psalm
first,
suitable for an introduction, would scarcely have warranted
the
compilers in placing it, and this second one so closely related
to
it, at the head of a long series of Davidic Psalms, unless they
had
felt convinced of David's being their author. Besides other
characteristics
of the first, this Psalm shares its ease and sim-
plicity
of style; and that the discourse is of a more spirited
character,
arises from the different nature of the subject.
Ver. 1. Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a
vain thing? The why is an expression of astonishment and
horror
at the equally foolish and impious attempt of the revolt-
ers.
The hgh
is here taken by some in the sense of being in
commotion, blustering; but in that sense the
word does not else-
where
occur in the Hebrew; and as little does it occur in that
of
Koester, to murmur. The common
meaning is here quite
suitable.
qyr,
not an adverb, in vain, to no purpose,
but a noun,
vanity, nothing. The vanity or nothing
is that which, being
opposed
to the Divine will, and, therefore, nothing, also leads
to
nothing, reaches not its aim, to wit, the revolt against the
King,
which, at the same time, is revolt against the Almighty
PSALM II. VER. 2. 23
God.
The why at the beginning, and the vain thing at the end
of
this verse, are what alone indicate, in the otherwise purely
historical
representation of vers. 1-3, the point of view from
which
the transaction is to be considered. But these two little
words
contain in germ the whole substance from ver. 4 to
ver.
12, in which is unfolded the reason why the project of the
insurgents
is a groundless and vain one.
Ver. 2. The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers
sit with one another
against the Lord and His Anointed. It is
unnecessary,
and destructive to the sense, to repeat, with De
Wette,
Koester, and others, the wherefore at
the beginning of
this
verse. The word bcyth means simply, "to set oneself, to
come
forward, to appear;" and the hostility is not expressed in
the
word, but is indicated by the context, and by the addition
of
the words, "against the Lord." The word lf
expresses
"the
oppressive,
the inimical." The kings of the
earth,—the huge
mass
of tumultuous revolters draws upon itself so much the eye
of
the prophet, that he overlooks the small company of subjects
who
still remained faithful. The dsy means to found, in Niph.
to be founded, Isa. 28, Ex. ix. 18;
then poetically to sit
down. This is the only
legitimate exposition of the vdsvn. The
idea
of combination and common counsel is not contained in the
verb
itself, but only in the adverb dHy, together, with which the
verb
is connected also in Psalm xxxi. 13. Against
the Lord
and His Anointed. Calvin remarks, that
this does not neces-
sarily
imply that the revolt was publicly avowed to be against
God;
indeed, they could not revolt against Him otherwise than
indirectly,
that is, by seeking to withdraw themselves from the
supremacy
of His Son; and in that respect, to use Luther's
expression,
the ungodly often do terrible deeds for God's honour
against
God's honour. The anointing in the
Old Testament,
whether
it occur as an actually performed symbolical action, or
as
a mere figure, constantly signifies the communication of the
gifts
of the Holy Spirit,—see Christol. P. II. p. 445. This is
evidently
the meaning in the account given of Saul's anointing,
1
Sam. x. 1, and David's, xvi. 13, 14. The kings of
were
said pre-eminently to be anointed,
because they received
a
peculiarly rich measure of Divine grace for their important
office.
From them was the expression transferred to Him who
is
absolutely THE KING, the one in whom the idea of royalty
was
to be perfectly realized. That he should be endowed, with-
24 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
out
measure, with that Spirit which was given only in limited
measure
to His types, is mentioned by Isaiah, chap. xi., as an
essential
feature. Luther remarks, making a suitable applica-
tion
to the members, of that which is here said concerning the
Head:
"Therefore God decrees that the ungodly shall boil and
rage
against the righteous, and employ against them all their
devices.
But all such attempts are like the swelling waves of
the
sea, blown up by the wind, which make as if they would
tear
down the shore, but before they even reach it, again sub-
side,
and melt away in themselves, or spend themselves with
harmless
noise upon the beach. For the righteous is so firmly
grounded
in his faith upon Christ, that he confidently scorns,
like
a beach, such vain impotent threatenings of the wicked,
and
such proud swellings, which are destined so soon again to
disappear."
Ver. 3. The enemies are introduced
speaking: We will break
their bands asunder, and
cast away their cords from us. The
plural
suffix has reference to Jehovah and His Anointed.
Their bands,—that is, the bands
which they have laid upon us.
The
prophet speaks as from the soul of the insurgents, to whom
the
mild yoke of the Lord and His Anointed appears as a
galling
chain. Calvin: "So even now we see that all the
enemies
of Christ find it as irksome a thing to be compelled to
submit
themselves to His supremacy, as if the greatest disgrace
had
befallen them."
Ver. 4. The prophet looks away from
the wild turmoil of
enemies,
from the dangers which here below seem to threaten
the
kingdom of the Anointed, to the world above, and sets
over
against them the almightiness of God. Calvin: "How-
ever
high they may lift themselves, they can never reach to the
heavens;
nay, while they seek to confound heaven and earth,
they
do but dance like grasshoppers. The Lord meanwhile
looks
calmly forth from His high abode, upon their senseless
movements."
He who is throned in the heavens laughs;
the
Lord mocks them. God is here
emphatically described as being
enthroned
in heaven, to mark His exalted sovereignty over the
whole
machinery of earth, and, in particular, over the kings of
the
earth. "Laughter" and "derision" are expressive of secu-
rity
and contempt. Calvin: "We must therefore hold, that
when
God does not immediately punish the wicked, it is His
time
to laugh; and though we must sometimes even weep, yet
PSALM II. VER. 4. 25
this
thought should allay the sharpness of our grief, nay, wipe
away
our tears, that God does not dissemble, as if He were
tardy
or weak, but seeks through silent contempt, for a time,
to
break the petulance of His enemies." Expositors generally
suppose
that the vml
is to be supplied to qHwy. This is not
necessary,
though it is certainly supported by Psalm xxxvii. 13,
lix.
8. Luther gives a course of admirable remarks upon this
passage;
some of these, we feel it our duty to quote, not for
the
sake of answering practical purposes independent of exe-
gesis,
but in the interest of exegesis itself. "All this is written
for
our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the
Scriptures,
may have hope. For what is here written of Christ,
is
an example for all Christians. For every one who is a sound
Christian,
especially if he teaches the word of Christ, must
suffer
his Herod, his Pilate, his Jews and heathens, who rage
against
him, to speak much in vain, to lift themselves up and
take
counsel against him. If this is not done now by men, by
the
devil, or, finally, by his own conscience, it will at least be
done
on his death-bed. There, at last, it will be in the highest
degree
necessary to have such words of consolation in remem-
brance
as—"He who sits in heaven laughs: the Lord holds
them
in derision." To such a hope we must cling fast, and on
no
account suffer ourselves to be driven from it. As if He
would
say—So certain is it, that they speak in vain, and pro-
ject
foolish things, let it appear before men as strong and
mighty
as it may, that God does not count them worthy of
being
opposed, as He would needs do in a matter of great and
serious
moment; that He only laughs and mocks at them, as
if
it were a small and despicable thing which was not worth
minding.
0 how great a strength of faith is claimed in these
words!
For who believed, when Christ suffered, and the Jews
triumphed
over and oppressed Him, that God all the time was
laughing?
So, when we suffer and are oppressed by men,
when
we believe that God is laughing at and mocking at
our
adversaries; especially, if to all appearance we are mocked
and
oppressed both by God and men." Upon the expression,
"He
that is enthroned in the heavens," Luther specially re-
marks—"As
if it were said, He who cares for us dwells quite
secure,
apart from all fear; and although we are involved in
trouble
and contention, He remains unassailed, whose regard is
fixed
on us; we move and fluctuate here and there, but He
26 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
stands
fast, and will order it so, that the righteous shall not
continue
for ever in trouble, Psalm lv. 22. But all this pro-
ceeds
so secretly that thou canst not well perceive it, unless thou
wert
in heaven thyself. Thou must suffer by land and sea,
and
among all creatures; thou mayest hope for no consolation
in
thy sufferings and troubles, till thou canst rise through faith
and
hope above all, and lay hold on Him who dwells in the
heavens—then
thou also dwellest in the heavens, but only in
faith
and hope. Therefore must we fix and stay our hearts, in
all
our straits, assaults, tribulations, and difficulties, upon Him
who
sitteth in the heavens; for then it will come to pass that
the
adversity, vexation, and trials of this world, can not only be
taken
lightly, but can even be smiled at."
Ver. 5. The words of contempt are
followed by others of
indignation
and threatening. Then He speaks to them
in His
wrath, and afrights them
in His sore displeasure. zx, then,
namely,
when He has first laughed at and mocked them ;
others
improperly, at the time of this revolt,
or when they be-
lieve
that they have broken the chains. The laughter directing
itself
upon the impotence of the revolters, is the first subject;
the
wrath excited by their criminal disposition to revolt, is the
second.
Many expositors, as Calvin, think that here is a re-
ference
to God's speaking by deeds, to the judgments which He
decrees
against the insolent revolters, after having previously
manifested
His contempt of them; but without foundation.
Ver.
6, where the speech of God follows, shows that the second.
member
here is to be expounded by the first; and in His rage
He
affrights them with the succeeding words, not the reverse.
The
actual punishment of the revolters, who even to this day
have
got no further than the speech, "Let us break their bands
asunder,
and cast away their cords from us," lies beyond the
compass
of this Psalm. In it, the Lord, the Anointed, and
the
Psalmist, come forth one after another against the rebels,
and
endeavour to turn them from their foolish purpose. It is
not
till they have shut their ear against all these admonitions
and
threatenings that the work of punishment properly begins.
With
a thundering voice of indignation, before which impotent
sinners
quail to their inmost heart, the Psalmist represents the
Lord
as speaking to them what follows in ver. 6.
Ver. 6. And I have formed My King upon
Few
of the expositors take notice of the v at the beginning,
PSALM II. VER. 6. 27
which
yet well deserves to be noticed. It is never used without
meaning,
nor ever elsewhere than where we can also put our
word
and (Ewald, p. 540). The discourse,
as is appropriate to
a
very excited state of mind, here begins in the middle. The
commencement,
"Ye rise in rebellion," is
naturally suggested
by
the existing circumstances. The I here,
the Lord of heaven
and
of earth, stands with peculiar emphasis in opposition to you.
Luther:
"They have withdrawn themselves from Him; but I
have
subjected to Him the holy hill of Zion, and all the ends of
the
earth. So that it will become manifest how they have been
objects
of laughter and scorn, and have troubled themselves,
and
taken counsel in vain." The ytbsn is commonly rendered,
I have anointed; and of the more recent
expositors, Stier
alone
has raised doubts against this rendering, without, how-
ever,
decidedly substantiating them. But it has been strik-
ingly
rebutted by Gousset. The supposition that j`sn, besides its
ordinary
meaning to pour, had also the sense to anoint, is sup-
ported
only by Prov. viii. 23, and by the derivation j`ysn, a prince,
though
to signify "an anointed one." But in the passage from
Proverbs,
all the old translations express the idea of creation or
preparation
(to pour out to form); and this idea is decidedly
favoured
by the context: "From everlasting was I formed,"
is
followed by, "from the beginning, or ever the earth was,
was
I born." But j`ysn cannot possibly have
the meaning an
anointed one, since it is
pre-eminently and specially used of
princes,
who hold their dignity in fief of a superior, and in
whose
case anointing was out of the question. See the decisive
passage,
Josh. xiii. 21; and Micah v. 4. The word Mykysn rather
means
strictly, those who are poured out,
then those who are
formed, invested, appointed, and refers, as Gousset
justly remarks,
to
" productio principis per communicationem influxumque po-
tentiae,"
with an allusion either to generation, or to the relation
between
an artist and his statue or picture. In the case before
us,
the signification to form is
confirmed by the corresponding
words,
"I have begotten Thee," in ver. 7. The expression,
"My King," is also deserving of
special remark. If its peculiar
emphasis
is not considered, if it is merely expounded as if it were
"I
have appointed Him to be King," the speech of God will then
be
unsuited to the end which it is meant to serve, that, namely,
of
representing the vanity of the revolt of the kings of the
earth.
For one might possibly have been set by God as king
28 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
on
heathen
world. Then, in opposition to every exposition which
weakens
the force of the words, we have the corresponding words
in
ver. 7, "Thou art My Son;" through which, as the conclusion
drawn
from them in ver. 8 shows, a much more intimate rela-
tion
to God is indicated than if He had been an ordinary king.
The
words, therefore, "I have formed My King," can only
mean,
"I have appointed a King (as Luther renders ytbsn much
more
correctly than our recent expositors) who is most closely
related
to Me." In the setting up or appointing of such a King,
for
whom nothing less than the whole earth could be a suffi-
cient
empire, there was given a proof of the nothingness of
all
attempts at insurrection which were now made against the
King,
and in the King against the Lord. lf is most naturally
regarded
as indicating the place where the Lord's King was
constituted
and set up by Him, implying of course that this
place
is at the same time the seat of His supremacy. The ex-
pression
Nvyc lf. "upon
explanation
—"I have appointed My King (that He be King)
upon
other,
"I have appointed My King (that He be King) over
My
holy mountain," as in 1 Sam. xv. 17, Saul was anointed
king
over
of
the King, not the sphere of His rule—which is rather the
whole
earth.
priate
seat for His King; for as it had been the centre of
from
the time of David, who fixed his own abode and trans-
ferred
there the ark of the covenant, so was it destined one day
to
be the centre of the world; for "out of
the
law, and the word of the Lord out of
The
Lord is to govern the whole earth from there. The thought
is
there expressed in Old Testament language, that the king-
dom
of God should one day break through its narrow bounds,
and
bring the whole world under its sway. Upon ywdq rh, not
the
mountain of My holiness, but My holiness-mountain, My
holy
mountain, see Ewald, p. 580.
honour
by its having, had the ark of the covenant transferred
to
it by David. From that period it became the centre of the
Ver. 7. The speech of the Lord, in
proper adaptation to His
majesty
and indignation, is but short. Next appears the King
PSALM. II. VER. 7. 29
appointed
by God, reiterating, to the astonished rebels, what has
been
said by God, and further developing it: I will declare the
statute: the Lord hath
said unto Me, Thou art My Son, this day
have I begotten Thee. Rosenmüller explains,
"narrabo secun-
dum,
juxta decretum;" but there is no ground for this, as the
word
rPesi
is elsewhere coupled with the preposition indi-
cating
the object of the narrative, Psalm lxix. 26; as also the
similar
verbs fydvyi,
"to make known," rmx,
rbd, and fmw; see,
for
example, Isa. xxxviii. 19; Jer. xxvii. 19; Job xlii. 7. We
may
not, however, on the ground of such constructions, ex-
plain
lx
by of. They are explained by the
circumstance of
the
relater's or speaker's mind being directed
to the matter—
the
narrative or speech goes out upon it. Ewald, p. 602. As
it
is clear that lx may mark the thing to be announced, the
exposition
of Claus: "I will declare for a statute," i.e. some-
thing
which shall become an irrevocable law, is to be rejected
as
less simple, and hence less suited to the character of the
Psalmist,
who dislikes whatever is hard or artificial. But Claus
is
right in giving to the word qH its common
signification of
statute, law, for which most of the
modern expositors substitute
the
arbitrary sense of decree, sentence,
and then, in opposition to
the
accents, conceive that they must bring over to this mem-
ber
the word hvhy.
"I will declare a law," contains more than
"I
will declare a decree or sentence." It intimates, that the
sentence
of the Lord just to be announced, has the force of law,
and
that it was perfectly in vain to undertake anything which
wars
against it. Since the Lord has spoken this, "Thou art
My
Son," He has at the same time laid upon the heathen the
law
of serving His Son. Obedience is due to the laws of the
Almighty,
and punishment inevitably overtakes him who trans-
gresses
them.
The question now arises, what
determination or sentence of
Jehovah,
having the force of an unchangeable law, is here
meant?
Rosenmüller, Ewald, and others, conceive, that the
reference
is to the Divine promise in 2 Sam. vii. But this sup-
position
must be rejected. For then the words, "Thou art My
Son,"
would be spoken, not in the sense in which they occur
here,
as implying an investiture with dominion over the heathen.
And,
besides, this exposition would destroy the obvious connec-
tion
between ver. 6 and ver. 7. What the Son here throws out
against
the revolters, call only be the further development of
30 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
that
which the Lord had advanced against them; the to-day
becomes
quite indeterminate, if it do not refer to the precise day
on
which the Lord had set His King on
pression,
"Thou art My Son," can only point to the subject
contained
in the words, "My King." So that the discourse here
can
only be of a determination of the Lord, which was issued to
the
Anointed at the time of His appointment: "I will declare
the
law," which the Lord then gave;
when He made Me His
King
on
Psalmist
has only in a general way before him, the terminus of
the
setting up as King. When Paul represents, in Acts xiii.
33,
the words of our text as spoken to Christ, in consequence of
His
resurrection from the dead, he does but define them more
closely
from the fulfilment. The resurrection of Christ was the
key-stone
of His redemption-work, the starting point of His
setting
forth as the Son of God, and of His establishment in
the
kingdom.
The Lord addresses the King on the
day of His installation
as
His Son. Where God, in the Old Testament, is represented
as
Father, where the subject of discourse is sonship to God,
there
is always (apart from a few passages not in point here,
which
speak of Him as the author of external existence, the
giver
of all good, Deut. xxxii. 18, Jer. ii. 27, and perhaps Isa.
lxiv.
7) an allusion, involving a comparison, to His tender love,
as
being similar to that of a father toward his son,—see, for ex-
ample,
Psalm ciii. 13, where the comparison is fully stated. In
this
sense,
As
in Ex. iv. 22: "
the
expression, "My first-born," points to the abridged com-
parison,
as if it had been said, "
first-born
son;" Deut. xiv. 1, 2, where the words, "Ye are tho
children
of the Lord your God," are more fully explained by
the
following, "For thou art an Holy people unto the Lord
thy
God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people
unto
Himself above all nations;" Deut. xxxii. 6, where the
question,
"Is He not thy Father?" is followed by declarations
testifying,
in various particulars, to His fatherly love and care-
fulness;
Isa. 16, "Doubtless Thou art our Father, though
Abraham
be ignorant of us, and
Thou,
0 Lord, art our Father, our Redeemer; Thy name is
from
everlasting;" where the name of Father is used to de-
PSALM II. VER. 7. 31
note
what is related at large in vers. 7-15, the things He did
in
His great goodness towards the house of
1,
“When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called My
son
out of
honour?"
the theme from vers. 2-5 being this, "I have loved
you"—in
considering which, some have started with the false
idea
that the words, "Have we not all one
Father," were in
synonymous
parallelism with, “One God hath
created us," Jer.
xxxi.
9, 20. With a just perception of what is implied in the
abbreviated
comparison, the Apostle, in Rom. x. 4, gathers up
what
is said of
adoption
into the position of children," ui[oqesi<a. In the same
sense
the relation of David's family to God is, in two passages,
described
as one of sonship. In 2 Sam. vii. 14, 15, the de-
claration,
"I will be his Father, and he shall be My son," is
followed
by the promise of His ever-abiding love as a sort of
interpretation;
and in Ps. lxxxix. 26, etc., which is based on the
passage
in Samuel, the words, "My Father," stand in parallelism
with
"My God, and the rock of my salvation," and is explained
by,
"My mercy I will keep for him for evermore," in ver. 29.
Nowhere
in the Old Testament is the idea of God's sonship
handled
with reference to a generation through the Spirit, which
Hoffmann
would have to be the case in all the passages. No-
where,
also, does this expression proceed upon an identifying of
creation
with generation; and it is an entire mistake for Hitzig
to
maintain concerning Ex. iv. 22, that all men or peoples are
there
considered as God's sons, because made by Him. No-
where
does the expression, "Jehovah's son," as used of kings,
point
to the Divine origin of the kingly authority, or to the ad-
ministration
of the office according to the mind of Jehovah.
Finally,
nowhere in the Old Testament is the sonship spoken of
as
a production out of the nature of the Father, as the greater
of
the older expositors think they discover here. Now, as
we
cannot isolate the passage before us from all others, we
may
here also understand the words, " Thou art My Son," as
the
inwardness of relation which subsists between the
Lord
and His Anointed. How inward this relation is, how
emphatically
sonship is here predicated of the Lord,—which is
never
on any other occasion, done of any individual king in
it
(for, in the two passages before noticed, it is spoken of
the
whole line of David), and far less still of heathen kings,—is
32 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
shown
by ver. 7, where the sovereignty of the whole earth is
announced
as a simple consequence of the sonship. In that
sense
no earlier king of
God's
own heart, was the son and darling of Jehovah. Such
an
inward relationship cannot properly exist between God and
a
mere man.
When the sense of the words,
"Thou art My Son," is fairly
settled,
no great difficulty can be found with the parallel clause,
"This
day I have begotten Thee." If the King is named the
Son
of God, not in a proper but in a figurative sense, then the
reference
here cannot be to a proper begetting, against which the
word
to-day also testifies (which word at the same time confirms
the
non-literal interpretation of the expression, "Thou art My
Son"),
but only to a begetting in a figurative sense—not a be-
getting
which calls the person into existence, but one merely in
which
originates the intimate relationship between the Anointed
and
God. "I have begotten Thee to-day," spiritually under-
stood,
exactly corresponds to "Thou art from henceforth, spi-
ritually
understood, My Son;" both alike imply that He was
brought
into the relation of sonship, or received into the inner-
most
fellowship of life. This non-literal, temporal begetting,
has
certainly the essential and eternal one for its foundation,
which
is found here by the older expositors and theologians.
Figuratively,
of the appointment to the dignity of Son of God,
the
expression is taken by Paul in Acts xiii. 3; so also in
Heb.
v. 5.
Ver. 8. Ask of Me, and I shall give Thee the heathen for Thine
inheritance, and the
uttermost parts of the earth for Thy posses-
sion. For the King, and the
Son of the Lord, nothing less
than
the whole earth is a proper dominion. Vers. 1-3 show,
that
He had accepted all, which the love
of His Father here freely
offered.
Ver. 9. If the nations will not obey
Thee, My Son, as their
rightful
Lord and King, I give Thee the right and the power to
chastise
them for their disobedience. Thou shalt
break them
with a rod of iron, Thou
shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's
vessel. The LXX. render the
first clause, "Thou wilt feed them
with
an iron sceptre,"—deriving the form Mfrt from hfArA, to feed.
So
also the Syriac, Vulgate, and many later expositors. Then,
either
the present punctuation is held to be incorrect, and they
read
Mfer;ti, or the form is considered as Poel. But the paral-
PSALM II. VER. 9. 33
lelism
requires that the form should be derived from ffr, "to
break
or shiver to pieces," as is done by the Chaldaic. At the
same
time, we may perhaps suppose with Stier, that the word
carries
a sort of ironical allusion to hfr, which is so frequently
used;
comp. 2 Sam. vii. 7, Ps. lxxxi. 16, Mic. vii. 14. Fbw,
“sceptre,”
was anciently the sign of the dignity of ruler. The
objections
which Rosenmüller and others have brought against
the
application of this meaning here, are of little weight. It is
true,
indeed, we do not hear of iron sceptres having been ac-
tually
used, but such only as were of wood, silver, gold, or ivory.
But
iron is here selected, as being the hardest metal, to indicate
the
strength and crushing force with which the Anointed would
chastise
the revolters; and it is perfectly allowable to use it in
this
figurative sense, although there actually existed no such thing
as
an iron sceptre. The comparison with the vessels of the
potter,
which occurs also in Jer. xix. 11, expresses at once the
ideas
of without trouble, and of entireness. It is, besides, to be
remarked,
what is omitted by De Wette, who argues from this
expression,
against the application of the Psalm to Christ, and
by
Umbreit, who labours to make that denote grace, which is
manifestly
said of punitive righteousness, that as the Messiah
has
here to do with impudent revolters, only one aspect of the
power
committed to Him by God is displayed. That He is as
rich
in grace to His people, as He is in overwhelming power
against
His enemies, is evident from vers. 11 and 12. That, in
like
circumstances, the same aspect of power which is spoken
of
here, is also brought to notice by Christ in the New Testa-
ment,
needs no proof. Those on His left hand, the compas-
sionate,
but still righteous Saviour, banishes into everlasting
fire;
he who treads under foot the Son of God, must endure
infinitely
sorer punishment than he who broke the law of Moses;
and
the destruction of
the
Lord as His work. What alone suffices, is the circumstance,
that,
in the place referred to in Revelation, the punishment
which
Christ is going to execute upon His enemies is described
in
the very words of this Psalm. The question, whether what
is
here said of Christ be worthy of Him, resolves itself into this,
whether
God's righteousness be an actual reality, and, conse-
quently,
to be continued under the New Testament. For what
is
true of God, is true also of His Anointed, to whom He has
given
up the whole administration of His kingdom. But, that
34 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
this
question is to be answered in the affirmative, will be shown
in
our excursus upon the doctrine of the Psalms.
Ver. 10. An admonition to the
revolters to consider what
had
been said, and submit themselves to the King set up by the
Lord.
Here it comes clearly out, that the object aimed at in
the
reference to the punitive omnipotence of the Anointed, was
to
induce the revolters to flee from coming wrath by embracing
His
offers of grace and compassion. And now
act wisely, 0 ye
kings; be warned, ye
judges of the earth. And now, since the
case
is as I have said, since the supremacy of the Anointed over
you
rests upon so immoveable a foundation, a severe punish-
ment
is ready to alight on the revolters. lykWh properly sig-
nifies,
to make wise, namely, the actions,
the behaviour, then to
act
wisely, finally, to be wise, to understand, discern. rsy, "to
instruct,
direct aright, warn," in Niph. "to be warned," and
then
"to let one's self be warned, to lay the warning to heart,"
and
act according to it. The judges of the
earth, corresponding
to
kings in the first clause, the men of authority and rule, be-
cause
the office of judgment is considered as one of their chief
functions.
Judging is used in a wider sense. All
governing is,
in
a certain sense, a judging. Various interests, claims, and
rights,
come before the ruler for decision.
Ver. 11. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
The
serving stands opposed to the resolution in ver. 3 to revolt.
The
admonition to serve the Lord involves a call on them to
subject
themselves to His Son and Anointed. Following the
LXX.
and Vulgate (gaudeatis cum tremore),
some explain vlyg
hdfrb to mean: "Rejoice that you have
found so glorious and
good
a King; but along with this joy, think always of the terrible
punishment
which must overtake you, if ye withdraw yourselves
from
His benignant sway." It is well remarked, however, by
Stier,
that this construction neither agrees with the parallelism
nor
with the prevailing tone of the whole context.
The kings
had
scarcely got so far yet, that they could be called on to
rejoice,
even with the addition of trembling. But still more
objectionable
is the exposition approved of by De Wette, Stier,
Gesenius,
and others, "shake with trembling." lyg never sig-
nifies
anything but to rejoice, occurring
very often in this sense
in
the Psalms never, however, to tremble or shake, not even in
Hos.
x. 5, where, before the expression vlygy vylf, the relative is
to
be supplied, and the rendering should be: "who rejoice
PSALM II. VER. 12. 35
thereat."
Besides, the shaking does not
correspond to the serving
and
doing homage, which require that vlyg also, should express
some
mark of subordination. Now, this is the case if we refer
the
"rejoice" to the acclamations by which subjects testify their
fealty
to their sovereigns, to the "shout of a king," spoken of in
Numb.
xxiii. 21. In that case it is only the outward subjection
which
is primarily demanded for averting the threatened punish-
ment.
What rich blessings internal subjection and allegiance
brings
along with it, is first gently indicated at the close.
Ver. 12. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry. The kiss was,
from
the earliest times, the mark of subjection and respect in
the
East. Such a kiss was given for the most part not upon
the
mouth, but upon the kisser's own garment, or upon the
hand
of the person kissed.1 That this custom prevailed also
among
the Hebrews, appears from 1 Sam. x. 1, where Samuel,
after
he had anointed the king, as a mark of respect, gave him
a
kiss. The throwing of the kiss was also a religious usage, as
appears
from 1 Kings xix. 18, Hos. xiii. 2, Job xxxi. 27. Hence
Symmachus
translates here, explaining the figure: "adorate."
rb is found also in Prov. xxxi. 2, for
Aramaic,
and seems to have belonged to the loftier poetic dia-
lect
in Hebrew, which has much in common with the Chaldaic;
and
this explains why the higher style delights in old words
which
no longer occur in common life. These words were
handed
down from the primeval times, when the Hebrews
stood
in closer connection with the people who spoke the Ara-
maic
tongue. The reason why it is used here instead of Nb,
many
suppose to be a wish to avoid the cacophony which
would
arise from the juxtaposition of Nb and NP. Others con-
ceive
that rb
is chosen as being the more dignified and signifi-
cant
expression. Various other explanations which have been
tried
have partly usage against them, and partly the circum-
stance
that the mention of the Son of God here is quite natural
after
ver. 7. This rendering is, in consequence, approved by
most
modern interpreters, not excepting those who find the
sense
thus given not quite convenient, as Rosenmüller, De
Wette,
Gesenius, Winer, and Hitzig. Ewald's explanation,
"Take
counsel," is quite arbitrary, since qwn has in Pi. invari-
ably
the sense of kissing, and, though rb may signify
"pure,"
1 Rosenmüller, A. u. N.
Morgenland, Th. 3, Nr. 496, Th. 4, Nr. 786.
36 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
it
could not possibly mean "good counsel," without some fur-
ther
reason. The second arbitrariness is
shunned by Koester,
who
renders, "embrace purity," but the first still remains.
Besides,
in all these expositions the close connection is over-
looked
between our verses and vers. 1-3. To "the raging and
imagining
a vain thing," corresponds the exhortation, "Be
wise
and warned." It is in reference to the revolt
against the
Lord, that the injunction,
to "serve the Lord," is uttered.
But
there is still wanting a special hortative reference to the
Anointed,
which is the main point of the whole; and this must
be
lost unless rb is rendered son.
That this cannot possibly be
awanting,
becomes more evident still when we compare the
entire
exposition in vers. 6-9, which prepared the way for it.
Koester's
objection, that rb must then have the article, is of no
force,
as rb,
here signifying absolutely "the Son," is in a state
of
transition to becoming a nomen proprium. Comp. Ewald,
659.
The King, who is the subject of this Psalm, appears here
as
Son of God in a sense as exclusive as that in which God
Himself
is God. One God and one Son of God. Even
though
the title, "Son of God," according to what was re-
marked
above, be much the same as the beloved of God, and
we
are not to regard it as conveying directly the idea of unity
of
nature with God, yet the distinct and peculiar dignity here
ascribed
to the Anointed, points indirectly to distinctness and
peculiarity
of nature.
The words j`rd
vdbxtv,
though perfectly plain in themselves,
have
occasioned much trouble to expositors, and have had many
false
renderings. Every intransitive or passive idea may, in
Hebrew,
find an immediate limitation, if it is relative; that is,
if
it admits of being extended to many particular cases. For
example,
he was sick, his feet; he was great to the throne.
This
concise mariner of speech is easily explained, if we only
expand
it a little more: he was sick, and this sickness affected
his
feet, etc. So also here, "perish the way," must mean,
"perish
as to the way." The way is used
here, precisely as in
Ps.
i. 6, as an image of "state, condition." For soon willhis
wrath be kindled.
Blessed are all they who put their trust
Him. Ffmk shortly, soon. The k, when denoting
limits
of
time, retains in some measure its common signification of a
particle
of comparison. The time up to the beginning of this
punishment,
when repentance is too late, is like a short path
PSALM II.
VER. 12. 37
ysvH stat.
constr. for absol. This can only
take place when the
preposition
serves merely as a description of the stat. constr.
relation;
so that, instead of the verb being followed by the
preposition
and pronoun, it might simply have been vysvH. hsH
with
b
signifies, from the first, "to confide in some one;" never
"to
fly to any one"—which has been taken as its import, only
in
consequence of a false interpretation of the phrase, "trusting
in
the shadow, i.e., in the support of any one." Scripture con-
stantly
admonishes us to place our confidence in the Lord alone;
on
which account the verb before us is in a manner consecrated
and
set apart; and also warns men against confiding in earthly
kings;
comp. Psalm cxviii. 9 "It is better to trust in the
Lord,
than to put confidence in princes;" Psalm cxlvi. 3:
"Trust
not in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is
no
help." In the words, therefore, "Blessed are all they who
put
their trust in Him," an allusion is made to the superhuman
nature
and dignity of the Anointed. Many expositors, opposed
to
the Messianic interpretation, are driven to such straits by
this,
that they would refer the suffix in vb, with great violence,
not
to the Son, of whom mention had been
made immediately
before,
and of whom it is said in this verse itself, "Kiss the
Son,
lest He be angry," but to the Lord—which is an unwill-
ing
testimony to the Messianic character of this Psalm, as well
as
to the superhuman nature of the Messiah in the Old Testa-
ment.
Others, as Abenezra, De Wette, Maurer, would refer
even
the words, "lest He be angry," to Jehovah; overlooking,
however,
while they do so, the relation in which these words
stand
to ver. 9, according to which, not Jehovah, but the Son,
is
to break the revolters with an iron sceptre, and dash them
in
pieces like a potter's vessel—a manifestation of wrath which
they
are here exhorted to flee from.
In conclusion, we have a few general
remarks to make upon
this
Psalm. The Messianic predictions in the Psalms cannot
so
far coincide in character with those in the Prophets, that the
distinction
between Psalmist and Prophet here at once ceases
to
exist. We rather expect this distinction to manifest itself
here.
The essential nature of the distinction is, that the Pro-
phets
for the most part communicate the objective word of
God,
as that had been imparted to their internal contemplation,
while
the predominating character of the Psalms is subjective,
38 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
the
subject-matter taken from some earlier revelation being set
forth
in a vivid and perceptible form by means of the events
and
circumstances of the Psalmist's own life, or of those of his
time,
yet all in such a way that the earlier revelation is often,
through
the special working of the Spirit of God, carried for-
ward
and advanced to a higher degree of clearness. The
Messianic
interpretation of a Psalm, then, can only be fully
justified
when we are both able to point to a revelation, through
which
the writer was incited to give a subjective representation
of
its contents, and can find a substratum for the writer's mode
of
representation, either in his own circumstances, or in those
of
his time. But both conditions meet in the case before us.
In
regard to the first, David was incited to this and other
Messianic
Psalms, by the promise given to him by God of a
perpetual
kingdom in his family, 2 Sam. vii. 7, which he could
not
but feel, after careful reflection, referred, in its highest
sense,
to Christ. In regard to the second, David found in the
circumstances
of his own life ample occasion to express, in the
way
and manner he has here done, the hope of the triumph of
the
promised King his successor, which the Spirit of God had
stirred
up within him. He had too frequently experienced, on
the
one hand, the contumacy and rebellious disposition of his
domestic
and foreign subjects; and on the other hand, the help
of
God in subduing them, to find it at all strange for him to
transfer
these relations in a more enlarged form to his antitype,
which
he probably did at a time when his experience in this re-
spect
was fresh and lively, about the period of his second great
victory
over the Syrians, 2 Sam. viii. 6: "And the Syrians
became
servants to David, and brought gifts; and the Lord
preserved
David whithersoever he went;" chapter x. 6, where
the
Syrians are said to have joined with the Ammonites against
David,
and verse 19, where we are told, that after David's
victory
over them, "all the kings that were servants to Hadar-
ezer,
when they saw that they were smitten before
peace
with
progress
made in this Psalm as regards the proclamations con-
cerning
the Messiah, it consists mainly in this, that there here
dawns
upon the Psalmist the superhuman nature and dignity
of
the Messiah, which is brought out still more distinctly in
Psalms
cx. and xlv. It deserves to be noted, that the expositors
who
oppose the Messianic sense, are driven hither and thither,
PSALM
III.
39
and
can nowhere find solid ground for their feet to stand upon.
Ewald
has disputed the reference to David advocated by most
writers,
and yet has decided upon applying it to Solomon. But
against
his view we have to set, besides the positive grounds
already
adduced for the Messianic interpretation, the force of
which
he unwittingly acknowledges by violent explanations,
such
as that of verse 12, not merely the silence of the historical
books,
of which he would make very light, but their most ex-
press
and unequivocal declarations. The posture of affairs
alluded
to here, is one of general revolt. Now, if we place that
at
the commencement of Solomon's reign, we shall be driven to
pronounce
the descriptions contained in the historical books
entirely
mythical. Hitzig has endeavoured to bring down the
application
to Alexander Jannaeus, a supposition which Koester,
in
his mild way, pronounces a make-shift. Maurer, again, would
carry
it up to the time of Hezekiah. He conceives, that by the
people
and kings of the earth, might very well be understood
the
Philistines. In Hoffmann, the non-Messianic interpretation
has
again arrived at David, only, however, after a very short
time,
once more to begin its wanderings.
PSALM III.
The Psalmist complains of the
multitude of his enemies,
who
mocked at his confidence in the Lord, vers. 2, 3. He
comforts
himself by calling to remembrance the support which
the
Lord had hitherto afforded him, the dignity to which He
had
raised him, and the manifold deliverances and answers to
prayer
which he had experienced, vers. 4, 5. He closes with
an
expression of his elevated joy of faith, vers. 6, 7; and with a
supplication
to the Lord to help him, as He had been wont to do
in
times past, and to bless His people, vers. 8, 9. The Psalm
consequently
falls quite naturally into four strophes, each con-
sisting
of two verses, the first of which describes the distress,
the
second the ground of hope, the third expresses the hope
itself,
and the fourth contains the prayer prompted by the hope.
With
this division of strophes corresponds also the position of
the
Selah, which in each case is placed at the end of a strophe.
The superscription of the
Psalm—"An excellent song of
David,
when he fled before Absalom his son"—declares it to
40 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
have
been composed when David fled from his son Absalom,
2
Sam. xv. 16. It is alleged by De Wette against the correct-
ness
of this supposition, that the Psalm itself contains nothing
in
support of it. Would not the tender heart of David, says
he,
have manifested in the presence of Jehovah, to whom he
made
his complaint, the deep wound it received from the con-
duct
of his son? In a similar way, De Wette very commonly
argues
against the Davidic authorship of the Psalms, and the
correctness
of the superscriptions, from the absence of any
definite
historical allusions. Now, it is here first of all to be
remarked,
that a prolix and detailed description of personal cir-
cumstances
is a thing impossible for a living faith, which, con-
vinced
that our heavenly Father knows what we need before
we
ask Him, is satisfied with mere allusions and general out-
lines.
It is otherwise where the prayer is only in form a
meditation
of the heart before God, but is in reality a conver-
sation
of the supplicant with himself. Then we are very prone
to
dive into the particulars of suffering, and run on in senti-
mental
descriptions of our circumstances. But still more is it
to
be considered that the sacred authors of the Psalms, and most
of
all David, had not themselves primarily in view in their
Psalms,
and only afterwards devoted that to general use, which
in
its origin was throughout individual as is commonly thought;
but
rather from the first their design in exhibiting their own
feelings,
was to build up the Church at large. The Psalms
which
arose out of personal transactions, are distinguished from
the
didactic Psalms, properly so called, by a fluctuating boundary.
The
former also possess, in a general way, the character of di-
dactic
Psalms. If we could imagine the sacred authors of them
cast
upon a desert island, with no prospect of again coming into
contact
with men, they would certainly, in that case, have lost
both
the desire and the impulse to utter their complaints and
their
hopes in the form of Psalms. For lyric poetry is not in
such
a sense subjective, that all reference to those placed in
like
situations, and agitated by like feelings, can be considered
as
shut out. David, in particular, was so closely connected with
the
Church, and recognised so thoroughly his Divine mission, to
give
it a treasure of sacred poetry for instruction, edification,
and
comfort, that he distinctly regarded all the events of his
own
course, from the first, as a type of similar ones in that of
his
brethren the righteous;—he considered himself to be their
PSALM III. 41
mouth
and representative, and the consolation primarily ad-
ministered
to him, to be equally destined for them. Herewith
was
necessarily connected a tendency to subordinate the parti-
cular
to the general, and to give only slight hints of the one
upon
the ground of the other. But such hints as confirm the
truth
of the superscription, are found in this Psalm. That
there
is a general resemblance between the position of the
Psalmist
and David's, there can be no doubt. As, according to
2
Sam. xv. 13, the report was brought to David that the hearts
of
all
18,
Hushai said to Absalom, "Whom the Lord, and this people,
and all the men of
abide;"
so the Psalmist complains, "Lord, how are they in-
creased
that trouble me! Many are they that rise up against
me;
many that say of my soul, There is no help for him in God."
In
both cases alike the distress is connected with a state of war.
And
as in 2 Sam. xvii. 1, 2, Ahithophel said to Absalom, "I
will
arise and pursue after David this night, and I will come
upon
him while he is weary and weak-handed, and will make
him
afraid; and all the people that are with him shall flee, and
I
will smite the king only;" so David says here, "I will not be
afraid
of ten thousands of people that have set themselves against
me
round about."
That a high dignity belonged to the
Psalmist, appears from
ver.
3, where he calls the Lord "his glory," and speaks of Him
as
having a lifted up his head." He is not afraid of myriads of
people;
the Lord has often already vanquished all his enemies,
—both
which indicate greatness of character in the oppressed.
The
mention of the people also, in his prayer, ver. 9, agrees well
with
his being a king, as their destiny might be represented as
intimately
connected with his own. But if the writer is a king,
of
whom can we think, but David, since, excepting him and
Solomon,
who is here out of the question, his government having
been
quite peaceful, history makes mention of no other crowned
bard;
while the dignified simplicity and freshness of the compo-
sition
bespeak his hand, and its place, also, among the Psalms of
David,
confirms the supposition? Then, if David is the author
of
it, we have only to choose between the troubles occasioned
by
Saul, and those occasioned by Absalom. Hitzig decides in
favour
of the former. For the refutation of this view, we have
no
need even to call to our aid the superscription. During the
42 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
persecutions
he sustained from the hand of Saul, David was not
yet
king. And a still stronger proof is afforded by ver. 4, where
David
says that the Lord had often before heard him from His
holy
mountain. This implies, that the seat of the sanctuary had
some
time previously been fixed in
removed
there till David had ascended the throne, after Saul's
death. Hitzig's attempt to escape from this ground
by under-
standing
the mountain to be Horeb, scarcely deserves a serious
consideration.
The whole phraseology of the Psalms repels this
supposition,
for these know no other holy mountain but Mount
where
an Israelite is found looking for help from
which
was only hallowed by ancient reminiscences, and not en-
nobled
by the presence of the Lord in later times. In fine, the
past
deliverances, on which the Psalmist, in vers. 3, 4, 7, and 8,
based
his hopes of escape from present trouble, are, manifestly,
chiefly
those which occurred in the reign of Saul. Indeed,
David
had experienced no such continued series of deliverances
in
this latter. So that we are led by internal grounds to the
very
same result, which the superscription had from the first an-
nounced.
And from this we deduce, at the same time, a favour-
able
conclusion for the superscriptions generally. The internal
grounds
lie here, as the aberrations of recent expositors show,
so
concealed, that the superscription could not possibly have been
derived
from a subtle combination of them,—a thing foreign to
antiquity.
Ewald maintains very decidedly, both that David
was
the author of the Psalm, and specially that it was composed
at
the time of Absalom. In regard to the former, he says,
David's
elevation, colouring, and style, are unmistakeable; in
regard
to the latter, he says, the author had already stood long
upon
the pinnacle of human power, had long experienced the
highest
favour from God, and often already poured forth the
feelings
of his heart in song. In ver. 8, we plainly recognise
the
noble spirit of David in that flight, by which he sought to
allay
the threatening storm, and avert from the people the burden
of
a new civil war. But we can still more nearly determine
the
situation of the bard, though only, it may be, with the highest
degree
of probability. The Psalm was, according to vers. 5 and
6,
an evening hymn. He there expresses his confidence, that,
though
surrounded by the greatest dangers, he could quietly
sleep,
and be certain of beholding the light of the following day.
PSALM III. 43
Now,
this circumstance accords only with the first night of
David's
flight, which he spent in the desert, after he had gone
weeping,
barefooted, and with his head covered, over the Mount
of
Olives, 2 Sam. xvi. 14. Comp. ver. 20. This first night was
the
most dangerous one for David; nay, it was the only night
during
the whole period of the insurrection, in which the danger
was
so very urgent, as ver. 6 states it to have been. David's
life
hung then by a single hair: had God not heard his prayer,
"Lord,
turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness," he had
actually
perished. Consequently, when the counsel of Ahitho-
phel,
to fall upon the king that very night, was rejected by
Absalom,
the strength of the rebellion was completely broken,
and
the danger in a manner past, as is manifest from this one.
circumstance,
that Ahithophel, in consequence of that rejection,
went
and hanged himself.
Two objections have been raised
against this conclusion.
First,
David was then still quite uncertain whether the Lord
would
again grant him the victory, and restore to him the king-
dom;
whereas he speaks here at the close with the greatest con-
fidence.
The passages referred to in support of this are 2 Sam.
xv.
25, 26: "The king said unto Zadok, Carry back the ark of
God
into the city: if I shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord,
He
will bring me again, and show me both it and His habitation.
But
if He thus say, I have no delight in thee; behold, here am
I,
let Him do what seemeth good to Him." And chap. xvi. 12:
"It may be that the Lord will look on mine
affliction, and
that
the Lord will requite me good for his cursing this day."
But
these passages by no means indicate a complete uncertainty,
and
are mainly to be regarded as a simple expression of the hu-
mility
which scarcely ventures to declare, with perfect confidence,
the
still never extinguished hope of deliverance, because feeling
itself
to be utterly unworthy of it; indeed, to give utterance to
this
latter feeling is their more special object. That David,
in
the midst of his deepest grief, did not abandon his trust in
the
Lord, appears from his confiding prayer, "Lord, turn the
counsel
of Ahithophel into foolishness," and from his conferring
on
Ziba the goods of Mephibosheth, 2 Sam. xvi. 4. And then
it
is not to be forgotten, that those expressions and our Psalm,
according
to the situation we are defending, were still separated
from
each other by a certain interval, great enough to admit of
the
relatively not great change of mood, which often takes place
44 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
in
a moment. It is expressly said, that David refreshed
himself
that
first night in the wilderness; which is certainly to be under-
stood,
not in a mere bodily sense, but also spiritually, since, in
troubles
of that nature, a mere bodily refreshment is inconceiv-
able.
But it is again objected, that, in such a state and con-
dition,
men do not write poetry. We might, however, appeal to
the
poems of the Arabians, which have been composed amid the
very
turmoil of action; to the fact, that the poet Lebid was
writing
verses in the very article of death, etc.; but we would
rather
admit, that there is a certain degree of truth in the ob-
jection.
The artificial construction of this Psalm, and others
composed
in similar situations (it is far from correct to regard the
Psalms
in general as the simple poetry of nature); the circum-
stance
that a number of Psalms not unfrequently refer to one and
the
same situation, as this, for example, and the fourth,—these
and
other things render it very probable, that in such cases, the
conception
and the birth of the Psalm were separated from
each
other; that David did not immediately express in manifold
forms
what he had felt in moments of pressing danger; that he
only
afterwards, and by degrees, coined for the Church the gold
of
consolation bestowed upon himself in such moments. This
opinion
was long ago held by Luther in regard to the present
Psalm;
but he, on insufficient grounds—"for it is against all
experience,
that, in the midst of the cross, no decided joy should
be
able to be felt" —adjudges the matter
of the Psalm also to a
later
period: "It is not probable that he
should have composed
it
at the time of his flight and distress. For the Holy Spirit will
have
a calm, happy, cheerful, select instrument, to preach and
sing
of Him. In the conflict, moreover, man has no understand-
ing,
but becomes capable of this only after the conflict is over
—reflects
then aright upon what has occurred to him under it.
Therefore,
it is more credible that David composed this Psalm long
after,
when he came to quiet reflection, and understood the secrets
of
his life and history, which had variously happened to him."
As in the first and second Psalms,
so here again, in this and
the
fourth, we have a pair of Psalms inseparably united by the
inspired
writer himself. The situation in each is exactly the
same;
comp. iii. 5 with iv. 8. The thoughts which agitated his
heart
in that remarkable night, the Psalmist has represented to
us
in a whole with two parts. In Psalm iii. his earlier experi-
ences
of Divine aid form the chief point, while in Psalm iv. he
PSALM III. VERS. 1,
2. 45
looks
to his Divine appointment as to the rock upon which the
waves
of revolt must dash themselves to pieces.
It is certainly not to be regarded
as an accident, that Psalms
third
and fourth immediately follow the first and second. They
are
occupied, as well as Psalm second, with a revolt against the
Lord's
Anointed; and Psalm fourth especially shows a remark-
able
agreement with it, first in thought, and then also in expres-
sion—comp.
"imagine a vain thing" in ii. 1 with "love vanity"
in
iv. 2. In this third Psalm the personal experiences and feel-
ing
of David are most prominent, and they formed the basis on
which
he reared the expectation of the events which were to
befall
his successor, the Anointed One absolutely.
Ver. 1. 0 Lord, how are mine enemies so many! Many are
they that rise up against
me. The
Mvq
with lf
used of enemies
generally
in Dent. xxviii. 7, and does not specially indicate
revolt
as such.
Ver. 2. Many say to my soul, There is no help for hint in God.
The
greater part of expositors consider ywpnl as a mere peri-
phrasis
for the pronoun. The words "my soul," indeed, occur
in
that sense among the Arabians, with whom many words have
been
clipt and pared so as to lose their original impress; but
not
so among the Hebrews, with whom the words still always
express
the thoughts and feelings. There is always a reason
why
the ywpn
rather than the pronoun is used. Here the dis-
course
of the enemies is described as one which wounds the
heart
and soul—comp. Ps. lxix. 20, "Reproach hath broken my
heart;"
also Isa. li. 23. If we explain, "of
my soul," or "to my
soul,"
the word "soul" is used because David's very life was
in
question, because his enemies thought they had it already in
their
power. No support for that rendering is to be drawn from
the
following words: "no help to him in
God." What the ene-
mies
say of David is so painful to him,
that he considers it as
spoken
personally to himself. It is his soul
that is affected by
the
discourse. It is further to be objected to that rendering,
that
rmx
with l for
the most part signifies, "to speak to some
one,"—comp.
also the opposite declaration in Ps. xxxv. 3, "Say
to
my soul, I am thy salvation." In the form htfvwy the h is
added,
as the poets not unfrequently did with nouns, which
already
had the feminine termination, to give the word a fuller
and
better sound; Ewald, p. 323. Before this h the preceding
h fem. becomes hardened into t; Ewald, p. 37.
46 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
Nyx is always negation of
being, always signifies, "it is not."
By
the expression, "in God," God is described as the ground
and
source of salvation. The enemies denied that God would
help
him, either because, in utter
ungodliness, they excluded
God
altogether from earthly affairs, or at all events thought
that
matters had gone too far with David, even for God's power
to
help him, Ps. x. 11; or because they
considered David as one
cast
off by Him, unworthy of His protection, Ps. xlii. 3, 10,
lxxi.
11, 7, 8; Matt. xxvii. 43; and this pained him most
deeply.
The last mentioned view of David's case was that taken
by
Shimei, 2 Sam. xvi. 8. He sought to rob David of his last,
his
dearest treasure: "The Lord hath
returned upon thee all
the
blood of the house of Saul, in whose stead thou hast reigned;
and
the Lord hath delivered the kingdom into the hand of
Absalom
thy son: and, behold, thou art taken in thy mischief,
because
thou art a bloody man." This kind of attack was the
most
painfully affecting. The denial, that God is our God, finds
an
ally in the believer's own consciousness of guilt, however
strongly
he may be convinced of his innocence in regard to
particular
charges, and it requires no small measure of faith to
gain
here the victory. Luther: "As if he
would say, They
not
only say that I am abandoned and trodden upon by all crea-
tures,
but also that God will not help me, who assists all things,
sustains
all, cares for all; that for me alone of all things He has
no
care, and will minister to me no support. Though every
possible
assault, the assaults of a whole world, and of all hell to
boot,
were combined, it were still nothing to the assault of God,
when
He thrusts at a man. It made Jeremiah tremblingly beg
and
pray, xvii. 17, ‘Be not a terror unto me, 0 Thou my Hope
in
the day of evil.’"
But while the words, as is evident
from the analogous ones
used
by Shimei, and also from 2 Sam. xvi. 18, principally refer
to
the will of God to help the Psalmist,
a reference to His power
also
is not entirely to be excluded. This is clear from the closing
words,
"Salvation belongeth to the Lord," which plainly refer
to
the taunt, "no help for him in God," and which vindicate
to
the Lord, not the will, but the power to help. The general
name
of God, Elohim, is used on account of the contrast that is
silently
implied to human means of help: everything is against
him
on earth, and in heaven too there is no longer any resource
for
him. The speakers are not, as De Wette supposes, the
PSALM III. VER. 2. 47
Psalmist's
despairing friends, but his enemies. Only then could
it
justly be said, that there were so many of them. De Wette's
allegation,
that the speech is not godless and spiteful enough
for
enemies, rests on a misapprehension of its real meaning.
For
to the man, who with his whole being throws himself upon
God,
it is even as "death in his bones" to hear his enemies say-
ing,
"Where is thy God?" This is the most envenomed arrow
which
they could shoot into his heart.
The selah occurs here for the first time. It is found seventy-
one
times in the Psalms, and thrice in Habakkuk. It is best
derived
from hlw,
to rest, of frequent use in Hebrew,
as well
as
Syriac. The change of the harder w to the softer s is very
common;
see Ewald, p. 29. It can either be taken as a noun,
rest, pause, or, with Gesenius in
his Thes., as the imperative
with
He parag. and in the pause. Primarily, indeed, it is a
music-mark.
But as the pause in music always occurs where
the
feelings require a resting-place, it is of no little importance
as
regards the sense, and the translators who leave it out, cer-
tainly
do wrong. This view acquires great probability, by a
particular
consideration of the places where the selah occurs. It
generally
stands where a pause is quite suitable. Others suppose
that
the word is an abbreviation of several words. But there is
no
proof that the practice of such abbreviations prevailed among
the
Israelites. Koester is inclined to regard the selah as mark-
ing
the division of strophes. But that it should in many places
coincide
with such a division, is easily explained by the circum-
stance
that the resting-place for the music must generally coin-
cide
with a break in the sense. And that selah is not strictly
the
mark of the strophe-divisions, is evident from its frequently
not
coinciding with the end of a strophe; for example, Ps. lv. 19,
lvii.
3; Hab. iii. 3, 9, in which places it is found in the middle
of
a verse. Besides, if the selah had indicated a poetical, rather
than
a musical division, the prophets, in whose writings there
are
traces of the beginnings of a division into strophes, would
have
employed it. Habakkuk forms only an apparent excep-
tion.
For the third chapter of this prophet, in which alone the
selah
occurs, embodies the feelings which were stirred in the
Church
by the announcements of God, those, namely, of judg-
ment
in ch. i., and of deliverance in ch., so that it is really
of
the nature of Psalmodic poetry, and is adapted for singing
and
playing as a Psalm; as, indeed, both its superscription and
48 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
conclusion
are borrowed from the Psalms. Our view of the
matter
is confirmed also by Ps. ix. 16, where the hls stands
along
with Nvygh,
"reflection" (see our remarks there). This
juxtaposition
decides against Ewald's notion, that selah was a
summons
to particularly loud playing, deriving the word from
a
substantive ls and that from lls, professedly signifying
to
mount; properly, "to the
heights," "up," which in matters of
sound,
must be synonymous with loud, clear.
In a philological
point
of view, also, this opinion is open to many objections. For
remarks
against this and other divergent explanations, see Ge-
nesius'
Thes. The right view was
substantially given by Luther.
The
selah, says he, tells us "to pause and carefully reflect on
the
words of the Psalm, for they require a peaceful and medi-
tative
soul, which can apprehend and receive what the Holy
Spirit
there cogitates and propounds. Which we see, indeed,
in
this verse, where the Psalmist is deeply and earnestly moved
to
feel and understand this heavy trial of the spirit, wherein
also
God seems to take part, as well as the creature."
Ver. 3. While, according to vers. 1
and 2, the earth pre-
sented
to the Psalmist nothing but trouble and danger, an helper
in
the heavens appears to his eye of faith. He comforts him-
self
in God, to whom he looks as his Saviour in all troubles and
dangers,
to whom he owed his high elevation, and who always
hears
his prayers. Man may deny him His help, but yet he
sees
in what God had already done for him a sure pledge of
what
he might still expect. Luther: "Here he sets, in oppo-
sition
to the foregoing points, three others. Against the many
enemies of whom he had spoken,
he places this, that God is his
shield. Then, as they had set
themselves against him, thinking
to
put him to shame before the world, he opposes the fact, that
God
had given him honour. Finally, he complains of the slan-
derers
and scoffers, and against these he boasts, that it is the
Lord
who lifts up his head.--To the people, and to his own mind,
he
may seem forsaken and alone; but before God, and in his
spirit,
he is encompassed with a great host, neither forsaken,
nor
alone, as Christ said to His disciples, John xvi. 32, ‘Lo
the
hour cometh, yea is now come, that ye shall be scattered
every
man to his own, and shall leave Me alone; and yet I am
not
alone, because the Father is with Me.’—However impotent
and
oppressed he might seem in the eyes of men, before God,
and
in the spirit, he is the strongest and the mightiest; inso-
PSALM III. VER. 3. 49
much
that he boasts of God's power with the utmost confidence
and
security, like
then
I am strong.’—Whoever understands, or has experienced
such
assaults, will, at the same time, understand how foolishly and
wickedly
they speak, who say that man by nature can love God
above
all things. Thou shalt find no one who will bear such dis-
pleasure
from God; and yet, if the love of God does not over-
come
that, He is not loved above all things. Therefore the words
of
this verse are not words of nature, but words of grace,—not
of
man's free will, but of the Spirit of God,—of a very strong
faith,
which can see God through the darkness of death and
hell,
and can still recognise Him as a shield, though He seems to
have
forsaken,—can see God as a persecutor, and yet recognise
Him
as an helper,—can see God apparently condemning, and
at
the same time recognise Him as blessing. For he who
has
such faith judges not by what he sees and feels, like
the
horse and mule, which have no understanding, Ps. xxxii.
9,
but clings fast to the word, which speaks of things that man
sees
not."
And
Thou, 0 Lord, art a shield about me; my glory, and
He who lifts up my head. God is Abraham's
shield, according
to
Gen. xv. 1, and
of
the law, Deut. xxxiii. 29. David has an especial predilec-
tion
for this designation: Psalm vii. 10; xviii. 2; xxviii. 7.
The
dfb,
corresponds entirely to the German um
(Anglice,
about), and to the Gr. a]mfi< Ew. p. 613, around me, giving me
protection.—My glory. Because David's glory, viz.
the high
dignity
which he possessed, was derived from the Lord; he
names
Him his glory—comp. Psalm lxii. 7,
"In God is my
salvation
and my glory." Many expositors falsely render: the
vindicator of my glory, by metonomy of the
effect for the cause.
The
parallel passages to which reference is made, such as Psalm
xxvii.
1, "The Lord is my light and my salvation," are brought
in
support only by a wrong exposition. The vindication of glory
is
a consequence of the Psalmist's having his glory from God
and
in God. What has its ground in God, that he will not
suffer
to be taken away. The lifting up of the
head marks the
deliverance
of a man from a position of humiliation, from great
dangers,
from the state in which he goes mournful and dis-
pirited
with drooping head. The discourse here, however, is
not
of the deliverance to be hoped for in this danger nor of
50 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
any
particular transaction whatever, but of all the events in
the
life of David, in which he had found that the Lord was his
deliverer.
Upon the circumstance that the Lord had generally
been
the lifter up of his head, he grounds the hope that in this
distress
also He would be the same; and from God's having
been
the source of his glory, he derived the hope that God
would
not suffer the impious attempts of those now to go un-
punished,
who sought to rob him of it.
Ver. 4. I cry unto the Lord with my voice, and He hears me
out of His holy hill. The verbs in this
verse mark a habit, not
a
single action, just as in Psalm xviii. 3, "When I call upon
the
Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and am saved from mine
enemies."
Because the Lord is, in respect to David, the one
who
hears prayer, the surest mark of a gracious condition, He
cannot
leave him now, without also hearing him. Luther
"He
speaks here chiefly of the voice of the heart; still I con-
ceive
that the corporeal voice is not excluded, and hence, that
the
voice of the heart and feeling, when it is vehement, cannot
be
restrained, but must break forth into the literal voice. For
Christ
Himself upon the cross cried with an audible voice,
teaching
us to cry in straits and necessities, and that with all
our
power, inward and outward, we should call upon the Lord.'
The
answer follows in a sermo realis. The
Fut. with vau conv.
simply
denotes the consequence from the preceding; hence, if
we
render xrqx
I call, it is to be translated, not
He answered,
but
He answers. The holy hill is
the
servant of the Lord derives his help. This faith is very
often
expressed in the Psalms. It had its ground in the pro-
mise,
that the Lord would dwell among His people, and would
sit
on a throne in the sanctuary above the ark of the covenant.
This
promise was given to help the weakness of the Israelites,
which
made them desire a praesens numen, an incorporation of
the
idea that God is, in a peculiar sense, their God. When
the
faithful seek help from the sanctuary, they declare that
they
expect it, not from Elohim, but from Jehovah—that they
hope
for that power of the covenant with
alone
they could rest with proper confidence. For the Chris-
tian,
Christ has come into the place of Jehovah, and the holy
bill.
In regard to the Selah here, Luther remarks: "The
word
means, that we should here pause, and not lightly pass
over
these words, but reflect further upon them. For it is an
PSALM III. VER.
5. 51
exceedingly
great thing to be heard, and to expect help from
the
holy hill of God."
Ver. 5. I lay me down and sleep; I awake, for the Lord sus-
taineth me; i.e. the assistance of
the Lord, which is assured to
me,
by what He has formerly done, makes me soon fall to sleep,
and
brings me a pleasant awakening. In this part also, many
expositors
think the Psalmist speaks of what is still going for-
ward:
Often already have I laid myself quietly down in the
midst
of danger, and found sleep. I have not, like those who
live
in the world without God, tossed about with uneasy cares
upon
my bed, and the issue has always corresponded with my
hopes.
I have constantly awoke without any evil having be-
fallen
me, for the Lord is my stay and help. By this construc-
tion,
however, according to which this verse would be closely
united
to vers. 3, 4, the strophe-division is entirely destroyed,
and
the Selah at the end of the preceding verse appears then
unsuitable.
The expression of confidence in regard to present
distress,
limited in such a case to ver. 6, is too short, and the
setting
forth of the Psalmist's hope ceases to bear a due propor-
tion
to the setting forth of the ground of
his hope. But if,
with
Venema and others, we refer ver. 6 also to the past, we
put
out the eye of the Psalm. It is therefore better to refer
the
words to his present danger, and regard them as the expres-
sion
of a joyful confidence, which enabled him, even in such
circumstances,
to lay himself down and sleep, and to expect also
to
awake in security and peace. The ytvcyqh is consequently to
be
taken as the praet. proph. Faith sees what is not as if it
were,
the awaking just as surely as the lying down. The verse
shows
that the Psalm was an evening hymn, as was also the
following
one, the eighth verse of which remarkably agrees
with
that now under consideration; and the praet. ytbkw im-
plies
that the Psalmist had already betaken himself to rest. It
happened
to David according to his faith. Ahithophel made
no
way with his counsel to attack by night, and David with-
drew
before break of day beyond
bus
aeque feliciter accidit," remarks J. H. Michaelis, adducing
1
Sam xxvi. 7-15, where David surprised and could have slain
Saul
while sleeping in his tent. It is only to the righteous
that
the promise is given in Prov. iii. "When thou liest
down,
thou shalt not be afraid; yea, thou shalt lie down, and
thy
sleep shall be Sweet." The ynx is emphatical, in
opposition
52 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
to
the vain expectation of the enemy: I, the very person, whom
ye
imagine to be beyond the reach of deliverance.
Ver. 6. I am not afraid of ten thousands of people, which they
set against me round
about.
The tvbbr
has reference to vbr and
Mybr in vers. 2 and 3. There is as little reason
here, as in Isa.
xxii.
7 (where it may with propriety be rendered, "The Horse-
men,
place they, towards the gate"), for taking tvw intransi-
tively,
set themselves, in which sense it
never occurs.
Ver. 7. The Psalmist prays the Lord
to justify the confi-
dence
which he had expressed in the preceding strophe, and to
fulfil
the promise substantially given in the earlier deliverances -
he
had experienced, and on which he grounded his expectation
of
present aid. Arise, 0 Lord, save me, 0 my
God. For Thou
didst smite all mine
enemies upon the cheek-bone; thou didst
break the teeth of the
ungodly.
That is, I cannot but expect
this
from Thee, as Thou hast hitherto so uniformly stood by
me.
The words "save (or deliver) me," have reference to those
in
ver. 2, " There is no help for him in God." yHl is in the
accusative.
By the smiting on the cheek, as a piece of insult-
ing
treatment, the power and energy is broken; comp. 1 Kings
xxii.
24; Micah iv. 14; Lam. iii. 30. We must not, because
of
the following clause, limit the design of the smiting on the
cheek-merely
to the knocking out of the teeth, with which the
wicked,
like so many wild beasts, were ready to eat the flesh of
David,
Psalm xxvii. 2. That clause only specifies a particular
result
of the smiting in question. The ungodly are parallel to
the
enemies in the preceding clause. This is explained by the
fact,
that David's adversaries were, at the same time, the un-
godly,
and that their hatred was directed against him as the
representative
of the principle of good. This is confirmed also
by
history. In particular, and there is no question, that, in the
wearisome
persecutions he endured at the hands of Saul, to
which
he specially refers, individual was not opposed to indi-
vidual,
but principle to principle. The ungodly principle,
thrown
down in Saul, sought afterwards to regain the ascend-
ant
in Absalom, who is only to be considered as an instrument
and
centre of the unrighteous party. The more, therefore, did
the
earlier deliverance experienced by the Psalmist, form a
ground
for his present supplication.
That tykh and trbw are not to be regarded
as praeterita pro-
phetica, as some think—that
David rather grounds, according
PSALM III. VER. 8. 53
to
custom, his prayer to the Lord for deliverance upon his
earlier
deliverances, which arose from his general relation to
the
Lord, as his present deliverance was to be a result thereof,
is
manifest from the causative particle yk, which the expositors
referred
to seek in vain to render by yea;
also from the parallel
passage,
Psalm iv. 1; and most of all, from a comparison of
vers.
2-4, the substance of which is only concisely repeated
here.
As in vers. 5, 6, he rested his hope upon the general re-
lation,
so here also his prayer. That relation also of David to
the
Lord which warranted him to seek help from Him, is alluded
to
in the expression, "my God." But it is not absolutely neces-
sary
to translate, "Thou smotest," "Thou didst break:" we
may
also correctly translate with Luther, "Thou smitest,"
"Thou
breakest in pieces;" and this rendering is confirmed
by
vers. 3, 4, where, not so much what the Lord had already
done
is represented as a ground of hope, as what He is con-
stantly
doing. The preterite not unfrequently denotes a past,
reaching
forward into the present: see Ewald's Small
Gr.
§
262. In perfect accordance with the spirit of the Psalms,
which
always treat a particular danger, threatening the right-
eous,
as representative of the entire class, Luther remarks:
"This
Psalm is profitable also to us for comforting weak and
straitened
consciences, if we understand in a spiritual sense by
the
enemies, and by the teeth of the ungodly, the temptations
of
sin, and the conscience of an ill-spent life. For there indeed
is
the heart of the sinner vexed, there alone is it weak and for-
saken;
and when men are not accustomed to lift their eyes
above
themselves, and to cry to God against the raging of sin,
and
against an evil conscience, there is great danger; and it is
to
be feared lest the evil spirits, who, in such a case, are ready
to
seize upon poor souls, may at last swallow them up, and lead
them
through distress into despair."
Ver. 8. Salvation is the Lord's. He is the possessor and
sole
dispenser thereof—He can give it to whom He pleases, even
to
the most helpless, whom the whole world considers to be in a
desperate
case. "Though all misfortune, all tribulation and evil,
should
come at once, still there is a God who can deliver, in His
hand
is help and blessing." This thought must have been pe-
culiarly
comforting to David when deserted by human helpers
and
means of deliverance. Since salvation belonged wholly to
the
Lord, he might rest secure, for the Lord was his God. Thy
54 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
blessing upon Thy people! The royal Psalmist shows by these
words
that his own person lay less upon his heart, than the
people
committed to him by the Lord—that he claims deliver-
ance
for himself only in so far as it could do good. to his people.
The
declaration in the first clause forms the necessary founda-
tion
for the prayer uttered in the second. To be able truly to
pray
from the heart, we must firmly believe that God is really
in
possession of the treasure, from which He is to communicate
to
us. In the preceding verse the order is reversed.
PSALM IV.
Encompassed by enemies, the Psalmist
calls upon the Lord
for
help, ver. 1. He turns then to his enemies, and admonishes
them
to cease from their attempts to rob him of his dignity, and
from
their vain purposes; exhorts them to reflect that the
dignity
which they sought to take from him was conferred on
him
by God, and that this fact gave the Psalmist sure ground
for
expecting the fulfilment of the prayer which he utters at the
commencement;
for what the Lord has given He must also pre-
serve,
vers. 2, 3. He warns them not to sin further by giving
way
to passionate emotions; urges them to meditate upon this
admonition
in their silent chamber, upon their bed; to cease from
their
noise and bluster; and instead of hypocritical offerings, with
which
they thought to make the Lord favourable to them, to
present
righteous sacrifices; to put their trust in the Lord, instead
of
boasting of their own power, and of the superiority of their
means
to those of the Psalmist; for only these two things,
righteous
sacrifices and confidence in God, can afford a well-
grounded
hope of a prosperous issue, and those to whom these
conditions
fail, flatter themselves with vain hopes, vers. 4, 5.
In
vers. 6 and 7 the Psalmist declares how much the confidence
in
the Lord, which his enemies wanted, was possessed by him-
self.
He despairs not in his distress, as many do, but is firmly
persuaded
that the Lord can and will help him; and this per-
suasion,
wrought in him by the Lord Himself, makes him more
blessed
than his enemies are in the very fulness of their pro-
sperity.
In conclusion, he again expresses the firmest trust in
the
Lord, in which he gives himself to sleep, ver. 8.
The strophe-division has been
correctly made by Koester
PSALM IV. 55
thus:
1. 2. 2. 2. 1. He remarks, that the first verse obviously
stands
by itself; then follows the address to the enemies in two
strophes,
a third expresses David's delight, and the last verse
again
stands alone, as a "good night." Koester's remark, how-
ever,
that the selah is twice placed a verse too early, is not cor-
rect.
On the contrary, it forms a most appropriate break in the
sense,
in the middle of the two strophes, which are directed to-
ward
the enemies. The first verse of both strophes contains the
dissuasion,
the second the exhortation; in both instances there
is
a pause in the middle, as if to give them space for reflection,
to
make them thoughtful. We need only conceive a dash to
occupy
the place of the selah.
The Psalm begins with a prayer, and
concludes with an ex-
pression
of confidence in its fulfilment. In the middle, the
Psalmist
seeks to make himself acquainted with the grounds
which
assured him of this. It is only when we take vers. 2-7
so,
viewing it as an address to the enemies merely in form, that
the
Psalm appears in its real internal connection. The pillars
of
the bridge, which in vers. 2-7 is laid between the distress
and
the deliverance, between the prayer and the confidence, are,
1.
The Psalmist's election, and the circumstance, that his ene-
mies
were striving against this Divine decree, and seeking to rob
him
of what God had given him. 2. The Psalmist's sincere
and
fervent piety (the dysH, in ver. 3), the enemies' hypocritical
and
outward religiousness, implied in their needing to be called
on
to "offer sacrifices of righteousness,"
in ver. 5. 3. The
Psalmist's
lively trust in God, vers. 6, 7, while his enemies were
placing
their confidence not upon the Lord, but only upon
human
means of help—comp. ver. 5, "put your trust in the
Lord."
Expositors for the most part refer
this Psalm also to Absa-
low's
conspiracy; and that they are right in doing so, appears
from
the following considerations:--1. The Psalmist charges
his
enemies, vers. 2, 3, with seeking to rob him of the dignity
conferred
on him by God. On this ground alone, we cannot
refer
the Psalm, with some, and in particular Calvin, to the
persecutions
of Saul. It presupposes a domestic revolt against
the
Psalmist, after he had actually ascended the throne. 2. The
Psalm
so remarkably agrees with the preceding one, which is
connected
with Absalom's conspiracy, that it must of necessity
be
referred to the same period—comp. ydvbk, “my glory,” in ver.
56 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
2,
with iii. 3, and ver. 8 with iii. 5. The objection of De Wette,
that
the Psalmist does not address a faithless son, but only men
generally,
apart from what was remarked on Ps. iii., is obviated
by
the consideration that Absalom was the mere tool of an un-
righteous
party dissatisfied with David, which made his vanity
subservient
to its own purposes; hence David, who so willingly
regarded
his son as the seduced, rather than as the seducer,
directs
his speech mainly to these. The other objections pro-
ceed
upon a false view of vers. 5, 7. So also Hitzig's opinion,
that
the Psalm must have been composed after the danger spoken
of
in the preceding one had passed away, is founded upon a
false
exposition. Claus endeavours to show, that all the ap-
parently
individual allusions in the Psalm might possibly also
be
viewed as general; but he has proved nothing that is not un-
derstood
at a glance, namely, that the individual always has at
the
same time a general aspect, and is only sketchily indicated
on
the ground of the general. We have already seen how this
structure
of the Psalms arises from the nature of the case—
out
of the living faith of their authors, which did not allow them
to
narrate at length their own circumstances, and also from their
keeping
always in view the wants of the whole community.
How
much this peculiarity of the Psalms fits them for the general
use
of the Church, is easily perceived. Only glance for a moment
at
this Psalm. How much less edifying would it have been, had
David,
in place of glory, which can be taken
in the most ex-
tended
sense, so that the very least can possess and lose it, put
his
kingly honour and supremacy; or in
place of vanity and lies,
by
which each one can understand, according to his situation,
every
kind of calumny and deception to which he may possibly
be
exposed, had substituted the foolish counsels of Absalom, and
his
companions in particular! Ewald, following many of the older
expositors,
properly concludes from ver. 8, that the Psalm was
composed
as an evening hymn and prayer. Night is the season
when
painful feelings are most apt to stir up and inflame the hearts
of
those who are far from God. That this night was the first of
David's
flight, is probable from ver. 7, in addition to the reasons
already
adduced in our introduction to the preceding Psalm.
To
the chief musician.—The word Hcnml (comp. Delitzsch
Symb. p. 25), which stands
at the head of fifty-three Psalms, is
considered
by many as an Aramaic form of the infinitive. They
render
it, either "for singing," or as Claus more definitely, "for
PSALM IV. 57
singing
through," with reference to that kind of music, of which
the
same melody is continued through different strophes, in con-
trast
to a composition embracing the whole Psalm. Both ren-
derings,
however, are quite arbitrary, and not less arbitrary is
the
explanation given of the form. The Aramaic form of the
infinitive
is never found in Hebrew; and even if it were, it would
not
be as it is here. Against this explanation may lastly be
urged,
that with that word is always joined the article. The
form
can only be the partic. in Piel with the article prefixed.
Now
Hace.ni occurs frequently in the books of Chronicles and Ezra,
in
the sense of "preside," and, as has been remarked by Ewald,
is
used only of the ordering and directing which were committed
to
the chiefs of the Levites—uncertain whether incidentally, or
whether
the word is a Levitical technical term—and in 1 Chron.
xv.
2, it is specially used of the directing of the musical per-
formance.
What could be more natural then, in the superscrip-
tions
to the Psalms, than to remember the leader of the music?
Hcnm signifies merely a "president," and
we gather only from the
context,
that a director of music is specially meant. From the
article,
which may with perfect propriety be understood generi-
cally,
we are not to conclude with Ewald, that the directorship
of
music was a standing office in the temple. The title, "to the
chief
musician," is of importance in so far, as it affords a proof
that
the Psalms which contain this in the superscription were
intended
for public use in the temple. It is only with a refer-
ence
to this that the word could hold the place it does in the
superscriptions.
This place must have been assigned it by the
authors
themselves of the Psalms, thereby begetting a very fa-
vourable
prepossession in behalf of the originality of the other
information
contained in the superscriptions. Ewald, in order
to
neutralize this testimony for the superscriptions, would fain
translate
Hcnml:
of the chief musician. In his view,
the word
indicates
that the Psalm had actually been set to music, and per-
formed
by the chief musician. But for the other rendering to
the chief musician, meaning that it was to
be delivered up to him
to
be prepared for performance (in which case the word must
have
been prefixed by the author himself, before the musical per-
actually
took place), a decisive proof is afforded by Hab.
iii.
19, the more important in its bearing on our exposition here, as
the
prophet manifestly imitates the superscription of the Psalms.
The
words ytvnygnb Hcnml, with which the song of the Church is
58 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
there
closed, can be no otherwise explained than as meaning,
"to
the chief musician upon my (
that
speaks through the whole chapter) stringed instrument;"
which
is as much as, assigned to the chief musician, that he might
have
it publicly sung in the temple with the accompaniment of
sacred
music: this might be considered to be the national music.
Negionoth is the general name for
all stringed instruments. The
whole
superscription, then, of the Psalm, is to be paraphrased
thus:
A Psalm of David to be delivered to the music director,
that
he may arrange for its performance with the accompaniment
of
stringed instruments.
Ver. 1. When I call, answer me, Thou my righteous God,
who givest me help in
distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my
prayer. The "my God"
is here rendered more definite, by an
additional
word. The Psalmist indicates that he expected help,
not
on account of any partial predilection entertained for him
by
God, but from his God being the Righteous One, who could
not
but afford aid to His righteous cause. In this he supplies
a
rule for every prayer in like extremities. To beg help, with-
out
being able thus to designate God, is equivalent to blasphemy.
For,
instead of wishing God to act according to His nature, one
then
wishes Him to deny His nature. The suffix refers, as
it
very frequently does, to the compound idea; Ewald, p. 580.
It
is used precisely in the same way, for example, in Psalm
xxiv.
5, "The God of his salvation," = his salvation-God. The
explanation
adopted by several, which takes "Thou God of my
righteousness,"
as equal to "Thou who takest the part of my
righteousness,"
can find no parallel to justify it.—yl tbHrh rcb,
properly,
in straits Thou makest me large, wide.
Narrowness is
a
figurative term for misfortune, as broadness for prosperity.
The
meaning is, "Full of confidence, I call on Thee for help,
who
hast already given me so many proofs of Thy goodness,
hast
so often already delivered me from trouble, whose proper
business
it is to do this." The verb may be rendered either,
"Thou
hast enlarged," —in which case David would ground his
prayer
for help merely upon past deliverances,—or, "Thou dost
enlarge,"
David being then understood to comfort himself with
the
thought, that God stood ordinarily to him in the relation of
a
helper in the time of need. This latter view, which is Luther's
also,
"Thou who comfortest me in distress," is to be preferred
on
this account, that the words, according to it, briefly compre-
PSALM IV. VER. 2. 59
hend
what had been set forth in detail in vers. 3 and 4 of the
preceding
Psalm, which stands so closely related to this. The
Psalmist
shortly resumes in these words what in Psalm iii. had
been
the foundation of his hope of deliverance, and raises him-
self
up in the following verses, by means of a new ground of
hope,
even his Divine election. The words have suffered a false
exposition
in two ways. First, by De Wette, who explains the
pret.
imperatively. Grammatically, this is inadmissible, for in
such
cases the vau relat. never fails; Ewald p. 554; Small Gr.
§
621. The parallel passages, Ps. vii. 7, lxxi. 3, adduced by
De
Wette are to be explained differently. And, granting that
a
single passage might be found, in which an exception occurs
to
the general rule, yet we should not be justified in adopting
here
an usage which is certainly very rare, and only to be ad-
mitted
in a case of necessity; since the exposition we prefer gives
an
easy and natural sense, and is confirmed by the parallel pas-
sages
in the preceding Psalm. Comp. Psalm xxvii. 9, where
"Thou
who art my helper" corresponds to "Thou God of my
salvation."—Then
by Hitzig, who finds here a deliverance from a
certain
particular distress, the same that was spoken of in Psalm
third.
But that this still continued, is evident from the extra-
agreement
between the whole substance of this Psalm
and
that of the preceding one. And still more decidedly is this
supposition
rebutted by a comparison of our Psalm with iii. 2-4,
and
especially ver. 7.
Ver. 2. 0 ye sons of men, how long shall my glory be for
shame? or be a matter of
reproach; i.e. when will ye at length
cease
wantonly to attack my dignity? According to De Wette,
the
expression, sons of men, must be
viewed as standing simply
for
men. But in that case it would certainly have been, not
wyx ynb, but the more common expression, Mdx
ynb. The
correct
view
was perceived by Calvin, who says: "It
is an ironical
concession,
by means of which he mocks their insolence. They
conceived
themselves to be noble and wise whilst it was only
a
blind rage that impelled them to their shameful undertakings."
The
word wyx,
when used emphatically, conveys the idea of
strength,
as man does in every language. That
the expression is
"of
the man," and not "of the men," obviates the objection, that
it
is difficult to see why it should be "sons of the man," and
not
simply "men." The revolters
considered themselves as sons
of the man in and for himself, as normal-men.
In reference to
60 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
this
foolish self-confidence, the Psalmist admonishes them, in
ver.
5, to put their trust in God. To the same haughtiness,
indicated
in the first address, the subject-matter of the remain-
der
of this verse, and of the next one, points; for it was pride
which
made the glory of him whom God had chosen in-
tolerable
to them. Agreeably to the character of the whole
Psalm,
the description of pride is as mild and gentle as possible.
The
expression, by itself, properly marks no more than power
and
might. It is all the milder that the secret blame has for
its
basis an open recognition, a free acknowledgment of their
power
and strength. Besides, the expression, "sons of man,"
is
in many places used unquestionably in an emphatical sense.
So,
for example, in Psalm xlix. 2, where "the sons of man,"
and
"the sons of men," stand in opposition to each other, as
denoting
rich and poor; Psalm lxii. 9; Prov. viii. 4. If this
emphatical
sense is rejected here, instead of a very significant
address,
which carries us into the inmost heart of the subject,
opens
up to our view the ultimate ground of the behaviour
charged
in what follows upon those here addressed, there re-
mains
only a meaningless form of speech. The question, "how
long,"
might appear, in opposition, to what we conceive to have
been
the situation of the Psalmist, to import that the improper
conduct
of the enemies had already continued a long period.
But
in so wicked a project as that of Absalom's revolt, such a
question
is not out of place, at the very commencement. That
the
words, "my glory," are not a mere circumlocution for his
person,
is obvious from the contrast in which it stands with
"shame."
How
long will ye love vanity, and seek after lies! By the
vanity
and lies, Kimchi understands the sovereignty of Absalom,
which
is so called because it was to have no continuance, and
would
disappoint the hopes of the rebels. To the same effect,
also,
Calvin. He remarks, that the revolt was very truly named
a lie, on this account, that
the persons concerned in it deluded
themselves
and others regarding the real nature of their attempt,
which
they decked out in the most splendid colours. But a
comparison
with such passages as Psalm xxxiv. 14, "seek peace,"
Zeph.
ii. 3, "seek righteousness," "seek meekness," shows that
the
seeking, in parallelism with loving, is best taken to mean
pains
with, to go about a thing,—and a comparison with such
passages
as Psalm lxii. "They only consult to cast him down
PSALM IV. VER. 3. 61
from
his excellency; they delight in lies; they bless with their
mouths,
but they curse inwardly;" Isa. xxviii. 15: "We have
made
lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid our-
selves."
Psalm v. 6, renders it probable, that by lies
is to be
understood
the mass of falsehoods through which the rebels
sought
to help forward their bad cause; and if this be the
case,
then by vanity, as in Psalm ii. 1, is
primarily to be under-
stood,
vanity in a moral sense, worthlessness. How important
a
part lies played in the revolt of Absalom, may be seen from
2
Sam. xv. 7, 8, by a signal example. Without the lie of Absa-
lom,
which is there recorded, the whole rebellion would have
been
strangled at the first.
Ver. 3. But know that the Lord hath set apart him, His pious
one for Himself. The meaning is,
"Think not that I have
been
appointed king by men: God Himself has chosen me,
whom
He knew to be a pious worshipper, to that honour, from
among
the people; and ye who presume to fight against me
really
fight against Him, who also will take the management of
my
cause." The close connection between this verse and the
preceding
one is marked by the t at the commencement. This
is
to be explained by considering the "how long," etc., as
virtually
saying, "Cease now at length to defame my glory."
If
this be the reference to the preceding verse, we cannot think
of
explaining hlpH by "to
distinguish," and of discovering an
allusion
in it to the manifold proofs he had received of Divine
favour.
It can only denote his separation to that which the
revolters
strove to take from him, viz. to glory, to royal dignity.
hlp, besides, constantly has in Hiph. the sense of singling out
or
separating; comp. Ex. viii. 18, and
especially xxxiii. 16, where
Moses
says to the Lord, "And we are separated, I and Thy
people,
from all the people that are upon the face of the earth."
As
the Lord there separated
His
godly one out of
here,
and not the one received by many commentators of dis-
tinguishing, is specially manifest
from the following vl—God
has
set apart for Himself. It is an arbitrary assumption, that
vl dysH stands for vdysH. Luther translates: But know that the
Lord
wonderfully guides His holy ones. He has combined vl
with
dysH,
and taken hlph
mean the same as xlph=xylph, the
Hiphil
of xlp,
“to be wonderful,” which is also found in a
number
of MSS. Hitzig, too, gives a similar exposition: that
62 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
God
does wonders for His holy one. The reading xlph, how-
ever,
is not sufficiently confirmed; and xlp and hlp
are never
interchanged;
nor does the latter lose its ordinary signification
of
separating in Psalm xvii. 7: Separate
Thy grace from the
number
of common acts of grace, show me singular grace.
Parallel
to this mode of expression, according to the only correct
explication,
is the passage Psalm lxxviii. 70, 71: "He chose
David
also His servant, and took him from the sheepfolds;
from
following the ewes great with young, He brought him to
feed
Jacob His people, and
the
Psalmist designates himself dysh, the "pious
one," he de-
clares
the ground on account of which God had selected him,
or
had called him out of the mass of the people to be His highest
servant
in His kingdom. Venema: "Ut quem cognosceret, cum
erga
se, tum erga homines optime affectum." Comp. 1 Sam.
xv.
28, where Samuel says to Saul, "The Lord hath rent the
neighbotir
of thine, who is better than thou;"
also 1 Sam. xvi. 7.
dsH signifies love, and is used not merely of the
love of God,
but
also of human love, of man's love to God in Hos. vi. 4:
"Your
goodness (love) is as the morning cloud," and Jer. ii. 2;
of
love toward men in Hos. vi. 6, "I have desired mercy (love)
and
not sacrifice;" and in Isa. xl. 6, where the love of the flesh
is
the love which men show to their fellow-men. dysH is one who
has
love toward God, and toward his brethren. The form
with
Chirek has not only, arising out of the passive form vbtk, a
purely
passive signification, but it also frequently forms, arising
out
of the form with Zere, adjectives of intransitive significa-
tion
(Ew. p. 234), so that there is scarcely need for saying with
Winer
that a passive form is here taken actively. That one of
the
standing titles of the righteous should specify love as one
of
his characteristic marks, is important from the bearing it has
on
the religious moral standpoint of the Old Testament, as,
showing
how little a service of dead words accorded with its
spirit.
The Psalms, in this respect, may be said
to rest upon
the
law; for there already appeared the two commands of love
to
God and to our neighbour, as those in which all particular
ones
are included, and the fulfilment of which carries along with
it
obedience to all others, while without that, this is not possible.
The
command, "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself," is
delivered
in Lev. xix. 18; love to God is expressly announced
PSALM IV. VER. 4. 63
in
the Decalogue as the fulfilment of the law, Ex. xx. 6; and
the
precept of love to God constantly returns in Deut., agree-
ably
to its design of forming a bridge between the law and the
heart,
and is expressly described as the e!n kai> pa?n, the one
thing
needful, the fulfilling of the whole law, Deut. vi. 8, x. 12,
xi.
13. Hupfeld (in De Wette) has revived an older view,
according
to which dysH
signifies, not one who has love to God
and
his brother, but one who participates in the love of God.
But
for the refutation of the assertion on which this view is
grounded,
that dsH
is never used of love to God, the passages
already
cited are sufficient; and that such a view has of late
years
been rightly abandoned, is clear from the fact that dysH
is
used of God Himself, Jer. iii. 12; Psalm cxlv. 17; and from
hdysH, "the loving one," avis pia,
as a name of the stork.
It is a good conclusion which David
here draws: The Lord
hath
chosen me, therefore will He hear my prayer against those
who
seek to rob me of the honour conferred by Him. This
conclusion
may be appropriated by all those who are assailed in
the
particular station and calling which God has bestowed on
them;
they may confidently expect the Divine help to stamp
all
the projects directed against them as vanity, and the reasons
by
which these may be justified as lies. But everything de-
pends
on the major premiss being right; and therefore were
our
fathers so extremely careful and conscientious in the in-
quiry,
whether their call were truly a Divine one. In David's
case,
it was a matter of great comfort that he could be perfectly
certain
of his election—that he had not arrogated to himself
his
calling, but had quietly waited till it was conveyed to him
by
God. All his cheerfulness during Absalom's insurrection
was
founded on that. What could he well have said to the
rebels,
if he had himself, at an earlier period, rebelled against
Saul,
and driven him from the throne? Besides,
the unques-
tionable
relation which the words, "The Lord will hear when
I
call to Him," bear to those in ver. 1, "Hear me when I call,"
renders
it manifest that the address to the enemies is a mere
form,
by which the Psalmist endeavours to make clear to him-
self
the grounds he had for thinking their project vain, and
expecting
deliverance;—it is as if he had said, "Lord, hear
my
prayer; yea, Thou wilt do it, for Thou Thyself gavest me
the
glory of which my enemies try to rob me."
Ver. 4. Be angry and sin not; say it in your heart upon your
64 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
bed and be silent. After the example of
the LXX. o]rgi<zesqe
kai> mh> a[marta<nete, Ngr
is to be
taken in the sense of being angry.
The
exhortation "to be angry" passes into its opposite, in con-
sequence
of the condition thereto annexed, as in such a case as
theirs
anger was inseparable from sin. It is substantially as if
he
had said, Sin not through anger. The choiceness of the
expressions
employed, accords with the mild character of the
whole
Psalm, and conveys this meaning: I would indeed per-
mit
your anger, if the only effect were the injury which might
thereby
alight upon me; but since you cannot be angry with-
out
sinning, I must warn you to abstain from it. The turn
given
to it by Augustine, Luther, and others, is inadmissible:
"Be
angry if you please, but see that ye do not proceed so far
as
to think, say, or do what is hurtful to your souls, and so sin
against
God, yourselves, and your neighbours." In the sup-
posed
case, to be angry and to sin were one and the same thing.
"Be
angry and sin not," is taken as an unconditional command
in
Eph. iv. 26, which is a quotation from this verse, as is mani-
fest
not only from the literal correspondence between the words
of
the Apostle and the LXX. here, but also from the allusion
made
in the succeeding words, "let not the sun go down upon
your
wrath," to the clause, "commune with your own heart
upon
your bed." The separation between being angry and
sinning,
is there also only an apparent one, meant to bring out
more
distinctly the internal connection. The exposition of
Harless:
Be angry in the right manner, so as not to be guilty
of
sin, has against it, not only the words, "let not the sun go
down
upon your wrath," which he does not find it easy to dis-
pose
of, but also the whole context, which, both before and
after,
contains nothing but express and positive prohibitions,
and
then particularly the command in ver. 31, to put away all
bitterness
and anger. The exposition adopted by several,
tremble, gives a very tame
sense, as compared with the one re-
ceived
by us. The trembling is also too
bald, and to the being
angry,
the proper contrast is being silent or still. The whole
verse
refers to the blustering passion of the enemies. Besides,
the
trembling does not accord with the tone of this Psalm, which
is
throughout full of soft expressions; neither would it suit the
character
of these revolters, to say, "We will tremble and not
sin,"
while it would, to say, "We will not commit sin by being
angry;"
nor, finally, does the trembling agree with the dis-
PSALM IV. VER. 4. 65
suasive
character which is peculiar to this verse and ver. 2,
while
it would destroy the boundary line between it and ver. 5,
which,
along with ver. 3, contains the exhortation.
Say
it in your heart upon your bed. In the retired chamber,
upon
their couch, in the lone silence of night, are the revolters
to
meditate the affair, which hitherto they had discussed only in
their
uproarious meetings, at which the better voice of the heart
was
suppressed by the tumultuous outbreak of the passions.
bkwm never signifies the sofa or divan, on which
Orientals sit
at
their conferences. By imagining this, Michaelis and Dereser
have
both given a false meaning to the passage. To a con-
trast
of actual silence points also vmd, not "rest,"
"desist from
your
sinful projects," as De Wette and others would have it,
but
according to the usual and radical signification, "be silent "
(which
is here required by the obvious reference it carries to
the
rmx),
"leave off the debates and wild cry of rebellion."
It
is to be remarked, however, that rmx (rendering in Eng. Ver.
commune) differs always from rbd as our say from speak. rmx
can
never stand alone: it must always be followed by that
which
is spoken; see Gesen. Thes. In many
cases, where the
thing
spoken is easily gathered from the context, it is left to be
supplied
by the reader. So, for example, in Ex. xix. 25, "And
Moses
went down to the people, and said to them." The sacred
writer
does not expressly say what, because it had just been
mentioned
in ver. 24. as God's commission to Moses. In like
manner,
Gen. iv. 8, "And Cain said to Abel, his brother, and
it
came to pass when they were in the field." What Cain said,
"Let
us go into the field," is not expressed, as any one can easily
gather
it from the following words, "when they were in the
field;"
comp. also 2 Chron. id. 9; xxxii. 24. Now, here the
deficiency
is to be supplied from what immediately precedes:
“Let
us not sin through anger.” Upon such
saying there
necessarily
follows silence. For when one is fairly driven into
himself,
external noises and tumults cease of themselves. Be-
sides,
a peculiar light is thrown on the admonition to the re-
volters
by the circumstance that the Psalm, as was remarked in
the
introduction, is an evening hymn.
David exhorted his enemies
to
do that which he had just been doing himself, and from
which
he was deriving a rich blessing. In the stillness of the
night
he employs himself, when lying on his bed, with his God;
and
hence is it that everything is so clear to him, so full of
66 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
light.
Had his enemies but an experience of the same blessing!
What
they would thus gain is shown by our Psalm, which is
the
result of David's lonely night's meditation. The tone is so
calm,
so mild, expressing no bitterness against the proud rebels,
but
a tender pity and compassion for them, that they should rush
so
heedlessly on destruction. The selah leaves them time, as
it
were, to take to themselves the admonition to be angry and
sin
not, and then the dehortation is
followed by an exhortation.
Ver. 5. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust
in the Lord. Expositors generally
are at a loss regarding the
matter
of this verse. Thus Ringeltaube remarks: "It is diffi-
cult
to account for such a transition, and to understand why
wicked
blasphemers should so suddenly be called to confidence
in
God." Venema thinks, that an admonition to repentance
and
conversion might rather have been expected. The key to
a
right understanding of it is the remark, that what here is spoken
in
the form of an exhortation, like ver. 4, really contains, as to
its
matter, a dissuasive from evil. The stress is to be laid upon
"righteousness,"
and "the Lord:" Bring not your hypocritical,
present
a righteous offering; confide not upon your human
resources,
but confide in the Lord. It is as if he had said,
The
victory cannot belong to my enemies, since they want the
necessary
conditions of Divine aid, righteousness and confidence
in
God. Many understand by sacrifices of righteousness, such
sacrifices
as men were by the law bound to present. Others
take
the expression figuratively, as importing sacrifices consist-
ing
in righteousness, or in righteous actions. The unsuitableness
of
the former view is apparent from the parallel member, "trust
in
the Lord," which leads us to expect here also not an external,
but
an internal requirement; it appears, further, from the entire
religious
character of the Psalms, in which, as well as in the
Prophets,
the inward disposition is constantly brought out in
bold
relief, in contrast to everything outward; and, finally, from
the
character of David's enemies, who wanted not an hypocriti-
cal,
but a true piety. The relation of this verse to the preceding
one
comes also in confirmation of the same. For if there the
dissuasion
relates to moral guilt, the exhortation here cannot
relate
to something merely external. However, we must reject
the
second exposition, not less than the first. Such passages as
Ps.
li. 18, 19, do not justify us in considering the sacrifices here
mentioned
as spiritual ones. For the opposition expressed there
PSALM IV. VER. 6. 67
between
spiritual and fleshly sacrifices, does not exist here. To
us,
sacrifices of righteousness are neither legal offerings, nor
offerings
consisting of righteousness, but righteous
offerings, such
as
were presented by a righteous man, or on a principle of right-
eousness—see
Ewald, p. 572. So, unquestionably, is the expres-
sion
used in Dent. xxxiii. 19, "They shall call the people to the
mountains,
there shall they offer sacrifices of righteousness;"
where
to take a figurative spiritual, view of the sacrifices, is out
of
the question. The quality here demanded was not found in
the
sacrifices of the enemies of David, as may be clearly per-
ceived
by looking to the sacrifices of Absalom, 2 Sam. xv. 7,
etc.,
which were most truly offered in the service of unrighteous-
ness.
The passage is correctly expounded in the Berleburg
Bible:
"Offer the sacrifices of righteousness; therefore must ye
desist
from your sin and anger, and fulfil your obligations. For
otherwise
your faith will be vain, and your whole service un-
profitable,
even though ye sacrifice ever so much. It is not enough
to
bring sacrifices, but they must also have a righteous ground.
Whosoever
hates his brother, he can bring no acceptable gift
to
the altar; his very prayer is sin. The Lord hates the re-
ligious
services which are connected with unrighteousness,
enmity,
injury to neighbours, and neglect of the obedience owing.
A
penitent and contrite heart is required to a right sacrifice,
Ps.
li. 17; and a humble and thankful faith, Ps. 1. 14, 23, that
one
may present himself to God as a living sacrifice, and his
members
as instruments of righteousness, Rom. vi. 13, xii. 1."
The
righteousness sought here as a basis
for the sacrifices, must
take
the place of that sinful anger, which was directed against
the
Lord's chosen one, and from which the Psalmist had dis-
suaded
the rebels in the preceding verse. The exhortation "to
trust
in the Lord," rests also on an implied contrast. The
rebels,
intent in their fleshly state of mind on what was visible,
believed
their cause to be sure, because while they possessed all
human
means of support, David, on the contrary, was bereft of
all.
David discloses to them the deceitfulness of their hope,
and
the danger which belonged to their condition, by calling on
them
to "put their trust in the Lord." The same contrast,
which
is here silently implied, is expressly marked in Ps. xii. 5,
xlix.
7; that it is really made here, is manifest from a compari-
son
of vers. 3 and 8.
Ver. 6. Many say, Who will show us good? Lord, lift Thou
68 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
up the light of Thy
countenance upon us.
According to the
common
interpretation, there is no connection between this verse
and
the preceding one. So, for example, De Wette remarks:
"Without
further connection the Psalmist passes on to the
thought,
etc." But merely to state this, is to produce an evi-
dence
against the soundness of the interpretation. The Psalmist
had
said in the preceding context, that his enemies lacked the
indispensable
prerequisite of salvation, confidence in the Lord;
and
here he declares, that he had this prerequisite himself.
While
in times of distress many said, Who will show us what is
good?
he replies, in firm confidence on God, Lord, lift on us
the
light of Thy countenance. The words, "Who will show us
good?"
(i.e. "give us to possess it,") several expositors regard
as
a kind of wish, as equivalent to "Would that some one would
cause
us to see good." But the words are rather the expression
of
hapless, wretched despair, which gives up all hope, because
it
can find no ground for this in the visible aspect of things.
Whence
can we expect help? Neither in heaven, nor on earth,
is
there any one who is willing and able to impart it to us. In
opposition
to this despair of unbelief, David in the second clause
places
the hope of faith: I despair not, as many do, when earthly
things
afford no ground of hope; I know that a single gracious
look
from Thee, 0 Lord, can turn away our distress. To the
“many
say,” he silently opposes: "but but I say." He does not
ask,
who? He knows the man, who can help. Perhaps David,
while
he speaks of many, has especially in his eye his companions
in
misfortune, who had remained true to him, and who, because
they
stood not upon the same high ground of faith, might partly
have
given way to despair. This supposition, however, is not
absolutely
necessary. The words, upon us, are intelligible
if we
merely
suppose that David contrasts himself with the many who
do
generally respond in adversity. Only grant, 0 Lord, that
on
me, and on all who may, like myself, find themselves in
troubles
above the reach of human counsel, the light of Thy
grace
may shine, that so help may be afforded us. hsAn; is to be
taken,
with most Hebrew expositors, for a different form of writ-
ing
xWAn;,
imperat. from xWn, "to lift up." The expression xWn
Mynp is used in the same sense in the principal
passage, Numb.
vi.
26, of the Levitical blessing, to which David here unmistake-
ably
alludes. This evident reference to the original passage
renders
it impossible for us to adopt any other explanation of
PSALM IV. VER
7. 69
the
form hsn.
David knows, that it was not in vain the Lord
had
commanded to bless His people with these words, and grasps,
with
firm faith, the promise which is contained in them. Similar
allusions
to the blessings of the priests are not rare in the Psalms;
for
example, Ps. xxxi. 16, xliv. 3, lxxx. 7. "The light of Thy
countenance,"
several explain: "Thy bright serene countenance;"
though
better, "Thy countenance-light," that is, "Thy counte-
nance
which is a light," which, lifted upon us, or directed to-
wards
us, dispels like a clear light the thickest darkness of ad-
versity,
before which the night of sorrow flies away, as the literal
night
before the sun. "To lift the countenance on any one,"
when
used of God, who sits enthroned high above us in the
heavens,
is equivalent to looking upon him.
But on whomso-
ever
the Lord looks, him He favours; whosoever is an object
of
displeasure to Him, before him He hides His countenance,
from
him He turns it indignantly away, and abandons him to
wretchedness
and despair.
Ver. 7. Thou givest joy in my heart more than in the time
that their corn and
their wine increased.
The Psalmist declares,
how
blessed he feels in this confidence upon the Lord. The
hope,
which the Lord Himself had awakened in him, in regard
to
the return of His grace, makes him more joyful in the midst
of
his distress, than his enemies were while they reposed in the
lap
of fortune and abundance. The verse, like the preceding
one,
with which it forms a pair, is occupied with the setting forth
of
the Psalmist's confidence in God. How deeply-grounded
must
that have been, when it could give such peace! The con-
trast
is not between God (apart from His gifts), the only and
highest
good (which David possessed, and his enemies lacked),
and
the perishable goods which were in the hands of his enemies;
but
rather a contrast between the hope of a coming salvation,
which
rested upon God, and the possession of such an one as is
not
only without God in the world, but has God for an enemy.
Comp.
Hab. iii. 18, where, after a description of heavy calami-
ties,
it is said, "Yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will joy in the
God
of my salvation."—More than in the
time, elliptically for,
more than their joy in
the time.
The suffix in the two last nouns
is
to be referred to the enemies. The abundance of corn and
wine,
is an individualizing description of plenty and success.
At
first sight such a description scarcely seems to accord with the
circumstances
of the period of Absalom's revolt, and De Wette
70 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
has
actually argued from this against the reference of the Psalm
to
that period. But if we only compare 2 Sam. xvi. 1, 2, we
shall
be satisfied that this trait is entirely suitable to the period
in
question. David was entertained in his flight by the bene-
ficence
of one of his subjects—Zibah brought forth bread
and
wine, that he and his servants might eat and drink in the
wilderness.
Ver. 8. The faith of the Psalmist
draws from all that pre-
cedes,
the general result. It is this, that he will rest secure
amid
all surrounding dangers, under the protection of the Lord.
In peace, secure, and without
needing to fear anything, I will
both lay me down to
sleep, and shall go to sleep. Nwy is not to be
taken
in the sense of sleeping, but in the
original—as the com-
parison
with the Arabic shows—and the predominating one of
going to sleep; Gen. ii. 21, 5; 1
Kings xix. 5, etc. Only
then
is the expression both, at the same time,
in its proper place;
he
alone, who feels himself in perfect security, can at once go
to
sleep when he lies down. The second clause is rendered by
many
expositors, For Thou, Jehovah, alone wilt
make me dwell
in safety; Thou wilt afford me
what the assistance of the whole
world
cannot do; Thou wilt protect me from mine enemies,
and
grant me rest and security. David here places his present
position
in contrast with his earlier one. Calvin: “He reflects
with
satisfaction on the guardianship of God as so sufficient for
him,
that he can sleep not less securely under it, than if he
had
many guards stationed all around him, or was defended on
every
side by many companions.” Others, again, refer the word
alone not to God, but to the
Psalmist: "Thou, 0 Lord, makest
me
to dwell alone, (and) secure;" conceiving that the words
carry
an allusion to Numb. 9, Deut. xxxiii. 28, "
then
shall dwell in safety alone; the fountain of Jacob shall be
in
a land of corn and wine." De Wette takes Sachs to be the
author
of this latter exposition. But it is to be met with in
many
of the older commentators; for example, in Venema.
Luther,
too, brings out very prominently the reference to Dent.
xxxiii.
28, although he translates, "For Thou, Lord, alone
makest
me dwell in safety."—"A saying," says he, "not un-
common
among the prophets; as if he would say, Indeed, Lord,
in
that I dwell safely, Thou art fulfilling what Thou didst pro-
mise
through
that
the alone is really to be referred to
the separation of the
PSALM V. 71
Psalmist
from his enemies, and his security against their attacks,
the
passage in Deuteronomy shows the more decisively, as the
corn
and wine mentioned in the last verse were an allusion to
the
same passage, and as the prayer, "Lift upon us the light
of
Thy countenance," also carries us back to a similar one in
the
Pentateuch. But if we take this exposition by itself, and to
the
exclusion of the other, there is something hard in it, since
the
"alone," and the "in safety," are placed so loosely and un-
connectedly
together. This difficulty vanishes if, uniting both
expositions
together, we suppose that the Psalmist had in view
a
sort of double sense "Thou, 0 Lord, makest me alone dwell
in
safety;" for, "Thou only, 0 Lord (comp. Deut. xxxiii. 12),
makest
me dwell alone and in safety." The expression, "Thou
makest
me dwell," by its peculiarity,
begets the suspicion of
there
being some original passage previously existing, from which
it
is taken, and in Lev. xxv. 18, 19, we find the words, "Ye
shall
do My statutes and keep My judgments, and
ye shall dwell
in the land in safety; and the land shall
yield her fruit, and ye
shall
eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety." With right does
the
Psalmist appropriate to himself the promises which origi-
nally
referred to
of
the individual, in whom the idea of the whole is livingly
realized;
so that we may again ascend from the individual to
the
whole.
PSALM V.
We make our commencement here with
an explanation of
tvlyHnh lx in the superscription.
This has received a threefold
exposition.
1. According to the Chaldee and the
greater num-
ber
of modern expositors, these words denote the instruments,
with
the accompaniment of which the Psalm was to be publicly
performed;
hlyHn
is held to be of like signification with lylH,
"flute,"
to which it is supposed to be related. But to this it
may
be objected, that not a trace of connection is anywhere
else
to be found between the two roots; further, that the in-
struments
are never in the superscriptions introduced with lx;
finally,
that the flute, although it is named among the instru-
ments
of the disciples of the prophets in 1 Sam. x. 5, yet is never
mentioned
as a component part of the sacred temple music;
72 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
and,
in particular, never as one of the instruments with which
the
singing of the Psalms was accompanied. For the most part,
it
is only stringed instruments that are spoken of in this latter
respect,
comp., besides the superscriptions, Ps. xcii. 3, xlix. 4, cl.;
the
trumpets, which were used only in the solemn songs of praise,
are
mentioned in Ps. 5, lxxxi. 3, xcviii. 6, cl.; but the flute
is
never named, not even among the instruments of Ps. cl. 2.
Others
suppose, that the words point to another Psalm, after the
air
of which this Psalm was to be sung; so Abenezra, Hitzig
"After
the inheritance." But a careful examination of the
superscriptions
establishes the result, that they do not afford one
certain
example of this sort; and it would require an extreme
necessity
to shut us up here to a supposition, which is so devoid
of
all certain analogy. 3. Others suppose, that the words de-
scribe
the subject of the Psalm. So all the Greek translators,
who
render the words: u[pe>r th?j klhronomou<shj, "upon the
heiress;"
the Vulgate: Super ea, quae haereditatem consequitur;
and
Luther: "for the inheritance," which he thus explains,—
"According
to the title, this is the common purport of the Psalm,
that
it asks for the inheritance of God, desiring that the people
of
God may be kept and preserved for their Lord." It is a
general
confirmation of this view, that, in by far the most dark
and
difficult superscriptions, the words are found, on close in-
vestigation,
to give a kind of enigmatical description of the con-
tents
and object of the Psalms, of which David in particular
was
fond. It is a special reason for this signification, that in
the
only other place where lx occurs in a superscription; in
Ps.
lxxx., it, in like manner, introduces the subject. This ex-
position
is therefore to be preferred, provided the word tvlyHn
admits
of a sense which can serve as a suitable designation of
the
subject of the Psalm. llHn signifies, to acquire, possess; the
feminine
of the adjective with a passive signification can, there-
fore,
only mean the acquired, the possessed; in plural, the pos-
sessions, the lots,—comp. Job vii. 3. Now, the whole
Psalm is
taken
up with a double destiny, that of the righteous, and that
of
the wicked—the blessing which is appointed by God to the
former,
and the misery to the latter; and in case of a single
word
being employed to describe the contents, none more suit-
able
could be found than that here used, "on the lots."
After an introduction in vers. 1 and
2, in which the Psalmist
entreats
the Lord that He would hear and answer his prayer,
PSALM V. 73
the
prayer itself follows in two strophes of equal length, each
consisting
of five verses, vers. 3-7, and vers. 8-12, which run
parallel
in point of matter, both treating of the same subject,
and
their individual parts corresponding to each other. In
the
first strophe, the Psalmist prays the Lord, that as he made
haste
to pray to Him—being his first business in the morning
—so
the Lord might hasten to help him against his enemies,
ver.
3; vers. 4-6 grounds this prayer upon the circumstance,
that
God, as holy and righteous hates sin and sinners, and
dooms
them to destruction; and in ver. 7, the hope and confi-
dence
is expressed, that he, the righteous, delivered through
God's
grace, will give thanks to Him in His temple. The second
strophe,
which is as it were the second table of the prayer, which,
as
in the Decalogue, is comprised in the number ten, begins
anew
in ver. 8, with a supplication for the Psalmist's deliverance
in
his conflict with the adversaries; then follows in vers. 9, 10,
the
ground of it, pointing to the sinfulness of the adversaries,
which
called for God's judgments on them, and for their de-
struction;
and the conclusion here again, vers. 11, 12, contains
an
expression of joyful hope for the righteous, whom God can-
not
fail to bless.—The only inequality in point of form is, that in
the
first strophe, the grounding of the prayer, and the delinea-
tion
given of the lot of the wicked, take up three verses, in the
second
only two: whereas the hope and the description of the
lot
of the righteous occupy but one verse in the first strophe,
and
in the second, two verses. As it is the peculiar aim of the
Psalm
to elevate the hope of the righteous, it is quite natural
that
the writer should close with a fuller expression thereof.
Venema justly describes the Psalm as
"a distinguished tes-
timony
of Divine righteousness and mercy, in defending and
blessing
the righteous, and in excluding the wicked from His
fellowship,
driving them away, and destroying them." But he
errs
in thinking that these truths are delivered by him, quite in
a
general way, without any subjective starting point, without
any
actual oppression of the righteous, by the wicked giving
occasion
to the unfolding of these truths,—a supposition in
which
he was already preceded by Luther, who says: "It is
certain
that this Psalm does not treat of external suffering and
opposition,
for not a word in the whole Psalm makes mention
of
that; but all the complaint is directed against the wicked,
the
ungodly, and workers of iniquity. Hence it appears to me,
74 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
that
the leading object and characteristic of this Psalm is, that
in
it the Psalmist prays against hypocrites, against self-righteous
seducers
and false prophets, who mislead the people of God, and
the
heritage of Christ, with their human statutes." That the
Psalm
originated in the oppression of actual enemies, appears
from
the mention of these in ver. 8, from the "for" in ver. 4,
and
the same in ver. 9. When the Psalmist grounds his prayer
for
acceptance and blessing on the abandonedness of the wicked,
it
is presupposed that the wicked were his enemies. He does
not
say, as he should have done, according to that hypothesis,
Bless
the righteous, destroy the wicked; but he says, Discomfit
the
wicked because of their wickedness, and thereby
deliver the
righteous.
What has misled men into that hypothesis, and
given
it probability, is the Psalmist's here specially bringing
out,
as a ground of hope for the righteous, that his enemies in
general
are wicked, while elsewhere, that which they actually
do
as enemies is particularly declared—there it is: "Deliver me
from
mine enemies, for they wrong me;" here:
"Deliver me
from
them, for they are evil, but I am righteous; and Thou canst
not
but, according to Thy nature, destroy the wicked, and bless
the
righteous." The authors of the Psalms divide the treasure
of
consolation, which God has given them as householders, into
particular
gifts, and sometimes they exhibit one, sometimes an-
other.
Here, for example, the particular point brought into
notice
is, that the enemies of the Psalmist are, at the same time,
rebels
against God, to whom He cannot accord the victory, with-
out
denying Himself; while the Psalmist, on the other hand, was
a
righteous man,—that it was impossible God could interchange
or
confuse the unalterably fixed, and perpetually separated lots
of
the righteous and the wicked; while in Ps. vi. the ground
of
hope is derived from the extremely sad position in which
the
Psalmist had been placed by his enemies. In brief, the
Psalmist
raises up the suffering righteous, by pointing to the
unchangeable
Divine righteousness, which will see to it that the
righteous
and the wicked shall each receive their respective lots.
He
points out how his deliverance from the hand of the wicked
is
as undoubtedly certain, as that God cannot deny and forget
Himself.
The superscription ascribes the
Psalm to David; and that no
exception
can be taken against this from ver. 7, where the house
and
temple of the Lord are spoken of, we shall show in our
PSALM V, VER. 1. 75
remarks
on that verse. What Hitzig has advanced against its
Davidic
authorship, viz., the slow motion and diffuseness of
expression,
is only, in so far as it is well grounded, of force
against
those who suppose a particular occasion. The racy style
and
liveliness of feeling generally to be perceived in those
Psalms
of David, which originated in particular occasions, we
certainly
do not find here.
Various defenders of the Davidic
authorship have tried to
discover
some such particular occasion here; usually, it has
been
attributed to the revolt of Absalom,—but the endeavour
has
been found to be quite fruitless. Ver. 7, which might be
connected
with 2 Sam. xv. 25, is altogether general in its sub-
ject,
and contains only such matter as every righteous man
might
utter. Not a single trace is to be found in the whole
Psalm,
of any particular reference. And what is the main
point,
viz., that the Psalmist speaks, not in his own person, but
in
that of the righteous, puts the words into his mouth, which
he
is to use in times of oppression, is clear from the close in
vers.
11 and 12, where, instead of saying "I," he brings for-
ward
those who "trust in the Lord," "who love His name,"
"the
righteous." The Psalm is, therefore, in the most proper
sense,
a
didactic one.
This Psalm probably owes its place
here to the circumstance
of
its being designed for a morning prayer, ver. 3. On this
account
it appeared very appropriate to connect it with Psalm
iii.
and iv., which are evening prayers.
The significant part which the numerals play in our Psalm,
is
worthy of remark. The three which the Israelites accounted
peculiarly
important and sacred, are found in it. The whole
Psalm
contains twelve verses; its proper building without the
ante-chamber,
ten; the delineation of the malice of the wicked
twice
over, makes up the number seven.
Ver. 1. Give ear to my words, 0 Lord; understand my medi-
tation. gygh, which, excepting this passage, occurs only in
Ps.
xxxix.
3, is to be derived from the verb ggh, which is of the same
import
as hgh.
There is no reason for renouncing here, the
common
signification, "to meditate," which is also quite suit-
able
in Ps. xxxix.; indeed, the context favours this. David
puts
first the general expression, "my words." This he now
divides
into two parts, the low and the loud; the silent com-
plaint
of the heat, the unutterable sighs, which are understood
76 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
by
Him who searches the heart, of which Paul also speaks in
Romans
viii. 26, 27; and the loud cry of the distressed soul
for
help, in the following verse. Nyb, is not to be taken
with
Luther,
and most modern expositors, in the sense of to
observe,
to consider, which the verb never
has, when construed with the
accusative,
but in the sense of understanding or perceiving,
which,
as Muis has remarked, is favoured also by its connection
with
meditation.
Ver. 2. Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King and my
God! This address proclaims
the ground of the Psalmist's, or
the
righteous man's right to demand help, and of his hope in
regard
to it. God is named King here, not on account of His
resistless
sovereignty over the whole earth, but on account of
His
special relation to
evil
to triumph in His kingdom, and He cannot but defend
him,
who, as righteous, can address Him as his
King. This
address,
therefore, reminds God candidly, as only a believer can,
of
His obligation to help: it is, at the same time, an exhortation
of
the Psalmist to himself, to trust in Divine help. Another
reminder
lies in the words, for unto Thee do I
pray—where the
for refers to the preceding
imperative. David, as Calvin re-
marks,
“sets out with the general principle, that those who call
on
God in their necessities, are never cast off by Him. He
places
himself in opposition to the unbelieving,
who in misfor-
tune,
neglecting God, either consume their grief within them-
selves,
or make complaints of it to men, and are unworthy,
therefore,
that God should take cognizance of them.”
Ver. 3. My voice mayest Thou hear in the morning, 0 Lord;
in the morning I set in
order my prayer to Thee, and look out.
Previously,
the Psalmist had entreated the Lord generally to
render
help; now, he desires Him to make haste to perform the
same.
It is, says he, so soon as I awake, my first work in the
day
to flee to Thee: do Thou, therefore, hasten also to help me.
Comp.
in Ps. 8, "Cause me to hear Thy favour in the
morning,"
with that in ver. 7, "Hear me speedily." That fmwt
is
to be taken optat., and is not, with Hitzig, to be translated,
hearest Thou, is clear from the
analogy of the corresponding
verse
just referred to, where the imperative is found, as also
from
the words, I look out, which, as to
matter, equally con-
tains
a prayer. j`rf, to set in order, is used of arranging
the
wood
upon the altar in Gen. xxii. 9, Lev. i. 7, 1 Kings xviii.
PSALM V. VER. 4. 77
33;
the bread upon the sacred table, Lev. xxiv. 8,
comp. Ex.
xl. 23, Lev. xxiv. 6. The matter which is here set in order,
are
the words of his prayer. Still the expression, "I will set in
order,"
has not merely the force of "I will direct to Thee;"
but
the prayer, probably with a special allusion to the shew-
bread,
is described as a spiritual oblation, which the Psalmist
prepares
for the Lord with the break of day. And
then I look
out. hpc, speculari, namely,
whether the answer, the help, ap-
proaches.
The Psalmist, having done his own part, waits in
faith
that God also will do His. The image is taken from those
who,
during hostile attacks, look out from a high watch-tower,
to
see whether help is at hand. Comp. Hab. ii. 1, where the
same
image is more fully expressed. Micah vii. "Therefore
I
will look unto the Lord (rather, I will look out in the Lord),
I
will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me."
The
Berleb. Bible: "One must keep on the watch, if one would
receive
anything from God, and wait with longing for the de-
sired
answer; also be constantly looking after the help, and
giving
heed to whatsoever the Lord may speak." This verse
shows
that the Psalm is a morning prayer, just as the two pre-
ceding
Psalms contained prayers for the evening. That the pious
in
Church
has also consecrated to prayer, appears from Ps. lv. 17,
"Evening,
morning, and at noon will I pray, and cry aloud;
and
He shall hear my voice." Of the morning prayer alone
is
mention made in Ps. lxxxviii. 13, "But unto Thee do I cry,
0
Lord; and in the morning shall my prayer surprise Thee."
Ver. 4. For Thou art not a God whom wickedness pleases;
the wicked dwelleth not
with Thee.
The for, which connects
vers.
4-6 with ver. 3, is only satisfactorily explained, when his
deliverance
from his enemies is considered as the object, though
not
expressly named, of the Psalmist's prayer, and of his earnest
expectation:
Hear my prayer for deliverance from mine enemies,
for
Thou art not a God that has pleasure in wickedness, etc.
But
mine enemies are wicked; therefore Thou must subdue
them,
and deliver me. Upon the number seven in the descrip-
tion
of wickedness, Luther has remarked: "With seven words
does
the prophet accuse the ungodly preachers and their dis-
ciples,
those who seek holiness by works." It is the less likely
to
have been an accident, as the number seven occurs again in
vers.
9 and 10. j~r;giy; is not to be regarded, with many exposi-
78 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
tors,
as standing for j~mf rUgy; nor may we, with Ewald, account
for
the accus. by saying, that to dwell with
is here put for to be
confidential, to know any one as a
friend; for in other passages,
such
as Ps. cxx. 5, where the verb is in like manner joined with
the
accus., this modification of meaning is inadmissible. There
it
is used of such as dwell with any one by constraint, and un-
willingly.
The construction is rather to be accounted for by
considering
the person as comprehending its property in itself:
"to
inhabit the Lord," for, "to inhabit the house of the Lord."
This
supposition is strongly confirmed by the fact that lhxb
rvg.
hvhy, “to dwell in the tabernacle of the Lord,"
usually is hvhy rvg;
that
is, "to inhabit the Lord" (as we explain the words), de-
noting
the near relation to the Lord, and His protection; comp.
for
example, Ps. xv. 1, lxi. 4. The figure is taken from him
who
receives a pilgrim, rge, hospitably into his dwelling. Who-
soever
is received to such honour by God, he must take care
not
to pollute His pure dwelling with unrighteousness. He
must
be holy, even as God is holy.
Ver. 5. The proud come not before Thine eyes, Thou hatest
all workers of iniquity. They must not appear
in His sight; a
mark
of the deepest abhorrence, taken from earthly kings, near
whom
none are allowed to come, excepting those who enjoy
their
favour. De Wette falsely: "They cannot bear Thy
presence
on account, of their evil conscience," instead of:
"Thou wilt not bear their presence on account of Thy holi-
ness."
Hab. i. 13 is parallel, "Thou art of purer eyes than to
behold
evil, and canst not look on iniquity; wherefore lookest
Thou
upon them that deal treacherously, etc." Myllvh, proud,
from
llh, to shine, then "to be proud,"
in Hithp. to boast.
From
the parallelism here and in other passages with "evil-
doers"
and "ungodly," some would judge the word to have a
more
general signification. But this is to be admitted only, in
so
far as pride, together with covetousness and lust, is con-
sidered
in Scripture as one of the main roots of all sinful cor-
ruption,
so that every proud and lofty one is, at the same time,
an
ungodly person, and a worker of iniquity. In regard to the
object
aimed at by this representation of the hatred of God
toward
the workers of iniquity, Calvin remarks: "It is an ex-
cellent
conclusion: God hates unrighteousness, therefore He
will
take righteous vengeance on all unrighteous persons."
Ver. 6. Thou destroyest them that speak lies; the Lord ab-
PSALM V. VER. 7. 79
hors the bloody and
deceitful man.
Berleb. Bible: "In us are
selfish
and vain thoughts, which, as liars, only seek after vanity,
and
would fill our souls therewith; but these, Lord, Thou wilt
bring
down by the sword and word of Thy mouth, and root out
all
falsehood in us."
Ver. 7. And I, through Thy great favour, will come into
Thy house, to worship in
Thy fear toward Thy holy temple.
In
the words and I, a contrast is
presented to the enemies
who
are doomed to destruction. So also do the words, in the
greatness of Thy favour, stand in opposition to
the Lord's ab-
horrence
of sinners expressed in the preceding verse. Coupled
therewith
is a reference to the greatness of the distress, which,
irremediable
by human means, called for a singular
manifesta-
tion
of Divine help. While mine enemies, whom the Lord
abhors,
perish, I, whom He loves as His pious worshipper, shall
come,
not through mine own power, but through the greatness
of
His favour, etc. This contrast to the Lord's abhorrence
of
the ungodly, is by itself a proof how falsely some expound:
"In
the greatness of My love towards thee." This exposition
has
not the slightest support even from the usus
loquendi. dsH
hvhy, is never love to God, but always the grace or favour of
God
towards His people. It is also opposed by Ps. lxix. 13, 16,
where
"the multitude of God's tender mercies" is celebrated
as
the cause of deliverance.
The coming into the house of God,
and worshipping toward
His
holy temple, is mentioned here only in respect to its occa-
sion,
only so far as its aim was to give thanks to God for his
deliverance,
and presupposes this. Comp. Ps. lxvi. 13, "I will
go
into Thy house with burnt-offerings, I will pay Thee my
vows."
In Thy fear, corresponds to in the greatness of Thy
favour. The fear of God, a
reverent regard to Him, is the
fruit
of the manifestation of His fulness of love, of the display
of
His glory in the Psalmist's deliverance. As the product of
God's
manifestations, fear is not unfrequently named; for ex-
ample,
Gen. xxviii. 17, where, after one of God's richest mani-
festations
of grace had been noticed, it is said, "Jacob was
afraid,
and said, How dreadful is this place!" also Hab.
"0
Lord, I have heard Thy report (the report, viz., of Thy
glorious
deeds in behalf of Thy people), and was afraid." Com-
pletely
mistaken is the sense which De Wette and others give
to
this verse, understanding it thus: "The Psalmist pronounces
80 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
himself
blessed in opposition to the ungodly, in that he belongs
to
those who can approach God; he visits His temple and serves
Him.
But it is of God's great mercy, that he may do this."
Against
such a view it is enough to compare this verse with the
corresponding
11th, which, like this, expresses, according to our
view,
the hope of deliverance. The manifest contrast to the
miserable
lot prepared by God for the wicked, vers. 4-6, re-
quires
that here the happy condition of the righteous should be
described.
Access to the outward sanctuary was free also to
the
ungodly, and it did not require "the fulness of the love
of
God" to keep open the way. The "fulness of the love of
God,"
as contrasted with His annihilating abhorrence of the
wicked,
can only be considered here so far as it is the power
which
delivers the righteous. The expression, "in Thy fear,"
is,
according to the view in question, torn away from its con-
nection
with the words, "in the greatness of God's favour."
And,
what is the main point, this explanation gives the first
strophe,
which is manifestly complete in itself, an unsatisfac-
tory
conclusion. The Psalmist had begun with a prayer for
help
and deliverance, grounded upon God's abhorrence of sin,
in
consequence of which He cannot but destroy the wicked, his
enemies.
The only conclusion we could expect, is the hope and
confidence
of help. But instead of this, the Psalmist is made
to
speak of his happiness in being able to visit the temple of the
Lord—how,
we are not told; and of the result of his prayer
We
learn absolutely nothing. jwdq-lkyh-lx: is not, as many expo-
sitors
take it, in, but "to Thy holy temple." The interior
of the
ing
to the custom of the worship then established, turn, at the
time
of prayer, towards the place where the gracious presence
of
the Lord had its seat, from whence also his aid had come.
hvhy lkyh was the dwelling-place of the Lord, not
so named as
being
a great building, but from being His residence as King of
whether
it be splendid or not. Hence the tabernacle bore this
name
equally with the subsequent temple. Of the former it is
used
in 1 Sam. i. 9, iii. 3: "And ere the lamp of God went
out
in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was,"—
passages
which, with perfect arbitrariness (for there is no reason
to
consider lkyh
as exclusively used for designating the temple),
men
have sought to get rid of by the remark, that the author
PSALM V. VER. 8. 81
unconsciously
carries back to an antecedent period, a word
of
later origin. But an incontestible proof that the word
was
applied also to the tabernacle, is furnished by Ps. xxvii.
From
that word occurring in ver. 4, De Wette concludes the
Psalm
not to be one of David's. But he has overlooked the
circumstance,
that in ver. 6 of the same Psalm, the Psalmist
vows
to bring an offering to God in the tabernacle or tent-
temple.
It is undeniable, therefore, that at a time when the
temple
was still unbuilt, the holy tent was named lkyh; first the
old
Mosaic tabernacle, then the tent which David erected over
the
ark of the covenant on
maintain,
as is usually done, that the word denotes the Holy, in
opposition
to the
are
perplexed with this passage, since the person praying could
only
so far direct himself to the lkyh, as the Lord was
throned
there,—comp.
Ps. xxviii. 2, where David stretches out his hands
to
the holiest of all; and 1 Sam. iii. 3, where the lamp belong-
ing
to the sanctuary is represented as being found in the Hekal.
The
right view is, that Hekal denotes the Holy and the Most
Holy
Place together—the temple in the strictest sense, as op-
posed
to the outer courts. Only in a few passages, such as 1
Kings
vi. 5, is it used specially to denote the
it
is limited by being expressly distinguished
from the Most
Holy
Place,—a relation similar to that of
Hekal
of itself denotes the
idea
is only conveyed by the context.
Ver. 8. The Psalmist makes here, as
it were, a new onset.
Just
as upon his prayer joyful hope had followed, so here out
of
his hope a new prayer comes forth, to which new confidence
attaches.
The matter from vers. 8-12 runs parallel with vers.
3-7,
first a prayer, then its ground, and lastly a hope.—Lead
me, 0 Lord, in Thy
righteousness, because of mine enemies; make
Thy way smooth before my
face.
The Psalmist prays the Lord,
that
He would display His righteousness in His dealings, and
bring
salvation to His servant. A great many expositors,—of
more
recent ones, De Wette, Ewald, Hitzig, Maurer,—translate
"in
the righteousness" which Thou requirest, which is well-
pleasing
to Thee. The words, "because of mine enemies," i.e.
from
regard to them, that they may not triumph over me, if I
should
make a false step; "make straight Thy way before me,"
82 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
make
easier for me the course of action, which Thou lovest.
But
the whole of this interpretation is certainly erroneous. The
righteousness
here spoken of is rather the attribute of God,
according
to which He gives to every one his own—befriends
the
pious, who confide in His promises, and destroys the un-
godly.
This is evident from the for in the
next verse, which
assigns
the reason. How little this accords with the first expo-
sition
may appear from the remark of De Wette in the earlier
editions
of his Com.: "yk, dropt out in the translation, is not
here
a proper logical for, and is often an
expletive;" and also
from
the remark made in the fourth edit., on ver. 9, "the
ground,
on account of which God should uphold him in right-
eousness,
and protect him against his enemies,"—which last
words
he is obliged to supply, though his exposition of the pre-
ceding
verse does not justify him in doing so. The meaning is:
Because
mine enemies are so godless, but my cause and object
are
righteous, Thy righteousness demands that Thou shouldst
guide
me, as I can find no other resource,--shouldst make
plain
to me Thy way, the path by which Thou leadest me,
and
remove the mountains of difficulty which Thou hast now
thrown
in the way. This view is confirmed as the right one, by
a
comparison with ver. 5, where David pleads for help on the
same
ground, and also with ver. 12, where it is said, "Thou,
0
Lord, blessest the righteous."
It is a further confirmation,
that
this view alone brings the prayer here into a proper rela-
tion
to the hope in ver. 11, which concerns not moral preserva-
tion,
but salvation and blessing. Then, on no other interpreta-
tion
can our verse be fitly connected with ver. 7, where not
moral
support, but salvation and deliverance are hoped for—
and
in particular, the words, "In Thy righteousness," with
"the
greatness of Thy favour." Finally, our interpretation is
borne
out by a great number of parallel passages in the Psalms,
the
meaning of which has in no small degree been perverted;
for
example, Ps. xxiii. 3, "He leadeth me in the paths of right-
eousness;"
Ps. xxv. 4, 5, "Show me Thy ways, 0 Lord; teach
me
Thy paths: lead me in Thy truth, and teach me; for Thou
art
the God of my salvation;" Ps. xxvii. 11, "Teach me Thy
way,
0 Lord, and lead me in a plain path, because of mine ene-
mies."
The expression "in Thy
righteousness," is, according
both
to the parallelism and the parallel passages, to be thus
explained,
that the righteousness of God is represented as the
PSALM V. VER. 9. 83
way
in which the Psalmist desires to be led, by which nothing
more
is meant, than that it should develop itself in what befell
him.
When the Psalmist pleads, "because of his enemies," it
shows
how much, being surrounded by powerful adversaries, he
stood
in need of help. Through the whole he has only to do
with
Divine aid against his enemies.
In the word rwvh there is united a
twofold reading. The
consonants
belong to that of the text, which must be pronounced
rwaOh, the vowels to that of the gloss rway;ha. Both forms are the
imperative
in Hiph. of the verb rwy, to be straight. The form
of
the text is here, as always, to be preferred; for in Hiph.
the
original verbs yp almost always borrow their forms from the
vp; comp. Ewald, p. 393. The Masorites have here,
as very
often,
only substituted the grammatical regularity, to which they
were
also particularly led by a regard to Prov. iv. 25, where the
form
rwyh
is actually found. Just as in our text they satisfied
their
love for regularity and uniformity by substituting rwyh for
rwvh, so in Isa. xlv. 2, for the same reason, they
placed the Piel
in
the Kri instead of the Hiph. of the text.
Ver. 9. For there is no uprightness in his mouth; their inward
part is wickedness,
their throat is an open sepulchre, they make
smooth their tongue. We remarked already,
that here also the
description
of the wickedness of the enemies is completed in the
number
seven. The four points contained in our verse are
obvious;
and to these must be added those in ver. 10—their
destructive
counsels, the fulness of their transgressions, their re-
bellion
against God. Our verse corresponds exactly to the 4th
and
5th verses, and ver. 10 to the 7th. In both places, the
seven
fall into four and three. The for
shows that vers. 9 and
10
lay the ground of the petition expressed in ver. 8. God
must
take the part of the Psalmist, and grant him deliverance,
for his enemies are in the
highest degree corrupt, are rebels
against
God, whom He, as the Holy One, cannot but discomfit.
The
suffixes refer to the adversaries in ver. 8. The use of the
singular
suffix at the first, is to be explained by the entire mass
of
enemies being represented by the Psalmist as one person, as
personified
ungodliness. The enemies are only numerically
dif-
ferent;
in respect to wickedness, there is no distinction among
them.
They are as a head with many members. "There
is
no uprightness in his mouth." They speak nothing but
faithless
deceit and lies. Comp. Ps. lxii. 4, "They bless with
84 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
their
mouth, but they curse inwardly." "Their inward part"
many
explain simply by "their soul." But this is not allow-
able;
for in the whole verse mention is always made of the
bodily
part that corresponds to the spiritual. So that here also,
the
inward as opposed to the outward—the mouth as the organ
of
words—denotes the heart as the seat of feelings. We too
speak
of the heart in the body. hUAha, from hvh=hyh, to be, pro-
perly
accident, casus; then in a bad sense, an ill accident, mis-
fortune,
evil, and not simply such as one suffers,
but, as here,
such
also as one brings—hurt, wickedness.
"Their heart is
wickedness,"
very expressive; it has so completely taken posses-
sion
of their hearts, that there is no distinction between them.
The
throat, according to several, is
introduced here as the organ
of
swallowing, to denote the insatiable thirst for destruction of
his
enemies. So Calvin: "He compares them to graves, as if
he
would say, They are all-devouring abysses; denoting thereby,
their
insatiable thirst to shed blood." But the throat is com-
monly
used as an organ of speech; comp. Ps.
cxlix. cxv. 7, etc.;
and
that it must here also be regarded as the same, appears
from
the connection in which it stands with the mouth as an in-
strument
of speech, with the heart as the source of speech, and
with
the tongue. The point of comparison between the throat
and
an open grave is, that each is pregnant with destruction.
Their
talk prepares destruction for those who approach them.—
They make smooth their
tongue,
speak smoothly and hypocritically.
Venema
"They pretend love to God and man, that they may
the
more easily impose on the credulous, and overwhelm them."
Falsely
many: with the tongue. Mnvwl is accusative, governed
by
the verb NvqylHy, which in Hiph. is always transitive; and in
connection
with the accusative, "the tongue," or "the words,"
as
in Prov. ii. 16, vii. 5, signify "to flatter."
Ver. 10. This verse, as to its
matter, continues the plea for
deliverance,
grounded by the Psalmist on the corruptness of his
enemies,
which, according to the Divine righteousness, would
necessitate
their destruction. But in place of: Thou must or
wilt
hold them guilty on account of their counsels, etc., the im-
perative
is introduced for liveliness of effect: Hold them guilty,
etc.
Hold them guilty, 0 God; let them fall on
account of their
counsels; on account of
the multitude of their crimes, overthrow
them, for they have
rebelled against Thee.
Mwx
signifies in Kal
to be guilty; hence, in Hiph., in
which it occurs only here, to make
PSALM V. VER. 10. 85
or
hold guilty. It is wrong to say, that
the word in Hiph. exactly
means
punish. It is perfectly sufficient to
take it as meaning
"to
make guilty," "to represent as guilty," in so far as the guilty
is
thereby first exhibited before the eyes of men in his real
character:
comp., for example, Ps. xxxiv. 21, "Evil shall slay
the
wicked, and they that hate the righteous shall be guilty."
Michaelis: Reos eos pronuntia, ut qui multis modis rei
suet.
Luther:
"The word properly signifies such a decision and
judgment,
as would show and manifest what sort of men they
are,
when their ungodly nature is disclosed, and is made known
to
every one." In the expression Mhytvcfmm vlpy, the preposition
is
best taken as the causal m: comp. Hos. xi. 6, where the same
compound
is used in the same sense; "on account, because, of
their
counsels." This exposition is confirmed by the analogy
of
the following clause, "Because of the multitude of their
crimes;"
and also, "For they have
rebelled against Thee."
Only
when thus understood, can the clause fall into the circle
of
the number seven. The cause of their perdition, and of the
Psalmist's
deliverance from them, is, that their mouth is with-
out
uprightness, etc. These ground's decide against other ex-
positions.
Not a few, following in the footsteps of Luther—
that
they fall from their own plans:—let them
fall, perish from
their counsels, i.e. without their being
able to execute them.
Others:
"Let their counsels become vain," Nm lpn like the
Latin,
spe excidere, ausis excidere. But against this, it is to
be
urged, that no example can be produced of this signification.
Then
there is the parallel, "overthrow them," which shows that
lpn must here mean "fall" in its proper
sense. Comp. Ps.
xxxvi.
12, "There are the workers of iniquity fallen: they
are
cast down, and shall not be able to rise:" Ps. cxli. 10.
Still
others: "Let them fall by their counsels, or through
them."—
brb
signifies prop. in the multitude of.
The effect
rests
in its cause. For against Thee have they
rebelled. The
verbs
which express an affection, particularly those which mark
a
hostile feeling, are commonly connected with the object to
which
the effect adheres, by the prep. b. Since the Psalm, as
already
shown, refers not specially to David, but to the right-
eous
generally, we must not expound: "For not against me,
but
against Thee, have they rebelled;" the contrast is one be-
tween
enmity toward men, and rebellion against God. The
Psalmist's
enemies must sustain a defeat, for they are rebels
86 TIIE BOOK OF PSALMS.
against
God, whose sacred rights they trample under foot.
God
would not be God, if He should suffer them to go un-
punished.
The wishes of the Psalmist are at the same time so
many
predictions; for he prays only for that which God, on the
supposition
that his enemies do not change—that is expressly
stated
in Ps. vii. 12, and is always to be supposed in such
cases—must,
according to His nature, necessarily do; the re-
quest,
hold them guilty, has this for its
ground and justification:
Thou
must hold them guilty. For what God does, and must
do,
that man not merely may, but should wish. So already
August.
Sermo. 22 ad Script.: "The prophet utters in the form
of
a wish, what he certainly foresees, will take place, showing
simply,
as appears to me, that we may not be dissatisfied with
the
known decree of God, which He has firmly and unalterably
fixed."
Of a thirst for revenge, there can be no question in
cases
like the preceding; it is not against personal enemies as
such,
but only against enemies of God, that the Psalmist pre-
tends
to give judgment.
Ver. 11. And all those that put their trust in Thee shall re-
joice; they shall for
ever shout for joy, and Thou wilt protect
them; and in Thee shall
they be joyful, who love Thy name.
The
and connects this with the
announcement indirectly con-
tained
in the preceding context, of the overthrow of the wicked.
That
the Futures of the verbs are not, with Luther and others,
to
be taken optatively (let them rejoice, etc.), but in the sense
of
the Future, expressing not a prayer, but a hope, is clear from
the
analogy of the corresponding eighth verse. That those who
trust
upon the Lord, are not, as most expositors think, such as
are
different from the Psalmist, rejoicing at the deliverance
granted
to him, but rather those very persons who participate
in
the deliverance,—that the gladness and rejoicing here, are
considered
only in respect of their object and occasion: "they
shall
rejoice, etc.;" as if he had said: "Thou wilt, through Thy
salvation,
afford them cause for joy,"—is evident, 1. From the
analogy
of ver. 7, where, in like manner, the hope of salvation
is
indirectly declared,—the joy and rejoicing here correspond
to
the coming into the temple there: 2. From the circumstance,
that
if the Psalmist spoke of others, who would be glad at his
deliverance,
this object of their delight would probably have
been
more minutely described: 3. From the words, "they shall
for ever shout for joy,"
which, as others could not possibly be
PSALM V. VER. 12. 87
supposed
to rejoice perpetually at the deliverance of the Psalmist,
necessarily
imply, that the persons rejoicing are the delivered
themselves,
and that the rejoicing is spoken of only as the con-
sequence
of the deliverance; Thou wilt give them perpetual
cause
for rejoicing: 4. From the consideration, that "they
shall
rejoice," "they shall shout for joy," "they shall be
joyful,"
stand
entirely on a par with, "and Thou wilt protect them,"—
which
the defenders of the exposition we oppose, in vain strive
to
separate from the preceding and succeeding context, render-
ing
"since Thou protectest them," or, "whom Thou pro-
tectest:"
5. And, finally, our view is confirmed by the entirely
general
character of the Psalm; so that it cannot appear strange,
if,
at the close, the plurality concealed under the unity should
clearly
come to light, and the righteous at large should be sub-
stituted
in the place of the righteous individual. The meaning,
therefore,
is simply this: Whereas destruction befalls impious
rebels,
salvation is experienced by the pious.—Upon j`b-ysvH
comp.
on Ps. ii. 12. The former is the full pausal form; Ewald.
p.
137. j`st
is Fut. in Hiph. from jks, to cover, with lf, to
cover
upon, to protect.— Those that love Thy
name. The name
of
God never stands in the Old Testament as a mere designa-
tion,
but always emphatically, as an expression of His nature.
Hence,
"to love the name of the Lord" is as much as to "love
Him,"
so far as He has manifested His nature. If God were
nameless,
He could not be the object of love; for then He
could
not manifest Himself, as the name is the necessary pro-
duct
of the manifestation, that in which
the Church gathers up
the
impression which it has received through the manifestation,
so
that the name only needs to be named, in order to renew the
impression.
Ver. 12. The Psalmist here lays the
foundation of the hope,
expressed
in the preceding verse. The pious shall have occasion
to
rejoice, on account of the salvation of God; for the manner
of
God, founded in His nature, is to bless the righteous, or him
who
trusts in God, and loves His name. For
Thou blessest the
righteous, 0 Lord; with
favour Thou compassest him about as
with a shield. The Fut. is used in the
sense of custom. Hope
in
regard to that which the Lord will do, is only well founded
when
it rests on what He constantly does. The hnck is prop.
to
be rendered: "as a shield," i.e. covers. The comparison is
often
not fully expressed, when a mere indication will suffice;
88 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
for
example, Is. i. 25, "I will cleanse thy dross, as soap," that
is,
as soap cleanses; comp. Ew. p. 614. Just as improper as
to
supply a b
is it to maintain, that hnc stands in the accus.
governed
by the verb. (De Wette.) Then the shield would
be
not that which covers, but that which is covered. vnrFft is
Fut.
in Kal. To take it as Fut. in Hiph. with Rosenmüller, is
unwarranted.
The Hiph. is never used in the sense of covering
or
crowning, but only in a single place,
Isa. xxiii. 8, as Denom.
from
hrFf,
a crown, in the sense of
"distributing crowns."
Luther
is not exactly right in rendering: Thou crownest him
with
favour. The signification of crowning does not belong to
the
Kal, but only to the Piel.
PSALM VI.
Surrounded by enemies, the Psalmist
cries to God for help,
vers.
1-7. He receives from God the assurance that He will
hear
him, and calls upon his enemies to desist from their pro-
jects,
since the Lord has vouchsafed to him support, vers. 8-10.
The
two main divisions here marked, are very obvious. Koester
divides
the first into three strophes, 1-3, 5 and 6, 7 and 8; so
that
the measure would be 3. 2. 2. 3. But it is better to divide
the
Psalm into clear strophes of two verses, with a beginning
and
concluding verse. Then the strophical arrangement ex-
actly
agrees with the divisions in sense. In vers. 2 and 3 the
Psalmist
grounds his prayer for deliverance on the fact, that
through
suffering he had become quite exhausted, faint in body
and
soul. In 4 and 5 he goes so far as to declare, that he had
come
nigh to death, and was consequently in danger of losing
his
highest good, that of being able to praise God, which God
in
His mercy ought not to take from him. In vers. 6 and 7, he
justifies
his affirmation, that he had reached the precincts of
the
dead: consuming grief at the malice of his enemies had ex-
hausted
the springs of his life. Vers. 8 and 9 form the strophe
of
his acceptance and confidence. The first and last verses con-
tain
the quintessence of the whole; vers. 2-7 being simply a
further
expansion of ver. 1, and ver. 10 drawing the conclusion
from
vers. 8 and 9. If we bring vers. 1 and 10 together, we
have
the Psalm in nuce.
Traces of a formal arrangement,
apart from the division into
PSALM VI. 89
strophes,
may be perceived. The Psalm has its course in the
number
ten; it contains, as it were, a decalogue for those who
are
sadly oppressed by their enemies. Further, we cannot look
upon
it as accidental, that, in accordance with the superscrip-
tion
according to the eight, the name of
God occurs in it precisely
eight
times. The fact, also, that in the first part the name of
God
is found just five times, cannot be overlooked, when viewed
in
connection with the whole number of verses, ten. It would
seem
that the author wished in this way to mark the first part
as
the one half of his decalogue. See on the five, as the broken,
half-completed
number, Baehr Symbolik Th. I. p. 183. The
repetition
thrice of the name of God, in the second part, makes
one
just the more inclined to perceive a reference to the thrice
repeated
name of God in the Mosaic blessing, the fulfilment of
which
in himself the Psalmist here triumphantly announces,
especially
as in Ps. iv. 7, and elsewhere frequently in the
Psalms,
there are distinct verbal allusions to the same.
The superscription ascribes the
Psalm to David, and there
is
certainly nothing to throw a doubt upon its accuracy. What
makes
David so great—the deep feeling of his sins, and his un-
worthiness
before God, united with firm confidence that God
will
not withdraw His favour from those who implore it with a
broken
heart—is all uttered here. Hitzig, indeed, maintains
that
the Psalmist exhibits a different character from that of
David,—a
desponding spirit, which permits itself to be easily
dismayed,—a
weak, languishing heart, certainly not that of a
warrior;
David did not behave so unmanfully when in danger
of
death, but always discovered a lively confidence in God,
which
is awanting here. To begin with the last point, that the
Psalmist
does not abandon himself to a comfortless despair, but
has
a lively confidence in God, is evident from his addressing a
prayer
full of expectation for help from the Lord. But if any
one
might overlook this in the prayer, he cannot fail to perceive
it
in the second part, which breathes nothing but triumphant
confidence.
That in David, however, when heavily oppressed
with
suffering, the natural man sunk not
less than with the
Psalmist
here, is capable of abundant proof from his history.
According
to 1 Sam. xxx. 6, "David was greatly distressed, but
he
encouraged himself in the Lord his God." According to 2
Sam.
xii. 16 sq., he fasted and wept for seven long days, after
the
prophet announced to him the death of his child. In 2 Sam.
90 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
xv.
30, he is said to "have gone up
and
with his head covered,"—traits which ill agree with the ideal
of
a great man formed by the world. The whole argument
rests
upon the transference of this ideal to a sphere to which it
does
not belong. That supposed greatness of soul which con-
siders
suffering as a plaything, above which one should rise
with
manly courage, is not to be met with in Scripture: there
we
find constantly faint, weak and dissolving hearts, whose
strength
and consolation are in God alone. This circumstance
arises
from more than one cause. 1. Suffering has quite
another
aspect to the members of God's Church than to the
world.
While the latter regard it only as the effect of acci-
dent,
which one should meet with manly courage, the pious
man
recognises in every trial the visitation of an angry God, a
chastisement
for his sins. This is to him the real sting of the
suffering,
from which it derives its power to pierce into the
marrow
and bone. "Rightly to feel sin," says Luther, "is the
torture
of all tortures." He who considers sufferings in that
light
cannot without impiety attempt to cast it to the winds.
He
must regard it as his duty to allow it to go to his heart; and
if
this is not the case, even that must become again the object
of
his pungent sorrow. To make light of tribulations is equiva-
lent,
in the view of Scripture, to making light of God. 2. "The
tenderer
the heart, the deeper the pain." Living piety makes
the
heart soft and tender, refines all its sensibilities, and,
consequently,
takes away the power of resistance, which the
world
possesses, from the roughness of its heart. Many sources
of
pain are opened up in the Christian, which are closed in
the
ungodly. Love is much more deeply wounded by hatred,
than
hatred itself; righteousness sees wickedness in a quite dif-
ferent
light from what wickedness itself does; a soft heart has
goods
to lose, of which a hard one knows nothing. 3. The
pious
man has a friend in heaven, and on that account has no
reason
to be violently overcome by his sorrow. He permits the
floods
thereof quietly to pass over him; lets nature take its free,
spontaneous
course, knowing well, that besides the natural prin-
ciple,
another also exists within him, and that the latter develops
power
in the proportion in which the former gains its rights
—that
according to the depths of the pain, is the height of the
joy
derived from God—that every one is consoled according to
the
measure of the sufferings which he has borne—that the
PSALM
VI. 91
meat
never comes but from the eater, and honey from the ter-
rible.
On the contrary, whosoever lives in the world without
God,
he perceives that, having lost himself, he has lost all. He
girds
himself up, gnashes at his pain, does violence to nature,
seeks
distractions, endeavours to supply to nature on the one
side
what it lacks on the other; and thus he succeeds in obtain-
ing
the mastery over his pain, so long as God pleases. 4. The
pious
man has no reason to prevent himself and others from
seeing
into his heart. His strength is in God, and so he can
lay
open his weakness. The ungodly, on the other hand, con-
sider
it as a reproach to look upon themselves in their weakness,
and
to be looked upon by others in it. Even when inwardly
dissolved
with pain, he feigns freedom from it, so long as he can.
What relation to sufferings is the
right one, may be seen
from
the consequences to both classes. The pious man, regard-
ing
all suffering as a punishment, suffers it to lead him to repent-
ance,
and derives from it the fruit of righteousness. He, on the
other
hand, who looks upon suffering merely as the sport of
accident,
thereby deprives himself of all blessing from it. And
while,
in this respect, he is not the better for his suffering, he is
decidedly
the worse in another. He only gathers himself toge-
ther,
only raises himself above his suffering, in such a way as to
strengthen
as much as possible the fancy of his own worth,
dignity,
and excellence; and in proportion as pride grows, love
decays;
hardness becomes his inseparable companion. So that
he
in reality feeds upon his own fat, and quenches his thirst
with
his own heart's blood; and those words apply here, "What
shall
it profit a man if he should gain the whole world, and lose
his
own soul?" But suffering, when endured in faith, serves
to
free the heart of its natural hardness, to make it softer, and
to
open it to love. Finally, only the lighter sufferings can find
consolation
apart from God, even at this dear rate. Whereas
no
misfortune can crush the righteous, however great it may be
—for
he strengthens himself in God, whose power is infinite
—on
the contrary, the man who trusts in himself bears up only
so
long as "fate," or in truth, He who sends the affliction, per-
mits.
Every moment he may be precipitated into the abyss of
despair.
He who never fainted, who mocked at the faintings
of
believers, and spake in a contemptuous tone of the "plain-
tive
Psalms," must then feel utterly undone. Human strength,
even
though everything be done to increase it, is still but a
92 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
limited
resource: it needs only find its proper antagonist to be
wounded
in the heel; then it gives way, and, along with the
steadiness
gained by force, vanishes also that which was feigned.
Nothing
is better fitted to show the insufficiency of all human
power
in the struggle against suffering, than the confession of
King
Frederick II., who spared no cost to elevate this power,
and
whose great and mighty soul certainly accomplished all that
can
be accomplished in that field. He says, among other places
in
the Ep. to D'Alembert, sec. 12, p. 9: "It is unfortunate,
that
all who suffer are forced flatly to contradict Zeno; for there
is
none but will confess pain to be a great evil." P. 12: "It
is
a noble thing to rise above the disagreeable accidents to which
we
are exposed, and a moderate stoicism is the only means of
consolation
for the unfortunate. But whenever the stone, the
gout,
or the bull of Phalaris mix in the scene, the frightful
shrieks
which escape from the sufferers, leave no doubt that pain
is
a very real evil." Again, p. 16: "When a misfortune presses
us,
which merely affects our person, self-love makes it a point
of
honour to withstand vigorously this misfortune; but the
moment
we suffer an injury which is for ever irreparable, there
is
nothing left in Pandora's box which can bring us consolation,
besides,
perhaps, for a man of my advanced years, the strong
conviction
that I must soon be with those who have gone before
me
(i.e. in the land of nothingness). The heart is conscious of
a
wound, the Stoic says indeed to himself, ‘thou shouldst feel
no
pain;’ but I do feel it against my will; it consumes, it lace-
rates
me; an internal feeling overcomes my strength, and extorts
from
me complaints and fruitless groans."
We have not extended our remarks
further than the subject
demanded;
for what Hitzig urges against this Psalm is but a
particular
shoot of that modern cast of thought, which finds a
stumblingblock
in the tone of deep lamentation that pervades
the
Psalms. Hence it appeared proper to employ this oppor-
tunity,
in order, once for all, to cut up such objections by the root.
It is of importance for the
exposition, to determine some-
what
closely from the Psalm itself the situation in which the
speaker
was placed. From ver. 7, and vers. 8-10, it appears
that
he was sorely pressed with enemies. This serves of itself
sufficiently
to manifest the objectionableness of that view which
represents
the distress as consisting in a mere corporeal illness.
There
are certainly passages, such as ver. 2, which could not,
PSALM VI. 93
without
the greatest violence, be understood of anything but of
exhaustion
of all bodily powers. But the whole becomes plain,
when
we represent to ourselves the position of the speaker thus:
His
distress proceeded at first from external enemies. But upon
this
arose another of a far heavier kind. He saw in that out-
ward
distress a punishment of his past sins, which now returned
upon
his soul with the weight of an oppressive load. He fell
into
a severe conflict, which left even his body weak and im-
poverished.
At length he gives vent to his oppressed soul in
this
supplication; and then to his deep notes of lamentation,
succeeds
the most triumphant tone of joy. Now he mocks at
outward
distress, and in spirit sees his enemies already van-
quished.
De Wette and Hitzig, without the least ground, give
the
Psalm a national reference, and suppose, that under the
image
of a suffering individual, is represented the Israelitish
people
in exile. Not the slightest trace is to be found of such
a
reference. When De Wette appeals to the great resemblance
this
has to public songs of a plaintive nature, as chap. iii. of
Lam.,
he overlooks the fact, that these poems, descriptive of a
nation's
grief, were imitations of personal poems of a like na-
ture.
Ewald remarks, in opposition to De Wette, of this and
similar
Psalms: "No exposition of such poems can be more
erroneous
than that which considers the representation of a
severe
illness as figurative, or which connects therewith the idea
of
a whole people's lamentation being contained in it, instead of
that
of a single individual." But we must not, on the other
hand,
attribute too much importance to the disease,—must not
take
it as something independent. The second part speaks
decidedly
against this. Inasmuch as the Psalmist here only
expresses
his triumphant confidence, that the Lord will deliver
him
from his enemies, and never mentions bodily sickness, such
sickness
can only have been the result of hostile attacks, the con-
sequence
of the anxiety which they occasioned him; hence, when
the
cause ceased, the effect ceased. The considerations which
oppose
the reference to mere bodily trouble, also oppose the
exposition
of Luther and others, who regard the Psalm as relat-
ing
to a high spiritual conflict in the hour of death. "It is not
to
be supposed," says Luther, "that all Christians are afflicted
with
the vexation and painful trials of which this Psalm speaks;
for
all are not exercised with the same kind of tribulation,
although
God tries all with many tribulations and hardships
94 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
—He
contends here with death and hell, a battle which is not
waged
with men, nor concerning temporal or spiritual tempta-
tions,
but in the spirit within, nay, without and above the spirit
in
that last struggle, when no one either sees, or hears, or feels,
save
alone that Spirit, who with unutterable groans prays and
intercedes
for the saints." The words, "because of all mine
enemies,"
in ver. 7, and "depart from me, all ye workers of
iniquity,"
in ver. 8, are quite inexplicable on this view.
As the Psalm does not contain a
single feature of a per-
sonal
kind, it is highly probable that David here expresses the
feelings
of those who are vexed to death with the long-con-
tinued
assaults of malicious enemies. For this view, perhaps,
vers.
6 and 7 may be adduced, where the profound grief is de-
scribed
in a manner which seems to indicate a supposed, rather
than
an actual position. David's desire is to impress on the
minds
of his companions in tribulation that even at the worst they
ought
not to despair: the desolation itself should be converted
into
a source of comfort, in that, on the ground thereof, we may
implore
God for help, who is ever ready to assist His own, when
things
are at the worst,—so that the lowest depth of sorrow is
a
sure harbinger of salvation, the approach of death a pledge of
life.
This general characteristic of the Psalm was perceived by
Luther:
"I conceive that we have here a common lesson and
instruction,
which is suited to every Christian who is plunged
in
such distress."
It is of course plain, that what is
here said primarily of the
oppression
of enemies, may be, substantially, equally applied to
every
other sort of trouble. The particular is the accident—what
is
true of the species is true of the kind, and of every other species
of
the kind. The remarks of the Berleburg Bible on, "Depart
from
me, all ye workers of iniquity:" "Depart from me, ye false
tormenting
accusations, ye rage and fury of menacing spirits and
powers,
that terrify me to death, and have shut up my blessed life
as
in the abyss of hell; ye are the real evil-doers, whom my
external
foes merely represent,"—are perfectly correct, when
considered
as a theological exposition, but not as a grammatical
historical
one. That the special kind of affliction with which the
Psalm
is occupied does not so prominently appear under the
New
Testament dispensation, so that many cannot understand
these
incessant complaints regarding the malice of enemies, is a
mighty
proof of the world-transforming power of Christianity.
PSALM VI. VER.
2. 95
In regard to the principle which
forms the basis of the Psalm,
viz.
that outward suffering is a chastisement for sin, nothing can
be
more superficial than to maintain, that this view is peculiar
to
the lower stage of the Old Testament. The same precisely
is
found in the New Testament; for example, in the declarations
of
our Lord Himself; John v. 14; and Luke v. 20, xiii. 1, etc.
In
the first passage, sickness is threatened as a punishment for
sin;
in the second, taken away as such; in the third, the Lord
threatens,
on occasion of a heavy calamity, a similar calamity to
all,
if they repented not,—implying, therefore, that the evil al-
ready
inflicted was to be regarded as a punishment for sin. If
the
suffering be not viewed as a punishment, it cannot be re-
conciled
with the Divine righteousness, it loses all its influence
for
good, and it is no longer a call to repentance. The only
error
is to refer the suffering to some special sin, to some coarse
offence,
instead of to sin in general,—an error characterized as
such
by our Lord in John ix. 2, 3. Far, therefore, from turn-
ing
up the nose at the religious standpoint of the old covenant,
we
should rather follow the admonition of Muis: "As often as
we
are visited with sickness, or any other suffering, we should,
after
the example of David, call our sins to remembrance, and
flee
to God's compassion; not like the ungodly, who ascribe
their
evil, as well as their good, to any cause rather than God,
and
hence are never led, either by the one to repentance, or by
the
other to gratitude. Sickness or calamity is not to be esti-
mated
according to the mind of the flesh, but of the spirit; and
we
must reflect, that if God afflicts us, He deals with us as sons,
that
He may chasten and improve us."
tynymw is taken by many
expositors for a musical instrument,
and
because ynymw,
signifies eight, the kind of
instrument is gener-
ally
considered as a guitar with eight strings. It is impossible,
however,
that "the eight" can denote an instrument of eight
cords.
Besides, both here and in Ps. xii., the musical instru-
ment
is mentioned in addition, as also in 1 Chron. xv. 21. The
correct
explanation is given by those who take it for an indica-
tion
of the time. The lf is then put to mark the relation of the
particular
to the general; that which forms its substratum, upon
which
it is laid, and according to which it is measured and regu-
lated.
But our ignorance of Heb. music renders all more minute
explanations
impossible.
Ver. 1. 0 Lord, rebuke me not in Thine anger, neither chasten
96 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
me in Thy hot
displeasure. Calvin:
"I acknowledge, Lord,
that
I am indeed worthy of being destroyed by Thee; but as I
am
not in a condition to sustain Thy power, deal with me, not
according
to my desert, but rather pardon the sins, through
which
I have drawn Thine indignation upon me." Most ex-
positors
remark with De Wette: "The sufferer prays not for a
removal,
but only for an alleviation of the calamity." So also
Luther:
"This he regards not, nay, he will readily yield to be
punished
and chastened; but he begs that it may be done in
mercy
and goodness, not in anger and fury . . . . Therefore
the
prophet teaches us here, that there are two rods of God,
one
of mercy and goodness, another of anger and fury. Hence
Jeremiah
prays, chap. x. 24, '0 Lord, correct me, but with
judgment,
not in Thine anger, lest Thou bring me to nothing.'"
But
that this exposition, flowing from an unseasonable compa-
rison
of the above passage in Jeremiah, is unsound, is evident
from
this, that the Psalmist, in what follows, always begs that
chastisement
in general may be taken away; but especially from
the
assurance in the second part, where he still experiences
nothing
but what he had prayed for (comp. "The Lord hath
heard
my supplication, the Lord will receive my prayer"), not
merely
of an alleviation of his suffering, but of an entire re-
moval
of it. The contrast is, therefore, not between a chastise-
ment
in love and a chastisement in anger, but between a loving
deliverance
and a chastisement, which always proceeds from a
principle
of anger. The sufferer prays that, as matters had come
to
an extremity with him, and his powers of endurance were now
completely
exhausted, the sun of grace might shine through the
cloud
of indignation, by which it had been so long obscured.
Whereas
the ungodly is subject to Divine wrath alone, the
righteous,
though always at the same time a sinner, is an object
of
Divine love, even in the midst of wrath; which love must
manifest
itself as soon as the expression of anger has fulfilled
its
purpose, and the sufferer is brought to the verge of destruc-
tion,
which can alight only on the wicked. God does not deal
in
a soft way with His own: He consumes what remains in them
of
sin by hard sufferings, but He always orders it so that they are
able
to bear it; when it has proceeded to a certain point, then
He
turns, and, instead of concealed grace (for even the exhibi-
tion
of anger has a part to serve in the work of grace), there is
now
given an open manifestation of it. But that the sufferer
PSALM VI. VER.
2. 97
belongs
to the number of the righteous, for whom the exchange
from
anger into grace is certain, he makes to appear by this, that
though
he feels nothing but anger, he still sees the light of grace
shining
through the midst of thick darkness. This he alone
can
do, who is closely related to God, and has a living faith. In
the
midst of distress, to pray for grace, to hope for grace, is a
sure
sign of being in the state of grace, a clear pledge that grace
may
be looked for. Luther: "This Psalm then teaches us, that
when
one is plied with such assaults, he must have recourse to
no
other refuge than to the angry Lord Himself; but that is a
matter
of difficulty and labour, and is always to believe against
hope,
Rom. iv. 18, and to strive against impossibilities.—But it
is
carefully to be borne in mind, that they who experience such
distress
should adhere with their whole heart to the doctrine
of
this Psalm, viz. that they should not let their feelings carry
them
too far, should not howl and cry, nor seek for human con-
solation;
but should stand out against the heaviest trials, and
suffer
the hand of God, and, with the prophet here, apply no-
where
but to the Lord, and say, Ah! Lord, rebuke me not in
Thine
anger, and chasten me not in Thy hot displeasure. When
men
do not conduct themselves in this prudent way, they fall,
to
their great hurt, out of the hand of God, who in this manner
heals
and purifies them; especially if they seek consolation in a
worldly
way, and have recourse to some poor creature, the issue
cannot
be otherwise with them. If the clay, while being turned,
falls
out of the hand of the potter, it becomes more completely
shattered
than before, insomuch that it is useless, and the potter
throws
it away as good for nothing." –Hykvh to reprove. But
the
discourse here is of a sermo realis.
God reproves the sinner's
guilt
through the sufferings which He lays
upon him. It is in-
correct
to say, that the verb here signifies precisely "to punish
by
deeds," but elsewhere, "to punish with words." hmH prop.
heat, glow, then "the glow of
anger."
Ver. 2. Have mercy upon me, 0 Lord, for I am faint; 0
Lord, heal me, for my
bones are terrified.
The Psalmist, re-
nouncing
all disputes with God, and recognising thoroughly the
righteousness
of his sufferings, appeals alone to the Divine com-
passion.
In this he lays down for his foundation the principle,
that
God can never suffer His own wholly to perish; and thus
supporting
himself, entreats help from the Lord, since matters
had
already gone to extremities with him. Muis: "He deals with
98 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
God
as with a father, and sets before Him his pain, in order to
move
Him to the communication of aid." Such childlike confi-
dence,
far from being excluded by the conviction, that sufferings
have
the nature of punishment, only grows upon this soil, and the
one
disappears with the other. llmx, withered, faint, properly of
plants,
cannot, on account of the Patach, be the partic. in Pulal
with
the m
dropt, but must be the pret., which, with the rela-
tive
word intended to belong to it, is a substitute for the adjective
—prop.
I am one who is faint. The pret. is
used precisely in
this
way in Isa. xxviii. 16. That the healing
is not here to be
taken
for delivering, helping in general,
is clear from the declara-
tion,
"I am faint, and my bones are terrified." The healing,
therefore,
must be primarily understood of the removal of his
state
of bodily distress. But the means of healing is the re-
pulsing
of the enemies, with which the bodily exhaustion would
cease
of itself. The words, "My bones are terrified," are ad-
mirably
explained by Luther: "It is certain, that with those
who
suffer such assaults, their bones are so terrified in their
body,
that they cannot even do what bones are meant to do in
the
body. Just as, on the other hand, we see that those who
have
a merry heart, overflowing with joy, have also strong bones,
apt
to leap, and capable of lifting up and bearing along with
them
the heavy and sluggish body; so that they feel as if joy
were
spread through their bones, like as when one pours some-
thing
moist or liquid over the whole body, which refreshes it, as
Solomon
says, Prov. iii. 8, ‘It shall be health, to thy navel, and
marrow
(pro. moistening) to thy bones.’ Where the heart, then,
is
troubled and sorrowful, the whole body is faint and broken; and
where,
again, the heart is full of gladness, the body becomes so
much
the stronger and more agile. Therefore, the prophet here
speaks
rightly, when he prays the Lord to heal him, and was so
weak
in body, that he could not stand upon his legs. So mighty
end
violent is the power of such assaults, not leaving a corner
in
the whole frame that is not appalled and bruised thereby.—
But
man cannot love God, much less have a heart-felt desire
after
Him, without being vexed with such great troubles, which
constrain
and drive him to seek God's help and consolation with
a
vehement cry of the soul, especially when he has been sunk
deep
in sin, and his life has been spent in an indolent, corrupt
death
of flesh."
Ver. 3. And my soul is greatly terrified; and Thou, 0 Lord,
PSALM VI. VERS.
4, 5. 99
how long? The soul is placed in
opposition to the bones. The
general
complaint, "I am faint," the Psalmist carries out first
in
reference to his body, then to his soul. In the expression,
how long, there is not properly
an ellipsis, but an aposiopesis,
occasioned
by the violence of the pain, which caused the words
to
escape in a broken manner. This Domine quosque was
Calvin's
motto. The most intense pain under trouble could
never
extort from him another word. Luther: "He not
merely
begs God to hasten to him with help, but, as one impa-
tient
of delay, he complains that this is very painful to him,
since
in all emotions of the heart, such as fear, love, hope,
hatred,
and the like, a state of suspense and delay is vexa-
tious
and difficult to be borne, as Solomon says in Prov. xiii.
12,
‘Hope deferred maketh the heart sick.’ But in troubles of
this
kind, delay is the most severe and insupportable pain."
Ver. 4. Return, 0 Lord, deliver my soul; Oh save me for
Thy mercies' sake. The words, my soul, are not here placed
instead
of the personal pronoun. The Psalmist feels himself
so
wretched in soul and body, that he believes himself to be
near
death. This clearly appears from the following verse.
But
the soul is the principle of life. Luther: "Not for mine
own
merits, which indeed are nothing, as is enough and more
than
enough proved by this terror at Thine anger, and my
trembling
bones, and the sadness of my heart and soul. There-
fore,
help me for Thy mercies' sake, that Thine honour and the
glory
of Thy compassion may be for ever connected with my
deliverance."
Ver. 5. For in death there is no remembrance of Thee; in
the grave (in sheol) who shall give Thee
praise? David had
prayed,
that his God would deliver him, and not permit him to
sink
in despair. He seeks to move Him to grant the prayer by
the
consideration, that the dead do not praise Him and celebrate
His
goodness, but only the living. Comp. Ps. cxv. 17, 18, "The
dead
praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence;
but
we shall bless the Lord from this time forth and for ever-
more."
Ps. lxxxviii. 10: "Wilt Thou show wonders to the
dead?
Shall the dead arise and praise Thee?" Comp. also
Ps.
xxx. 9; Isa. xxxviii. 18. According to the common expla-
nation,
the thought that the Lord is not remembered and
praised
in death is here urged as a ground of deliverance, inas-
much
as God Himself, to whom the praise of the righteous is
100 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
the
most acceptable sacrifice, must therefore be inclined to pre-
serve
them in life. The supposition on which the ground thus
made
out proceeds, viz. that the Lord delights in the praise of
His
people, is no more peculiar to the Old Testament than to
the
New. Comp., for example, Heb. xiii. 15. As the living
God
has made men for His praise, He rejoices when this end
of
His creation is fulfilled, when the fruit of the lips that praise
Him
is offered. The God of the Bible is as far removed from
the
cold indifference and self-satisfaction of the Stoic's God, as
the
Christian is from a Stoic. But for us
this ground receives
its
full meaning, only when we place eternal death in the room
of
the bodily, agreeably to the clearer light which we have re-
ceived
regarding the state after death, and to the vast change
which
New Testament times have effected in reference to that
future
state. See the treatise on the Doctrine of the Psalms,
where
also will be investigated more fully the import of sheol.
Then ought we also, having
found consolation, to venture to
plead
the same ground before God, and, appealing to it, beg
Him
to turn away from us the troubles which threaten to shut
our
mouths for ever to His praise. There is another way, how-
ever,
of explaining the ground:—the prayer for deliverance may
so
far be grounded on the fact of one's not being able to praise-
God
in death, as the praise of God was the Psalmist's most
blessed
employment, to be deprived of which would be to him
the
heaviest loss. And this view is strongly confirmed by the
preceding
words, "for Thy mercies' sake," which naturally lead
us
to expect some reason connected with the Psalmist's own
interest.
It would be contrary to the love of God to rob His
own
of their highest good, to make them inexpressibly miserable,
by
closing their mouths from praising Him, before the time
fixed
by the general law of mortality. Understood thus, the
words
afford a deep, and for us humiliating, insight into the
heart
of pious men under the old covenant. To consider the
praise
of God as the highest good, as the most essential thing in
life,
to love life only as furnishing the opportunity for that, is
the
highest proof of near fellowship with God.—The constr. of
hdvh with l is explained by a
modification of the meaning: to
render
praise to any one.
Ver. 6. The Psalmist shows in this
and the following verse,
that
it was not in vain he asked for deliverance, that he had
not
without cause described himself as one whose mouth death
PSALM VI. VERS. 7, 8. 101
was
threatening to shut up from praising God. Consuming
grief
preyed upon his heart, and would soon carry him away.
I am weary with my
groaning, every night I make my bed to
swim; I make my couch to
dissolve with my tears. The groan-
ing
is here represented as the cause of all his exhaustion. The
prep.
b however,
commonly marks the relation of effect to the
cause. I make my couch to dissolve. hsm is of one meaning with
the
more common form ssm, to dissolve. Calvin: "Those who
have
even moderately experienced what it is to contend with
the
fear of eternal death, will find no straining in these words."
Ver. 7. My eye consumes from vexation; it waxes old, be-
cause of all my enemies. wwf, "to fall in, to
go to decay," is
used
of the eye in Ps. xxxi. 9, as also of the soul. Some very
improperly
maintain, that the eye here is taken for the face, in
which
sense it never occurs. The eye is a mirror and gauge
of
soundness, not merely as respects the soul, but also the body.
By
long-continued suffering, the eye sinks, becomes dull and
languid,
like that of an aged person. Both verbs are hence
perfectly
suitable to the eye. sfk may here be appropriately
taken
in its common signification of displeasure, vexation. It
is
not necessary to give it the sense of grief,
which is never
ascribed
to it without arbitrariness. Nay, the former sense is
here
recommended by the corresponding expression, "because
of
mine enemies," where the b again is to be
explained thus,
that
the effect is considered as rooted in its cause.
Ver. 8. David, as Calvin remarks,
assumes now, as it were,
a
new person. He announces, that God has heard his prayer,
and
admonishes his enemies to desist from him, as he had now
again
come under God's protection. Amyrald: "Those violent
motions,
in which, after the most bitter and dolorous lamenta-
tions
and testimonies concerning human weakness, faith sud-
denly
regains the ascendant, and, through the offered hope of
deliverance,
sheds light and serenity over the mind, are very
common
in the Psalms." Koester falsely: The Psalmist, in
thankfulness,
renounces the fellowship of sinners: this is con-
tradicted
by a comparison of the verse with the preceding con-
text—also
ver. 10. Depart from me, all ye workers
of iniquity,
for the Lord has heard
the voice of my weeping. The Berleb.
Bible:
"So soon can the righteous Lord change everything,
and
illuminate with the rays of His love the dark earth of men,
which
was before covered with thick clouds, while in the depth
102 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
of
their heart also all was dark." It remarks on the for:
"The
winter is past, the rain is gone, the turtle-dove is again
heard."
The voice of my weeping, my audible
weeping. Roberts,
Orient.
Illustr. of the Sacred Scrip. p. 316: "Silent grief is not
much
known in the East. Hence when the people speak of
lamentation,
they say, Have I not heard the voice of his mourn-
ing?"
It is not necessary to give to fmw here, and in similar
places,
the sense of "hearken." If God hears
the cry of His
own,
He also accepts of it: if He will not
do this, then He
turns
away His ear from it.
Ver. 9. The Lord has heard my supplication; the Lord re-
ceives my prayer. The matter of this
prayer we learn from
ver.
10, where the Psalmist more minutely describes what he
obtains
in consequence of his being heard.
Ver. 10. All mine enemies shall be ashamed and terrified;
they shall return, be
ashamed suddenly.
Their being terrified
points
back to vers. 2, 3. The terror passes over from the
Psalmist
to those who prepared it for themselves, according to
God's
righteous retribution. vwby vbwy may be expounded by,
"They
shall be again ashamed;" see Ewald, p. 631. But a
more
expressive meaning is yielded, if we take the word as
standing
by itself, and render, "they shall return." David sees
his
enemies, gathered around him for the attack, all at once
faint-heartedly
give way. In confirmation of this speaks the
"Depart
from me," ver. 8, and still more, the "Return, 0 Lord,"
in
ver. 4. The returning of the Lord, and the turning back of
the
enemies, stand related to each other as cause and effect.
PSALM VII.
The Psalmist prays the Lord for help
against his cruel and
blood-thirsty
enemies, vers. 1, 2. He protests that he had given
no
occasion to their hatred, vers. 3-5. In the confidence of this
blamelessness,
he calls upon the Lord for assistance, and for
judgment
between him and his enemies, vers. 6-9. God's
righteousness
affords him hope that this decision and the over-
throw
of his enemies is near, vers. 10-13; of the fulfilment of
which
he has an inward assurance, so that he is able to conclude
with
gratitude for granted deliverance, vers. 14-17.
Vers. 1-5 constitute as it were the
porch, and the-entrance
PSALM VII. 103
into
the proper edifice of the Psalm is ver. 6. This is divided
into
three parts of equal compass, three strophes, each of four
verses.
First is the strophe of prayer. The
prayer here has a
much
fuller swell, and is far more earnest and important in
character,
than the one uttered in the introduction, for the rea-
son
that, according to the basis laid down in vers. 3-5, it is
upheld
by God's righteousness, which never leaves those to sup-
plicate
in vain, who are justified in appealing to it. Then comes
the
strophe of hope, which, as the prayer was grounded upon
God's
righteousness, in its turn grows out of a lively conviction
of
the same. Finally, the strophe of confidence,
resting on the
inwardly
received assurance of being heard, and celebrating the
deliverance
as one already obtained. It is distinguished from
the
second strophe by the Behold with
which it begins, and also
by
the preterites in vers. 14 and 17. The internal character of
the
two first strophes, as those which contain only what is pre-
liminary,
is expressed in the proportion of their length to the
length
of those which form the proper building of the Psalm.
They
are as it were the steps by which one ascends to it. This
becomes
still more evident, if we bring the superscription
into
the body of the Psalm, which we should be justified in
doing
by its peculiar character—its obviously poetical con-
struction.
Reckoning that as ver. 1, the scheme would be, 1.
2.
3. 4. 4. 4. Like the building itself, the porch then falls into
three
parts—the occasion and subject, a preliminary prayer, the
removal
of the hindrance to its fulfilment. The proper build-
ing
(twelve verses) measures double the compass of the porch
(six
verses).
For understanding more exactly the
position in which David
was
then placed, we must examine the superscription. In this
yrbd lf is commonly taken in the sense of, on account of, in re-
ference to. But this exposition is
manifestly false; the correct
one
being, on account of the words,
occasioned by the calumnies.
This
is clear for a philological reason alone. The phrase is
always
rbd-lf,
and never, yrbd-lf, when it means simply on ac-
count of. The passages adduced
by Gesenius in support of the
signification, on account of, are, besides this, Deut.
iv. 21; Jer.
xiv.
1, vii. 22; but they do not bear examination; they rather
imply
that the Myrbd
in them all signifies speeches or words. In
Deut.
iv. 21, "The Lord was angry with me," Mkyrbd lf, "for
your
words," is to be compared with Numb. xx. 3-5, where the
104 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
talk
of the people is recorded, by which the faith of Moses was
overcome.
Jer. xiv. 1 is to be rendered, "The word of the
Lord
came to Jeremias, on account of the words of the dearth."
The
words of the dearth, the prayer which Jeremias sent forth
on
account of the dearth, and to which the word of the Lord
refers,
follow in vers. 2-9; the word of the Lord does not come
till
ver. 10. If we expound, "on account of (or concerning)
the
dearth," then the superscription—which, 1. announces words
of
the dearth, and, 2. the answer of the Lord to these words—
does
not seem appropriate. Hence Hitzig, in his hasty manner,
has
pronounced it spurious. In Jer. vii. 22, we are, finally, to
expound,
"I have not commanded them upon words of burnt-
offering
or sacrifice." Words of, sacrifice are words which re-
spect
sacrifice, as much as: "I have laid upon them no com-
mands,"
resting upon, or consisting in words regarding sacrifice.
The
correctness of this exposition is rendered clear by the con-
trast
in ver. 23, "But this word did I command them;" for
the
rbd
must necessarily be taken in the preceding verse in the
same
sense that it bears here. The LXX. also translate the
words
before us, u[pe>r tw?n lo<gwn Xousi<. But what especially
decides
in favour of our rendering is, that David, vers. 3-5,
defends
himself, with the strongest protestations, against calum-
nies. From this defence we
see also wherein the accusation
consisted.
He had been charged with having sought the life of
Saul,
and, in general, recompensed good with evil.
It is important now to determine who
is,
whose calumnious charges against David gave occasion to
the
inditing of this Psalm. According to the supposition now
generally
current, there was an individual Benjamite of the
name
of Cush, who, by his calumnies, stirred up afresh Saul's
hatred
against David, and with such effect that David found
himself
exposed to constant danger of death. Now, that such
calumniators
and go-betweens were busy in the matter of Saul
and
David, we learn from 1 Sam. xxiv. 9, where David says to
Saul,
"Wherefore hearest thou men's words, saying, Behold,
David
seeketh thy hurt?" and in ch. xxvi. 19, "But if the
children
of men stirred thee up against me," etc. It cannot but
appear
remarkable, however, that no
comparatively
full historical details of this period, if the part
which
he played was of such importance as to have led David
to
compose this Psalm, and immortalize his name in the super-
PSALM VII. 105
scription
of it, —which must have proceeded from David himself,
from
its appearing to form a necessary member of the Psalm,
from
its internal character, and from the undeniable fact that
Habakkuk
refers to it, in a way which implies that it was even
then
reckoned an integral part of the Psalm. It must further
appear
extraordinary that the words of
3-5,
do not refer to any peculiar fiction, to any new calumny by
which
he sought to rekindle the fire of Saul's anger (the words
of
rather
allege, quite in a general way, that David was laying wait
for
Saul,—an allegation which, from the very first, was in the
mouth
of Saul; 1 Sam. xxii. 7, 13. One does not rightly under-
stand
how an individual of the name of
into
such a commotion, by merely adding his own to the many
slanderous
tongues which uttered this calumny, with the view of
ingratiating
themselves into the favour of their master—why he
should
have selected him in particular from the mass of such
persons—why
he should not rather have kept to the words of
Saul
himself. Others, again, consider the name
bolical,
and suppose David to have applied the epithet to his
enemy
on account of his dark malice, which was too inveterate
to
admit, of a change for the better. So almost all the Jewish
expositors,
with the exception of Abenezra, who adopted the
opinion
now generally received; so also Luther, who translates,
“on
account of the words of the Moor,” and remarks, "He calls
him
Moor, because of his shameless manners, as one incapable of
anything,
good or righteous. Just as we commonly call a lying
and
wicked fellow black. Hence the
language of the poet: He
is
black, 0 Roman, be thou ware of him. As we also call him
fair, who deals with people
in an honest and upright manner,—
who
has a heart that is free of envy. Therefore it is said,
David
has willingly left out his proper name, and given him a
new
name in accordance with his perverse heart and ways."
This
rendering derives support from two passages in the pro-
phets:
Jer. xiii. 23, "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or
the
leopard, his spots? Then may ye also do good, that are
accustomed
to do evil." And Amos ix. 7, "Are ye not as the
children
of the Ethiopians unto me, 0 children of
the
Lord;" Chr. Ben. Michaelis: "Who change not the skin,
as
ye change not your ways." Besides, this view is exceedingly
favoured
by the character of the Psalms of David, in which a
106 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
great
predilection for the enigmatical may be discerned; comp..
for
example, Ps. ix., xxii., lx., where precisely similar
enigmatical
designations of the subject-matter are to be found,
and
of such a nature as to show that one can only ascribe to a
predilection
for the enigmatical, David's here not calling his
adversary
by his proper name, and that the superscriptions, as
well
as the body of the Psalms, are poetical: a fact which has
been
too often overlooked. Now, those who follow this mode
of
explanation are again divided in regard to the person whom
David
had in view. The Jewish expositors all agree upon Saul;
but
Luther and others upon Shimei, whose slanders are given
in
2 Sam. xvi. 11. The latter supposition is, for various reasons,
to
be rejected, of which we shall adduce only this one as suffi-
cient,
that David could not pray during the rebellion of Absa-
lom,
"Save me from all my persecutors,"
as he does in ver. 1.
He
had then to do, not with persecutors, but with revolters. A
special
reason may be assigned in support of the reference to
Saul,
which probably led the Psalmist to the choice of a symbo-
lical
designation for his enemy. Saul was the son of
David
plays upon this, name of his father. Since it is a mere
play
on words, it is no objection that
koph;
and the less so, as the two letters, so like in sound, are not
rarely
interchanged. See Gesell. on k.
From the preceding investigation, we
have gathered the re-
sult,
that this Psalm belongs to the period of Saul's persecution.
The
more exact time within this period may be in some measure
learned
from ver. 4. There, allusion is made to the fact of
David's
not having employed the opportunity presented for
killing
his persecutor. According to the history, such an op-
portunity
was presented to David twice; 1 Sam. xxiv., xxvi.
Here
it can only be the earlier occasion that is meant. For,
after
the second, David immediately passed into the land of
the
Philistines, 1 Sam. xxvii. 4: "And it was told Saul, that
David
was fled to
him."
On the present occasion, however, David is still in-
volved
in the most pressing danger. The fact, gathered from
our
Psalm, that David had Saul once already in his power
before
the close of his persecutions, is of importance in esti-
mating
the relation of 1 Sam. xxiv. to xxvi. Hitzig's view,
which
maintains that only one circumstance of the kind existed
as
the foundation of the two narratives, and throws away
PSALM
VII.
107
the
one in ch. xxiv. as too marvellous, is thereby proved to be
unfounded.
Luther remarks: "Although he composed this Psalm after
the
assault, that it might be seen how he now, taught by the
end
and issue of the assault, holds out a consolation to those
who
are involved in tribulation, and God's anger to those who
vex
and persecute pious men, furnishing instruction to others
by
his own and his enemies' danger and hurt; yet it is still to
be
believed that, in the midst of this transaction, he had the very
thoughts
which he afterwards expressed in this Psalm. For he
never
despaired regarding God; and he therefore knew well
that
it would turn out so, that such misfortune would befall his
adversaries
and opponents." This view will be admitted, when
it
is seen that, as in all the Psalms which, whilst in the first
instance
originating in a subjective experience, yet have at the
same
time a general reference, so this Psalm did not, at some
later
period, acquire this general reference, but from the first
was
designed to possess it. Luther, however, goes into the other
extreme,
by altogether doing away with the significance of the
Psalm,
for, the Psalmist himself. No reason exists for the sup-
position
that David composed the Psalm only after the close of
Saul's
persecutions, and transferred himself to that period in
thought
simply to benefit the Church; and yet that supposi-
tion,
as the more remote one, would require clear grounds to
legitimize
it.
De Wette is inclined to deny the
Davidic authorship of this
Psalm,
and its personal character, and to put it amongst the
large
class of plaintive Psalms. But against this argues, 1. The
superscription,
the originality of which is supported by the reasons
already
adduced. 2. The unquestionably very distinct reference
to
David's connection with Saul, in ver. 4, not to speak of the
by
no means unimportant general agreement in the position,—
in
both cases alike, a malicious persecutor hunting after the life
of
a blameless man, under the pretext that he was brooding ill
against
him. 3. The correspondence of many expressions here,
with
those of David as reported in the historical accounts of the
period—comp.,
for example, ver. 1, "Save me from all my perse-
cutors,"
with 1 Sam. xxiv. 14, "After whom is the king of
come
out? After whom dost thou pursue? Also xxvi. 20, "As
when
one doth hunt a partridge upon the mountains." Ver. 3:
"0
Lord, my God, if I have done this, if there be iniquity in
108 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
my
hands," with 1 Sam. xxiv. 11, where David protests that
there
was "neither evil nor transgression in his hand." Ver. 8
Judge
me, 0 Lord, according to my righteousness, and ac-
cording
to mine integrity;" and ver. 11, "God judgeth the
righteous,
and God is angry every day," with 1 Sam. xxiv. 12,
"The
Lord judge between me and thee, and the Lord avenge
me
of thee," and ver. 15, "The Lord therefore be judge, and
judge
between me and thee, and see, and plead my cause, and
judge
me out of thine hand." Ver. 16: "His mischief shall
return
upon his own head," with 1 Sam. xxv. 39, where David,
on
hearing the report of Nabal's death, said, "The Lord hath
returned
the wickedness of Nabal upon his own head." All
these
corresponding expressions of David belong exactly to the
point
of time to which the composition of this Psalm must be
referred.
A twofold didactic element
particularly discovers itself in
the
Psalm. It teaches, 1. That to be able to stretch forth pure
hands
to God, is an indispensable condition of Divine help under
the
oppression of enemies; and, 2. That where this condition
exists,
the Divine righteousness affords undoubted certainty of
deliverance.
Superscrip. Erring, of David, which he sung to the Lord, be-
cause of the words of
the Moor, of Benjamin. It only remains
for
us here to explain the meaning of Nvygw. So much is certain
that
we are not warranted, when the root hgw is of such common
occurrence
in Hebrew, to derive our explanation from a doubt-
ful
comparison with the cognate dialects. At the outset, there-
fore,
are to be rejected the current renderings from the Syriac
by
carmen, and from the Arabic by mourning
song. The latter
reference
accords with the subject neither of our Psalm, nor of
Hab.
iii., where the same word is found in the superscription,
but
nowhere else. For lamentation and pain are in both places
not
the predominating ideas. The general signification, poem,
is
not at all admissible in Habakkuk. Neither can we with pro-
priety
take the word, with the greater part of those who rightly
go
back to Hebrew usage, as a musical designation. For it
would
then be very difficult to explain how it should occur only
in
the superscription of this one Psalm. hgw always signifies to
err, in a physical or moral
sense; but never of itself has the
meaning,
which Clauss improperly supposes to be the radical
one,
to be drunk. Derived from this, then
(comp. on the form,
PSALM VII. VERS.
1, 2. 109
Ewald,
p. 246), it would signify erring, error.
In accordance
with
the concise style of the superscriptions, one might very
well
designate a Psalm thus, which had respect to the errors and
transgressions
Of the wicked; the more so, as it is further defined
by
the following rw, under which lies ryw, "erring which
sang,"
q.
d. "a song upon the erring, which sang." An explanation
of
the concise expression is to be found in that of Habakkuk,
which
alludes to the one before us. He describes his song as
one
upon Shiggionoth,—a prayer of
Habakkuk the prophet "on
the
errings, or transgressions." The whole of that chapter is
occupied
with the transgressions of the enemy. Against these
the
people of God seek help, and express their confidence of
receiving
it. Thus the gist of the whole Psalm is indicated by
these
words. It is also worthy of remark, that the verb hgw oc-
curs
in the address of Saul to David, in 1 Sam. xxvi. 21, "Be-
hold,
I have played the fool and erred exceedingly," hbrh
hgwxv
dvxm —a passage which, at the same time, confutes
those who
would
maintain that Nvygw is too mild a word for designating such
transgressions
as those of Saul against David; comp. also Ps.
cxix.
21, 118. So that we are here also confirmed in supposing
that
the dark and difficult words of the superscriptions refer
generally
to the subject, and that we obtain the key for under-
standing
them whenever we have become acquainted with this.
Luther
understood the word as referring to the subject, but
erred
in giving it the sense of "innocence:"
Ver. 1. 0 Lord, my God, in Thee do I put my trust; save
me from all my
persecutors, and deliver me. Calvin: "This is
the
true proof of our faith, that we cease not, even in our greatest
distress,
to trust in God. From this also we conclude, that the
door
is shut against our prayers, if we cannot open it with the
key
of confidence. Nor is it a superfluous thing for him to
name
the Lord his God; but he sets this up
as a bank against
the
waves of temptation, that they might not overflow his faith."
Berleb.
Bible: "If we honour God, and seek no support besides
Him
to which we would commit ourselves, He shows us, and gives
us
to experience, that we also need no other, but that He will be
to
us quite sufficient." The words, from
all mine enemies, show
the
greatness of the distress and danger, the necessity of God's
agency
to deliver.
Ver. 2. Lest he tear my soul, like a lion., rending in pieces,
while there is none to
deliver.
In the preceding verse mention
110 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
was
made of many persecutors, while in
this David speaks only
of
one. Expositors have, for the most part,
united the two, by
understanding
under the many, those who calumniated David
to
Saul, and whom the latter made use of for the purpose of
persecuting
David; but under the one enemy, Saul, who was the
originator
of the whole persecution, and who was, properly, the
one
enemy of David, because all the others only acted under his
commission.
As we find the same thing, however, where such
an
explanation cannot be adopted, it is much better to explain
the
singular on the principle of personification.
The multitude
of
his enemies David represents as one person, as that of the
ungodly
and evil-doer. This person, though primarily ideal,
was
indeed represented here by Saul. He speaks of his soul,
because
it concerned his life. The similitude of the lion, who
cruelly
rends in pieces a helpless sheep, is intended to make
God,
the only and ever present deliverer, the more inclined to,
help.
qrp
stands here in its common signification, to tear
pieces.
Ver. 3. Since God cannot be called
on, without exciting His
anger,
to vindicate an unrighteous cause, David therefore pro-
tests
his innocence before he proceeds with his prayer. The
apodosis
follows in ver. 5. 0 Lord, my God, if I
have done this;
if there be iniquity in
my hands.
Most expositors interpret the
word
this, "that which my enemies
reproach me with, and on
account
of which I am persecuted by Saul." Ven.: "hoc quod
mihi impingitur, et in vulgus notum est." Others understand by
it
the crime, the mention of which immediately follows. Sub-
stantially,
both are the same; for the publicly proclaimed accusa-
tion
against David, is that which is spoken of in the following
verse.
But the first mode of explanation is the more natural
one.
The crime is attributed to the hands, because they serve
as
instruments for its execution, and are consequently polluted.
So
also purity of hands is not rarely taken for innocence.
Ver. 4. If I have rendered evil to him that was at peace with
me, or spoiled him that
without cause was mine enemy. ymlw, is
rendered
by most expositors, him that is at peace
with me, that is
my friend. Luther: "Him who
lived with me so, peacefully."
Ps.
xli. 10. According to this exposition, David first clears him-
self
of the crime of neglected gratitude and friendship, as Saul's
retainers
characterized the attempt slanderously attributed to
him;
then of revenge toward one who had causelessly become
PSALM VII. VER.
4. 111
his
enemy, which Saul in reality had. Or, perhaps David
divides
the wrong which he might have done, and which would
have
rendered him unworthy of Divine help, into two parts:
1.
"Wrong toward Saul, during the time that David was in good
understanding
with him,—to which the reproaches of Saul par-
ticularly
referred: he grounded his persecution on the belief
that
David laid snares for him. 2. A revengeful behaviour
toward
him during the time of his unrighteous persecution. It
is
otherwise understood, however, by the older translators,—in
particular,
by the LXX., Vulg., Syr., which take the word as
equivalent
to ymlwm "one
who recompenses me;" comp. Ps.
xxxviii.
21, xxxv. 12. The clause is then perfectly parallel to the
following
one: If I have requited him who has done evil to me,
and
spoiled him who without cause was mine enemy. Against this
explanation
may be urged that Mlw never has the signification of
recompensing in Kal, but always in
Piel,—a consideration which
is
certainly somewhat obviated by the fact, that the verb also, in
the
sense of being at peace, in friendship
with, which appears to
be
borrowed from Mvlw, does not elsewhere occur. Besides, in
the
case of David, with respect to Saul, it cannot be appropriate
to
speak of recompense. But there is a decisive reason against
the
interpretation, in the circumstance, that the sense of retali-
ating,
which it ascribes to lmg, does not belong to this verb.
If
we can only expound it by render,
then the fr
must of ne-
cessity
belong to ytlmg,
and the interpretation in question falls
to
the ground of itself. Hitzig does indeed translate: "If I
have
done evil to him, who requites me for it." But it is ob-
viously
harsh to suppose that the suff. is to be supplied.1 ClH
1 lmg
signifies
in Arab., Pulcher tam corpore, quam moribus, elegans,
decorus
fuit; in the 2d conj., bonum pulchrumque et bene atque eleganter
fecit;
in the 8d, pulchre, benigneque et humaniter egit, therefore, to be
beautiful,
to make and act beautifully, and do beautifully. The many
derivatives
are easily traced back in the Arab. to the original meaning. In
Heb.
also, the verb first signified to be good, beautiful; in which sense it
occurs
Isa. xviii. 5: lmg rsb omphases maturescentes, ripening
clusters; and
from
it is camel, derived, as the Arabic shows,
camelus, sc.,
pleniore
adultus robore. Then to make good, beautiful; so Numb. xvii. 8,
"And
it yielded (made good) almonds," brought them to ripeness. Hither
also
belongs lmg as
used of the weaning of children, which is considered as
a
transplanting of them into a more perfect state; and on this account,
even
in patriarchal times, the weaning day was spent festively. Gen. xxi.
8:
"And Abraham made a great feast the day that Isaac was weaned,"—a
112 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
"to
strip," specially of the spoiling of a dead enemy, 2 Sam. ii. 21;
Judg.
xiv. 19. David alludes here to his conduct toward Saul,
as
the best refutation of the calumnies circulated against him.
As
a proof that it was in his power to have killed him and carried
off
his armour, he cut off the skirt of his garment. Otherwise,
David
makes asseveration of his innocence in quite a general
manner,
although he has in view his behaviour toward Saul,
intending
specially to refute the calumny uttered in regard to
him.
He thus shows that his conduct towards Saul was not
something
peculiar, but was rooted in his whole disposition and
mode
of action. "If I ever have requited evil with evil, as you
reproach
me with doing, in reference to Saul; and that the more
wrongfully,
inasmuch as towards him in particular, I showed
quite
a different spirit," etc. In reference to the spirit here dis-
played,
Calvin says: "If any one not merely does not repay
the
injury that has been received, but also strives to overcome
the
evil with good, he gives a solid proof of Divine goodness,
and
shows himself to be one of God's children; for it is only
from
the spirit of sonship that such a gentleness proceeds."
Luther:
"Let this also be marked, that David here manifests
an
evangelical degree of righteousness. For, to recompense evil
with
evil, the flesh and old Adam think to be right and proper.
But
it was forbidden even in the law of Moses, except as in-
flicted
by the magistrate; consequently, not of one's own malice
consideration
which readily explains how, on that particular day, the
mockery
of the envious Ishmael should have broken out so wantonly.
Finally,
to show one's self good or beautiful, to act so, to give or bestow.
This
last signification is to be retained, even where the word is used of evil;
for
in such cases, there is always an unexpressed contrast to some good
which
should have been given. Particularly deserving of notice on this
score
is 1 Sam. xxiv. 17, where Saul says to David, "Thou hast rewarded
(done)
me good, and I have done thee evil," for, I, who should likewise have
done
thee good, have, instead, extended to thee evil. Comp. also Gen. i.
15,
17; 2 Chron. xx. 11; Isa. 9. Gousset was on the right track, when
he
remarked; "I confess, that when used in a bad sense, a noun such as hfr,
etc.,
is often added, whence I gather that, in its radical meaning, the word
was
not of ambiguous import, but rather referred to what was good. With
lf it is used only of good, not of evil, excepting
in 2 Chron. xx. 11, but
applied
ironically, and so is reduced to a good, since it is only in a figure
that
the evil is done. Also, in Joel iv. 4, there is the same sort of irony,
as
appears from the subjoined antithesis." He has not, however, pursued
his
line of thought to its proper issue, and it has wholly escaped modern
lexicographers.
PSALM VII. VER.
5. 113
and
authority." This evangelical degree of righteousness De
Wette
will not accord to the Old Testament. It appears to him
inconceivable
that it should be here marked as a serious crime,
to
recompense evil with evil. He would therefore take the sense
to
be "Did I wrong him, who now deals toward me as an
enemy?
No, he is an enemy without cause." But what pur-
pose
is served by banishing from the Psalm "the evangelical
degree
of righteousness," since it cannot be banished from the
history?
Saul himself accords to the Psalmist what De Wette
would
withhold from him! In 1 Sam. xxiv. 19, he says to him,
"For
if a man find his enemy, will he let him go well away?
Wherefore
the Lord reward thee good for that thou hast done
unto
me this day." But that rendering of De Wette proceeds
upon
an ungrammatical explanation of ClH by doing wrong. If
it
can only signify to strip, the
subject in hand cannot be a
wrong
which preceded the persecution. To strip, to spoil, can
only
be used of a vanquished enemy; and when he is vanquished,
the
persecution ceases as a matter of course.
Ver. 5. Apodosis: If I have done
this, then let the enemy
persecute my soul and
take it, and tread down my life upon the
earth, and lay mine
honour in the dust.
In vers. 1 and 2 the
Psalmist
had prayed for the deliverance of his life from all his
persecutors.
Here he solemnly offers his life to destruction,
nay,
expressly invokes it, and renounces all claim to Divine
deliverance,
if the soul, which the enemy sought to take from
him,
were one laden with guilt. The most inward conscious-
ness
of innocence, and the deepest horror of guilt, are here at
the
same time manifested. The declaration has a high parae-
netic
meaning. It teaches the oppressed more forcibly than
any
direct exhortation, that they can only share in the help of
God
so far as they keep themselves free from guilt; it demands
of
them, first of all, to commune with themselves, to investigate
their
walk before God, inasmuch as the righteous God can
undertake
nothing but a righteous cause. The form JDorayi has
been
very differently explained. The most probable view is
the
following: In the text stood originally the Fut. in Piel, JDeray;.
The
Masorites wished to read for this the Fut. in Kal, JDor;yi,
because
the Kal, in the sense of persecuting,
is much more com-
mon
than the Piel; which, however, as being the intensive-form
(Ewald,
p. 1.95), is the most suitable here, where the most vio-
lent,
repeated, and continued persecution, are intended. The
114 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
difference
being merely in the vowels, no Kri could be placed
in
the margin. They called attention to this by uniting both
punctuations.
The one standing in the text is therefore no
form
at all; but we must read either JDeray;, which is the correct
one,
or JDor;yi, which latter form is found in many MSS., whose
transcribers
were bolder than the Masorites. It is customary
also
with the Arabians, when the punctuation is doubtful, to
write
the points in two or more ways; comp. Ewald, p. 489.
The
notion still found in Ewald, p. (302, that l sprung from lx,
is
still often of like import with it, and, in particular, is used of
direction
to a place, turns out, on a closer examination of the
examples
collected by Winer, Lex. p. 510, to
be incorrect. The
l always marks, quite differently from lx, the relation of be-
longing to. Accordingly, here Crxl
smr is to
"tread down so,
that
it belongs to the earth;" and the honour also is made to
dwell
so, that it henceforth is a property
of the dust. The
dwelling signifies that it is
lasting—an overthrow from which
there
is no recovery. According to De Wette, the expressions,
my
soul, my life, and mine honour," are a mere circumlocu-
tion
for the pers. pron. But this is manifestly false. "My
soul,"
as the parallel; "my life," shows, which is never a sub-
stitute
for the pron., is used here, as in ver. 1, because it was a
question
of life to David. That "my honour" does not stand
for
the pron. is obvious even from the contrast in which it
stands
to the dust. According to many
expositors, David offers
here,
in case he should be found guilty, to suffer the loss of the
two
earthly possessions which were most highly prized, and were
claimed
by Saul,—life and glory. So already Calvin: "The
sense
is,—"not only let the enemy destroy me, but let him also
add
all manner of insult to the dead, so that my name may
abide
in filth and dirt:" in this case, however, the loss of
honour
is too strictly referred to the disgrace of his memory
after
death, instead of to dishonour before, in and after,
death.
Others, however, take the honour as a designation of
the
soul, corresponding to "my soul and my life," and as im-
plying
that David was ready to sacrifice his noblest part. For
this
latter exposition there are two conclusive reasons: 1. The
putting
of "mine honour" for "my soul," in so far as this con-
stitutes
the glory of man, and is that which elevates him above
the
whole animal creation, to which, as to his body, he is re-
lated—he
alone being in respect of his soul a breath of God,
PSALM VII. VER. 8. 115
Gen.
ii. 7—is, according to the precedent in Gen. xlix. 6, of
such
frequent use in the Psalms of David (comp. Ps. xvi. 9,
lvii.
8, cviii: 2), that it is very natural to take the honour in
this
sense, when we find it connected with the soul and the life.
2.
The reference of our verse to ver. 2 is also in favour of this
sense.
The Psalmist here manifestly consents that the enemy,
in
case of hid guilt, should attain the end there said to be aimed
at
by him. There, however, only the soul is spoken of: "lest
he
tear my soul like a lion." The enemy seeks after David's
soul,
and his soul he will readily give him, if it be laden with
guilt;
but, since the accusations of the enemy are only lying
inventions,
God must needs deliver his soul. To make to dwell
in
the dust, denotes a shameful and humiliating destruction.
In
accordance with the relation of "mine honour" to "my life,"
it
is a stronger expression than "treading upon the earth." The
honour
of the Psalmist, his glory, must lie covered
with dust
upon
the ground.
Ver. 6. Conscious of his innocence,
the Psalmist summons
the
Lord to execute judgment against his enemies. The Berleb.
Bible
points out well the relation to the preceding context, "But,
because
my conscience acquits me of such things, and testifies
that
I am innocent therein, therefore I seek Thy protection, and
call
upon Thy righteousness, which is wont to defend the guilt-
less."
Arise, 0 Lord, in Thine anger, lift up
Thyself at the
raging of mine, enemies;
and awake for me, Thou who hast or-
dained judgment. The "lift
up" is stronger than "arise," and
is
q. d.: "Show Thyself mighty;" comp. Isa. xxxiii. 10, where
the
"rising" is connected with "exalting one's self." hrbf
prop.
an overstepping, then especially of a
violent rage, breaking
through
all bounds of order. The stat. constr. in plural has
tOrbf, in Job xl. 11. But the variation is
explicable from the
general
inclination of the gutturals to the A sound, Ewald, p.
110;
which was the more easily to be satisfied here, as the
vowel
is merely an assumed one, formed from two shevas.
Expositors
generally translate: "Against the
rage of mine
enemies."
But this rendering weakens the sense, by confound-
ing
the obvious contrast between the anger of God and the
anger
of the enemies. tvrbrfb stands in close relation to the pre-
ceding
jpxb,
and the b must
therefore be similarly rendered
here.
This was already seen by Calvin: "To
the rage of his
enemies
he opposes the anger of God. Whilst the ungodly
116 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
burn,
and belch out the flames of their rage, he begs God that
He
also would wax hot." "Awake for me," is for, "turn Thy-
self
wakingly toward me." Thou hast
ordained judgment. As
regards
the matter, the clause is a relative one: Thou, who hast
ordained
judgment; and that this is not externally indicated,
is
to be explained from the circumstance, that poetry loves the
abrupt
and concise. David begins here to ground his prayer
for
help on God's being the righteous judge of the world. This
thought
is further expanded in what follows. We must not
translate
with De Wette: "Order judgment,
command that a
day
of judgment be appointed," for then the v relat. could not
be
absent. Moreover, the sense of the first explanation is more
suitable.
David says here, the Lord has ordained judgment,
inasmuch
as to exercise judgment is a necessary outflow of His
nature,
of His holiness and righteousness, with a reference, per-
haps,
to the numerous declarations of the law concerning this
exercise
of judgment—which, however, only are so far con-
sidered,
as they testify to the fact of God's having appointed
judgment.
We are not to understand, "Thou hast ordained
judgment
in, but according to Thy word;" for in the law, judg-
ment
is not ordained, but announced. In what follows, then, he
calls
upon God actually to hold this judgment: "Help me, for
Thou
hast ordained judgment; Thou hast ordained judgment,
therefore
judge the people first, and then, in particular, me."
Ver. 7. And let time congregation of time peoples compass Thee
about; and over it
return Thou on high.
The main idea of the
verse
is, Show Thyself, 0 Lord, as the judge of the world. Every
special
act of God's judgment is a consequence of His being
judge
of the whole world. If this were not
the case, the expec-
tation
of such a thing would be groundless, a mere act of arbi-
trary
procedure. Hence, the Psalmists and Prophets not un-
frequently
point to an universal judgment, before announcing
a
special judgment, or a prayer for one—comp. Mic. i. 2 ss.,
Isa.
ii. 9 ss. The proper wish of the Psalmist is contained in
ver.
8, "Judge me." But because a special judgment is only a
result
of the general and comprehensive judgment, the Psalmist
first
of all prays that the latter might begin: "Thou hast ar-
ranged
judgment; come then to the judgment of the world;
come
also to the judgment between me and my enemies." The
clothing
of this idea is taken from the manner of pronouncing
judgment,
which still prevails in the East, where the king, sur-
PSALM VII. VER.
8. 117
rounded
by the crowd of contending parties, ascends the throne,
and
then gives forth the judgment. The Lord comes down
from
His lofty seat in the heavens;—(this is what is to be
understood
by Mvrmh,
"the height," as appears from the quite
similar
representation in Ps. lxviii.; see especially ver. 18,
"Thou
hast ascended on high, Thou hast led captivity captive,
Thou
hast received gifts for men")—around Him are gathered
all
nations of the earth; after the judgment has been held, He
returns
back to heaven. This representation is in perfect ac-
cordance
with the common figurative, description of every mani-
festation of God, as a coming
down from heaven to earth. The
true
God is at once above and in the world; whilst the self-made
god
is either wholly shut out from it, after the manner of the
naturalists,
or wholly depressed to the world, and amalgamated
with
it, after the manner of the pantheists. Neither Mymxl nor
Mymf ever designates the family of
positors,
incapable of apprehending the true sense, here think.
(In
Deut. xxxiii. 3, 19, the word Mymf signifies, not nations,
but
peoples
or persons.) Nor are the nations to be considered
merely
in the light of witnesses of the judgment, but rather as
those
on whom the judgment is to be exercised. This is unde-
niably
clear from the words in next verse, "The Lord shall
judge
the people;" comp. also Mic. i. 3. hlf, over or above.it,
raising
Thyself above it, refers to the assemblage of the nations.
Mvrml-bvw, to return back, that one may belong to
the height;
as
to the sense, but not grammatically, equivalent to "return
to
the height.” Venema: Universo coetu inspectante coelum,
unde
descendisti, repete. In disproof of De Wette's forced
interpretation:
"Over it turn to the height, i.e. to Thy elevated
seat
upon
manner
left, as He was not exercising righteousness among the
people,
and permitting the good to be oppressed," it is enough
to
remark, that Mvrmh is never used of
of
God's lofty dwelling-place in the heavens. Besides, at the
time
of this Psalm's composition,
seat
of the Lord; and the words, "over it," are not suitable,
etc.
Luther has also quite failed in giving the right meaning:
"That
the people again assemble before Thee, and for their
sakes
rise up again."
Ver. 8. The Lord judges the people; judge me also, 0 Lord,
according to my
righteousness, and integrity in me. Many ex-
118 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
plain
ylf,
"over me," from David's representing his integrity as
a
cover and shield, protecting him against hostile assaults, and
insuring
him of Divine assistance. We may, however, simply
explain,
"in me," "which is peculiar to me." The qualities of
the
man are, as it were, over, or cover him in whom they inhere.
That
the Psalmist here prays God to judge him according to
his
righteousness and innocence, agrees quite well with that in
Ps.
cxliii., "Enter not into judgment with Thy servant, for in
Thy
sight shall no man living be justified." The discourse here,
as
may be seen by comparing vers. 3-5, is properly of righteous-
ness
in reference to a determinate matter, which certainly can
only
be conceived as an outflow of righteousness generally; yet
still
only presupposes such a righteousness as does not exclude
the
exercise of Divine mercy in pardoning, but only fits us for
becoming
partakers thereof.
Ver. 9. Oh, let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end,
and establish the just;
and the trier of the heart and reins art
Thou, 0 righteous God. David's conflict with
Saul was not a
conflict
between individuals, but between parties; Saul's cause
was
espoused by the wicked as theirs, and David's by the right
Rous.
Comp. the often misunderstood passage, 1 Sam. xxii. 2.
Therefore,
the Psalmist prays, that in Saul the wicked might
be
judged, in him the righteous delivered. Many render: "May
He,
the Lord, bring to an end." But as there is an address to
the
Lord both in the preceding and following verse, we should
scarcely
expect Him to be here spoken of in the third person.
rmg occurs also elsewhere in the Psalms in an
intrans. sense;
xii.
1, lxxvii. 8. The words: "The trier art Thou," etc., point
to
the Divine righteousness, which does not permit God to be
indifferent
toward the righteous and the wicked, but constantly
makes
use of His omniscience to penetrate into the inmost regions
of
the heart, in order to discern the one and the other, and to
visit
them with blessing or punishment accordingly. "The
proving
of the heart and the reins" is mentioned, as is evident
from
the expression, "0 righteous God," not as pledging the
mere
possibility, but the reality of the
Divine judgment, not as
an
outflow of the Divine omniscience, but of the Divine right-
eousness.
Comp. Jer. xvii. 10, "I, the Lord, search the heart,
I
try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways,
and
according to the fruit of his doings;" xx. 12, "And, 0 Lord
of
hosts, that triest the righteous, and seest the reins and the
PSALM VII. VERS. 10, 11. 119
heart,
I shall see my revenge on them." The and
also is better
explained
on this view than on the other, which would rather
lead
us to expect a "for," insomuch that some of its supporters,
for
example Ewald, are disposed to throw it out of the text
entirely.
If the trying of the heart and reins is a spontaneous
activity
of God, then there is involved in the words before us,
which,
primarily, simply ascribe this activity to God, when viewed
in
connection with the preceding entreaties, an indirect solicita-
tion
to exercise such activity—"Thou art a trier," etc., so try
then--and
the second clause of the verse comes into parallelism
with
the first. If God does try the heart and the reins, He
cannot
but bring to an end the wickedness of the wicked, and
establish
the righteous. Many translate: And the righteous
God
tries the heart and the reins; but it is better to regard
this
as a direct address to God, in accordance with the pre-
ceding
one.
Ver. 10. In the room of the prayer,
appears now the hope
grounded
upon the righteousness of God, which manifests itself
in
defence of the righteous, and for the destruction of the wicked.
My shield is with God,
who delivers the upright in heart. The
lf cannot mean precisely with here. Wherever this appears to
be
the sense, the connection with the radical meaning upon must
still
be able to be pointed out. Here the use of the preposition
may
be explained thus, that the shield stands figuratively for
defence either it devolves on
God to protect me, to hold His
shield
over me (comp. Judges xix. 20, "All thy wants are upon
me,"
it lies upon me to relieve them; Ps. lvi. 12, "Thy vows
are
upon me, 0 God"), or my defence rests
upon God, has Him
for
its foundation. This latter supposition is favoured by Ps.
lxii.
7, “Upon God is my salvation and my glory.” In that
David
expects deliverance only on the ground of God's saving
the
upright, he supplies a new evidence of his having a good
conscience.
Ver. 11. God judges the righteous, and the Almighty is angry
every day. This is David's double
ground of hope. For he is
a
righteous man, and his enemies are the ungodly. Many take
Fpvw as a subst., and qydc as the adjective
belonging to it: God
is
a righteous judge. But the parallelism with Mfz requires that
Fpvw also should be taken as a participle standing
for the verb
finite.
This is confirmed by a comparison with ver. 8. To the
"Judge
me, 0 Lord, according to my righteousness," there,
120 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
corresponds
here, the "God judges the righteous;"
there the
prayer,
here the positive principle, which guarantees the fulfil-
ment
of the prayer. The every day, continually,
points to the
fact,
that the Divine judgment on ungodliness is one always
realizing
itself in the course of history, so that they who practise
it
can never be secure, but are always in danger of a sudden
overthrow.
Ver. 12. If he turn not, He will whet His sword, bend His bow,
and make it ready. The subject of the
verb turn, the ungodly,
is
to be borrowed from the second half of the preceding verse,
where
it occurs by implication. It is erroneous to suppose with
many
that a particular enemy, Saul, is here described as such.
That
the Psalmist delineates here only in a general way the
punishment
of the ungodly, is clear even from the preceding
context.
This and the next verse are merely a further expan-
sion
of the words, "God is angry every day," which, on account
of
the "every day," must not be restricted to the enemies of
David.
The punishment of the enemies of David follows from
this,
with the same necessity as, from the general principle,
"God
judges the righteous," does the deliverance of David.
The
"turning back" is wider than the "turning back to the
Lord."
It denotes merely in general the ceasing from former
doings
and strivings, while the latter, at the same time, indi-
cates
the aim toward which the changed course is directed.
Koester
justly remarks, that it perfectly accords with the plac-
able
spirit of the Psalm, comp. ver. 4, that David should first
wish
the conversion of the enemy. He will whet
His sword. The
Lord
is represented under the image of a warrior who prepares
himself
for the attack; comp. Deut. xxxii. 41, "I whet My glit-
tering
sword, and My hand lays hold on judgment." This
passage,
which, the mention of arrows immediately after the
sword,
as here, proves more certainly to have been in the eye of
the
Psalmist, is of itself sufficient to confute those who suppose
that
the ungodly are the subject of the whole verse. And make
it ready —He places the arrows
upon it. Falsely, De Wette:
"And
directs it." This signification does not accord with the
parallel
passage, Ps. xi. 2, nor does it occur in the Pilel of the
verb
Nvk.
In all the passages adduced by Gesenius in favour of
the
sense "to direct," that of preparing, making ready, charging,
should
rather be admitted, The "directing" is first introduced
in
ver. 13. It is a remarkable instance of that play of Divine
PSALM VII. VER.
12. 121
of
Saul, the bow and the sword both actually had their share.
Saul
was hit by the hostile archers, and sore pressed, so that he
despaired
of his life. "Then said he to his armour-bearer,
Draw
thy sword, and thrust me through therewith, lest these
uncircumcised
come and thrust me through, and abuse me: but
his
armour-bearer would not, for he was sore afraid. Therefore
Saul
took a sword and fell upon it." 1 Sam. xxxi. 3, 4. The
apparently
coarse manner of expression in our text, representing
God
as a warrior, equipped with sword and bow, has, besides,
for
its foundation, the coarseness of sinners, and the weakness
of
faith on the part of believers, which does not find the simple
thought,
that God judges, a sufficient support in face of visible
danger,
but demands that the thought take to itself flesh and
blood,
and that the judge should stand over against the sinner,
man
against man, sword against sword. But this kind of re-
presentation
shows, at the same time, a very lively faith, which
alone
was able, in order to satisfy this need of the weakness of
faith,
to clothe the judge and avenger with flesh and blood. The
idea
of God's righteousness must have possessed great vigour to
render
such a representation possible. There are some excel-
lent
remarks upon the ground of it in Luther, who, however,
too
much overlooks the fact, that the Psalmist presents before
his
eyes this form of an angry and avenging God, primarily
with
the view of strengthening, by its consideration, his own
hope;
and pays too little regard to the distinction between the
Psalmist,
who only indirectly teaches, that is, presents what he
himself
has inwardly experienced, and the Prophet: "The
Prophet
employs a coarse human similitude, in order that he
might
inspire terror into the ungodly. For he speaks against
stupid
and hardened people, who would not apprehend the
reality
of a Divine judgment, of which he had just spoken,
unless
it should be shown them by the use of serious human
images.—Now
the Prophet is not satisfied with mentioning the
sword,
but he adds thereto the bow; even this does not satisfy
him,
but he describes how it is already stretched, and aim is
taken,
and the arrows are applied to it, as here follows. So
hard,
stiffnecked, and unabashed are the ungodly, that how-
ever
many threatenings may be urged against them, they will
still
remain unmoved. But in these words he forcibly describes
how
God's anger presses hard upon the ungodly, though they
122 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
will
never understand this until they actually experience it. It
is
also to be remarked here, that we have had so frightful a
threatening
and indignation against the ungodly in no Psalm
before
this; neither has the Spirit of God attacked them with
so
many words. Then, in the following verses, he also recounts
their
plans and purposes; shows how these will not only be in
vain,
but will return again upon their own head. So that it
clearly
and manifestly appears to all those who suffer wrong
and
reproach, as a matter of consolation, that God hates such
revilers
and slanderers above all other characters."
Ver. 13. And He has prepared for him the instruments of
death, He makes His
arrows burning.
The l
with the verb
Nykh denotes the object toward which something is
directed;
which
is aimed here, therefore, at the ungodly. The object
stands
here with peculiar emphasis in the foreground. The
Psalmist
draws attention to the danger of being the target at
which
God levels His attack. qld to burn.
In sieges it is cus-
tomary
to wrap round the arrows burning matter, and to shoot
them
after being kindled.
Ver. 14. Behold, he travails with mischief, but is big with
misery, and brings forth
falsehood.
In place of the hope which
springs
out of the consideration of God's righteousness—which
leads
Him to help the righteous, but to prepare for the wicked
a
fearful destruction—confidence now enters. The Psalmist sees
with
his eyes how the malicious plots of the wicked, for the
ruin
of the righteous, are brought to nought, and turn out to
their
own destruction. The "behold," and the prophetic pret.,
are
a wonderful proof of the strength of faith, which can over-
look
what violently presses upon the sense, and see what is still
invisible.
Luther: "He first says, ‘behold,’ as if he himself
wondered,
and called upon all to come, as it were to a rare spec-
tacle.
For it appears far otherwise to our senses." Luther
translates:
Behold, he has evil in his heart, with misfortune he
is
pregnant, but he will bring forth a failure; and he is followed
by De Wette, Hitzig, etc. But we must rather refer the words,
"he
is big with misery," to the issue as full of wretchedness
for
the wicked. This is supported, 1. By the accents, which
connect
the words, not with what precedes, but with what fol-
lows,
comp. ver. 15; 2. and, besides, the being in labour, ought
in
the other case to follow upon the being pregnant.
Ver. 15. The same thought, under
another image. He has
PSALM VII. VER.
15. 123
digged a pit, and
hollowed it out; but he falls into the ditch which
he makes. Luther: "All this
is written for the consolation of
those
who are oppressed, to the end that they may be sure
and
certain, that the evil, which is directed against them, shall
fall
upon their revilers and persecutors. At the same time, it
is
also written for a terror to the ungodly, persecutors, and
slanderers,
whose excessive rashness and security needs to be
alarmed,
as the weakness of the other to be strengthened." It
is
customary to dig pits, and cover them with foliage, in order
to
catch lions and other wild beasts in them. From such cus-
tom
the image is here taken:—And hollowed it
out. This addi-
tion
marks the depth of the pit dug by him, the anxiety of the
wicked
to have it made as deep as possible. Luther: "See how
admirably
he expresses the hot burning fury of the ungodly;
not
simply declaring: he has dug a pit, but adding to this:
and
hollowed it out. So active and diligent are they to have
the
pit dug and the hole prepared. They try everything, they
explore
everything; and not satisfied that they have dug a pit,
but
clear it out and make it deep, as deep as they possibly can,
that
they may destroy and subvert the innocent. In this way
the
Jews acted: although they were eager to have Christ put
to
death, and their whole efforts were directed thereto, still they
were
not satisfied that He should die a painful death, but took
care
that His death should be of the most shameful kind, just as
if
they had dug a very deep pit for Him, and cleared it out. So
are
all godless persecutors and revilers disposed, not to be satis-
fied
with merely destroying their neighbour, but strive as much
as
in them lies to bring them to the most shameful end." Be-
fore
lfpy,
the pron. relat. is to be supplied; or, more correctly,
there
is here an usage of very frequent occurrence, especially
in
poetry, of placing the relative clause after the substantive
without
any particular word. Comp. Ewald, p. 646. The
pron.
suff. also is awanting, because the sense is clear from the
substantive
immediately preceding: poetry, too, is fond of ex-
pressive
brevity. Therefore: he falls into the pit he makes.
We
must not expound: into the pit which he has
made. The
wicked
man is still occupied with the pit, still working at it,
when
he falls into it. The punishment overtakes him in the
midst
of his guilty career. Kaiser supposes, without ground,
that
an external deliverance already past is here celebrated.
But
that by no means necessarily follows from the Fut. with
124 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
vau
cony. lpyv.
For this form only marks that an action fol-
lows
out of the preceding. If this is all, it may stand also for
the
present and the future, although certainly it is most com-
monly
used of the past. Therefore not he fell; but, he falls.
Ewald,
p. 541.
Ver. 16. His mischief shall return upon his own head, and
his iniquity shall come
down upon his own pate, like a stone or
an
arrow, which, having been thrown aloft, returns upon the
head
of him who threw it. The b in vwxrb, is the b which is
used
with verbs of motion, when the object moved remains in
its
place. Upon his head, is not
grammatically correct. The
head
is considered as the seat of the mischief. The mischief
not
merely falls upon it, but presses
into it. lmf
always denotes
the
evil one suffers, not that which one inflicts. The evil
here
characterized by the suffix, which refers to the ungodly,
belonging
to him, as wrought by him. This verse, like the two
preceding
ones, points to "the elastic nature of right, according
to
which every infliction calls forth a counter infliction:" as is
indeed
a necessary consequence of the existence of a living God.
God,
indeed, cannot be conceived of without the idea of recom-
pense.
Luther "For this is the incomprehensible nature of
the
Divine judgment, that God catches the wicked with their
own
plots and counsels, and leads them into the destruction
which
they had themselves devised."
Ver. 17. In what precedes, the
Psalmist had attained to a
living
acquaintance with the Divine righteousness, and de-
scribed
its manifestations. Here he concludes with giving praise
to
God on account of this His righteousness, and generally on
account
of His glorious nature, or with the declaration, that
he will praise Him on account thereof. I will praise the Lord
according to His
righteousness, and will sing praise to the name of
the Lord Most High. According to His
righteousness, in pro-
portion
thereto, so that the righteousness and the praise shall
correspond.
The verse forms a suitable conclusion to the strophe
of
vision. For the manifestations of
Divine righteousness are
taken
for granted in it as having been already given.
PSALM VIII. 125
PSALM VIII.
The grand topic of this Psalm must,
according to various
expositors,
be twofold,—the greatness of God, as the God of the
world
and nature, and His goodness toward man. But a more
careful
examination of it shows, that the latter topic alone is
strictly
the theme, to which the other is merely subordinate;
that
the greatness of the Lord in the creation of the world is
only
celebrated for the purpose of presenting in a more striking
light
His condescending goodness towards weak man.—God's
glory—this
is the train of thought—is made known on earth by
the
splendour of the heavenly edifice, in so impressive, feeling,
and
palpable a manner, that even children apprehend it, and by
the
wondering delight which they experience, and the praise
which
they stammer forth to Him, put to shame the folly of
His
hardened blasphemers; vers. 1, 2.—When one considers this
glory
and greatness of God revealing themselves in the heavens,
how
must it fill with adoring wonder, with sincere gratitude,
that
such a God should have so taken notice of weak man, who
appears
unworthy of the least regard from Him, crowned him
with
honour, made him His vicegerent upon earth, and delivered
into
his hands the lordship thereof! vers. 3-8. Great indeed is
God,
as well in the dignity which, in the fulness of His love
and
condescension, He has conferred on men, as in the glory of
the
heavens!—This, then, is the theme, The
greatness of God
in the greatness of man.
The Psalm needs no historical
exposition, and bears none.
It
has been often said, that David was raised to the adoration
of
God by the sight of the starry sky. And in this way it has
been
commonly explained, why, in the third verse, amid the glo-
rious
works of God in the heavens, the sun is omitted, and the
moon
and the stars only are mentioned. Sun is this idea is not
well-grounded,
we shall see when we come to the exposition of
the
verse. That David composed this Psalm, not as a shepherd,
as
some have supposed, for the sake of their sentimentality, but
as
king, is probable from the familiar reference in the Psalm to
the
kingly glory; comp. vers. 1 and 5. In his shepherd-days,
David
had not yet begun to indite Psalms; and in him also was
verified
the proverb, "The wine-press only presses out the wine;"
and
this, "Necessity teaches men to pray." It was in the per-
126 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
secutions
that he endured from Saul, that the springs of Divine
song
began to flow in him.
Passages from this Psalm are applied
to Christ in the New
Testament;
and this has led many expositors to refer the whole
Psalm
to Him alone. Not only, however, do many internal
grounds
oppose this view, but it is not sufficiently confirmed by
the
authority of the New Testament. This will appear on an
examination
of the particular passages. In Matt. xxi. 16, Christ
rebukes
the Pharisees, who could not contain themselves because
children
were crying to him Hosanna, by bringing to their re-
membrance
the 2d verse of this Psalm: "Have ye never read,
Out
of the mouths of babes and sucklings Thou hast perfected
praise?"
From this quotation, it does not at all follow that the
Lord
explained the Psalm to refer to Himself. It is enough
that
the idea uttered in the Psalm,—viz. the high-minded, who
proudly
shut their heart to the impression of what is Divine,
withstanding,
and impiously blaspheming it, are put to shame
by
the cheerful acknowledgment thereof, uttered by the un-
sophisticated
mind of childhood, here also exemplified. The
stroke
which the Lord here dealt to the Pharisees, was a com-
pletely
silencing one; they must have felt it in their innermost
conscience.
The second quotation from this Psalm, in Heb. ii.
6-9,
appears to favour more the Messianic interpretation. There
vers.
4, 5, are applied to Christ's glory, and His lordship over
all
creation. But neither are we necessitated by this passage to
refer
the Psalm, in its primary and proper sense, to Christ.
Although
David, in the first instance, speaks of the human race
generally,
the writer of the Epistle might still justly refer what
is
said to Christ, in its highest and fullest sense. For whereas
the
glory of human nature, here delineated, has been so dimmed
through
the fall, that only some few slight flashes of it are seen,
and
therefore what is here said refers rather to the idea than
to
the reality, it appeared anew in Christ in full splendour. The
writer
of the Epistle describes the dominion obtained for hu-
manity
in Christ over creation, whereby it was exalted above
the
angels, in the words of the 4th and 5th verse of this Psalm.
The
thoroughly incidental reference of the beginning of ver. 5,
as
rendered in the LXX., to the humiliation of Christ, is not
properly
an exposition, but a popular adaptation. This is un-
questionably
the case also with the third quotation, in 1 Cor.
xv.
27. Paul there refers the words of ver. 6, "Thou hast put
PSALM VIII. 127
all
things under His feet," to Christ, because the power of hu-
manity
over the whole creation, lost and changed in Adam to a
base
servitude, was regained in Christ, and that, indeed, in a
still
higher and more perfect manner than it was possessed by
Adam.
The following remarks may contribute to a deeper
insight
into the ideal Messianic meaning of this Psalm. The
Psalm
stands in the closest connection with the first chapter of
Genesis.
What is written there of the dignity with which God
invested
man over the works of His hands, whom He placed
as
His representative on earth, and endowed with the lordship
of
creation, is here made the subject of thanks and praise.
That passage in Genesis
is here turned into a prayer for us.
But
how far man still really possesses that glory, what remains
of
it, how much of it has been lost, of this the Psalmist takes no
note.
His object was simply to praise the goodness of God,
which
still remained the same, as God, who does not repent Him
of
His gifts, had not arbitrarily withdrawn what He gave; but
man,
by his folly, has robbed himself of them. But, in con-
sequence
of his looking only to the goodness of God, which
continues
the same, the entire representation completely suits
only
the beginning and the end, and only very imperfectly suits
the
middle period, in which we, along with the Psalmist, now
are.
When this middle is considered, man is represented quite
otherwise
in the Old Testament than we find him in this Psalm,
—as
a sleep, a shadow, a falling leaf, a worm, as dust and ashes.
And
that for which God is here thanked, the prophets hoped and
longed
to see in the future: see especially
Isa. xi. 6-9, where the
same
reference is made as here to Gen. i., and where is ex-
pressed
an expectation that the Messianic period will restore the
original,
but now disordered, relation of the earth to man. Ac-
cordingly,
the matter of this Psalm can find its full verification
only
in the future; and for the present it applies to none but
Christ,
in whom human nature again possesses the dignity and
power
over creation, which it lost in Adam. By and by, when
the
moral consequences of the fall have been swept away, this
also
shall come to be the common inheritance of the human
family.
tytgh-lf, upon the harp of
the
termination y-i, except in the cases of adjectives which are
derived
from proper names, is rare, and as yTigi in the sense of
Gathic,
of
128 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
(comp.
Jos. xiii. 3; 2 Sam. vi. 10, 11, xv. 18), we must reject,
as
arbitrary, all other derivations, such as from tga, a "wine-
press,"
and still more those from the purely imaginary tga cantus
fidium.
Now, the Gittith may be either an instrument invented
in
speak
of a Lydian or Phrygian air, and according to the analogy
of
the expression, "upon the Sheminith." It is worthy of re-
mark,
that all the three Psalms distinguished by this name
(besides
this, lxxxi. lxxxiv.) are of a joyful, thanksgiving
character;
from which it may be inferred, that the Gittith was
an
instrument of cheerful sound, or a lively air.
Ver. 1. Jehovah, our Lord, how glorious is Thy name in all
the earth! who hast
crowned the heavens with Thy majesty. The
“our
Lord,” shows at once that the Psalmist speaks here, and
throughout
the Psalm, not in his own name, but in that of the
whole
human race. That the word Mw is ever used as a mere
periphrasis
for the person, without any further reference, is just
as
erroneous as the opinion, that it is synonymous with renown.
The
name, in the language of the ancient world generally, and
of
the Hebrews in particular, is the image and expression of the
being,
the echo of its manifestation. God, as He is in Himself,
is
nameless. But a manifestation and a name are inseparable
from
each other. The name proceeds quite naturally out of it;
and
the more glorious the manifestation, so much more glori-
ous
also is the name, that is, it is the more full and significant.
Now,
the following words declare by what means the name of
God
has become glorious on the whole earth, —point to the mani-
festation,
whose product is the glorious name. They are to be
translated
literally: "Thou, in respect to whom, giving is Thy
glory,
above the heavens." This, according to most interpreters,
is
equivalent to: Thou, who hast not confined Thyself to over-
spread
the earth with Thy glory, but who hast also crowned the
heavens
with it, hast set it upon these as a crown. But if we
compare
ver. 3, where the heavens alone are spoken of, it will
be
seen that the glory of the name of God upon earth is here
only
in so far celebrated, as God is glorified upon it through the
magnificence
of the heavens. This is also implied in the rwx,
which
indicates in what respect, and by what means, God's name
is
glorious upon the earth, or how He has acquired His glory upon
earth.
hnt is the inf. constr. in
Kal of Ntn.
Those of the verbs
Np, which form the Fut. upon Zere or Patach,
commonly throw
PSALM VIII. VER.
2. 129
away
in inf. constr. the n pointed with Schwa; for the small word
the
feminal termination t-, is commonly chosen; from Ntn, tnt,
contracted
tte.
In place of this, we find here the fem. term. h-A,
just
as along with the common inf. constr. of dry, tdr
the form
hdAr; also occurs; see Ewald, p. 460. Now the
inf. governs here,
as
usual, the case of the verb fin.: the giving Thy glory; Ew.
p.
622. We must not translate, with Ewald
and Winer: the
giving
of Thy glory; for the form of the inf. constr. with the
appended
h
fem. has precisely the nature of a noun in stat.
absol.
There is not a single instance to be found, where such a
form
should be directly connected with a following noun. It
should
then, of necessity, have been tte, and not hnt.— The prep.
lf instead of our rather expecting b, is explicable from the
fact,
that
dvh,
glory, is considered as a crown, which the Lord sets
upon
the heavens; comp. ver. 5.—The common exposition con-
siders
the inf. of Ntn to be used here, instead of the preterite.
But
this cannot be admitted, for two reasons. First, the inf.
constr.
never stands in place of the pret., but only the inf.
absol.,
which must have been NOtnA because n furnished with a
long
vowel is not to be dropt. And then, the inf. absol. also can
stand
for the pret. only when used simply of the action, expressed
by
the inf., but not when used of the acting person. This, how-
ever,
is so far from being the case here, that the acting person
is
just what comes prominently into view. The attempt of
Hitzig,
and others, to derive the word from another verb than
Ntn is refuted alone by the parallel passages, 1
Chron. xxix. 25,
Numb.
xxvii. 20, Dan. xi. 21, in which dvh Ntn is found exactly
as
here, with lf. We willingly omit other still more untenable
explanations,
such as that of Hoffmann, who would take the
word
as an imperative.— dvh is rendered by many expositors,
renown; but this signification
never belongs to it: it always
means
glory. God has clad the heavens with
His glory, in that
He
has set in them the sun, moon, and stars, as monuments of
His
almighty power and greatness.
130 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
Ver. 2. Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou hast
prepared for thyself a
power. Myllvf, are children in
general.
Myqnvy, children till the third year, up to
which the Hebrew At
women
used to suckle their children. De Wette, without cause,
stumbles
at the circumstance, that praise to God is here ascribed
to
sucklings. Even a little child is conscious of pleasure, in look-
ing
upon the lovely scenes of nature, in particular, upon the
starry
heavens, which are here specifically mentioned, and this
admiration
of the works of God is a sort of silent praising of
them.
According to De Wette, and others, the sense must be
"The
child, his existence, his life, his advancement, &c., pro-
claim
God as creator." Or: "The child, even in his happy being
in
the fulness of his delight in life, is a witness of God's renown,
But
the incorrectness of this view is evinced partly by its render-
ing
the expression, "out of the mouth," devoid of meaning,—for
no
one surely will agree with Hoffmann in thinking, that "the
mouth"
here is superfluous,—and partly because the allusion to
children,
in proof of the creative power of God, is here quite
unsuitable,
as in the following verse, which again takes up and
resumes
the subject of ver. 1 and 2, it is God's greatness in the
framework
of the world that is discoursed of. The beautiful
structure
and connection of the Psalm is entirely destroyed, if
the
children are made to praise God through their being, and not
through
their admiration of the glory of God, as displayed in
heavens,—a
reason which also disproves the view of Umbreit,
who,
artfully enough, seeks to get rid of the difficulty connect
with
"the mouth," by referring it "to the living breath of the
new-born
child, to the first cry of the babe, and the first move-
ment
of the infant lips to pronounce words." It is further to
be
noticed, that it would be quite unsuitable to bring forward
children
here, as proofs of the creative power of God, followed
up,
as it would presently be, by a declaration of the nothing-
ness
of man, for the purpose of magnifying the more the grace
of
God. If children were indeed viewed as proclaiming the
glory
of God, not less than the starry heavens, it might seem
nothing
wonderful or unexpected, that God should bestow so
richly
of his favour upon men. dsy commonly means, to lay
the foundation of, and then also to prepare in general. zf most
modern
commentators take in the sense of praise,
renown;
but
we must retain, with Calvin and others, the sense of might.
strength; this seems the more
suitable: God needs for his im-
PSALM VIII. VER. 2. 131
potent
and foolish adversaries, no other combatants than chil-
dren,
who are themselves in a condition to maintain his cause.
And
what is quite decisive, a more careful consideration of
the
passages, in which the word, according to grammarians
and
lexicographers, should signify praise,
shows that such a
meaning
is quite imaginary. zf always
signifies might or
strength. By taking it in the
sense of praise here, the mean-
ing
is disfigured. The marked contrast between the proud
enemies
of God, and the little children whom he sets up against
them
as his force of war, then completely disappears. But
God
obtains the victory over his rebellious subjects, by means
of
children, in so far as it is through their conscious or un-
conscious
praise of his glory, as that is manifested in the splen-
dour
of his creation, especially of the starry firmament, that
puts
to shame the hardihood of the deniers of his being or
his
perfections. Even Koester, who otherwise egregiously errs
in
the right construction of the Psalm, returns here to the cor-
rect
explanation: "In zf, there is contained a pointed irony, indi-
cating
that the lisping of infants forms a sort of tower of de-
fence
(?) against the violent assaults of the disowners of God,
which
is perfectly sufficient."
In
order to still the enemy and the revengeful, all those who,
if
they were visited by thee for their sins, would burn against
thee
with foolish rage and impotent revenge. The words are
a
farther extension of the preceding ones; because of thine ad-
versaries.
The enemy and the revengeful are united here to-
gether,
just as in Psalm xliv. 16, where they have for their ac-
companiment
the reproacher and blasphemer. How revenge
might
be spoken of in respect to God, is shown especially by
the
book of Job, where, for example, Elihu in ch. xxxvi. 13,
speaks
of the lawless, "who heap up wrath, and cry not when he
bindeth
them;" that is, when God inflicts sufferings upon them,
they
flee not for pardon and grace, but kick against him, refer-
ring
specially to Job, who, because punishment of sin was com-
bined
with want of acknowledgment of sin, turned his spirit
against
God, and cried out against him to the blood avenger of
his
wrong, existing not on earth but in heaven: "0 earth, cover
not
thou my blood, and let my cry have no place." In modern
literature,
nothing could be of more service to keep us from
every
attempt to force a foreign meaning upon Mqntm, than
the
journal of Carl von Hohenhausen, in the work: C. v. Hohen.
132 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
Ver. 3. When I consider Thy heavens, the work of Thy hands
—inasmuch
as men can make nothing without fingers, and in
expressive
contrast to the poor works which they can make
therewith—the moon and the stars, which Thou hast
founded.
If
we would not account for the absence of the sun by suppos-
ing
the Psalm was sung at night, we may conceive, with S.
Schmidt
among the older expositors (quando suscipio coelum,
prout
illud interdiu apparet cum sole suo, noctu autem lunam),
and
and Ewald among the more recent, that the Psalmist, in the
first
member, has his eye chiefly upon the sun, and then, in the
second,
specially describes the splendid appearance of the night-
heavens;
and this seems the more natural, particularly on
account
of the reference to Gen. i., where, among the objects
of
creation, the sun holds so prominent a place. When the
heavens
are spoken of as proofs of the greatness of God, every
one
thinks first of the sun.
Ver. 4. What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? The
designation
wvnx,
which, according to its etymology, is weak,
frail, is here used
intentionally. Calvin: "The prophet means,
that
God's wonderful goodness is the more brightly displayed,
in
that He, the great Creator, whose omnipotence shines forth
in
the heavens, should crown so miserable and unworthy a
creature
with the highest honour, and enrich him with number-
less
treasures." Contrasted with God, whose almightiness and
greatness
as Creator is manifested by the heavens with their
shining
stars, man appears nothing more than a worm in the
dust,
undeserving of the least regard. What a wonderful dis-
play
of love is it, then, that he should still have done so much
for
him, as is set forth in the following verses?—dqp to visit.
Every
manifestation of God for blessing or for punishment.—
which
of the two must always be determined by the connection
—appears
as a visit by Him. So, for example, Ruth i. 6,
"The
Lord visited His people to give them
bread." In Gen.
xviii.
13, the Lord promises, then personally present, that He
would
return about that time the following year to Abraham,
and
then would Sarah have a son. In ch. xxi. 1, the fulfilment
of
the promise is thus recorded, "And the Lord visited Sarah,
as
He had said;" therewith are conjoined, as having the same
force,
the words, "and the Lord did unto Sarah as He had
spoken."
The Lord appeared not personally, but
invisibly in
the
fulfilment of His promise. From this and similar passages
PSALM VIII. VER. 5. 133
it
is manifest, that the commonly received signification of dqp
in
such a connection: "to look on something or some one," is
inadmissible.
The expression testifies to a great force of the
religions
consciousness, which apprehends God in every opera-
tion
of His hand.—The commencement of David's prayer in
2
Sam. vii. 18 presents a striking resemblance to our verse:
"Who
am I, 0 Lord God, and what is my house, that Thou
hast
led me hitherto?" It is the same humility which here
wonders
at the greatness of God's condescension to man in
general
and there at the greatness of His condescension to the
son
of Jesse. The words, "what is man, what am I," expressed
one
of the deepest feelings of David's soul. In vers. 5-8 he
further
enlarges on the way in which God has thought upon
man,
and visited him.
Ver. 5. Thou settest him a little beneath Divine rank, Thou
crownest him with honour
and glory.
Various expositors follow
the
Chaldee and the LXX. in rendering Myhlx by angels. But
this
exposition has manifestly sprung from doctrinal considera-
tions.
In support of this meaning, one can only appeal to
certain
passages in which it has been falsely so rendered either
for
doctrinal reasons, or others beside the mark; and in connec-
tion
with, those passages, appeal is made again to the one before
us.
But, there is here a special ground
for rejecting this expo-
sition,
which was first pointed out by Dereser. The grace of
God
is here celebrated, which led Him to give to man the
sovereignty
over the earth. But how could he be compared
in
this respect with angels, who possess no such sovereignty ?
Others
expound: Thou hast made him only a little less than
God.
But there is a double objection to be made also to this
exposition:
1. rsH
in Pi., with Nm, is taken in the sense of
making less than, to
make inferior to,
which is against the usus
loquendi.
The verb signifies, in Piel, to make,
or cause, to want;
and
the noun connected with it by Nm in marks the object, in
re-
gard
to which there is the want. So in the only place besides,
where
it does occur. Eccl. iv. 8, hbvFm ywpn-tx rsHm, "Deprive
my
soul of good;" comp. the adj. rseHA with Nm of the thing in
Eccl.
vi. 2. Accordingly, the expression here, ‘m vhrsht, can
only
be rendered: Thou hast made him to want little of God.
2.
It is not admissible to understand by Myhlx here, precisely
and
exclusively the only true God. The passage would, in that
case,
be at variance with the view unfolded in Scripture, of the
134 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
infinite
distance between God and man, and so loftily expressed
in
this Psalm itself. The correct interpretation is the follow-
ing:
The Elohim expresses the abstract idea of Godhead. But
where
it is not made concrete by the article, it is not unfre-
quently
used merely to designate something super-earthly. (See
my
Treatise on the names of God in the Pent. in 2d vol. of
Beitr.
zur Einl. ins A. T.) Important in this point of view is
the
passage, Zech. xii. 8, "The house of David shall be as
Elohim,
as the angel of the Lord," where the transition from
"Elohim"
to "the angel of the Lord," is put as an advance
from
the less to the greater. The idea of the Elohim sinks
lowest
in 1 Sam. xxviii. 13, where the witch of Endor says to
Saul,
"I see Elohim ascending out of the earth." Here there
remains
only the vague representation of a super-earthly, super-
human
power, which the woman sees entering in the one appa-
rition,
into the world of sense. Now, applying this to the place
before
us, it shows that the words, "Thou makest him want
little
of God," Thou makest him well-nigh possess God, is cor-
rectly
expounded by Calvin: Parum abesse eum jussisti a
divino
et coelesti statu--Thou bestowest on him an almost
super-earthly
dignity.
There remains the inquiry, whether
the comparison refers
to
all the privileges conferred by God
on man, or only to some-
thing
special. The latter is undoubtedly the right supposition.
The
discourse is of man's dignity only, in so far as the lordship
over
the earth has been given him by God. This is clear from
the
parallelism alone. God is praised in the second member,
because
He has conferred royal dignity on man. But still more
does
it appear so from the following verses. These are only a
further
expansion of the present one. And in them, the sub-
ject
handled throughout, is solely the lordship of man over
the
earth, as the deputy of God. In his representation, the
Psalmist
has manifestly before his eye the passage in Genesis,
in
which man is installed by God as lord of the earth. In
what
follows, there are, to some extent, verbal coincidences:
comp.
Gen. i. 26: "Let us make man in our image, and let
them
have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl
of
the air, and over the cattle, etc.;" ver. 28, and especially
ix.
2, "And the fear of you, and the dread of you, shall be
upon
every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air
.
. . and upon all the fishes of the sea; into your hand are
PSALM VIII. VER.
6. 135
they
delivered;" which last passage has this in common with
our
verse, that its enumeration of the objects ruled, begins with
the
higher, and goes on to the lower; whereas in Gen. i. the
reverse
order is observed. Our Psalm is properly the expres-
sion
of the subjective feelings occasioned by this sovereign act
on
the part of God. But though the Psalm directly relates
only
to the supremacy of man over the earth, it does indeed in-
directly
lead farther. This particular dignity
of man is but the
result
of his general endowment, of the
general pre-eminence
which
he holds above all creatures of earth. In Genesis this is
very
obvious. It is because man bears
God's image, that there
the
lordship of creation is given him. But, whilst allowing that
the
Psalm inculcates indirectly the
dignity of man in general,
we
do not justify those who would derive from the Psalm a
proof
that the moral dignity of man still continues after the
fall,
or rather a proof against the fall. We have already shown,
that
the Psalm simply and solely treats of God's appointment
and
gift; and does not notice what man has squandered and de-
stroyed
thereof. If this holds true of the proper object, to wit,
the
lordship over the earth, it must also hold true of that which
is
considered only so far as it is presupposed by that object.
And
with honour and glory Thou crownest him,—the common
designations
of kingly state and majesty; comp. Ps. xxi. 5,
xlv.
3; Jer. xxii. 18; 1 Chron. xxix. 25. God has set up man
on
earth as His deputy-king. It is self-evident, however, that
not
every individual man is represented here as God's deputy
and
vicegerent, but humanity. The Fut. with vau conv. at the
beginning,
shows, that the "making him to want little" is a
consequence
of the remembrance and visitation. That we can-
not
grammatically translate: "Thou hast
made him to want,
but,
Thou makest him to want, or, and so Thou makest him"
(comp.
Ps. vii. 15), appears from the parallel vhrFft, Thou
crownest him. To the Psalmist,
the action of God is not one
limited
to a period absolutely past, but one
continued through
all
time, and independent of time. God daily crowns man
anew.
rFefe,
to crown, like all verbs of
"covering," with a
double
accusative.
Ver. 6. Thou makest him to have dominion over the works of
Thy hands; Thou puttest
all under his feet.
In Genesis, the
corresponding
phrase is hdr
with b;
prop. "to plant the foot on
something,"
"to tread," then "to rule."
136 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
Ver. 7. All sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field.
hnc=Nxc, a flock made up of
sheep and goats. The choice of
the
rare form is to be referred here to the poetical dialect. The
form
midway between the two, occurs in Num. xxxii. 24.
ydW, poetic form for hdW, field; Ewald, p. 298.
Ver. 8. But Thou hast not merely put
land animals beneath
his
feet, or subjected them to his rule; Thou hast added also
the
tenants of the air, and of the water,—the
fowl of the air, and
the fish of the sea,
whatsoever passes through the paths of the sea.
The
paths of the sea, as the Homer. u[gra> ke<leuqa. rbf is not
to
be straightway referred to ygd, for then we should
have ex-
pected
the plural, but that which passeth through, whatsoever
goes
through; Eng. Trans.: And whatsoever
passeth, beside
fishes,
the other inhabitants also of the sea; comp. Gen. i. 21.
That
what is here ascribed to man, is peculiar to him to a cer-
tain
extent, even since the fall, as is implied in the frequent use
of
the Future denoting the Present, is shown, not only by Gen.
ix.
2, but also by daily experience. No creature is so strong,
so
savage, so alert, but that man, though relatively one of the
weakest
creatures, in process of time becomes its master; comp.
Jas.
iii. 7. Nevertheless, there is a vast difference in this re-
spect
between his condition before and since the fall. Before
that
event, the obedience of all creatures toward the appointed
vicegerent
of God was a spontaneous one; after it, his subjects
revolted
against him, as he against his Lord. He must main-
tain
against them, as against the resisting earth, a hard conflict,
—must
on all hands employ art and cunning; and though, on the
whole, he remains conqueror
in this warfare, yet, in particulars,
he
has to suffer many defeats.
Ver. 9. Jehovah, our Lord, how glorious is Thy name in all
the earth! These words are not a
simple repetition of those in
ver
1. There they contained a general
expression of praise to
God,
on account of the glory accruing to Him on earth, by
means
of His manifestation in the heavens. Here
they refer
to
the great proof of His glory, which God has given in His
condescension
and goodness toward man.
PSALM IX. 137
PSALM IX.
God's righteousness, in assisting
His people, and humbling
their
ungodly enemies, is praised, vers. 1-6. From what God has
done, a conclusion is drawn
as to what He is, righteous, and an
helper
to the oppressed, vers. 7-13. From the consciousness of
what
the Lord had formerly done, and what He is, the Psalmist,
or
rather the people in whose name he speaks, raise the prayer
that
He would graciously assist them, as heretofore, against all
their
other and still unsubdued enemies, who threaten them with
destruction,
vers. 13, 14. They receive the assurance of an ac-
ceptable
hearing, vers. 15, 17; and conclude with the hope, that
God
will verify His word, vers. 18, 19, and with the prayer that
He
would do so, vers. 19, 20. The opinion of Koester, that the
author
has observed a six-membered strophe, is not well founded.
To
secure that, we should need to divide what belongs to one
part,
and throw together what belongs to different ones.
The superscription attributes the
Psalm to David, and no
weight
is due to the reasons which have been alleged to the
contrary.
Even by critics like Hitzig the
authorship of David
is
admitted, both of this and the next Psalm. In support of
this,
he mentions the rough and abrupt style, the archaisms, and
many
traits in common with those Psalms which are certainly
David's.
The precise time, however, in the life of David to
which
the Psalm is to be referred, cannot be determined; for
nothing
more definite can be learned from the Psalm itself than,
1.
That it must have been composed after
sanctuary
a the nation, by the removal thither of the ark of
the
covenant,—the Lord being spoken of in ver. 11 as "dwell-
ing
in
some
of the external enemies had been conquered, and while
others
were still threatening danger: But in such a position
David
was placed almost through the whole of his life. Indeed,
this
is the case with God's Church in general upon earth. In
the
ecclesia militans, the words, "I will praise the Lord with
my
whole heart," are constantly succeeded by "Have mercy
upon
me, 0 Lord." The Psalm, besides, may be fully explained
without
any more exact historical reference. The matter is so
general,
that one is obliged to suppose that David, from the
very
first, penned the Psalm for the use of the people, when
138 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
pressed
with danger from foreign adversaries. There is nothing
to
set against this supposition, if we refer the first part, vers.
1-12,
not to any particular transaction, but in general to all the
deliverances
which God had granted to His people. The sacred
penman
makes grateful remembrance of this, that, by such a
recognition
of the past, he might render God more inclined to
listen
to the prayer which follows. The view now taken con-
tributes
much to set the Psalm in its true light. Especially
does
it serve to make the general bearing of the entire first part
clear.
The relation of this part to the second has been very
much
misunderstood by De Wette. He conceives that it only
contains
the hope, that the Lord would subdue the enemies, confi-
dently
expressed. But we only need to consider the representa-
tion
more closely, in order to see that it expresses, not hope for
help
to be afforded, but thanksgiving for benefits already con-
ferred.
De Wette himself is obliged to admit that "the Psalm
certainly
stands in this respect alone." Here, and in a multi-
tude
of other Psalms, thanks and praise are offered up before
prayer
for a double reason. The Giver will
be more disposed to
bestow
new gifts when He sees that those already conferred are
kept
in grateful recollection. A spirit of
thankfulness is one of
the
marks by which the family of God is distinguished from the
world.
He who cannot from the heart give thanks shall beg in
vain.
The receiver raises himself more
easily to the hope of
future
kindnesses, when he recalls the remembrance of former
benefits
derived from the Giver. The foundation of despair is
always
ingratitude. The false supposition of De Wette is
occasioned
by another just as false, according to which the first
part
is made to express thanks (by anticipation) only for a single
deliverance,
notwithstanding the "all Thy wonders," in ver. 1,
and
the still more decidedly contradictory words in ver. 5, "Thou
rebukest
the heathen."
The relation which David had in view
when he composed
this
Psalm for public use, was that of the
external
enemies. We must not take objection to their being
simply
designated the wicked, those who forget God, while the
Israelites
appear as the righteous, the meek. The same appear-
ance
constantly recurs again,—to wit, that a society which is
animated
by a truly Divine principle, and, consequently, has a
kernel
of members in whom this principle is embodied, regard-
less
of the husk, which everywhere exists, is contrasted with
PSALM
IX. 139
another
society which is animated by an ungodly principle, and
in
which, as a society, there can consequently be no kernel (the
evil
rather being the kernel), and is opposed thereto, as the king-
dom
of good, to the kingdom of evil. Let us just look at the
songs
of the age of the Reformation. They everywhere contrast
the
community of God and the community of Antichrist. Who
would
conclude from this, that the reformers reckoned every
professing
member of the
every
member of the Romish Church utterly bad? Still, ac-
cording
to their view, it was accidental, because not involved
in
the idea and principle, if in the former any ungodly person
was
found; and in the latter any pious. Then, it is also to be
taken
into account, that, in relation to the heathen, the justice
of
the cause was always on the side of
considered,
were unjustly oppressed. In this point of view
Habakkuk
justly asks of God, i. 13, "Wherefore lookest Thou
upon
theme, that deal treacherously, and holdest Thy tongue,
when
the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous
than
he?" The two together, the internal righteousness of the
kernel,
and external righteousness of the cause, gave a solid
ground
of confidence to the prayer for deliverance out of the
hand
of the heathen. It may also be considered how entirely
analogous
the language was with ourselves during the war for
freedom.
In opposing De Wette, who would put
this into the large
class
of plaintive Psalms, Clauss has suffered himself to fall into
an
entirely false view of it. He maintains that the Psalm con-
tains
no element of prayer, but is wholly occupied with thanks-
giving
and praise. He is thus obliged to take up the unnatural
position,
in which he is certainly preceded by many of the older
expositors,
that ver. 13 only adduces directly the cry of the
miserable,
which was already heard; which is contradicted,
however,
by the conclusion of the Psalm, where there is also a
prayer,
showing that the evil was still not altogether removed.
The
structure of our Psalm is quite analogous to that of Ps.
xviii.,
xl., lxviii., and to many others, in which the deliverance
already
obtained is first fully described, and then, upon the
ground
thereof, are expressed hope and prayer. It is certainly
true
that the feeling of gratitude for the aid already received
here
predominates, and on that account the prayer here is shorter,
and
is at once replaced by the confidence of being heard. Hence
140 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
we
are not to think of such times as the exile, when the pain was
much
more severely felt, and the conflict more violent.
That the Psalmist speaks not in his
own person, and of what
he
himself had either obtained or wished to obtain, but in the
name
of the Church and of the deliverance granted to it, or
wished
for by it, is clear from the designation of, the object of
the
Divine care, as "the afflicted," ver. 12, "the meek," in
ver.
18,
"those who know the name of the Lord and seek Him," in
ver.
10. Consequently, what Hitzig alleges in support of the
Davidic
authorship of the Psalm, that the author must, from
vers.
3, 4, 13, have been a king, vanishes of itself. For this
allegation
rests upon a confusion of the author with the person
speaking.
The position, that the Psalm does
not refer to the personal
relations
of the Psalmist, but from the first was composed in the
name
of the whole body, and designed for its use, is supported,
not
only by the absence of all definite historical references, to
which
we have already adverted, but also by the whole tone of
the
Psalm, which evidently betrays the situation of the author
to
have been merely a supposititious one. We also discover here
nothing
of that inwardness and liveliness of feeling displayed in
those
Psalms which refer to personal relations, or even to the
community
at large, when particular circumstances were in
question,
or a special necessity oppressed it, or a special deliver-
ance
had been experienced.
In the LXX., which the Vulgate
follows, this Psalm is
united
to the following one. Many expositors approve of this,
appealing
to the similarity of subject, and the want of a super-
scription
to Psalm x. We shall return more at length to the
matter
in our introduction to that Psalm.
The words Nbl
tvm-lf in
the superscription are not easy.
Winer,
De Wette, and others, read the two first as one word,
and
point tOmlAfE; which is used at the beginning of Ps. xlvi.
for
marking the tune. Nbl
they
render: for Ben, or the Benites.
A
Ben is mentioned in 1 Chron. xv. 18 as a master-singer. It
is
to be alleged against this, however, that the common reading
and
punctuation have on their side the preponderance of ex-
ternal
authorities; and still more, that we are then driven to
the
unjustifiable necessity of supplying lf before tvmlf. Clauss
gets
rid of this difficulty only by introducing a greater one. He
would
read tUml;fa. But this word, which never actually occurs,
PSALM IX. 141
could
only signify virginity; and out of
this to get a "virgin-
song,"
or "virgin-piece" —music-piece of the character tvmlf
lf,
is
not very easy. Finally, the Nb should then have been
with-
out
the article,—an objection which is not of itself indeed quite
conclusive,
but which still gives important confirmation to the
others,
as the article is very rarely placed before proper nouns:
see
Ewald, p. 568. If, with others, we consider the words as
taken
from an old song, after the air of which our Psalm was
to
be sung, still they needed not have formed exactly the begin-
ning
of this song, but only to have occurred somewhere in it.
Songs
were not always named from their commencing words.
Thus
David's song of lamentation upon the death of Saul and
Jonathan,
in 2 Sam. i.18, is named the bow, twq, because mention
is
made in it of the bow. It would then be very natural to sup-
pose
that this old song was a plaintive one on the death of a son,
dying to the son, either with some such
verb as has happened;
or
it might be taken as a mere circumlocution for the stat.
constr.,
rendered necessary from the circumstance that the first
noun
was intended to be an indefinite one, the second a definite
one,
not "the dying," but
"dying:" see Ewald, p. 583. tvm is
found
as inf. nominasc. also in Ps. 14, comp. Gen. xxv.
32.
But this whole view labours under the difficulty, that for
such
a pointed reference to a song, after the air of which a
Psalm
was to be sung, there is no analogy whatever in the super-
scriptions;
in every other place, where this hypothesis has been
advanced,
it has turned out, on closer investigation, to be ground-
less.
The true mode of explanation was hit upon by Grotius,
who
supposed that Nbl was put by a transposition of letters for
lbn, and that the superscription marks the subject
of the Psalm.
But
he erred in taking lbn as a proper name, upon the dying of
Nabal—a subject to which the
Psalm could not possibly refer
—instead
of: upon the dying of the fool. This
error being
rectified,
the superscription accords exactly with the contents:
the
destruction of the fool (comp. Ps. xiv. 1) is actually the
subject
of the Psalm. Precisely corresponding words are used
in
ver. 5, "Thou hast destroyed the wicked:" comp. also in
ver.
3, "they shall perish at Thy presence;" in ver. 6, "their
memorial
is, perished;" in ver. 12, "when He maketh inquisi-
tion
for blood, He remembereth them;" and in ver. 17, "the
wicked
shall be turned into hell." Analogous examples of an
enigmatical
designation by a change of letters, are Sesach for
142 THE BOOK. OF PSALMS.
cording
to the Alphabet um Atbash.—See on
this and similar
enigmatical
designations, Christology, Part ii. p. 92 ss. Such
an
enigmatical description of the subject is peculiarly appro-
priate
in the superscriptions of the Psalms, and finds in them,
as
our exposition will show, a great number of analogies. This
explanation
derives special support from 2 Sam. iii. 33, where
David
laments, "Died Abner as the fool dieth," lbn
tvmk; comp.
also
1 Sam. xxv. 38, "And it came to pass about ten days after,
that
the Lord smote Nabal that he died." Though the word
is
here to be taken as an adjective, yet it would seem that David
had
his eye upon that circumstance, which he viewed in the
light
of a prediction; comp. 1 Sam. xxv. 26, where Abigail said,
"Let
thine enemies, and they that seek evil to my lord, be as
Nabal."
In the first half of the first
strophe, vers. 1-6, the Psalmist
first
declares his purpose of praising God, in vers. 1, 2; then in
vers.
3, 4, he mentions the overthrow which God had inflicted
on
the enemies as the ground and occasion of this purpose; and
in
vers. 5, 6, he enlarges on the same subject.
Ver. 1. I will praise the Lord with my whole heart, I will
show forth all Thy
marvellous works.
The words, "with my
whole
heart," serve at once to show the greatness of the deliver-
ances
wrought for the Psalmist, and to distinguish him from the
hypocrites—the
coarse ones, who praise the Lord for His good-
ness
merely with the lips, and the more refined ones, who praise
Him
only with half their heart, while they secretly ascribe the
deliverance
more to themselves than to Him. All Thy
wonders,
the
marvellous tokens of Thy grace. The Psalmist shows by
this
term, that he recognised them in all their greatness. Where
this
is done, there the Lord is also praised with the whole heart.
Half-heartedness, and the depreciation
of Divine grace, go hand
in
hand. The b
the b
instrum. The heart is the instrument
of
praise, the mouth only its organ.
Ver. 2. I will be glad and rejoice in Thee; I will adorn Thy
name, 0 Thou Most High. Many expositors render j`b by, upon
Thee, upon Thy wonderful
doings. But the b after a verb of
joy
always denotes the person or object wherein the affection
reposes.
It is not a mere joy before God, but
a joy in God.
To
adorn the name of God is equivalent to singing of His
glorious
deeds (Venema: Deum factis illustrem), for the name
PSALM IX. VERS. 3, 4. 143
is
the product of the deeds. The Most High
is used descrip-
tively,
because God had manifested Himself as uncontrolled
ruler
over all earthly things.
Ver. 3. When mine enemies are turned back—the b points to
the
occasion of the praise, the circumstances which had called
it
forth, its cause—they stumble and perish
at Thy presence: not
human
power and might have compassed their overthrow, but
Thy
indignation, which they could not withstand. This is
poetically
expressed, as if the enemies had been thrown to the
ground
by the glance of God's fiery countenance. Nm is the Nm
causae.
Mynp has the sense of angry face, only from the connec-
tion;
it never signifies this, as many expositors maintain, by
itself.
The use of the Fut. is to be explained from the lively
nature
of the representation. The Psalmist sees the downfall
of
his enemies taking place before his eyes. With this De
Wette
could not sympathize; and so he thinks that in this
verse
he finds a support to his false view, that vers. 1-6 ex-
press
hope an regard to future deliverance. In the further
enlargement
that is given in vers. 4-6, the Psalmist speaks in a
calmer
style, and there the Preterite is constantly used.
Ver. 4. For Thou hast Made my judgment and right. The
for marks the relation of
vers. 4-6 to ver. 3. What has been
said
in general, is confirmed by particulars. Fpwm and Nyd both
denote,
according to many expositors, causam forensem. Thou
hast made, q. d. Thou dost
undertake, or decide. The idea of
a
favourable decision is necessarily involved therein, since God,
as
the righteous one, if He undertakes a cause at all, cannot
but
do justice to the righteous. But this exposition is contra-
dicted
by the fact, that the expressions Fpwm hWf and Nyd
hWf
are
never used, except of a decision in
favour of a righteous
cause; while, according to
it, they might be used just as well
of
a decision against the ungodly. Comp. 1 Kings viii. 45, 49;
Deut.
x. 18; Ps. cxl. 12. These parallel passages show that the
two
words must be taken rather in the sense of judgment and
right
(Nyd
in this sense, Prov. xx. 8, Isa. x. 2), that which be-
longs
to me, which is due to nay righteous cause. This exposi-
tion
also fits better than the first into the parallelism. Thou
satest on the throne as
righteous judge.
bwy
should here, accord-
ing
to many, be taken in the sense of setting
Himself, on account
of
the prep. l following;
for, that l;
is not put for b, is to be
taken
for granted. But there is nothing to prevent us from
144 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
abiding
by the common and only certain meaning of the verb.
For
there is as little to warrant us in taking l in the sense of lx,
as
these interpreters presuppose, as in that of b. Therefore bwy
xskl, “to sit as one belonging to the throne,” is
equivalent to
"sitting
upon the throne."
Ver. 5. Thou hast rebuked the heathen, Thou hast destroyed
the wicked. rfg, to
rebuke, denotes, when used of God, the in-
fliction
of the punishment, without receiving another sense than
the
word usually has. The punishment is considered as a sermo
realis.
The Myvg shows
that the thanksgivings do not refer to
victory
over a single heathenish nation. Thou
hast put out their
name for ever and ever: Thou hast so
completely extirpated them,
that
their memory has perished with them.
Ver. 6. The enemy, finished are the destructions for ever; and
Thou hast destroyed
cities, their memorial is perished, even they.
The
pron. sep. hmh is used with emphasis, after the suff. had
already
been employed. Their memorial perished, even theirs;
or
more exactly: "their memory perished, even they (have
perished)."
Attention is called to the great contrast between
the
proud expectations of the enemies, their apparently invin-
cible
strength, and their now entire annihilation: their memory
is
gone,—the memory of those who, in their supercilious pride,
and
in their actual possession of all human means of help,
fancied
themselves lords of the whole earth. Thus emphati-
cally
also at the beginning stands the nom. absol. the enemy—
he
who thought himself so secure, so invincible, who appeared
destined
to lasting prosperity. Mmt in the sense of being com-
pleted, finished, is found also in Jos.
v. 8; 1 Kings vi. 22, vii.
22;
Ps. lxiv. 6. While vmt marks the entireness of the deso-
lation
which reigns in the land of the enemies, Hcnl expresses
the
perpetuity of it. By the ruins we are
to understand, as
is
evident from the parallel, cities,
and even from the word
itself,
destroyed fortresses and dwellings. In the verb, "Thou
hast
destroyed," the address is directed to God, as in ver. 5,
throughout.
As in the first and last clause the desolation is
merely
described by itself, it is necessary that attention be called
to
the author of it in the middle, the desolation being here
viewed
only so far as it is one wrought by God. The second
clause
stands in the same relation here to the first and third, as
in
ver. 3 the third does to the first and second. Another expo-
sition
renders: "the enemies, their
devastations have an end."
PSALM IX. VER. 6. 145
But
it is to be objected, that hbrH never signifies devastation in
an
active sense, but only "ruins." Apart from usage, which
furnishes
no instance of the word being employed in the former
signification,
either in the masculine or feminine gender, the
inadmissibility
of that signification is evident also from the form.
The
Segol-forms with m serve only to express intransitive or
passive
ideas: see Ewald, p. 228. As the verb signifies only
to
be desolated, never to desolate, so also the noun must mean
desolation
in the passive sense. The parallelism too: "Thou
hast
destroyed cities," tends to show that the subject of dis-
course
here is the ruin of hostile habitations; as also the asser-
tion,
that "their memory is perished," indicates a total destruc-
tion
of them. The three verbs, vmt—twtn—dbx, stand in
exact
parallelism. Now, if the affairs of the enemies are de-
scribed
by the two last as going to ruin, the same explanation
must
be held also to be the only correct one in regard to the
first.
Ewald, following Venema, would take byvxh as the sub-
ject
the enemies are completed as desolations for ever, i.e. the
enemies
became altogether perpetual desolations. But desola-
tions
do not suit persons; and how little the parallelism favours
this
exposition may be gathered from this alone, that Ewald
sees
himself under the necessity of taking Myrf in the sense of
Myrc, adversaries. Quite arbitrary, also, is the
exposition of
Maurer:
0 enemy, there is an end to the ruins and the cities
which
thou hast destroyed. For the address in the first part is
throughout
directed to the Lord; and it could not be said that
the
cities destroyed by the enemies have an end. Finally, the
exposition
of De Wette: The enemies are gone, desolations
(are)
for ever, does violence to the accents, which separate vmt
from
byvxh,
and connect it with tvbrH: the verb in the plural,
standing
in the middle between a noun in the singular and a
noun
in the plural, is more naturally joined with the latter than
the
former; according to the analogy of twtn and dbx, the vmt
also
is to be referred, not to the enemies themselves, but to that
which
belongs to them; lastly, that the words, Hcnl tvbrH, form
a
period by themselves, with the omission of the verb, is against
the
analogy of the other members of the verse, and of vers. 4
and
5, where verbs are constantly placed in the Preterite. The
contents
of vers. 5 and 6 suit most exactly to the Amalekites
(without
being confined to them), who, after the victories gained
over
them by Saul and David, altogether disappear from the
146 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
theatre
of history. That the Psalmist had them chiefly in view,
and
derived from their fate the strong colours in which he
depicts
the overthrow of the enemies of God's people, is pro-
bable
from the reference which the expressions, "Thou hast
put
out their name for ever," and “their memorial is perished,”
seem
to bear to Ex. xvii. 14, "I will utterly put out the remem-
brance
of Amalek," and Deut. xxv. 19, "Thou shalt blot out
the
remembrance of Amalek." Comp. also Num. xxiv. 20,
"Amalek
is the first of the heathen, but his end is destruction,"
dbx ydf. The representation, however, was also
verified in the
overthrow
of the Canaanites, and in the victories of David
over
the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, and other nations.
Ver. 7. And the Lord is enthroned for ever; He has pre-
pared His throne for
judgment,
or for holding judgment. The
Psalmist
strengthens his faith through the conviction, confirmed
by
those deliverances, that God is the eternal ruler and judge
of
the world; that, however the rage of the ungodly may swell,
they
can never prevail to push God from His exalted throne,
from
which, with almighty power and perfect righteousness, He
governs
the world, and vindicates the cause of the oppressed.
He
thus derives the general from the particular, from individual
realizations
he forms the idea, from history he deduces the
doctrine,
and praises God because His very nature is a pledge
of
the salvation of His people in all their needs. The way is.
thus
prepared for the prayer he has to present. The Futures
are
to be translated in the Present, and mark the continuous,
action.
Ver. 8. And He judges the world in righteousness; He
ministers judgment to
the people in uprightness.
Ver. 9. And the Lord will be a refuge for the oppressed.
yhyv might be taken as an Optative. The
Psalmist would then
express
a wish that God would be to him what He had been
described
in the preceding context. Through this wish he
would
make known his pleasure in what is divine. However,
as
in poetry the abbreviated form stands in place of the com-
mon
one, we may also translate in accordance with the preced-
ing
and following context: "And there is." bgwm is a high
place,
where one is secure from the attacks of one's enemies.
The
remark of Venema is not to be overlooked: "Utique
David, quod observo, primes est qui Daum locum editum, hac
voce,
appellavit." The ground of David's predilection for this
PSALM IX. VERS. 10-12. 147
designation
of God, he finds in the circumstance of David's
having
often experienced safety in such places, when fleeing
from
Saul. j`d
from j`kd,
"to crush," signifies, "one who is
oppressed."
A
refuge for times in trouble. Times in trouble
are
times when one is in trouble; comp. Ps. x. 1. In this
verse,
also, faith judges from that which God has done, what
He
is, and will do. How He had shown Himself during the
past,
in a series of actions, as a refuge for the oppressed, was
declared
in vers. 3-6; therefore such is His character generally,
and
such also must He prove Himself in regard to the present
oppression.
Ver. 10. And they that know Thy name do put their trust in
Thee. To know the name of
God, is to know Him according to
His
historical manifestation, as described in vers. 3-6.—For the
name
of God is the product of this manifestation. When one
hears
Him named, then one calls to remembrance all that He
has
done. The name is the focus in which all the rays of His
actions
meet. For—this is shown by Thy name,
this is pledged
by
Thine historical character, which can only result from Thy
nature—Thou hast not forsaken them that seek Thee,
0 Lord.
Ver. 11. This and the following verse
form the conclusion,
the
epiphony and resume of the whole first part, or of the two
first
strophes, in which it has been described how the Lord has
acted,
then how He is: therefore sing. Sing
praises to the Lord,
who is throned upon
acted
as King of Israel, as guardian of the nation, and in that
capacity
had been described. Declare among the
people His
doings: tell among the heathen
how gloriously He has helped,
and
still helps, His people. Rightly Calvin: "Although this
were
substantially to preach to deaf ears, yet David would show
by
this form of expression, that the limits of
narrow
to comprise within themselves the everlasting riches of
the
praise of God."
Ver. 12. For the avenger of blood remembereth him, He for-
getteth not the cry of
time afflicted.
For—this is the deduction
from
the deeds with which the Psalmist had just been occupying
himself—the
Lord, who leaves not innocent blood to be shed
with
impunity upon the earth, punishes the enemies for the
cruelty
which they practised upon His people. In regard to the
Preterites
of the verb, which are to be rendered by the Present,
148 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
the
remark of Ewald, Small Gr. § 263, specially applies:
"General
truths which are clear from experience, and have al-
ready
shown and proved themselves to be such, are described in
the
Perfect." The suffix in Mtx refers to the plural Mymd. God
appears
to have forgotten the blood of the
slain so long as He
leaves
the murderer unpunished; He calls him to remembrance
when
He punishes him. The sense is weakened if we refer it
to
the following Myynf, and it is also opposed to the
parallelism.
God
remembers blood: He forgets not the cry of the afflicted.
In
both members mention is made of that which calls forth the
vengeance
of God against the evil-doers. Blood
is not here to
be
taken, with the generality of expositors, as synecdochically
comprehending
all sorts of misdeeds; but the Psalmist naturally
mentions
the highest pitch of hostile malice, as peculiarly fitted
to
draw forth the Divine vengeance. A special reason for this
manner
of expression is to be found in the unquestionable re-
ference
to Gen. ix. 5, where God designates Himself the avenger
of
blood, "I will require your blood:" "He, who in His word
announces
Himself to be the avenger of blood, does, as experience
testifies,
remember him." (Venema: "Quam personam Deus
sibi jam aptavit tempore Abelis, cujus sanguis vindictam
clamavit
et
se constanter in orbis gubernatione esse gesturum declaravit.
Gen.
ix.") For Myynf the Masoretic marginal
reading is Myvnf
whose
vowels, as usual, stand in the text. The marginal reading
is
here also to be rejected. It has only arisen from the feel-
ing
that a moral quality, humility, is necessary to the hearing
of
prayer. But it is overlooked, that although ynf constantly
retains
its proper signification (see upon the never-failing dis-
tinction
between ynf,
afflicted, miserable, and vnf
humble, Christo
P.
ii. p. 126 ss.), it is clear enough from the connection that
only
persons who innocently suffer are meant. The mention of
a
cry and of blood also points to the idea of suffering, and not
of
humility. The reading in the text is further confirmed by
the
following yynf, in ver. 13, which is
most closely related to
Myynf: "God forgets not the cry of the
afflicted,--Be merciful to
me,
0 Lord, behold my affliction."
Ver. 13. The prayer now rises on the
foundation laid in the
preceding
context. Luther remarks: "in the same way do all
feel
and speak who have already overcome some tribulation
misfortune,
and are once more oppressed, tormented, and plagued.
They
cry and beg that they may be delivered." This is un-
PSALM IX. VER. 14. 149
questionably
the right view of this and the next verse. Be
gra-
cious to me, 0 Lord,
behold my affliction of my haters, Thou that
liftest me up from the
gates of death.
yninen;HA is formed as if the
verb
were a regular one. According to the analogy of the verbs
ff, it ought to have been ynine.HA. Such forms are merely
poetical;
Ewald,
p. 476. Poetry ever strives to give outward expression
to
its internal separation from common life. Of
my haters, i.e.
proceeding
from them, done to me. Nm designates the originator.
Not
so good is the exposition of those who suppose here a constr.
praegnans:
Behold my affliction and free me from my
haters.
There
are certainly to be found similar constructions. So, for
example,
is it said in 2 Sam. xviii. 19, "The Lord hath judged
him
out of the hand of his enemies." But still the passage
here
is note perfectly analogous. The seeing
is less practical
than
the judging, and even than the hearing
in Ps. xxii. 21;
the
helping 'is not involved here, as it is there, in the expression
itself
(it is to be observed that in Ps. xxii. not fmw, but hnf is
used),
but is only a consequence of the
seeing. Thou, my lifter
up, Thou, whose constant
part it is to lift me up. Death, or the
realm
of death, sheol, is represented under the image of a deep,
firmly
barred prison-house, from which no one can deliver him-
self.
The greatest distress and misery are here, therefore, de-
noted
by the sinking down into sheol. That God is a helper in
distress,
begets confidence towards Him in particular seasons
of
distress. The words comprehend in brief, what in the first
part
had been exhibited in detail, and, consequently, direct at-
tention
to the relation subsisting between this strophe and the
two
preceding ones—the connection between the prayer and
the
thanksgiving and praise.
Ver. 14. As a reason for the
granting of his prayer for
further
deliverance, the Psalmist declares that he should thereby
have
occasion for still more praising God. In this verse we
discover
one of the two ends intended to be answered by a pre-
vious
offering of thanks and praise. It is substantially based
on
the supposition that the thanks and praise of His people are
acceptable
to God. That I may show forth all Thy
praise, all
Thy wonderful doings, in
the gates of the daughter of Zion. That
we
must not, with many expositors, the last of whom was Clauss,
render
Nfml
by on this account, we have seen on a
former occasion.
In the gates—expositors commonly
remark—were the assemblies
and
judgments held; hence, "in the gates" is equivalent to "in
150 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
the
public assembly." But this view is untenable. God's praise
is
not to be celebrated in the gates, amid the noise of worldly
business,
but in the temple. The expression is to be regarded
as
simply meaning within. It is
confessedly often used in that
sense
in the Pentateuch; see the Lexicons. The former interpre-
tation
is opposed also by "the gates of death," in the preceding
verse,
which also signify the whole region of the dead. The
daughter
of
precisely
as in the words, trp rhn, "the river of the
for,
frequently
coupled together, take gradually the form of the stat.
constr.,
although, according to their meaning, they merely stand
in
apposition; Ewald, p. 579. Cities were poetically personi-
fied
as maidens or daughters, and that so frequently that the
designation
sometimes found its way also into prose. The form
j~yt,lA.hiT; cannot be plural; the
plural must have been j~yt,l.hiT;;
neither
can it be singular, for then the Jod must have been
awanting.
It appears that the vowels have originally belonged
to
a Kri, which had afterwards been dropt from the margin,
The
Masorites wished to read the singular instead of the rarer
plural,
which they considered to be recommended by Ps. lxxi.
4,
cvi. 2.
Ver. 15. The fourth strophe contains
the internal assurance
of
being heard.— The heathen are sunk down
in the pit that
they made; in the net
which they hid, was their own foot taken.
That
the Praeterites refer to an ideal
past; denote that which,
not
the corporeal eye, but faith, saw as present; and that we
must
hence not suppose, with most expositors, that the Psalmist
returns
to celebrate a deliverance actually past,—appears from
ver.
17 ss., where he continues to express his hope of that in the
future,
which is here represented as already afforded.
Ver. 16. "The Lord made Himself
known, He held judg-
ment."
The latter words describe the manner of making known,
that
through which He was recognised, wherein He manifested
Himself.
It is quite unnecessary to bring the two members
into
a closer relation to each other, to make the second gram-
matically
dependent on the first. The abrupt mode of expres-
sion
is in perfect accordance with the joyful emotions of the
Psalmist.
In the work of his own hands,—in the
snares pre-
PSALM IX. VER. 17. 151
pared
by himself, and laid for others,—the
wicked is snared;
comp.
Ps. vii. 15, 16. wqvn is the participle in Kal of the verb
wqn; in Piel, "to ensnare," in Kal, "to
be ensnared." As this
verb
is also found elsewhere, there is no reason for taking the
word
here as an irregular form of the Praet. in Niph. from wqy;
in
which case, instead of the Zere, Patach should have been
used.
—Nvygh
is found in three other places besides this. In two
of
them, Ps. xix. 14, Lam. iii. 61, the sense, musing,
reflection,
is
certain, and generally recognised. This established meaning
is
also quite suitable in the third passage, Ps. xcii. 3—to muse
upon the harp, is "to play
meditatively, feelingly thereupon,"
corresponding
to the silent praise in Ps. lxv. 1,—and to substi-
tute,
with Gesenius, De Wette, and others, the unfounded sense
of
loud playing, or music, is quite arbitrary. Applying this sig-
nification
also here, Nvygh contains a call to reflection, most
appro-
priate
to the elevation of the moment at which he renewed the
assurance
of being heard. The Selah, pause, is
very suitably
added
here. The music must cease, to afford space for calm
meditation.
Ver. 17. The fifth strophe. The wicked shall be turned into
hell, all the nations
forgetting God.
The transition from the Pret.
to
the Fut., which is the rather to be noticed, as Higgaion and
Selah
intervene between the two, may be explained in this way,
that
the lively emotions which took possession of the Psalmist,
when
he became assured of acceptance, have now subsided, so
that
he continues his discourse in a more calm and ordinary
manner;
or, perhaps, in versa 15 and 16 the Psalmist, as out of
himself,
sees things with God's eye as present,
while here he falls
back
to the common point of view, and hope
consequently takes
the
place of sight.--bvw never signifies to turn one's self any
whither, but always to turn away, to turn back; and this
signifi-
cation
is quite suitable here also: "They turn away from the
Psalmist,
and towards sheol." Already was it remarked by J. D
Michaelis:
Ceterum reditur quidem interdum a termino, ad
quem
ventum erat, set ad alium, quam in quo quis antea fuerat,
e. c. 2 Par. xviii. 25, Job i. 21. The h in hlvxwl, can only be
held
to be superfluous by those who fail to see the distinction
between
l and
lx.
There is a reference to ver. 13. The same
God
who raises the righteous from the gates of sheol, drives the
wicked
down thither, as into "their own place." In reference
to
"the forgetting of God," Venema remarks excellently: "Not
152 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
in
that sense in which the Gentiles are said to be without God
and
His worship, which is common to them all, but rather in an
emphatical
one, as treading all law and righteousness beneath
their
feet, and manifesting that they have thrown off all regard
to
God, the judge of the world, and the avenger of crime—that
they
have obliterated and erased all those thoughts and appre-
hensions
of God, which are inscribed upon the consciences of
men."
Ver. 18. For the poor shall not always be forgotten, the hope
of the meek doth not
perish for ever.
In the second hemistich,
the
lx is
to be supplied from the first. The Kri Myynf for Myvnf
arose
simply from the false notion of the Masorites, that the
parallel
Nvybx
requires a word which does not denote a moral
quality,
but has respect to the outward condition. According
to
the connection, the needy is the poor and neglected righteous
man,
and the Myvnf
are the suffering meek ones.
Ver. 19. The last strophe. There is
a renewal of the prayer,
with
the difference, however, from the former, that it now Springs
from
the assurance of being heard (the Psalmist takes God at
His
word); whereas, in the former case, it rested only on the
ground
of a general confidence in God's grace.—Arise,
0 Lord,
let not, man prevail;
let the heathen be judged in Thy sight. The
words,
"Let not man prevail" (be strong), call attention to the
internal
contradiction which exists in the present state of things,
to
the contrast between the reality and the idea, which im-
periously
demands reconciling. That man, whose very name is
weakness
(comp. the vindication of the derivation of wvnx from
wnx, to be weak, by Tholuck, Beitr. z. Spracherkl.
S. 61), makes
his
power prevail, is so intolerable a quid pro quo, that God must
necessarily
lift Himself up, in order to put it down. The use
of
the lf is
to be explained thus: The parties stand
before the
sitting
judge, and so are raised above Him.
Ver. 20. Put fear into them, 0 Lord; i.e. associate it with
them
as a companion, place it beside them, or appoint it for
them.
tvw
with l exactly
as in Ps. cxli. 13: "Set a watch to
my
mouth." To drive into, or lay on, cannot be the meaning of
the
verb with l.
Some take hrvm
in the sense of razor, in which
sense
it occurs Judg. xiii. 5, and elsewhere, and translate:
"Lay
on them the razor." By this would then be denoted the
greatest
dishonour, for it is customary in the East to let the
beard
grow, and to have no beard is counted a reproach. But
PSALM X. 153
this
cannot, as we have said, be the meaning of the verb; and
the
expression has here, where all else is so simple, a forced and
unnatural
appearance. It is, therefore, better to take hrvm as
only
a different manner of writing the word on the margin,
xrvm, fear,
from xry. h often usurps the place
of x,
because
the
sound at the end is the same, and the number of words
which
end in h,
is much greater than those which have x. The
Masorites,
then, have only, as they have often done, placed the
current
for the rarer form.—Let the heathen know
that they are
men, weak, impotent
creatures. The singular wvnx carries more
emphasis
than the plural—dying, feeble man, not God. The
use
of the singular shows, that in all numerical and other differ-
ences,
the nature still remains the same.
PSALM
X.
The Psalmist complains, that the
Lord delivers up His people
to
the oppressions of proud, cruel, deceitful enemies, who forget
God,
vers. 1-11. He calls upon Him to withhold no longer
His
help from the innocent, and avenge Himself and them on
His
despisers and their oppressors, and expresses his confident
hope
that this will be done, vers. 12-15. He receives the assur-
ance
of being heard; and, with the eye of faith, sees the enemies
annihilated,
the meek redeemed, the offence removed, which
had
drawn from him the "wherefore," vers. 16-18.
Though the Psalm has no
superscription, yet its place among
those
which belong to David renders it very probable that he
was
the author. At all events, the exceedingly compressed and
difficult
style, and the impress of originality, allowed even by
De
Wette, proves it to belong to an early age. The almost
literal
agreement in many passages between it and the preceding
Psalm,
which the superscription ascribes to David, would lead us
to
infer that this also must be his: comp. especially the peculiar
phrase
hrcb tvtfl, in ver. 1, which nowhere else occurs, with
ix.
9; "Arise, 0 Lord," in ver. 12, with ix. 20; "That the man
of
the earth may no more oppress," at the close, with "let not
man
prevail," in ix. 19; the words, "the heathen are perished,"
and
"judge the fatherless and the oppressed," in vers. 16 and
18,
with "let the heathen be judged," in ix. 19, etc. These simi-
larities,
especially the first, prove not merely the identity of the
154 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
author,
but also contemporaneity of composition. Others show,
that
a still nearer connection existed between the two Psalms;
and
that therefore the older translators, such as the LXX. and
Vulgate,
who joined both together, did not do so without reason.
It
is, first of all, remarkable, that this Psalm has, unlike all those
which
immediately precede and follow, no superscription. It is
still
more remarkable, that Ps. ix. begins with and Ps. x. closes
with
t,—nay,
that through the two Psalms a certain alphabetical
arrangement
discovers itself, though it is not preserved through-
out.
In the rule, every alternate verse begins with the letter
of
the alphabet next in order. This fact is not overthrown by
a
number of exceptions. For these are to be explained on the
principle,
that the external arrangement was subordinated to the
sense,
and hence sacrificed to it, where the one could not be
adapted
to the other. The same view also is supported by the
manifest
internal reference of the words, "Thou hidest Thyself
in
times of trouble," in x. 1, to those in ix. 9, "The Lord is a
refuge
in times of trouble,"—a reference, to which the similarity
of
the otherwise quite singular expression is but a fingerpost,
and
by which Ps. x. proclaims itself to be a continuation of Ps.
ix.
But, on the other hand, it does not suit
well to unite both
Psalms
precisely into one. An external ground against this
exists
in the division in the MSS., which certainly is not acci-
dental;
and an internal one, that the two Psalms are separate,
and
complete in themselves. There only remains, therefore, the
supposition,
that the author designed the two Psalms to form
one
whole, divisible into two parts—a sort of thing which also
occurs
elsewhere; for example, in the relation of Ps. i. and ii.,
Ps.
xlii. xliii. to each other. Along with the unquestionably
great
resemblance between the two Psalms in reference to the
object,
situation, train of thought, and particular features, there
still
exists a threefold difference, not to be overlooked: 1. The
help,
which the Lord had already granted to His people, forms
in
Ps. ix. the foundation on which the prayer is based; whereas
in
Ps. x. the same purpose is served by a lengthened description
of
the mournful state of things, loudly calling for Divine inter-
ference,
of the superciliousness of the ungodly, nourished by
their
impunity, and of the sufferings of the righteous. This
parallelism
of the two sections, Ps. ix. 1-13, and x. 1-11, is of
importance
for coming to a right judgment on the first. It
shows
that the thanks rendered in it have not an independent
PSALM X. VER. 1. 155
significance,
but that the remembrance of that, which the Lord
had
formerly done, was only designed to insure the fulfilment
of
the word, "Ask in faith, nothing doubting." 2. In Ps. ix.
the
reference to the heathen is decidedly prominent. On the
contrary,
in Ps. x. the heathen are only once thought of, in ver.
16;
and the author, besides, is throughout concerned simply with
"the
wicked." 3. In Ps. ix. the Psalmist introduces the people
of
the Lord saying, "I will praise the Lord," etc., which has
caused
some groundlessly to suppose that it refers to the personal
relations
of the Psalmist; here, on the contrary, he speaks always
of
the meek, the afflicted, etc., in the third person.—That David
composed
this Psalm, not in reference to any particular position
of
his life, but to the end that the people might avail themselves
of
it in all seasons of distress, was remarked even by Kimchi
and
if this supposition had been kept steadily in view here, as
also
in the preceding Psalm, confirmed as it is by the entire
matter,
a host of fruitless conjectures might have been spared,—
such,
for example, as Hitzig has brought forward, who, however,
has
decidedly acknowledged the authorship of David. No trace
is
anywhere to be found of an individual reference; and vers.
8-10,
which might be most readily explained historically, con-
clusively
show that the individual element, where it seems to
occur,
is merely poetical individualization. The individual re-
presentation
is also excluded here, as in Ps. ix., by the use of the
alphabetical
arrangement. This is never found in the personal
Psalms.
Ver. 1. Why standest Thou afar off, 0 Lord? Why
standest
Thou as an indifferent spectator of my contest with the
enemy,
and dost not hasten to my rescue? The why
is, in
circumstances
like the present, an evidence of lively faith.
Only
he who possesses it, and, with it, a firm conviction of
God's
omnipotence and righteousness, will consider it as a mon-
strous
thing, and one that cannot continue, that God should
not
assist His suffering people. Thou
coverest in times of
trouble. Mylft rightly by Calvin:
"connives;" to which must
be
supplied, eyes. The expression stands
in full, Lev. xx. 4,
1
Sam. xii. 3, and in many other places. See upon the omis-
sion
of the members in current phrases,
Ewald, p. 190. When
God
does not assist His people, He appears to have turned
away
His face from them, to have covered His eyes; comp.
ver.
14. See on Ps. ix. 9, for the expression, "times of distress
156 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
or
trouble." The supposition that "times in distress" stands
simply
for "times of distress," is opposed by the very concise
character
of the whole Psalm. We have already shown, that
the
words are externally, as well as internally, related to Ps.
ix.
9. There the Psalmist had obtained from the earlier mani-
festations
of God the sure result, that He is a refuge in times
when
one is in distress. He here takes up the inference from
this
result, and asks God, wherefore His actions are in contra-
diction
thereto. The hrcb tvtfl is to be viewed as
furnished
with
marks of quotation, and Mylft should have stress laid on it,
as
forming the contrast to bgwm.
Ver. 2. Through the pride of the wicked the poor is inflamed;
they are taken in the
plots which they have devised. qld, in Heb.
as
well as in the cognate dialects, signifies, "to burn." Here
the
burning, or setting on fire, figuratively denotes "anger:"
comp.
sfk
indignation, in ver. 14, which so often appears under
the
image of fire—comp., for example, Ps. xxxvii. 1, "Be not
inflamed
against the evil-doers;" Ps. xxxix. 3, "My heart was
hot
within me; while I was musing, the fire burned;" Isa. xxx.
27,
"burning His anger;" Ezek. xxi. 36 (31), Myrfb, burning,
for
angry, raging. Against Gesenius and De Wette, who think
that
burn must here mean to be in anguish, we place the fact,
that
anguish is never so designated in Hebrew; and against
Stier,
who takes qld
to signify the heat of tribulation, and of
Hitzig,
who translates, is burned, we may urge as decisive, the
remark
of J. H. Michaelis: "qld ardorem activum, quails
est
in
igne, non passivum, qualis in materia denotat." The expo-
sition
of Sachs and others: "Through the pride of the wicked
he
persecutes the miserable," does not suit the parallelism so
well;
only one passage, Lam. iv. 19, in support of qld con-
nected
in this signification with the accusative, can be adduced.
Elsewhere
it has this signification only with yrHx, which also is
strictly
necessary; and indeed it could only be left out, when
the
language had already grown corrupt. Most expositors ex-
plain
the second clause: "they, the wretched, are caught or
taken
through the plans which those, the wicked, have devised;"
and
this exposition is to be preferred, from the parallelism and
connection,
to the other: "may they, the wicked, be caught or
taken
in the wiles which they have devised;" although the
latter
may be supported by parallel passages, such as Ps. vii.
13
ss., ix. 16.
PSALM X. VER. 3. 157
Ver. 3. For the wicked extols the desire of his soul, and he
who makes gain blesses,
despises the Lord.
The for marks not
so
much the relation of this verse to the preceding one, as the
relation
of the whole representation in vers. 3-11 to vers. 1 and
2.
The brief intimations which the Psalmist had given in these
two
verses, regarding the posture of things, he establishes by a
further
elucidation in vers. 3-11. yk has precisely the same
force
in Ps. ix. 4; and this agreement also points to a closer
connection
between the two Psalms. The first clause is com-
monly
rendered: "For the wicked boasts of his desire." But
this
rendering is inadmissible, as llh never signifies to boast, to
be proud, least of all in Ps.
lvi. 4, where its object is coupled
with
it, nor in Ps. xliv. 8. We must rather translate: "The
wicked
extols the desire of his heart." The lf stands then quite
appropriately
as a designation of the object, to which the ex-
tolling
refers—its substratum. When the wicked ventures to
laud
in public the shameful lusts of his heart, as things which
need
not shun the light, this is the highest degree of depravity;
and
betokens, at the same time, how secure he has become in
consequence
of his impunity, how sad the condition of the poor,
how
much occasion there is for such to fear, how necessary
therefore
it is for God to interfere, and what reason there was
for
the why in the first verse. So also
Ewald: "He gives
praise,
not, as is due, to Jehovah, but to his own lust;" comp.
Hab.
11-16. The second clause can only be rendered: who-
soever makes gain,
blesses, despises God. fcb is correctly ex-
plained
by Venema: quaestum faciens per fas et nefas. The
bad
sense lies not in the word itself, but in the connection.
The
object of the lamentation is, that whosoever makes gain,
without
further consideration, blesses God for it, without ever
asking
whether the gain is a righteous one or not. Blesses
God. This indicates the
highest degree of boldness. For a
man
who possesses any moral feeling will say, "Blessed be
God,"
only when he has obtained a righteous gain;—comp.
Zech.
xi. 5, which passage clearly shows, that God is to be con-
sidered
as the object of blessing. With this is fitly connected,
"he
despises the Lord." Such a blessing of God is, indeed,
the
highest kind of contempt toward Him. For, as Calvin justly
remarks:
"Whosoever believes that God will be his judge, will
shudder
to bless his soul (rather, God), while he has an evil
conscience."
That from the expression, "he blesses the Lord,"
158 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
we
are not to conclude the Psalmist to have referred to the
wicked
in
Zech.
xi. 5, the oversight of which has been a main cause in
the
misunderstanding the present words. Zechariah speaks of
the
flock of slaughter, " whose buyers slay them, and hold them-
selves
not guilty; and they that sell them say, Blessed be the
Lord,
for I am rich." Under the buyers and sellers are there
to
be understood the foreign oppressors; see Christol. in loc.
The
blessing or praising of the Lord here, on account of gain,
we
are not to regard quite so seriously,—it is done half in joke;
moreover,
even the heathen were inclined to grant a certain
portion
to Jehovah of the advantages which they obtained over
His
people,—comp., for example, Jer. 1. 7. De Wette, follow-
ing
many of the older expositors, and himself again followed
by
Maurer and others, expounds quite differently "The plun-
derer
blasphemes, despises God." If we would follow this
exposition,
we must, in that case, not take j`rb in the sense of
blaspheming, which it never has, but
in that of renouncing, bid-
ding farewell, which originated in
the custom of blessing at sepa-
ration.
That the sense of blaspheming does
not, and cannot exist,
Schultens
has proved on Job, p. 12. Comp. further, my Beitr.
Th.
II. S. 131, where I have shown, that that meaning is not
found
in the passage, 1 Kings xxi. 10, on which the principal
stress
is laid. Neither should we force on fcb, the signification of
plunderers, which is not justified
by a robber's being designated
faceOB in Hab. ii. 9—for what might not then be
proved?—but
it
must be taken in the only certain signification: "the gain-
getting,"
which is also perfectly suitable in Hab. 9,
where it
is
clear that we must render fra fcaB, faceBo. "he who gaineth a
wrong
gain." Not only is the meaning, robber,
unsuitable, but
that
also of covetous, which others have
accepted. Therefore:
"He
who only makes gain, renounces the Lord, despises Him."
The
verbs j`rb and
Cxn
would then mark a progression. But
against
this explanation, even as thus modified, we may urge,
that
the obvious and striking contrast between blessing
and
despising, the designation of the
highest degree of impiety by
the
juxtaposition of these extreme opposites, is destroyed by it;
to
which also must be added, that j`rb can scarcely be taken
in
any
other sense than that of blessing,
were it only for the
parallelism
with llh,
to extol; the extolling of the desire of his
soul,
and the blessing of God on account of his unrighteous
PSALM X. VER. 4. 159
gain,
are closely connected. The exposition: "He blesses him-
self,"
adopted by Stier and others, after Venema, is quite arbi-
trary.
In the passage referred to by them, Deut. xxix. 18, the
verb
in Hithpael is unquestionably used in a transitive sense.
We
repeat, that all these wrong expositions are set aside by the
passage
in Zechariah.
Ver. 4. The wicked in his pride, he does not inquire: God is
not, are all his
purposes.
The height of the nose is a picturesque
description
of pride. Many render the first
clause: "The
wicked
in, or according to, his pride, does not concern him-
self."
They either supply God to wrdy: he does not seek
after,
or
care for, God; or they understand the verb quite generally:
in
his heart the wicked disregards everything; right and wrong
are
alike to him; he knows no other law than his own lust. "The
principle
of right action through the whole of life," remarks
Calvin,
"is inquiry, in that we do not allow ourselves to be
blindly
carried about wherever our own spirit, and the impulses
of
our corrupt flesh, would draw us. But the disposition to in-
quire
springs from humility, in that we, as becomes us, set God
before
us as our judge and guide." But others take wrdy lb as
the
words of an evil-doer: "the wicked in his pride (says) He
(God)
searches or perceives not." And this exposition, which
presents
no difficulty when we bear in mind the extremely con-
cise
style of the Psalm, is shown to be the correct one, by com-
paring
ver. 13: "Wherefore doth the wicked despise God;
and
say in his heart, Thou wilt not require it?" wrdt
xl,--a
parallel
passage which is the more decisive, as ver. 13 mani-
festly
resumes the subject of vers. 3 and 4. In these verses
the
fact is set before us, that he despises God, that he says,
"Thou
punishest not;" in ver. 13 reference is made to the
abnormity
of such thoughts, and to the necessity of their being
uprooted:
"Wherefore does he despise,
wherefore does he speak?"
We
may also comp. Mymd wrd in Ps. ix. 12, where the verb, in
like
manner, signifies "to inquire into," "to punish." The
denial
of providence is here justly marked as the product of
pride.
The wicked desires to be a god himself; therefore he
suppresses
consciousness regarding God in heaven. God is
not,
are all his purposes: they are a continued
practical denial of
God.
For had he a real conviction of the being of a living
God,
he would stand in awe of the judgment-seat. Whether
he
have a cold and dead notion of God, or even of His provi-
160 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
dente,
is a matter of indifference. Venema: "Their counsels
and
projects were such, that in their very nature they involved
the
denial of God; and if an inference might be drawn there-
from
concerning the faith of those who entertain them, we
should
conclude them to be deniers of God: in which sense
those
who confess God in words, are said to deny Him by
their
works, Tit. i. 16." hmzm we take here, according to the
usage
of the Psalms, for ungodly purposes, and the rather so, as
it
had occurred in that sense in ver. 2. The sense is weakened
if
we render, with other expositors: "There is no God, are all
his
thoughts." This exposition is also unsuitable, in that it
would
attribute a theoretical denial of God
to the wicked, in
opposition
to the first clause, ver. 3, vers. 11 and 13. Some,
in
order to avoid this objection, would take the "not God,"
against
the usage, as meaning: "God is nothing; He has no
power."
Nyx
always denies existence, not quiddity—see Christol.
P.
ii. p. 474 ss. Hupfeld, Hitzig, and De Wette, in his 4th
ed.,
take fwr
absolutely, and both periods as expressing his
thoughts:
"The wicked, according to his pride, he punishes
not,
God is not, are all his thoughts." But this construction,
which
destroys the parallelism, rests upon the view of vytvmzm,
which
has already been proved to be false. If this be under-
stood
of the purposes, it cannot be
referred to wrdy lb. For the
denial
of providence is, according to vers. 11 and 13, the theo-
retical principle of the
wicked.
Ver. 5. His ways, his undertakings, are
always prosperous.
The
Chaldee gives this sense, and the best expositors follow it.
The
verb lvH
occurs in a similar meaning in Job. xx.. 21; and
the
derivative, lyH strength,
also confirms it. Against the
parallelism,
some expositors take it in the unproved sense of
being crooked, and translate: His
ways are always crooked.
The
relation of the two following members to this first was
already
pointed out quite correctly by Venema: "The other
two
members take out of the way the obstacles to prosperity,
the
one of which is the judgments of God, the other, the
attacks
of enemies." A height are Thy
judgments, Thy punish-
merit's,
away from him; i.e. Thy righteous chastisements
are so
far
removed from him, that they never reach him. This can
only
be understood in two ways—either as a continued descrip-
tion
of the prosperity of the wicked, and their freedom from
punishment,
from which sprung their supercilious security de-
PSALM X. VER. 6. 161
scribed
in ver. 6; or as a description of this supercilious security
itself,
as a consequence of their being "prospered in their
ways."
The latter exposition is adopted by Calvin: "Because
continual
prosperity flows in upon them, they think that God
is
obliged to them. And so it comes to pass, that they put His
judgments
far from them." But as there is not the slightest
hint
of a reference to the wicked's thoughts,
and since the pre-
ceding
words, "his ways are prosperous," refer not to a fancy,
but
to the reality, this view could only be considered as admis-
sible,
in case these grounds could be counterbalanced by an
undeniable
reference of the last clause to the supercilious se-
curity
of the wicked. This, however, is by no means the case.
The
last clause, also, has respect, not to the thoughts, but to
the
actual lot of the wicked. From what has been said, the
presumption
is in favour of this view, and the most natural
exposition
is: All His adversaries, He breathes upon them; i.e.
He
blows them away with little trouble; He has only to breathe,
and
they vanish: comp. Isa. xl. 24, "He blows upon them,
and
they wither;" and the "cujus to legiones difflavisti. spiritu
quasi
ventus folia" of Plautus, in the Mil. Glor. i. 1, 17. To
explain
the words as referring to some sort of blowing, through
which
a proud disposition manifested itself, has this against it,
that
such a blowing is nowhere mentioned in the Old Testa-
ment.
In Mal. i. 13, to which we are referred, the hyph, "to
make
to breathe out," is, by comp. with Job xxxi. 39, as much
as,
"to blow out the light of life," to rob the soul, to annihilate.
So
that all the three clauses refer to the external lot of the
wicked;
and the following verse for the first time sets forth
the
influence, which his prosperity and his impunity have upon
his
disposition.
Ver. 6. A feeling of security
springs from his prosperity.
He says in his heart, I
shall not be moved; from generation to
generation, I am he who
is not in adversity;
i.e. is not unfor-
tunate.
The meaning is: Misfortune shall never overtake me.
The
expression, "from generation to generation," is to be ex-
plained
by the circumstance, that the wicked here is an ideal
personage.
frb, in evil, for, in misfortune, as in Ex.
v. 19. The
rwx is used with peculiar emphasis, and not as a
kind of ex-
pletive,
as we might at first sight suppose. He is that
man
who
defies all misfortune, whom God cannot harm, even if He
would.
Precisely so is it also used, for example, in Isa. viii.
162 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
20,
"If they speak not according to these, they are those for
whom
there is no dawn." Calvin here beautifully contrasts
the
confidence of the pious, which is the offspring of faith, and
the
false security of the wicked. "The latter says, I shall not
be
moved, or shall not shake for ever, because he thinks his
strength
sufficient to bear up against all assaults. The believer
says,
If I should happen to be moved, or even to fall, and to
sink
into the depths, still I shall not utterly perish; for God
will
put His hand beneath me."
Ver. 7. The representation given of
the violation of duties
toward
neighbours, which the ungodly, confirmed in his un-
conscientiousness
by his prosperity, allows to grow into actual
guilt,
is commenced in this verse with the words,
and pro-
ceeds
in vers. 8-10 to deeds. His mouth is full
of cursing,
and of deceit and
oppression.
hlx
preserves here its common
signification.
But the circumstance, that it occurs here in a
description,
which refers only to the relation toward: neigh-
bours,
and its being coupled with deceit and
oppression, shows
that
such cursings are here spoken of, as the ungodly utters
upon
himself, so that he may be successful in his deceit, and
may
win confidence to the perjuries through which he seeks to
circumvent
his neighbour in goods and chattels. In the fore-
ground
are perjury and deceit, false assurances of peace and
love:
in the background are violence and oppression. By the
former
his victims are made defenceless; and then he comes
forth
with the latter. In Ps. lix. 12, hlx is coupled with wHk,
"lie,"
as it is here with hmrm. In opposition to the connec-
tion,
Stier regards the cursings, execrations, and calumnies, as
directed
against God, as well as men. xlm not an adjective,
but
a verb.—And of deceit and oppression.
tvmrm
the LXX.
render
by pikri<a, bitterness, probably confounding the word
with
tvrm
from rrm.—Under his tongue is sorrow and mischief.
lmf, never actively, distress, which one brings
upon another;
but
here, as always, misfortune, distress, which others suffer.
Nvx signifies here, and constantly, mischief. The sorrow, the
product
of the injustice, is in, and with this under the tongue:
comp.
the investigations upon both words in my Treatise on
Balaam,
p. 112 sq. In the expression, "under his tongue,"
the
metaphor, according to several interpreters, is taken from
the
poison of serpents, which is concealed under the teeth,
and
from thence is pressed out, as is mentioned in Ps. cxl. 3,
PSALM X. VER. 8. 163
"Adder's
poison is under their lips." But the parallelism, with
the
mouth, favours the less remote
exposition of others, who
consider
the tongue to be mentioned here as the
organ of speech.
That
the Psalmist says under the tongue,
and not, as elsewhere,
upon it, arises from his
thinking of a whole storehouse of misery
and
injustice as being under their tongue, from which, at fitting
times,
particular portions are taken and laid upon the tongue.
This
corresponds precisely to the words in the first clause: His
mouth
is full. His mouth is like a magazine
of sorrow and
mischief.
It is also against the reference to the poison of ser-
pents,
that, in Ps. lxvi. 17, the expression, “under the tongue,”
is
in like manner used of words, and that in a good sense: "I
cried
unto Him with my mouth, and the song of praise was
under
my tongue."
Ver. 8. Having set forth, that if
God be willing to help,
now
is the proper time, as the profligacy of the wicked had
mounted
to the highest pitch, the Psalmist turns from words to
deeds.
He describes them as robbers and murderers, who lay
wait
for the defenceless traveller for the purpose of destroy-
ing
him. Several commentators are disposed to understand
this
representation figuratively: the
wicked are likened to rob-
bers.
But there is just as little ground for this supposition as
for
the other, that a reference exists here to special historical
events.
The representation is not a figurative, but an individu-
alizing
one; and the particular mode in which the heathen com-
mitted
their wickedness here mentioned, is in reality no more
under
consideration than any others: the individualization is
only
designed to give vividness to the description. The par-
ticular
trait, besides, manifestly suits better to evil-doers among
the
Israelites, than to foreign adversaries, who were wont to
break
in upon the land with open violence, and not to waylay
individuals
in lurking places: comp. the analogous description,
Job
xxiv. 14. Hab. iii. 14, to which De Wette appeals in sup-
port
of the reference to the heathen, is placed by him in a dis-
torted
light. The Chaldeans are there expressly compared to
such
as waylay the poor in secret places, who are here the sub-
ject
of discourse; it cannot, therefore, have been their custom.
He lies in the lurking
places of the villages; i.e. in concealed places,
in
the thicket, in the neighbourhood of townships, they lie in
wait
for the peaceable inhabitants, with the view of suddenly
falling
upon them, and killing or plundering them. The verb
164 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
bwy is specially used of the lion, which lies in
his den upon the
watch,
comp. ver. 9; then also of men. In the
secret places he
murders the innocent. rtsm is used pre-eminently
of covered
places,
which are adapted for snares. So, of the dens of lions,
where
they lie in secret, Ps. xvii. 12; Lam. iii. 10.—His eyes
keep watch upon the
miserable.
Npc
prop. denotes to conceal,
and
nothing else. The sense of watching,
as it occurs here and
in
Prov. i. 11, 18, comes only from the general omission of the
object,
as is often the case in Hiph., that is, of the concealed
place
of the snares or gins. But this omission must have
been
so current, that the verb gradually got to mean simply
“watching.”
For here, on account of the verb's being con-
nected
with the eyes, it would not at all do to supply the object.
hkAl;He is very differently explained. The
Masorites think it is a
compound
of the defectively written word lyHe host, and the suff.
j~ with h appended. Believing
that the first syllable must have
been
originally written plene, they have given to it the vowel
Zere,
whereas otherwise, in a compound syllable, a short vowel
must
always stand. Hence the vowels, as due to the Masoretic
explanation,
do not come under consideration. This exposition
of
the word, which a number of interpreters follow, is un-
doubtedly
false, and yields no fitting sense. Equally false is
another
explanation, that of Schroeder ad Ps. dec. p. 180-88,
which
is adopted by most recent expositors. According to it,
the
word is derived from the Arabic , to be black, which,
in
the metaphorical sense, must mean to be unfortunate.
It is
in
itself a questionable proceeding to transfer a root at once to
the
Hebrew, which does not otherwise occur in it, and that too
in
a sense not even found in the Arabic; some faint trace of it
is
discernible there only in the derivatives. The chief objec-
tion,
however, against it is, that the h cannot, as is done by
some,
be taken as a formative, or with others as parag., since
the
plural MyxklH
in ver. 10, where then h is exchanged for x,
shows
it to be a radical. We must rather
take hklH
as a qua-
driliterum
compositum, formed from the two Hebrew roots hlH,
to
be weak, sick, and hxk, moerore affectus, afflictus fuit. Comp.
Ps. cix. 16, Ez. xiii. 22. The sing. is then to be pointed hk,l;Ha,
the
plural MyxikAl;Ha. There are not wanting examples of similar
compounds;
comp. Ewald, p. 519, Christol. P. p. 98. The
double
form with h
and with x
admits then of an easy explana-
tion,
because both letters properly belonged to the root, and the
PSALM X. VERS. 9, 10. 165
mode
of abbreviation was a matter of choice. We can thus
also
understand how the Masorites should have come to con-
sider
the word as a double one. In ver. 10 they understand
one
of its component parts quite correctly. They take MyxklH
as
meaning an agmen afilictorum, and consequently derive Myxk
from
the verb hxk.
With this exposition agrees also admirably
the
rendering of the LXX., the Syriac., Chal., by poor; that
of
this
exposition is in perfect accordance with that which the
Psalm
itself suggests in reference to the signification of hklh.
We
must, firstly, now consider the other designations in the
Psalm
of those here denominated. In reference to these, it is
remarked by Gousset: "Semel (vers. 14, 18) vocantur
nomine
Mvty, semel nomine yqn, alias quoque nomine ynf.—At merito
ynf praeferemus,
quia multoties in eodem sermone occurrit, tan-
quam proprium orationis subjectum et cujus ideam ac
notionem
auctor sibi frequentius objiceret." Then, an important help
to-
wards
a right explanation is supplied by ver. 10, where Myxklh
stands
in opposition to Mymvcf, the strong." Now, in Myxklh,
according
to the view we have taken, both ideas, that of a
mournful,
poor condition (hxk), and that of weakness (hlH),
are
combined, while the latter, according to the derivation from
j`lH, is entirely absent. The writer unquestionably
formed this
word
himself, which is never used elsewhere, and intended it to
be
a kind of enigma.
Ver. 9. He lies in wait in the secret places as a lion in his den,
he lies in wait to catch
the poor, he does catch the poor, drawing him
with his net. The suff. in vbwmb. refers to the poor; comp. in Hos.
xi.
4, Mkwmx Mdx ylhHb; funibus humanis eos attraxi. Others re-
fer
it to the ungodly, and translate: "while he draws, or draws to
his
net;" comp. j`wm with b, in the sense of
drawing, in 1 Kings
xxii.
34. The Psalmist, who, in the first member, had com-
pared
the robber to a lion, lets this image drop here, and repre-
sents
the ungodly under the figure of a hunter, who casts his
noose
around the neck of the unsuspecting game; comp. Ps.
xxxv.
7, lvii. 6. The thought which lies at the bottom of the
figurative
representation is this, that the ungodly always unite
cunning
with open violence, and that, consequently, the poor
servants
of God must be wretched every way, unless the Lord
deliver
them.
Ver. 10. Crushed, he sinks down, the poor man. The first
166 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
word
has a double reading. The form in the text, which must
be
pronounced hkAdAv;, is an adj. verb, formed from hkd=j`kd;
the
marginal reading, which must be pronounced hK,d;yi, and the
vowels
of which, as usual, stand in the text, is Fut. in Kal of
hkd. The text is here, as always, when there is no
urgent reason
to
the contrary, to be preferred to the margin. The unhappy
man
is represented under the image of a wild animal, which,
entangled
in the net, falls to the ground. The crushing,
over-
powering,
is to be taken figuratively, and refers to the utter
impotence
produced by the netting, to use his powers and save
himself;
comp. Ps. lvii. 6. With Hwy here should be compared
my
soul is bowed down," in Ps. lvii. 6. And
the poor falls
through his strong ones. Mymvcf signifies, wherever it
occurs in
the
Old Testament, the strong; hence all
those expositions which
give
the word another meaning must be rejected at once, from
such
as palm on it a foreign sense out of the Arabic, to those
which
take it abstractly in the sense of strength.
The suff.
refers
to the fwr
as an ideal person. His strong ones
stand
in
opposition to MyxklH, and indicate how the latter, in their
impotence
and helplessness, must be an easy prey for such
formidable
enemies. "Through his strong
ones," is sub-
stantially
the same as, "through them, the
strong." The in-
dividuals
are represented as belonging to the personified idea.
Calvin
explains it somewhat differently. According to him,
the
image of a lion is here continued, his claws and teeth are
personified
as strong warriors. This supposition, though de-
serving
to be rejected, as the Psalmist has long since dropt the
image
of a lion, is, however, more admissible than the one
adopted
by some recent expositors, who would have the word to
signify
strong members. This view weakens
also the manifest
contrast
between Mymvcf
and MyxklH,
which requires the former,
according
to its constant import, to be a designation of persons.
The
connection of a verb in the singular with a noun in the
plural
is always allowable, when the verb precedes, inasmuch
as
then the speaker has not in view determinate persons, their
number
or sex; comp. Ewald, p. 639. Here the use of the
singular
was the more natural, as in the first member he had
spoken
of an individual who was wretched.
Ver. 11. The Psalmist here comes
back again to the source
of
the audacity of the wicked, their fancy, fostered by continued
impunity,
that God's providence rules not over human things.
PSALM X. VERS.
12, 13. 167
He
brings this so prominently out, because it must be to God
the
most pressing motive to interference, and is consequently the
best
preparation for the immediately following prayer. He, the
wicked,
says in his heart: God hath forgotten,
namely, my shame-
ful
deeds, as well as the sufferings of the unfortunate; it is to
Him
a matter of indifference what is done on earth, He troubles
not
Himself about it—He hideth His face,
that He may not be
disturbed
in His repose by the sight of the confusion on earth.
Ver. 12. Arise, 0 Lord: 0 God, lift up Thine hand; forget
not the wretched. Here the second part
begins—the prayer,
which,
of itself, springs out of, and was indeed strictly con-
tained
in, the complaint uttered before God. As the visible
presented
no traces of God's righteousness and providence, but
seems rather to clash
therewith, it is to the Psalmist, in accord-
ance
with the weakness of human nature, as if God rested, and
did
not concern Himself about earthly things, and left His people
in
forgetfulness. But while the ungodly purposely cherishes
and
feeds this error, the offspring of his own reprobate state of
mind,
the believer fights against it, as a thought that has arisen
only
from his troubled condition, and prays the Lord to help
him
in his conflict, and, at the same time, to destroy the delusion
of
the wicked; by making Himself known in His righteousness
and
retribution. The lifting up of the hand,
is spoken of one,
who,
after he has been taking rest, and has put his hand into his
bosom,
arises and addresses himself to his work. The words
"forget
not," refer to those of the wicked in ver. 11, "God hath
forgotten."
On the different readings, Myynf and Myvnf, see on
Ps.
ix. 12. Here, too, the latter, which is the marginal reading,
arose
out of the supposition that a moral
quality was required.
Ver. 13. Wherefore does the wicked contemn God? Where-
fore
dost Thou permit him to despise Thee with impunity?
Wherefore
does he speak, wherefore dare he say,
Thou punishest
not? prop. Thou dost not
inquire. This, with God, coincides
with
punishing. For when God inquires into
the doings of
men,
being a righteous God, it necessarily follows that He also
recompenses.
The transition from the third person to the
second
gives more emphasis to the language. He speaks as it
were
to God's very face. Still we might also take the words
wrdt xl as oratio obliqua, = "that Thou
punishest not;" and
this
view is even to be preferred. Calvin: "Though it is
superfluous
to bring forth reasons before God, for the purpose
168 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
of
persuading Him, He yet permits us to deal familiarly with
Him
in our prayers, to address Him as a son addresses his
earthly
father. For the object of the prayer must always be
kept
in view, namely, that God may be the witness of all our
feelings,
not as if they would otherwise escape Him, but be-
cause,
while we pour out our hearts before Him, our cares are
lightened,
and our confidence of being heard, increases." Thus
David
here rises to hope, through representing to himself how
absurd
a thing it would be for God to suffer the impious to
despise
Him with impunity. The verse, besides, is closely con-
nected
with the first part, vers. 3 and 4. There
the fact was
set
forth; here attention is called to its absurdity, and conse-
quently
to the necessity of a reaction of the idea against the
actual
state of things:
Ver. 14. Thou hast seen. The Psalmist here rises to the
confidence,
to the faith, that the Lord will put to shame, the
fancy
of the ungodly, mentioned in ver. 11, that He is uncon-
cerned
about earthly things in general, and especially about
their
wickedness; and that He sees both their abominable
deeds,
and the sufferings of the righteous, and will act accord-
ingly.
We might regard this as the commencement of the
third
part of the Psalm. However, as the Psalmist turns
back
again to the prayer in ver. 15, it is better to begin the
third
part with ver. 16, from where confidence alone, has the
ascendant.
When more closely examined, the confidence here
also
is different from that in ver. 16 sq. Here it is grounded
upon
a conclusion; there it is an immediate conviction. Con-
fidence
of the first kind, which may be designated a presup-
posing
one, is more related to prayer, nay, a kind of prayer: I
hope
still that Thou dost see. The Psalmist here
expresses his
confidence
in the form of a conclusion a genere ad speciem.
God
is, in general, the all-knowing, the righteous One, the true
helper
of His people; consequently, He both will, and must
prove
Himself to be such here also. This conclusion a genere ad
speciem
is, of all tasks, the most difficult, and one that can be
performed
only by the powerful assistance of God. That all
human
things are placed under God's providence, is not so
difficult
to be received as a matter of conviction; but to judge
every
particular oppression in accordance therewith, to apply
this
doctrine thereto, at the very time when the flesh feels pre-
cisely
the reverse, when God appears to be merely an inactive
PSALM X. VER. 14. 169
spectator
of our misery, is possible to none but the regenerate,
and
yet there is no living faith in Divine providence without it.
The
same holds good also in reference to the doctrine of the
atonement.
To accept it as true, that Christ died for the sins of
the
whole world, is not so difficult. But to be convinced, and
firmly
persuaded, that He died specially for our
sins, whilst
sin
and Satan are loudly crying the opposite, lies beyond the
reach
of human power. The object of the word htyxr, which
refers
to Hcnl hxr lb in ver. 11, is the
particular case,--that in
respect
to which the ungodly had declared, God inquires not.
The
Fybt,
on the other hand, refers to the general.
Allowing
this,
yk,
as part. ration., is evidently quite suitable, and there is
no
need of palming on it, with many expositors, strange mean-
ings,
such as yea, yea indeed. With this
also agrees the use, first
of
the Preterite, and then of the Future. Thou hast seen, for
Thou
art accustomed to behold. If the latter were not, the
assumption
of the former would be utterly groundless. For
God
does nothing which has not its foundation in His nature;
and
what has its foundation there, must regularly take place.
But
the latter being the case, then it is unreasonable
not to
assume
the first. For this is virtually to hold that God denies
Himself,
that He is not God. For Thou seest
suffering and
anger in the city, to
put them in Thine hand. The verb sfk
always
signifies to be angry; the noun,
without exception, rage,
anger; and the meanings grief, lamentation, which expositors
give
it here and in some other places, are palmed on it merely
from
the connection. Here it is anger at the unjust assaults of
the
wicked,—the righteous indignation, the subjective feeling
which
is called forth by the suffering, lmf: comp. 1 Sam. i. 6,
where
an example also occurs of the manner in which God
takes
this anger into His hand, when He appears for a mo-
ment
to forget: also the expression in ver. 2, "the wretched
one
burns;" and the passage in Job vi. 2, which is important
for
the signification of sfk, when connected with words ex-
pressive
of misfortune. In the words, "to give, or put them
in
Thine hand," the image, according to many, is derived from
those
who make for themselves marks of remembrance in their
hand.
The justness of this explanation is thought to be clear
from
Isa. xlix. 16, "Behold, I have graven thee upon the
palms
of My hands, thy walls are continually before Me."
But
the use of the verb Ntn does not favour the view adopted.
170 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
Rather
is the thought, that the Lord lays the sufferings of His
people
in His hand, a sign that He will, in His own time, avenge
them
upon their enemies, that no part of their afflictions escapes
Him,
or is a matter of indifference to Him; comp. lvi. 8, "Thou
tellest
my wanderings; put my tears in Thy bottle, nay, they
stand
in Thy book." Against the explanation, "to recompense
with
Thy hand," apart from the impossibility of at once assign-
ing
such a meaning to giving, there is
also the circumstance, that
dyb Ntn uniformly occurs, in the sense of,
"to put into the hand."
The poor commits to Thee. bzfy, "may commit to Thee," as the
parallel
last clause shows. The subject in hand is not primarily
that
which the helpless in duty ought to
do, but what he, in
good
confidence, can do. bzf is not to be taken here
in a reflec-
tive
sense: neither is any definite object, his weakness or the
like,
to be supplied; but it is as if he had said: "The unfor-
tunate
man commits to Thee, to Thee he surrenders." Of
the orphan, Thou art the
helper.
Mvty,
"an orphan," is used
in
this Psalm, which refers to the relation of the Church of
God
to the heathen, as a figurative designation of helplessness
and
desertion. There is also a reference to passages of the law
which
ascribe to God a tender care for orphans in the strict
and
proper sense: e. g. Dent. x. 18; Ex. xxii. 22 (21). So also
Ps.
lxviii. 5 (6); Hos. xiv. 4.
Ver. 15. Break the arm of the wicked, annihilate his power,
which
he is applying to the destruction of the innocent,—and
the evil, seek out his
wickedness, find them not. fr, according to
the
accents, belongs to the second clause, and stands as nomin.
absol.:
And the evil. Expositors generally
explain: Thou may-
est
seek his wickedness, not find it; i.e. may Thy judgments
so
utterly annihilate him, that even Thine all-seeing eye shall
be
able to detect no more wickedness remaining to be punished.
The
trackless disappearance of a thing, and its complete de-
struction,
are often denoted by the seeking and not finding of
it:
comp. Ps. xxxvii. 35, 36. But it is remarked, on the other
hand,
quite correctly by Claus, after the older expositors, such
as
Venema, that there is thereby overlooked the unmistakeable
reference
to wrd,
in ver. 13. The verb must here be taken in
the
same sense as there,—therefore: search out his wickedness,
drag
it before Thy judgment-seat, to which he thinks himself
not
liable; and that with such a result, that it shall be utterly
brought
to an end, that Thou Thyself shalt find it no more.
PSALM X. VER.
16. 171
Venema:
"Until Thou shalt not find; i.e. until there shall be
none
surviving, or nothing shall remain to be punished, and so
Thou
mayest require to the very uttermost." To the wrdt
xl
of
the ungodly, stands opposed the wrdt. The xcmt
lb con-
tains
a piece of covert raillery. True, indeed, as thou sayest,
it
shall not be found; but from quite another cause than thou
supposest,
to wit, because thou, with thy ungodliness, shalt be
wholly
extirpated. The prayer, that God would break the arm
of
the ungodly, and search out Ids wickedness, proceeds from
the
living faith that He can and must do so; that the ungodly
rages
only through His permission; that he would be made to
disappear
without leaving a trace behind, the moment God
pleased,
and that He would certainly be pleased to do it in His
own
time. We have proceeded on the supposition that wrdt
and
xcmt
are to be taken optatively in paral. with the Imper.
rbw. But, as
the demand has hope for its foundation, we can
also
fairly expound: Thou wilt search out,
Thou wilt not find;
and
this might be represented as the more suitable, since the
transition
to the undoubting confidence, expressed in ver. 16,
would
then appear a more natural one: "Break, for that we
pray;
Thou wilt search out, for that we hope; they are
perished,
that we behold."
Ver. 16. The third strophe—the confidence, as it springs
from
the inwardly received assurance of being heard. The
Psalmist
gives utterance here to an exuberant joy of faith.
The
Lord has granted him such an internal assurance of being
heard,
that he already sees the ungodly conquered, and the holy
for ever and ever. At an earlier period,
when his faith was still
subject
to assaults, it had appeared to the Psalmist as if the
Lord
were thrust down from His high throne, but now the
matter
presents itself to him quite otherwise. Faith shows him
how
impotent all attempts of the rebels are to rob Him of His
supremacy.
He is, and abides KING, and will prove Himself
such
now and for ever. The Lord is named King
here, not as
ruler
of the world, but as sovereign over His people and His
holy
land; comp. Neut. xxxiii. 5, Num. xxiii. 21. The heathen
are perished out of His
land.
Luther understands by Myvg such
as
ought to have belonged to God's people and the chosen
are
no longer God's people, but His enemies. So also Calvin,
172 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
with
an appeal to Ezek. xvi. 3, "Thy birth and thy nativity is
of
the
mother
a Hittite;" for: As to thy way and manners, thou
derivest
thy being from these people; comp. other passages
in
which the ungodly among the Israelites are described as
heathens,
in Christol. P. ii. p. 398. But we
have no reason
here
to depart from the usual signification of the word; and
this,
indeed, is rather confirmed by a comp. with ver. 9, where
heathens,
in the proper sense, are unquestionably meant. Myvg
also
signifies, not heathen, as individuals, but heathen nations.
Yet
it does not follow from this that the whole Psalm limits
itself
to them. The Psalmist might here very well name a par-
ticular
species of ungodly enemies—just as the poor are in vers.
14,
18, denoted by the individualizing term of the orphan, and
the
wicked in vers. 8-10 are described under the particular
character
of robbers—because the same law which
brought
their subjection, would
certainly carry in its bosom the subjec-
tion
of the others. Against the exclusive reference of the
whole
Psalm to heathenish enemies, we have to urge the want
of
any special allusion to them in all the rest of the Psalm, and
the
existence of many traits which suit better a home conflict
between
the pious and the ungodly; comp. on vers. 7-10. But
all
appearances are satisfactorily explained when the Psalm is
viewed
as a song for the general use of the pious, when suffer-
ing
oppression at the hands of the wicked,—it being of no
moment
whether the latter were merely uncircumcised in heart,
or
also uncircumcised in flesh; comp. Jer. ix. 25. The words,
“out
of His land,” point to the cause of the extirpation of
"the
heathen." The Pret. vdbx is to be explained thus, that the
Psalmist,
by the internal vision of faith, sees his enemies as
already
annihilated.
Ver. 17. Thou hast heard, 0 Lord, the desire of the meek
Thou makest their heart
firm:
through the inward conviction
which
Thou givest them of the hearing of their prayer, Thou
impartest
to them the power of resisting all assaults, in the firm
hope
of obtaining the deliverance promised them. A firm heart
is
opposed to a heart that is moved, shaking, trembling, and in-
dicates
courage, strength, repose; comp. Ps. cxii. 7, "His heart
is
fixed, trusting in the Lord," Ps. li. 12, lvii. 7. Thou causest
Thine ear to hear.
Ver. 18. In order that Thou makest judge the orphan and the
PSALM XI. 173
oppressed. These words are
closely connected with the close of
the
preceding verse.— The man of the earth
will not continue to
defy. We must take the
second clause as an expression of con-
fidence,
not of desire. For in the latter case, the abbreviated
Fut.
would have been used. wvnx has, as was already remarked,
the
subordinate ideas of feebleness and weakness, which are still
more
plainly denoted by the addition, "of the earth;" q. d.: He
who
is, sprung from the earth, who belongs to it; the man of the
earth,
as opposed to the God of heaven. The expression occurs
in
Ps. cxlviii. 7, "Praise the Lord, Crxh Nm, ye of the earth,"
ye
inhabitants thereof; before, in ver. 1, it was, "Praise the
Lord,
from the heavens." Comp. also, examples of the similar
use
of Nm
in Venema, in loc. The verb Crf has in the Arabic
and
Hebrew (Isa.xlvii. 12) the signification of, withstanding,
braving. As the object of the
resistance or defiance, God is to
be
understood. Between Crfl and Crxh there exists an inten-
tional
paronomasia, pointing to the glaring contradiction be-
tween
nature and will. The exposition of Hitzig and others:
"That
they may not further drive the people out of the land,"
is
already confuted by the parallel passage, Ps. ix. 19, 20,
"Arise,
0 Lord, let not man prevail," where the same contrast
is
found between the assumed strength
and native weakness; and
also
by the circumstance, that it destroys the significance of the
paronomasia,
which was taken notice of by Luther: "Here is a
fine
play upon the words, in that man who is still of the earth,
should
magnify and exalt himself; which contains within itself a
strong
contrast, since it is wholly and utterly improper, that man,
because
he is a man, and besides born of the earth, and return-
ing
again to it, should thus exalt himself and act proudly."
Also,
we do not perceive how the suffering could be designated
wvnx, which refers solely to human weakness in
general. Finally,
it
is far-fetched to render Jysvy lb, "one will not continue."
PSALM
XI.
The speaker is hard pressed by
godless enemies; and he is
advised,
abandoning all—all, indeed, being already lost—to look
only
to the safety of his life, vers. 1-3.
But he answers, that
he
puts his confidence in God, who, throned on high in His
holy
heaven, rules with His providence over the affairs of men,
174 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
and
will assuredly accomplish the overthrow of evil, though it
seems
almighty, and secure victory to the righteous, vers. 4-7.
"Confidence
in the Lord and His protection, even against the
huge force of the
wicked," remarks Claus, is the simple subject
of
this Psalm. After expressing briefly this confidence ("in
Jehovah
I put my trust"), he sets forth the facts, which seem
to
show, that the condition of the people of God is a perfectly
hopeless
one; that the suppression of the good principle and its
supporters,
and the triumph of wickedness, is a decided one; so
that
the righteous and upright, who can no longer be of ser-
vice
in public affairs, does best to attend only to his own per-
sonal
deliverance. In opposition to these facts, the speaker
proceeds
to unfold the words, "I put my trust in the Lord;"
representing
how the Lord would bring deliverance in what,
humanly
considered, were completely hopeless circumstances,
so
that it was not necessary to flee, but to continue in good
courage.
The general principle laid down in ver. 4, that the
providence
of the holy and omnipotent God bears rule among
men
("His eyes behold, His eyelids try the children of men"),
is
carried out further in ver. 5 by the assertion, that He lovingly
knows
the righteous, and hatingly knows the wicked ("The
Lord
trieth the righteous, and the wicked His soul hateth"):
these
two principles the Psalmist carries out still further in vers.
6
and 7, taking up again the last first, "Upon the wicked He
will
rain snares," etc., and then returning again to the first,
"Righteous
is the Lord, He loveth righteousness, His counte-
nance
beholds the upright."
The hypothesis of Koester, who
divides the Psalm into two
strophes
of three verses, with a concluding verse, is quite sub-
verted
by this distribution of the matter. The second strophe
is
mutilated, if we separate ver. 7 from it.
At first sight, the Psalm appears to
bear an individual
character;
the words, "I put my trust," and, "How say ye to
my
soul," seem to introduce us into the midst of personal re-
lations.
But, considered more narrowly, this commencement
leads
to a precisely opposite result: the address directed to a
number,
"flee," and the expression, "to your mountain," can
only
be satisfactorily explained by supposing, that the speaker
introduced,
saying, "I put my trust," is an ideal person, the
personification
of a whole class—more especially, as the suppo-
sition,
which otherwise is somewhat far-fetched, that, along with
PSALM XI. VER.
1. 175
the
Psalmist, his companions are addressed, has against it the
following
singular, rvpc,
in which the Psalmist again returns to
the
personification. In vers. 2-7, also, there is no trace what-
ever
of a reference to an individual: we have only to do with
"the
wicked," "the right-hearted," "the righteous,"
"the up-
right,"—the
two classes which constantly meet us in those Psalms
that
are of a general character. How little colour the Psalm
affords
for a personal construction, is evident from the circum-
stance,
that those who take that view perpetually dispute
whether
it refers to the times of Saul or of Absalom. The in-
dividualizing
designation, given in ver. 2, to the misdeeds which
the
wicked practise against the righteous, appears also to be
opposed
to both, inasmuch as it points to crafty devices of a
private nature, whereas, in
both the periods referred to, the
wicked
openly lifted themselves up against the
righteous—a
trait
which is equally fatal also to the supposition of De Wette,
that
the Psalm refers to the relation of the Israelites to their
heathen
oppressors; comp. on Ps. x. 8-10.
The following, accordingly, presents
itself to our mind as
the
correct view: David had lived to see two great conflicts of
the
evil principle against the good; and, having stood in both as
the
representative of the latter, had on each occasion "strength-
ened
himself in the Lord," and had received deliverance as the
reward
of his faith. On the ground of this personal experience,
he
here shows "the righteous," how in similar circumstances,
when
the Church is in a troubled and distracted condition, they
ought
to behave themselves; viz. that they should not abandon
themselves
to despair, but should trust in the Lord.
The placing of this Psalm in the
same series with the pre-
ceding
ones, appears to have arisen, not merely from the general
similarity
of its contents, but also specially from the resemblance
of
ver. 2 to Ps. x. 8.
Ver. 1. In the Lord put I my trust, how say ye to my soul,
Flee as a bird to your
mountain?
jyx,
quomodo ergo—an ex-
pression
of wonder, of reproach. The words, "to my soul," are
explained
by Calvin: "He indicates that his heart was pierced
by
the taunting question." But ver. 2 shows rather that the soul
is
mentioned because the life of the righteous is endangered,
and
flight appears to be the only means of deliverance (comp.
Gem.
xix. 17). If he who is introduced saying, "In the Lord
put
I my trust," is an ideal person, the righteous man, those also
176 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
who
address him must be ideal persons. The Psalmist has in
his
eye such as, though attached to the good cause (the words
unquestionably
betoken that), still stand on a lower ground of
faith,
and who, because their gaze continues fixed on the visible,
think
that all is irrecoverably gone. In reality, these persons
are
merely personifications of the doubting thoughts, which arose
of
themselves in the mind of the speaker,—the "flee," is the
voice
of the flesh, which is met by the voice of the Spirit in the
declaration,
"I put my trust in the Lord." No one, not even
the
most advanced, needs to seek those who say "Flee," outside
of
himself. The plural vdvn is accounted for by what has been
already
remarked. Mkrh,
your mountain, is, according to the
common
interpretation, the mountain which will afford you pro-
tection,
in which ye have your places of refuge. This, however,
is
somewhat forced; and we might feel tempted, even were it
only
because of the word your, to take mountain
in a figurative
sense,
"your mountain"— your hiding-place. Ven.: mons hic
locum
exilii extra societatem, ad quam noster pertinabat, designat.
This
exposition is the more natural, as the following rvpc appears
to
explain why the hiding-place is figuratively described as a
mountain.
Birds escape the dangers to which they are exposed
in
the open plain, by betaking themselves to wooded moun-
tains.
But even if we should keep to the literal meaning, still
the
expression would afford no countenance to the individual
view
of the Psalm. For the mountain, in that case, would only
be
chosen as an individualizing trait, having respect to the
natural
appearance of
the
first rank among the hiding places: comp. the saying of our
Lord,
which contains an allusion to this passage, in Matt. xxiv.
16,
"Then let those who are in
We
are not, as many expositors think, to supply k simil. before
rvpc, but to regard it as a decurtata compar.: as a
bird (a bird
in
the figurative sense). Lam. iii. 52, "Mine enemies chased
me
sore, like a bird, without cause," is a parallel passage. Mkrh
is
in the accus., as is usual with verbs of motion; Ewald, p. 585.
The
Masorites wished, on account of the sing. ywpnl preceding,
to
read, not vdvn,
but ydvn.
This reading would not have been pre-
ferred
to that of the text, had it been borne in mind, that, like
all
the Kris, it is no more than a mere conjecture. What is
advanced
by Hitzig in its support,—that the Ketib offends
against
the sing. rvpc,
and is quite unsuitable to the preceding
PSALM XI. VER.
I. 177
context,
where an individual is addressed, serves to explain how
it
arose. Neither the originators nor the defenders of this
reading
have succeeded in referring the interchange between
the
singular and the plural in this verse back to its true ground.
They
sought, therefore, to set aside what they did not under-
stand,
but proceeded with little consistency, when they left
standing
the to them not less inexplicable Mkrh. If we look
more
closely, we shall find, that ydvn, "flee thou,
soul," cannot
at
all stand. To the soul belongs feeling, not action. The like
may
be said of the various reading, which the old translators are
thought
by many to have followed, and which, after their sup-
posed
example, several expositors have preferred: rOPci OmK; rha,
"to
the mountain as a bird." The easier this reading, the more
doubtful
is it. Our difficult text could never have arisen from
one
whose meaning lies so plainly on the surface. The old trans-
lators
probably left out only the suffix, which must always remain
a
matter of difficulty, so long as one does not recognise in Mkrh
the
decurtata comparatio, which the following rvpc so naturally
suggests.
Too straitened a sense is given to the verse, by
those
who seek nothing more in it than a simple call to flee.
This
the righteous might have complied with, as David indeed
actually
did flee during the persecutions of Saul and Absalom,
without
necessarily renouncing confidence in the Lord. The
flight
may rather, under particular circumstances, be the product
of
confidence. But here the righteous
contrasts confidence in the
Lord
with such a call. In what sense this was meant, appears
from
vers. 2 and 3, where it is grounded upon the circumstance,
that
the constitution of the Church was shaken to its lowest
depths,
and all prospect of a healthful state of things was fore-
closed
against the righteous. This flee,
therefore, was a word of
utter
despair, which the righteous meets here by the declaration,
"In
the Lord put I my trust;" and still more strongly in ver. 4
sq.,
after expressly exhibiting in vers. 2 and 3 what those, who
looked
on things with an eye of flesh, produced in justification
of
their proposal. As in ver. 6 there is undoubtedly a verbal
reference
to the destruction of
corded
in Genesis, it is possible that the words, "Flee to the
mountain,"
contain an allusion to those of the angel to
"Escape
to the mountain," in Gen. xix. 17.
Ver. 2. The friends of the righteous
indicate the ground on
which
they think flight necessary for him. That yk must not
178 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
be
expounded, with Claus, by, indeed! it is
true, certainly! is
self-evident;
and, consequently, there can be no doubt that this
verse,
and the next, contain the continuation of the discourse of
the
friends.—For, lo! the wicked bend the
bow, place their arrow
upon the string.—Nvk in Pilel, aptare, to shoot in the dark,—from
a
concealed lurking-place, comp. Myrtsmb: in Ps. x. 9,—at
the upright. There is just as little
ground here as there, for un-
derstanding
the expression figuratively; the less so, if we keep
in
view the general character of the Psalm, to which the matter
of
this verse also certainly points. For time utterance of wicked-
ness,
here set forth in an individualized form, which was pe-
culiarly
adapted to poetry, as being fond of picturesque scenes,
was,
unquestionably, of very rare occurrence in real life, far
rarer
than others. bl yrwy, properly, straight of heart, not in re-
spect
to the cunning and malice of the wicked, but to their own
state,
as conformed to the rule; comp. Vitringa on Deut. xxxii.
p.
41: "It is implied in the idea of
rectitude, that there is some
canon,
rule, or common measure, according to which judgment
may
be given in regard to all spiritual operations. What is
conformed
to this standard is morally straight, as that is, also called
in
architecture, which is exact according to the line or plummet."
The
word "upright" is purposely without the article. That the
wicked,
should relentlessly persecute the upright, show's what is
the
state of things. hry, to throw, to shoot an arrow; elsewhere
with
the accus., here with l of the person, to whom the action
pertains,
so far as it is the aim thereof. The distinction is such
as
between our shooting any one, which involves the hitting,
and
"shooting at one."
Ver. 3. For the foundations are destroyed. We have no right
to
take yk in
the sense of if, which it very rarely
possesses: “If
the
foundations are destroyed, what doeth the righteous?” The
common
signification, for, is quite
suitable. The particular
matter
mentioned in the preceding verse is here referred to the
general,
as to its ground, or root. This general is a state of
moral
dissolution, which deprives the righteous of any footing
for
successful activity. tvtw from tvw, "to lay," is
rightly ren-
dered
by the Chaldee, Syriac,
ations.
What is to be understood by the foundations is obvious
enough
from the preceding verse, as also from the words,
"What
can the righteous do?" The basis of society is the
supremacy
of justice and righteousness. The foundations are
PSALM XI. VER.
4. 179
destroyed
"in societies remarkably corrupt, in which the laws
of
right and equity are wantonly trodden under foot" (Venema).
—The righteous, what does he do? With the
dissolving of the
foundations,
in the sense meant, the impossibility of the right-
eous
accomplishing anything goes hand in hand. Things must
have
gone far with a community, when such an impossibility
exists.
What is said by Ewald in his Small GT. § 262, suits
the
Prat. exactly: "The Perfect is used of actions which the
speaker
considers as complete, as already finished, but so reach-
ing
into the present, that modern languages employ the simple
Present."
That the righteous effects nothing, is sufficiently
proved
by past experience, is a fait accompli. The exposition
of
De Wette and others: "The righteous, what should he do,
what
else should he do than emigrate, flee away?" has against
it
the Pret.; the common use of lfp, not facere, but
efficere,
comp.
Job xi. 8, xxxv. 6; and the parallelism, since, according
to
it, we get two unconnected sentences, and we are obliged to
resort
to such unhappy explanations as: "If the foundations are
destroyed,
etc."
Ver. 4. The reply of faith, which
sees heaven open, to reason,
whose
gaze is fixed on earth. Geier: "He returns now to his
first
resolution to confide, ver. 1, and fortifies himself in it."
Although
certainly the earth offered him no help and hope,
though
all was remediless, so far as human aid was concerned,
yet
a regard to the Lord and His providence made despair ap-
pear
to be folly. We can either expound "The Lord (is) in
His
holy temple, the Lord, in heaven is His throne;" or: "The
Lord,
in His holy temple, the Lord, whose throne is in heaven,
His
eyes see," for: "The eyes of the Lord, who is in His holy
temple,
whose throne is in heaven, see." In support of the latter
exposition
there, is, 1. This, that in the succeeding context the
principle,
"His eyes see," "His eyelids try," is only further ex-
tended;
and 2. The parallel passage in Ps. cii. 18, 19, "For
He
looks down from His holy height, the Lord looks from
heaven
upon earth, to hear the groaning of the prisoner, to loose
the
children of death." These reasons are sufficient to show,
that
if we prefer the first exposition, which certainly looks the
simplest
of the two, still the words, "The Lord is in His holy
temple,
the Lord, in heaven is His throne," cannot be considered
as
independently co-ordinate with these others, "His eyes see,"
etc.,
but only as the basis on which the assertion in the latter is
180 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
made;
so that this alone, "His eyes see," is the proper shield
which
preserves the righteous from despair. The
Lord is in his
holy temple, i.e., as appears from
the second clause, in heaven.
Calvin:
"It is a great exercise of faith, when we are on all
sides
environed by darkness in the world, to seek light from
heaven
to guide us into the hope of safety. For though all
confess
that the world is governed by God, yet, when the sad
disorder
of affairs has enveloped us in darkness, there are few
in
whose inmost minds this persuasion keeps a firm hold." The
Lord's throne is in
heaven.
The Lord's throne being in heaven,
as
a mark of loftiness and majesty, shows His power to see, and
the
holiness of His abode, arising from His personal purity, His
will;
for as a holy God He cannot permit unholy beings to obtain
the
ascendancy in His kingdom on earth. On these two founda-
tions
is based the declaration, His eyes see,
His eyelids try the
children of men—His eye is continually
directed toward earthly
things;
He watches every operation of men, continually weighs
their
spirits, in order to reward every man according to his works.
vypfpf "His eye-lashes," for His eyes,
in parallelism with vynyf,
because
the language offered no expression quite synonymous.
NHb, “to prove,” of the penetrating glance of the
Lord as judge.
Ver. 5. The Lord tries the righteous. Because God is the just
One,
His searching and proving involve also His protecting.
It
must necessarily be a blessing to the righteous for God's
judging
eye to be directed to them. Precisely as in Ps: i. 6, the
first
member is to be supplied out of the second, and the second
out
of the first. And the wicked, and him
that loveth violence,
His soul hates. Luther: "This,
too, is spoken emphatically,
in
that the prophet does not say simply, He hates, but, His soul
hates; thereby declaring that
God hates the wicked in a high
degree,
and with His whole heart: He cannot, as we may say,
either
see or hear them. It is not to be understood as if God
had
a soul as we have; just as He has no eyes. The language
here
is metaphorical," etc.
Ver. 6. Upon the wicked He will rain snares, fire and brim-
stone. rFmy stands here poetically
for the common Fut. MyHp
must
here, according to various expositors, be taken as a figura-
tive
designation of lightning, which is
alleged to be called also
by
the Arabians, in prose and poetry, by the name of chains.
But
it is a sufficient objection to this meaning, that Hp does not
signify
cord in general, but specially gin,
snare, trap. We are
PSALM XI. VER. 6. 181
the
less warranted to give up the ordinary signification, as the
cords,
nets, and snares, in which God entangles the wicked, area
a
common image one destruction which He prepares for them;
comp.
Ps. ix. 15, "In the net which they hid, is their own foot
taken;"
Job xviii. 9, "The gin (Hp) shall take him by the
heel;"
xxii.
10, "Therefore snares are round about thee;" Isa. xxiv.
17,
18; Prov. xxii. 5. The common signification also of MyHp is
confirmed
here, by the relation in which it stands to "bird" in
ver.
1, being specially used of the snares of bird-catchers; comp.
Amos
iii. 15, Gesenius, Thes. s. v. While the wicked believe
that
they have the righteous in their snares, and are able with
little
difficulty to destroy them, suddenly a whole load of snares
is
sent down upon them from heaven, and, all flight being cut
off
for them, they are smitten by the destroying judgment of
God.
It is well remarked by Calvin: "He appropriately men-
tions
snares, before he comes to fire and brimstone. For we
know
that the wicked fear nothing so long as they are spared
by
God, but go boldly on, as having a free course. Then, if
anything
of an adverse nature threatens them, they, bethink
themselves
of ways of escape. At last, they mock God, as if
they
could not be caught, until He binds them with His cords"
(more
correctly: catches them in His gins). This explanation
contains,
at the same time, a refutation of the supposed emenda-
tion
of Olshausen, who reads MHAP,, "coals"—an emendation in-
admissible,
indeed, even on the ground that the word, when
used
without any further addition, denotes black coals not yet
kindled,
in contrast to MylHg, "burning coals;" as appears
incon-
testably
from Prov. xxvi. 21. The same consideration also dis-
poses
of the assertion of Gesenius, that MyHp is here singular,
and
of like import with MHp; as also of Boettcher's "etymologi-
cal
explanation" of MyHp, as meaning "something striking with
fearful
violence." We may well dispense with "etymological
explanations"
of words that are of such frequent occurrence.
Hitzig
takes the word, indeed, in its common signification, but
thinks
that the snares must consist of fire and brimstone;---"a
sort
of burning sulphur-threads is meant." It is sufficient to
object
thereto, that Hp signifies not "cord," but
"gin," and to
refer
also to the parallel passages. One is at a loss to compre-
hend
what should have given rise to all these unfortunate attempts
at
exposition, since the, correct meaning is so obvious. The ex-
pression,
"that He will rain," can present no real difficulty, as
182 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
it
simply points to the fulness of God's retributive judgments,
noticed
already by Luther, when he says that by it "the prophet
indicates
the great variety and multitude of the evils threatened."
In
the words, "God will rain fire and brimstone," there is a
verbal
reference to the overthrow of
Gen.
xix. 24. That event must be regarded as a standing monu-
ment
of the punitive righteousness of God, the more impressive,
as
the scene of it lay before the eyes of the covenant-people.
The
Psalmist hopes that the event in question would be repeated,
as
every Divine act, indeed, is a prediction, in the form of fact,
regarding
the future, and, under like circumstances, must again
take
place. A similar verbal allusion is found in Ez. xxxviii. 22,
comp.
Job xviii. 15.
The "fire and brimstone,"
in the opinion of many exposi-
tors
on Genesis, in particular Le Clerc and Michaelis, must be
understood
as a circumlocution for "lightning." A number
of
expositors are inclined also to adopt this explanation here,
but
it has not sprung from an unprejudiced investigation. In
conformity
with the natural constitution of the region of
and
Gomorrha, we must assume a literal raining of brimstone,
which
supplied material for the fire that at the same time
descended.
This is perfectly clear from Job xviii. 15, where
brimstone
occurs without fire, so that we cannot suppose light-
ning
to be referred to. If we take the words here in their na-
tural
sense, we see at once that we must lay too much stress on
the
letter of the descriptions given in the Psalms of the destruc-
tion
of the wicked. Inasmuch as the rain of fire and brimstone
is
something very isolated, it is plain that the Psalmist repre-
sents
that in the future which is essentially of the same nature,
under
the form of what had happened in the past, and that
we
are to concern ourselves only with the essence, and not with
the
form.
The last clause is explained by
recent interpreters: And
a burning wind is the
portion of their cup;
more correctly, their
cup-portion, for the suffix refers
to the compound idea. The
wind
Silaphot is said to be the pestiferous wind, called by the
Arabians
Samum, which blows in July and August, and in-
stantly
kills everything which does not prostrate itself on the
ground.
But the language does not support this exposition.
Of
the two other places where the word occurs, that in Ps.
cxix.
53 does not admit of this exposition. And then the
183 PSALM XI. VER. 7.
image
of the burning wind, which does not blow in
is
generally, and, in particular, as denoting the punishment of
the
ungodly, very seldom used. The only well-grounded expo-
sition
is: strong wrath. The l
is a letter
inserted, not belonging
to
the root: comp. the collection of similar examples in Gous-
set's
Lexicon, and Ewald, p. 520. The root Jfz has, in Hebrew,
the
signification of being angry; no
other, not even that of being
hot, is to be found in the
dialects: the vehemence of the anger
is
denoted by the plural, perhaps also by the strengthening of
the
form. The wrath-wind is the Divine
anger, which resembles
a
wind, breaks forth even as a tempest. The representation of
the
Divine anger under the image of wind and storm, is a very
current
one. Here it is the more suitable, as mention had just
been
made of fire and brimstone. The breath of God's indig-
nation
blows upon the burning coals, Isa. xxx. 33. In the two
other
passages also this exposition is quite suitable: Ps. cxix. 53,
"Anger,
indignation hath taken hold of me, because of the
wicked,
who forsake Thy law." In the paral. ver 139, hxnq, zeal,
is
substituted for hpflz. In Lam. v. 9, the prophet takes the
keenness
of hunger as a poetical description of His fury. Their
cup-portion, that which is proper
for them to drink—a figur-
ative
description of their lot or portion. Upon the form tnAm;,
with
Kanietz, comp. Ewald, Small Gr. §
386. Such repre-
sentations
of the fearful destruction of the wicked, as already
intimated,
are not to be taken literally; but we ought always to
bear
in mind the remark of Luther on this passage: "This verse
contains
the description of a storm against the wicked, who do
not,
however, always perish in an actual tempest, and by a
corporeal
destruction; but it does happen, nevertheless, in
whatever
way, that they perish, not in peace and enjoyment."
This
is the substance of the thing; the form is partly borrowed
from
the earlier judgment upon
partly
adapted to the imaginative character of poetry, so that it
must
not be taken into account. The threatening is also ful-
filled
in him who, though outwardly reposing in the lap of for-
tune,
breathes his last amid pangs of remorse.
Ver. 7. For righteous is the Lord, He loves righteousness, His
countenance beholds the
upright.
The Psalmist concludes from
the
nature of God, that He could not do otherwise than suspend
Over
the ungodly the judgment spoken of in the preceding
verse.
He, the righteous One, loves righteousness, because it
184 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
accords
with His own nature; His eye, therefore, rests with
satisfaction
upon the upright, as the possessor of righteousness;
and
He must support and avenge him by the overthrow of the
wicked.
The verse is to be viewed primarily as laying the
ground
for what is affirmed in ver. 6. But a comparison of
ver.
5 shows that it must be also co-ordinated with that. We
have
already remarked, that in it the Psalmist further unfolds
the
first half of ver. 5, just as in ver. 6 he further unfolds the
second
half. The words, His countenance beholds,
is a mark of
satisfaction.
God hides or veils His face from those with whom
He
is displeased. The plural suffix is to be explained from the
fulness
and richness of the Divine nature. vmy never stands for
the
singular—as is evident from the
circumstance, that where
it
appears to do so, it always refers to collectives, or ideal persons,
who,
in point of fact, comprise a multitude, while it is never
used
in regard to actual individuals. See on the plural desig-
nations
of God, which are unconnected with Elohim, and spring
from
the same root with it (the plural of the suf. in Gen. i. 26,
"In
our image, after our likeness"), my Beiträge,
P. ii. pp.
256-260,
309. Here the plural suf. is probably chosen for the
sake
of having at the close a full, well-sounding form. Others
expound,
"the righteous behold His countenance," equivalent
to,
"they rejoice in His favour;" as the expression is unques-
tionably
used in Ps. xvii. 15,—only we should then have ex-
pected
the plural. The plural vzHy, standing between a singular
and
a plural, cannot, without the greatest violence, be referred to
any
other than the latter. Then by this exposition the obvious
parallelism
between the first and second member is left un-
noticed:
as vmynp vzHy corresponds to bhx, so must rwy stand in a
like
relation to tqdc. Further, everything is represented in
vers.
4-7 as proceeding from God even as to form, and hence
to
His acting the conclusion must especially refer. But be-
sides,
there is not the slightest ground for rejecting the first
exposition.
It is supported by ver. 4, where, likewise, God's
eyes,
that is, God's countenance, are the seeing,
and the children
of
men are the seen. Let it only be
remarked how exactly this,
"His
eyes behold the children of men," corresponds to that,
"His
countenance beholds the upright." A comparison of
the
two parallel passages also speaks against the exposition of
Koester:
"the righteous shall see it with their countenance,"
which
is inferior even to the second. So also does it exclude the
PSALM XII. 185
exposition
of Boettcher: "on that which is right, His counte-
nance
looks." (rwy as neuter, in which Luther also takes it,
though
not in Ps. xxxvii. 37, yet in Ps. cxi. 8, Job xxxiii. 27.)
The
seen must here, as well as there, be persons.
All these ex-
positions
vanish the moment we discern aright the structure of
vers.
4-7,—see introduction. It is then perceived that the words,
"His
eyes behold the children of men," in ver. 4, and those in
ver.
5, "the Lord tries the righteous," have not merely the
significance
of passages accidentally parallel, but are also strictly
a
standard for ascertaining the sense of the passage before us.
Against
the objection of Boettcher, that rwy is never used as an
appellative
for the upright, it is enough simply to refer to Ps.
xxxvii.
37; and against the allegation of De Wette, that the ex-
pression,
"His countenance beholds," never occurs, but that it
is
always, "His eye beholds," Ps. xxxiv. 16 is a sufficient proof,
where
the words, "the eyes of the Lord are upon the right-
eous,"
are followed by "the face of the Lord is against them
that
do evil."
PSALM
XII.
The Psalmist complains of the
corruption of the world, espe-
cially
of its prevailing faithlessness and malice, and entreats the
Lord
to stand by His own, to bring to nought the delusion of
ungodliness
that it is almighty, to which it had been led by con-
fidence
in its own deceptive worth, and, finally, to destroy super-
cilious
iniquity, vers. 1-4. The Lord answers, and promises
him
a sure fulfilment of his prayer, ver. 5. And on this pro-
mise
the Psalmist places an undoubting confidence, vers. 6-8.
The
Psalm may be divided into two strophes of four members,
the
first of which contains the complaint and prayer, and the
second
the answer and hope.
Those who set out with the
supposition that the Psalm pos-
sesses
an individual character, differ from each other in regard
to
the precise period of David's life to which it refers. Some
understand
it of Absalom's revolt, and especially of Ahitophel;
others,
of the persecutions under Saul. The Psalm, however,
is
undoubtedly not individual, but composed from the first by
David
for the necessities of the Church. The Psalmist never
claims
help for himself: he does not say in ver. 7, "Thou shalt
186 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
keep
me," but, "Thou shalt keep them" the righteous. From
ver.
5, also, it is evident that he prays, not specially for himself,
but
for "the poor and needy." For, their oppressed condition,
not
that of any single individual, is there assigned as the reason
for
the Divine interference. Finally, in ver. 8, we have the
contrast
usually found in Psalms possessing a general character,
between
the wicked on the one hand, and the righteous, suffer-
ing
under their oppressions, on the other.
Attempts have been made to refer
this Psalm to the rela-
tions
between
nence
given to flattery and deceit would then be without mean-
ing,
as the heathen nations acted toward the Israelites, not with
cunning,
but with open violence. The heathen adversaries did
not
say, as it is here written in ver. 4, "Through our tongues
we
will prevail," but through our swords.
The allusion to hypo-
crisy
and deceit is precisely the individual
physiognomy of the
Psalm;
and circumstances which it does not suit, must, at the
very
outset, be regarded as excluded. The Psalm can only be
referred
to the internal relations of the people of God them-
selves,
and to the great conflict existing within that community,
between
the righteous and the wicked.
The aim of the Psalm, which Geier
rightly describes as
"the
common complaint of the Church of all times," is to show,
how
the righteous are to behave in the sufferings which come
upon
them through the corruption of the world, manifesting
itself
even in the covenant-people, aid especially through the
prevailing
dishonesty and deception, the artifices of a hypocriti-
cal
and flattering tongue, which appear to prepare for them
certain
destruction. The Church must carry this affliction up
to
God, and with unshaken confidence trust in His help.
On the Sheminith, see on Ps. vi.
Ver. 1. Help, Lord. Luther: "It sounds more impressive,
when
one says, Deliver, or give help, than to say, Deliver me.
As
one says also in our language, under circumstances of great
distress,
or approaching death: 'Help, Thou compassionate
God,'
looking simply to the danger, and crying out with all
one's
might; so does the prophet, as one inflamed with zeal on
account
of the perishing condition of God's people, cry out with-
out
any prefatory words, and implore in the most impressive
manner,
the help of God." For the godly man
ceases, the up-
right fail from among
the children of men.
It might seem as if the
PSALM XII. VER.
1. 187
Psalmist,
in common with the prophets, complains, in a general
way,
that piety, truth, and faith had vanished from the land,
and
the holy land of the Lord had been changed into a dwelling
of
unrighteousness,—as if the very sting of his pain were this
same
degeneracy of the people of God, considered in itself, and
without
respect to the sufferings which were thereby prepared
for
the righteous. In fact, several expositors, as Venema, have
allowed
themselves to be deceived by this appearance. But a
closer
examination shows, that the disappearing of the pious
and
upright is here brought under consideration only in so far
as
the righteous man was thereby placed in circumstances of dif-
ficulty,
and was exposed to the attacks of the reigning impiety.
The
"help," at the very outset, implies that; for that it sub-
stantially
means, "help me, the righteous man," is evident from
the
words, "I will set him in safety, who sighs after it" (ver. 5),
which
form the answer, and assure him of being heard. Then,
the
same thing is decidedly proved by these other words, in that
verse,
"For the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the
needy,
now will I arise, saith the Lord." It is not, then, the
reigning
corruption in itself, but what the righteous have to suffer
therefrom,
that is set forth as the ground for the Divine inter-
ference.
Vers. 7 and 8 also confirm this view, since they express
the
hope, not that God will improve or annihilate the wicked,
purge
His floor, but that He will preserve the righteous from
that
race, and raise them out of the low position to which they
had
been brought by their machinations.—That the expressions,
"The
godly man ceases," "The upright fail," are not to be under-
stood
very literally, that the Psalmist had only for a moment lost
sight
of the small beloved band of pious and faithful men, by rea-
son
of his sorrow at the wide-spread corruption, is manifest from
his
own words afterwards, from the mention he makes in ver. 5
of
"the poor and needy." Still, the truly pious must have been
only
a very small flock; otherwise, the Psalmist could not have
spoken,
as he did, of the whole human race as of a corrupt mass.
Luther:
"That the prophet here speaks in such a manner as to
make
the matter seem greater than it was in reality, arose from
his
intense zeal; for there always are holy persons upon earth.
In
the same style, people still complain from time to time, that
there
is no longer any honesty among men, they act deceitfully in
everything."
The a!pac lego<menon, ssp is best taken with
Jarchi
as
synonymous with the related spx, "to come to an
end," "to
188 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
fail."
This signification agrees quite well with the parallelism
with
rmg.
Nvmx=Nmxn, properly, "the trustworthy." The words,
"the
upright fail," stand related to "the godly man ceases," as
the
particular to the general, or as the consequence, which it is
the
design of the Psalm specially to consider, to the cause.
Were
it perfectly certain that Mynvmx is an adj. or part.
Pual
of
Nmx,
it would of course have to be so taken here. For, not
only
do the paral. words, "the pious or godly," support it; but
also
the passage in Mic. vii. 2, “The pious is perished out of the
earth,
and there is none righteous among men,” where rwy cor-
responds
to Mynvmx;
and the one passage so remarkably coincides
with
the other, that the prophet appears to have had the words
of
the Psalmist before him. However, as Mynvmx often occurs
elsewhere
as the plural of NUmxe fidelity, while for the adj.
mean-
ing
no passage can be adduced (Ps. xxxi. 23, Mynvmx rcn must
be
compared with Mynvmx rmw in Isa. xxvi. 2, and be
rendered
"maintaining
faithfulness"), we are driven to follow the example
of
those who, with the Vulgate, render: "Truth and faith have
disappeared
from among men."
Ver. 2. They speak lies every one with his neighbour, with
smooth lips. Instead of
"lies," Luther has improperly: "Profit-
less
things." In connections such as this, the word "neighbour"
is
not to be taken in the attenuated sense that it commonly bears
with
us. They refer back to the law, in which fr, “companion,
fellow,
friend,” alternates with "brother," and forms, in the
commands
of the second table, the ratio legi adjecta. Here
the
words, "with his neighbour," point to the abominableness
of
the conduct spoken of: those whom they deceive, whom they
try
to cheat through hollow assurances of friendship, are not
strangers,
but such as God has joined to them by close bonds.
When
Paul, in the exhortation, Eph. iv. 25, based on this pas-
sage,
"Wherefore, putting away lying, speak every man truth
with
his neighbour, for we are members one with another," makes
the
o!ti e]sme>n a]llh<lwn me<lh follow upon the meta>
tou? plhsi<on
au]tou?, he only gives a development of the same
idea, but intro-
duces
no new matter. tvqlH tpw, is most easily explained as
the
accus., just as xrqx ylvq in Ps. iii. 4, as to, or with lips of
smoothness:
comp. with this kind of accus., Ewald, Small Gr.
§
512. The exposition: They speak lips of smoothness—lips,
for
that which is spoken by the lips, words, is opposed by ver. 3,
as
well as by the parallel: with a double heart. A lip of smooth-
PSALM XII. VER. 3. 189
ness is a flattering lip;
comp. in Ps. v. 9, "They make their
tongue
smooth"—on which Luther: "Soft, cozening, and
hypocritical,"
Prov. vi. 24. Here he substitutes, "They act
the
hypocrite," for "They flatter." tvqlH is the plural of hqlH,
smoothness.—
With a double heart do they speak. It
is usually
expounded:
They speak otherwise than they think. But how
this
sense can be derived from the words without some addition,
it
is not easy to perceive. The attempts also of Venema to make
a
distinction: "With a double mind, the one which they express,
and
another which they conceal, the former bland and open
the
other impious and malignant;" and Umbreit: "That is,
that
they have one for themselves, and another for their friends,"
are
not without difficulties. The words, simply considered, im-
ply
a duplicity in the mind itself, just as the a]nh>r
di<yuxoj,
in
Jas.
i. 8, is not one who is internally unbelieving, feigns faith,
but
one who is at the same time both believing and unbelieving—
has
faith in the surface of his heart, but in its depths, unbelief.
Experience
shows, that hypocrisy and flattery very rarely mani-
fest
themselves in a coarse outward shape; this would defeat their
object.
The hypocrite and flatterer is so dangerous, precisely
because
he calls forth momentarily in himself, such feelings as
appear
to him fitted for accomplishing his aim. He not merely
feigns love, but he prepares it. Yet, while this prepared
love is
on
the surface, the natural hatred still keeps possession of the
underground
of his heart. In the paral. passage also of 1 Chron.
xii.
33, the words blv bl xlb mark an internal
duplicity of heart.
Michaelis:
"Not with a wavering and discordant, but with a
firm
and concordant mind." The diversity is indicated by re-
peating
the word; so Deut. xxv. 13, Nbxv Nbx, stone and stone, a
double
stone, diverse weights, comp. ver. 14. Ewald, p. 637.
Ver. 3. After the complaint, the
Psalmist here follows with
the
prayer. The Futures must be taken optatively,
as was al-
ready
done by the LXX. The Lord cut of all
flattering lips, the
tongue that speaks big—the boastful tongue.
Expositors find here
a
difficulty, through which they have partly been drawn into
very
forced and false interpretations. Supercilious speeches
—say
they—proud words against the poor and oppressed, do
not
square with the design of entrapping by "smooth words."
But
if we compare the following verse, we plainly see, that the
proud,
speeches are not to be thought of as directed against the
poor;
that they rather boast of their fancied almightiness, which
190 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
they
possess by means of their artifices, their skill in lying,
hypocrisy,
and flattery; so that the meaning is: The tongue,
which
boasts of its power to deceive. They are the same persons
who
in Isa. xxviii. 15 say, "We have made lies our refuge, and
under
falsehood have we hid ourselves." That the rooting out
of
the lips and the tongue must be accomplished by extirpating
their
possessors, is shown in the following verse.
Ver. 4. Who thus speak—to be supplied from the preceding
verse:
The Lord cut off: through our tongues we
are strong,—
all
we wish, we can accomplish through our tongue. According
to
some, this exposition is unsuitable, for a twofold reason-
vnnwll cannot signify "through our
tongue;" and the verb has
not
in Hiph. an intransitive signification; it rather means cor-
roboravit.
We must hence translate: Our tongues will we
endow
with strength; we will so arm them with lies and calum-
nies,
that no one will be in a condition to resist us. Still, how-
ever,
the reasons against the first exposition are not decisive
vnnwll only needs to be rendered, "in respect to our tongue;"
and
rybgh
may warrantably be taken in the sense of "acting
vigorously,"
the more readily, as the assertion, that it can only
mean
"to strengthen," rests merely upon the single passage of
Dan.
ix. 27, where it is connected, not as here with l but with
the
accusative. This exposition also is favoured by the connec-
tion
and the parallelism. Not the purpose: "we will get
strength
for our tongues," but only the declaration: "through
our
tongues we show ourselves to be strong," suits the words,
"the
tongue which speaks big," and especially "our lips are
with us, who is Lord
over us?"
the second member of the verse.
On
the expression with us, J. H.
Michaelis: nobis auxilio et
praesto
sent; and on the expression, "who is Lord over us?"
qui impecliat, quod nobis placet et decretum fuit. Our lips im-
part
to us such a power, that we can do what we will—by means
of
our lips we are omnipotent.
Ver. 5. The Lord answers the
complaint and prayer of the
righteous,
and promises to repress the violence. Because
of the
desolation of the poor,
because of the sighing of the needy, now
will I arise, saith the
Lord. Nm is the Nm causae, marking the
motion
from out of a thing. The misery of the poor is that
from
which the Divine action proceeds as from its immediate
cause;
comp. Ewald, p. 601. htf is used with peculiar empha-
sis.
Till now, says the Lord, I have rested; but now I must
PSALM XII.
VER. 6. 191
act.
At the foundation of this lies the consolatory truth, that
so
soon as the malice of the wicked, and the wretchedness of
the
poor, has reached a certain point, God must interpose.
The
last member is literally: place will I in
safety him who
sighs after it. The constr. of tyw with b is to be explained in
this
way, that safety is here considered as a possession, in which
God
instals the righteous. Till now he had been in distress,
now
God sets him in safety. Rightly already Calvin: "To
the
unjustly oppressed God promises a restitutio in integrum."
The
words contain the answer to the “help,” at the commence-
ment.
The suff. in vl refers to the deliverance. The pron.
relat.
is awanting from the originally looser connection, which
latterly
is also very common in poetry; comp. Ewald, p. 646.
Hvp signifies in Hiph. to pant, to long earnestly for something;
the
object after which one does sigh, is connected with it by l,
as
in Hab. ii. 3, Cql Hpy anhelat ad finem oraculum, in paral-
lelism
with: there is no delay. In a similar way is Jxw used,
prop.
anhelare, not unfrequently of vehement longings and
sighings.
Therefore: I shall conduct him to a state of safety,
who
longs for it, viz. safety. According to this exposition, the
second
member is quite parallel to the first. On account of the
sighing
of the needy will I now arise. Others expound: I set
him
in safety against whom they, or the impious, snort. But
this
exposition is to be rejected on the simple ground, that the
verb
Hvp
in Hiph. is never used in the sense of puffing.
And
besides,
the puffing is here not at all suitable. The wicked in
the
Psalm are not scornful tyrants, but sleek hypocrites and
flatterers.
The exposition of Gesell. in his Thes.: quem suf-
flant,
contemnunt, is also to be rejected. We already showed
on
Ps. x. 4, that blowing is never used as a gesture of con-
tempt.
Others again, as Calvin and Dereser, expound: I set
in
security him, who is blown upon, whom the ungodly thinks
to
blow away like chaff. But we should then have expected
not
vl,
but rather, as in Ps. x. 4, vb. Contrary to usage also
is
the
exposition of Schultens, which takes Hyph in the sense of
breathing upon: it (the deliverance),
or he must breath on him-
self,
i.e. recover strength. The word, however, never occurs in
this
signification; and by that exposition, tywx would lose its
object,
which cannot fail.
Ver. 6. The righteous places firm
confidence in this promise
of
the Lord. For: the words of the Lord ("the words of
the
192 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
Lord"
here refer to "thus saith the Lord," in ver. 5) are pure
words; they are throughout
true, have no mixture of false in
them;
they are not like impure ore, from which dross and earth
must
first be removed, but they are purified
silver of a lord of
the earth, purified
seven times.
The b in
lylfb
we take, with
Aben
Ezra and Kimchi, as radical, and lylfb as synonymous
with
lfb dominus,
with a reduplication of the last radical letter,
as
is done in ryrgs, lylkH, ryrpw, FyFbf; comp. Ewald, Small Gr.
§
332. Crxl
is a periphrasis of the stat, constr., placed thus
not
without reason, as the Psalmist wished to say "of a lord,"
while
Crxh ‘b would have implied
"of the lord of the earth;"
comp.
Ewald, p. 582. It is remarked by Gesenius in his Thes.,
p.
730, that "l stands occasionally after nouns, which signify
lord,
king, god, and, on the other hand, servant, minister, espe-
cially
when the noun is used quite indefinitely," as the l
after
Nvdx Gen. xlv. 8, 9, and after j`lm, Isa. xxxvii. 13, and vnl
Nvdx in
the
present Psalm. Kings and judges of the earth not unfre-
quently
occur in the Psalms; comp. Ps. ii. 1, 9, cxxxviii. 4;
cxlviii.
11. The meaning, according to this sense, is well given
by
Vatable: "The word of the Lord is like the purest silver,
which
is diligently and with the greatest care purged from all
dross,
not for common use, but for the use of an earthly prince."
The
striking parallel is not to be overlooked, which arises out
of
this explanation: the word of the Lord of the whole world
is
pure as the silver of a prince of the earth; it is related to an
ordinary
word as this silver is to common silver. A great mass
of
wrong expositions have been occasioned by the belief, that
b was to be taken as a servile. Of these
expositions we shall
examine
only those which are now the most current. Rosenm.,
Gesen.,
Winer, and Hitzig expound: "Silver purified in the
workshop,
in respect to earth, or earthy ingredients." This
exposition
is objectionable on two grounds. The meaning
ascribed
to lylf,
workshop, is a pure invention. The
idea of
working does lie in the root llf, as the derivative hlylf
and
others
show, but still lylf cannot, from its form, signify a work-
shop.
The form lyFq
is that of adjectives, partly with a pas-
sive,
partly with an intransitive signification; comp. Ewald, p.
234;
and that we must attribute this signification also lylf,
is
clear from the frequently occurring fem. hlylf, "that which
is
worked, done," then, "the work, the deed." This first
ground
may be urged also against another exposition (that of
PSALM XII. VER. 6 193
Luther,
recently Maurer), according to which lylf, without any
apparent
justification from Hebrew usage—merely upon the
authority
of Rabbins, guessing from the context, or on the
basis
of an etymological combination (Hupfeld)—is taken in
the
sense of crucible. But the second
reason is still more de-
cisive.
Crxl
cannot possibly signify "in reference to earthy
elements,"
for Crx
never denotes the earth as matter.
For this
the
Hebrews have a special word, hmdx; for example, "man
is
of
the earth," taken ex humo, could not be expressed by Crxh
Nm,
but
only by hmdxh Nm. This difficulty Umbreit escapes by ren-
dering:
"in the workshop upon earth." But he still has the
first
standing against him. He succeeds better, however, with
Crxl than the defenders of the exposition, "in
a crucible," who
render
the words: "upon the earth, into which the crucible is
built,"—for
that were quite useless and confusing—or even:
“of
earth, earthy” (Luther). The same may be said against
this
last, as well as that it is contrary to usage. Others, as
Michaelis
and Dereser, expound: "as silver purified in a work-
shop
of earth,—as solid silver, which has been found in the
mountains,
the workshop of earth." But against this is to be
advanced,
not only the inadmissibility of the explanation of lylf
by
workshop, but also, that then the two nouns ought to have
been
connected by the stat. constr., and not by l. For the
workshop
of earth would in that case have been defined by its
contrast
with a human workshop. Besides, one
does not see
how
solid silver, which has never been purified, can be called
Jvrc.
The comparison of the word of God
with purified metal is
peculiar
to David, and occurs again in Ps. xviii. 30. Calvin:
"Though
such knowledge may appear, at first sight, easy of
attainment,
yet if any one will consider, more attentively, how
prone
the minds of men are to distrust and impious doubts, he
will
readily understand how profitable it is to have our faith
strengthened
by the testimony, that God is not fallacious, and
does
not beguile us with empty words, nor unduly laud His own
power
and goodness, but that He simply offers in His word,
what,
in reality, He is willing to bestow. There is no one, in-
deed,
who does not profess heartily to believe what David here
says,
that the words of God are pure; but those who, in ease
and
retirement, extol the word of God loudly, when matters
come
to serious conflict, though they dare not openly spout out
194 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
blasphemies
against God, yet often charge Him with bad faith.
For
whenever He delays to help us; we consider His fidelity at
fault,
and forthwith begin to cry out, as if we had been de-
frauded."
Luther remarks: "It is not necessary, by God's
words,
to understand only such as are taken from Scripture into
the
mouth; but also what God speaks through men, whatsoever
it
may be, and whether the speaker be learned or unlearned;
also
what He spake through His apostles, apart from the use of
Scripture,
and what He still speaks from day to day, through His.
own
people." In general this is quite correct. The praise of
God's
word is here, indeed, immediately occasioned by an in-
ward
oracle, which the righteous received, and which was de-
signed
to serve the purpose of leading him to grasp with firm
faith
the substance thereof, which should be again repeated for
every
one that reads the Psalm. We must, therefore, com-
prehend
under the words of God those also of which Paul
Gerhard
sings: "His Spirit often speaks to my spirit in sweet
consoling
strains," etc. It is not, however, to be forgotten,
that
these internal speeches, now that Scripture exists, always
rest
upon its foundation, as here the word of the Lord, in ver. 5,
is
only a special application of the promises of the law to the
righteous.
Ver. 7. Thou, 0 Lord, shalt keep them,—Thy people suffer-
ing
wrongfully.—Luther, incorrectly: "Be pleased to keep
them."
The context demands the expression of firm hope, not
of
a'wish.— Thou shalt preserve him against
this generation for
ever. The singular suffix in
the second clause is to be explained
as
a personification. In order to mark the contrast more point-
edly
between the pious and the ungodly, and to indicate that
it
is not one between certain individuals and certain others,
"the
pious man" is often set in opposition to "the ungodly
man,"
the righteous to the wicked; the former as the object of
Divine
care, the latter as the object of Divine punishment.
The
vz rvdh Nm is not, "from this sort of men," but "from
this
generation."
Calvin: "We collect from this, that the age was
so
corrupt, that David could, by way of reproach, throw them
all
together, as it were, into one bundle." This exposition has
the
common usage on its side, and perfectly agrees with the
general
spread of corruption, described in ver. I. It affords a
far
grander contrast than the other:—on the one side, the
small
band of pious men, and, on the other, the immense mass
PSALM XII. VER. 8. 195
of
the ungodly, who form, as it were, the whole present gene-
ration,
the bearers of the spirit of the age. This is a contrast
which
arises out of the character of human nature, and has
given
rise to the prevailing use in the New Testament of ko<s-
moj, in opposition to the chosen. The signification
of ko<smoj,
Koester
would here attribute to Mlvf. He renders: "Thou wilt
keep
them from the generation which lives to the world." But
the
word never has that signification; it
never means the
world,
but always eternity; and Mlvfl is always used adverbi-
ally,
for ever.
Ver. 8. The wicked walk round about,—they have encom-
passed
the righteous on all hands, so that, without God's help,
deliverance
is impossible; comp. Ps. iii. 6. As
elevation is de-
pression to the sons of
men;
i.e. although now the righteous are
overborne
by the wicked, yet their distress is to be regarded in
the
light of prosperity, because God forsakes not His own,
but
will richly recompense them for the sufferings they have
endured.
The sense requires that a but should
be inserted
before
the second member. Mr, "elevation," is inf. nomin-
ascens.
The meaning of tvlz, which occurs only here, cannot
be
doubtful. llz has
the same, and only one, meaning in
all
the Semitic dialects. In the Chal., according to Buxtorf,
it signifies, vilescere, vilipendi, despici, ut Hebr. hlq et llq
quibus quandoque respondet. In Arabic, abjectus, vilis,
despectus
fuit. In Hebr. lleOz, "the little-worth," stands
op-
posed
in Jer. xv. 19 to rqy, "the precious the same word
denotes,
in Deut. xxi. 28, etc., a man of manners. The
Niph.
of the verb occurs in Isa. lxiv. 2, in the sense of "to be
lowered,
despised." So that tvlz can signify nothing else than
"humiliation,
contempt," just as the Chald. xtvlz, vilitas, de-
spectus.
This signification, as it is the only one philologically
grounded,
so it is specially recommended by the contrast with
Mr, which is perfectly obvious, and which all
other expositions
leave
unnoticed. The sense of terror, which
Gesenius and
Hitzig
give to the word, is unproved and unsuitable. Still
more
so is that of storm, which Maurer
adopts. The greater
part
of expositors follow Kimchi in their explanation of this
hemistich,
who thinks that Mrk is put for Mmrk; it is then ren-
dered:
"as they exalt themselves, it is a reproach to the chil-
dren
of men." But this exposition cannot be at all grammati-
196 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
cally
justified, since for such an omission of the suffix, no
analogous
example can anywhere be produced. In addition to
this,
the repetition of the complaint, of the power of the un-
godly,
without any mention being made of hope in the Lord's
assistance,
to which the righteous looks for consolation, would
here
be unsuitable: the conclusion would be quite an unsatis-
factory
one, such as one should be compelled to wish away.
The
same reason decides also against the exposition of J. H.
Michaelis
and Umbreit: "When disgrace exalts itself among
men;"
and against that also of Ewald, which is of like import:
"So
soon as baseness exalts itself;" and it is further to be ob-
jected
to the latter, that tvlz cannot signify baseness, and that
Mvr does not mean "to exalt itself, or to
rise," but "to be high,"
—which
latter difficulty is avoided by Luther, though he fol-
lows
the same exposition, by rendering: "Where
such wicked
people
reign among men." According to our exposition, the
conclusion
of the Psalm gathers up, in a short enigmatic say-
ing,
the substance of the whole of it. The depth to which the
righteous
have sunk, through the hostilities of the wicked, is
equivalent
to an elevation. For, as sure as there is a God in
heaven,
their suffering is a prediction of their joy, their con-
tempt
of their honour. So that they may quietly look on at
all
the machinations of malice.
PSALM XIII.
The Psalmist complains of his great
distress upon earth, and
that
in heaven he seemed to be forgotten, vers. 1 and 2. He
prays
the Lord for help, vers. 3, 4, and is revived by the assur-
ance
he obtains of it, vers. 5, 6.
The Psalm contains no indication,
from which the time of
its
composition might be more exactly determined. We are
therefore
here also justified in supposing, that the Psalm was
not,
at a later period, first devoted to general use, but that David
originally
composed it with this design. Already did Luther
understand
it of every pious man, who was persecuted as David
was.
The general character of this Psalm, as well as of many
others,
is falsely viewed by Jarchi, Kimchi, and De Wette, who
refer
it exclusively to the relation of the Israelitish people to
the
heathen. Of national enemies, too, there is no trace what-
PSALM XIII. VER.
1. 197
ever
to be found here. As throughout the Psalm a single
individual
comes into view, it cannot be doubted that he is
described
from the soul of suffering individuals, oppressed by
personal
enemies, unless it could be proved on definite grounds,
that
the people are here personified as an individual. Such
grounds,
however, have no existence.
The situation is that of one who,
through lengthened perse-
cutions
and continued withholding of Divine help, has been
brought
to the verge of despair, and is plunged in deadly sor-
row.
This particular feature of the Psalm may be recognised
in
the four times repeated question, how
long? States of mind
such
as those here described, must often have crept upon David
in
the later periods of the Sauline persecution, and with the
consolation
which he experienced under them he here comfort's
his
brethren.
Ver. 1. How long, 0 Lord, wilt Thou continually forget me?
How long hidest Thou Thy
face from me?
The Hcn,
according
to
the most obvious exposition, marks the uninterruptedness, and
consequently
the entireness, of the forgetting. The Psalmist's
darkness
was illuminated by no ray of Divine favour; his
misery
had no lucid intervals. This exposition is confirmed by
the
corresponding Mmvy, "the whole day," in ver. 2. It may
be
doubted,
however, whether the Hcn and the Hcnl which occurs in
parallel
passages (Ps. lxxix. 5, "How long, 0 Lord, wilt Thou
be
angry" Hcnl? and again in Ps. lxxiv. 10, lxxxix. 46), can
signify
continually, in the sense of
constant, uninterrupted, as
it
rather appears to mean only, for ever—comp.
especially ix.
18
"For the needy shall not alway be forgotten, the expec-
tation
of the meek shall not perish for ever;" where Hcnl is
parallel
to dfl,
and obviously only a final forgetting is spoken
of.
It is the more natural to think of this here, as the sufferer,
according
to ver. 3, "Lighten mine eyes, that I sleep not unto
death,"
believes himself to have already reached the last stage,
and
prays God that He would still rescue him before the gate
is
closed. Now, if we attach decisive importance to these
doubts
with regard to the exposition in question, we must
render
the clause: "How long wilt Thou
forget me for ever?"
The
weak man, who is always inclined to estimate the grace of
God
according to his own feeling and experience, is prone, in
every
suffering, to give himself to despair concerning it, to re-
gard
himself as wholly and irrecoverably lost. But when a
198 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
hard
and continuous cross has been appointed, as is the case
here,
the flesh cries out even to the strongest man, that he is
for
ever forgotten. On the other hand, however, the Spirit
raises
its protest; faith lays hold of the declaration, that the
poor
shall not alway be forgotten. This conflict in the feelings
of
the sufferer discovers itself also in his address to God; for
he
prays God at length to restore to him the favour which
appearances
teach, and the flesh affirms, had completely gone.
The
sense is quite correctly given by Muis: "Thou showest
Thyself
to me such as if Thou hadst entirely forgotten me."
Calvin:
"Not in a human way, or by natural
feelings, do we
recognise
in our misery that God cares for us, but by faith we
apprehend
His invisible providence. So David, as far as he
could
gather from the actual state of things, seemed to himself
to
be deserted by God. Still, however, with eyes previously
enlightened
by the light of faith, he saw the grace of God,
though
hidden; else, how could he have directed his groans and
desires
to Him?" Luther: "Does he not
thus paint this most
pungent
and bitter anxiety of mind in the most graphic words,
as
one that feels he has to do with a God alienated from him,
—hostile,
unappeasable, inexorable, and for ever angry? For
here
hope itself despairs, and despair, notwithstanding, hopes;
and
there only lives the unutterable groaning with which the
Holy
Spirit intercedes for us, Rom. viii. 26; who moved upon
the
darkness which covered the waters, as is said at the begin-
ning
of Genesis. This no one understands who has not tasted
it."
Luther also perceived what emphasis lies in the repetition
of
the "how long," with which the sufferer introduces his "four
bitter
and violent complaints." "In Hebrew the expression,
"how
long," is four times repeated without alteration; instead
of
which, however, the Latin translator has substituted another
word
at the third repetition, for the sake of variety. But we
would
rather preserve the simplicity of the Hebrew dialect, be-
cause,
by the fourfold use of the same word, it seeks,to express
the
emotion of the prophet; and its impressiveness is weakened
by
the change adopted by the Latin interpreter." The Psalm
is
prepared for those who have been sighing under long distress,
and
in the one expression, "how long," its whole nature is, in
a
manner, expressed.
Ver. 2. How long must I take counsel in my soul, sorrow in
my heart daily? The expression, "put or lay counsels," has
PSALM XIII. VER. 2. 199
something
strange in it. The simplest mode of explaining it is
by
taking the word lay as equivalent to lay down, as in Ex. x.
1,
"That I may lay (put down) these My signs in thy midst."
The
soul and heart appear as a store-room, which is entirely
filled
with counsels and sorrows. The sense of the words,
"How
long must I take counsels?" is: How long wilt Thou
leave
me to myself —how long must I weary myself in finding
a
way of escape from this misery and distress, from which Thou
couldst
so easily deliver me? We have here very strikingly
portrayed
the mental condition of a man who harasses himself
in
helpless embarrassment, seeking for counsel, falling some-
times
upon this, sometimes upon that plan, and then giving
them
all up again in utter despondency, because he sees them
to
be all unavailing. This disquiet, which arises in us whenever
the
Lord turns away His face from us in trouble, the sufferer
considers
as his greatest evil. Luther: "When the unhappy
man
finds that God feels toward him in the manner described,
he
does as follows:—That is, his heart is as a raging sea, in
which
all sorts of counsels move up and down; he tries on all
hands
to find a hole through which he can make his escape;
he
thinks of various plans, and still is utterly at a loss what to
advise."
What is implied in taking or forming counsels, David
knew
well in his, own experience, especially during the perse-
cution
of Saul, when hunted by his enemies "like a partridge
upon
the mountains:" he sought refuge, sometimes upon the
hill-tops,
sometimes among the Moabites, sometimes among
the
Philistines; and amid all the projects which he formed for
his
deliverance, the mournful reflection still forced itself upon
him,
"I shall notwithstanding perish one day by the hand of
Saul."
The sufferer was pained, not merely because of his out-
ward
trouble, but still more because God seemed to have turned
away
His face from him, denying him His favour and assist-
ance.
This was the real sting of his pain, the throbbing pulse
of
his misery. Many render Mmvy improperly: "the whole day,"
giving
it the force of hlylv Mmvy. The day, in its more
extended
signification,
comprehends also the night. The word here
means,
not merely "by day," but also "daily;" comp. Ezek.
xxx.
16. "Just as diu in Latin is connected with dies;" Ewald.
Against
the former view may be urged, that Mmvy and hlyl are
constantly
opposed: and against the latter view, that a combina-
tion
of such different meanings should only be assumed in an
200 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
extreme
case. Mmvy
rather means "the day through;" here, and
in
Ezek. xxx. 16, it is equivalent to "from morning to evening."
Night,
as the time of sleep, is left out of view.
How long shall
mine enemy exalt himself
over me?
Ver. 3. The prayer stands in
immediate connection with the
complaint.
Luther: "He here sets something
over against
each
of the preceding points. He had complained of four evil
things,
therefore he begs for four sorts of good." To the for-
getting and the hiding of the countenance stand opposed
the
looking and hearing; to the counsels and sorrow, the
lightening
of
the eyes; and to the words: "How long shall mine enemy
exalt
himself over me?" reference is made in ver. 4. The
Psalmist,
however, has avoided all monotony: in the three first
petitions,
the reference is only in the matter, and never ver-
bally
expressed; and in the fourth, even the form of a petition
is
abandoned. Look hither. This is
opposed to the hiding of
the
face, of which the Psalmist complains in the first verse.
"So
long (remarks Calvin) as God does not actually stretch out
His
hand to help us, the flesh cries out that His eyes are shut."
Hear me, 0 Lord my God,
enlighten mine eyes.
These words
are
explained by Luther thus: "As soon as the face of God is
turned
away from us, presently follows consternation, distrac-
tion,
darkness in the understanding and uncertainty of counsel,
so
that we grope as it were in the dark, and seek everywhere
how
we may find an escape. Therefore, when the Lord lifts
upon
us the light of His countenance, and turns His face
toward
us, listening to our cry, then are our eyes again enlight-
ened,
and we have no difficulty in obtaining counsel." But,
that
this exposition is not right—that the enlightening of the
eyes
here is not to be understood spiritually,
but literally, with a
special
reference to the words, "the sorrow in my heart," in ver.
2,
is evident from the following words: So
that I sleep not unto
death. In the man who is
oppressed with sorrow, the feeble
and
dying, the eyes, which reflect the power of life, become
dim;
hence to "enlighten the eyes" is as much as to give the
vital
spark, as Calvin justly remarks. The passage 1 Sam. xiv.
throws
light on this. The eyes of Jonathan, who was faint
almost
to death, were covered with darkness; but after he had
tasted
the honey-comb, his eyes see, according to ver. 27 (where
the
Ketib alone is right), and are enlightened, vrvx, according to
ver.
29. In Ezra ix. 8, the words, "enlighten our eyes," stand
PSALM XIII. VERS.
4-6. 201
in
connection with "give us a reviving." The Psalmist here,
then,
represents himself as a dying man, as one already half gone,
who
will soon be wholly overwhelmed with the darkness of death,
if
the Lord do not give him new power of life, set him free from
consuming
grief and sorrow, by granting him deliverance, and
so
prevent his threatening dissolution. Ewald exclaims: "Pity
that
we could not more exactly determine the historical circum-
stances."
But with this, after the remarks made in the intro-
duction,
we cannot sympathize. The feeling here expressed is
not
so very singular a one, as to need explanation from the facts
of
history. How many souls, driven to the verge of death, have
found
in this verse the record of their own experience!—Nay,
who
that has been exercised in the cross, has not already passed
through
such experience? It is also against all experience to
maintain,
that the man who feels thus, looks to this earthly life
as
the final limit of his existence.—To
sleep to death—a bold
poetical
connection for: To sleep the sleep of death; comp.
Jer.
li. 39, 57, where sleeping an eternal sleep occur; Ewald,
p.
591.
Ver. 4. Lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him.
vytlky from lky, potuit, stands,
according to many, for vl ytlky;
but
this is wrong, if the suff. accus. be understood to designate
precisely
the dative. The construction with the accus., instead
of
the common one with l, is rather to be explained from a
modification
of the meaning of the verb, "to overpower any
one."—Mine adversaries rejoice not when I fail.
The sufferer
says,
that it were unworthy of God to give His servant as an
occasion
of mirth to the ungodly, who were just watching for
this
fall, to rail at it. He proceeds, therefore, on the principle,
that
it is God's peculiar business to check the impudence of
sinners,
as often as they boast of having conquered His people,
and
through them Himself.
Vers. 5, 6. The Lord imparts to the
Psalmist, and through
him
to all who are in a similar situation; or, rather, He imparts
to
the righteous sufferer, the assurance of His favour and assist-
ance.—And I trust in Thy goodness, my heart
rejoices in Thy
salvation. I will sing
to the Lord, for He has dealt bountifully
with
as
even the form, which is the Fut. apocop. for the optative
(comp.
Ewald, p. 527), and its suitability to the following, "I
will
sing," suggest. The Psalmist declares his wish and resolu-
202 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
tion,
that his heart might give thanks to God for his salvation,
which,
as already inwardly promised to him, he sees with the
eye
of faith as actually present. In this wish is involved, at the
same
time, the certainty and greatness of the salvation. The ex-
ultation
of the righteous man's heart stands opposed to that of the
enemies,
ver. 4. The object of the emotion of joy is marked by n.
The
Pret. lmg
is to be explained from the faith, which sees what is
not
as if it were. Luther, whom most expositors follow, renders:
"That
He deals so well with me;" and this exposition is right, and
decidedly
to be preferred to the other: "That He recompenses
me."
Comp. upon lmg with lf, "to make
presents," on Ps. vii. 4.
PSALM XIV.
The Psalmist begins with a
lamentation regarding the fright-
ful
power and extent of corruption reigning in the world, vers.
1-3.
But the righteous, who have much to suffer from sin,
must
not therefore despair. As sure as there is a God in heaven,
they
shall bring upon themselves destruction. From the watch-
tower
of faith, the Psalmist beholds with triumphant joy the
overthrow
of impiety, and the establishment of righteousness,
vers.
4-6. He closes with the wish, that the Lord would fulfil
His
purpose, and send salvation and deliverance to His people,
and
thereby give occasion to grateful joy, ver. 7.
In the first part, the complaint
relates to the corruption of
the
world by itself, without respect to the sufferings which
thence
arise to the "generation of the righteous." But that
the
complaint is really closely related also to these sufferings,—
that
the Psalmist delineates the corruption of the world with
respect
to the difficult and apparently hopeless position into
which
the righteous are thereby brought, is evident from the
second
part, which is occupied throughout, not, after the man-
ner
of the prophets, with the judgments coming upon the
wicked
world in themselves, but only in so far as they affect
the
salvation of the righteous, and rescue them from the clutches
of
the wicked. Hence the aim of the Psalm is quite similar
to
that of Ps. xii.; it is designed to administer consolation to
the
righteous, when tempted by the sight of the corruption of
the
world, and the ascendancy of wickedness, which appears to
threaten
their entire destruction. Should even the whole world
PSALM XIV. 203
be
given up to corruption, and be in league against them, they
may
still comfort themselves with the thought, that God over-
comes
the world. Along with this, however, the Psalm con-
tains
a forcible warning to the ungodly. And that this is not
to
be excluded, is evident alone from the superscription of the
corresponding
53d Psalm.
The absence of all special allusions
renders it certain, that
this
Psalm also, like the many nearly related ones immediately
preceding,
was from the first destined by David for the general
use
of the Church. As regards those who call forth the com-
plaint
of the Psalm, and against whom the Lord is entreated,
the
reference of the Psalm is just as wide as the designation,
"children
of men," can make it. Whether the corrupt children
of
men belonged outwardly to the people of God, or not, makes
no
difference. The former were not proper members of His
Church.
In the Pentateuch, the standing formula in respect to
evil-doers
is, "their soul is cut off from among their people,"—
it
is ipso facto separated, belongs no longer to the people of God,
although
the theocratic government might lack power and will
to
accomplish externally, also, the separation, as was constantly
—for
example, in Deut. xiii. 5—enjoined in the words, "So
shalt
thou put the evil away from the midst of thee." From
this
it is clear enough how the contrast between ymf and vmf, in
vers.
4, 7, and the children of men, is to be understood. The
contrast
is that between a righteous generation and a corrupt
world,
such as has existed in all ages, and will continue even to
the
end of the present constitution of things. De Wette and
others
would refer the Psalm exclusively to the relation of
to
its heathenish oppressors. That the first part is unfavourable
to
this hypothesis, De Wette himself is forced to admit. Vers.
1-3,
he remarks, "has quite the appearance of a general moral
delineation."
Of a special reference to the heathen, there does
not
exist the smallest trace. It is not heathenish, but human
corruption,
that is described. This is confirmed also by the re-
ference
which the description bears to Gen. vi. 12, "And God
looked
upon the earth, and behold it was corrupt; for all flesh
had
corrupted its way upon the earth;" comp. ver. 5, "And the
Lord
saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth."
This
passage refers not to the heathen, but to mankind gene-
rally.
How little the prophets and sacred bards were disposed
to
limit corruption merely to the heathen, and exempt
204 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
from
it, might be shown by a great multitude of passages; but
we
shall produce only one, in which what is here said of the
whole
world is just as expressly said of
ye
to and fro through the streets of
broad
places thereof, if ye can find one, if there be one that
executeth
judgment and striveth after integrity, and I will par-
don
it." That the view in question is not favoured by ver. 4,
"Who
eat up My people like bread," even De Wette is obliged
to
admit. He says, "The oppressors spoken of in ver. 4 might
well
be sought among the Israelites." That this not merely could
be
done, but that the native oppressors must
not be excluded,
appears
from the following passage in Micah, which refers ex-
clusively
to the internal relations, iii. 2, 3, "Who also eat the
flesh
of My people," etc., which is obviously based on the verse
in
question, and does not comment upon, and carry out into
detail,
what is here only generally indicated. Comp. also the
passage
in Prov. xxx. 14, which likewise refers to domestic
enemies,
"There is a generation, whose teeth are as swords,
and
their jaw-teeth as knives, to devour the poor from off the
earth,
and the needy from among men." De Wette rests his
view
entirely upon ver. 7, conceiving that the wish there ex-
pressed
for a return from captivity, points to oppression of a
political
nature, and most naturally to the circumstances of the
exiles
under the Chaldeans. But our exposition will prove,
that
the verse contains not a word of a return from captivity,
but
only expresses a general wish, that God would have com-
passion
on the misery of His people, whether inflicted by inter-
nal
or by foreign wickedness.
Other expositors, as Stier, have
been led, by opposition to
the
view just noticed, to assert, that the Psalm refers merely
to
the domestic conflict between the righteous and the wicked,
that
human corruption is described in vers. 1-3, only in re-
ference
to its manifestations in
ate
up the people as bread, are to be sought only in
that
it is only the wicked in
struction,
and from whom the righteous are to have deliverance.
But
this view is just as arbitrary as the other: the contrast
throughout
is that of the corrupt world and the righteous genera-
tion;
and as this contrast manifested itself in what "the chosen"
among
ceive
with what justice this relation should be excluded.
PSALM XIV. 205
The fatal alternative of a domestic
conflict, or a reference
to
external, heathen oppressors, should at last be abandoned; we
must
cease to assume that our choice lies necessarily between
either
the one or the other. The men of God, elevated by His
Spirit
above a merely national point of view, contemplated
heathenish
and Israelitish wickedness as one whole, without
suffering
themselves to be deceived by the difference of costume.
So
also everywhere Moses, to whose command, "Thou shalt
not
have diverse weights in thy bag," this here corresponds.
Comp.,
for example, Deut. xxxii.
From the preceding remarks, it is
manifest that, with per-
fect
propriety, Paul adduces, in
this
Psalm of the scripturalness of his position, that "Jews
and
heathens are all under sin." He justly puts this passage,
vers.
1-3, at the head of his proof; for the Old Testament con-
tains
no passage in which the universality and depth of human
corruption
are painted in such vivid colours.
What has been alleged against the
Davidic origin of the
Psalm
proceeds entirely on a false understanding of ver. 7.
This Psalm recurs once again, with
certain alterations, in
Ps.
liii. These alterations (with the exception, perhaps, of the
omission
of the "all," in ver. 4) have all the same character,—
everywhere,
in Ps. liii., is the rare, the uncommon, the strong,
and
the elevated, substituted for the common and the simple.
The
consideration of particulars will show this. The simple
superscription
of the xiv., "to the chief musician of David," is
enlarged
in the liii. by a twofold addition, and these additions
both
possess the character now mentioned. First, in regard
to
tlaHEma-lfa. That nothing is to be made out of these words, on
the
supposition that they designate an instrument or a melody,
the
remark of Ewald (Poet. Books, P. i.
p. 174) may suffice to
show:
"A word, on the meaning of which
nothing whatever can
be
said." We conceive that the words contain an enigmatical
description
of the subject and object, and translate: "concerning
sickness."
This view is justified, 1. By its being the only one
admissible
in a grammatical point of view. The verb in Hebrew
has
no other signification than to be weal sick; and the very
nearly
related forms hl,HEma and hlAHEma occur in the sense of
sick-
ness.
Before it has been shown that tlHm cannot bear this sig-
nification,
it is quite arbitrary to explain it out of the Ethiopian.
2.
In the superscription of Ps. lxxxviii., where the same words
206 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
are
again used, they are connected with tOn.fal;, which, according
to
the usage, and the tAyni.fi, in ver. 7, and the ynifo, in ver.
9,
can only be explained: "regarding the tribulation," thus
admirably
comporting with: "concerning sickness." The com-
mon
exposition: "for singing," must be abandoned as arbitrary.
3.
The words, rendered as we have done, suit exceedingly well
the
purport of the Psalms which they designate. Ps. liii. is
taken
up with the spiritual sickness of the sons of men. Ps.
lxxxviii.:
is the prayer of one visited by severe bodily sickness.
—The
second addition in the superscription is lykWm, a didac-
tic
Psalm (comp. on Ps. xxxii.). This designation has been
chosen
with an ingenious reference to ver. 2. The Psalm aims
at
bringing the unreasonable, who are there discoursed of, to
sound
reason. With that is connected its second aim, to instruct
the
sick, that is, sufferers, how to behave in sickness, and what
remedies
to apply. In the Psalm itself there is a pervading
change
in the substitution of Elohim everywhere for Jehovah.
The
reason of that is the following: It is not to be doubted that
even,
in Ps. xiv. the sevenfold use of the name of God (thrice
Elohim,
and four times Jehovah) is not accidental, especially
when
the corresponding sevenfold number of the verses is taken
into
account, which, of evident purpose, is preserved also in
Ps.
liii., where the extended superscription forms a verse by
itself
(whereas we find combined in ver. 6 [in Heb.] what in
Ps.
xiv. forms two); and analogies, such as that in Ps. xxix.,
where
hvhy lvq recurs seven times. Now, while in Ps. xiv. the
wish
predominated to use the different names of God accord-
ing
to their different meanings, and according to the relation
of
the Psalm to the former one, united with which it formed
a
pair, in Ps. liii. another interest prevailed, namely, to ren-
der
palpable the intentionalness of the sevenfold repetition by
the
uniformity of the name,—a design which was the more
visibly
accomplished, as the Elohim in some
of its connections,
—for
example, "they call not upon Elohim," —sounds rather
strange.—In
Ps. liii. ver. 1, lvf "crime," is substituted for
hlylf, "deed." The "deed"
is justified by the contrast with
speaking
in the heart; apart from this important reference, lvf,
as
being the stronger, is at the same time the more character-
istic;
so that here, as is generally the case, each of the readings
has
its peculiar advantage. In ver. 3, vlk is first substituted for
the
simple and also clear lbh and it is not quite certain how
PSALM XIV. VER.
1. 207
the
suffix should be explained. Then, instead of the com-
mon
rs
the very rare gs is substituted, which elsewhere occurs
only
twice in Kal. In this case a word is manifestly chosen,
as
nearly related as possible, both in writing and pronunciation,
to
the other,—just as Jeremiah appears fond of substituting
words
similarly written and spoken to those of the original;
comp.
Küper Ierem. libr. sacr. interpres. p. 14. In ver. 5, to
"there
were they in great fear," there is added, with the view
of
filling up and strengthening the picture, "where no fear;"
and
instead of the plain words, "for God is in the generation of
the
righteous," are put the far more emphatic and highly poeti-
cal
ones, "for God scatters the bones of him who encamps
against
thee," prop. of thy besieger. So also in ver. 6, the state-
ment,
"only put to shame the counsel of the wretched, for God
is
his refuge," which stands, so to speak, on the defensive, is
supplanted
in Ps. liii. by another plainly offensive, and, as the
form
of address itself shows, much more lively, "thou dost put
to
shame, for God rejects them." Finally, in ver. 7, for the
singular
tfvwy
the rarer and more emphatic plural is substi-
tuted.
From the representation now given,
it is clear that we can
never
adopt any such account of the origin of the variations in
the
two Psalms as that espoused by Ewald, who supposes a
reader
to have rectified for himself, as well as he could, the
text
of a manuscript that had become illegible. It is not less
clear,
that the variations could not have sprung from traditional
usage.
They all belong to one author, who made them with
consideration
and method. That it was David himself, appears
to
be indicated by the superscription of Ps. liii., which ascribes
the
Psalm also in that form of it to him; and it is impossible
to
bring forward any well-grounded proof against it.
When the collectors gave a place to
both forms, the original
and
the altered, they certainly acted in the spirit of the author
of
the changes himself, who did not intend by the one form, to
set
aside the other, but only claimed for it a place beside the
other.
Each of the two forms has its peculiar beauties and
characteristics;
and it is most justly remarked by Venemp., that
no
variation occurs, which does not provide a sense excellent
in
both Psalms, and suited to the scope."
Ver. 1. The fool speaks in his heart, God is not:—not: "it
is
only the fool that speaks in his heart:" "whosoever speaks
208 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
thus
in his heart is a fool;" but: the whole world is full of fools,
who
speak, or, the fools, of whom the world is full, speak. The
Psalmist
describes the reigning folly first, according to its internal
root
in the mind (Muis: orditur a fonte omnium scelerum impie-
tate),
and then passes on to describe its manifestations in deed.
lbn stands here in its original signification,
which, indeed, it
never
loses, if we examine carefully. For, even when it is
used
of crimes, these are always
contemplated in the light of
folly.
David designates those who, with a renunciation of all
fear
of God, give themselves up to unrighteousness, as blinded
fools, in silent contrast to
the judgment of the world, and their
own,
which magnifies them as great spirits, and people of dis-
tinguished
talent. That lbn is used here in its original signifi-
cation,
appears also from the expression in ver. 4, "know they
not,"
which refers back to this. Their whole course is folly,
because
it proceeds upon the supposition that God is not, does
not
see and recompense. It is not less apparent from the
opposite
lykWm
in ver. 2, and from the designation of the Psalm
as
lykwm
in Ps. liii. The fools ought by this Psalm to be made
wise.
It is, therefore, quite wrong, when De Wette renders
lbn by ungodly,
and when Sachs, in bad taste also, does it by
the rogue. The pious and just of
Scripture is, at the same
time,
the wise man, because his frame of mind and his conduct
rest
upon and are followed by a right insight into the nature of
things.
This, however, does not imply that the piety and god-
liness
of Scripture are interchangeable ideas, but the spheres of
both,
and of the qualities opposed to them, continue strictly
separate.
The discourse here is not of the atheism of the un-
derstanding,
but of the atheism of the heart (he speaks in
his
heart), whose sphere is an
infinitely greater one than that of the
former.
The world is well nigh given up to the former, although
the
number of theoretical deniers of God is but small, and with
it
also the righteous has still constantly to fight. Luther: "The
prophet
speaks here in the Spirit, sees no person in an outward
point
of view, goes to the bottom of the reins and hearts, and
says:
The fool speaks, there is no God, not with the mouth,
gesture,
appearance, and other external signs—for in such re-
spects
he often boasts before the true lovers of God, that he knows
God—but
in heart, that is, in his inward
sentiments. These in
the
ungodly are darkened: thereupon follows blindness of under-
standing,
so that he can neither think rightly of God, nor speak,
PSALM XIV. VER. 2. 209
nor
direct his conduct properly. Accordingly, those alone have
God,
who believe in God not with an hypocritical faith. All
besides
are fools; they say in their hearts: There is no God."
They
are corrupt, abominable in their actions, there is none 1
that does good. The relation of this
second part to the first was
explained
quite correctly by Luther, according to whom "the
other
evil" is here described, "which is a flowing stream, issu-
ing
with force out of the spring of unbelief." Atheism of the
heart
has corruption of life for its inseparable attendant. It is
a
question how hlylf, and the corresponding lvf
in Ps.
liii., is to
be
construed—whether, with most expositors, as an accus. go-
verned
by vtyHwh
and vbyfth,
"they make their conduct corrupt,
abominable,"
or as a mere appended accus. which defines more
narrowly
the sphere of the two verbs, "as to action, crime" (on
such
accusatives, see Ewald, Small Gr. § 512); as already Lu-
ther
here: "with their nature," in Ps. liii.: "in their evil nature."
The
latter construction is favoured first of all by the circum-
stance,
that the contrast between actions and heart, which the
salmist
obviously had in view, and for expressing which hlylf
is
used, becomes more prominent. Then, according to the other
view,
we should have expected the plural with the suff., instead
of
the sing. without the suff.,—comp. Mtvlylf vtyHwh in Zeph.
iii.
7. It is also a confirmation of the same view, that tyHwh
has
only exceptionally an accus. after it; as a rule, it stands
absolutely
in the sense of acting corruptly—comp.
upon this and
similar
verbs in Hiph., Ewald, p. 189; but byfth, in the only
two
other places where it occurs, 1 Kings xxi. 26, Ezek. xvi. 52,
has
the signification of acting abominably,
not of making abomin-
able. lvf also, "injustice,
crime," does not well suit either of
the
verbs in the sense of corrupting, making abominable. That
vtyHwh contains an allusion to Gen. vi. 12,
where the corruption
of
men before the flood is described with the same word, we can
entertain
the less doubt, as in ver. 2 a still more manifest re-
ference
is found to that passage. Luther: "He describes the
race
of the ungodly as equally corrupt then, with what they
were
at that time." The Preterites in this verse, and the fol-
lowing
one, are to be understood just as in Ps. xi. 4, x. 3, and
to
be rendered by the Present. The sense and the connection
of
the Psalm are quite destroyed, if we translate, with Ewald
and
Hitzig: "he spoke, etc."
Ver. 2. The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children
210 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
of men, that he may see
whether there be one that acts wisely; that
seeks God. That David represents
the Lord as looking down
from
heaven, and finding no fearer of God on the earth, is done
for
a double reason. First, the greatness and universality of
the
reigning corruption are thereby well brought out. Not
merely
the short-sighted eye of man, but God's all-seeing, all-
penetrating
glance, can find no piety upon earth. Michaelis
Ex
infallibili dei judicio et scrutinio. This reference is the
leading
one. But, at the same time, by way of contrast to the
delusion
of those forgetters of God, who shut Him up in heaven,
and
do not let Him trouble Himself with earthly things, the re-
presentation
points to the fact, that His all-ruling providence is
ever
active, that He continually looks out from the high watch-
tower,
the heavens, upon the actions of men, in order to hurl
down,
in His own time, judgments upon the wicked—a truth
full
of consolation to the fearers of God, full of terror to the
ungodly.
According to the latter reference, the clause, "The
Lord
looks down from heaven," forms a contrast to the words of
the
fools; "There is no God," and prepares for the catastrophe
described
in vers. 4-6. Both references were noticed by Lu-
ther:
"This is spoken against the folly of fools, who say that
there
is no God. As if he would say: There is not only a
God,
but also a God who sees, nay, who sees all; i. e. He
penetrates
all with His eye, there is nothing too far removed, or
too
deeply concealed, for Him to grasp. Next, in order that no
one
might think that these fools, and such as corrupt their
ways,
were only a handful of people, among whom alone none
could
be found who did good, he extends his declaration far and
wide
to all, saying: The Lord looked down
from heaven,
whence
He beholds all people upon earth, and from Him no
one
is concealed. So that he had in view. Gen. vi. 12, where
the
whole earth is said to be corrupt." Besides this passage,
there
are two others, which come into view as a type of the re-
presentation
given—the first of which is Gen. xi. 5, "And the
Lord
came down from heaven to see the city and the tower,
which
the children of men builded," from which the expression,
"children
of men," seems to have been derived; and the other
is
Gen. xviii. 21. Very suitably is Elohim, whose existence
the
ungodly deny, set over against Jehovah, who looks down
from
heaven. They deny, forsooth, the existence of a deity;
but
there is a living, and in the highest sense personal God,
PSALM XIV. VER. 3. 211
who
lives and beholds. lykWm, one who acts prudently, forms
the
contrast to: they act corruptly, abominably, just as: "God
looks
down to see," stands in opposition to the fool, who says:
"There
is no God;" so that in this way the order of the first
verse
is here reversed. lykWm signifies, not to be prudent, and
still
less to be pious, but is always used
of the conduct, to act
prudently, reasonably. The wicked man, while
following, in-
stead
of the law of God, his own perverse inclinations and
desires,
treads reason under foot by his actions, does in his way-
wardness
what profits not, and what hands him over to de-
struction.
That the very common phrase, Myhlx wrd, can only
signify,
to seek God, is clear from the
counter expression of
finding in Deut. iv. 29,
"Thou shalt find the Lord, if thou
seek
Him with all thy heart and with all thy soul," comp. Jer.
xxix.
13; 2 Chron. xv. 2. To seek God, designates the desire
of
the heart after Him, the longing directed towards Him. The
wicked
do not seek God; they flee and shun Him as their
greatest
enemy; but whosoever does not seek God, him God
visits
with His punishment. The Elohim has here already
acquired
the nature of a proper name. Hence the tx, though
the
article is awanting. This particle never occurs except before
definite
nouns. The examples of the contrary, which Ewald
still
retains, fall away on closer examination.
Ver. 3. All are gone aside, they are together corrupt; there
is not that does good,
not even one.
It may be asked, how this
charge
of a corruption extending through the whole
of humanity
can
be reconciled with ver. 5, where mention is made of a right-
eous
generation. This can only be accounted for by the sup-
position,
that in view of the monstrous corruption, which had
spread
itself among men, the author overlooked the few right-
eous
persons; so that his words are to be taken with some limita-
tion,
as is done by himself subsequently. Comp. what we have
already
said on a quite similar statement in Ps. xii. Others,
as
Calvin, understand by the "children of men," ver. 2, the
whole
of humanity in its natural condition, as opposed to the
children
of God, who, through the Spirit, have been delivered
from
the general corruption. But it is quite improbable, that
the
expression, “children of men," should be used in this sense
without
being elucidated by the contrast. Substantially, indeed,
this
view is certainly the correct one; for the few righteous
persons,
whom the Psalmist excepts from the corrupt mass, are
212 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
such
by the grace of God. Besides, these must have been pro-
portionally
very few; otherwise the Psalmist could not have
represented
the corruption as so all-pervading. Luther: "See
how
many redundant words he uses, that he may comprehend
all
men in the charge, and except none. First, he says all;
afterwards,
once and again, that there is not so much as one."
There
is an emphasis in the lkh, "the allness;" the whole of
humanity
is, as it were, a corrupt mass. The expression, "to
go
aside," is more closely defined by the contrast in which it
stands
with "seeking the Lord," just as the being corrupt, and
the
not doing good, forms the contrast to lykWm. In the de-
lineation
of the fool, godliness and immoral conduct are con-
stantly
linked together; and in such a way, indeed, that the
next
pair always begins with the same member with which the
preceding
one had closed. The acting prudently, answers to the
acting
corruptly—the all going away, to the seeking of God—
the
evil-doers, who eat up my people, to the being corrupt, and
no
one doing good. The last member of the description:
"They
call not upon the Lord," corresponds to the first: "He
says
in his heart, There is no God." The whole chain is
broken,
if to the words, "all are gone aside," we supply, in-
stead
of God, "from the right way."--Hlx, originally to be sour,
to corrupt, here as in Job xv. 16,
in a moral sense.--At the end
of
this verse, some critical helps—in particular, the Cod. Vat.,
the
LXX., and Vulgate—introduce a longer addition, which
manifestly
owes its origin to Rom. iii. 13-18. There other de-
clarations
from the Old Testament, bearing on the same subject,
are
added to the citation made from our Psalm. And while it
has
been overlooked, that the Apostle does not confine his cita-
tions
to our Psalm, but professes to give passages of Scripture
in
general, it has been thought that an addition should be made
to
the Psalm on his authority.
Ver. 4. Know not, then, all evil-doers, who eat my people as
bread, and call not upon
the Lord?
The Psalmist begins the second
part
with an expression of wonder at the great blindness of the
fools,
who do not see what lies before their very eyes, and what
is
depicted in lively colours in vers. 5 and 6. The designation
of
the fools as evil-doers, who eat up the people of God, and call
not
on the Lord, sums up the contents, vers. 1-3, but substitutes
for
their evil actions generally, their shameful conduct toward
the
people of God, as the species in the genus, which came par-
214 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
only
profit from them, and who do not employ their office for
the
glory of God, and the salvation of those over whom they
are
placed." The expression, "as bread," indicates the heartless
indifference
of the eaters: he who eats bread never thinks that
he
is doing wrong. We must not explain, "As they eat bread"
—which
would either require us to supply rwxk and that is not
at
all allowable, or to suppose that the comparison clause is loosely
placed;—against
this interpretation, vxrq, which connects itself,
not
with ylkx,
but with vlkx,
and which requires us to conceive of
rwx as standing before ylkx, is decisive. We must
rather ex-
pound:
"Who eating my people, eat bread;" so that the people
themselves
are described as bread, namely, in a spiritual sense,
what
in spiritual things corresponds to bread. The exposition of
Luther,
Claus, and others: "Eating my people, they eat food,"
they
find nourishment therein, gives a tame meaning. The
simple
ymf vlkx would then be more expressive. Even Calvin
remarks,
that the matter of the verse is more appropriate to the
degenerate
members of the
enemies.
The abominableness lay precisely in this, that the
shepherds
spared not their own flock, and that the subjects of
Jehovah
concerned not themselves about their king. The not
calling
upon God, is a periphrasis for ungodliness. For with-
out
calling upon God, fear of God is inconceivable. The
Psalmist
here connects impiety with unrighteousness toward
men,
as its inseparable attendant; the latter, indeed, necessarily
follows
on the former. We have already pointed out, that the
words,
"They call not upon the Lord," correspond to the earlier
descriptions
of ungodliness, through "saying in their heart, There
is
no God, not seeking God, and turning away from Him."
Ver. 5. There, terror overtakes them; for God is among the
righteous generation. Instead of there, many put then, at the
time
when punishment alights on them. But the particle Mw
always
denotes in Hebrew, place, never, as
in Arabic, time.
Others
retain the usual signification of the word, and expound:
There, in the very place
where they have committed their crimes,
shall
their punishment surprise them. It is best explained by
Calvin,
who supposes that the Psalmist intended only to mark
the
certainty of the punishment, pointing
to it, as it were, with
his
finger. The Mw, as well as the Pret. vdHp, is a testimony
to
the strength of the Psalmist's faith, who sets the judgment
to
come on the wicked as vividly before his eyes, as if it were
PSALM XIV. VER. 5. 215
actually
present. The same strength of faith discovers itself
also
in the wondering question, "Know they not?" in the pre-
ceding
verse.—For God is in the righteous
generation,—He is
found
amongst them as helper and deliverer. Falsely, Luther:
But God is in the righteous
generation. God's being in the
righteous
generation, is the ground of the
destruction, which He
suspends
over their oppressors. Hence also we must not supply,
with
Claus: "but not with and among them,
the ungodly."—
After
the words dHp vdHp, there is added in Ps. liii. dHp hyh xl,
where
no fear was, i. e. in the midst of their prosperity, whilst in
a
human way nothing of the kind could have been looked for,
suddenly.
Venema: "Where they were securely indulging
themselves,
there they began suddenly to be afraid, and so were
unexpectedly
overwhelmed." Others, incorrectly, and quite un-
suitably
to the context: “They fall into a blind,
groundless fear.”
The
discourse here is not of the remorse of conscience, but of
Divine
judgments actually inflicted. We are not, therefore, to
refer
to such passages as Lev. xxvi. 17, 36; Prov. xxviii. 1,
where
God threatens the transgressors of His law, that they
would
flee when no one pursued them, would be frightened by
the
rustle of a falling leaf; but to such passages as Job xv. 21,
"The
sound of terrors is in his ears, in prosperity the destroyer
shall
come upon him," and 1 Thess. v. 3, "When they shall say,
Peace
and safety, then sudden destruction cometh on them."
The
sudden and unexpected nature of the destruction of the
wicked,
overtaking them while they are still in great prosperity,
is
constantly brought forward in the Psalms. It is further added
in
Ps. liii.: j`nAHo tOmc;fa rza.Pi Myhilox< yKi, "for God scatters
the bones
of
those who encamp against thee," substituting these words for
the
last member of our verse. j`nAHo, pausal-form for j~n;Ho, of the
besieging
thee, is partic. of hnH to besiege. It is generally con-
strued
with lf.
The construction found here is to be explained
thus,
that hnH,
"he who encamps," stands for "the besieger;"
comp.
ymq for
ylf Mymq in Ps. 39. The oppression of the
pious,
by the ungodly, appears here under the image of a siege,
which
God raises by shattering the besieging enemies, so that
their
bones, formerly the seat of their strength, cover the field
of
battle. This addition renders unquestionable the soundness
of
the exposition given by us of the preceding words. For how
could
it assign the ground thereof, if a baseless fear in them
were
spoken of? "In the midst of their security, destruction
216 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
overtakes
them,—for, 0 righteous generation,
God annihilates
your
adversaries." According to this view, the changes in Ps.
liii.
would not touch the essential meaning. The addition:
where
no fear was, serves only to complete the picture, and is
in
substance contained in the preceding words, where already
the
state of the ungodly is described as one of such perfect
security
and untroubled prosperity, that they no longer thought
there
could be a God at all. And in the second member both
Psalms
contain the same fundamental thought, that God inter-
poses
for the good of His people against the wicked, only in Ps.
liii.
the destruction wrought in their behalf is delineated in strik-
ing
colours. To the expression, "He scatters the bones," there
is
a verbal paral. in Ps. cxli. 7.
Ver. 6. Put to shame the counsel of the poor, for God is his
refuge. The address is to the
enemies. These the Psalmist, in
the
full strength of faith, tells that he does not grudge the
triumph
of succeeding in defeating the plans for delivering the
oppressed
servants of God. For such joy will soon be annihi-
lated,
inasmuch as the righteous have on their side a mighty
helper,
mightier than themselves. wvb in Hiph. to shame, to put
to shame. Various commentators
render mock only; but this
meaning
is unwarranted. That the yk is not, after Luther's
example,
to be explained by but, is obvious;
and, consequently,
it
is certain that we must render, not, "ye put to shame," but,
"shame
only, I will not hinder you." The yk assigns the reason
why
the enemies may put to shame the counsels of the poor.
In
Ps. liii. we have, corresponding to these words, Myhlx yk
htwybh
Msxm, thou
shamest, viz. thine enemy, him who encamps against
thee
(the naming of the object was unnecessary, because suffi-
ciently
plain from the preceding context), for
the Lord has re-
jected them. The righteous man, or
the righteous generation, is
addressed;
in j`nH
also it had been addressed. In point of sense,
these
words are almost of one import with ours. Both passages
contain
the firm hope of deliverance, on the ground that the
Lord
could not fail to give to righteousness the victory over
wickedness.
Ver. 7. The Psalmist closes by
expressing his desire after
the
previously promised salvation of God, in the destruction of
the
Church's enemies. Oh that the salvation
of
come out of
His people! Then let
Jacob rejoice, and
217 PSALM XIV. VER. 7.
first
clause is literally: Who will give from
of
the
force of the optative, as if it were: might
it but come. From
as
King of His people. It is quite erroneously supposed by
De
Wette, that the Psalmist must have been far from his native
land,
and looking towards it. The expectation of help from
tionably
David's, and in those which were certainly composed
after
the captivity; comp., for example, Ps. iii. 4, xxviii. 2,
xx.
2, 5, cxxxiv. 3. When the pious Psalmists utter this
expectation,
they remind God that it is His obligation to help,
since,
as the Head of the Divine kingdom, He cannot abandon it
to
the devastations of the impious. If the Psalm had belonged
to
the period of the captivity, the Psalmist could not have looked
for
salvation from
its
centre there, after the destruction of the temple, as Ezekiel
indicated,
ch. xi. 22, by causing the Shekinah, the symbol of
God's
indwelling presence, solemnly to depart from the temple.
When
Daniel also, after the destruction of the temple, turned
his
face in prayer toward
to
what had once been there, and what should be there again.
He
did not expect help out of
thither,
simply because, in his view, the city was holy, where
the
temple had stood, and where again a temple was to be reared.
The
only passage that De Wette can adduce as a proof that,
even
in exile, help was expected out of
this
is such only on the arbitrary supposition, that the Psalm
belongs
to the times of the captivity, the groundlessness of which
is
proved by the very commencement: "I lift mine eyes to the
hills,
from whence cometh my help." So here also the words
under
consideration show that the Psalm could not have been
composed,
according to the modern hypothesis, in exile; and
every
interpretation of the following words which proceeds upon
that
hypothesis, must appear inadmissible. The words, "in the
returning
of the Lord to the imprisonment of His people,"
announce
more immediately the way and manner in which the
salvation
of
that
the Lord, who is throned in
misery
of His people, and returns to them in the manifestations
of
His grace. Modern commentators for the most part expound:
218 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
"When
the Lord brings back the prisoners of His people." They
then
draw from this a proof that the Psalm could not be the
production
of David, but must have been composed during the
captivity.
Others, who still ascribe it to David, have been led
thereby
to consider our verse as a later addition, as was done
also
by the present writer, Beitr. p.
142,—a supposition which
is
the less probable, as this verse is found also in Ps. liii., and as
thereby
the sevenfold use of the name of God would be lost.
But
the whole exposition is demonstrably false; for, 1. bvw never
has
the signification of to bring back,
it never is used transi-
tively,
but always means to return; comp. Beitr. p. 104. 2.
It
is alleged, without the least proof, that tvbw, signifies the
prisoners;
whereas, wherever it occurs, excepting in this form
of
expression, it rather denotes the
captivity, the status captivi-
tatis.
3. The entire phrase is unquestionably used in many
other
places, in a general way, of "grace, favour,"—imprison-
ment,
captivity, an image of misery, as very often the prison,
Ps.
cxlii. 7, bands, cords; comp., for
example, Isa. xlii. 7, xlix. 9
etc.
So Job xlii. 10, "And the Lord turned the captivity
(prop.,
turned himself to the prison) of Job," though certainly,
Job
was never confined. Then Jer. xxx. 18, "I turn myself
to
the captivity of Jacob's tents," for, to their mournful condi-
tion,
as the tents cannot be considered there as imprisoned.
Ezek.
xvi. 53, "I will return to their captivity, the captivity
of
their
misery; for certainly
plain
of
wholly
annihilated; comp. the investigations in my Beitr.
P. ii.
p.
104 ss. On the other hand, there is not to be found one
place
in which the form of expression can be shown to have
been
used in reference to the exiles. 4. The original founda-
tion
of all the passages where this expression occurs, is that of
Deut.
xxx. 3, "And the Lord thy God returns to thy prison-
house,
or captivity." But that there bvw is employed in its
common
signification of returning, and has
the goal of the re-
turn
beside it in the accus., is clear as day. In vers. 1-6 alone
the
word occurs no fewer than six times: of these, it is generally
admitted
to be five times used in the sense of returning,
and
why
should it in one case alone signify to bring
back? Now, if
we
add to this the special grounds which, in our Psalm, stand
in
the way of a reference to the bringing back from captivity,
PSALM XV. 219
—to
wit, the desire of help from
contents
of the Psalm, which do not allude in the slightest way
to
the times of the captivity, but rather concern relations of a
general
kind, common to all ages; and, finally, the superscrip-
tion—we
cannot entertain the least doubt of the alone correctness
of
the explanation, "when the Lord returns to the captivity, i.e.
the
misery of His people" (the accus. being used, as is customary
in
verbs of motion; comp. Ex. iv. 19, 20; Numb. x. 36; Ps.
lxxxv.
4; Nah. 3). But to express his wish that the Lord
might
have compassion on the wretchedness of His Church,
in
a Psalm destined for the use of the pious in all ages, David
had
the more occasion, the greater the disorders had been, of
which
he himself had been a witness in the times of Saul and
Absalom.
The wish here expressed found its highest fulfilment
in
Christ; and in this case also the highest stage thereof is
reserved
for the future, when the triumphant Church shall take
the
place of the militant. Till then, we shall have occasion
enough
to make the wish of the pious Psalmist our own. Amid
the
joy which arises from lower fulfilments, the longing after
the
last and highest can never be extinguished. lgy and Hmwy,
on
account of the form of the first, and from a comparison with
Ps.
xiii. 6,—to similarity with which this Psalm, in all proba-
bility,
owes its position,—are to be taken as a wish and demand:
"Then
let Jacob exult, let
PSALM XV.
In this Psalm the question is
answered, what must be the
moral
condition of the man who would be a true servant of the
Lord,
and a partaker of His grace. First, the question is put:
Who
is loved and esteemed by God? ver. 1. Then comes the
answer,
in two strophes of two verses, each of three members,
vers.
2, 3, and 4, 5. The first verse of both strophes describes
the
nature of piety positively, the second negatively. The
Psalm
concludes with a declaration, which recurs to the begin-
ning,
"He who doeth such things may comfort himself that God
will
help him." The fundamental idea of the Psalm may be
summed
up in the words of the Saviour, "Ye are My friends, if
ye
do whatsoever I command you."
Most expositors suppose that David
composed this Psalm
220 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
when
the ark of the covenant was transferred to
2
Sam. vi. 12 ss., 1 Chron. xvi. 1 ss., with the view of stirring
up
the people, on this opportunity, to the true honouring of God,
to
genuine righteousness. Though this event afforded a suitable
occasion,
yet in the Psalm itself there is nothing which neces-
sarily
refers thereto; and we should have regarded the supposi-
tion
as a mere uncertain hypothesis, if the xxiv. Psalm, which
coincides
in a very striking manner with this, had not been un-
doubtedly
occasioned by the circumstance in question.
Notwithstanding the simply positive
aspect of the Psalm,
when
formally considered, it still has an unquestionably polemi-
cal
reference; it brings out the purely moral and internal con-
ditions
of participation in God's kingdom, in contrast to the
delusion
of the hypocrite, who thinks himself secure of God's
favour
through the possession of externals, and the observance
of
ceremonies. This was perceived by Luther: "But this
Psalm
is dead against the lovers of outward show. For the
Jews
exalted themselves above all other people, on the two
grounds,
that they alone were the seed of the Fathers, and alone
possessed
the law of God." As in perfect accordance with an
occasion
like that of the transference of the ark, we must espe-
cially
regard the opposition raised to merely external service of
God.
David wished to meet, at the very threshold, the errors
which
so easily connected themselves with the restoration of the
cultus
effected on the removal of the ark to
when
viewed in respect to such a polemical design that the
subject
of the Psalm can be rightly apprehended. The exclusive
emphasis
laid on the commands of the second table can only be
explained
by supposing opposition to hypocrites.
The present Psalm most probably owes
its position after the
xiv.
to an internal relation of the matter of the two. Luther al-
ready
remarked: "This Psalm follows the preceding one in the
finest
order. For, just as in that the form and pattern of the
ungodly
was described, so now in this the pattern of the godly
is
described." This delineation of the righteous was with the
more
propriety made to follow Ps. xiv., as mention there occurs
of
a "righteous generation," which might console itself with
the
sure hope of God's help. It was important that every one
should
clearly understand what really constituted one a member
of
that righteous generation.
That David was the author of the
Psalm, appears not only
PSALM XV. VER. 1. 221
from
the superscription and a comparison with Ps. xxiv., but
also
from ver. 1. The mention of the tabernacle
of God in this
verse
does not permit us to come lower than the times of David.
Hitzig,
indeed, maintains that the name tabernacle
was some-
times
applied to the
very
improbable, and no satisfactory proof can be brought in
support
of it.
Ver. 1. Lord, who shall abide in Thy tabernacle, who dwell
on Thy holy hill? The sum, says Calvin,
is this, that access
to
God is open to none but His pure worshippers. The repre-
sentation
in the verse is a figurative one. The holy hill of God
appears
as a place of refuge, His tabernacle as a hospitable tent,
in
which He receives His people to Himself. Parallel passages,
in
which precisely the same figurative representation prevails,
and
no reference whatever is found to the outward worship of
God,
are Ps. v. 4, "The wicked doth not dwell with Thee;"
Ps.
xxiii. 6, "I shall dwell in the house of the Lord all my
days;"
Ps. xxvii. 5, "He shall hide me in His pavilion in the
day
of trouble;" Ps. xxiv. 3, lxi. 4; comp. Christol. P. ii. p.
447.
The image in all these places is taken from one who is
received
by another into his dwelling, or his possession. This
kindness
can be experienced from God only by those whose im-
purity
does not exclude them from His sacred presence; as is
here
indicated by the expression, "on Thy holy
hill," and even,
indeed,
by the emphatic suffix, "in Thy
tabernacle." The
majority
of modern expositors have misunderstood this figura-
tive
representation, occasioned probably by the external ap-
proach
of great multitudes to the tabernacle of the Lord.
Hence
have arisen such expositions as those of De Wette,
Maurer,
and others, that the tarrying and the dwelling imply
here
nothing but a frequent approach: as if it had been, "who
dare,
or who is worthy to tarry?" But such a method of ex-
position
is as little accordant with the words of our text as with
the
parallel passages. These latter plainly show that the writer
refers
to a continual social dwelling with God, which the right-
eous
man enjoys, or that the dwelling with God is only an
image
of intimacy. The close of the Psalm, where "the never
being
moved" is made to correspond to the "dwelling in the
house
of the Lord," supports this. Venema: "Conclusio re-
sponsi
a quaesito discrepare nequit." Dwelling with God is, in
general,
a designation of intimacy; but protection and stability
222 THE BOOK OF PSALMS
are
a necessary consequence of it. The Futures are accordingly
to
be taken as proper Futures, as it depends only upon the Lord
who
is to be admitted to this intimacy. Who
shall dwell--
whom
wilt Thou permit, or to whom wilt Thou grant the
favour
of dwelling with Thee? That the ground was already
laid
for this figurative representation in the law, where the
sacred
tabernacle, by its very name, "the tabernacle of meet-
ing,"
is pointed out as the place where God was to hold fellow-
ship
with His people, and that hence, in Lev. xvi. 6, the
ites
are regarded as dwelling with God in His holy tabernacle,
with
all their sins, involving the necessity of an atonement, has
been
shown in my Beitr., vol. iii. p. 628. The representation
extends
even into the New Testament. In Matt. xxiii. 38, the
temple
appears as the spiritual dwelling-place of
Eph.
ii. 19, the members of God's kingdom are called oi]kei?oi
tou? qeou?, inmates of God's
house.--rvg
never signifies to dwell
in
general, but always specially to dwell as a guest and so-
journer.
The expression is to be primarily explained from the
image
of a rich and powerful man, who hospitably receives a
poor
stranger into his tent,—an image which is more distinctly
brought
out in Ps. xxvii. 5. But the substance of the figure is,
that
our dwelling with God is only after the manner of guests;
that
we are not born and rightful inmates of His house, but
have
become so merely through grace. That the figure is not
to
be carried too far,—that it must not be explained: "in whom
dost
Thou interest Thyself, as one who receives a stranger into
his
tent?" but only, "who dwells in Thy tabernacle as a
stranger,
that has been received by some potentate of earth?"
is
clear from the expression, "on Thy holy hill," which corre-
sponds
to "Thy tabernacle." At the same time, the mention
of
the holy hill, which can only signify
tabernacle
of God is not the old Mosaic tabernacle, which was
then,
without the ark of the covenant, at
Chron.
xvi. 39; 2 Chron. i. 3, 5—but the tent which David
had
prepared for the ark on
Chron.
xv. 1, xvi. 1; 2 Chron. i. 4. Nowhere, indeed, have
the
Psalms anything to do with that old tabernacle at
that
shell without a kernel; but always, where they speak of the
sanctuary
of the Lord, that upon
The
question regarding the qualifications for a participation in
the
PSALM XV.
VER. 2. 223
Lord,
he answers in the following verses before the Lord, ac-
cording
to His mind, and through His Spirit. For the purpose
of
showing that the settlement of the matter belongs to God
and
to him, who speaks in God's name, he addressed the ques-
tion
to the Lord. Those who suppose that the Psalmist puts
the
question in ver. 1, while in vers. 2-5 God answers, are
wrong
in point of form, but right as to the substance.
Ver. 2. He who walks blamelessly, and works righteousness,
and speaks truth in his
heart.
We must explain: "walking a,"
for,
"as a blameless person." In
Ps. lxxxiv. 11, Mymtb j`lh, "to
walk
in an unblameable," stands for, "as
an unblameable." De
Wette
and Maurer would take Mymt as a substantive, in the
accus.;
but it is never so used, not even in Josh. xxiv. 14. The
supposition
is also opposed by the original passage, which the
Psalmist
seems to have had in his eye, Gen. xvii. 1, where God
says
to Abram, "Walk before Me, and be thou unblameable."
We
may consider the words, "who walks unblameably," as the
general
sentiment; the second member referring to deeds, and
the
third referring to words and thoughts, as the carrying out.
On
the expression, "and works righteousness," Luther remarks:
"As
if he would say, Not because thou art a priest, or a holy
monk;
not because thou prayest much, because thou dost mira-
cles,
because thou teachest admirably, because thou art dignified
with
the title of Father; nor, finally, because of any particular
work,
except righteousness, shalt thou dwell upon the holy hill
of
God." This is sound exposition. The Psalmist had not in
view
the particular kinds of false conceit which are specified
by
Luther, but he certainly had the genus under which they
are
comprehended. In reference to the exclusive mention of
works,
which also frequently occurs in the New Testament, for
example,
Matt. xxv., it is remarked by the same reformer:
"And,
indeed, it is worthy of notice, that he draws the likeness
of
a pious people, without showing whence it was to come, or
to
be derived. Hence, it is true that a foolish person may
apply
all that is written in this Psalm to the moral virtues and
free-will,
though it is solely a work of the grace of God, which
He
works in us." That the Psalmist speaks merely of the
works
of the second table, arises from his wish to distinguish
the
true members of the Church from hypocrites, who have a
thousand
ways of counterfeiting the works of the first table.
This
Calvin notices: "Faith, calling upon God, spiritual sacri-
224 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
flees,
are by no means excluded by David; but because hypo-
crites
sought to exalt themselves by many ceremonies, though
their
impiety manifests itself in their life, which is full of pride,
cruelty,
violence, fraud, and such things, the proof of sincere
and
genuine faith is therefore sought in the second table of the
law,
that such deceivers might be exposed. For if men prac-
tise
justice and equity with their neighbours, they show by
deeds
that they fear God." But of what sort the righteousness
is,
which the Psalmist requires,—that it consists, not like that
of
the Pharisees, in appearance, but in living reality; that it
requires
the most thorough agreement, not of the external
actions
merely, but of the heart, with the law of God,—is very
strikingly
expressed in the last clause: "Who speaks truth in
his
heart." The words, "in the heart," show that the writer
speaks
of internal purity and truth, to which the truth that is
outwardly
expressed by the lips is related as streams to the
fountainhead.
This reference to the heart goes through the
whole
Psalm, and excludes all, who give only an outward satis-
faction
to its requirements, from any interest in its promises.
If
in one point the heart is required expressly, in the other
points
also, though the heart be not mentioned, words and
deeds
can only be so far considered, as they proceed from a
pure
and spiritual mind; only in such a case, indeed, can
words
and deeds be surely and continuously calculated upon.
"Hypocrites,"
says Luther, "can do much, or even the whole
of
this in appearance for a time, but in a time of evil they do
the
reverse."
Ver. 3. As the Psalmist, in the
preceding verse, had men-
tioned
some gifts which the true members of the Church must
possess,
so here, he points to certain faults from which they,
must
be free. In regard to construction, this verse, like the
following
ones, is quite complete of itself. He
slanders not with
his tongue. lgr occurs frequently in Piel, in Kal, only here.
Derived
from lg,r,
foot, it properly means, to go hither and
thither, whence the
signification of spying out, babbling to
and
fro, slandering, very naturally arises.
The tongue stands op-
posed
to the heart. Here also we are
presented with the
trilogy
of thought, word, and deed, which runs through the
Decalogue.
The preposition lf is to be explained by the cir-
cumstance,
that the tongue forms, as it were, the substratum of
calumnies.
Quite analogous is the expression in Gen. xxvii. 40,
PSALM XV. VER. 4. 225
"Upon
thy sword shalt thou live;" comp. also Isa. xxxviii. 16.
There
is an allusion to the passage in Lev. xix. 16, "Thou
shalt
not go up and down as a tale-bearer, lykr—lkr=lgr —
among
thy people." He does not evil to his
friend, and does not
take up a reproach
against his neighbour.
The words vhfrl
and
vbrq lf are used with peculiar emphasis. They
imply, how un-
worthy
it is to act injuriously toward those who are united to
us
by so many ties. As this idea is so evidently implied, it is
not
advisable to take the two words, with Kimchi and others,
in
the most general sense for any one with whom we have to
do:
what the latter, indeed, cannot properly signify. They
both
refer to everything by which the members of the Church
of
God are bound together,—not merely the general relation of
man
to man, but also the common bodily and spiritual deriva-
tion,
through which they become, in a double sense, brethren.
It
is the latter which is peculiarly pointed to in all the laws of
the
Pentateuch, referring to the injury of neighbours.
constantly
appears as a nation of brothers; every violation of
the
duties of neighbours is viewed as an unnatural crime. All
this
applies to Christians in a still
higher degree. Comp., also,
Ex.
xxxii. 27, where fr and bvrq are found united as
here, and
where
the explanation, "Every one with whom we have to do,"
is
quite inadmissible. xWn cannot be taken here in the sense
of
uttering, which most interpreters
give it, as the subjoined lfa
sufficiently
shows, but must have the signification, tollere;
there-
fore,
properly: Who does not lift up a reproach
on his neigh-
bour. Considered more
narrowly, we find that the word may
well
enough signify to originate, but
never to utter. In Ex.
xxiii.
1, to which reference is here made, the proper reading
is,
"Thou shalt not raise a false
report;" the raising standing
in
contrast to "letting lie,"—a contrast which exists also here.
That
xWm,
which is commonly derived from xWn, in the sense
of
speaking forth, uttering, signifies, not "an utterance," but a
"burden,"
has been proved in my Christology, P. ii. p. 102.
With
lf,
the verb often occurs in the sense of "lifting on any
one;"
for example, 2 Kings ix. 25, "The Lord lifted or laid
on
him this burden," Gen. xxxi. 17. Reproach is considered
as
a burden, which the person who spreads the slander, instead
of
allowing to lie, heaves on his neighbour.
Ver. 4. In his eyes the rejected is despised, but he honours
them that fear the Lord. sxmn is either "the one
who is to be
226 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
rejected,"
"the vile," or “he whom God has rejected.” The
exposition
is to be preferred, because of the contrast it
presents
with the "honourers of the Lord" in the following
clause,
and because of the parallel passage in Jer. vi. 30, where
it
is said of wicked princes, “They are reprobate silver, for
the Lord has rejected
them.”
The sense is therefore given by
Luther:
"The righteous One is no regarder of persons; He
considers
not how holy, learned, powerful, any one may be.
If
He sees virtue in him, He honours
him, even though he
should
be a beggar; but if He does not see that in him, He
accounts
him, as an evil person, of no value, tells him so,
punishes
him. Thou despisest, says he, God's word, Thou re-
vilest
thy neighbour; therefore will I be open with thee."
Hitzig
has revived another interpretation, already adopted by
some
old commentators (Chat Abenezra): "He who is de-
spised,
who is little in his own eyes." The deepest humility
and
self-abasement would then be given as a mark of a true
honourer
of the Lord; as is beautifully set forth by David in
2
Sam. vi. 22. But this exposition has already been set aside
by
the remark of Calvin, that apart from the harshness of the
asyndeton,
the manifest contrast between the two clauses de-
cide
against it. Just as "despised" stands opposed to "he
honours,”
so must sxmn
form the contrast to the "fearers of
God."
Here, therefore, the writer can only be speaking of the
right
posture of a man toward the different classes of his fellow-
men,
or rather, of his fellow-members. To this posture the
fearer
of God attains, because his eye is pure, because his heart
is
drawn only to that with which he has affinity, which has its
origin
in God; and he dreads, as a denying of the Lord, to
join
those externally, from whom he internally differs, and an
external
separation from those with whom he is internally
united.
The exposition of Jarchi is less objectionable "The
despicable
is in his eyes rejected;" although this also lies open
to
the objection, that the despising
forms a more suitable con-
trast
to the honouring than the rejecting, and that the word
despised can scarcely, without
some addition, stand for despi-
cable. In reference to the
words, "He honours them that fear
the
Lord"—who are to be regarded as honoured by God, just
as
the dishonourers of God are rejected or despised by Him—
Calvin
remarks: "It is no common virtue to honour pious and
godly
men. For, since they are often as the offscouring of the
PSALM XV. VER.
4. 227
world,
it not unfrequently happens, that their friends also are
compelled
to share its hatred with them. Hence, most men
reject
their friendship, and suffer them to remain in dishonour,
which
cannot be done without great and dreadful offence to
God."
He
swears to his own hurt, and exchanges not. Following
the
LXX., who pointed farehAl;, Luther has: "who swears to his
neighbour."
De Wette, Gesenius, and others, render: "He
swears
to the wicked, and changes not;" i.e., even the promises
which
he made to the ungodly, he fulfils with inviolable inte-
grity.
According to this exposition, frhl is equivalent to frl
with
h
elided. The article is indeed commonly dropt after b,
k, l; but in particular
cases it has been retained; comp. the
ex.
in Ewald, p. 175. These cases nearly all belong to a later
age,
and are taken from Nehemiah, Chronicles, Ezekiel, when
the
language, gradually falling into disuse, was again written
according
to the etymology, although one instance does occur
in
the Psalms of David, Mymwhb. Apart, however, from the
consideration,
that we should only be justified in admitting
here
so rare a form, if no other suitable exposition presented
itself,
the sense yielded by this exposition is by no means a
suitable
one. For who would seek to get rid of an oath, on
the
pretext, that he to whom it was made, was not a virtuous
man?
Then, also, it is decisive against this
exposition, that it
destroys
the connection so manifestly existing between this pas-
sage
and Lev. v. 4,—which is the less to be approved, as the
Psalm
is throughout so closely connected with the law. We
must
therefore cast about for another interpretation. The form
frhl, in all the places where it occurs—and these
are many—is,
inf.
in Hiph. with l of the verb fvr, to do ill, to bring hurt, to hurt.
So
it is found, particularly in Lev. v. 4, where the discourse is
of
a hasty oath: byFyhl vx frhl, "for hurt, or for
benefit."
Hence:
"He swears for hurt, and exchanges not," must mean,
Even
when he has made a promise or oath which tends to his
hurt,
he most religiously fulfils it." "Hence," Calvin remarks,
"arises
such lawless perfidy among men, because they conceive
themselves
to be no further bound by their pledged word, than
may
be for their profit. Therefore David, while he condemns
that
levity, demands of the children of God another sort of
stedfastness
in their promises." The objection, that the person
ought
to have been more exactly described, whom the hurt
228 THE BOOK OF PSALMS
affects,
is unimportant. It is so perfectly obvious who was to
suffer
damage by the oath, that no further description was
necessary.
rymh
may, properly enough, be taken in its common
signification,
of "to exchange," or "to put something else in
the
place of;" and there is no reason for substituting the sense
of
"not to keep," or, "to break." He exchanges not, is equiva-
lent
to: "He gives what he has agreed by oath to give, and
puts
nothing else in its place." Luther remarks, quite in the
spirit
of the Psalmist: "I believe that what the prophet here
says
of keeping an oath, is to be understood also of every sort of
promise.
For its object is to inculcate truth and fidelity among
men.
But it makes special mention of the oath, because, in a
pre-eminent
way, good faith is thereby either kept or broken."
Ver. 5. He gives not his money to usury. The Mosaic law
forbids
the lending of money for interest to an Israelite: Ex. xxii.
25;
Lev. xxv. 37; Deut. xxiii. 19; Prov. xxviii. 8; Ez. xviii. 8.
In
several of the passages referred to, it is expressly supposed
that
only the poor will borrow money,—a supposition which has
its
ground in the simple circumstances of the Mosaic times, in
which
lending, for the purpose of speculation and gain, had no
existence.
Such lending ought to be a work of brotherly love;
and
it is a great violation of love, if any one, instead of helping
his
neighbour, takes advantage of his need to bring him into
still
greater straits. The Mosaic regulation in question has ac-
cordingly
its import also for New Testament times. With the
taking
of interest for capital which is borrowed for speculation,
it
has nothing to do. This belongs to a quite different sphere,
as
is implied even by the name j`wn, a mordendo, according
to
which
only such usury can be meant as plagues and impoverishes
a
neighbour. By unseasonable comparison with our modes of
speech,
many would expound: "his money he puts not to in-
terest."
That the Ntn
signifies here to give, not to put, is shown
by
Hql
in the next clause; "evil giving" and "evil taking"
are
placed parallel to each other. j`wnb cannot signify: "on
interest,"
but only: "for interest;" the b is currently used
when
prices are specified, Ewald, p. 607. Opposed to the
giving
for usury is the giving gratis, whether in loan or as a
present;
comp. Prov. xxviii. 8. There is a verbal, and even
literal,
reference to Lev. xxv. 37, "Thou shalt not give thy
money
for usury." And he takes not a
present against the in-
nocent: when he has to give
judgment on a cause, he does not
PSALM XVI. 229
permit
himself to be seduced by bribes from the rich and power-
ful
to an unrighteous decision. This also is branded in the law
of
Moses as a great crime: Ex. xxiii. 6; Deut. xvi. 19, "Thou
shalt
not respect persons, neither take a gift; for a gift doth
blind
the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the right-
eous;"
xxvii. 25, "Cursed be he that taketh reward to slay an
innocent
person." From these two passages the words before
us
are literally taken. The last words: he
who does this shall
never be moved, are parallel to the
first, "he shall abide," etc.
For
he whom the Lord takes into His house as a member is
secure
against all the storms of misfortune. Ps. lv. 23 may be
compared
as parallel. De Wette's words: "For, according to
the
notions of the Jews, the pious, as such, is prosperous," may
be
allowed to pass, if only the addition is permitted: "as also
to
those of Christians."
PSALM XVI.
The substance of this Psalm is
comprised in its very first
words,
"Preserve me, 0 God; for in Thee do I put my trust."
All,
besides, is at once seen to be merely the development of
these
thoughts, so soon as it is observed that the words, preserve
me, have for their
foundation the confident hope of such pre-
servation,
and include within them these other words, "Thou
wilt
preserve me."
The first words embody a twofold
idea: they express the
Psalmist's
confidence in the Lord, or that the Lord is his
confidence
and salvation, and make them the ground of his
preservation
amid the dangers by which he was surrounded.
Both
elements appear also among us in the same connection;
for
example, in the declaration, "Jesus is my confidence and
my
salvation in life; this I know; must I not therefore take
comfort?
And why also should I brood over the long night of
death?"
The further development of the first
idea, "I trust in Thee,"
is
contained in vers. 2-7. He recognises in Jehovah the only
Lord
of all things, without whom nothing can help, with whom
nothing
can injure, the sole author of his salvation, with the
whole
community of the Lord, to which he attaches himself
with
inward love, vers. 2, 3.
230 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
He turns away with abhorrence from
the other gods, from
which
the world seeks salvation, purchasing by their sacrifices
pain
instead of the happiness desired: he finds his salvation in
the
Lord, who prepares for him a glorious portion, vers. 4, 5.
He accounts himself blessed in the
possession of this inheri-
tance,
of the salvation of the Lord, or of the Lord with His
goods
and gifts, and is full of gratitude to the Lord, who has
laid
open to him the way to such an inheritance, vers. 6, 7.
The development of the second idea,
of the "Preserve me,
0
God," the exhibition of the hope growing out of the confi-
dence
already expressed, is given in vers. 8-11.
His hopeful eye is in the time of
trouble directed to the
Lord;
for He, his Saviour, will not permit him to sink. There-
fore
is his heart full of joy at the impending deliverance, and
of
this he reckons himself quite certain, vers. 8, 9.
For God, his Saviour, will not give
up him, His pious one,
to
death—confiding in Him, he shall exclaim, "Death, where
is
thy sting? Grave, where is thy victory?"—God will endow
him
with life, joy, and salvation, vers. 10, 11.
The strophe-division follows
naturally from the representa-
tion
of the contents just given. The first verse, which has an
introductory
character, and contains the quintessence of the
subject,
stands by itself. The rest has a regular course in
strophes
of two verses each. Apart from the introduction, the
whole
is completed in ten verses; and the ten are subdivided
into
five.
The superscription names David as
the author, and even De
Wette
cannot help remarking that "there is no decided reason
for
the contrary." The originality of the superscription is con-
firmed
by the circumstance, that Mtkm occurs only in those
superscriptions
of the Psalms which are marked with the name
of
David—a fact not easily to be accounted for by those who
hold
the superscriptions to be the work of later collectors. The
nature
also of this designation, which is quite enigmatical, is
what
David was peculiarly fond of in his superscriptions. Its
correctness
is further confirmed by the remarkable coincidences
with
other Psalms of David, which we meet with here: comp.
ver.
1 with vii. 1, xi. 1; ver. 5 with xi. 6; ver. 8 with xv. 5,
x.
6; ver. 11 with xvii. 15. We call attention also to such
genuinely
Davidic phrases as "my glory," in ver. 9 (comp. on
6);
"dwell confidently," in ver. 9, comp. with iv. 8; "with
PSALM
XVI. 231
Thy
countenance," in ver. 11, comp. with xxi. 6; and. "by Thy
right
hand," in ver. 11, comp. xvii. 7.
The situation of the speaker is that
of one who finds himself
in
great danger, and is in prospect of death. But this danger
is
nowhere particularly specified; it is only indicated in the
most
general way. This alone renders it probable that David
composed
the Psalm, not so much in his own person as in that
of
the pious man in general; that he presented here for the
feelings
of such an one a mirror, in which all pious men might
recognise
themselves—a pattern by which they might develop
themselves;
not, however, as if for that purpose he imagina-
tively
put himself into a position and frame of mind quite
foreign
to himself, but only that he, drawing from the source
of
his natural experience, extended his consciousness so as to
embrace
that of the pious at large. This supposition becomes
a
certainty, when we take the reading in ver. 10, "Thy holy
ones,"
to be the correct one. In such a case, it is clear that
the
person who speaks in this Psalm is an ideal one, embrac-
ing
actually a plurality, and that every pious man should find
himself
represented in it, and by its help should rise, on the
ladder
of confidence in God, to the watch-tower of hope.
A
secret of David. Mtkm is very variously
expounded.
Many
of the older translators (Chald., Aq., Symm.) considered
it
to be a compound word; and this has found a modern sup-
porter
in Vorstmann, in his laborious commentary on this
Psalm,
Haag 1829. The word, according to him, is=Mt j`m,
probably
falsely pointed, and he renders: "The distressed, de-
livered."
This explanation has something, at first sight, that
recommends
it; for such enigmatical designations of the in sub-
ject
in the superscriptions are quite in the manner of David;
and
the superscriptions, thus explained, suit admirably to the
subject
of the Psalms where they occur,—as, for example, be-
sides
the present one, also Ps. lvi.-lx. But to say nothing of
the
punctuation, and the fact that Mt
is always used in a moral
sense,
it is decisive against this view, that Mtkm never occurs
along
with rvmzm, "Psalm," or
with lykWm, "didactic
Psalm,"
or
even with hlpt, "prayer,"
but always stands in the same
position
in relation to these words, that is, either before dvdl
or
after it (the same alternation is found in the use of rvmzm;
see
for ex. Ps. xxiii., xxiv.). Precisely as we have here Mtkm
dvdl, we have in Ps. xvii. dvdl hlpt, from which it clearly
ap-
232 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
pears
that the word before us must stand on the same footing
as
these others. Some again derive it from Mtk,
"gold." So
Aben
Ezra, who says that the Psalms were so named because
they
are as excellent as the best gold. Luther: "A golden
jewel."
Similar designations also occur elsewhere. Among
the
Arabians, the seven pre-Mohammedan poems, known under
the
name of Moallakat, are also called, on account of their ex-
cellence,
Modhahabat, that is, golden. Further,
among them
the
proverbs of Ali are for the same reason named, the gold of
morals. Among the Greeks we
find the golden verses of Py-
thagoras.
But it is to be objected to this exposition, that
scarcely
a single noun can be found with m,
which borrowed its
signification
merely from a derivative noun, without respect to
the
idea of the verb, and especially one which occurs in poetry.
Others,
for example Gesenius, in his Thes.,
take Mtkm as =
btkm, "writing,"
which is used in Isa. xxxviii. 9, in the super-
scription
of Hezekiah's song of praise. But this view also is to
be
rejected, on the ground that the roots Mtk
and btk are kept
strictly
separate in the Semitic dialects, no trace being found of
their
intermixture; and still more decisive is it that writing says
too
little, and the predilection of David for this designation, as
also
the circumstance that it is peculiar to him alone, cannot
then
be explained. Others, as Hitzig, take the word in the
sense
of jewel, from Mtk, to which they give the meaning of
carefully preserving. The verb, however,
never has this signi-
fication,
but only: "to conceal, to cover, to secrete." In this
sense
it occurs in Arabic; the Syriac significations, "to seal up,"
and
"to stain," and "to disfigure" (comp. in reference to the
latter,
a]fani<zein in Matt. vi. 16), are but derivatives from it.
In
Hebrew it occurs in Jer. ii. 22, " Though thou wash thyself
ever
so much, yet is thine iniquity concealed before Me;" and
in
Mtk,
gold, prop. "the covered," comp. rvgs in Job xxviii. 15.
Hence
would the word Mtkm (a word first formed
probably by
David)
mean "a secret" a song with a deep import. Un-
derstood
in this sense, the designation is in the highest degree
suitable.
How does the Psalm conduct us into the mysterious
depths
of the divine life! how deeply mystical is its very language!
Its
whole subject is quite dark to those who are not experienced
in
the ways of the Lord We should greatly, however, err, did
we
suppose that David, in giving to many Psalms, in the super-
scription,
the predicate of “the secret,” denied that character
PSALM XVI. VER. 1. 233
to
the rest. It is rather common to them all, and is ascribed to
some
particular ones, only because they are parts of the whole;
still,
of course, to such as peculiarly possess this character. The
same
also holds good, for example, of the name lykWm, "didactic
Psalm."
We must everywhere understand it positively, not ex-
clusively.
All the Psalms are didactic; and in many this cha-
racter
is even more prominently displayed than in those which
are
expressly called such, so that there was no need for any
N.
B. to that effect in the superscription. From the above re-
marks,
it appears that Michtam in the
superscription was as a
"procul
profani;" it cried out, at the very outset, to the readers,
"0
the heights and the depths which the Spirit of God alone
can
reveal!" The connection between this word and the btkm,
in
Isa. xxxviii., does not need to be wholly given up. It is not
improbable
that the latter forms the groundwork of our desig-
nation,
and that David only, by the change of a letter, trans-
formed
a word of a very common meaning, into one of deep
signification.
Ver. 1. Preserve me, 0 God; for in Thee do I put my trust.
What
an infinite fulness of matter these simple words conceal
within
themselves, is shown by the subsequent development.
On
the words, "Preserve me, 0 God," Luther remarks: "He
here
begins like a man who sees his destruction before his eyes,
who
is abandoned by all, and must presently die. Such a man
would
speak in the following manner: Behold, I must die; my
strength
is departed from me; angels and men have forsaken
me,
nay, devils and men seek to devour me. I cannot escape;
no
one cares for my soul; every one already looks on me as lost,
and
bewails me as dead. Therefore, Lord, Thou alone art my
preserver
and my deliverer, Thou, who savest him that is re-
garded
as lost, and makest the dead to live, and liftest up the
oppressed:
Lord, deliver me, let me not be brought to shame.
As
he says elsewhere in Ps. xxxi. 5: Lord, into Thy hands I
commit
my spirit.—So fares it with the godly: he dies daily,
and
still is always delivered and preserved. And this is the new
life
of faith and hope, which is celebrated in this Psalm, namely,
the
life under the cross, the life in the midst of death . . . .
Let
us therefore here learn that we must call upon the Lord,
especially
in distress, when we are ready to perish; in which cir-
cumstances
the children of men do everything but call upon the
Lord,
and rather renounce all hope, and give themselves up to
234 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
despair."
On the other words, "For I trust in Thee," he also re-
marks:
"See how trust here calls upon the Lord. How can he
call
upon the Lord who does not confide in Him? Confidence and
believing
trust are reckoned among those things which God, in
compassion,
will regard graciously, and through which He will
make
us eternally blessed, as we see here. Nothing can stand,
nothing
can uphold or deliver, when matters come to such a
pass,
but a pure and firm faith, which grounds itself solely upon
the
Divine compassion, and which promises itself nothing from
itself,
but everything from God. . . . Whenever man places
his
hope on anything else than on the Lord our God, he cannot
say:
I trust in Thee. Hence should all persons in misery, and
wrestling
with despair, take heed that they labour and strive
after
the state of mind here described. This most excellent and
noble
emotion, confidence in God, forms the distinction between
the
people of Christ, who are His property, and those who are
not
His people; and here there is no respect of persons, no rank
nor
title." But this confidence is considered here, not simply as
an
emotion, but also in reference to its object: whosoever places
his
confidence on the Lord, his confidence and salvation is He.
That
both are here to be taken into account, that the Psalmist's
ground
of hope is not a subjective one merely, but also an ob-
jective
one, is evident from what follows.
Ver. 2. (0 my soul) thou sayest to Jehovah, Thou art my
Lord, my salvation is
not without Thee.
The T;r;maxA second
person
fem., can only be explained by supposing the address to
be
directed to the soul (fem.). For the soul to be addressed,
or
introduced as speaking, is no unusual thing: comp. Ps. xlii.,
xliii.,
in which the Psalmist constantly addresses his soul anew,
and
stirs it up to confidence and hope in God; Jer. iv. 19, and
especially
Lam. iii. 24, 25: "The Lord is my portion, saith my
soul;
therefore will I hope in Him. The Lord is good unto them
that
wait upon Him, to the soul that seeketh Him," —where
allusion
seems to be made to our Psalm. The difference between
this
latter passage and the one before us is only this, that here
the
soul is not expressly named; but such an omission is quite
in
keeping with the enigmatical character of our Psalm, and the
general
difficulty of its style; and analogies may be produced for
it
from the Arabian poets, perhaps also from 1 Sam. xxiv. 11,
2
Sam. xiii. 39. The majority of modern expositors would read
yTir;maxA
"I
speak:" But this is opposed both by external autho-
PSALM XVI. VER. 2. 235
rities
and by internal grounds. The expression, "I speak,"
would
be extremely bald and tame; the address to the soul gives
dramatic
life to the discourse. The Psalmist, after he has uttered
the
solemn words, "I put my trust in Thee," holds converse
with
his soul, and brings to its mind that this is in reality its
settled
feeling, that it cannot despair in times of trouble, with-
out
flagrantly contradicting itself. The consequence of this is,
that
the soul, having again become conscious of itself, "rejoices
and
is glad," in the sure expectation of God's salvation, ver. 9.
Such
interlocutions, in which the sacred bards still and pacify
their
souls, like a child weaned by his mother, Ps. cxxxi. 3, have
something
indescribably moving and touching. The first ex-
pression
of trust in the true God is this, that we say to Him,
"Thou
art the Lord;" the uncontrolled ruler over all in heaven
and
on earth; the possessor of all power; the dispenser of all
safety;
the One, without whom not a hair of our head can fall,
who
holds every breath of those who threaten us with destruc-
tion;
the almighty Lord, whom heaven and earth obey; the
supreme
God, who has, and can do everything. "Who is it that
orders
all things? Who distributes all gifts? It is God; and
He
also is the One who can supply counsel and aid when we
are
ready to sink." Trust in God manifests itself, further, in
the
lively acknowledgment that He is the sole author of salva-
tion—that
it is to be sought and found only in Him, not in
those
whom the world calls gods. This knowledge, which is
a
simple outflow of the conviction, that God is the Lord—for,
being
this, He must also be the only author of redemption—is
expressed
in the words, "my good is not without Thee," or be-
side
Thee; to which many analogous passages might be pro-
duced
from our own sacred poetry, such as: "All that I am and
have,
comes from the hand of God; all is the gift of the High-
est,
nothing happens by chance; God alone is everything to
me,
He shall ever be my helper; all else that is to be found on
earth
soon vanishes," etc. That special reference is made here
to
the gods, when preservation is ascribed to God alone, appears
from
ver. 4. This special reference is, however, a non-essential
element:
the gods are noticed only as those from whom, if men
do
not recognise Jehovah to be the Lord, they commonly seek
help
and safety; and on precisely the same footing stand one's
own
power, the aid of one's fellow-men, and whatever other
objects
of trust exist apart from God. In unison with Ps.
236 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
lxxiii.
25, "Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is
none
on earth that I desire beside Thee," the Psalmist renounces
all
such helpers and dispensers of good, and thereby proves that
he
has said in perfect sincerity, "I trust in Thee."
We take hbvF, "good," in
the sense of preservation and
prosperity,
resting upon the contrast of "sorrows," in ver. 4,
and
upon the corresponding words, "my part, my cup, my lot,
my
inheritance," in vers. 5 and 6. jylf, we expound, "out of
Thee,
beside Thee," prop. "in addition to Thee," with allusion to
Ex.
xx. 3, "Thou shalt have no other gods beside Me," ynp lf,
prop.
in addition to Me; LXX. plh>n e]mou?, Targ. ynm rb. This
passage
is the more important, as the Psalmist obviously had it
in
his eye; which we shall be the less inclined to doubt, after an
examination
of the beginning of ver: 4. Just as the words,
"Thou
art, the Lord," are the soul's response to the words in
Ex.
xx. 2, "I am the Lord thy God," so the words, "Thou alone
art
my salvation," are the response to the command, "Thou shalt
have
no other gods beside Me;" they are the soul's declaration,
that
what should be, actually is. The nearest approach to the
exposition
we have given is that of Sym., a]gaqo<n mou ou]k e@stin
a@neu sou: that of Jerome, Bonum meum non est sine
te; as also
that
of the Chal. and Syr., "Thou art my highest good." A
decisive
objection to this last is, the reference to the Decalogue
and
vers. 4, 5, 6, according to which, not only the above, but
also
the beside is excluded. That lf does not absolutely require
such
an exposition, is evident, not only from the ground passage
but
also the examples in Gesenius's Thes.
under lf 1, b. g:
though
these latter need sifting. Still more decidedly objection-
able
is the exposition of Boettcher, Gesen., and others: “All my
prosperity
is not above Thee; the best which I have, I prefer,
not
to Thee.” The unsoundness of this view appears from th
antithesis
in ver. 4: "many are the sorrows, etc.;" from the
positive
declaration in ver. 5 of what is here negatively expressed;
from
the reference to the Decalogue; and, finally, because this
thought
cannot be considered as a carrying out of the sentiment
"I
put my trust in Thee" (which alone is sufficient), nor as
suiting
the Psalm as a whole. The same grounds also, for the
most
part, decide against the exposition: "My good is not over
Thee,"
= I can do Thee no good, which, after the example of
the
LXX. (o!ti tw?n a]gaqw?n mou ou] xrei<an e@xeij), Calvin pro-
pounds.
“The sum," says he, "is this, that when we approach
PSALM XVI. VER. 2. 237
to
God, we must lay aside all self-confidence. For if we imagine
that
there is something in ourselves, we need not be surprised if
He
repel us, since we rob Him of the chief part of His honour."
This
thought, however excellent in itself as a development of
the
words, "I trust in Thee," does not suit the context, nor even
the
parallelism. But ver. 5 in particular is against it. The
contrast
with the pains or sorrows, which are experienced by the
servants
of false gods, shows that by the good of the Psalmist,
must
be understood, not the good which he does, but that only
which
he receives, which is imparted to him, namely, prosperity
or
deliverance: comp. hbvF in this signification,
Ps. cxvi. 5,
"Visit
me with Thy favour, that I may see the good of Thy
chosen,"
Job ix. 25. Utterly to be rejected also is the exposition
of
Kimchi and Jarchi, "Thou art not under obligation to do me
good;"
as also that of Luther, "I must suffer for Thy sake," in
connection
with the following verse, which he renders, "for the
saints,
who are upon the earth, and for the honourable." We
have
then, indeed, a sense which is applicable to Christ alone,
but
at the expense of the whole connection and train of thought.
In
his comm., however, he goes along with the LXX.
Ver. 3. With the saints that are in the land, and the honour-
able ones, in whom is
all my delight.
With this his confidence
in
Jehovah, the conviction that He alone is the Lord, the sole
author
of salvation, the Psalmist does not stand alone; he has
it
in common with the
the
highest gifts, invests with high dignity, and to which, on
this
account, the Psalmist cleaves with a fervent love. As a
member
of this Church, which has its seat in the land of the
Lord,
he trusts in the Lord as his only Saviour, disdaining
all
those whom the world, the surrounding heathen nations,
have
forged to themselves. According to this exposition, l has
quite
its common signification, and Stier's objection, that the
ellipsis,
joining myself, is too hard, is
without force; as there is
just
as little of an ellipsis here, as in the dvdl, "belonging to
David,"
in the superscription. l
is used in
a quite similar man-
ner
(de eo quorsum quis pertinet, Gesen. in Thes.
s. v.), for
example,
1 Kings xv. 27: Baasha the son of Ahijah, rkwy tybl,
belonging
to the house of Issachar. By the holy and honour-
able
persons, are not designated certain individuals, or a particular
class
in
able,
the whole people of the covenant; and this predicate con-
238 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
tinues
to be applied to the whole, although a great part of the
individuals
may have excluded themselves, by their own guilt,
from
an actual participation in this dignity. The souls that are
cut
off from their people are considered as absent, though they
may
still be present as to the body. In favour of this reference
to
the Church at large, decides, first, the expression, "who are
in
the land;" then a comparison of the original passages on which
the
designation is based: Ex. xix. 6, "And ye shall be to Me a
kingdom
of priests (comp. the royal priesthood, as applied in
1
Peter ii. 9 to the whole Church of the New Testament), and
a
holy people;" and Deut. vii. 6, “For thou art an holy people
to
the Lord thy God; the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be
a
special people to Himself, out of all peoples that are on the
earth."
As a predicate of the whole people, the term " holy"
is
found also in Ps. xxxiv. 9, Dan. viii. 24, vii. 21. That the
term
"holy" here does not designate moral quality, but dignity,
appears
not only from the passages already referred to, but also
from
the parallel Myrydx, which never denotes
the noble in senti-
ment,
but the noble in dignity, and is excellently rendered in
the
Berleb. Bible by "serene highness." The saints are the
chosen
ones, those whom God has taken out of the region of
the
profane world, and raised to be His people. Of this eleva-
tion
in dignity, an elevation in sentiment is certainly the con-
sequence.
The election of God, first of all, and above all,
manifests
itself in His appointing institutions, providing arrange-
ments,
and communicating powers, through which He makes
to
Himself a people that is zealous of good works.
Crxb, which must be translated, not, "on the earth," but
"in
the land," points to the
dwelling-place of the holy, and the
honourable.
The
cumscribed
in point of space; its place is the land of the Lord.
The
opposite of the saints, who are in the land, are the foreign
worshippers
of idols, of whom mention is made in ver. 4. Out
of
the land there are no holy and honourable ones, but such only
as
Jehovah has not chosen, and who do not trust in Him, do not
say
to Him, "Thou art the Lord, my salvation is not out of
Thee,"
but rather purchase others. This same connection be-
tween
the people of the Lord, and His land, is brought to view
by
David, in 1 Sam. xxvi. 19, where he says to Saul, "And if
the
children of men (have stirred: thee up against me), cursed
be
they before the Lord; for they have driven me out this day
PSALM XVI. VER. 3. 239
from
abiding in the inheritance of the Lord, saying, Go serve
other
gods." Then Josh. xxii. 24, 25, is also very clear, as,
according
to it, the tribes beyond
strictly
speaking, in Canaan, were afraid lest those within
might
say, "What have ye to do with the Lord God of
for
the Lord hath made
you,
ye have no part in the Lord." We see here how close the
union
was represented between an interest in the land of the
Lord,
and an interest in the Lord Himself. So early as in Genesis
we
meet with this localization of the
banishment
from the rest of the human family was equally a
banishment
from the presence of God. Jacob is full of admir-
ing
gratitude to God, when Jehovah revealed Himself to him
after
his withdrawal from the place to which the
was
at that time confined. The deep truth which lies at the
bottom
of this view, is unfolded by Melancthon in his Loci de
Ecclesia,
at the beginning: "By the Church we are to under-
stand
the company of the called, which is the visible Church,
and
are not to dream that we are chosen elsewhere than in this
visible
community. For God does not wish to be called upon
or
acknowledged where He has not revealed Himself; and He
has
nowhere revealed Himself but in the, visible Church, in
which
alone is heard the sound of the Gospel," etc.
The last words properly mean:
"The nobles, of the entirety
of
my pleasure in them;" comp. on the stat. constr. as thus used,
Ewald,
Large Gr. § 303, and the Small, § 509. The ground
of
the Psalmist's satisfaction in the holy and the noble, is their
holiness
and their nobility; he attaches himself with all his heart
to
those, whom God has distinguished above all others, whom
He
has ennobled by His election. Of the erroneous expositions,
we
shall test only the most plausible and widely diffused. 1.
Many,
and among the last, Gesenius, expound: "As regards the
holy,
who are in the land, and the honourable, in them is all my
delight."
But against this it is to be urged, that the stat. constr.
is
never used for the stat. absol.; as here Myrydx would stand for
yrydx. Besides, the sense
thus obtained, does not at all suit the
connection
of the Psalm. As everything to ver. 7 is only an
expansion
of the idea, "In the Lord I put my trust," as it all
only
utters the confidence that is felt in the Lord, so the satis-
faction
of the Psalmist in the saints might well be expressed by
the
way, in a sort of side statement, but could not form a sub-
240 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
stantive
and independent declaration. We must give up either
this
exposition, or the connection. Finally, the words, "who
purchase
another," in ver. 4, immediately connect themselves
with:
"My good is not out of Thee," in ver. 2, and only in this
connection
can we understand the word another;
but this con-
nection
is destroyed the moment we assign to the third verse an
independent
position. Only on our view, according to which the
Psalmist,
in this verse, merely gives utterance to the thought,
that
he was not alone in his recognition of Jehovah, as the
Lord
and the sole author of salvation, but expressed it as a
member
of the
2.
De Wette and others expound: "The saints who, in the
land,
are the honourable, in whom is all my delight." This
exposition
avoids only the first of the objections just mentioned.
The
two others remain against it in full force. According to it
also,
the thought breaks in upon the connection. De Wette,
indeed,
thinks that the sense suits admirably with the sentiment
in
the following verse: "The sense of the verse, according to
our
exposition, is: the poet holds with the pious in the land; by
way
of contrast to which, he declares in the next verse, that he
abhors
the worshippers of idols." But the main idea placed in
the
front of the following verse, "that those who purchase
another
have many sorrows," is thereby left quite out of view,
and
of a horror of the worshippers of idols, there is no mention
in
this verse, when rightly expounded. 3. Hoffmann, in his
"Prophecy
and its Fulfilment," takes the l here as correlative
to
that before Jehovah. In ver. 2, it is what the soul says to
the
Lord; in ver. 4, what it says to the saints. But the address
is,
throughout the whole Psalm, only to Jehovah; ver. 4 con-
tains
nothing, in point of matter, which is peculiarly suitable for
an
address to the saints; in point of form, also, there is not the
least
trace of such an address. It is also against this view, that
it
destroys the whole strophe-construction. Besides, this view
was
advanced before Hoffmann, and was also refuted. Boettcher
remarks
against it: "The reference to ver. 2 involves a too
wearisome
train of thought; in vbry, in ver. 4, a too
indistinct
commencement
for an address, for ordinary readers, not accus-
tomed
to subtleties of exegesis, to perceive it at such a distance
from
trmx."
Ver. 4. The Lord is the only salvation
both of the holy in
the
land, and of the Psalmist. They who seek their salvation
PSALM XVI.
VER. 4. 241
from
others, receive, for the sacrifices through which they en-
deavour
to propitiate their favour, instead of the expected ful-
ness
of gifts, a fulness of sorrows; therefore he turns himself
away
with horror from these others, the idol-gods, he will have
no
part in their abominable service, and their names he will not
take
upon his lips. Many are the sorrows of
those who pur-
chase another; I will
not pour out their drink-offerings of blood,
and not take their names
upon my lips.
Instead of "many are
the
sorrows," Ewald, Maurer, and several others, expound:
"many
are the idols." But this exposition is against the usage;
the
reading must then have been Mh,yBecafE; tvbcf are always
sorrows.
But this assured meaning must be retained here
also
on account of the contrast with hbvF, in ver. 2: "I
seek
my
salvation from the Lord, for with the others are only sor-
rows."
Further, the mention of the many false gods appears
in
such a case out of place here; this explanation also deprives
the
verse of that which constitutes an extension of the Psalmist's
declaration,
"I trust in the Lord," and disturbs its relation to
the
following verse, in which the many sorrows, which alone
one
can obtain from the false gods, are contrasted with the rich
blessings
which the Lord imparts. So much only in that expo-
sition
is right, that the Psalmist probably plays upon the word
Mybcv "idols," points to the mournful
omen contained even in
the
name,—an allusion which has the more significance, as the
two
words, Mybcf
and tvbcf actually
stand in close connection
with
each other, idols having received their name from the
trouble
and toil it cost to make them. On such a commence-
ment
no good end could follow. The sorrows
consist, not merely
in
the disappointed hope, but also in the judgments which God
suspends
over the apostate; comp. Isa. lxv. 14, "Behold, My
servants
shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow
of
heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit." vrhm
rHx many
explain,
with De Wette: "who hasten away elsewhere,"—an
exposition
which was long ago set aside by the older commen-
tators
with the remark, that rHx never signifies, "away else-
where,"
and that we are not justified in giving to rhm here the
signification
of hastening, as this signification
elsewhere belongs
to
it only in Piel, while the Kal is used in Ex. xxii. 15, as also
in
Arabic and Syriac, in a quite different signification, viz. "of
buying
a wife." Luther, who renders: "they who hasten after
another
will have great suffering of heart," has avoided the
242 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
first
objection. But usage admits only one explanation: "who
purchase
another." Against those who allege that "another"
could
not be used thus of other gods without some addition, we
must
not simply appeal, with Boettcher, to the fact, that "He-
brew
poets constantly direct their thoughts toward God, and
Divine
things." The expression, "another," is not used simply
by
itself for other gods; it is more closely defined by ver. 2,
where
the Psalmist described Jehovah as the only Lord, as
the
One, beside whom there is no salvation, and no saviour.
Viewed
in this connection, "the other" can only be another
God
beside Jehovah; and when it is maintained that rHx can
only
signify a false deity, when, as in Isa. xlii. 8, xlviii. 11, it
is
directly contrasted with Jehovah, nothing, in fact, is de-
manded
which is not found here. A more explicit description
was
the less necessary, as, in the Pentateuch, the expression,
go
away after other gods," is currently used. Here, as there,
rHx is employed, not without emphasis, instead of
the proper
term
for idols, by way of teaching that it matters not whom
we
seek, if it be another than Jehovah, the Lord, the only
Saviour.
The word thus clearly shows how unimportant the
distinction
is between idolatry in the strict sense, here primarily
referred
to, and idolatry in the more general sense. If the
only
question is, whether another than the Lord is the object
of
trust, then does mammon (whom our Lord personified for
the
purpose of setting it on a level with the false gods, com-
monly
so called) stand on the same footing as Dagon.
In vrhm several commentators
retain only the general idea of
buying,
purchasing. They perceive here merely a sort, of
antithesis
to the sacrifices with which the worshippers of idols
seek
to propitiate their favour, lavishing much expense upon
their
worship, and reaping in return nothing but sorrows. But
there
is no reason for omitting here the special meaning which
usage
has attached to the word, emit dote uxorem. It furnishes
here
a fuller and deeper sense; and the application of it in such
a
connection is the more natural, as it is by images borrowed
from
the married state, that the relation to the true God and
to
idols is constantly described. These latter received the title
Mybhxm, “paramours.” Applying this idea, the
verb itself
serves
admirably to point out the incongruity of the relation be-
tween
idolaters and idols. According to the oriental fashion, a
man
purchases his wife. From the nature of the case, this also
PSALM XVI. VER. 4. 243
should
take place between the divinity and its worshippers. It
was
the part of the deity to take the initiative, to go forth and
win
the regard of its chosen. And this is precisely what was
done
by Jehovah in relation to
Himself
from the bondage of
met
and
only seeks his love in return. But it was quite otherwise
with
idols. These had done nothing to prove their existence,
or
their love; the relation commences with expensive sacrifices
to
them, on the part of their servants. Such a beginning could
lead
to no other end than the one here mentioned. A bought
god
never can afford salvation; the seed of the sacrifices can
yield
nothing but sorrows. A god who does not begin the con-
nection
by giving tokens of his love, will never show it, and it is a
piece
of folly to cherish such a hope. Analogous is the repre-
sentation
in Hos. viii. 9, "Ephraim hath bought for himself
love;"
and in Ezek. xvi. 33, 34, where the prophet brings out the
absurdity
that, whereas in all other cases presents were given to
the
person loved, the worshippers of idols gave presents to their
lovers,
the idol-gods. The suffixes Mhyksn, "their drink-offer-
ings,"
and Mtvmw,
"their names," are referred
by many expositors
to
those who purchase another, the idolaters; by others, on the
contrary,
to the idols. The admissibility of the latter exposition
cannot
be denied, as the rHx is unity only in an ideal sense, in
opposition
to the one true God, and, in point of fact, compre-
hends
a multiplicity. It is also supported by the undeniable
reference
which the words, "I will not take their names into my
lips,"
bear to the original passage, Ex. xxviii. 13, "Make no
mention
of the name of other gods, neither let it be heard out
of
thy mouth;" on which also Hos. ii. 17 is based, "And I
will
take away the names of the Baalim out of their mouth, and
they
shall be no more remembered by their name." The words
themselves,
also, are opposed to the reference to idolaters; the
pronouncing
of their name, that is, of the name of
the heathen
nations,
the Psalmist could have had no desire to shun. Finally,
the
reference to idols is demanded by the contrast in ver. 5.
The drink-offerings of
blood
are understood by various expositors
literally;
but in this reference to a particular heathenish cus-
tom,
for which only very few proofs can be adduced, and these
with
much difficulty, the connection is not attended to, which
would
lead us to expect a rejection of the worship of false gods
244 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
as
such, of those who are no saviours, and to whom is only given
what
is taken from the true God; not the how,
but the fact of
idolatry,
is an object of abhorrence to the Psalmist. One must
rather,
comparing Isa. lxiii. 3, explain the drink-offerings of
blood
as follows: "drink-offerings which are as much objects
of
abhorrence as if they consisted, not of the wine, which ex-
ternally
they were, but literally of blood." The expression,
"of
blood," was the more natural, as wine is named the "blood
of
grapes" in Gen. xlix. 11, Deut. xxxii. 14, etc. Drink-offer-
ings,
outwardly of the blood of grapes, inwardly of the blood
of
men.
Ver. 5. Not those others, who only
give sorrow, are the
Psalmist's
salvation; the Lord alone is that, and in Him he
finds
fulness of blessing. The Lord is my
portion and my cup;
Thou makest my lot
glorious.
The meaning is given quite cor-
rectly
by Muis "All my good is of God, and in God alone."
That
the Psalmist here names God his portion, not after the
manner
of the pure love of the mystics, does not count himself,
blessed,
as Boettcher supposes, on account of his inward union
with
God, but rather simply declares that God is the sole
author
of his salvation, is clear from the circumstance, that
this
verse further carries out the sentiment, "I put my trust in
Thee;"
also from the expression, "Thou makest glorious my,
lot;"
but especially from the affirmation in ver. 2, "My good
is
not apart from Thee," which here returns in another form
(according
to which the Psalmist expressly renounces connec-
tion
with those who seek good out of God), and, finally, from
the
contrast of the many sorrows which the service of those
others
brings in its train. The Lord is viewed here, therefore
according
to the entire fulness of the blessings and gifts which
belong
to Him; and the declaration, "The Lord is my portion
and
my cup," is substantially the same as if he had said: What
the
Lord has, and gives, that alone do I seek; that is for me,
and
with it I am content. This meaning receives confirmation
as
the only correct one, from a comparison of the original pas-
sages
in the Pentateuch, which the Psalmist manifestly has in
view
here. They are those in which the Lord is designated.
Levi's
portion and inheritance: Num. xviii. 20, "The Lord
spake
unto Aaron, Thou shalt have no inheritance in their
land,
neither shalt thou have any part among them; I am thy
part
and thine inheritance among the children of
PSALM XVI. VER.
6. 245
where
J. H. Michaelis thus gives very correctly the sense:
"From
Me alone thou shalt receive what is amply sufficient;
and
what things are due to Me, these shall be thine;" Deut.
x.
9, xviii. 1, 2, where the words, "The Lord is his inherit-
ance,"
are explained by, "The offerings of the Lord and His
inheritance
shall they eat." Not as if it were demanded of
Levi,
to be content with the simple enjoyment of the favour
of
God, and to consider this as compensation for his sacrifices,
resigning
all happiness besides. Rather was a participation in
the
rich goods of the Lord assigned him as compensation. So
here
also the declaration, "The Lord is my portion," is equiva-
lent
to: In the possession of the Lord and His goods and gifts,
I
freely give up to the world its seeming
givers and goods,
which,
more carefully examined, are but sorrows.
Calvin
justly
remarks, that the opposite state of feeling, unbelieving
and
ungrateful dissatisfaction with the highest and only good,
or
the only true source of all happiness, is the basis of super-
stition
and of all false worship. On the form tnm, comp. on
Ps.
xi. 6. What is the import of, "The Lord is my cup," is
evident
from Ps. xxiii. 5, "My cup runneth over;" comp. also
Ps.
xi. 6. The Lord is for His people a cup which is never
empty,
and never suffers them to become thirsty, the source of
all
good; He provides them richly with everything that can
contribute
to their refreshment during life, so that it were
thankless
folly for them to seek for refreshment elsewhere.
The
last words are commonly expounded: "Thou supportest,
or
maintainest, my lot." After the example of the older trans-
lators,
j`ymvt
is taken as a participle. But such a participle-form
is
wholly without example. The JsiOy in Isa. xxix. 14, and
xxxviii.
5, which is referred to, is manifestly not a participle,
but
the third person Future. It is to be observed, besides, that
the
expression, "to support or maintain the lot," has a strange
sound;
the Psalmist's lot is not maintained
by God, but be-
stowed
on him. As the word stands here, it can scarcely be
anything
else than the Fut. in Hiph. of j`my. Now this verb
has
in Arabic the highly suitable signification, amplus fuit;
consequently,
in Hiph. "to make broad, glorious." So first
Schultens
Inst. ad fundam. 1. Hebr. p. 298.
Ver. 6. My possession has fallen to me in bliss; also a goodly
heritage became mine. The sense is
excellently given by Calvin:
"He
confirms what he had already said in the preceding verse,
246 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
namely,
that he rested with a composed and tranquil mind in
the
one God (and His salvation); may, he so glories therein,
that
he looks down with contempt on whatever the world might
imagine
to be desirable apart from God." MylbH, "lines,"
“measuring
cord,” then the "measured out portion, the posses-
sion."
So Josh. xvii. 5. The possession of the Psalmist is the
Lord,
with His goods and gifts. The falling
is, according to
most
interpreters, derived from the figure of a lot. But no
ground
exists for this supposition. lpn with l
occurs, in
the
signification
of, "to fall to any one," without respect to casting
lots,
in Num. xxxiv. 2, Judges xviii. 1. Mymyfnb is commonly
rendered:
"in pleasant places." But against this Boettcher
justly
alleges, that no example is to be found of an adjective, not
of
, local import, being directly used in regard to localities; that
tvmyfn, in ver. 11, is parallel with tvHmw; and that in Job xxxvi.
11,
the equivalent Mymyfnb is used with the signification, "in
bliss."
These reasons are decisive. The plural is used here,
as
frequently, to mark the abstract: "delightful things," for
"delightfulness,
bliss." But when Boettcher further maintains,
that
"in delightfulness" stands for, "in the most delightful
manner,"
we cannot agree with him. When a noun with b,
follows
the words, "a possession fell to me," every one expects
it
to designate the locality of the possession. We consider the
bliss
and delight as the spiritual region, in which a possession
has
fallen to the lot of the Psalmist. Jx is used here, as also
in
ver. 9, not as a particle of enhancement, but with a weaker
import,
in the sense of also; comp. Winer, s.
v. tlHn is,
not
stat.
constr., but a poetical form of the stat. absol. The expres-
sion,
"an inheritance, it is excellent," is a loose construction
for,
"an inheritance, which is excellent," a glorious or goodly
heritage.
ylf
strictly means, upon me, for,
"it is with me," "I
possess
it," and is to be explained by the fact, that the possessor
of
anything is considered as its bearer. Precisely so is lf used
in
Ps. vii. 8, cxxxi. 2, Neh. v. 7. Quite correctly already
Luther:
"A fine inheritance has become mine." Gesenius,
De
Wette, and others, render: "and the possession pleases me."
But
then Jx,
which can only mean also, not and, must be con-
nected,
not with the noun, but with the verb; we should have
expected
the art. or the suff. at tlHn; and though rpw with lf
occurs
in Chal. in the sense of to please,
it never does so in
Hebrew.
PSALM XVI. VERS. 7,
8. 247
Ver. 7. I will bless the Lord, who has counselled me; also
by night my reins
admonish me.
The words, "who has coun-
selled
me," receive light by being viewed in connection with
what
precedes. The Psalmist, placed in the midst of posses-
sions,
knows not what to choose, or where to settle. Then the
Lord
conveys to him the counsel, to choose the pleasant inherit-
ance
delineated in the preceding verses, i.e. to put his trust in
Him,
to seek his salvation only in Him, to turn to Him as the
only
Saviour; and this counsel he celebrates here with grate-
ful
praise. Calvin: "Finally, David confesses that it was en-
tirely
of the grace of God, that he had come by faith into the
possession
of so great a good. For the mere gracious offer by
itself
is nothing, seeing it is made to all alike. We must there-
fore
know that both are the gift of God's free grace—His
being
our inheritance, and our possessing Him in faith." The
object
of the counsel is inaccurately defined by Jarchi, "to
choose
the life, and to walk in His ways;" by De Wette,
"that
I have remained true to Him;" and by Boettcher, "not
to
renounce it,"—to say nothing of the arbitrary view of Hitzig.
Others
render: "because He has cared for me;" but this ex-
planation
is philologically baseless. Cfy with the accus. signi-
fies,
"to give any one counsel;" comp. Ex. xviii. 19; Jer.
xxxviii.
15; 1 Kings i. 12. In the second clause, that to which
the
Psalmist is admonished, is manifestly the praise and thanks-
givings
mentioned in the first. The impulse to thank the Lord
for
His gracious counsel, springing from the most profound and
lively
apprehension of the greatness of the salvation, with which
the
Psalmist had been mercifully favoured, is so powerful in
him,
that it continues with him even through the night-season,
and
leads him to praise and give thanks, when the whole world
is
asleep.
Here begins the second part of the
Psalm, in which hope
springs
out of confidence.
Ver. 8. I set the Lord always before me; because He is at my
right hand, I shall not
be moved.
According to the connection,
the
eye of the Psalmist continually directed to the Lord, hopes
in
the very midst of difficulty (ver. 8), or looks to the Lord to
be
a helper in trouble and death. Luther: "Such a thing
gives
fresh courage and an undaunted heart to those who have
God
always before their eyes; so that even adversity, the cross,
and
sufferings, can then be cheerfully met and borne. Verily,
248 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
such
a faith can be overmastered and vanquished by no cross
and
calamity." In the words, Because He
is, etc., the Psalmist
gives
the ground of his hope being placed upon the Lord. The
hope
is based on confidence. The expression, "He is on my
right
hand," as my Saviour and helper, corresponds to the, "I
put
my trust in Thee," in ver. 1, and briefly sums up the sub-
stance
of vers. 2-7, where the Psalmist sets forth that the Lord
is
his Saviour.
Ver. 9. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices;
my flesh also shall rest
secure. Therefore,
namely, because the
Lord
is on my right hand, and I therefore shall not be moved.
In
the preceding verse, "I hope in the Lord, for He is my
Saviour;"
here, "He is my Saviour, therefore I hope in Him;
I
am full of joy and gladness, and sure of my deliverance."
The
glory or honour is here also an emphatic designation for the
soul.
What the heart and soul rejoice in, namely, the certainty
of
salvation, security in trouble and against death, is clear from
the
parallel: "My flesh also shall dwell secure," in ver. 10. By
the
flesh, many of the Messianic interpreters understand the
lifeless
body, the corpse; to this the Psalmist is considered to
promise
a safe repose in the tomb; so Luther: "My flesh also
will
lie secure." But the following
reasons are against this: 1.
rwb, “flesh,” denotes elsewhere, when used in
connection with
the
soul and heart, not the corpse, but
the living body: the soul
in
such cases is not that which is separated from the body, but
the
soul in the body. Comp. Ps. lxiii. 1, "My soul thirsteth
for
Thee, my flesh longeth for Thee;" lxxxiv. 2, "My soul
longeth,
yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord, my heart
and
my flesh." 2. The expression, HFbl Nkw, cannot of itself
be
properly understood of the rest of the body in the grave; the
word,
"to dwell," is not very suitable, as is clear from the fact,
that
these expositors for the most part quietly substitute, "to
lie,"
in its place. And if we compare the primary and parallel
passages,
this exposition appears all the more inadmissible. In
them,
the expression denotes a condition of settled prosperity,
endangered
and disturbed by no hostile assault. So Deut. xxxiii.
12,
of Benjamin, "The beloved of the Lord shall dwell in safety
with
him;" ver. 28, "And Israel dwells in safety,"—which
passages,
in particular the latter, are the rather to be considered
as
primary or ground-passages, seeing that the expression of,
"to
dwell safely," when used of an individual, has a certain air
PSALM XVI. VER. 10. 249
of
strangeness, and that there is an unquestionable reference to
it
in Ps. iv. 8, "For Thou, Lord, only makest me to dwell in
safety."
Comp., besides, Jer. xxiii. 6, xxxiii. 16; Judges xviii.
7.
3. The succeeding context decides against the exposition in
question.
For, first, the circumstance that there the "soul" is
substituted
for "flesh," naturally leads us to reject the idea that
here
the flesh denotes the soulless body. Then, we do not find
there,
as that interpretation would lead us to expect, the hope of
preservation
in death, but of preservation against
death.—We
may
not, therefore, even adopting the strict and direct Messianic
meaning,
refer the words to secure repose in the grave, but only
to
salvation and deliverance in general. That Peter understood
the
words so, appears from his finding in the words of the
following
verse a declaration of Christ's preservation, not in
death,
but from it.
Ver. 10. For Thou, my only good, my portion and my cup,
Thou,
who makest my lot glorious. That we must fill up thus,
appears
from the words, "Thy holy ones," in the second member
–Thou wilt not leave my soul to hell, nor
give up Thy holy, ones
to see the grave. The confidence of
salvation expressed in the
preceding
verse, is here grounded upon the consideration, that the
Lord,
as the Psalmist's Saviour, cannot surrender him a prey to
death.
The corresponding positive idea is presented in the next
verse,
viz. that He will impart to him life, joy, and bliss. bzf
with
l,
means, "to leave over, to give up to any one;" Comp.
Lev.
xix. 10; Ps. xlix. 10; Job xxxix. 14. The exposition of
Luther,
and of many others: "Thou wilt not leave my soul in
hell,"
has both usage and the parallelism against it; accord-
ing
to which, the pious is not even to see the grave, and, conse-
quently,
his soul will not attain to hell (sheol). Peter, for the
sake
of whom this exposition has been adopted, has not followed
it.
He renders, in Acts ii. 27, "Thou wilt not leave my soul
to
hell," ei]j %!dou, or, according to
Lachman'', %!dhn,
as also the
LXX.
have "not to die and be buried,"—this is the hope
Peter
finds expressed in the Psalm, and realised in Christ, not-
withstanding
His death and burial. For a death such as His
(and
in consequence of His, that also of His people), is but as a
passage
into life, and does not deserve the name of death. We
may
here also take into account the words of Christ, Matt. ix. 24:
"The
maid is not dead, but sleepeth." Comp. also John xi. 11.
—To
decide between the two readings, j~ydysH, "Thy holy
250 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
ones,"
and j~dysH,
"Thy holy one," is difficult. Were the latter
a
mere Kri, we should not hesitate to reject it, as of no greater
consequence
than a conjecture of some modern critic. But the
matter
is not so. A great many manuscripts, and among them
some
very good ones, have "Thy holy one" in the text. All
the
old translations express the singular, and so also do Paul
and
Peter in their quotations. Besides this, the Jewish polemical
interest,
their opposition to the Messianic interpretation, favoured
the
plural reading j~ydysH. The passages in Jewish writers, in
which
it is employed for this purpose, may be found collected
by
Aurivillius, de vera lectione vocis, jydysH. We are still in-
clined,
however, to regard the plural form as the original read-
ing.
It is supported, 1. By the preponderance of the external
critical
authorities; the testimony of the manuscripts, which is
chiefly
upon its side, cannot be outweighed by the testimony of
the
old translations, which carry no great weight in such matters.
2.
The plural, as the more difficult reading, might readily be
exchanged
for the more easy singular by those who knew not
what
to do with it, seeing that, throughout the rest of the
Psalm,
one individual appears as the speaker. That the Jewish
polemical
interest favoured the plural, is not enough to counter-
balance
this reason; for such considerations can never ex-
ercise
more than a partial influence.—Taking the plural as
the
correct reading, we perceive here, as was remarked in the
introduction,
the non-individualistic character of the Psalm, its
destination
for all pious persons, precisely as in Ps. xvii. 11.—
The
expression, "Thy holy ones," contains the ground of con-
fidence.
It combines all that the Psalmist—or those in whose
name,
and out of whose soul he speaks—has uttered, in vers.
2-8,
with regard to his relation to the Lord; the pious, or holy
man,
is he who trusts in the Lord, takes Him for his only good
etc.—
tHw is
rendered diafqora<n by the LXX.; and that there
is
a noun tHw
with the meaning "corruption," derived from
tHw, “to corrupt, destroy,” beside the common tHw, which is
derived
from Hvw,
and signifies, pit, grave, is
recognised even by
Gesenius
and Winer. But the passage which is
chiefly appealed
to,
Job xvii. 14, is by no means decisive, since the common
signification,
"pit, grave," may very well be admitted there as
parallel
with worm; and the most urgent
reasons ought to be
produced,
as it is very improbable that one and the same word
can
have different derivations and meanings. Here
the sense
PSALM XVI. VER. 11 251
of corruption is the less admissible,
as the same expression hxr
tHw is elsewhere, Ps. xlix. 9, demonstrably used in
the sense of,
"to
see the grave." The defenders of the other exposition have
wrongly
adduced the authority of Peter in support of it. It
appears
that Peter, Acts ii., who undoubtedly addressed the
"men
of Judah and the inhabitants of
Aramaic
dialect, took tHw (he probably retained the word) in
the
sense of grave, and not of corruption; for, to the expression,
"see
tHw,"
corresponds, in reference to David, the expression,
"He
died and was buried, and his sepulchre is with us to this
day;"
as also the expression, "he died," corresponds to, "Thou
wilt
not leave my soul to hell." Hence it appears, that no stress
is
to be laid upon the diafqora<, which Luke may easily
have
adopted
from the received translation. The argument of Peter
remains
in full force, even if we substitute grave
for corruption,
if
only we understand by "seeing the grave," something abiding
continuous.
"Seeing life," is always in such a sense. Christ's
death
and burial are not considered as death and burial. Paul,
also,
in his line of argument, Acts xiii. 36, 37, lays no stress
upon
the idea of corruption, as distinguished from the grave:
"David,
after he had in his own generation served the will of
God,
fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw cor-
ruption;
but He, whom God raised again, saw no corruption."
The
argument is not at all overthrown, if we substitute grave
for
corruption. Christ did not see the grave in the same sense
that
David did; He did not see it in the sense of the Psalmist.
Ver. 11. Thou wilt make known to me the way of life;
fulness of joy is mine
before Thy face; blessedness through Thy
right hand for evermore. The Psalmist hopes to
receive from
the
Lord, his Saviour and his confidence, negatively, preservation
from
death (the preceding verse), positively, life, joy, and bliss.
The
way of life is, as Luther rightly renders: the way to life.
In
Prov. ii. 19, the paths of life are the paths which lead to life.
Life
is in the first instance opposed to that death, from which
the
Psalmist hopes, in ver. 10, to be preserved; and therefore it
is
incorrect to interpret life, as some
do, to mean exactly salvation.
But
that, on the other hand, neither bare life, nor bare immor-
tality
is meant, is shown by its connection with joy and bliss. A
miserable
life is not to be called life at all, in the Bible sense;
it
is only a form of death. The words, "Thou wilt make
known
to me the way of life," involve, therefore, a double idea:
252 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
"Thou
wilt preserve the in life, and endow me with blessing."
jynp tx, prop. "with Thy countenance,"
occur again in Psalm
xxi.
6: "Thou enlivenest him through joy with Thy counte-
nance."
The joy springs out of fellowship with the Lord's
countenance,
which was turned towards the Psalmist; light
breaks
in upon the darkness of his misery. Comp. Ps. iv. 6,
"Lift
upon us the light of Thy countenance." Ps. lxxx. 3.
jnymyb can only mean, "through Thy right
hand;" and the in-
terpretation
of Luther and others, "at Thy right hand," is
wrong.
As joy-proceeds from God's countenance, so from His
right
hand, which is almighty either to punish or to deliver,
bliss:
comp. Ps. xvii. 7.
It still remains for us, now that we
have finished our expo-
sition
of the Psalm; to investigate its Messianic import. That
it
has such an import, is certain, even apart from the testimonies
of
the New Testament. The situation does, unquestionably,
appear
to be that of one, who found himself in great danger,
and
whose life was threatened. But the Psalmist does not ex-
press
merely the hope of obtaining deliverance from that par-
ticular
danger; his soul rises higher; he triumphs not only over
a
particular danger of death, but over death itself; he exclaims
confidently,
"Death, where is thy sting? Hell, where is thy
victory?"
The ground of hope leads him beyond
that, which
was
momentarily necessary, and the hope itself is expressed
more
comprehensively. He expresses quite generally the assur-
ance,
that death and the grave can exercise no power over those
who
are inwardly united to the living God; of this he is confi-
dent,
nor for the present moment merely, but for ever, Hcn, in
ver.
11; and on that account, he feels sure, for that present
also,
in respect to which primarily he gives utterance to the
general
hope.
Apart from Christ, this hope must be
regarded as a chimera,
which
the issue will put to shame. David served God in his
generation;
and then he died, was buried and corrupted. But in
Christ,
who has brought life and immortality to light, it becomes
perfectly
true. David, in Christ, could speak as he does here
with
full right. Christ has conquered death, not merely for Him-
self,
but also for His members His resurrection is the ground
of
our resurrection; "for can the head fail to draw its members
after
it?" In so far as what is here hoped for the members, can
PSALM
XVI. 253
only
become theirs through its first becoming the Head's, so far
the
Psalm must be considered as a direct prophecy of Christ.
But how far David himself clearly
understood the Messianic
substance
of his hope, we cannot ascertain. That the prophecy
of
Christ was not a matter of total ignorance to him, is implied
by
the declaration of Peter, in Acts ii. 30, 31. Paul, however,
contents
himself with the simple fact, that the Psalm was fully
verified
in Christ. That the heroes of the Old Testament, in
their
more elevated moments, were favoured with a deep insight
into
the mystery of the future redemption, is presupposed by
our
Lord Himself, John viii. 56. A more or less conscious
connection
between the hope of eternal life, and the expectation
of
Christ, is attended with the less difficulty, as this connection
constantly
appears, where we find, in later times, the hope of
eternal
life expressed in Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel.
Our explanation of the Messianic
import substantially agrees
with
that of Calvin, expressed by him with the greatest clear-
ness
and distinctness in his Comm. on the Acts of the. Apostles:
"When
he glories that he shall not see the grave, he doubtless
considers
himself as a member of Christ's body, by whom death
is
overcome, and its empire abolished. But if David promised
himself
deliverance from the grave, only in so far as he was a
member
of Christ, it is evident that with Christ, as the Head,
we
must take our start."
Many of the older expositors, on the
ground of the New
Testament
quotations of this Psalm, and not perceiving that
the
contrast in them lies, not between David and Christ, but
between
David apart from Christ, and David in Christ, have
maintained
that the Psalm refers directly and exclusively to
Christ,
who is introduced by the Psalmist as speaking. But
against
the Messianic interpretation thus understood, which
was
also advocated in my Christology, there are certain diffi-
culties
not easily disposed of. That the Psalmist should, from
the
commencement, speak in the person of another, does not
comport
well with the prevailing subjective character of the
Psalmodic
poetry; and even from the circle of prophetic lite-
rature,
scarcely can an example be produced, where this is done
so
directly, and without some previous more exact designation of
the
person. Further, the matter of vers. 1-8 is too little of a
special
Messianic character;—a consideration which is unin-
tentionally
shown to be of importance by the forced interpreta-
254 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
tions
to which those are driven, who attempt to introduce a
specially
Messianic element. Also, that in vers. 9-11, the
direct
and exclusive Messianic references rest entirely on a
false
exposition, has already been shown. Further, by this ex-
position
the Psalm is wrested from its connection with so many
others,
which are unquestionably very closely related to it, and,
above
all, with the following one, which is united with it into a
pair.
Finally, we are necessitated by this exposition, to hold
the
reading jydysH,
ver. 10, to be incorrect, which cannot be
done,
at all events, with positive certainty; and the less so, when
we
compare it with Ps. xvii. 11, where, in a similar manner, the
plurality,
concealed under the unity, manifests itself all at once.
—The
only apparent ground for this opinion, the testimony of
the
New Testament, must certainly be regarded as quite decisive
by
any one who examines the citation isolatedly; but those will
judge
differently, who, taking properly into account the whole
relation
in which the New Testament stands to the Old, have
attained
to a comprehensive view of the free and genial manner
in
which our Lord and His Apostles use prophecy for proof.
PSALM XVII.
The situation here, also, is that of
one who finds himself in
great
distress and danger, through hostile oppression. "We
know
that God heareth not sinners; but if any man be a wor-
shipper
of God, and doeth His will, him He heareth." "Let
every
one that names the name of God, depart from iniquity."
—Therefore
does the Psalmist first of all base his supplication to
be
heard on his righteousness; which is
so far removed from
hypocrisy,
that it does not shun the most searching scrutiny of
that
Divine omniscience which penetrates into the most secret
recesses
of the heart. He declares his firm, conviction, that this
scrutiny
will bring to light no contrariety between heart and
mouth,
but rather a perfect harmony between the two, vers.
1-5.
On the foundation thus laid, there then arises a more
confident
and urgent prayer, the reasonableness of which is made
clear
by a detailed and eloquent description of the ungodliness
and
wickedness of his enemies, loudly calling for the interference
of
Heaven; and the conclusion embodies an expression of joy-
ful
hope in the salvation of the Lord, vers. 6-15.
PSALM XVII. 255
The two parts of the Psalm, the
first of which may be de-
scribed
as the porch, and the second as the proper building,
present
themselves to us as distinctly separate. The external
dimensions
of these parts are proportioned to their internal
relation
to each other. The introduction, which declares the
Psalmist
to be in possession of the indispensable condition of
being
heard, comprises five verses; the main burden of the Psalm
is
comprised in the number ten, which is the symbol of complete-
ness.
To this the formal arrangement appears to be confined.
We
might, however, conceive another division, analogous to
that
pointed out in Ps. vii., of strophes, which have an ascending
number
of verses; only that the one in which all the rest are
enclosed,
and into which they run out, instead of beginning,
forms
the conclusion: 2. 3. 4. 5. 1. Each of
those strophes
would
really have pretty much its own proper ideas: vers. 1 and 2,
the
prayer of the Psalmist about his right; vers. 3-5, the ground-
ing
of this his right; vers. 6-9, his prayer for deliverance from
the
wicked who oppressed him; vers. 10-14, the grounding of
this
prayer, pointing to their disregard of all Divine and human
rights,
which called aloud for the interposition of God, and to
their
hitherto prosperous condition, which, as being contrary to
God's
word and nature, could therefore not continue. Finally,
in
ver. 15 we have the expression of hope and confidence in
the
salvation of the Lord. Still, this division cannot be held
with
the same confidence as the first: the last strophe especially,
consisting
of only one verse, renders it very doubtful.
If we assume a particular occasion
for the Psalm, it must
be
one from the times of Saul; to those of Absalom we cannot
assign
it, because the Psalmist appears through the whole as a
private
individual who is oppressed. But the absence of all in-
dividual
traits makes it probable, that the Psalmist does not
speak
in his own person, but in that of the righteous; and this
supposition
is confirmed by ver. 11, where, precisely as in ver. 10
of
the preceding Psalm, the plurality concealed under the unity
comes
distinctly out. The individual character is discounte-
nanced
also by the introduction, vers. 1-5, in which the didac-
tic
tendency—the purpose of directing the members of the
Church
to the fact, that righteousness is the indispensable,
though
also the sure foundation of the hearing of prayer, and
the
bestowment of salvation—can scarcely be overlooked.
This Psalm has many coincidences
with Ps. xvi., which are
256 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
so
important, that they give colour to the idea of both Psalms
having
been united by the author into one pair. (Venema re-
marks:
"Such is the agreement between this Psalm and the
preceding
one, that I am almost disposed to reckon them as one
Psalm.")
First, in both Psalms there is the same formal ar-
rangement,
mainly consisting in this, that the main substance
is
completed in the number ten, with the distinction, that in the
former
one, the introduction consists only of one verse, while in
the
latter it occupies five. Then, the situation in both Psalms
is
precisely the same, that of one who is brought into peril of
life
by the persecutions of wicked and ungodly enemies. Fur-
ther,
the conclusion of both Psalms remarkably agrees. And,
finally,
they present many striking coincidences in particular
points.
Comp. the following expressions: here in ver. 7,
"through
Thy right hand," with the same in Ps. xvi. 11;
"Thou
deliverer of them that put their trust in Thee," here in
ver.
7, with "I put my trust in Thee," in Ps. xvi. 1; "preserve
me,"
here in ver. 8, with "preserve me," in Ps. xvi. 1; and
the
plurality which discovers itself in ver. 11, with the plural
expression,
"Thy pious ones," in Ps. xvi. 10.
Taking into view these several
points, they furnish us with
the
following result. David, intending to prepare a treasure
of
consolation and confidence for the sorely persecuted and op-
pressed
from his own experience during the times of Saul, pre-
sented
it in a whole, divided into two parts. Of the different
subjects
which come under consideration,—namely, confidence
in
the Lord, affording the sure hope of salvation; his own
righteousness;
and the unrighteousness of his enemies,—the
first
is handled in Ps. xvi., and the second and third in the
Psalm
before us. The subject with which he exclusively occu-
pies
himself in Ps. xvi., and which forms the proper theme of
that
Psalm, is referred to again here, for the purpose of bring-
ing
both Psalms into organic connection, and of assigning to Ps.
xvii.
its proper, even a subordinate place. After the Psalmist
had
solemnly protested before God his righteousness, he calls
on
God as the "deliverer of those that trust in Him;" teaching,
that
when once a foundation of righteousness exists, there, cer-
tainly
and fully, confidence attains to the prominent position
assigned
it in Ps. xvi.
Besides this connection with Ps.
xvi., there is one also,
though
not so close, with Ps. vii., which is of importance, espe-
PSALM XVII. VER. 1. 257
cially
in so far as it shows how, in David's case, general prin-
ciples
were evolved out of, and based on, the individual—how
his
own personal experience lies at the foundation even of those
Psalms
which he from the first indited, as it were, out of the
soul
of the Church—how he consoled others only with the con-
solation
with which he himself had been comforted of God.
As
in Ps. vii. there was a porch of six, and a building of twelve
verses,
so we have here a porch of five, and a building of ten
verses.
In both Psalms also the ascent in the number of verses
of
which the strophes are composed, is alike, in so far as this
may
be recognised to have any place in our Psalm. The mat-
ter
of the introduction, the protestation of innocence and right-
eousness,
is in both Psalms the same. Common to both, also,
is
the "arise," in Ps. vii. 6, and here, in ver. 13; and the ex-
pression,
"trier of the hearts and reins art Thou, 0 righteous
God,"
in Ps. vii. 10, agrees with the "proving of the heart,"
etc.,
in ver. 3 here; comp. also Ps. xi. 4, 5.
Finally, vers. 1-5, in this Psalm,
coincide with Ps. xviii.
20-27.
Just as here the prayer for deliverance is grounded
on
righteousness, so there the deliverance obtained is derived
from
righteousness. This coincidence probably led the collector
to
place Ps. xviii. immediately after ours,—a very fitting con-
nection,
since confidence in righteousness, as the ground of sal-
vation,
must grow when it is manifested as such in so glorious
a
manner by experience.
The superscription, "A prayer
of David," can have had no
other
than David for its author, as appears from the remarks
already
made, though it is not to be understood to designate
him
as the one to whose circumstances the prayer refers. The
superscription
in Hab. 1, "A prayer of Habakkuk," formed
on
the model of this, is quite analogous. For, in the whole
chapter,
the Church, and not the prophet, is the speaker.
Ver. 1. Hear righteousness, 0 Lord; attend to my cry, give
ear to my prayer, from
lips without deceit. The
prayer is here
still
only as means to an end; only serves the purpose of intro-
ducing
the Psalmist's protestation of righteousness: the proper
commencement
of the prayer is at ver. 6. The Psalmist begs
that
the Lord would hear righteousness. Instead of the right-
eous,
he puts righteousness, with the view of giving emphasis
to
the fact, that he sought nothing from the holy and right-
eous
God, with whom there is no respect of persons, as a
258 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
matter
of party preference or favouritism; that he laid claim
to
His help and salvation only in so far as righteousness ap-
peared
to be personified in him. He is inwardly penetrated
by
the conviction, that the sine ira et
studio, quorum causas
procul habeo, of which men do but
falsely boast, holds true of
God
in the fullest sense, and he wishes to communicate this
conviction
to others. It has often been found a stone of
stumbling,
that the Psalmist seems here to make his reception
of
the Divine help depend on a condition, which lies beyond
the
reach of sinful men. Several expositors have been induced
thereby,
either to refer the Psalm exclusively to Christ, or at
least,
to maintain that it has its full truth only in Christ. So
Amyrald
remarks: "In the exposition of this Psalm, and of
some
others, the left eye must be so fixed on David, that the
right
may be kept intent on Christ." Luther says: "The
Hebrew
text says simply, ‘Lord, hear righteousness,’ without
attaching
the word my to it. We shall here pass
by the error
of
the Jews, who feign, that David, in consequence of the sin
here
committed of boasting of his own righteousness, afterwards
fell
into adultery; and we only bear in mind, that some of our-
selves
also have taken such offence at this word, as to have
ascribed
all that is said here to Christ." Others seek to avoid
the
difficulty by substituting the righteousness of the cause for
that
of the person. So Luther: "He says, Though I who beg
do
indeed possess no righteousness as to my person, yet is the
cause
in itself worthy, because it concerns Thy word and the
faith;
it is truly righteousness, and worthy that Thou shouldst,
not
leave it to be overthrown;" and Venema, who gives a
somewhat
different delineation of the idea: "Righteous is my
cause,
which I bring before Thee, 0 God; and I have neither
in
thought, in word, nor deed, been guilty of any such things
as
they lay to my charge, and on account of which I am perse-
cuted."
To the like effect, also, J. H. Michaelis, De Wette
and
others. But it is to be objected, that neither here nor in
the
succeeding verses is a trace to be found of any special
reference
to a particular cause: righteousness and integrity in
general
the Psalmist ascribes to himself, protests that his heart
is
pure and upright, and that he has constantly adhered to the
ways
of God. To the righteousness of his cause, the parallel
section
in Ps. xviii. 21 ss., cannot possibly be referred. And,
finally,
even the righteousness of the cause is not of itself suffi-
PSALM XVII. VER. 1. 259
dent
to constitute a foundation for the hope of deliverance, it
is
possible for the wicked also to have a righteous cause, with-
out
having on that score any claim to the Divine help. The
righteousness
of the cause can only be of importance, in so far
as
it arises out of the righteousness of the person; and hence
the
Psalmist, even if he did in the first instance assert the right-
eousness
merely of his cause, would still, at the same time, have
laid
claim to righteousness of person. The legitimate removal
of
the difficulty presents itself as soon as we define more accu-
rately
the idea of the personal righteousness, which the Psalmist
ascribes
to himself: it is not perfect holiness—how far David
was
from laying claim to that, appears from such expressions
as
Ps. cxliii. 2, "Enter not into judgment with Thy servant, for
in
Thy sight shall no flesh living be justified," Ps. xix. 13,—
it
is upright moral effort. If the main bent of the mind is
towards
the fulfilment of the Divine law, God graciously par-
dons
many weaknesses; and such a man is termed righteous.
Righteousness
in this sense is as certainly a distinctive feature
of
the elect, an indispensable condition of Divine help, as that
true
religion has a thoroughly ethical character, and addresses
to
those who dream of being able to put God off with idle feel-
ings,
the solemn admonition, "Be ye holy, for I am holy." It
is
not less required in the New Testament, than it was in the
Old.
John, indeed, says in his First Ep. i. 8, "If we say that
we
have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in
us;"
but he says also, ch. iii. 6, "Whosoever abideth in Him,
sinneth
not (leads no life of sin—sin being used there in the
narrower
sense, just as righteousness here); whosoever sinneth,
hath
not seen Him, neither known Him;" and in ver. 9, "Who-
soever
is born of God, doth not commit sin; for His seed re-
maineth
in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God."
That
here the term,
"righteousness," can only refer to the gene-
ral
tenor of the life, may be inferred even from the contrast in
vers.
1 and 3, with hypocrisy. To draw a more exact line of
demarcation
between the righteousness of endeavour and abso-
lute
sinlessness, could the less occur to the Psalmist's mind, as
the
deep consciousness of human guilt, which was peculiar to
the
Old Testament, did not permit such an idea as the latter
to
present itself either to him or to his readers. As he here
brings
into view the one side, righteousness, because he was now
concerned
with it alone, so elsewhere he lays stress on the other
260 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
side,
without ever dreaming that the one excluded the other.
There
are times also when the prayer, "Hear righteousness, 0
God,"
is for us also the only suitable one; and again other
times,
when the juste judex ultionis, donum fac
remissionis ante
diem ultionis, rushes with power from
the heart. Besides, what
the
Berleb. Bible says is quite correct, "The soul is never in a
state
to desire that its righteousness may be heard, unless it have
already
lost all its own righteousness." The righteousness which
the
Psalmist here urges, always and only shoots forth from the
soil
of pardon of sin, which presupposes the renouncement of
all
one's own righteousness. Righteousness of life is the fruit
of
righteousness of faith, according to the Old Testament plan,
as
most clearly laid down in Ps. li.; and also according to that
of
the New Testament. Still, we must not here, against the
plain
letter, put the righteousness of faith in the room of right-
eousness
of life. The question here is not one about justifica-
tion,
but one about help against enemies, and deliverance from
distress,
which can only be claimed on the ground of an already
existing
righteousness of life.
The majority of expositors consider
the second petition as
terminated
with the words, "attend to my cry," and the words,
"with
lips without deceit," as belonging solely to the third.
According
to them, the ground is twofold on which the Psalmist
rests
his prayer; first, the righteousness of his cause (or of his
person),—then
his faith, which impelled him to seek help from
God,
and which God ought not to put to shame. They main-
tain
that the first requisite could have existed without the latter.
"It
often happens," remarks Calvin, "that even profane men
justly
boast of having a good cause; yet, because they do not
consider
that God governs the world, they shut themselves up
in
their own consciences; and bear injuries more stubbornly and
stedfastly,
because they seek no consolation from faith in God,
and
supplication to Him." The Psalmist must then, it is
thought,
in the last clause, have united both elements together.
But
it is decisive against this view, that according to the whole
tenor
of the first part, it is impossible for any other element than
righteousness
to be brought out independently; the unity thereof
would
be broken, if we deny the reference of the petition, "at-
tend
to my cry," to that which follows. The crying,
like the
prayer, is in place here, only
in so far as it proceeds from lips
without deceit. That these words belong
to both the last peti-
PSALM XVII. VER. 2. 261
tions,
is indicated also by the accentuation, which is opposed to
the
too close and exclusive connection with the third. Every
one
has lips of deceit who comes before God praying for, and
claiming
salvation, without being a righteous person. For, as
it
is certain that salvation is bestowed only on the ground of
righteousness,
that God only hears the righteous, so every prayer
involves
a declaration of righteousness, whether uttered in words
or
not. Whosoever prays without being a righteous person, is
a
hypocrite of the worst kind; not content with deceiving men
thereby,
he would also impose on the all-seeing God, imagining,
in
the blindness of his folly, that God looks only on his counte-
nance,
and not on his heart.
Ver. 2. Let my right go forth from Thee, let Thine eyes behold
uprightness. The Fut. of the verb may
be regarded as expres-
sive
either of the wish or of the hope. Both are much alike as
to
the sense. The emphasis, in any case, is upon the yFpwm,
and
on the Myrwym.
Only on the ground of his right and his
integrity,
does he either expect or desire God's help. The word,
“my
right” (Luther, falsely, "Speak Thou in my cause"),
stands
opposed to partial favouritism: it is not this the Psalmist
desires,
but only the salvation which God, the righteous One,
has
promised to righteousness; and because he desires only this,
only
what God must necessarily grant, and cannot refuse, with-
out
denying His own nature, and the expression thereof in His
word,
the prayer cannot possibly remain unheard, just as little
as
it could have been heard if it had not sprung from such a
root,
if the Divine help had been claimed as a reward of
merely
saying, Lord, Lord. In the second clause, the upright-
ness
is that which is to be beheld, as, in ver. 1, the righteousness
is
that which is to be heard. Because, with a righteous judge,
to
recognise and to deliver uprightness are one and the same
thing,
it is said of God, in the language of emotion, that He does
not
see uprightness, when He allows it to be overthrown. We
must
reject the exposition of Hitzig and De Wette, who, taking
Myrwym adverbially, render, "Thine eyes
behold rightly." The
word
signifies, not correctness, but integrity, honesty; it is never
used
adverbially, not even in Ps. lviii. 1. The idea is foreign to
the
context; this is not the place to say that God is upright, but
that
the Psalmist is upright; uprightness is on the same footing as
righteousness,
as the lips without deceit, the right. The words,
"His
countenance beholds the upright" in Ps. xi. 7, are parallel.
262 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
Luther
remarks: "So that we see, how everywhere zeal and hatred
break
forth against hypocrisy, which the saints avoid with as
great
a horror in themselves, as they bring accusations against it."
Ver. 3. The Psalmist had grounded
his prayer for help, in
the
preceding context, on his righteousness. This indispensable
condition
of salvation actually existed in him; he did not
merely
feign righteousness before the eyes of short-sighted men;
and
therefore (woe to him who cannot do the same) he appeals
to
the judgment of the all-seeing God, who knows the purity of
his
heart, whose inmost recesses are open before Him. Luther:
"He
had prayed that the Lord would regard his righteousness;
now
he declares what sort of confidence he had to rest on, in
begging
this." Thou provest my heart, Thou
examinest it by
night; Thou purgest me,
Thou findest not; my thought oversteps
not my mouth. The Preterites of the
verb mark the past reach-
ing
into the present. The Psalmist appeals to the result of
trials
already held: God is constantly putting men to the proof;
and
there is no reason for rendering, with some, "when Thou
provest,
etc., Thou findest not;" or, with others, to put a demand
in
the place of a simple declaration. The night is named as the
time
when good and evil thoughts in the soul of man spring up
in
greatest force, because he is then free from outward busi-
ness
and influences; and having nothing to scatter them, and
not
being restrained by any regard to, or fear of others, they
come
forth with the greatest force. That the Psalm was an
evening
song, is rendered probable by this allusion alone; comp.
on
ver. 15. In the words, "Thou purgest or purifiest me,"
there
is an allusion to the purifying of gold and silver. Pure
gold
and silver is what stands the test, and is found free from
dross.
Dereser expounds falsely: "Thou purgest and purifiest
me
through tribulations from defects." There is nothing here
of
a purifying through tribulation, though it is often referred to
elsewhere.
God's proving is only represented under the image
of
purifying, so far as in both alike a sure result is obtained in
regard
to the purity or impurity of the object; comp. Prov.
xvii.
3. Thou findest not—namely, anything
that would show
the
affirmation I made of my righteousness to be untrue, or
prove
me to be a hypocrite; one who presents a fair exterior,
but
within is full of ravening and unrighteousness. It is obvious,
that
the purity and righteousness of heart, which the Psalmist
here
lays claim to, is not opposed to the testimony, that the
PSALM XVII. VER. 3. 263
righteous
falls seven times a day. This is clear, especially from
the
last words, which show that the Psalmist only asserts his
freedom
from hypocrisy, and not from frailty. We take ytmz
as
inf. from Mmz.
The fem. form of the inf. in tv, according to
this
form of verbs in ff, occurs in Ps. lxxvii. 9; Ezek. xxxvi. 3.
It
is to be explained from the affinity between verbs ff and hl.
The
ytvmz
is accus., the yp nominative. That the common
sequence
of the words is departed from, the object preceding
the
subject, arises from the fact, that it was not the mouth, but
the
thought, the state of feeling, which was the object of the
Divine
search; comp. the words, "Thou provest my heart."
From
the proving of his internal disposition, the result is derived,
that
the Psalmist's mouth had not gone beyond it, in that, coming
before
God, he gave himself out as a righteous person. Luther,
though
he errs in his translation, yet explains quite correctly in
his
comment.: "The mouth overpasses the
thoughts when it
utters
more, and otherwise, than the heart thinks, so that the
mouth
and heart do not correspond with each other." We
must
reject the other expositions. Gesenius takes ytmz as the
plural
of hm.Aza,
which must be of like import with hm.Azi, and ex-
plains,
"my thoughts overstep not my mouth." But we con-
ceive
that this contains three philological difficulties—hm.Aza never
occurs
elsewhere, the singular suffix in ytmz would stand in the
room
of the plural ytam.oza, the verb in the sing. masc. would be
joined
to a noun in the plural fem.--and the meaning, purchased
at
so dear a rate, is after all not suitable. The question is not,
whether
the Psalmist thinks otherwise than he speaks, but
whether
he speaks otherwise than he thinks,—nor whether his
feeling
agrees with his words, but whether his words agree with
his
feeling—comp. the expression, "not with deceitful lips," in
ver.
I. He appears before God asserting his righteousness;
and
the proving of his heart shows that his mouth had spoken
the
truth. Others take ytmz as the first person Preterite. So
Luther:
"I have purposed to myself, that my mouth shall not
transgress."
But this exposition is contrary to the accents,
according
to which the word has the tone upon the last syllable;
and
the sense, besides, is a quite unsuitable one; "the trans-
gressing
of the mouth," is out of place here. Ewald, De Wette,
and
Koester, connect ytmz with what precedes: "Thou dost not
find
me meditating evil, my mouth transgresses not." But the
external
authority of the accents, the Masorah, and the old
264 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
translations,
are all against it: the expression, "my meditation,"
for,
"that I meditate evil," is hard. rbf cannot, without some
further
explanation, signify "to transgress," and the proving of
the
heart has nothing to do with the
transgressions of the mouth.
According
to the connection, the only thing here in question is,
whether
the utterances of the mouth are confirmed by the con-
dition
of the heart. That the heart, with
its thoughts and in-
clinations,
should here be represented as the proper seat of
righteousness,
and that the hope of salvation should be con-
sidered
well-grounded only where the heart did not need to shun
the
sharpest Divine search, is characteristic as to the moral
platform
of the Old Testament, which, even in its original legal
enjoinments,
did not limit its claims to word and deed, but ex-
tended
them to the whole sphere of thoughts and inclinations.
Ver. 4. As for the doing of man: by the word of Thy lips I
observe the ways of the
transgressor.
The Psalmist protests that
he
has constantly kept far away from the paths of transgressors,
while
pointing at the same time to that which the treading of
these
paths at once suggested, namely, the common corrupt
bent
of the hearts of men, and to the word of God, which he
carefully
followed, as a guide. l is not rarely used, especially
at
the beginning of sentences, in the signification of, "in refer-
ence
to," "in respect of," "as regards;" see Gesell. Thes. p.
732.
tvlfp
stands in its common meaning, doing,
manner of
acting: 2 Chron. xv. 7; Jer.
xxxi. 16; Ps. xxviii. 5. The
doing
of man is the course of action that is natural to man, in
whom
the imagination of the heart is only evil from his youth,
and
that continually (Gen. vi. 5, viii. 21), who has been born
in
guilt, and conceived by his mother in iniquity (Ps. li. 5).
It
is one of the strongest testimonies for the natural corruption
of
man, that a corrupt line of action, a walking in the ways of
the
transgressor, is here spoken of simply as the doing of man.
There
is a parallel passage in 1 Sam. xxiv. 9, where David says
to
Saul, "Wherefore hearest thou men's words?" and in Hos.
vi.
7, "And they as men transgress the covenant" (Manger:
more
humano levitatis; Hitzig's interpretation, "like Adam,"
deserves
rejection simply on the ground that Adam did not
transgress
the covenant); also in Job xxxi. 33, where hypocrisy
is
described without further explanation as natural to man, "If I
covered
my transgressions as man, hiding mine iniquity in my
bosom;"
and in Job xxiii. 12, where the law of man, the course
PSALM XVII. 4. 265
of
life which his natural inclination leads him to take, is de-
scribed
as directly opposed to the law of God, "More than my
law
I have respected the words of His mouth." We should,
then,
entirely mistake if, by the doing of man, we were to un-
derstand
merely the power of evil example, which would also
be
opposed to the parallel passages now adduced, and likewise
against
the quite analogous declaration in Ps. xviii. 23, "And
I
kept myself from mine iniquity."
The Psalmist does not
place
himself in contrast to men, but comprehends himself
amongst
them. That evil-doing is the doing of man, renders
it
exceedingly difficult to keep far from the paths of the trans-
gressor,
which one has not first to be at pains to discover, but
into
which one is apt to slip quite naturally and imperceptibly.
Whosoever
would shun them, must not follow his natural dis-
position,
but must deny it. Many expound, "in the doing of
men;"
but this signification of the l is doubtful (comp.
Gesen.
Thes. p. 733), and the sense
is rendered tame by such an expo-
sition,
as the Psalmist would then except himself from the num-
ber
of men. The expression, "in the word of Thy lips," points
to
the authority which the Psalmist followed in shunning the
ways
of the violent, to which natural inclination drew him, or
to
that from which he received an impulse in the better direc-
tion.
b denotes the relation of
effect to cause: "in the word"
=
"at the word." rbdb, is used precisely in the same way in
Numb.
xxxi. 16, "These taught the children of
word
of Balaam, unfaithfulness to the Lord,"—the word of
Balaam
is the cause, in which the effect abides, that from which
the
impulse proceeds, the authority--1 Chron. xxi. 19, "at the
word
of Gad;" comp. dvd tvcmb "at the command of David,"
on
the ground of his command, in 2
Chron. xxix. 25. The
word
of God is the only light on the otherwise dark way of
man;
from it alone can the good impulse proceed, through which
we
keep ourselves unspotted from the world within and without
us—withstand
the corrupt inclinations of nature, and the spirit
of
the world—swim against the stream which, with gigantic and
resistless
force, carries everything along with it. The contrast
here
implied between men's natural inclination and the word
of
God, lies also at the basis of the Decalogue. To it is due
the
negative form which predominates in the ten command-
ments.
Everywhere we are forced to add in thought: "where-
to
thy corrupt heart is prone," just as in a command in the
266 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
positive
form the word, "remember," points to the tendency
to
ward forgetfulness.
ynx is used emphatically in
opposition to the enemies, the
wicked,
who, according to ver. 11, direct their eyes to turn
aside
in the land. rmw, "to observe," in connection with the
way,
commonly with the design of keeping it, comp. Ps.
21;
Job xxiii. 11; only here with the design of shunning it.
The
Psalmist opposes his own observation of the way of the
transgressor,
which was under the guidance of the word of God,
to
the foolish eagerness with which the world blindly enters
them.
There is probably a witty allusion to this current mode of
expression,
"I have, observing the ways of God, in order to keep
myself
in them, at the same time observed the ways of the
transgressor,
in order to shun them"— a reference which becomes
still
more plain, as soon as we set in thought a dash after ytrmw.
The
verb Crp,
"to break through," is used in Hos. iv. 2, of the
breaking
through of all the limits of good and right; and derived
from
it, the term Cyrp signifies
the transgressor. Luther's trans-
lation,
"I keep myself in the word of Thy lips from the work
of
man on the path of the murderer," gives, on the whole, the
true
sense, only that for transgressor,
the far too special and
gross
name of murderer is substituted.
Ver. 5. My steps hold fast by Thy paths, my feet slide not.
The
paths of God, which the Psalmist held fast by, are con-
trasted
with the ways of the transgressor, which he shunned.
The
verse contains still, like the preceding one, a protestation
of
the Psalmist's righteousness, and forms a suitable conclusion
to
the whole section, vers. 1-5, which is entirely taken up there-
with.
Exactly parallel is Job xxiii. 11, "My foot holdeth fast,
hzHx, His step; His way have I kept and not
declined." "To
the
protestation of his innocence," remarks De Wette, "the
Psalmist
now adds a prayer for the maintenance thereof, that
moral
power might be given him." But the sense which this
exposition
affords, is so unsuitable to the context, that any other
might
be held equally valid; we should then have an isolated
thought,
a genuine ejaculation before us. The Psalm has
nothing
at all to do with a prayer for moral support. The ob-
ject
of prayer in it is merely salvation from enemies, grounded
upon
his own righteousness already existing, and the wicked-
ness
of his enemies. Then, the exposition is also objectionable
in
a philological point of view. The force of the inf. absol.,
PSALM XVII. VERS. 6, 7. 267
bringing
out the simple action, is always more carefully defined.
by
the context. But this points here decidedly to the Preterite,
that
goes before, and follows in the parallelism. j`mt, "to seize,
take
hold," never signifies, with b, "to,
maintain," but always
to take hold of, to hold
to, to keep fast by;
comp. Ps. lxiii. 8, where
the
idea of holding fast is required by the parallelism, "My
soul
cleaveth to Thee, Thy right hand holdeth me fast:" Ps.
xli. 12; Ex. xvii. 12; Isa. xlii. 1.
Ver. 6. The prayer of the Psalmist,
which had only been
indicated
before, comes out in full force now, that the right
foundation
has been laid in his righteousness. It receives
afterwards
a second foundation, that of the wickedness of the
enemies,
which constitutes a call to God for vengeance. I call
upon Thee, for Thou God
Nearest me: incline Thine ear to me,
hear my speech. The ynnft is either, "Thou
wilt hear me," or,
"Thou
art accustomed to hear me." The latter view is sup-
ported
by the corresponding words in the next verse, "Thou
deliverer
of those," etc. Luther "It comprehends both in
itself,
the past as well as the future. The meaning of it appears
to
be this,—I have confidence, that my words shall not be in
vain,
since I know how, according to Thy grace, Thou art wont
to
hear me. Thus the compassion of God is celebrated, which
consists
in His hearing when we cry. This moves us, and is
the
cause why we can presume to call." According to the ex-
position,
"Thou wilt hear me," the
Psalmist would refer to his
righteousness,
as set forth in the preceding context. To this,
at
all events, points the ynx, "I," the righteous person.
Ver. 7. Single out Thy loving-kindness, Thou deliverer of the
confiding from the
revolters, by Thy right hand. Upon hlph to
single out, separate, not, "to make
wonderful," comp. on Ps.
iv.
3. The tokens of favour which the Psalmist desires, must
be
distinguished from the common ones. This indicates the
greatness
of the danger. De Wette thinks, that this almost
presumptuous-looking
prayer, like the similar one following,
should
be ascribed to the spirit of Hebraism, which was not yet
penetrated
by the resignation of Christianity. But if this
prayer
be presumptuous, so also is the prayer of the
itish
woman, who also supplicated: "Single out Thy mercies,
have
compassion on me, 0 Lord, for my daughter is tormented;"
and
yet the Lord does not appear to have regarded it so, other-
wise
He would not have replied to her: "0 woman, great is
268 THE BOOK OF PSALMS
thy
faith; be it done to thee as thou wilt." If the Stoic resig-
nation
of De Wette were Christian, then Christ's wonder-work-
ing
activity would be unchristian, and the prayer also for our
daily
bread, in the Lord's Prayer, must be erased. Were a
doctrine
so unhuman Christian, then the Old Testament, which
places
the whole of human existence in a relation to God, would
stand
higher than the New. The words, "Thou deliverer of
those,"
etc., contain the ground of the Psalmist's hope of being
heard.
Calvin: "As often as we draw near to God, we ought
first
to bear in mind that we are not to be afraid of God's being
ready
to help us, because He is not in vain called the deliverer
of
those who put their trust in Him." The hs,Ho is used in Prov.
xiv.
32 absolutely, as here, without any designation of what the
confidence
is placed on. In the case of those who revolt or rise,
the
object of resistance must be the same as in the case of those
who
confide, the less so, as, in the latter case, the person on
whom
the confidence is placed is not named. The former,
therefore,
could only be revolters against God. Luther: "By
this
he seeks to bring his enemies into great hatred, as persons
whose
madness swelled against God." jnymyb is to be coupled
with
fywvm,
"Thou who deliverest by Thy right hand;" it
points
to the plenitude of power with which God is provided
for
the defence of His people. That we must not expound:
"from
those who rebel against Thy right hand," as Luther,
or:
"who confide in Thy right hand, from those who set them-
selves
against it," appears by a comparison with Ps. xvi. 11, and
ver.
14 here, and by what was already remarked by Venema:
"The
pious are more properly said to be preserved by the
right
hand of God, than enemies attacking the pious, to rise up
against
it." Luther: "See how quickly emotion makes an ex-
cellent
orator. He recommends to God his cause in the most
favourable
light, he seeks to put himself on good terms with
Him,
he makes complaint against his adversaries, he tries to have
these
made hateful, and this he does in very few and choice words.
But
he does so, not as if they were necessary in order to pre-
vail
on God, but for the sake of faith. For the more vigor-
ous
and fervent our faith is, the more always does God work
through
it."
Ver. 8. Keep me as the apple of the eye, in the shadow of Thy
wings hide me. That reference is made
in the first clause to
Deut.
xxxii. 10, "He kept him (
PSALM XVII. VERS. 9,
10. 269
is
the more probable, as there the similitude of the eagle caring
for
her young ones immediately follows. On Nvwyx, not "little
man,"
but "the male," "the masculine," see my work, Balaam, p.
98.
Nyf tb,
prop. “the daughter of the eye.” Son and daughter,
in
the Semitic dialects, are applied to what belongs to another
thing,
or is dependent on it; for example, arrows are named, in
Lam.
iii. 13, "sons of the quiver." Luther: "In this verse he
employs
many words to say one and the same thing; since he
magnifies
the danger, and, by expressing his great anxiety strongly,
gives
us, as it were, to understand that he cannot be made secure
enough
against the snares of the wicked. Therefore in these
words
there is embodied the emotion of a person oppressed with
fear,
and who flees from a very great danger; such as we ob-
serve
in little children, who run to the lap of their parents, and
hang
around their neck, when they are alarmed at danger."
The
figure in the second member is found enlarged in Matt.
xxiii.
37, probably in allusion to this passage.
Ver. 9. From the wicked, who disturb me, mine enemies, who
against the soul compass
me about.
Many interpreters take ddw
in
the Arabic sense of seizing hold; but
the Hebrew one is quite
suitable,
if it only be remembered that the Psalmist represents
himself
under the image of a city destroyed by enemies, or of
a
land laid waste. "dUdwA is also used in Judg. v. 27, of a slain
man.
wpnb,
prop. "in soul," in matters of life, so that it is
equivalent
to life. Many expound it, after the example of Aben-
ezra,
by, "in desire." But in doing so, they overlook the re-
lation
in which the words, "deliver my soul," stand to the wpnb
here.
They think to destroy my soul," in Ps. xl. 14, is parallel.
Ver. 10. Their fat they close up, with their mouth they speak
proudly. How the expression,
"their fat they close up," is to
be
understood—that it is equivalent to "they have closed it
upon
one another, wholly covered themselves in fat," appears
from
Judg. iii. 22, "the fat closed upon the blade." The fat
here,
however, is not corporeal, but spiritual; it denotes the
spiritual
deadness, and hardening, by which their whole mind
was
overlaid. In this sense fat is very often used. So, first, in
the
ground-passage, Deut. xxxii. 15, "But Jeshurun waxed fat
and
kicked; thou didst wax fat, thou didst grow thick, thou art
covered;"
where many quite erroneously think of an external
condition,
a state of prosperity granted by God, —a view which
leaves
the sudden address and the threefold repetition altogether
270 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
unexplained.
The reference is rather to becoming fat internally,
which
so easily results from prosperity, and from the undisturbed
enjoyment
of the Divine gifts. Then Job xv. 27, "Because he
covered
his face with his fatness, and made collops of fat upon
his
flanks;" where the fat, from the connection, can only be
understood
morally—for the verse contains the ground of a
proud
revolt against God—q. d. he resembles such an one
spiritually
who covers his bodily face, etc., he is spiritually as
devoid
of feeling, as that person is corporeally; comp. Ps. cxix.
70,
where the abbreviated comparison comes out in a complete
form,
"Their heart is as fat as grease." Finally, Ps. lxxiii. 7,
"Their
eyes stand out with fatness." Modern expositors, for
the
most part, suppose that the blH, from the contrast with
the
mouth,
must necessarily mean the heart.
Rosenmüller, depart-
ing
from the Hebrew signification of that word, attributes to it,
from
the Arabic, the import of heart.
Others leave to it its
common
and alone certain signification, but maintain that the
words,
"your fat is, etc.," are equivalent to "your fat, unfeel-
ing
heart:" So Ewald: "While from hardness they have closed
their
unfeeling heart against compassion, their haughty mouth
opens
itself so much the wider for reproach." But there is no
ground
for such an interpretation, as, according to our view also,
full
justice is done to the contrast with the mouth; the closing
in
of the fat, the covering itself in fat, indirectly describes a
state
of heart and mind, carnal-mindedness. And, on the other
hand,
we can appeal to the parallel passages, which everywhere
speak,
not of unfeeling hardness toward brethren, but of carnal-
mindedness
in general; also to the fact, that the expression, "to
close
the heart," as a description of unfeeling hardness, is found
nowhere
else in the Old Testament; and, finally, to the consider-
ation
that the enclosing of the heart in this connection is too
tame.
vmyp,
like vnrwx
in ver. 11, and jbrH in ver. 13, the accu-
sative,
"after their mouth," "with their mouth." The predi-
lection
for this sort of accus. is one of the peculiarities of our
Psalm.
Ver. 11. After our steps they compass me about now; they di-
rect their eyes, to turn
aside in the land.
vnrwx,
"after our steps,"
"whithersoever
we turn ourselves:" everywhere our enemies
pursue
us, and cut off from us all escape, take from us every hope
of
deliverance. To take the word, with some, as nom. absol., does
not
accord with the predilection just noticed, which the Psalmist
PSALM XVII. VER. 12. 271
shows
for this sort of accusative. For the more difficult read-
ing
of the text, ynvbbs, explicable on the ground that the
speaker
is
the righteous person, so that he can
speak in the sing. of him-
self,
not less than in the plural (comp. the sing. in reference to
enemies
in ver. 12), the Masorites have put UnUbbAs;, "they have
compassed us about," corresponding to the
suffix in vnrwx.
The
Psalmist
has, without doubt, intentionally conjoined thus closely
the
sing. and the plural, on purpose to show that behind the
ideal
unity there was concealed a multiplicity. The now points
to
the fact, that the greatest danger had arrived, and conse-
quently,
also, the time for God to help. Crxb tvFnl is commonly
explained,
"in order to cast down to the earth, or in the land."
This
mode of explanation does not allow us to supply, with De
Wette,
"me or us;" but we must consider, as the object thrown
down,
whatever is high or stands erect. Calvin: "The godless,
as
if they must fall, when the world stands, would fain see the
whole
human race destroyed; and hence they apply themselves
with
vigour to throw everything to the ground." But it is
against
this exposition, that though hFn may properly enough
be
taken in the sense of "to bend or bow," comp. lxii. 3, "a
bowing
wall," yet, in the present connection, that is too tame;
not
so, however, "to beat down," "to throw to the ground."
The
right exposition is seen on a comparison with ver. 5.
Whilst
the righteous directs his eye to the object of holding
fast
the ways of the Lord, they are
equally zealous and bent on
turning
aside from God's ways, and hence are as much the ob-
jects
of God's punishing, as the others of His saving, energy.
hFn is constantly employed to designate the turning
aside from
God,
from His ways and His laws; to set up which as the task
of
life, and to sin boldly and with a high hand, is a mark of the
most
thorough abandonment. Comp., for example, Job xxxi. 7,
"If
my foot hath turned out of the way;" 1 Kings xi. 9, "And
the
Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned
from
the Lord God of
turn
aside," as here, is used absolutely for, "to turn out of the
way,"
in Jer. xiv. 8. On Crxb, not, "upon earth," but, "in the
land,"
"in the land of the Lord," compare Ps. xvi. 3.
Ver. 12. He is like a lion greedy to tear in pieces, and a young
lion, lying in covert. Luther: "But the
pride and haughtiness
of
lie
can execute." The sing. suffix is here also to be explained
272 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
from
the circumstance, that the whole host of wicked ones is
represented
in one person.
Ver. 13. Arise, 0 Lord, surprise his face, cast him down,
deliver my soul from the
wicked through Thy sword. The "face"
is
named, because it threatened destruction to the Psalmist;
comp.
the ynpm
in ver. 3. Mdq, "to anticipate," then, "to sur-
prise,"
is used, as here, in Ps. xcv. 2, with Mynp. jbrH, “as to
Thy
sword," through Thy sword. Several Jewish expositors
interpret,
"from the ungodly, who is Thy sword;" in the fol-
lowing
verse also, where Luther adopts the same view, they
render,
"from the men, who are Thy hand;" overlooking,
however,
the Psalmist's marked predilection for the accusative,
and
besides, disregarding the connection, which does not per-
mit
such a mode of considering enemies as that found in Isa.
x.
5, where
trait
would have broken the strength of the Psalmist's prayer,
which
is founded on his own righteousness and the enemies'
wickedness.
Ver. 14. From the men through Thy hand, 0 Lord, from
the men of continuance,
whose portion in life, and whose body
Thou fittest with Thy
treasures; they have sons in plenty, and
leave their affluence to
their children.
The Psalmist believes
that
he can the more confidently present the prayer uttered in
the
preceding context, and hope with the greater certainty for
its
fulfilment, since it does not consist with God's nature and
word,
that those who, in alienation from God, despise Him, and
lift
themselves proudly up against Him, should be richly en-
dowed
by Him with goods, and become partakers of the bless-
ing
which is promised to the righteous. This contrast between
the
reality and the idea, must God, as certainly as He is God,
remove
by His judgment; He must abolish the abnormity
which
is so fitted to strengthen the wicked in his wickedness,
and
to cause the pious to fail in his piety, and which can only
be
regarded as a temporary and passing state of things. Pre-
paration
is made for the contrast which is here unfolded be-
tween
the reality and the idea, by hmvq, "stand up,
arise," in
the
preceding verse, which presupposes the existence of such a
contrast.
The length of the verse shows, that the theme is one
in
which the Psalmist is peculiarly interested. The repetition
of
Mytmm
is emphatical, as was justly remarked by Calvin. dlHm
is
in the main correctly expounded by Calvin, "Qui sunt a
PSALM XVII. VER. 14. 273
seculo."
By the preposition, says he, David expresses, that
they
had not raised themselves as of yesterday, but that their
prosperity
had already continued for a long series of years,
which,
however, ought to have vanished in a moment. So also
Venema,
according to whom the dlHm Mytm are, "florente et
durante
in fortuna constituti." That the primary significa-
tion
of dlH is that of continuance, appears from the Arabic.
Dscheuhari
in Scheid. in cant. Hisk. p. 51, says: "dlH
denotat
existentiae
continuationem; de homine dicitur dlH quando per-
sistit
et viget." From this primary signification, which here ob-
tains,
flow in Heb. the two derived ones of life and the world.
Life
is named continuance, as what usually belongs to exist-
ence;
comp. Job xi. 17; Ps. lxxxix. 47, xxxix. 5, in which
two
latter passages allusion is made to the primary import; in
the
last: ydlH,
my life, which has its name from continuance, is
as
nothing before Thee.
The world bears the name of continuance, as the general,
abiding,
while individual parts are transitory. In Arabic,
"chytropodes, rupes et saxa dicuntur dlvH quia semper manent,
deleantur
licet domuum, etc. vestigia," Dscheuh. by Scheid.
So
in Ps. xlix. 1, dlH is used of the world. Hezekiah alludes
to
the dlH ybwy there, the inhabitants of continuance, when in
Isa.
xxxviii. 11, he calls the dwellers in Sheol ld,H, ybew;y, "in-
habitants
of ceasing;" an allusion which presupposes that dlH,
even
when used of the world, retains its common signification.
Parallel
to the expression here, "of continuance," is that in Ps.
x.
5, "His ways are strong at all times."—Most modern exposi-
tors,
after the example of Luther, render, "of the people of
this
world," i.e., De Wette remarks, whose whole striving termi-
nates
with this temporal, finite world, and does not pass over
into
eternity; dlH
marks the temporal, perishing, sensible, as
opposed
to what is eternal, above sense. But a false meaning
is
forced by this exposition upon the word. It signifies neither,
as Gesenius maintains, vita eaque cito praeterlabens,
fluxa et
caduca—for
in Ps. lxxxix. 47, xxxix. 5, the idea of fleetness
and
transitoriness, which is not suitable in Job xi. 17, is not
contained
in the word itself, but in the connection—nor hic
mundus, cujus res fluxae et caducae sunt. In order to obtain
this
signification, we must violently tear the Heb. dlH from the
Arabic.
Further, a contrast between the temporal and the
eternal,
so sharply expressed, and so briefly indicated, cannot
274 THE BOOK. OF PSALMS.
be
expected in the Psalms. It will not do to compare the oi[
ui[oi> tou? ai]w?noj tou<tou, of the New Testament,
as the contrast
here
rests upon a clear recognition of a future state of being.
In
such a contrast, also, we should have expected the article.
Finally,
what follows the words, "whose part in life," cannot
possibly
be understood otherwise than of the prosperous condi-
tion
of the ungodly. According to this, however, the begin-
ning
of the verse must refer, not to the disposition, but to the
course
of the wicked. The verse is miserably torn asunder if
this
reference is overlooked.
MyyHb MqlH is sometimes rendered,
"who have their firm and
secure
portion of life;" but better, "whose part is in life," so
that
life is the sphere in which they obtain their part, their lot:
comp.
qlH
in this signification for ex. in Job xx. 29, "This is
the
portion of the wicked man from God," xxvii, 13; xxxi. 2, 3,
"For
what is the portion of God from above? and what is the
inheritance
of the Almighty from on high? Is not misfortune
to
the wicked, and misery to the evil-doers?" which last passage
especially
serves to throw light on the one before us, whose com-
plaint
it answers. Life stands here in an
emphatic sense for
prosperous
life, because a disastrous one is rather to be ac-
counted
a death: their part is that they live and prosper.
Calvin:
“I understand these words to mean, that they are free
from
all discomfort, and riot in joy, and therefore are quite
exempt
from the general lot, as inversely is said of the miserable
man,
that his part is in death.” Expositors generally interpret
it,
"who are of an earthly disposition." "Inheritance," accord-
ing
to De Wette, "is equivalent to the 'highest good or aim;
life
is opposed to eternity after death." But as both the pre-
ceding
and the subsequent context refers to the lot of the
wicked,
this word cannot possibly denote their disposition; and
that
MyyH
by itself can denote the earthly life as opposed to the
eternal,
is destitute of all proof. Such a
contrast of necessity
requires
a more pointed description.-- jnypc, for which the
Masorites,
without any necessity, would substitute jnvpc, the
part.
pas.; properly, "thy concealed." Calvin: "The con-
cealed
goods of God here mean rare and peculiar dainties,
since
God often endows the wicked, not merely with all the
common
comforts of life, but also with thoroughly special ones.
It
is a strong temptation, when a man measures God's favour
by
earthly prosperity. But we must remember, that in his
PSALM XVII. VER. 15. 275
complaint,
the pious man seeks alleviation; he does not mur-
mur
against God, so that we may also learn to direct our sighs
toward
heaven" The state of things in which the wicked, who
lie
under the Divine anger, are replenished by Him with goods
and
gifts, considered as a permanent one, would be the perverse
world;
but on that very account it cannot possibly be a perma-
nent
state.— Mynb vfbwy is rendered by Luther: Who have chil-
dren
the fulness; and he remarks: "This refers not merely to
the
great number of children, but rather to their state and con-
dition;"
quite correctly, since it is only strong and healthful
children
that can be considered as a token of prosperity. But
according
to the current exposition, Mynb is to be taken as the
nominative,
not as the accus., "full are their children." De
Wette
"They hunger not, like the children of the poor, who
cry
for bread." The first construction is the only right one.
It
is supported by the want of the suffix, and the analogy of
the
words, "I shall be satisfied
with Thy likeness." It is fur-
ther
supported by the parallel passages, in which a blooming
host
of children is spoken of as a reward for the fear of God;
comp.
Ps. cxxvii. "Lo, children are an heritage of the Lord;
the
fruit of the womb is His reward;" Ps. cxxviii. 3, 4, "Thy
wife
shall be as a fruitful vine by, the sides of thy house," etc.
"Behold,
thus shall the man be blessed that feareth the Lord."
Or
complaint is made, that this blessing, which properly belongs
only
to the righteous, is lavished on the ungodly; comp. Job
xxi.
11, "They send forth their little ones like a flock, and their
children
dance," magna foecunditate emittunt (Michaelis), in .
contrast
to the pious Job, who lost all his children.—The ex-
pression,
"they leave their superfluity to their children," can
only
refer to the outward appearance. For God is called upon
to
interpose against the parents themselves, and bring on; their
ruin.
They will not be able to leave their overflowing abund-
ance
to their children, notwithstanding the seemingly well-
grounded
prosperity of their house, notwithstanding their confi-
dent
thoughts, and the actual state of affairs, which decidedly
favours
them; for God has threatened the ungodly in His word,
that
He will punish their sins in themselves and in their chil-
dren,
even to the third and the fourth generation. Those words
give
a fearful emphasis.to the prayer of the Psalmist: "Arise,
O
Lord."
Ver. 15. The prayer uttered in the
preceding verses con-
276 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
tains
even within itself the germ of hope and confidence, in
consequence
of the foundation on which it stands, and of the
opposition
between the contrast, in the reality, considered as
permanent,
and God's word and nature. That germ comes
here
into development. "The Psalmist raises himself on the
wings
of faith to a serene repose, in which he sees everything
in
order. He mocks the proud boasting of the enemy; and
although,
as it seemed, quite cast off by God, he still promises
himself
the enjoyment ere long of his confiding look." I shall
behold Thy face in
righteousness, satisfy myself when I awake
with Thy form. ynx with emphasis, "I," very different from
my
enemies, for whom the Lord is preparing destruction.
Righteousness
is here, according to the common view, named
as
the ground upon which the Psalmist rests his hope of seeing
the
face of God. As matters then stood, his righteousness
appeared
to be of no avail; God seemed to make nothing of it.
But
as certain as that God is righteous, such a state of things
cannot
last, the Psalmist's righteousness must still bear its pro-
per
fruit. We may also expound, "as a righteous or justified
person;"
and it is in favour of this latter exposition, that accord-
ing
to the former, we should have expected the suffix. Now
the
Psalmist was represented by his position and experiences as
an
unrighteous person. But he trusts the righteous God will
represent
him as the person he really is, will justify him by
facts;
so that righteousness is here considered as the gift of
God.
The words, I shall behold Thy face,
refer to ver. 2,
where
the Psalmist wishes that his right might come forth from
God's
presence, that His eyes might behold uprightness. This
wish
he sees here fulfilled. For, to behold God's face, presup-
poses
that God's face is turned towards him, that God's eye
looks
on him and his uprightness. Just as it is said of God,
that
He hides His countenance, when He withdraws His favour
and
help, so is He said to turn towards us, His countenance, when
He
shows Himself gracious,—comp. Ps. xi. 7, "His countenance
beholds
the upright." To see God, or God's face, therefore, is
nothing
else than to enjoy the Divine favour, to experience the
friendship
of God, to be assured of His love, and through it to
obtain
deliverance from the hands of our enemies. So un-
questionably
is the seeing of God used in the prayer of Heze-
kiah,
Isa. xxxviii. 11, "I said, I shall not see the Lord in the
land
of the living." Precisely similar also is Ps. xvi. 11, where
PSALM XVII. VER. 15. 277
the
Psalmist expects fulness of joy in the presence of the Lord;
so
that the Lord sees him, and he the Lord. The expression,
“when
I awake”—inasmuch as the figurative view, already
adopted
by Calvin, according to which a person freed from
suffering
is represented as one awaking, and the rendering, "as
often
as I awake," every morning, are arbitrary—obliges us to
suppose,
that our Psalm contains an evening prayer of the
Psalmist,
or was designed by him to be an evening prayer for
the
faithful. In the stillness of night, the righteous man on
his
bed complains to the Lord of his distress, and receives from
Him
inward consolation and the assurance of His help. Calmed,
he
now sleeps, certain that on his awaking the Lord will grant
him
the promised aid. That the custom of prayer at even,
springing
from the very nature of the case, was then also pre-
valent
with the pious, is evident from Ps. iii. 5, iv. 8,—passages
which
are plainly opposed to every explanation of the expres-
sion,
"when I awake," other than the one just given; the
existence
also of the custom of morning prayer distinctly ap-
pears
from Ps. v. 3.— hnvmt always signifies form. The Psalmist
refers
here to Numb. xii. 8, where God, to indicate the confi-
dential
relation of Moses to Him, says, "With him I speak
mouth
to mouth, and face to face, not in dark speeches, and
the form of the Lord he
beholds."
A like confidential relation
to
the Lord is here meant, a like visible (namely, by the eye of
faith)
and felt nearness to Him; the form in
opposition to image
and
shadow; the Psalmist means God to take,
as it were, flesh
and
blood, to meet him in the most concrete, living manner.
The
Psalmist consoles himself justly therewith, regarding what
happened
to Moses as a real prophecy for all righteous persons.
This
hope of the righteous, of satisfying themselves with the
form
of the Lord, grows out of the same feeling of need, which
was
met by the appearances of God under a corporeal veil in
the
time of the fathers, and which had its highest satisfaction
in
the incarnation of the Word. There is so strong a craving
in
the human heart for a near, human
God, that, anticipating
the
incarnation of God, it figuratively attributes corporeity to
Him,
lends to Him form, that it might be
able to love Him very-
intimately,
and to derive full comfort from Him. The received
exposition
of this Psalm we cannot set forth better than in the
words
of Luther, with whose translation ours agrees, only that
he
improperly connects jtnvmt with Cyqhb: “when I awake
278 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
after
Thine image." "He sets these words over against what
he
had said of the ungodly. These strive only after earthly
things,
are full of children, and place their portion in this life:
to
me, however, this life is contemptible; I hasten toward the
future,
where I shall behold, not in riches, but in righteousness,
not
these earthly things, but Thy face itself. I shall also not
be
satisfied with children of flesh, but when I shall awake in
Thine
image." In recent times this exposition has gained much
currency
by having been espoused even by De Wette. Many
thought,
that a reference to a blessed immortality must surely
be
well grounded, which was admitted even by so great a scep-
tic.
Already, however, did Calvin designate this exposition
as
one not supported by the text, as subtle.
It has nothing,
indeed,
on its side. The supposition, that a striving after
the
eternal, after eternal blessedness, is here spoken of, and
that
this appears from the contrast to the striving of the un-
godly
after temporal goods, mentioned in the preceding verse,
rests
simply and exclusively upon a false exposition of that
verse.
How it can be maintained, that the seeing of the Lord's
face,
and being satisfied with His form, must necessarily be un-
derstood
of the seeing of God in the life to come, one cannot
easily
see. There cannot be a corporeal vision even in that life;
even
on that view, the satisfaction with the form
of God must
be
figuratively understood. The seeing of God in the present,
and
the seeing of Him in the future life, are different only in
degree,
not in kind. This is most manifest from the declaration
of
our Lord, "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see
God;"
the promise in which, as in all others, is to be referred not
less
to this life, than to the future one. But what thoroughly
refutes
this exposition, is the circumstance that, according to
it,
not merely would there be expressed here a knowledge of
eternal
life more clear and confident than we could expect to
find
in a Psalm of David, but especially that the Psalmist would
be
declaring his entire resignation in regard to earthly things,
wholly
abandoning them to the wicked, and would express hope
only
in regard to what is heavenly. The rest of the Psalm
stands
in direct opposition to this rationalistic, rather than
Christian
sort of resignation; for a strong and healthy faith in
regard
to a future recompense, always rests on the foundation of
a
present retribution. Besides, in ver. 13, we find the Psalmist
calling
upon the Lord to deliver his soul from the ungodly by
PSALM XVIII. 279
His
sword, and in ver. 14, making complaint of the temporal
prosperity
of the wicked.
PSALM XVIII.
Full of thankfulness, David praises
the Lord for having
heard
his prayer, and delivered him out of great danger, vers.
1-3.
He delineates in vers. 4-19 the first part of his dangers
and
deliverances, which are particularly mentioned in the super-
scription,
by a variety of elevated figures. He affirms, in vers.
20-27,
that he had, received the Lord's assistance only in con-
sequence
of the righteousness of his endeavours, and his de-
votedness.
The deliverance from Saul had been referred back
to
this source; and now the representation of the second part, of
the
Divine goodness, in vers. 28-45, namely, of the assistance
which
God had in part already given him against foreign ene-
mies,
the opponents of his kingdom, and which He was still to
give
by means of His promise, both to David personally and to
his
posterity, starts from the same point. The conclusion in
vers.
46-50, consists of praise to God for the whole of His won-
derful
deeds.
We have thus five parts: the
introduction, at the end of
which,
in. ver. 3, the theme is announced, "according to His
glory
I call upon the Lord, and am delivered from mine ene-
mies;
the conclusion, a twofold representation of the wonder-
ful
deeds of God; in the middle, a representation of the sub-
jective
conditions on which the Lord imparts His aid, connected
alike
with what is behind and what is before.
That we have here an artistically
composed whole, is obvious
from
this view of the subject and the train of thought. No
traces
of a strophe-arrangement are discoverable. We cannot
overlook,
however, the respect had to the number three,
point-
ing
to the Mosaic blessing, which in the Psalmist had met with
so
remarkable a fulfilment. In the superscription, the name
Jehovah
is thrice used; and thrice also in the introduction,
which
consists too of three verses. The names of God in ver. 2,
in
which the Psalmist has concentrated the entire fulness of the
Divine
grace, fall into three divisions. The first and the third
of
these divisions contain three names, whilst that in the middle,
only
one. The whole number of names is seven; so that along-
280 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
side
of the number of the blessing, occurring five times, goes
the
number of the covenant. As in the introduction we meet
the
number three, so also in the beginning of the conclusion.
It
can hardly be accidental also, that the whole is made up of
fifty
verses, five decades, in correspondence with the five verses
of
the conclusion.
The strongest scepticism has not ventured
to deny here the
Davidic
authorship. With the solitary exception of Olshausen,
in
the "Emendations," it is universally recognised. Ewald
urges
in support of it, that here there are expressed, with the
greatest
clearness, David's nature, his views, and his lofty con-
sciousness,
and his experiences, so peculiar in their kind. That
the
Psalmist was a king, is quite manifest from ver. 50, as also
from
ver. 43. The same confidence in the blessing of God, in
respect
even to his latest posterity, discovers itself in the last
words
of David, 2 Sam. xxiii. The separate words have quite
the
Davidic hue. The recurrence in the Books of Samuel is
also
to be regarded as an external ground, and of the greater
importance,
as all the other songs which these books contain, as
of
David, are certainly his genuine productions. Hitzig
marks,
"The author is a warrior, whom the armies of his
enemies
had often threatened with death, ver. 29. But Jehovah
had
delivered him from them all, because of his piety, withdrawn
him
from their power, and enabled him finally to subdue them.
He
not only brought him forth unscathed from domestic wars,
and
set him upon the throne of
also,
far and wide, the heathen nations.
One of the most important
indications of the hand of David,
is
to be found in the relation, to be investigated afterwards, in
which
ver. 28 ff. stand to the promise in 2 Sam. vii. Another
also
will be pointed out in the course of our exposition.
In regard to the situation, we are
told in the superscription,
that
David sung this Psalm after the Lord had delivered him
out
of the hand of all his enemies. The Psalm is thus desig-
nated
as not having arisen from some special occasion, but as a
general
thanksgiving for all the grace and the assistance which he
had
received from God all his life long, as a combination of the
thanks
which David had uttered from time to time on particular
occasions,
as a great halleluiah with which he retired from the
theatre
of life. In the Books of Samuel this Psalm is expressly
connected
with the end of David's life, immediately before his
PSALM XVIII. 281
"last
words," which are presently after given in ch. xxiii.
With
this account the matter of the Psalm entirely agrees. In
it
the Psalmist thanks God, not for any single deliverance, but
has
throughout before his eyes a great whole of gracious ad-
ministrations,
an entire life rich with experiences of the loving-
kindness
of God.
Without foundation, Venema and
others would conclude
from
ver. 20 ss., that this Psalm must have been composed
before
the adultery with Bathsheba. That deed, though a dread-
ful
sin, yet being one only of infirmity, from the guilt of which
David
was delivered by a sincere repentance, cannot be regarded
as
inconsistent with what he here says of himself, if his words
are
but rightly understood.
In 2 Sam. xxii., this Psalm is
repeated with not a few varia-
tions.
The supposition which is now commonly received, and
which
has been specially defended by Lengerkei and Hitzig, is,
that
these variations have arisen from carelessness, discovering
itself
in both forms of the text, though principally in that of
Samuel.
But the following reasons may be advanced against
this
view: 1. If such were the correct view of the origin of
these
variations, it would follow, that before the collection of
the
canon, the text of the books of the Old Testament had been
very
carelessly treated. For it is improbable that this particular
Psalm
should have had a specially unpropitious fate. And in
that
case, conjectural criticism must have a very large field as-
signed
it. We should have to proceed on the expectation of
finding
one, or even more faults, in almost every verse. But
even
the rashest of our critics do not consider the text to be in
such
a state, and the more judicious confine conjectural criti-
cism
within very narrow limits. 2. In other places where similar
variations
are found, where there are texts that come in contact
with
each other, these variations are uniformly not the result of
accident
and negligence, but of design. So, for example, in
Isa.
ch. ii., comp. with Mic. iv., and in Jeremiah, comp. with the
numerous
passages in the older Scriptures, which he has appro-
priated.
3. The text in each of the forms is of such a nature,
that
one would never have thought of regarding it as faulty in
any
particular place, were it not for the comparison with the
corresponding
place. If negligence had here played its part,
Comment.
de dupl. Ps. 18, exemplo.
282 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
there
would inevitably be a multitude of passages in which the
fault
would be discoverable at a glance, and could be shown in-
contestably
to be such. 4. A great number of the variations,
nay,
the greater part of them, are of such a kind that they can-
not
be explained by accident. This circumstance forbids the
derivation
from accident, even in those cases where it might
fairly
be allowed to have had place, since it is improbable that
the
variations should have flowed from a double source. The
proof
of this will be found in considering the particular varia-
tions.
5. It is not difficult to discover certain principles by
which
the variations in the Books of Samuel are governed.
That
which has had the most powerful influence, is the tendency
already
found in Ps. liii., as comp. with xiv., to substitute for
the
simple, plain, and common, the far-fetched, elevated, em-
phatic,
and rare. Besides this, there is also perceptible the
desire
to explain what is dark. Such pervading tendencies can-
not
be shown to exist in the sphere of accident.
It has been advanced in support of
the view we oppose, that
the
variation in a number of cases consists only in the change
of
a single letter, and sometimes, indeed, of such letters as are,
either
in form or pronunciation, similar to each other; for ex-
ample,
ver. 11, xdyv and
xryv,
in ver. 12, tkwH and trwH, etc.
But
this appearance is found even where the variations have
unquestionably
arisen from design; and wherever a text is re-
vised,
the author of the variations will take particular pleasure
in
expressing a different sense by the greatest possible similarity
of
form. The fact in question could only have been of moment
in
the case of the sense being unsuitable in one of the readings.
But
no trace of this is at all discoverable.
We derive the variations, altogether
from an intentional
revision;
and as both the texts are prefaced by the superscrip-
tion
of David, the revision must have been undertaken by him-
self.
As to the object of the revision, we do not consider it to
have
been that of antiquating the earlier form, but of producing
variations
which should be placed alongside of the original and
main
text. The text in the Psalms appears to us to be this
original
and main one, partly on the external ground, that this
Psalm
was given up by David for public use, as we learn from
the
expression, "To the chief musician," in the superscription,
partly
also on the internal ground already noticed, that in a con-
siderable
number of variations in the Books of Samuel, design
PSALM XVIII. 283
is
unmistakeable; and finally, because the text in Samuel, though
excellent
when considered simply as a variation, is, apart from
that,
decidedly inferior to the text of the Psalms.
From this view we derive the
advantage of being wholly
delivered
from a line of procedure, the arbitrariness and inad-
missibleness
of which experience has sufficiently shown;—the
course,
namely, which leads writers constantly to extol the one
text
at the expense of the other, and to use every means for
making
one of them appear deserving of utter rejection.
What has been objected to this view
by Lengerke, that such
an
artificial mode of procedure was not to be expected of David,
rests
upon a view of the Psalms as mere natural poetry, the
falseness
of which has been sufficiently proved by our previous
exposition;
nor can it have much weight, at any rate, in a Psalm
like
the present, which was already designated by Amyrald as
artis poeticae
luculentissimum specimen, and by Hitzig as "an
unrivalled
production of art and reflection."
To
the chief musician, of the servant of the Lord David, who
spake to the Lord the
words of this song, at the time, when the
Lord delivered him from
the hand of his enemies, and from the
hand of Saul. In this superscription,
the form of introduction
to
the song of Moses, in Deut. xxxi. 30, seems to be imitated:
"And
Moses spoke in the ears of all the congregation of
the
words of this song,"—a supposition which is the more natu-
ral,
since in the song itself the reference to Deut. xxxii. is un-
questionable,
from which, in particular, David has borrowed the
designation
of God as the rock, rvc; and since the introduction
to
the last words of David, in 2 Sam. xxiii. 1, rests in like man-
ner
upon the introduction of Balaam to his prophecies, in Num.
xxiv.
3. Especially noticeable is the coincidence in the expres-
sion,
"the words of this song," for which, elsewhere, we find
simply,"this
song," Ex. xv. 1, etc. Instead of, "in the ears of
the
congregation," we have here, "to the Lord," which occurs
also
in Ex. xv. 1. The expression, "of the servant of the Lord,"
indicates
the dignity and importance of the person, who con-
stituted
the ground-work of the deliverances granted to him, and
corresponds
to the words in the conclusion, "who makes great
the
salvation of his king," equivalent to, "my salvation because
I
am His king." To this dignity of the person, to its importance
in
respect to the
284 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
"To
the chief musician." A song so thoroughly individual in
its
character as this is, could not have been consecrated to the
public
worship of God if its author and object had not repre-
sented
the whole of the Church, and that his blessing and grace
were
its also. Every pious man, in a general sense, is named
the
servant of the Lord; so Job, in ch. i. 8, ii. 3, comp. also
Ps.
xix. 11, 13. Even in this general sense, the designation
has
respect, not merely to the subjective element of obedience,
but
also to the dignity of him who is
thus denominated: it is
an
honour to be received by God as among the number of His
servants,
who enjoy the support and protection of their rich
and
mighty Lord. But the designation is more commonly
used
in a special sense of those whom God employs for the
execution
of His purposes, to whom He entrusts the manage-
ment
of His concerns, and whom He fits for the advance-
ment
of His glory. David, who is said in the Acts, xiii. 36,
to
have "served the will (purpose) of God in his generation,"
was
the first, after Moses and Joshua, who in such a sense was
called
the servant of God. He is so designated here--in the
superscription
of Ps. xxxvi., which is nearly related to ours, and
must
consequently have proceeded from the author himself—
and
again in his own words, in 2 Sam. vii. Analogous also
the
description in the last wordsof David, "The man who was
raised
up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob"—a passage
which
fully justifies the remark of Venema, that the designation
is
not one merely of modesty and humility,—though these qua-
lities
are recognisable in it, so far as David seeks his honour in
what
God had given him, not in what he had of himself,—but
also,
and pre-eminently, of honour. Not
that he acts presumptu-
ously
in assuming to himself such an honourable appellation;
for
the position which he vindicates to himself belonged to him
according
to unquestionable testimonies on the part of God, both
in
word and deed, and in such cases it is only false humility to
decline
claiming that which God has openly bestowed. With
Mvyb, the entire following period stands in stat. constr.: in the day
of
the Jehovah delivered him; for: in the day that Jehovah
delivered
him. To the words, "from the hand of all his ene-
mies,
and (especially) from the hand of Saul," correspond those
in
Ex. xviii. 10, "Blessed be the Lord, who hath delivered you
out
of the hand of
The
deliverance of David from the hand of Saul was too im-
PSALM XVIII. 285
portant
not to be specially referred to in the superscription, and
in
the Psalm itself. It was the first of all; it was by means of
what
he experienced in these necessities that his faith in God's
fatherly
care first developed itself; and in all his subsequent
difficulties,
David's mind always fell back on those experiences
which
formed the basis of his inward life. That deliverance
was
for him the same as the redemption out of
In
later times, he stood as king over against other kings, or his
own
rebellious subjects; but here as a private man, without
power
or resources, over against the king, who employed all his
power
to persecute: never afterwards was he so much alone,
and
immediately thrown upon God. This distinction is im-
pressed
upon the Psalm itself. In the section which celebrates
the
deliverance from the hand of Saul, David is represented as
entirely
passive: the hand out of the clouds lays hold of him,
and
pulls him out of great waters. On the other hand, in the
section
which is taken up with his deliverance from the hand of
his
other enemies, we see him throughout active: God delivers
him
by imparting His blessing to the use of the means which he
had
himself furnished. He is no longer like a "flea," is no
more
"hunted like a partridge upon the mountains;" but as a
warrior
he places himself in opposition to warriors, "runs in the
Lord
upon troops, and in his God springs over walls."1 He
must
first learn to read with larger characters, and then the
smaller
shall become legible to him. Finally, in no later de-
liverance
did the height to which David was raised form such a
contrast
to the depth to which he had sunk, nor in any later
catastrophe
was there, in reference to his enemies, such a con-
trast
between the depth to which they fell, and their former
elevation:
he, raised from tending flocks to be the shepherd of
a
people—out of the deepest misery to kingly power and glory;
Saul,
abandoned to despair and an ignominious death, his family
thrust
down to a low condition. One can only read with surprise
the
assertion of Lengerke, that the words, "and from the hand
1 This important distinction
was first noticed by Venema, whose remark,
however,
appears to have been quite overlooked by later writers: "In the
former
section he had ascribed his deliverance to God alone as a just Judge,
and
had reserved no part to himself; here, however, while he acknowledges
God
as the source of power and victory, he yet represents himself as an
instrument
in the hand of God, whereby the enemies were subdued."
286 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
of
Saul," are a latter addition. It is justified as genuine by the
division
of matter in the song itself. The deliverance from Saul
is
treated as a separate whole, and is disconnected from the mass
of
the other deliverances and gracious acts of God.1
The introduction occupies vers. 1-3;
and in it the Psalmist
first
declares his tender love to God, and then draws attention
to
its grounds, as well through the number of epithets applied to
God,
as in ver. 3, through an open exhibition of the actual facts.
Ver. 1. And he said: Heartily do I love Thee, 0 Lord, my
strength. Luther: "Our sweet
and joyful affection ought to
impel
us with great force to those to whose goodness we owe
deliverance
from huge evil and misfortune. So says he now: I
have
a sincere and childlike longing toward Thee. He thus con-
fesses
the warmest love, and that he has had pleasure in our Lord
God,
for he has found His kindness to be unspeakable; and from
this
constraining desire and love it arises that he ascribes to God
so
many names." Love to God, even in Deut. x. 12, and in a
series
of other passages in the Pentateuch, is declared to be the
sum
of the whole law. The manifestations of God's love are
designed
to lead to Him; but this aim is not accomplished in all:
many
embrace the gifts, and forget the Giver—their hearts be-
come
colder toward God the more eminent His gifts are. Of
kicked;
he forgot God that made him, and lightly esteemed the
Rock
of his salvation." In David, however, the manifestations
1 That the superscription
is not, as some have supposed, borrowed from
2
Sam., is shown even by its formal agreement with the introduction (the
threefold
number of the names of God), which bespeaks its origin with the
Psalmist
himself. The same thing is still more decisively proved by the in-
ternal
character of the superscription, —in particular by the words, "and
from
the hand of Saul," as compared with the contents. The variations in
2
Sam. are just so many intentional changes. First, the words, "To the
chief
musician," are left out, because here the song comes under considera-
tion
only as the personal confession of David. Then the words, "of the
servant
of the Lord," are omitted, for no other reason than that in 2 Sam.,
in
the superscription and introduction, the entire arrangement, and the pre-
dominance
of the number three, which rendered these words necessary, are
abolished;
of the genuineness of the words, one can scarcely doubt after com-
paring
2 Sam. vii., xxiii. 1, and the corresponding, "His king and His
anointed,"
of the conclusion. Finally, instead of dym, there is used a second
time
Jkm,
for conformity sake, while the original dym was probably employed
on
purpose to distinguish the deliverance from the hand of Saul more clearly
from
that out of the hands of the other enemies.
PSALM XVIII. VER. 2. 287
of
God's love to him kindled the flame of a corresponding love,
and
caused it to burn ever clearer and brighter. MHr, diligere
ex
intimis visceribus, to love heartily,
occurs in Kal only here;
Piel
could not have been used, for that always marks the tender
love
of the stronger toward the weaker, compassion. It appears
that
David made the word for himself, because no existing term
was
sufficient to express his feeling. The word, "my strength"
(qz,He, also a!pac
leg.), is
referred by Luther to that strength
"with
which a man is clothed from above, and by which he is
inwardly
strengthened and fortified,—the firmness which braces
weak
and delicate minds." This strength, he says, we have not,
excepting
from God. For when it depends upon ourselves, we
are
quite weak, in good as well as in bad times, and we melt
like
wax before the sun. This view would lead to the compari-
son
of 1 Sam. xxx. 6, "David strengthened himself in the Lord
his
God." But that "my strength" is at least not exclusively,
or
even pre-eminently, to be referred to internal strengthening,
is
evident from the following names of God, which all refer to
the
external aid granted by God, and also from the entire sequel,
which
treats of actual deliverances, and may be said to be in-
volved
in this one word.1
Ver. 2. The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my
deliverer: my God is my
stronghold, in whom I trust; my shield
and horn of my
salvation, my citadel.
The first thing to be con-
sidered
here is, how the words in the middle, vb hsHx yrvc ylx
1 This first verse is
altogether awanting in 2 Sam. Its internal cha-
racter
bespeaks its genuineness; the judgment of Lengerke, inanis est
et frigidus versiculus, is characteristic only
of him who uttered it, not of
the
saying, which was the source of two of our finest hymns (Herzlich lieb
hab' ich dich, 0 Herr, and Ich will dich lieben meine Stärke). The a[p.
leg.
MHr is a further proof of its originality; and also
the fact, that the threefold
use
of the name Jehovah fails in the introduction, if this verse is held to be
of
later origin. Finally, as an external ground, the name of King Hezekiah,
which,
in all probability, was derived from this verse. Against the opinion
of
Hitzig, that the words were dropt in 2 Sam. from negligence, we would
say,
that such a degree of negligence precisely at the commencement is
scarcely
to be conceived. But it is quite conclusive that this omission goes
hand
in hand with the longer addition in ver. 3, which was manifestly de-
signed
to supply the place of what was omitted, and which therefore must
have
been known to the author. If we should attribute to the author of the
text
in 2 Sam. the design of supplanting our text by the addition, "my
Saviour,
who savest me from violence," he would certainly have done very
ill.
But this was obviously not his design. He only wished to give a
variation.
288 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
are
to be understood. Generally two names of God are found
here,
"my God, my Stronghold, in whom I trust." We, how-
ever,
render, "my God is my stronghold, in which I trust,"
so
that only this, the term, "my Stronghold," belongs to the
series
of appellatives applied to God. This view is supported,
first,
by the consideration that the quite general term, "my
God,"
interrupts the series of appellatives, which all bear a
special
character. In the second place, that on the other view,
in
place of the number seven, so
significant, and such a favour-
ite
with David, and which we the rather expect here, as the
number
plays so conspicuous a part in the superscription and
introduction,
the meaningless eight would be found.
In the
third
place, ylx does
not form one of the series of the other
names
of God; as is shown also by the corresponding, "my rock-
God,
in whom I trust," in 2 Sam. The author divides the
seven
names, with which he would praise God, into three parts.
The
first and the third contain three names; for the inter-
mediate
part only one remains. yrvc alone would have been too
isolated
and bald; hence was ylx prefixed, and vb hsHx added.
If
then we must render, "my God is my rock or stronghold,"
it
is certain that the whole verse, precisely as ver. 3 (comp. also
Ps.
xlvi. 1, "God is our refuge and strength"), speaks concern-
ing Jehovah, and that the
current exposition, which regards it
as
containing direct addresses, dependent on the words, "I love
Thee,"
is to be rejected. So long a series of vocatives also
would
have something formal and cold about it, and would not
accord
with the calmness appropriate to an introduction, and
which
is observed in the two other verses. Our construction
was
already adopted by the Vulgate.
The designations of God in this
verse, as also that in the
preceding,
"my strength," contain not only an expression of
thankfulness
for what is past, but also, at the same time, ex-
pression
of hope in respect to the future; not the Lord was,
but
the Lord is my rock, etc. David's relation to God is a
standing
one, out of which the future salvation will
proceed,
just
as the past salvation has proceeded.
That the designations
must
be thus understood, is evident, first of all, from the expres-
sion
in the next verse, "I am
delivered," not, I was. Then it
is
clear also from the body of the Psalm, which refers not
merely
to the deliverance already received, but also to the future,
inclusive
even of that which David was to receive in his posterity.
PSALM XVIII. VER. 2. 289
The
two first names, and also the last, are taken from the natu-
ral
features of
by
deep ravines, afford protection to the flying: comp. "He sets
me
up upon a rock," in Ps. xxvii. 5, for, He delivers me, Judges
vi.
2; 1 Sam. xxiv. 22; 2 Sam. v. 8. David's predilection for
this
figurative description of the Divine protection, which shows
itself,
not merely in the threefold repetition, but also in its form-
ing
both the beginning and the end, comprising everything else,
appears
to have originated in the persecution of Saul. Then he
often
had to betake himself to rocks for refuge. He grounded
the
hope of his security, however, not upon their natural inac-
cessibility,
but his mind rose from the corporeal rock to the spi-
ritual,
which he beheld under the form of the corporeal. The
mode
of contemplation, to which he then became familiarized,
suggested
such figurative designations of God, his deliverer, as
his
rock, his fastness, his stronghold. Placed upon this rock,
he
could say: non curo te Caesar, with
infinitely better right
than
he who, according to Augustine, on Ps. lxx., from a lofty
cliff
addressed the Emperor with these words, as he passed be-
neath.
The third designation, "my deliverer," the only proper
one
amid others solely figurative, is intended to explain the two
first,
pointing to their real substance. In the fourth designa-
tion,
"my mountain, in whom I trust," it is not the height and
inaccessibility,
as in the case of the rock, which are considered,
but
the immoveableness, and unchangeable firmness. It directs
attention
to the immutability of God, His constancy and inviola-
ble
faithfulness. The etymology also suggests this sense; rvc
properly
signifies, not, "rock," but, "stone." Such decidedly
is
its import in the first passage, where it is used as a designa-
tion
of God, Deut. xxxii. 4. There it is manifestly equivalent
to
hnvmx,
“fidelity,” and the meaning, tutissimum
asylum, is quite
unsuitable.
That David borrowed the rvc from this passage,
which
with singular predilection he used for his last words, is
evident
from ver. 31. Similarly dependent on that original
passage,
rvc
is found in Ps. xcii. 15, "To show that the Lord
is
upright, my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him."
The
Psalm celebrates God's love and fidelity, hnvmx, ver. 2. rvc
frequently
occurs in close connection with Jehovah, the One
who
absolutely is, the unchangeable (see my Beitr. Th. II. p.
244
ss.), and especially in Isa. xxvi. 4. The name in Gen.
xlix.
24, "the stone of
290 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
touchstone
for the interpretation of rvc, showing what is the
quality
in it that comes under consideration. To suppose that
this
quality here is the inaccessible height, would only be justi-
fiable,
if we could take hsH with b in the sense of
"to fly to,"
whereas
it always signifies "to trust in." To the trusting ex-
actly
corresponds unchangeableness and fidelity.—The epithet,
"My
shield," occurred already in Ps. iii. 3. In Deut. xxxiii.
29,
God is named, "the shield of the help of
deliverance, is either equivalent
to "delivering horn" (so Luther:
It
signifies an horn of salvation, because it overcomes the ene-
mies,
delivers from the enemies, and gives salvation)—or the
literal
term yfwy
is the explanation of the figurative one Nrq, "my
deliverance-horn," q. d. "my horn," that is,
"my deliverance;"
His
power affords me the deliverance which horns afford to
beasts.
In any case, the image is taken from beasts which de-
fend
themselves with their horns, and in these have the seat of
their
strength. To the interpretation of others, who take the
word
in the sense of height, there is the
objection, that this signi-
fication
occurs only in one passage, namely, Isa. v. 1, and even
there
it means, not mountain-top, but hill; whereas it is found
in
a great number of passages in the sense adopted by us, with
a
reference to beasts, whose strength resides in their horns;
comp.
for ex. Deut. xxxiii. 27; 1 Sam. ii. 10; Job xvi. 15. It
is
a confirmation also of this view, that the epithet, "my high
place,"
of the conclusion, may better stand alone than "my
shield."
For it only rounds off, and points back to the com-
mencement.
In Deut. xxxiii. 29, parallel with the " helping
shield,"
is "the imperious sword," defence and offence.1
1 In 2 Sam. yl
is added yFlpm, my deliverer, which is
neither, with
Lengerke,
to be declared original, nor, with others, to be characterized as
wholly
to be rejected. It bears the character of the unusual, which dis-
tinguishes
so many of the variations in 2 Sam. It is found also in Ps.
cxliv.
2, a passage grounded upon ours, and cannot therefore be regarded
as
a corruption of late origin. Of the passages in which Lengerke has
sought
to find a similar use of the Ps. xxvii. 2, xxxi. 4, the first has
nothing
to do with it, and the second is uncertain. Instead of, "my God
is
my rock," there is in 2 Sam., "my rock-God," yriUc
yhelox< a
variation
which
is shown to be intentional by ver. 47, where the designation, "rock-
God,"
again occurs. Such a regularity is incompatible with an accidental
origin.
The solitariness of ybgwm is in 2 Sam. relieved by the addition ysUnm;,
my
refuge. Then there is also appended a fuller conclusion: my Redeemer,
who
redeemest me from violence. It is impossible to account for such an ad-
PSALM XVIII. VER. 3. 291
Ver.
3. As on the glorious one I call upon the Lord,
and from
mine enemies I am
delivered.
The Futs. of the verb are to be
taken
aoristically, "as often as I call upon Thee, I am de-
livered;"
so that the sentiment refers at once to the past, the
present,
and the future. Luther: "He would teach us by this,
that
there is nothing so bad, so great, so mighty, so tedious,
which
may not be overcome by the power of God, if we only
put
our trust therein. Likewise, that we have pre-eminent
cause
to hope that the power of God will be mighty in us, when
many
great, strong, and continuous evils forcibly press upon us,
inasmuch
as it is a property of Divine strength to help the
little,
the feeble, the dejected, not merely amid the evils of
punishment,
but also of guilt. For what sort of power were
God's,
if it could only prevail over punishment, and not also
over
sin in us? So full is this passage of consolation; because
the
state of things it contemplates seems to be wholly against
nature,
and that one must abandon all hope, when not evil
merely,
but also great, weighty, and long-continued evils break
in."
The first clause is translated by many, "I call upon the
Lord
as one that has been praised," i. e. "after that I have
already
praised Him." So Luther: I will praise the Lord, and
call
upon: Him. "This doctrine," says he, "is in tribulation
the
most noble and truly golden. It is scarcely credible what
a
powerful assistance such praise of God is in pressing danger.
For
the moment thou beginnest to praise God, the evil begins
to
abate, the consoled courage grows, and then follows the
calling
upon God with confidence. There are people who cry
to
the Lord, and are not heard, ver. 41. Why this? Because
they
do not praise the Lord when they cry to Him, but go to
Him
with reluctance; they have not represented to themselves
how
sweet the Lord is, but have looked only upon the bitter-
ness.
But no one is delivered from evil by simply looking
upon
his evil, and becoming alarmed at it; he can only do so
by
overcoming it, clinging to the Lord, and having respect to
His
goodness. 0 doubtless a hard counsel! And a rare thing,
truly,
in the midst of misfortune to conceive of God as sweet,
and,
worthy of being praised; and when He has removed Himself
from
us, and is incomprehensible, even then to regard Him more
dition
by accident. Our text maintains here
throughout the character of
the
ground-text; but considered as a variation, that in 2 Sam. is quite
unexceptionable.
No one would think of bettering it, if we had it alone.
292 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
strongly
than our present misfortune, which keeps us from re-
garding
Him. Only let any one try it, and endeavour to praise
God
when he is not in good heart: he will presently experi-
ence
an alleviation. All other consolation profits not, or profits
in
a deceitful manner; in other words, is highly injurious."
Though
the sense, however, is given here with substantial cor-
rectness,
yet the view taken of llhm cannot be grammatically
justified.
To take "praised," for, "after that I have praised
Him,"
is harsh, and everywhere else the word is used in the
Psalms
as an epithet of God: "praised" glorious, Ps. xlviii.
1,
xcvi. 4, cxiii. 3, cxlv. 3, comp. 1 Chron. xvi. 25. So must
be
understood here also. It marks that property of God which
David
vividly realized to himself in calling upon Him; points
out
that it is not enough simply to call upon the Lord, comp.
ver.
41; but that the full recognition of His glory must be
coupled
therewith, which only dwells in the heart that has un-
doubting
faith. This it is that distinguishes the prayer of faith
from
that of the doubter, who prays merely by way of experi-
ment,
and dares not hope that he shall receive anything comp.
Jas.
i. 5. llhm
stands in the accus., comp. Ewald, § 510, c.;
and
the position at the beginning, which has led many astray,
is
to be explained from the design of giving emphasis to this
word.
After the introduction, there
follows now, in vers. 4-19, the
first
part of the description of the Divine help which David
had
experienced amid the great necessities and manifold dan-
gers
of his life, referring to the period of the persecution under
Saul.
This is opened in vers. 4 and 5, by a description of the
necessity.
Then, in vers. 6-19, he sets forth how the words,
"I
call upon the Lord as the glorious one, and am delivered
from
mine enemies," were fulfilled.
Ver. 4. The cords of death compassed me about, and the
waters of mischief
frightened me.
Ver. 5. The cords of hell
compassed me about; the
snares of death surprised me. The
question
first of all arises, Of what distress in the life of David
does
he here speak? The proper answer is, that David here
masses
all the necessities, of the Sauline period together. This
view
is favoured by the superscription, which divides all the
distresses
of David into two great halves,—the Sauline ones,
and
the others; and also by the relation between the two sec-
tions,
vers. 4-19, and 28-45, already referred to: in the for-
293 PSALM XVIII. VERS. 4, 5.
mer,
David is delivered by God, without his co-operation; while
in
the latter, he is represented as at once the instrument and the
object
of the Divine deliverance. The supposition, that David
comprehends
all the distresses of his life into one, is discounte-
nanced
by the division of the matter into two parts; and the
opinion
of De Wette and Lengerke, viz. that the Psalmist
speaks
of one particular danger and deliverance (De Wette is
uncertain
what, Lengerke thinks of David's escape from the
treachery
of the Ziphites), is not suited to the occasion. to
the
general character of the Psalm; it is based on the supposi-
tion,
that the Psalmist spoke too largely, without being able to
explain
why he should have given such prominence to one par-
ticular
event at the expense of others. Instead of cords,
several
have,
"the pains of death." yleb;H, can certainly signify
that;
but
the sense of cords, to which the compassing is also more
suitable,
is decided for here by ywqvm, parallel to the second ylbH,
with
which the first must accord in meaning. Death is repre-
sented
under the image of a hunter, from whom the animal can
no
longer escape, when the fatal net has been thrown over it.
Belial is taken here by many
expositors in the sense of "de-
struction."
The brooks or waters of destruction must be a
figurative
description of great misfortune, which in a manner
overflows
a man. But Belial always signifies unprofitableness
in
a moral sense, worthlessness. In this sense it occurs even in
Deut.
xiii. 13, xv. 19. In that sense it was quite familiarly
used,
especially in David’s time, and is so used in the last
words
of David, 2 Sam. xxiii. 6, which are so closely related
to
this Psalm: worthlessness as abstr. pr.
concr., or personified.
For
the signification, “misfortune,” "destruction," Gesenius
produces
only, in addition to our passage, Nah. i. 11; where,
however,
lfylb Cfvy is explained by Michaelis, "consiliarius
Belial,
nequam, diabolicus," and according to chap. ii. 1, it
must
be so rendered. If we follow the only certain meaning
of
the word, as already the LXX. xei<mar]r[poi a]nomi<aj, then by
the
brooks of unworthiness, we can only understand, with Muis
and
others, the unworthy (Saul and his company), who overflow
as
brooks. This view is supported also by what follows. If
Belial
is explained by destruction, no clear description of the
distress
is given at all. One might think, for example, that the
Psalmist
had been sick unto death. But that is contrary to the
conclusion
in vers. 17 and 18, where it is clearly intimated, that
294 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
the
troubles proceeded from enemies. In this conclusion there
is,
further, as good as an express comment on the brooks of
Belial.
In ver. 17 we find parallel with the preceding words,
"He
drew me out of many waters,"—which refer to the brooks
of
Belial,—"He delivered me from my strong enemy, and from
my
haters, for they were too strong for me." Also in Ps. cxliv.
7,
which is based on the present one, "Deliver me out of many
waters,
out of the hand of strange children," the waters are not
the
image of misfortune, but of its cause, the enemies. The
Fut.
ynvtfby is to be explained from the lively realization of pre-
sence.
Mdq
is, "to surprise;" comp. on Ps. xvii. 13.1
Ver. 6. In my distress I call upon the Lord, and cry to my
God; He hears out of His
temple my voice, and my cry comes
before Him, in His ear. Just as before the
distresses had been
all
comprehended in one great distress, as also again at the
commencement
of this verse, so here, and in the subsequent
context,
the manifold Divine hearings and helps are united into
a
single grand hearing and help. The Futures of the verb are
again
to be explained from the lively realization of presence.
1 In 2 Sam. we have first,
at the beginning of ver. 5, yk added. This
addition
bears the character of an explanation. The yk marks precisely
the
relation in which the section just begun, stands to the preceding.
Luther:
"In what precedes he had said and taught, that we must call
upon
the name of the Lord with praise and love, if we would be delivered
from
the hand of our enemies; and now, further, he relates that he had
done
this, and relates his own history as an example of the doctrine which
he
had taught." Then, instead of tvm ylbH, the cords of death,
stands
tv,mA yreb;w;mi, the waves of death.
Thereby the first member is made more
conformable
to the second, and the repetition is avoided. But we are not
to
conclude from this, that yrbwm is the original. If it had been so, cer-
tainly
no one would have thought of substituting ylbH for it. With the
reading
ylbH,
the two verses are made only too regular. If Belial denotes
mischief,
then there is the less reason for wishing anything exactly corre-
sponding
to the brooks. The repetition of ylbH has an analogy in vers.
12
and 13. The thought of the cords is
so peculiarly attractive to the
Psalmist,
that he involuntarily, as it were, returns to it. Bound, entan-
gled
by death, a helpless victim of it, this is the most suitable description
of
his case; and to this he returns again, after having slightly employed
another
image, and thus indicated the source of his deadly distress. From
all
which it is clear, that yrbwm has only the import of a good variation.
The
antiquity of the ylbH is also secured by Ps. cxvi. 3. Finally, for ynvbbs;
the
fuller and more sonorous poetic form, there is in 2 Sam. the common
yniBusa. The two readings taken together
correspond to ynvbbs Mg ynvbs in Ps.
yniBUsa. 11. The ynbs in 2 Sam. serves the
purpose of pointing to the em-
phasis
in ynvbbs
here.
PSALM XVIII. VER. 6. 295
Faith
knows no past and no future; what God has done and
will
do, is present to it. Stier would take rc as the third per-
son
Pret. But as rca unquestionably occurs in Job xv. 24 as a
noun
in the sense of distress, we have no occasion to prefer here
the
more strained exposition, "in the distress to me," for, "in
this
my distress." fvw, stronger than xrq, denotes the cry for
help
uttered by him who is in the greatest danger and ex-
tremity.
On the expression, "my God," Calvin remarks:
"In
calling God his God, he distinguishes
himself from those
gross
despisers of God and hypocrites, who, indeed, confusedly
invocate
a heavenly power, when impelled by hard necessity;
but
neither with a pure heart, nor as on terms of intimacy,
draw
near to God, of whose fatherly grace they know nothing."
By
the
the
heavens, not for the reason adduced by Theodoret, that the
earthly
temple was then still unbuilt—for lkyh is used, as was
formerly
noticed, also of the tabernacle; and it was only from
this
being named the dwelling of God, that heaven was also
named
so—but because, by this exposition, we obtain a finer
contrast:
the servant far below on the earth cries, and the
Lord
hears high up in the heavens; nay, the more highly He
is
enthroned, the better does He hear, the more easily does He
help;
because the following context represents how God comes
down
from heaven, in order to help His servant; and lastly,
also,
because of the parallel passage in Ps. xi. 4, "The Lord
is
in His holy temple, the Lord's throne is in heaven."1—Ber-
1 In 2 Sam, there is xrAq;x, instead of fvwx here. This throws the
em-
phasis
upon yhlx,
whereas its import does not come out so decidedly with
our
reading, which, by the increased force of the expression, "I cry,"
rather
draws attention to the singular intensity of emotion and the great-
ness
of the distress. That it is appropriate thus to distinguish yhlx, and
to
draw attention to it by employing the same verb, is clear as day. On
the
ground that Jehovah was David's God, rested the confidence of his
prayer,
and, indeed, the whole result reported in the sequel. But that
fvwx is the original reading, is manifest from lytfyw, by which it is again
resumed.
The xbt vynpl is awanting in 2 Sam. Our reading has the ad-
vantage
of picturesqueness and vividness: we see how the prayer with
winged
speed travels the long way from earth to heaven, comes before
God's
throne, and enters into His ear. The reading in 2 Sam., on the
other
hand, has the advantage of impressive brevity. Both readings stand
peacefully
beside other, and expositors in vain try to bring them into col-
lision.
296 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
king;
then let us know how it has turned out with thy cry and
prayer
for redemption."
Ver. 7. Then the earth shakes and trembles, and the founda-
tions of the mountains
move and shake, because He is wroth. The
Psalmist's
cry for help has penetrated from the deepest depth to
the
highest height. It had kindled in his God, who heard him,
indignation
against those who oppressed His servant; and, be-
fore
the wrath of the Almighty, the earth heaves in frightful
anticipation
of the things which are soon to come to pass. "The
foundations
of the mountains," for, "their lowest base."
Ver. 8. Smoke goes up in His nose, and fire out of His mouth
devours, coals burn from
it. In
the whole verse there is a fur-
ther
expansion of the words, vl hrH, prop. "He is inflamed,"
with
which the preceding verse had closed (Michaelis rightly:
ascendit enim), and so the Divine
wrath is represented under
the
image of a fire, just as in Deut. xxxii: 22, xxix. 20, "Then
the
anger of the Lord, and His jealousy, shall smoke against
that
man;" Ps. lxxiv. I. With the thunder-storm, smoke, and
fire,
and coals have primarily nothing to do here; this is here only
prepared.
The nose is named, because it is commonly considered
the
seat of anger,—the mouth, because it consumes. That Jx
signifies "nose" (LXX.: a]nebh kapno>j e]n o]rgh? au]tou?;
Vulgate:
in ira ejus; so also Stier), is
clear from the juxtaposition with
mouth; and that vypm is to be rendered by,
"out of His mouth,"
is
clear from its juxtaposition with nose.
Quite falsely has the
ascension
of smoke in the nose been connected with the observa-
tion,
that furious beasts, such as horses, lions, snort dreadfully;
and
then Stier finds occasion, in the "unpolished, nay, monstrous
nature
of the image," for adopting his false exposition. Smoke
has
nothing to do with snorting; it is only the inseparable ac-
companiment
of fire. The relation of the two to each other is
discovered
in Ex. xix. 18, "And Mount Sinai was altogether on
a
smoke, because the Lord descended on
it in fire." To the nose
1 In 2 Sam. we have, instead
of the foundations of the mountains,
the
foundations of the heavens, Mymw tvdsvm. Our reading takes into
view
alone
the shaking of the earth, because it is concerned with the judgments
of
the Lord, which now begin to discover themselves in wrath. On the
other
hand, the reading in 2 Sam., with the view of marking very strongly
the
frightfulness of the wrath of the Almighty, represents the whole fabric
of
the universe as trembling before Him. This could only be regarded as
unsuitable
if, misunderstanding the whole verse, we should imagine a
thunder-storm
to be spoken of.
PSALM XVIII. VERS. 9,
10. 297
is
attributed the fire of the Divine anger, in its smoking aspect,
simply
because, in its burning, consuming aspect, it is best attri-
buted
to the mouth. The word devours stands
purposely with-
out
an object, and we must not supply the
enemies. It is the
burning
power only which is here considered. The whole scene
in
vers. 7 and 8 still belongs to the heavens. By the coals we
are
not to understand lightning. This is only the later pro-
duct
(comp. ver. 12) of the glow of fire and wrath, here first
kindled.
The suffix in vnmm refers to the mouth. "Coals burn
out
of it," is not equivalent to "burning coals go forth out of
it,"
but to, "the flame of burning coals bursts forth from it,"
as
out of a burning oven, wx rvnt, Gen. xv.
The second point comes now: the
expression of the anger,
whose
growth had been described in the preceding verses. The
wrath
which was kindled in the heavens makes itself felt upon
the
earth, which had called it forth, and embodies itself in a
storm
upon the heads of the wicked, whose destruction is at the
same
time the deliverance of the servant of the Lord.
Ver. 9. He bowed the heavens and came down, and darkness
was under His feet. He, God, as burning
fire. The heavens
appear
to let themselves down in a storm. Luther: "When
there
is a clear heaven, the clouds are high; but when a storm
comes,
one might fancy them pushing against the roof." There
seems
to be some allusion to this here. However, as is justly
remarked
by Stier, the words, "He bowed," are in themselves a
fit
introduction to the strong expression, "He came down." He
appeals
to Isa. lxiii. 19. It is a proof of the living nature of
faith,
when, in times of judgment and help, one sees not merely
the
working of a God far removed, but Himself in bodily mani-
festation.
What is to be understood by the darkness,
we may
best
learn from Ex. xix. 16, "And there were thunders, and
lightnings,
and a thick cloud upon the Mount;" and Deut. v. 22,
"All
these words spake the Lord unto all your assembly in the
Mount,
out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the
thick
darkness," lprfh. The Lord approaches, marching upon
the
black thunder-clouds. These are, to His enemies, an indi-
cation
of His anger, and a proclamation of His judgment.
Michaelis:
"That the wicked might not perceive His serene
countenance,
but only the terrible signs of His severe anger, and
of
His punishment."
Ver. 10. He rode upon, the cherub and did fly, and He flew
298 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
upon the wings of the
wind.
"The cherub," remarks Baehr,
Symbolik, Th. p. 341, who, of recent
authors, has given the
most
correct and profound investigation of the nature of the
cherub,
and with which my remarks on
of
Moses, p. 154 ss., may be compared, as supplementary of his,
--“The
cherub is a being which stands on the highest pinnacle
of
created life, and combines in itself the most perfect kinds of
creaturely
life, is the most complete manifestation of God, and
of
the Divine life. It is an image of the creature in its highest
form,
an ideal creature. The powers of life, divided amongst
the
creatures that occupy the highest place in the visible creation,
are
in it combined and individualized." The cherub is a per-
sonification
of creation. When the Lord is represented as
throned
on the cherub, as in the sanctuary, or as riding upon it,
as
in this place and in Ezekiel, it signifies that creation belongs
to
and serves Him, that He is the God and Lord of the whole
earth,
its Creator, Sustainer, and Ruler. When He comes to
judgment,
woe to those on earth who have awakened His anger.
In
the passage, Ps. civ. 3, which is based on the one before us,
the
clouds are substituted for the cherub: "Who makes the
clouds
His chariot." That the appearance of the Lord must
not
be measured with an earthly measure, that He comes in the
majesty
of the Lord of the whole creation, not in human weak-
ness,—to
this also the second clause refers: "He flew upon the
wings
of the wind."1
Ver. 11. He makes darkness His covering, round about Him
in His tent, dark
waters, thick clouds.
This verse is related to
the
last words of ver. precisely as ver. 8 is to the last words
of
ver. 7. It further expands the words, "darkness was under
His
feet," for the purpose of introducing, at ver. 12, the descrip-
tion
of the lightning thunder, and hail, which broke forth from
these
dark tempest-clouds. The abbrev. Fut. twy is used poe-
tically
with the meaning of the usual Fut. Thunder-clouds are
designated,
just as here, the tent of God, in Job xxxvi. 29, comp.
also-Ps.
xcvii. 2, "Clouds and darkness are round about Him."
1 For xryv, "He flew,
hovered," there is in 2 Sam. xrAyeva, "and He ap-
peared;"
the appearing of God, in contrast to
His concealment in the
heavens.
Quite fruitless are the efforts made to represent this reading as
unsuitable;
it offers rather a pleasant variation. As hxd frequently occurs,
Deut.
xxviii. 49 ; Jer. xlviii. 40, xlix. 22, the reading cannot be explained
with
Hitzig, from the offence which was taken at the rarer form.
PSALM XVIII. VER. 12. 299
Calvin:
"When God covers the heavens with darkness, He in
a
manner prevents men from beholding Him, as when a king,
displeased
with his people, withdraws and hides himself." To
"dark
waters," and "thick clouds," we must supply: "He makes
His
tent." Dark waters are a designation of thunder-clouds.
MyqHw ybf, prop. "clouds of cloud,"
equivalent to "the most dense
clouds,"
such as are not scattered, but form, one entire cloud.
MyqHw denotes clouds more as a whole,
compacted together; hence
it
never occurs in the singular as bf and stands for the
clouds
of
the entire heaven. There is a corresponding phrase in Ex.
xix.
9, NnAfAh, bfa, thick clouds. Gesenius improperly takes bf, in
both
places, in the sense of darkness.1
Ver. 12. From the brightness before Him His clouds passed,
hailstones and coals of
fire,
The storm of the Divine anger dis-
charges
itself. Amid. frightful thunder (ver. 13), from the sea
of
fire, with which the Lord in His indignation is encompassed
(comp.
ver. 8), there shoot forth lightnings, dividing the clouds,
and
hailstones pour down,—the weapons with which the Lord
fights
against His own and the Psalmist's enemies, as heretofore
against
the Egyptians, Ex. ix. 24, comp. Ps. lxxxviii. 47, 48, and
the
Canaanites at Bethhoron, Jos. x. 11. The deep floods under
which
the Psalmist lies buried, disperse themselves under God's
almighty
hand, until the earth is laid open in its inmost recesses,
even
to the chambers of the dead, and God's hand reaches into
the
deep abyss, the yawning jaws of hell, and lays hold of His
servant.
The first clause was quite correctly expounded by
Luther:
"It is a description of lightning. When He pleases,
He
rends the clouds asunder, and darts forth a flash, such as
the
clouds cannot restrain; it breaks through just as if there
were
no clouds there. As we see that the whole heaven, as it
were,
opens when there is lightning." In the second clause,
the
verb cannot be supplied from the first—rbf does not suit.
"Hailstones
and coals of fire" stands rather as an exclamation,
referring
to the frightful nature of the unexpected manifesta-
tion.
Lengerke, whom De Wette follows, expounds: "From
the
brightness before Him went forth His clouds, hailstones, and
coals
of fire;" the latter being taken as explanatory: but rbf does
1 In 2 Sam. vrtk
is
awanting, and for vtks stands tOKsu. An inten-
tional
abbreviation. For tkwh stands the a[pac leg. traw;Ha, according to the
Arabic,
gathering. The rare and select trwH
is poetical
in its form; the
tkwH, water-darkness, for dark rain-clouds, is the
same in its import.
300 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
does
not mean "to go forth;" and the clouds, which may not
be
identified with lightning and hail, do not proceed from the
brightness,
but cover it.1
Ver. 13. And the Lord thundered in the heaven, and the
Highest gave His voice,
hailstones and coals of fire. In Ex. ix.. 23
it
is said, " The Lord gave voices and hail, and the fire ran
upon
the earth." The comparison with this ground-passage
shows,
that the words, "hailstones, etc.," are still dependent on Nty,
and
at the same time confutes those who, following the LXX.,
would
set aside "the hailstones and coals of fire" as spurious,
and
as interpolated from the preceding verse. The repetition
is
the more in its place, as the coals of fire, or the lightning
and
the hail, are the very things by which the enemies of the
Psalmist
were annihilated,—the rest were but the circumstan-
tials
which rendered the scene of annihilation more frightful.2
Ver. 14. And He sent out His arrows, and scattered them;
much lightning, and
discomfited them.
The Lord is represented
under
the image of a warrior who comes to the help of David.
The
arrows which He sends upon them, are the lightnings and
the
hail. The former are alone named in the second clause, as
being
the most destructive weapons. The suff. here also require
us
to understand by the brooks of Belial, in ver. 4, the enemies.
1 In 2 Sam. it runs
merely: out of the brightness before Him UrfEBA
wxe-yleHEGa, coals of fire burned.
It is there more distinctly brought out, that
these
coals of fire are the effect of the brightness. The variation cannot be
accounted
for by accident, it is too great; and there are also analog. var.
in
the superscription and ver. 6.
2 In 2 Sam., instead of,
"in the heaven," there is, "from the heaven,"
it.
Both are equally good. Hitzig maintains, that Mymwb is to be rejected,
especially
since, ver. 9, Jehovah is no longer in the heaven. But the Lord
is
perpetually there; even when he comes down, God is still said to be in
heaven.
Comp. Gen. xi. 7, where the Lord, after He had already come
clown,
ver. 6, says, "Go to, We will go down," etc.; Gen. xviii. 21, where
the
Lord says, at the time He was walking upon the earth, "I will go
down;"
and John iii. 13, "And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but
He
that came down from heaven, the Son of Man that is in heaven," where
the
Son of God is said to have been in heaven at the very time of His so-
journing
on earth. In 2 Sam. there are also awanting the words, "hail-
stones
and coals of fire." The hail, therefore, altogether fails in 2 Sam.
The
destruction of the enemies is accomplished merely by lightning
This
constancy argues against those who would derive the variations from
accident.
So also the fact, that the recension in 2 Sam. remains uniform
in
its predilection for abbreviations. The text in Ps. xviii. is proved to be
the
original by its closer approximation to the original passage in Ex ix.
PSALM XVIII. VER. 15. 301
For
no other designation of them had been given before. brA,
the
pausal-form for bra, is either an adverb, enough, comp. Gen.
xlv.
28; Ex. ix. 28; Num. xvi. 3, 7; Deut. i. 6; or, we may
also
render, "so that there is much of them," comp. coll.,
multum,
for multi, Ex. xix. 21; 1 Sam. xiv. 6; Num. xxvi.
54.
The latter exposition, according to which a comma is to be
supplied
before br,
quorum multum erat, is the simplest.
There
is
a corresponding expression, "from my enemy, strong," in
ver.
17. It shows a strong predilection for strained expositions
to
drag in here the verb bbr, "to shoot arrows," which occurs
only
in Gen. xlix. 23: "He hurls forth lightnings." On the
Mmhyv, "and He discomfited, confounded
them," Ex. xiv. 24 is to
be
comp.: "And God troubled
(confounded), Mhyv, the host of the
Egyptians,"—the
more so, as there also it was effected by light-
ning.
Further, Ex. xxiii. 27, "I will confound all thine enemies,
against
whom thou shalt come, and give all thine enemies against
thee
to the neck;" which passage the Psalmist also, in ver. 40,
considers
as a prophecy, that had now met with its fulfilment.1
Ver. 15. Then were seen the brooks of waters, and discovered
the foundations of the
earth, before Thy rebuke, 0 Lord, before
the blast of the breath
of Thy nostrils.
The signification channel
as
regards qypx
is quite uncertain: in Isa. viii. 7, "And he
(
canals,"
the common signification is perfectly suitable, as also in
Ezek.
xxxii. 6, comp. xxxi. 12. Mym here is against that
signifi-
cation.
The brooks are in a manner invisible, so long as their
waters
are not divided, and not discovered even to their lowest
bottom,
in which the Psalmist lies buried. The becoming visi-
ble
of their lowest depths, refers to the brooks of mischief, in
which
the Psalmist, according to ver. 4, lay sunk; comp. Ps.
cxliv.
6, "Deliver me out of many waters, out of the hand of
strange
children;" on the other hand, the laying open of the
inmost
parts of the earth, even to the cords of sheol, with which
he
was bound, ver. 5. In the preceding
verse, it was the van-
quishing
of the enemies; here, and in the following verses, it is
the
deliverance of the Psalmist from their hands, and from the
1 2 Sam. for, "His arrows," there is simply Myc.iHi; for "lightnings
many,"
the simple qrABA; for, "He discomfited them," merely, "He discom-
fited."
All these variations have sprung from the disposition to impart an
elevated
character, by abbreviating the discourse. The author of Ps. cxliv.
had,
in ver. 6, at once qrb in 2 Sam. and vycH of our Psalm in his
eye.
302 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
misery
which they had prepared for him. The nose here also
is
employed as the seat of anger.1
Ver. 16. He sends from above, takes me, draws me out of
many waters. Hlwy stands absolutely in
Ps. lvii. 3, as here, In
Ps.
cxliv. 7, the object, "His hand," omitted here, as being
sufficiently
indicated by the words, "He took me," is expressly
mentioned.
That the many waters are an image of the ene-
mies,
is evident from the explanation in ver. 17. That there is
a
reference to Ex. ii. 10, "And she called his name Moses, and
said,
Because I drew him out of the water,"—that David marks
himself
as the second Moses, is clear, especially from the use of
hwm, which occurs nowhere else but here, and in
that original
passage.
Luther already called attention to this reference. It
is
the more important, as Moses was a type of the Israelitish
people;
the waters, an image of the hostile oppression, in conse-
quence
of which Moses was exposed; and the event, a prophecy
constantly
fulfilling itself anew under similar circumstances.
Ver. 17. He delivers me from my enemy, strong, and from
my haters, because they
are too powerful.
The discourse, as
Ewald
remarks, passes on more quietly to a simpler representa-
tion,
after the exhaustion of the great image. That by the
enemy
is to be understood, not an individual, but an ideal per-
son,
who was most completely represented by the individual
Saul,
appears from the parallel, "my haters." The strong
properly
forms an entire period, i.q.
"who was strong." This
also
appears from the corresponding words, "because they are
too
powerful," in the second clause, which rest on the supposi-
tion,
that our weakness necessitates the Lord to employ His
almightiness
in our behalf.
Ver. 18. They surprised me in the day of my calamity; but
the Lord was my stay. The words, "in
the day of my ca-
lamity,"—as
Amalek surprised
was
faint and weary," Deut. xxv. 18,—are explained by facts,
such
as are recorded in 1 Sam. xxiv., where David, helplessly
wandering
about, and feeling like a dead dog or a flea, ver. 15,
1 Instead of Mym, we have in 2 Sam. MyA. In 2 Sam the enemies
appear
wider
the stronger image of sea-brooks. Then instead of jtrfgm, trafEgaB;, told
for
jpx,
Opxa. The address to Jehovah is laid aside, in
accordance with the
preceding
and subsequent context, where Jehovah is spoken of in the third
person.
The reading in 2 Sam. has the advantage of uniformity, the other
of
liveliness.
PSALM XVIII. VERS. 19,
20. 303
is
pursued by Saul with three thousand men, and finds himself
in
the back part of the cave, in whose entrance Saul took up
his
abode.1
Ver. 19. And He brought me into a large place; He delivered
me, for He delighted in
me, the
righteous, comp. vers. 20-27;
while,
on the other hand, mine enemies, by their malice, have
drawn
on them His wrath.2
There follow, in vers. 20-27, as a
further expansion of the
last
words of the verse, the grounds which moved God to de-
liver
David in so glorious a manner, set forth with the design,
not
that the prophecy contained in this fact should be appro-
priated
by those to whom it did not belong, but of bringing
the
only path of salvation. The arrangement of the
section is as
follows:—The
Psalmist first sets forth the thesis, that his sal-
vation
was the fruit of his righteousness. Then he goes on to
prove
this thesis in vers. 21-23, by showing that he actually
possessed
righteousness. He next repeats the principle, as proved
in
ver. 24, with the view of connecting therewith a general de-
claration
in vers. 25-27, in accordance with the didactive and
admonitory
design, which he pursues throughout the whole
section,
in order to show how, in what was peculiar to himself,
there
was realized a general law; so that every one possessing
righteousness
is sure of salvation, while none without righteous-
ness
can comfort himself with the hope of it.
Ver. 20. The Lord rewards me according to my righteousness,
according to the
cleanness of my hands
He recompenses me. In
order
to set aside the least appearance of arbitrariness or partial
favour,
and to show that what happened to himself was grounded
on
the eternal laws of the Divine government, David points to
that
as existing in himself, which, according to the faithful word
of
God, as already declared in the law of Moses in a multitude of
passages,
but most expressly in Deut. xxviii., forms the indis-
pensable
condition of every exercise of Divine help. Amid all
1 Instead of Nfwml, there is in 2 Sam. Nfwm. Excellently Schultens:
hoc
est
elegantius, illud vero simplicius. The use of l in such cases is
certainly
the
common custom.
2 In 2 Sam. ytixo
bhrml xcEyo.va. ytx brings
out the me more pointedly, quite
suitably
to the context: here, "He brought me into a large place;" there,
"He
brought into a large place,
but
also to poetry, though certainly rarer in it; see Ew., p. 593.
304 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
the
infirmities common to men, they still fall into two great
divisions,
between which an immense gulf is fixed, the wicked
and
the righteous; and only the prayer of the latter can be
heard.
The reproach of self-righteousness, we must not, with
Calvin,
endeavour to meet by the remark, that David had a
peculiar
reason here for insisting on the righteousness of his
endeavours,
in the manifold calumnies which were circulated
against
him, whose injurious consequences affected not his per-
son
merely, but the whole Church and cause of God; nor with
Muis,
by the remark, that David attributes to himself right-
eousness
here, rather with respect to his enemies, than in refer-
ence
to God; nor yet with Geier, that he laid claim, not to
righteousness
of person, but to righteousness of cause. The
legitimate removal of the
objection rests upon the three follow-
ing
remarks: 1. Righteousness forms a contrast, not to infirmity,
but
to wickedness. 2. David owed this only to his faithful and
inward
adherence to God, who kept His servant from wicked-
ness,
that it might not reign over him. In both respects, this
Psalm,
as well as Psalm xvii., is necessarily supplemented by
Psalm
xix., which, not without reason and design, immediately
follows.
3. Finally, the reason why David here so insists on
his
righteousness, is not a vain bepraising of self, but the design
of
enlivening within himself and others, zeal for the fulfilment
of
the law. The reproach of self-righteousness, were it just
here,
might also be brought against a multitude of assertions in
Christian
songs. Quite analogous, for ex., in the fine song of
Anton
Ulrich: Nun tret’ Ich wieder aus der Ruh,
is the stanza:
"Thus
my heart is refreshed, when I feel myself enclosed by
the
guardian care of the Highest; still, in order to be assured
of
this, I must live free from sin, and walk in the way of God.
My
God will never go my way, unless I go His way.1
Ver. 21. For I have kept the ways of the Lord, and was not
evil against my God. rmw, "to observe,
keep," stands opposed
to
the reckless conduct of the ungodly. This becomes quite
clear
from the corresponding expression in next verse, "all His
judgments
were before me," also Ps. xvii. 4. yhlxm, prop. from
my
God: in that I turn myself away in vile ingratitude from
1 For yqdck in 2 Sam. ytiqAd;ciK;. That the difference is
not accidental, ap-
pears
from ver. 25, where the same variation again occurs. But it affects
not
the essence of the idea qdc is, "the being righteous," and hqdc "right-
eousness."
PSALM XVIII. VERS. 22, 23. 305
Him
who is the guardian of my life. For wickedness, as Luther
remarks,
is a departing and turning away from God. Calvin:
"The
word which he employs denotes, not a single transgres-
sion,
but apostasy, which entirely alienates man from God. But
though
David, through infirmity of flesh, had sometimes fallen,
yet
never did he give up piety of life, or abandon the warfare
committed
to him."
Ver. 22. But all His judgments were before me, and His com-
mandments I do not put
away from me.
yk
corresponds to our
but. To institute the one
contrast, involves the negation of the
other.
Whoever has all the commands of God before his
eyes
= observes the ways of God, he cannot be evil from his
God.1
Ver. 23. And I was blameless toward Him, and kept myself
from mine iniquity. With the first member
is to be compared
Gen.
xvii. 1, Deut. xviii. 13, and the Divine testimony for
David
in 1 Kings xiv. 8, "My servant David, who kept My
commandments,
and who followed Me with all his heart, to do
that
only which was right in Mine eyes;" and xv. 5, "David
did
that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, and turned
not
aside from anything that He commanded him, all the days
of
his life, save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite." By
the
vmf,
prop. with Him, David, in the opinion
of some, opposes
himself
to the hypocrites, who succeed in appearing before men
as
unblameable. But that the expression is rather equivalent
to,
toward Him (comp. 1 Kings xi. 4,
"His heart was not upright
with
the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father"), ap-
pears,
1. From the corresponding Ol in 2 Sam.; and 2. By a
comparison
of vers. 25, 26,—grounds which are equally con-
clusive
against the exposition of Venema, "adhering to Him,
remaining
with Him." By the words, "from my guilt," i.q.
"from
the guilt into which I may so readily fall," to which I
am
so exposed, David shows that he is not a spotless saint, but
a
sinner, who had to take care by watchfulness and conflict that
his
indwelling corruption did not regain dominion over him, and
entangle
him in guilt. He who was born in sin, Ps. li. 6, must
call
sin his all his life long, and be
continually on his guard
against
it. Compare Ps. xvii. 4, where David characterized
1 In 2 Sam. hnAm,mi
rUsxA xlo,
I depart not therefrom. Ven.: rotundior et
facilior
constructio in Ps. The reading in 2 Sam. is closely related to that
in
Deut., comp. v. 29, xvii. 11.
306 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
sinful
doing as the doing of man. To suppose, with De Wette
and
others, that the expression means, that iniquity might not
be
mine, that I might not contract guilt, is groundless, as the
simpler
exposition affords so beautiful a sense, and one so nearly
allied
to other declarations of David. Much light is thrown on
the
words, from my sin, by the narrative
in 1 Sam. xxiv. David's
cutting
off the skirt of Saul's robe is to be regarded as the first
step
on the path to murder. This is clear from the connection
in
which it stands with the speeches of David's companions
urging
the killing of Saul, with which the act in question is
immediately
connected, and from ver. 5, which can only be ex-
plained
on this supposition, "And it came to pass afterward,
that
David's heart smote him, because he had cut off Saul's
skirt."
We see here how near the guilt lay to him, but, at the
same
time, how he kept himself from it. At the first step in the
course
of sin, he starts back, and expels from his heart, with
abhorrence,
the evil thoughts that arose in it. Certainly the
Psalmist
had here, as also in the preceding verses, his conduct
toward
Saul pre-eminently before his eyes; to whom he said in
1
Sam. xxvi. 23, 24: "The Lord renders
to every man his
righteousness, and his faithfulness;
for the Lord delivered thee
into
my hand to-day, but I would not stretch forth my hand
against
the Lord's anointed. And, behold, as thy life was much
set
by this day in mine eyes, so let my life be much set by in the
eyes
of the Lord, and let Him deliver me out of all tribulation."
What
he there confidently hopes for on the
ground of his right-
eousness,
that he here describes as accorded to him on the same
ground.1
Ver. 24. Thus the Lord recompensed me according to my
righteousness, according
to the cleanness of my hands before His
eyes. The Psalmist returns,
according to the plan already an-
nounced,
to the proposition laid down in the introduction, in
order
to connect therewith the following general statements.2
1 In 2 Sam. vl is used for vmf--valuable explanation,
as the false
renderings
of vmf
show. Then we find there the forms hy,h;x,vA and hyrAm;.Taw;x,
The
form with He occurs in the Fut. with v. conv. in the Day. Psalms,
comp.
iii. 6, vii. 4.
2 In 2 Sam. stands here,
as in ver. 21, ytqdck. We find hqdc likewise
in
1 Sam. xxvi. 23, in David's mouth. For, "according to the cleanness
or
my hands," there is merely in 2 Sam., "according to my
cleanness,"
yrboK;. It also would not have been placed
there, if the more common ydy rbk
PSALM XVIII. VERS. 25,
26. 307
Ver. 25 Toward the pious Thou art pious, toward the upright
Thou art upright: Ver. 26. Toward the pure Thou art pure, and
toward the perverse Thou
art perverse.
The transition here
from
the particular to the general, equivalent to, "for so Thou
dost
always act," shows why David
laid so much stress on the
particular;
that he had therein a didactic purpose in view, spoke
of
himself, not from vain self-conceit, but rather self-denyingly,
—had
in view, not his own honour, but God's honour, and his
neighbour's
edification. The expression has something peculiar,
which
vanishes, however, as soon as it is perceived that the
Psalmist
here, in order to express as pointedly as possible the
thought,
that God regulates His procedure toward men exactly
according
to men's procedure toward Him, so describes the con-
duct
of God toward the wicked, as it would appear apart from
the
abnormal relation in which they had placed themselves to-
ward
Him. That which, considered in itself, would be unloving,
impure,
perverse, appears, when done by way of reprisals towards
the
unloving, impure, perverse, as alone worthy of God, as the
necessary
outflow of His holiness: that which, considered in
itself,
seems perverse, is the only right. But to the sinner, who
lacks
the sense of sin and its damnableness, the conduct of God;
which
is determined by sin, and is justified thereby, appears
really
unloving, impure, and perverse. He imagines God to
be
a hard, envious, and malignant tyrant and despot. Against
such
an imagination the whole of the 32d ch. of Deut. is
directed.
A similar mode of speech prevails in Lev. xxvi. 23,
24,
"If ye will walk perversely toward Me, then will I also
walk
perversely toward you." The rbaG; is the rarer poetical
form
for rb,G,.
The Hithpael of all the four verbs seems to have
been
first formed by David expressly for the purpose of paint-
ing,
in the most vivid colours, the Divine jus talionis. The
Hithp.
of rrb,
is found only once elsewhere, in Dan. xii. 10,
and
of the three other verbs nowhere else.1
had
not been used before in ver. 21. It is justified by the rkAnA
in ver. 27,
to
which it forms the transition.
1 In 2 Sam., instead of rbaG;
stands rOBGi
which is as
little to be rejected,
as
it is original. rvbg means only hero, and the other significations
are to
be
derived from this, according to the pattern in Isa. v. 22, "Woe to the
heroes
in drinking wine." The expression, "a hero, unblameable,"
denotes
either
one who excels in unblameableness, or better, it indicates that heroic
power
belongs to unblameableness, equivalent to, "with the unpunishable
man,
who is to be esteemed as a hero, who is a hero in the spiritual sphere" —
308 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
Ver. 27. For Thou helpest the poor people, and the lofty eyes
Thou bringest down. The reason implied in for consists only
in
the further enlargement. ynf
which
always, and without ex-
ception,
consequently also here, means poor,
not humble, meek,
is
more exactly defined by the preceding context (Muis: "whom
he
had before called holy, innocent, clean, he now names afflicted,
intimating
that it is almost the destiny of the pious in this life
to
be afflicted with innumerable evils") and by the contrast,
though
it necessarily involves this meaning in itself, inasmuch
as
only the righteous are, in the strict sense, sufferers; comp, the
illustration
in the introd. to Ps. vi.—Mf, "people,"
characterizes
the
Myynf
as a society, as an exclusive class of men, which stands
opposed
to another class just as exclusive. The lowering of the
lofty
eves denotes the humiliation of the proud, who exalt them-
selves
superciliously above all, and, despising the Divine law,
tread
their neighbours under their feet. The general sentiment
of
our text is best exemplified by the relation of David and Saul,
which
was the particular case on which the general declaration
is
here based.1
comp.
in ver. 23: from mine iniquity. Further, there are in 2 Sam. the two
forms
rbaTATi and lPaTaTi. These forms, of which the last in
particular can with
difficulty
be justified grammatically, are formed on account of euphony and
similarity
of sound, the first with reference to rbAnA, the second on account
of
similarity
of sound to rbaTATi. If one reflects, that the Hithpael of
these
verbs
does not occur elsewhere, that the formation itself was undertaken in
the
interest of the context, and that every uncertainty was thereby re-
moved
from the existing original text, one will be inclined to defend
these
readings from the attacks which some recent critics have brought
against
them.
1 In 2 Sam. stands first,
and Thou deliverest, instead of for Thou. As yk
is
only an explication, there was no way of avoiding its frequent repetition,
recurring
as it does at the beginning of ver. 29 and ver. 30, but by sub-
stituting
the mere copulative v which is important for the exposition of
the
yk.
Instead of simple Mf there is in 2 Sam. Mf-tx. The tx draws atten-
tion
to the fact, that even without the article the word must have a deter-
minate
sense, comp. Ewald, § 524; the article being only left out poetically.
The
second member runs in 2 Sam. lyPiw;Ta MymiyA-lfa j~yn,yfev;: "and Thine eyes
are
against the high, that Thou mayest bring them down;" comp. Isa. ii. 12,
"For
the day of the Lord of Hosts is upon everything that is high, Mr, that
it
may be brought low, lpwv;" also ver. 17. Here again in 2 Sam., the
more
select expression is employed. Lengerke and Hitzig explain, "Thine
eyes
Thou lettest down against proud men." But the deviations in 2 Sam.
are
only variations, having the same radical sense, —a circumstance which
decidedly
contradicts the accidental origin of the differences; then the ex-
PSALM XVIII. VER. 27. 309
We come now to the second great
representation of the
Divine
grace and help, reaching from ver. 28 to ver. 45. This
is
connected with the preceding by for.
David had described
his
deliverance from the hand of Saul as the consequence of
his
righteousness, and then, rising from the particular to the
general,
had laid down the principle, that righteousness is
always
the ground of salvation. Here he descends from the
general
to the particular, confirms the general principle from
his
own experience, and shows how its truth had been manifested
in
the help already received, and would still further be shown
in
that which the Divine promise made him sure of still further
receiving.
In regard to the Divine favour, which David cele-
brates
in this section, a twofold view presents itself. According
to
the one, the whole representation refers merely to the past;
according
to the other, to the past, present, and future alike:
David
is supposed to glorify the grace which, without including
the
deliverance from the hand of Saul, spoken of in the pre-
ceding
section, he had already in part received, and which, in
part,
the Divine promise gave him reason to expect, not only in
his
own person, but also in his posterity. The last view is the
only
correct one. It is supported, 1. By the almost uniform
use
of the Future in this representation, designative, according
to
this view, of continued action; whereas this use cannot be
explained
on the other view. 2. hpAD;r;x,, "I will pursue," in
2
Sam. ver. 38, which must at once be considered erroneous on
the
supposition that the whole representation has respect only
to
the past. 3. The express declaration of David at the close
of
the whole in ver. 50, which alone might suffice, affirming the
object
of his praise to be the favours which God manifests to
David and to his seed
for ever.
There was the more reason for
David's
uniting the future with the past, as he possessed, in
reference
to it, a sure word of promise, which rendered the
future
salvation just as certain as the past. If we take this
promise
into account, and the deep impression which it had
made
upon the mind of David, we shall feel it to have been im-
possible
for him to have wholly confined himself in this general
song
of thanksgiving to the past. The joyful confidence regard-
ing
the fulfilment of the promises made by the Lord towards
pression,
" to make low the eyes," never occurs as a description of
displeasure.
Ps.
cxiii. 6, to which Lengerke refers, has nothing to do with this; nor also
Jer.
iii. 12, Job xxxvi. 27, which Hitzig appeals to.
310 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
his
house, David gives utterance to besides, in 2 Sam. xxiii. 5,
in
his last words. Nathan, in his address to David in 2 Sam.
vii.,
connects both together, the past salvation and the future,
the
salvation of the person himself and that of his seed: comp.
ver.
9, "And I was with thee whithersoever thou wentest, and
have
cut off all thine enemies out of thy sight, and have made
thee
a great name;" ver. 12, "And when thy days shall be ful-
filled,
and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy
seed
after thee, and I will establish his kingdom." How deep
root
this announcement of the future salvation struck into the
mind
of David, appears from vers. 18, 19, "Who am I, 0 Lord
God,
and what is my house, that Thou hast brought me hither-
to?
And this was yet a small thing in Thy sight, O Lord
God;
but Thou hast spoken also of Thy servant's house for a
great
while to come;" ver. 25, "And now, 0 Lord God, the
word
that Thou hast spoken concerning Thy servant, and con-
cerning
his house, establish it for ever, and do as Thou hast
said;"
vers. 28, 29, "And now," etc. By holding fast the right
view
in regard to the object of the representation, it follows
also,
that it unfolds a Messianic element. If it respects David
and
his seed for evermore, it can find its complete truth only
in
Christ.
Ver. 28. For Thou snakest my lamp clear; the Lord mq God
makes my darkness light. The shining of the lamp
is an image
of
prosperity, just as its extinguishment is an image of misfor-
tune;
comp. Job xviii. 5, 6, "The light of the wicked shall be
put
out, and the spark of his fire shall not shine. The light
shall
be dark in his tabernacle, and his lamp shall be put up-
on
him;" xxi. 17. The Lord had enlightened David's darkness;
raised
him from the state of inferiority, contempt, and misery,
in
which he was, especially during the days of Saul, to, high
honour
and great prosperity; and the Lord will further also
enlighten
David's darkness, by causing to shine upon him and
his
seed, amid every season of darkness and distress, the light
of
His salvation.1
1 In 2 Sam. the verse
runs, "For Thou art my light, 0 Lord; and the
Lord
makes my darkness light." The admissibility of yriyne
hTAxa doubted
by
Hitzig
and others, shines out still more clearly than in Ps. xxvii. 1, Job
xxix.
3, from 2 Sam. xxi. 17, where David is named the lamp or light of
battle,
that thou quench not the lamp of
PSALM XVIII. VERS.
29-32. 311
Ver. 29. For in Thee do I rush upon troops, and in my God
I spring over walls. Luther: "In
confidence on Thee I am
terrified
at no assault, contend against all kinds of enemies, leap
over
all walls, and whatever else is opposed to me; that is, I,
who
in myself am weak, shall be invincible in Thee; and as
Paul
boasts in Phil. iv. 13, "I can do all things through Him
who
strengthens me," and in 2 Cor. ii. 14, "God be thanked,
who
always maketh us to triumph in Christ." The b in both
cases
retains its common signification, in
David was not in
himself,
but in God, from whose fulness he drew power and
salvation.
The Cvr "to
run," is, as a verb of motion, construed
with
the accus.
Ver. 30. The God, whose way is perfect: the word of the Lord
is purified; He is a
buckler to all who trust in Him. The lxh
is
in appos. with yhlx in the preceding verse. The Psalmist
describes
more exactly what sort of God his God is. Taking it
as
nomin. absol., the article remains inexplicable. In the second
clause,
the connection with the preceding verse is then given
up.
But the whole of the verse stands in the closest connection
therewith.
What is here said of God, explains and grounds the
expressions
there, in Thee, and in my God; the God whose way,
etc.,
equivalent to, "for He is a God," etc., very different from
the
idol-gods, who feed their votaries with wind and ashes;
comp.
2 Sam. vii. 22, "For there is none like Thee, neither is
there
any God besides Thee." By the word of the Lord, is here
specially
to be understood His promises. On the expression
purified, comp. Ps. xii. 6.
Ver. 31. For who is God, save the Lord? and who is a rock,
besides our God? The for refers to the subject of the whole
preceding
verse, "The way of Jehovah, our God, is blameless;"
He
abides by what He has spoken, supports His own, for He is
the
only true God, the one ground of salvation. Upon this also,
that
Jehovah is exclusively God, David grounds his confidence
in
2 Sam. vii. For rvc, comp. on ver. 2.
Ver. 32. The God, who girds me with power, and makes my
way perfect. A return is here made to
the path which was left
in
vers. 30 and 31, with a very close allusion, however, to what
immediately
precedes. lxh
stands in appos. to vnyhlx, "besides
occasioned
the variation in 2 Sam. David gives God the glory which they
had
ascribed to him. If he is
his.
312 THE BOOK OF PSALMS
our
God, the God, who, etc." That the Lord alone is God and
a
rock, David confirms by the fact, that He has manifested
Himself
as such in His dealings. To be girded with power, is
simply
equivalent to being furnished with power. Verbs of
clothing are frequently used in
the sense of allotting. As Mymt
is
always used in a moral sense, we must
not understand by the
way
of the Psalmist, that in which he goes, but only that in
which
he is led, his leading. It is
favoured also by ver. 30,
where
the word is likewise used in a moral sense, and refers to
God,
and by the original passage, Deut. xxxii. 4, "The rock,
perfect
is His work."1
Ver. 33. Who makes my feet like hinds, and places me upon
my heights. hvwm, like dmlm in the next verse,
connects itself
with
lxh,
"our God, who girds me, who makes me like;" who
teaches.
Like the hinds, that is, as to their feet. That hinds,
and
not stags, are here mentioned, must have a real or a sup-
posed
foundation in nature. They must be regarded as the
fleeter.
For, that the word denotes both sexes; is incorrect. In
Egyptian
paintings also; the hind is the image of fleetness.
Many,
as De Wette, conceive that the discourse here is of speed
in
flight. But this is against the connection—the words, "who
maketh
like hinds, etc.," occupy a middle position between
equipment
with strength and instruction in war—against the
parallelism,
and against the parallel passages: 2 Sam. ii. 18,
"And
Asahel was light of foot as one of the gazelles that is in
the
field, and he pursued, etc.;"
and 1 Chron. xii. 8, where it is
said
of those who came out of the tribe of Gad to David, that
their
look was like that of lions, and their swiftness of foot like
the
gazelles on the mountains. A figurative element lies in
what
is said here of fleetness, which becomes quite obvious
when
we take it along with the last clause, and compare it also
1 In 2 Sam., the first
clause runs lyiHA yziUfmA lxehA, "the God who is
my
strong
fortress." Before lyH a comma is to be supplied, precisely as ysHm
zf in Ps. lxxi. 7. We are not to imagine, with
Lengerke, a stat. constr.
interrupted
by a suff. The zvfm occurs precisely as in Ps. xxvii. 1, "The
Lord
is the fortress of my life," Ps. xxxi. 4. Hitzig objects to this reading
its
"meaningless generality;" but it is not more general than the other,
and,
as a variation, certainly excellent. The second clause is OKr;Da
MymiTA rTey.ava,
"and
the upright He leads his way," is his leader and guide. rtn=rvt,
which
in Prov. xii. 26 occurs in the sense of
to lead, comp. Umbreit in loc.
The
suff. in vkrd
is, on account of the following vylgr, to be referred to the
blameless,
perfect. The Kri yKir;Da
rests on a
misunderstanding.
PSALM XVIII. VER. 31. 313
with
the dependent passage, Hab. iii. 19. David points to the
quick
and unrestrained course of his conquests, just as already
in
ver. 29, the words, "I spring over walls," do not refer simply
to
David's personal deeds, but to what he did also by his army.
In
the second clause, the heights are the hostile positions, which
David
in the strength of the Lord surmounts. He names these
heights
his in faith; because he has the Lord
for his helper, he
considers
them all beforehand as his possession, none are in-
surmountable.
That we are not, with De Wette and others, to
understand
by the heights, places of refuge, is
clear, not only
from
the context and parallelism, but also from the original
passages
in Deut. xxxii. 13, "He made him ride upon the high
places
of the earth," and Deut. xxxiii. 29, "thine enemies shall
be
found liars unto thee, and thou shalt tread upon their high
places,"
in which, not secure flight, but resistless victory is
spoken
of, as it is also in the passage, Hab. iii. 19, which is
based
on our verse, "The Lord is my strength, and He makes
my
feet like the hind's, and He leads me on my high places."1
Ver. 34. Who teaches my hands in the war, and a brazen
bow is drawn by my arms. That this verse also
has in some
measure
a figurative character, that the particular comes into
consideration
less as such than as an individualization, and in
order
to render palpable the ground-idea, namely, the invincible
strength,
which the Psalmist receives from God, to resist all
attacks
of the enemies and gain the victory over them, appears
from
the partial reference to the race. The N. T. parallel pas-
sage
is 2 Cor. x. 3-5. The "not after the flesh," and "not
fleshly,”
there, are not peculiar to the Apostle, but belong also
to
David. The external conflict with the enemies of God's
kingdom
is not in itself fleshly, but becomes so only through
the
spirit in which it is conducted, just as a spiritual
conflict is
not
necessarily spiritual, but only is so
when it is fought with
divine
weapons, with the power which the Lord imparts. Lu-
ther
justly finds in this verse the promise, that an "unwearied
and
invincible power to overcome all adversaries is given to
those
preachers who are taught of God Himself." Such a
promise
is implied, not merely in so far as what is said of one
believer
holds good regarding all, but also more directly inas-
much
as David speaks here not of himself alone, but of his
1 The vylgr, "his feet,"
in 2 Sam., has been occasioned by the discourse
concerning
the blameless or perfect being in the third person.
314 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
whole
race, which is perfected in Christ; so that everything he
says
refers in the highest and fullest sense to Christ and His
kingdom
and servants. The form htHn is Pi. from tHn
"to
de-
scend,"
"to make to descend" = to constrain, to stretch, bend,
because
in the stretching the cord is brought down. The fem..
of
the sing. is to be explained by this, that the arms here are
treated
as abstr.; comp. Ewald, p. 629. Also the sing. of the
masc.
in 2 Sam., tHaniv;, presents no difficulty, as the verb
precedes.
Brass
was often used in antiquity for making weapons. The
arms
of the Egyptians in particular were entirely made of brass.
To
draw a bow of brass is a proof of the greatest strength.
Ver. 35. Thou givest me the shield of Thy salvation, and
Thy right hand holds me
up, and Thy lowliness makes me great.
The
shield of salvation is the shield which consists in salvation.
hvnf does not signify here simply goodness, as many expositors
suppose.
Derived from hnf, to be low—in this sense, certainly
of
outward lowness, the verb occurs in Ps. cxvi. 10; Isa. xxv. 5,
—it
denotes, first, humility, then the meekness and gentleness
which
spring from humility. The idea of lowliness predominates
in
Prov. xv. 33, 12; the idea of meekness, which, how-
ever,
is always to be considered as proceeding from humility or
lowliness,
in Zeph. ii. 3; Ps. xlv. 4. Here the idea of lowliness
is
the predominant one. This is proved by the contrast with
greatness,
and the parallel passage 2 Sam. vii. 18, "Who am I,
Jehovah,
and what is my house, that Thou hast brought me
hitherto?"
What our Lord says of Himself, "Come to Me,
for
I am meek and lowly in heart," may equally be said of
Jehovah.
He also condescends to the lowly, to men at large,
and
to those who are poorest among them; comp. Ps. viii.,
where,
after the description of God's infinite majesty, follows,
"What
is man, that Thou thinkest of him, and the son of man,
that
Thou visitest him?" and Isa. lxvi. 1, 2, where the Lord,
who
has heaven for His throne, and earth for His footstool, is
spoken
of as looking down on the poor and contrite in spirit.
But
that we may become partakers in the manifestations of
this
humility and condescension of God, it is necessary that we
be,
not externally merely, but also internally, lowly,—that we
feel
ourselves to be poor and needy. To any others it would
be
a profanation of His dignity. But the lowly His lowliness
makes
great. That this qualification was possessed by David,
is
evident from this, that he derives all that God had done for
PSALM XVIII. VERS. 36, 37. 315
him
out of his lowliness. Luther remarks: "Who
then are
we,
that we should either fancy or undertake to defend the
truth
and overcome the adversaries, or should feel indignant if
we
do not succeed therein? It proceeds from the Divine meek-
ness
(lowliness) and grace, if we are held up and honoured, not
from
our designing and undertaking; so that the whole glory
remains
with God."1
Ver. 36. Thou makest space under me to go, and my ankles
fail not. Thou makest long my
step, etc. One takes small
steps,
when many stumbling-blocks and hindrances are in the
way.2
Ver. 37. I pursue my enemies and overtake them, and turn
not again till I have
consumed them.
David's kingdom was,
is,
and shall be for ever a victorious kingdom. Any temporal
limitation
also of this declaration is inadmissible, as David's
celebration
of the Divine grace cannot be narrower than this
grace
itself, partly already bestowed on him, and partly held in
promise,
which found its culminating point in Christ. That
under
Christ the form of conflict and victory is predominantly,
although
by no means exclusively different, makes no essential
distinction;
enough, that David also in Him conquers and con-
stantly
will conquer. Luther: "And this has happened, and
still
happens, in all the victories of God's people, when at the
beginning
of the contest the enemies seemed to be superior and
invincible;
but when once the onset is fairly made, it is strength-
ened,
and the enemies flee and are slain; and then the Church
remits
not to follow up the victory that has been won, until
all
the enemies are consumed."3
1 In 2 Sam. "and Thy
right hand holds me up" is awanting. This is
done
out of the uniform predilection for impressive brevity. For "Thy
lowliness"
the infin. is used, j~t;nofE, "Thy being lowly,"—Hitzig's
exposition,
"Thy
hearing," gives, according to his own remark, "a very unpleasant
and
improbable sense,"—which is the more select, as in the words, "0 my
Lord
Jesus, Thy being near," is more poetical than, "Thy nearness."
2 For ytHt
there is in
2 Sam. yniTeH;Ta. The difference cannot be acci-
dental,
as the latter is repeated in vers. 40 and 48. In this case also the
reading
in 2 Sam. is the more select, 1. Because of the rare singular suf.
with
tHt,
see Ew. p. 501; and, 2. Because of the insertion of n ib. p. 506.
3 The hpAD;r;x,
in 2 Sam.,
which can only mean, I will pursue,
could only
be
rejected on the erroneous supposition that the whole description re-
ferred
to the past, and it is valuable as a sort of finger-post for the right
understanding.
For, "and I overtake them," 2 Sam. has "and I extirpate
them."
In our Psalm there is a progression in the thought; in 2 Sam., on
316 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
Ver. 38. I dash them in pieces, and they cannot rise up again;
they fall under my feet.1 Ver. 39. And Thou girdest me with
strength to the battle,
Thou bowest mine adversaries under me.
Calvin
remarks, that it might seem as if David gave too mili-
tary
an air to the whole representation, as if he gave to his
human
passions too much space, and forgot the mildness which
should
shine forth in all believers, in order that they may be
like
their heavenly Father. But the matter becomes quite dif-
ferent,
if David is viewed not as a private individual,—as such
he
shrunk from shedding a single drop of blood,—but in refer-
ence
to his Divine calling and his Divine office. As king he
has
his sacred obligations to pursue the stiff-necked and obsti-
nate
enemies of God and of His people with unrelenting strict-
ness,
and with the power given him by God, and to spare only
the
penitent—just as Christ, his great antitype, while He ten-
derly
calls all to repentance, at the same time shivers with His
iron
sceptre such as obstinately resist Him to the last. He
then
shows how every one, even he who is not properly called
to
fight for the
to
apply this representation to his edification and strengthening
in
the faith: "As the victories of David are common to us, it
follows
that an insuperable aid is promised to us against all the
assaults
of the devil, all the snares of sin, and all the tempta-
tions
of the flesh. While, therefore, Christ obtains His peace-
ful
kingdom only through war, it is matter of certainty to us,
that
God's hand will be always ready for his support. But we
must
at the same time learn here, with what arms we must
fight
according to the will of God, with those alone which He
gives
us."2
the
contrary, the parallelism is simply a synonym. That in Ex. xv. 9;
Ps.
vii. 5, the overtaking is also coupled with the pursuing, may be a
strong
proof in favour of the originality of this form, although it does not
in
the slightest imply the incorrectness of the other text.
1 In 2 Sam. there is at
the beginning, MlekaxEvA.
Mich. rightly : consumam
inquam
eos; and instead of, "they cannot stand up," "they do not stand
up,"
NUmUqy; xlo. The expression, "I extirpate them," indicates
that this
verse
is an extension of the thought, "till they are extirpated," in the
pre-
ceding,
and implying that the extirpation was seriously intended. Of an
accidental
origin we cannot think, as, whilst something is added, some-
thing
also is thrown away. The words, "they stand not up," are to be
explained
from the predilection for impressive brevity.
2 In 2 Sam. ynirez;Tava, with the omission of x, the rarer, and hence
more
poetic
form.
PSALM XVIII. VERS. 40-42. 317
Ver. 40. Thou puttest me mine enemies to flight, and my
haters I extirpate. The first clause we
must either render,
"thou
hast given them to me so, that they are only necks to
me,
must turn the back toward me," or, "in respect to the
neck,"
so that Jrf determines
more precisely in what respect
the
enemies of David were delivered up to him. The former
exposition
is supported by the original passage, Ex. xxiii. 27,
"And
I will give all thine enemies to thee as necks." The
Psalmist
recognises in his own case the fulfilment of the pro-
mise
which the Lord there gave to His people.1
Ver. 41. They cry, but there is no helper: to the Lord, but
He does not hear them. lf
is
employed, because Jehovah is, as
it
were, the substratum of the crying, the person upon whom
the
crying rests; comp. 1 Sam. i. 10, "She prayed hvhy
lf,"
Ewald,
p. 531. The words, "to the
Lord," add to the gene-
ral,
the particular which best promised help, equivalent to,
"they
cry in vain even when their cry is addressed, not to
false
gods, but to Jehovah," to whom even the heathens in their
last
extremities knew to turn, Jonah ii. 14, or at least might
possibly
turn. The reason why even Jehovah would not hear,
is,
that the particular prayer had not its justification in the
general
relation toward God, which alone could make it accept-
able;
that the persons addressing it are without the covenant
and
the promises, are the enemies of God, who cannot pray to
Him
in true faith, but only by way of venture. That which
was
the ground of David's prayer being heard, excluded theirs
from
the privilege.2
Ver. 42. I crush them as dust before the wind; as the dirt of
the streets I pour them
out. As
the dust before the wind is not
crushed,
but carried away, and the enemies are not carried away,
but
crushed, we gain nothing by arbitrarily inserting such words
as,
scattering, or carrying away. The sense, therefore, is, "so
that
they resemble the dust;" to crush them is as easy as for
1 In 2 Sam., for httn there is the rare form hTATa. The v is awanting
before
yxnWm,
and is placed instead before the last word, "my haters,"
whom I extirpate, —more
poetical and impressive than the simple, "my
haters,
I extirpate them;" comp. Isa. vi. 13, ix. 4; Dan. viii. 25.
2 In 2 Sam., instead of vfvwy, “they cry,” we have Ufw;yi, "they look
out."
The
rarer and more select hfw, is used precisely thus in Isa. xvii. 7,
"In
that
day shall a man look to his Maker,
and his eyes shall have respect to
the
God of
318 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
the
wind to drive before it the dust. The sense is, "to crush
is
only a sort of pastime to me." Exactly analogous are the
comparisons
in Job xxxviii. 30, "The waters disappear like a
stone;"
xxx. 14; Zeph. i. 17. The like holds good also of the
second
member. As the dirt of the street is not poured out,
but
trodden down, the expression, "as dirt of the street," can
only
mean, "they resemble the dirt of the street, in respect,
namely,
to the contemptuous treatment which they suffer."
This
is always the point of comparison which is aimed at in
such
a use of the dirt of the street: Isa. x. 6; Zech. x. 5. In
the
expression, "I pour them out," there is at bottom a second
image,
that of unclean water,—equivalent to, "I have as little
respect
for them, I use as little ceremony with them as with the
offscourings
which one treads upon, filthy water which one pours
out."
In these words, also, there is praise given to the grace
of
God, who strengthens the Psalmist so completely to bumble
the
enemies, that he can treat them in such a manner.1
Ver. 43. Thou deliverest me from the enmities of the people:
Thou settest me at the
head of the heathen; a people, whom I know
not, serve me. By the people in the
first clause, is indicated
here
the great multitude of enemies, in opposition to indivi-
duals.
That the first member refers to the domestic adversaries
of
David (Saul and Absalom, with their adherents), is evident,
not
only from the words, "my people," in 2 Sam., but even
from
byr,
which relates rather to disputes than to wars; comp.
1 In 2 Sam. the
comparison stands otherwise, in both members. There
we
have a fully expressed one, while here it is merely indicated. For,
"dust
before the wind," stands, "dust of the earth," because this is
the
object
of crushing. Comp. Crx rpf. in this sense, though denied by Hitzig,
in
Gen. xiii. 16, xxviii. 14; Ex. viii. 12, 13; Isa. xl. 12; Amos ii. 7. For,
"I
pour them out," stands Mq.edixE, "I make them thin
or small," because the
dirt
of the street is the object, not of pouring out, but of treading to pieces.
(Against
Hitzig: qqr,
signifies in Hiph. not "to crush, to rub to pieces,"
but
everywhere, "to make thin, small;" also the dirt of the street, or
street-filth,
is not to be thought of as necessarily fluid.) As this Mqdx
for
Mqyrx cannot possibly be accidental, we may
certainly infer design in the
other
deviations which consist only in the substitution of particular letters
nearly
related to the others in form or in sound. The judgment of that
man
is not assuredly to be envied, who would attempt to explain the whole
of
the ingenious alterations in both members by accident. The stronger
word,
MfeqrAx,, "I stamp upon them," is added to Mqdx, in 2 Sam., and that,
too,
without connection, as the character of the entire recension would lead
us
to expect.
PSALM XVIII. VER. 44. 319
Ps.
xxxv. 1; 1 Sam. xxv. 39. In the whole of the second part,
too,
which refers to his heathen adversaries, he does not speak
of
deliverance from them, but of their being conquered and de-
stroyed.
On the contrary, when domestic enemies are spoken
of,
the idea is principally that of deliverance; comp. 16-19.
Deliverance
from the enmity of his own people is brought into
notice
here chiefly as a foundation and preparation for the
supremacy
over the heathen. This appears clearly in 2 Sam.,
in
the words, "Thou keepest me for
the head of the heathen."
The
whole context also shows it. Both before and after, and,
indeed,
generally in the second part, the discourse is of the
heathen.
That in the expression, "a people whom I know not,
serves
me," which is of increased force, the word knowing is to
be
taken emphatically, equivalent to, "such as I have had no
nearer
relation to,"—as, for example, the king of Hamath, 2
Sam.
viii. 10, —appears from the next verse. As David, accord-
ing
to ver. 50, speaks not merely of the kindnesses which were
shown
to himself personally, but of those also which were to be
shown
to his posterity, various expositors, such as Calvin, have
justly
remarked, that the complete fulfilment of this and the
next
verse is to be sought in Christ.1
Ver. 44. Those who heard by the hearing of the ear became
mine: the sons of the
stranger play the hypocrite to me. De
Wette
remarks, that "from this point the Futs. appear to have
the
force of the Present." But if they have it from this, they
must
also have it throughout the whole section. For there is
nothing
to justify us in supposing a change to take place just
here.
The first member is commonly expounded, "on hearing,
on
the mere report, they obey me." But this exposition is alto-
gether inadmissible: fmw
in Niph.
can only signify "to be
heard,"
not, "to be made to hear,"—and this cannot stand for,
"to
obey." In the sense of "to be heard," Niphal is also every-
where
used. Afore objectionable still is another exposition, "on
1 In 2 Sam. stands ymi.fa, my people, instead of Mf, a deviation of an
explanatory
character, the more valuable, as many expositors, such as
Lengerke
and De Wette, who disdained its help, have made mistakes.
For,
"Thou settest me," there is the more select phrase, "Thou
keepest
me,"
ynirem;w;Ti—another example of a change adhering closely in form to the
original
text, which cannot be explained from accident, —which brings
more
distinctly into view the connection between the second clause and the
first.
Hitzig "Out of these Jehovah delivered him," in order to preserve
him
for a future leader of peoples.
320 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
what
their ear heard, on the mere word, they obey me." For
it
takes not only vfmwy, but also Nzx fmwl, contrary to the common
usage.
fmw,
"hearing" = what one hears, the heard, stands
both
with and without Nzx specially of that, which one receives
through
hearsay, through report; comp. for ex. Job xlii. 5, where
Nzx fmwl, in the sense of hearing merely through
report, is opposed
to
seeing,—uncertain and fluctuating
knowledge, to clear and
determinate.
The variation in 2 Sam. also is against both in-
terpretations.
One must either translate as we have done above,
or,
"they, the people who serve me, are heard of me by the
hearing
of the ear,—I know of them merely by report." The
paral.
is by the latter rendering only apparently lost. For, "by
the
hearing of the ear, etc.," is from the connection as much as,
"there
serve me those, etc." The first of these expositions,
both
which are in essential agreement, is more favoured by the
text
in 2 Sam. The expression, "they feign to me," is equiva-
lent
to, "far distant people, of whom I hitherto have known
only
through hearsay, testify to me their subjection, from fear,
in
the most humble terms, although they hate me in heart, and
would
fain shake off, my yoke." Such an external and con-
strained
obedience, —just on account of its bearing this character,
the
power which God manifested in behalf of David is made
more
conspicuous; for how great must this be, when the fear it
awakened
overcame the strongest aversion!—is denoted by wHk
in
the original passage, Deut. xxxiii. 29, "And Thine enemies
shall
feign to Thee," to which David here refers, as having
met
with its fulfilment in him; comp. also Ps. lxvi. 3, lxxxi.
15.1
Ver. 45. The sons of the stranger fade away, and tremble out
of their castles. For the a[p.
leg. grH
—in Chald. xgrH, “terror”
1 In 2 Sam.: "The
sons of the stranger feign to me, who, through the
hearing
of the ear, were heard of by me." The sense is made clearer by
the
inversion. By placing "the sons of the stranger" in the front, it is
intimated
that what follows, "who through the hearing, etc.," is a mere
description
of them. The faOmw;li inf. used instead of the less obvious
noun,
has
also the character of an explanation. How necessary this explanatory
style
is in the variation, appears from the fact, that those who have not
availed
themselves of the key offered by it have quite failed to discover the
true
meaning. But our text is shown to be
the original and main text, by
the
circumstance that the words, "who through the hearing," etc., are
immediately
joined to the others, "a people that I know not," the rkn
ynb
being
placed nearer to the next verse, in which it is again resumed.
PSALM XVIII. VER. 46. 321
—we
have in
similar
connection.1
In the closing verses, which now
begin, the subject cf the
whole
is recapitulated.
Ver. 46. Living is the Lord, and praised be my rock, and ex-
alted is my
salvation-God.
That the threefold praise of God
here,
has respect to the Mosaic blessing, we remarked before.
The
words, "living Jehovah," can either be explained, "living
is,"
or, "living be Jehovah." Recent expositors mostly follow
the
latter rendering: they conceive that the usual acclamation
to
the king is here transferred to God. But as the expression,
“may
he live,” presupposes the possibility of dying, and is always
used
in reference to mortals, such a transference is scarcely to
be
thought of; the formula for kings is a different one, j`lmh
yHy,
1
Sam. x. 24; 2 Sam. xvi. 16; 1 Kings i. 25; 2 Kings xi. 12;
and
finally, what of itself is enough to decide the matter, hvhy
yH
is
familiar as a form of oath, and in that use always means,
"living is the Lord." These passages are
regulative for the
exposition
of the present one, the only one where the expression
occurs
not as an oath. The ground derived from the analogy
of
the following doxologies is without significance. The expres-
sion,
"living is the Lord," is also doxology, and accords with
what
follows. Compare 1 Tim. vi. 16, "who alone has immor-
tality."
To praise God, means nothing else than to ascribe to
Him
the glorious perfections which He possesses; for we can
only
give to Him what is His own. The exalted
also is a mere
declaration,
"He is," not, "let Him be, exalted." If it were a
wish,
then the verb would have been the Fut. apoc. The Lord
is
named living in contrast with the
dead idols, who can do
nothing,
leave their own without support, given up to destruc-
tion.
That David was living, exalted, and blessed, showed that
his
God was also living, exalted, and to be blessed. He is Him-
self
the living proof of His vitality,
exaltedness, and title to be
praised.1
1 In 2 Sam. UrG;h;yav; "they gird
themselves," namely, for going forth.
Hitzig
expounds according to the Syriac "they limp
out of their castles."
But
it is quite unjustifiable to take a word of such common use in the
Hebrew
in a signification so peculiar. The girding for departure, Ex. xii.
11,
and especially 2 Kings iv. 29. As a variation, the reading is quite
good,
but certainly that in our text is the original one.
2 In 2 Sam. we have, for
my salvation-God, the rock-God of my salva-
cation,
i.e. the rock-like God, who procures me salvation. Comp. the ex-
322 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
Ver. 47. The God, who gives me vengeance, and constrains
peoples under me. This and the following
verse sum up in brief
what
had been set forth in detail in vers. 4-19 and vers. 28-45,
and
direct attention to the ground of the praise of God in the
preceding
verse, to the facts which prove Him to be living, ex-
alted,
and worthy to be praised. It is as if this verse had begun
with
a for. Revenge is justly sweet to
David, because he does
not
take it for himself, but God takes it through him. Where
the
individual is the representative of right appointed by God, it
would
be sinful not to seek revenge, not to withstand the viola-
tion
of right, not to strive, that injustice may recoil on the head
of
those who commit and not to rejoice when this takes place.1
Ver. 48. Who deliverest me from my enemies; Thou also
liftest me up from my
adversaries, from the man of violence
Thou deliverest me. As in the second
clause there is no positive
indication
either in the verb or in the noun of a climax, Jx can-
not
be used to denote increased force, but, as very commonly
in
the Psalms of David, simply for the purpose of connecting
and
adding; and the and in 2 Sam.
approves itself as the right
exposition.
If we seek for an increase of force in the noun,
then
ymq
causes us perplexity; if we seek it in the verb, we are
again
perplexed by the words, “Thou deliverest
me,” in the
third
clause. The expression, "Thou liftest me up from my
adversaries,"
is constr.: exaltas me, hostibus mein
ereptum.
The
man of violence is primarily an ideal person, as "the
strong
enemy," in ver. 17; comp. Ps. cxl. 1, 4. Still the refer-
ence
to the superscription shows that the Psalmist had Saul
specially
in view.2
Ver. 49. Therefore will I praise Thee among the heathen, 0
Lord, and sing praises
to Thy name.
The mention of the
heathen
indicates, that the mercies experienced by David were
too
great for the praise of them to be confined within the narrow
bounds
of
the
nations of the whole earth. Paul brings forward, in
pression,
my rock-God, in ver. 2. The interpolated rUc is used, like so many
other
deviations in 2 Sam., for the purpose of strengthening.
1 In 2 Sam. for rbdyv, with the view of
making plain, dyrOmU, and brings
down.
The rybdh
in the sense of, "to drive," only elsewhere in Ps. civil. 3.
2 In 2 Sam. stands,
instead of yFlpm, the more select yxiyciOm, pointing to
ver.
19. Further, instead of smh wyx there is the stronger phrase MysmH
wyx,
which
also occurs in Ps. cxl. 1, 4.
PSALM XVIII. VER. 50; XIX. 323
xv.
9, among the Old Testament passages which show that
salvation
was appointed also for the heathen, this verse, in con-
nection
with the similar passage, Deut. xxxii. 43, "Rejoice, ye
heathen,
(rejoice) His people," i. q.
with His people, Ps. cxvii. 1.
These
passages are quite adapted to prove what they are intended
to
prove. If the heathen are interested in that which Jehovah
does
in
great
deeds are to be made known, then God must be the God
not
merely of the Jews, but also of the heathen, and conse-
quently
must make Himself known as such through the offer of
His
salvation. Our verse and the similar passages decidedly
oppose
that wretched particularism which Paul combats. The
variations
in 2 Sam. are unimportant.
Ver. 50. Who gives great salvation to His king, and does good
to His anointed, to
David and his seed for evermore. Who gives
great,
is equivalent to, "for He gives
great." The pl. tvfvwy points
to
the rich fulness of the salvation. The Epexegesis to vHywm is
not
merely dvdl,
but vfrzlv dvdl. There is an evident reference
to
2 Sam. vii. 12-16, where it was promised, that God would
show
favour to the seed of David even to eternity; frz, dsH, and
Mlvf df, all occur there again. By this reference,
and by the
necessity
for a guide to the meaning of vers. 28-45, the words,
"to
David and his seed for evermore," are justified as genuine,
though
they have been objected to by some who fail to under-
stand
the description. Elsewhere too David has interwoven his
name
in his song and prayer; comp. 2 Sam. vii. 20, 26, xxiii. 1.
Similar
to our Psalm is Ps. lxxxix., where likewise the favours
of
the Lord to the seed of David, both past and future, are
celebrated;
comp. also Ps. xxi. These Psalms are distinguished
from
those which may more strictly be called Messianic, Ps. ii.
xlv.
lxxii. cx., only by this, that in the latter the Messiah ex-
clusively is brought into view,
while here He is presented to our
notice
only as a member of the seed of David.
PSALM XIX.
God manifests Himself in creation,
and His works in the
heavens
attest His glory, unceasingly, mightily, over the whole
earth,
especially the most glorious object in them, the sun, which
majestically
performs his long course, and fills everything with
324 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
his
warmth, vers. 1-6. The law, which has been given by this
world-God,
possesses all the advantages which are inseparable
from
its originating in such a source; it gives to man sure and
unerring
instruction how to order his life, and fills his heart
with
joy, by bringing his painful uncertainty in this respect to
an
end, vers. 7-10. With sincere gratitude the Psalmist acknow-
ledges
the enlightenment which he has received from this law,
which,
as surely as it is the pure expression of the will of the
Almighty,
so surely promises a rich reward to those who keep
it.
But that he may actually attain to this reward, he stands in
need
of two things,—the grace of forgiveness for the manifold
sins
of imperfection, which spring from corruption of nature
even
in the servant of the Lord, and the grace of preservation
from
the heinous transgressions, which would cause him to for-
feit
his place as a servant of God; and therefore he begs that
the
Lord, as his true Redeemer, would grant such tokens of
kindness
to him, vers. 11-14.
According to this representation of
the subject, the descrip-
tion
of the glory of God in creation is only an introduction to
the
praise of the glory of the law; and this again serves the
Psalmist
only as a ladder to reach his proper aim, the prayer for
pardon
and for moral preservation.
The relation between vers. 1-6 and
7-10 is, by some of
those
who recognise the introductory character of the first
section,
construed thus: God has manifested Himself indeed in
creation,
but He has done so far more gloriously in the law.
But
if it were intended to set forth this relation, the pre-emi-
nence
of the law above nature, as a manifestation of God, would
have
been brought out far more emphatically than is done by
the
employment of Jehovah in the second part, instead of the
general
name, God, in the first. If the introduction were in-
tended
to exalt the higher by comparison with the lower, in the
manner
of Deut. iv. 19,20, the latter must have been marked
more
decidedly as such. The design of the introduction must
rather
be only to point out the glory of the lawgiver, to give to
Jehovah,
the God of Israel, who made known His will through
the
law, the basis of Godhead; and so, to bring the mind from
the
very first into a right position toward the law. The thought,
that
He who gave the law is He whose praise the heavens de-
clare,
whose greatness as the Creator is manifested by the sun,
must
fill the mind with holy reverence before Him, and with
PSALM XIX. 325
internal
love toward Him. The first part, therefore, serves the
same
design as is elsewhere served by placing together the
names
Jehovah Elohim, which is always done in opposition to
particularistic
ideas of Jehovah, for the purpose of uprooting
the
fancy, that Jehovah was only the God of Israel (comp. my
Beitr.
Th. II. p. 311 ss.). To serve the very same purpose,
David
was led to the use of Jehovah Elohim and Sabaoth in
his
discourse in 2 Sam. vii. 22, 25, 26, 27: there he constantly
recurs
to the thought, that Jehovah, who had given him so
glorious
a promise, was no other than very God, the Lord of
heaven
and of earth, in order to strengthen his faith in this
promise.
Especially instructive for the relation of our two
sections
to each other is ver. 28 there. "And now, 0 Lord
Jehovah,
Thou art God, and Thy words are truth." There, as
here,
the consideration of Jehovah's being God is the ground-
work
on which rests the conviction of the truth and infinite
preciousness
of the Divine word; even as we also, if we would
obtain
the right blessing from reading the holy word, must keep
vividly
before our eye, that He who speaks in it is no other than
the
Creator of heaven and of earth.
The plan of the Psalm is quite
mistaken by those who, as
lately
Hitzig and Maurer, make it fall into two loosely-con-
nected
halves, the first containing the praise of God from
nature,
the second from the law, or generally from revelation.
The
practical conclusion of the Psalm, which refers only to the
law,
is decisive against this. If the first part possessed an inde-
pendent,
significance, the manifestation of God in creation must
necessarily
also have been placed in an ethical light toward man,
and
reference have been made to the feelings it should awaken in
him,
the obligations it lays upon him. The only aim, the proper
kernel
of the Psalm, comes out so pointedly in the concluding
verses,
that it is inconceivable how it could be overlooked.
This, misapprehension as to the plan
of the Psalm has given
rise
also to the hypothesis of De Wette, Koester, and others,
that
it is made up of two originally distinct songs; against
which
Hitzig remarks, that ver. 6 forms no proper conclusion;
that
the discourse would terminate when at its climax; that the
conclusion
is for the second half alone too extended and solemn;
and
shortly and ably sets aside the only plausible ground for
this
hypothesis, as follows: "The more
quiet tone, the more
equal
movement in the second part, is to be explained from the
326 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
less
arousing nature of the object, which does not fall within
the
sphere of perception." What is besides advanced by De
Wette,
that the poet, who began with such an elevated con-
templation
of nature, could scarcely close with the feelings of a
bruised
heart, falls at once to the ground, since the conclusion
is
just as full of joy as the beginning—what can be more joyful
than
for one to be able to name the Lord his Rock and his
Redeemer!—and
since even in the middle there is no trace of
a
bruised heart; the mind rises in face of human weakness, easily
and
without a struggle, to the blessed hope of Divine forgive-
ness,
and sustaining grace.
It is also matter of surprise that
Ewald was not superior to
the
common mutilation, although he feels himself obliged to
recognise
that the two halves are not in themselves complete:
the
first not, because, if viewed as independent, the song
would
be without all doctrine and application, without any in-
timation
as to how man should praise God, or receive that praise
of
the heavens; it has thus the appearance of a torso, unsatis-
factory
and unanimating: the second not; for ver. 7 begins too
coldly
for a prayer. We might still further add, that the com-
mencement
would be an awkward one, the Psalmist would
stumble
at the gate into the house. So that the strange sup-
position
must be resorted to, that the conclusion of the first half
has
been lost, and that a later poet has added to the fragment a
new,
unsuitable conclusion.
For the integrity of the Psalm,
there is also to be mentioned
the
evident system which prevails in the use of the names of
God
throughout the whole. In the first part, which treats of
the
general manifestation of God in nature, the general name
of
God is employed, El; coincident with the transition to
Revelation
begins the use of the name Jehovah, the occurrence
of
which just seven times shows how much of design there is
in
the use made of the names of God. As a further proof of
integrity,
is to be noticed the peculiar prominence given to the
sun
in the first part, and indeed particularly toward the close.
Corresponding
to it in the second part, the law is held up as the
spiritual
sun; comp. the predicates, clear, pure, heart-quicken-
ing,
eye-enlightening, also rhzn in ver. 11. Finally, in Ps. viii.,
as
here, the heaven appears as the proclaimer of the praise of
God;
and there also this representation has no independent mean-
ing,
but serves merely as a stepping-stone to the second part.
PSALM XIX. VER. 1. 327
Of the Davidic authorship there can
be no doubt, after the
superscription,
and the relation, already noticed, in which it stands
to
Ps. viii., and 2 Sam. vii. An indication has been sought,
though
without foundation, of the Psalmist's circumstances in
ver.
13. The designation, "Thy servant," is meant to be appro-
priated
by every one who recognises in the Psalm the expres-
sion
of his own feelings. The Psalmist speaks from the soul of
every
pious man, and we have before us a truly congregational
song.
Ver. 1. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firma-
ment shows forth His
handiwork.
Calvin: "There is nothing
certainly
in the smallest corners of the earth so dark and des-
picable
that some traces of Divine power and wisdom are not
discernible
therein; but because a more expressive image is im-
printed
in the heavens, David made principal choice of these,
in
order that their glory might lead us to the contemplation of
the
whole world. For if any one has recognised God from the
contemplation
of the heavens, he cannot fail also to recognise
and
admire His wisdom in the smallest plants." In the East,
the
consideration of the heavens is peculiarly adapted to give a
deep
impression of the greatness of God as Creator. When
C.
Niebuhr, many years after his return from the East, lay in
bed
under the blindness and exhaustion of old age, "the glitter-
ing
splendour of the nocturnal Asiatic sky, on which he had so
often
gazed, imaged itself to his mind in the hours of stillness,
or
its lofty vault and azure by day, and in this he found his
sweetest
enjoyment." The heavens and the firmament are
personified,
and the announcement of the glory of the Creator
is
attributed to them, which is apprehended in them by the pious
mind.
This personification is chosen with reference to the actual
manifestation
of God in the words contained in vers. 7-10. In-
stead
of "the glory of God," Paul, in the passage Rom. i. 20,
which
is based on this here, has "eternal power and Godhead."
That
the firmament is identical with the heavens, appears from
Gen.
i. 8. It is the vault of heaven, in which are sun, moon, and
stars,
Gen. i. 14 ss., the shining witnesses of God's glory; in
reference
to which He bears the name of Sabaoth, God of hosts.
The
word, which occurs only once again in the Psalms, cl. 1,
points
back to the history of creation. Many, as De Wette,
render
dygh
by, "to praise, to extol," and the expression, vydy
hWfm
"what
He can make and do by means of His almightiness and
328 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
dom."
Both, however, are inadmissible. The former can only
signify
announce, show forth, as both the
usage and the paral.
with
rps,
"to relate," show, and vydy hWfm, only, "the work
of
His
hands." The firmament, whose very existence is a factual
announcement
of what God has made, testifies, at the same
time
(since doing proceeds from being), of the Creator, what
He
is, concerning His glory. It was justly remarked by
Venema,
that in substance the two members are to be regarded
as
supplementing one another, q.d.,
"the heavens make known
the
work of God's hands, and thereby His glory;" or, "the
heavens,
as the work of God's hands, make known His glory."
So
also already Paul, in Rom. i. 20, "For the invisible things
of
God, from the creation of the world, are clearly seen, being
understood
by the things that are made, even His eternal power
and
Godhead."
Ver. 2. Day unto day pours forth speech, and night unto night
shows knowledge. The naked thought is
this, that the heavens,
with
their starry host, unceasingly testify of God's glory, since
by
day the sun constantly shines, and by night the moon and
stars.
The Psalmist expresses the thought in such a manner
as
to constitute the days and nights heralds of God's glory,
communicating
to their successors what they had learned from
the
heavens and from the firmament. The speech
of the day
can
only be the echo of the speech of the heavens, and the
knowledge
of God's glory (tfd signifies only knowing, percep-
tion,
insight, never news) which the night gives, is only such
as
has been furnished it by the heavens. This is evident from
the
relation in which rmx stands to Myrpsm, from the resumption
of
rmx
in ver. 3, and the suffixes in ver. 4, which unquestion-
ably
refer back to the heavens, and which exclude all interrup-
tion
of the reference to the heavens. The connection is de-
stroyed
by the remark of Stier: "We are to
understand not
merely
what we see by day and night in the heavens, but, as the
expression
naturally imports (that is, if viewed without respect
to
the connection), all that is done by day and night under the
heavens."
Here, as also in Ps. viii., the discourse is merely of
the
testimony of the heavens. fybh, to cause to sputter
forth,
marks
the rich fulness with which the testimony on all hands
breaks
forth.
Ver. 3. There is not speech, and there are not words; their
voice is not heard. fmwn is pointed as partic.:
"there is not a
PSALM XIX. VER. 3. 329
heard
one," their voice is not among the number of the heard.
The
suff. in Mlvq
refers to the heavens and the firmament, and
these
are the very things of which speech and words are denied.
The
author points to the powerfulness of the testimony which
the
heavens deliver of God's glory. How strongly must the
traces
of God's glory be impressed upon them, when they need
no
speech to make Him known as their Creator, when they
need
only to be dumb-heralds of the Divine greatness, and not-
withstanding
declare and show forth! It is commonly supposed
by
those who follow this exposition, that the sense is first com-
pleted
by the addition of the following verse: "They
are indeed
speechless,
yet still their preaching is perceived throughout the
whole
earth," so loudly do they proclaim by their mere exist-
ence
the glory of God. But this supposition is not necessary;
just
as well, and even better indeed, we can say, that here the
powerfulness
of the testimony is represented, and there
the wide
compass
of its sphere. The more definite Myrbd is added to
rmx, which admits of a more general construction,
in order to
signify,
that we have here a discourse in the strict sense. Lu-
ther,
Calvin, and others expound, "There is no speech and dis-
course
where their voice is not heard." Calvin: "He extends
through
a silent contrast the efficacy of this testimony which
the
heavens give to their Creator; as if he said: Although the
nations
are very different in language, yet the heavens have a
common
speech for instructing all in like manner, and nothing
but
carelessness prevents all from being taught at the mouth of
this
one teacher." But it is to be objected to this exposition,
that
it takes rmx
and Myrbd
in the sense of dialect, language, in
which
the first certainly never occurs; nor is Gen. xi. 1 suffi-
cient
to establish it as properly belonging to the latter; that
speech
and language would not be very fitly connected with
hearing;
that it requires rmx to be taken in another sense than
it
was in ver. 2, and forcibly separates it from Myrpsm and dygm in
ver.
1; and, finally, that it destroys the parallelism which mani-
festly
exists between the expressions, "there is not speech, and
there
are not words," and, "their voice is not heard."—Others
expound,
after Vitringa: "There is, what day
and night an-
nounce,
no speech, and no words, whose voice one may not
perceive,"
supplying rwx
before ylb.
But this gives a very
tame
sense; it destroys, like the other, the parallelism, and
draws
the whole into a single protracted period; to which it
330 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
may
also be added, that, according to it, the suffix in Mlvq must
be
referred to "speech" and "words," while the analogy of
the
suffixes in the following verse decides for the reference to
the
heavens and the firmament, from which also the discourse
and
the knowledge proceed, which day and night deliver to
each
other.
Ver. 4. Their line goes out over the whole earth, and the
words even to the
farthest bounds of the earth; He has made for
the sun a tent in them. The first clause has
occasioned great
trouble
to expositors. But the difficulty is less an inherent
than
a derived one. It immediately vanishes, if we simply and
faithfully
abide by the established usage, and then only con-
sider
how the meaning thus acquired suits the context. The
suffix
in Mvq
refers, as that in Mhb unquestionably shows, to
the
heavens and the firmament. vq signifies a
measuring-line.
Such
a line is used for determining the limits, the compass of
the
territory which any one has to receive; comp. for ex. Isa.
xxxiv.
17, "His hand has divided it (Idumea) to them (the
wild
beasts), with the measuring-line; they shall possess it for
ever;
from generation to generation shall they dwell therein:"
Ezek.
xlvii. 3; Zech. i. 16. The measuring-line extends as
far
as the territory is to reach; comp. xcy, in Isa. xv. 3 ss., and
especially
as connected with vq, Jer. xxxi. 39. Accordingly,
the
only legitimate translation is, "their measuring-line goes
out
over the whole earth;" and the only legitimate exposition,
"the
whole earth is their portion and territory." In what re-
spect,
is evident from the whole context, according to which the
heavens
can come into consideration merely as heralds of the
Divine
glory; and all doubt is removed by the second clause,
which
serves to explain the first, expressly pointing to this refer-
ence:
their proclamation of the Divine glory limits itself not
to
some one region, but extends as far as the earth itself.--
How
untenable the current expositions are, is obvious from this,
that
Olshausen and Gesenius, finding no satisfaction in them,
would
read Mlvq
for Mvq,
their voice. The sense, sound, speech,
which
many ascribe to vq, never has; nor can they with cer-
tainty
appeal for it to the authority of the old translators, as it
is
doubtful whether these did not merely give a free rendering
according
to the sense. The signification, string,
by which
some
would transfer it from the established meaning to what
the
context is here supposed to require, is inadmissible, as vq
PSALM XIX. VER. 4. 331
never
signifies string, but always specially measuring-line.
Consequently
the exposition of Hitzig is also to be rejected,
which
imagines an uninterrupted chain of hymns
of praise, with
which
day and night, or more properly the heavens and firma-
ment,
span the earth, "as we speak of the thread of a dis-
course."
Ewald commits himself to still greater arbitrariness
in
the explanation of vq. Those who, as Stier, abide by the
received
signification of vq explain, "as their extent reaches
over
the whole earth, so also, in like manner, their words."
But
this exposition destroys the parallelism, and understands
the
outgoing of the measuring-line of mere extent, whereas it
must
be regarded as designating the compass of the territory.
In the third clause the Psalmist
makes special mention,
among
the heavenly works of God, of the sun, because it is the
most
glorious of them, and also from a special reference to the
law
as the spiritual sun. The suf. in Mhb, which unquestion-
ably
refers to the heavens and the earth, shows that we must
consider
the speech and knowledge, which, according to ver. 2,
day
and night proclaim, as communicated to them by the hea-
vens;
and that the suf. in Mlvq in ver. 3 must be referred, not,
with
many, to day and night, nor, with others, to the discourse
and
the words, but to the heavens; that not to day and night,
but
to the heavens is rmx, in its more restricted sense, as far as
it
is synonymous with Myrbd, denied, and that also in the two
first
members of our verse the suffixes can only refer to the
heavens.
In a perfectly unreliable manner has De Wette
sought
to remove the invincible difficulty, arising from the
reference
of the suf. to a distant noun, by remarking, that the
sun,
as to thought, is comprehended in the preceding words,
"to
the end of the world." For this is equivalent to, "to
the
end of the heavens," where the sun had been mentioned.
But
lbt,
according to its derivation (prop. the bearing, fruit-
bearing),
signifies earth, not world, and is
synonymous with the
parallel
Crx.
Then one does not see how there should have
been
a plural suf. De Wette's supposition, that it is used in-
determinately,
is a mere shift; Ps. xxxix. 6 cannot be com-
pared,
as there what is to be supplied is clearly given in the
context.
But to suppose, with Maurer, that here the tent of
the
sun must be placed in the extremity of the earth, is much
less
allowable, since the end of the earth, in common speech,
and
according to the parallel in the preceding context, is still a
332 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
part
of itself; but no one has ever apportioned the sun to the
earth,
and here, in particular, it is represented as the most
glorious
object in the heavenly regions. The tent of the sun
is
not to be considered as the place of his nightly repose:
against
this Stier justly remarks, that it is not fitting, on a first
mention
of the sun in the heavens, to consider it as absent and
concealed:
it is rather his dwelling-tent.1
The expression, "He
has
set a tent for it," substantially the same as, “He has
prescribed
a place for it.” With the words of the two first
members
of this verse, Paul describes, in
of
the Gospel over the whole earth. This led many of the
older
expositors into the quite false supposition, that vers. 1-6
contained
a direct prophecy of Christ and the Gospel. But
not
less objectionable is the supposition, that the Apostle used
the
words of our verse merely as an accidental reminiscence.
The
reference has a deep ground. The universality of God's
manifestation
of Himself in nature, is a prophecy in fact of the
universality
of the proclamation of the Gospel. If
the former
is
not accidental, if it is grounded in the Divine nature, so must
the
latter also spring from the same Divine nature. The re-
velation
of God in nature is for all His creatures; to them as
such
it is given; and it is a pledge that they shall also one day
be
made to share in the higher and more glorious revelation.
It
was a surety for the heathen, that the temporal limitation
salvation
to
the
removal of the limitation.
Ver. 5. And he is as a bridegroom who comes out of his
chamber, rejoices as a
hero to run a race.
The point of com-
parison
in the first member, is neither the delight beaming from
the
countenance of the bridegroom, nor his ornaments (Isa. lxi.
10),
but his vigour, power, or feeling of strength. This ap-
pears
from the words, “he comes forth from his chamber,”
prop.
e thoro, or, thalamo suo (falsely, therefore, Michaelis: ad
sponsam
v. excipiendam, v. domum ducendam), and likewise
from
the second clause, which gives equal prominence to the
energetic
power of the sun. In German the comparison loses
in
both members, from the sun being a feminine noun.
Ver. 6. He goes forth from the end of the heavens, and runs
1 Quite correctly already
Ven.: singulis sideribus dantur tentoria tensa
cum
apparent, et detensa cum disparent, quae tentoria eorum stationem in
campis
aethereis designant.
PSALM XIX. VER.
7. 333
about even to their end,
and nothing is concealed from his heat.
On
xcvm
comp. Christol. P. III. p. 300. lf
is to be
explained
from
the fact, that the going round at last touches,
reaches the
ends
of the heavens. The rtsn Nyx prop. "not is concealed,"
"there
is not anything which can be concealed." Heat is
not
to be considered as the opposite to light, as Venema and
others
think, according to whom what precedes refers only to
the
light; but as its inseparable accompaniment, equivalent to,
"before
its warming light." These last words also have respect
to
the mighty power of the sun, so that the Psalmist has this,
through
the whole representation, before his eyes.
There follows now, in vers. 7-10,
the praise of the law
which
has been given by this God, whose glory the heavens
proclaim,
and from whom, on this territory also, nothing but
what
is glorious and perfect can proceed. An artistic arrange-
ment
in this praise is not to be overlooked. In the three verses,
vers.
7-9, the law is praised in twelve sayings. These fall into
six
pairs, in which the second always stands to the first in the
relation
of effect to cause—a relation which is intimated through
the
regular want of the copula in the second, and the occur-
rence
of Jehovah only in the first clause. So, for example, in
ver.
7, "The law of the Lord is perfect, (and hence) it quickens
the
soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, (and hence) makes
the
simple wise." In vers. 7 and 8, the result is uniformly
some
effect which the law produces in the mind of man, accord-
ing
to the quality indicated in the preceding clause. In the
concluding
verse, ver. 10, the glory and preciousness of the law
thus
constituted, is celebrated as a whole. To the sixfold men-
tion
of the name Jehovah here, there is added a seventh at the
close
in ver. 14.
Ver. 7. The law of the Lord is perfect, quickens the soul; the
testimony of the Lord is
sure, makes wise the simple. To silence
those
who, after the example of Cocceius, would understand
by
hrvt
the Gospel, many expositors maintain that it stands
here
in its original meaning of "doctrine," and comprehends
the
whole sum of religion. But this notion is altogether un-
tenable.
hrvt,
although certainly it originally meant instruc-
tion
in general, always occurs, in the whole of the existing
usage,
which was formed under the influence of the Pentateuch,
in
that of doctrine embodied in commands;
it always mean's law,
not
excepting Isa. i. 10, viii. 16. But even if its meaning were
334 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
doubtful,
the following synonyms would be sufficient to remove
all
doubt. Occasion was given to this false view by the con-
sideration
that such high terms of praise could not be employed
of
the law by itself, after the declarations of the Apostle, and
the
testimony of experience. This consideration, however, is
set
aside in a legitimate way by the remark, that David only
speaks
of what the law is for those who, like himself, are in a
state
of grace, and in whom, consequently, the inmost disposition
of
the heart coincides with the law,—of that, therefore, which-
theologians
call "the third use of the law," or, "its use to the
regenerate"
(comp. Melancthon at the close of his
Loc. de usu
legis; Calvin, Inst. L. ii. c. 7, § 12; Nitzsch, System. § 155).
Such
a man is inwardly rejoiced that he has in the law a pure
mirror
of Divine holiness, a sure standard for his actions. But
Paul,
on the other hand, has to do with the relation of the law
to
the fleshly, to those who are sold under sin. That here the
Psalm
treats only of what the law is to believers, is manifest
from
the fact of its composition by David, who speaks, in the
first
instance, in his own name; also from the expression, "Thy
servant,"
in ver. 11, which implies that the speaker was already
in
a gracious relation to God; from his naming the Lord "his
Rock
and his Redeemer," in ver. 14; and from vers. 12 and
13,
where he indeed claims Divine forgiveness for many sins
of
imperfection, but confesses himself to be free from pre-
sumptuous
and daring violations of God's commands, and prays
that,
through God's grace, he may be able to remain free from
such.
All these are marks of a state of grace. The right view
was
already taken by Luther, who says: "The prophet repre-
sents
to his view those, who through the word of faith have
received
the Spirit, are joyful thereat, and have conceived a de-
sire
to do that which is according to the law. Thereupon he
proceeds
to teach how holy, how righteous and good the law is,
which
appears grievous and hard to those who have not the
Spirit,—the
blame, however, being not in the law, but in the in-
clination.
Moses was, in fact, the meekest man upon earth,
Num.
xii. 3, though they did not know it. And so also is the
law
of the Lord very full of love; only the wickedness of our
heart
understands it not, till the voice of the Bridegroom takes
away
its wickedness, and gives the Spirit, and then the law is
understood
and loved. The law does nothing of this sort by
itself,
but it becomes such a law through the heat of the sun,
PSALM XIX. VER. 7. 335
which
breaks forth through faith in the word." The law is
named
perfect, as being a pure expression of the will of God,
and
in contrast to the imperfect results of human thought in
this
sphere, even on the part of the well-disposed. Because it is
in
itself perfect, it makes those also perfect who follow it; Comp.
2
Tim. iii. 15, 16. The consequence of the law's being perfect
is,
that it quickens the heart, namely, by its putting an end to
painful
uncertainty in reference to the will of God and the
means
of pleasing Him, which but for the law would still in
some
measure continue even with believers, and such as are
brought
to partake of the gifts of the Spirit, and by opening up
a
perfectly secure way, by which one may attain to righteous-
ness
before God, and the peace of a good conscience, and con-
sequently
to a joyful hope of salvation. That the perfectness
of
the law is in so far the cause of the quickening, appears from
the
following words, "makes wise the simple," which more
definitely
point out the way and manner in which the law pro-
duces
quickening. Many, and recently Stier, expound, "con-
verts the soul." But this is
inadmissible, as to matter,—con-
version
has nothing to do here, for the law cannot work it; the
subject
of discourse at present is simply what the law is for be-
lievers,
those who have already been converted,--and so it is
also
in a philological point of view. The expression, placed so
absolutely,
as here without a terminus ad quem,
uniformly de-
notes
quickening, refreshment: the soul is as it were escaped
from
the pain and misery in which it was imbedded; comp.
Lam.
i. 11, 16; Ruth iv. 15; Ps. xxiii. 3. Testimony,
tvdf,
the
law
is named, not as being a kind of solemn declaration of
the
Divine will, but because it testifies against sin; comp. my
Beitr.
Part III. p. 640. Sure, reliable the testimony is named,
in
contrast to the uncertain, vacillating, unreliable knowledge of
reason
in matters of this nature. By reason of this very sureness
the
law is fitted to make the simple wise (sofi<sai, 2 Tim. iii.
15).
The expression simple, does not
denote a particular class
among
believers, as if there were others wise enough of them-
selves;
but it is a common predicate of all believers viewed apart
from
the Divine Believers are also simple still; for even
at
their best estate, they lack a sufficient knowledge of the Divine
will;
but they are only simple, while others are blinded fools,
Mylbn. The exposition of Stier and others, "the
susceptible,
open,"
is refuted by the contrast with wise;
comp. also Myytp Nybm
336 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
in
Ps. cxix. 130. On the other hand, Luther's silly
is too
strong.
ytp
denotes only a deficiency, a want, not a positively
perverted
character; an ignorance, which has its root in the
region
of the understanding, not such as springs from an ethical
ground.
Gesen. in his Thes.: dicitur de ea
stoliditate, cujus
fons
est in inopia consilii, prudentim, disciplinae et rerum usus,
qualis
puerorum et adolescentulorum est pellectu facilium, licet
non
malorum et noxiorum.
Ver. 8. The commandments of the Lord are right, rejoice the
heart; the statute of
the Lard is clear, enlightens the eyes. The
law
receives the name of Mydvqp, in so far as it delivers to man
charges,
which he has to execute; the name of hvcm, in so far
as
it prescribes to him what he has to do. That the law of the
Lord
rejoices the heart, appears as the effect of its rectitude,
just
as its quickening the soul was represented as the effect of
its
perfectness. The believer acknowledges with heart-felt joy
and
gratitude that he knows the will of God from the revelaticn
He
has given, and that he is thereby delivered from the deceit
of
his own fancy, and of his own heart, and has obtained a sure
guide
through life. The enlightening of the
eyes is referred by
many
to the communication of the light of Divine knowledge.
In
that case, "enlightening the eyes," would stand related to,
"rejoicing
the heart," just as in ver. 7, "making wise the simple,"
is
related to, "quickening the soul." There, "it is perfect and
sure,"
and therefore quickens the soul, in that it makes wise the
simple.
Here, "it is right and clear," and therefore rejoices the
heart,
in that it enlightens the eyes. However, as the expression,
"enlightens
the eyes," so commonly occurs in the sense of mak-
ing
brisk and joyful,—pain and misery make the eyes dim,
heavy,
and dull, comp. on Ps. 3,—it will be well for us also
to
adopt this signification here. Accordingly the words, "en-
lightening
the eyes," correspond precisely to, "rejoicing the
heart,"
and in the preceding verse, not to, "making wise the
simple,"
but rather to, "quickening the soul."
Ver. 9. The fear of the Lord is pure, continues for ever;
judgments of the Lord
are truth, righteous altogether. The fear
of
the Lord here marks the instruction afforded by God for fear
ing
Him, Ps. xxxiv. 11; Prov. i. 29, ii. 5, xv. 33; the law,
which,
according to Deut. xvii. 19, should serve the purpose of
leading
men "to fear the Lord their God." That the word,
"fear
of God," is thus transferred directly to its norm or stan-
PSALM XIX. VER. 10. 337
dard
in the law, shows how close is the connection between the
two;
directs attention to the circumstance, that all seeming fear
of
God, which fashions its substance according to men's own
notions,
is rather a dishonouring of God. The consequence of
the
purity of the law, which renders absurd any attempt to make
it
purer, or to reform it in any measure, is its perpetual continu-
ance.
This is naturally to be referred to the substance of the
Old
Testament law, and indeed to the whole of it—for the
limitation
to the so-called moral law is an arbitrary one—in re-
ference
to which the Lord also says, that He came, not to destroy
the
law, but to fulfil it, Matt. v. 17. The destruction as it has
taken
place under the New Testament, respects only the form.
In
regard to its substance, the law is so unconditionally eternal,
that,
according to another saying of our Lord, not one jot
or
tittle of it shall perish, Matt. v. 18. The truth
of the
Lord's
judgments consists in this, that they do not profess to be
judgments
of the Lord, but really are judgments of the Lord;
and
since nothing can proceed from the Lord but what is
righteous,
they are righteous altogether, without any exception.
The
truth stands opposed to lies, to deceit. If by truth is un-
derstood,
not the formal, but the material, then the expression,
"they
are righteous altogether," passes from the relation of
effect
to cause, and is merely co-ordinate with the other, "they
are
truth."
Ver. 10. They, more precious than gold, and much fine gold,
and sweeter than honey
and the honey-comb.
Calvin: "Here
again
it is clear, that he speaks not of the naked precept and the
mere
dead letter (more correctly: of the relation of the law to
the
faithful and spiritual, not of its relation to the fleshly and
such
as are destitute of faith). For if the law when merely
commanding
terrified, how then could it be deserving of love?
Certainly,
if it is separated from the hope of forgiveness, and
from
the Spirit of Christ, it is so far from the sweetness of honey,
that
it rather by its bitterness kills the poor soul." Luther:
"This
is a great wonder of the Holy Spirit and of the judgments
of
the Most High, that they change everything, rendering that
most
acceptable, which before was most distasteful. For what
do
men seek more eagerly than riches and pleasures? and yet
the
spirit has far greater delight in the law of God, than the
flesh
can have in its goods and pleasures."
The third strophe, vers. 11-14: the
law in relation to the
338 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
Psalmist,
as to every individual who finds in the Psalm the
fitting
expression of his feelings.
Ver. 11. Also thy servant is enlightened by them: whosoever
keeps them has great
reward.
The participle rhAz;ni indicates that
the
enlightening, or reminding, through the law is one that is
continually
proceeding, abiding; comp. Ew. § 349. The ex-
pression,
"Whosoever keeps them," is, when viewed in regard to
the
context, equivalent to, "the keeping of them, as to all, so also
to
me, brings great reward:" I also receive enlightenment from
Thy
law, as to how my life should be directed; and if I keep it,
acting
agreeably to this knowledge, great reward. How the'
Psalmist
recognised the truth of this principle from his own ex-
perience,
is shown by Ps. xviii. 20-27. This declaration at the
same
time paves the way to the following prayers for the removal
of
the hindrances which threatened to deprive him, in whole or in
part,
of the reward which attends the keeping of the law. He,
also,
who stands in the faith needs pardon for the sins which are
the
offspring of infirmity, if he is to come to the full enjoyment
of
this reward, ver. 12. He needs, moreover, the constant pre-
servation
of God, through His Spirit, from presumptuous trans-
gressions
of the law, from prevailing sin, which threatens wholly
to
deprive him of the reward. We are not to conclude from
the
Psalmist's expectation of the reward, that he was a hireling,
We
should otherwise have to reproach also the New Testament
on
account of 1 Tim. iv. 8, and many other passages, which en-
join
a seeking of the reward. The principle which really im-
pelled
the Psalmist to keep the law, was the love of God; the
reward
he takes with a grateful heart as an agreeable addition,
as
a declaration of God, that the service rendered was well
pleasing
to Him. Luther: "This is said for the consolation
of
those who take pains, not to have their desire for reward
strengthened,
as is wont to be the case with hirelings and ser-
vants;
I mean those who, by their little bits of work, would make
God
I know not what sort of merchant, because they take no
pains
in doing the judgments of the Lord. Therefore does
Paul,
in 1 Cor. xv. 58, console those who labour in the service
of
God, exhorting them to be stedfast, immovable, and always
abounding
in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as they know
that
their labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. For the
servants
of the Lord must, know that they please God in their
work,
so that they may not languish, nor sink into despair; since
PSALM XIX. VER. 12. 339
God
desires to have willing and cheerful labourers. But if they
please
God, there will infallibly come a great reward, though
they
do not seek it, because God cannot deny Himself, who said
to
Abraham, I am thy exceeding great reward."
Ver. 12. Errors, who can mark them? From those which are
secret, acquit me. The first clause
discloses the depth of human
depravity,
which draws even believers into many failings. Berleb.
Bible:
"Who can mark them? Who knows them all, and is
able
to number them? Who can keep so sharp a watch, as to
mark
how often something of the old proud disposition springs
up
against the new nature of the spirit of faith?"—The second
clause
grounds upon this the prayer for forgiveness; the ne-
cessity
for which rests upon the fact, that sin everywhere cleaves
to
us, appearing in the subtlest forms, scarcely discernible by
the
human eye, in many ways disguises itself, and assumes the
appearance
of good. Did sin possess only a gross character, we
might
satisfy ourselves with a simple "Lead us not into temp-
tation;"
but as it is able also to assume a refined shape, and
become
invisible, we need besides to pray, "Forgive us our trans-
gressions."
—It is not sins generally, but a special kind of sins,
for
which David begs the Divine forgiveness,—those which
cleave
even to believers, and consequently persons well-inclined,
—sins
of infirmity. hxygw is = hgAgAw; of the law,—for ex. Lev.
iv. 2,
error, peccatum per
imprudentiam commissum,— and tvrtsn, con-
cealed sins, are such as have
no gross corpus delicti connected
with
them, belong mainly to the sphere of the spirit, to thought
or
feeling, and withdraw themselves from the observation of
others,
and more or less also from one's own. That these are
mainly
to be thought of, is evident from the relation in which
tvrtsn stands to Nyby ym,—equivalent to,
"since the failings are so
numerous
and delicate that no one can mark them all, do Thou
acquit
me of those concealed sins, which, by their very subtlety,
render
their entire extirpation impossible." ynqn, according to
Stier
and others, must signify not only forgiveness, but also inter-
nal
purification. But it was justly remarked even by S. Schmidt,
that
"it is a judicial term, and means acquittal. For original
sin
is not extirpated in this world, but forgiven." hq.Ani always
signifies,
"to declare innocent, to
acquit," never, "to make
inno-
cent;"
nor can it possibly do so, for one may well indeed be
blameless
(ver. 13), but cannot be made so otherwise, than in
the
sense of being acquitted.
340 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
Ver. 13. Also from presumptuous ones keep Thy servant, let
them not have dominion
over me; so shall I be blameless, and re-
main innocent of great
iniquity.
From sins of infirmity the
Psalmist
passes on to sins of deliberation. As for the first he
entreats
the Divine pardon, so in regard to these he asks the
Divine
preservation. To the preceding verse the petition, "For-
give
us our sins," corresponds; and to this verse, the petition,
"Lead
us not into temptation." Our Psalm shows us, what a
close
internal connection subsists between the decalogue and the
Lord's
prayer. That the verb dvz, with its derived nouns, con-
veys
the idea of intentional, presumptuous,
and daring sins, in
opposition
to such as spring from infirmity, is clear from Ex. xxi.
14;
Deut. 22, xvii. 12; 1 Sam. xvii. 28. Mydize is the stand-
ing
designation of those who raise themselves proudly and rashly
against
God, despise His word, and break His law. The con-
trast
between Mydz
and tvxygw
here, is precisely the same as the
contrast
between hggwb
and hmr dyb, sinning with a high hand,
i.
e. openly, freely, and boldly, in Num. xv. 27-31, a passage
which
forms the basis of the New Testament doctrine of the sin
against
the Holy Ghost; comp. Heb. x. 26-28. Just as here,
the
sphere of forgiveness is confined to the tvxygw, while the
Psalmist
prays to be kept from the Mydz, which would have the
effect
of putting him out of the state of grace, so there, sacrifices
are
to be offered only for those who had sinned hggwb; he, on
the
contrary, who had sinned hmr dyb, was cut off from his
people,
"because he hath despised the word of the Lord, and
broken
His commandment." An example of a sin Nvdzb, or dyb
hmr, is the transgression of him who gathered wood
on the Sab-
bath-day,
Num. xv. 32 ss. He was without mercy punished
with
death. But the sin which, under the Old Testament dis-
pensation,
bore so frightful a character, that whosoever committed
it
forfeited his earthly life, unless he received mercy from God,
attained
first under the New Testament to its proper completion,
in
which it inevitably draws after it eternal death. For the
greatness
of the punishment is determined by the greatness of
the
internally and externally offered grace.—Presumptuous sin:
are
here personified as tyrants who strive to bring the servant of
God
into unworthy bondage to them. That the Lord alone can
keep
from this servitude, discovers the depth of human corrup-
tion.
That we are not, with many, to take Mydz at once in the
sense
of insolence, or of wilful sinning, appears from usage,
PSALM XIX. VER. 14. 341
according
to which, the word constantly denotes persons; as
also
from the words, "Let them not have dominion over me,"
which
point to real or imaginary persons. But just as little may
we,
with others, understand by Mydz, real persons. Palpably
false
is
this exposition, when such persons are supposed to be national
enemies,
and the dominion an external supremacy. In that case,
too,
the following words, "then shall I be perfect," etc., yield
no
sense, and the idea in this connection is quite foreign. The
interpretation
is more tolerable, which takes the dominion in a
moral
point of view, "keep me from the influence and seduc-
tion
of daring sinners." But though by this exposition the con-
trast,
so pointedly indicated through Mg and the double Nm, be-
tween
sins of infirmity and presumptuous sins, is not entirely
destroyed,
yet it is made less direct, and is cast into the shade;
the
having dominion would be something
strange (comp. what
is
said of sin in Rom. vi. 14); and jwH at least nowhere else
is
used
of preservation from bad company, whereas it is certainly
twice
used of keeping from sinning, Gen. xx. 6, and 1 Sam.
xxv.
39, "and hath kept His servant from evil." To the then
there
is commonly added, "When I obtain these two." But
this
is opposed by the fwp, which exclusively refers to the sins
described
in our verse. It denotes the greatest sin, prop. "apos-
tasy,
revolt," such as Mydz, bold despisers of God, commit; com-
pare
Job xxxiv. 37. This exposition is also opposed by Mmt,
which
is properly used only of inherent innocence. The Mtyx is
1
pers. Fut. of Mmt: comp. on the y, Ewald, p. 466, Small
Gr.
§
270. An innocent, blameless person is the Psalmist, notwith-
standing
his sins of infirmity. ytyqn points back to ynqn, in the
preceding
verse: to be made blameless, and to remain blameless,
are
the two conditions of salvation. But the realization of the
latter,
also, can only proceed from God. The expression, "from
much
or great iniquity," must be supplemented in thought by,
"into
which I shall otherwise inevitably fall." fwp stands in
contrast
to the unavoidable smaller transgressions spoken of in
the
preceding context.
Ver. . 14. Let the words of my mouth be acceptable to Thee, and
the meditations of my
heart before Thee, 0 Lord, my Rock and my
Redeemer. The Psalmist prays for
the favourable reception
of
his song, not as a production of sacred art, but in its sub-
stance
and matter, in reference to the two petitions with which
it
is occupied; or, it is not as a poet, but as a suppliant, that the
342 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
Psalmist
claims the Divline acceptance. This clearly appears
from
the two predicates of God, on which the Psalmist grounds
his
prayer, and which led him confidently to hope for the grant-
ing
of it. In saying, "let it be acceptable," the Psalmist seems
to
use a sacrificial term, perhaps the very words which were
spoken
by the priests at, the presentation of the sacrifice. At
least
the expression is regularly used in respect to offerings:
comp.
Lev. xix. 5, 7, xxii. 19, 20, 29, xxiii. 11; Isa. lvi, 7,
lx.
7; Rom. xii. 1. Such a transference of language was the
more
natural, as sacrifice itself was an embodied prayer. It is
better
to connect the words, "before Thee," with the words,
"the
meditation of my heart," than with the expression, "ac-
ceptable,"
from which they are too far separated. The expres-
sion
"acceptable" occurs elsewhere without any further addition
to
it, and is only once found connected with the words, "before
the
Lord," namely, in Ex. xxviii. 38. The expression, "my
Rock," denotes here
also that faithfulness, certainty, which do
not
permit the Lord to desert His people; see on Ps. xviii. 2.
He
would deny His rock-nature, if He should not pardon their
infirmities,
and keep them from flagrant misdeeds.
PSALM XX.
The people wish for their king, that
the Lord, the God of
the
victory, vers. 1-5. The firm confidence is expressed, that
the
Lord will protect His anointed and his kingdom, vers. 6-8.
They
conclude with the prayer that the Lord would do as He
had
inwardly promised, ver. 9.
That the Psalm is not, in the general,
"a song of
and
to its king, as we have in our song-book songs in which
prayers
and thanks are presented for kings and rulers, and their
office
is praised;" that
treaty
for help to His anointed, in the immediate prospect of
battle,
and expresses a firm, triumphant confidence therein, is
evident
from the words, "in the day of distress," in ver. 1, as
compared
with vers. 7, 8, which determine more exactly the kind
of
distress as one proceeding from enemies. According to ver.
3,
the Psalm was sung along with the solemn offerings which the
king
presented at his going out to battle.
PSALM XX. 343
Many expositors conceive that the
Psalm refers to a particular
occasion.
Several follow the Syriac in connecting it with the
Ammonitic-Syrian
war. But no ground exists for any such
special
reference: there appears in it, indeed, no individualizing
trait;
nothing carries us beyond the general application to the
troubles
of war; and this generality of its aim is specially counte-
nanced
by "the day of distress" in ver. 1, and "the day of our
calling"
in ver. 9. The beginning and conclusion both indicate
that
the Psalm was to be sung as often as the troubles of war
required
the people to claim help from its God.
If we hold the Psalm to be thus
general in its character, we
must
also admit that it bears reference to Christ and His king-
dom,
that the Christian Church justly appropriates it as an ex-
pression
of her longing for the triumph of His cause, and of her
confident
hope. For the
culminated
in Christ. He is in the full sense "the Anointed of
the
Lord." On the other hand, the Psalm refers to Christian kings
only
when they are His servants, and in so far as they are so.
It has been objected to the
composition of the Psalm as
David's,
affirmed in the superscription, that he does not appear
as
the speaker, but the people address him. This objection,
however,
is of no force. The person addressed is not David in
particular,
but the anointed of the Lord in general; the speaker
is,
of course, not the Psalmist, but he speaks in the name of the
people;
and if so, who might be more readily expected to stand
forth
as an interpreter of the feelings of the Lord's people in
this
respect, than David, who always lived in and with the
Church,
who always served it with his poetical gift, identified
himself
with its circumstances, and cared for its wants? Only
through
paying in general too little heed to this, can we here
entertain
any doubt of the correctness of the statement made
in
the superscription. Besides, the Davidic authorship is con-
firmed
by the numerous coincidences with Psalms of David,
which
we shall notice in the exposition. Then, whatever wit-
nesses
for the Davidic authorship of Ps. xxi. also makes for
this,
for they are connected as a pair. The great simplicity,
ease,
and transparent clearness of the Psalm, which have been
urged
against its ascription to David, are to be accounted for
from
its character; these are characteristics of a national song.
Luther says briefly and well:
"It seems to me as if David
had
composed this Psalm, that it might serve as a devout and
344 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
pious
battle-cry, whereby he would stir up himself and the
people,
and fit them for prayer."
Ver. 1. The Lord hear thee in the day of distress, the name
of the God of Jacob
exalt thee.
That we are not, with Hitzig, to
expound,
"will hear thee," but,
"may He hear thee," and
that
the
following Futures are also to be taken so, appears from hnwdy,
"May
He declare for fat, may He favourably accept," in ver. 3,
from
hnnrn,
in ver. 5, and the expression, "the king hear us," at
the
close, which returns to the beginning. bgw means to lift
up,
to exalt, in the sense of delivering, to transfer to a high and
secure
place; comp. lix. 1, xci. 14, and xviii. 2, where David
names
God his height. God's being called
the God of Jacob, is
equivalent
to, "the God, who was and is the God of Jacob, in
his
person, and that of his posterity," and points to the relation
which
constituted the ground of the hearing and the elevation,
and
of the joyfulness and confidence of the prayer. The ex-
pression,
"the name of Jacob's God," is equivalent to, "God,
who
manifested Himself as Jacob's God," or, "Jacob's God,
who
manifested Himself as such in a fulness of deeds."
God is
not
merely the God of Jacob, He is also named
so, has thus
made
Himself known, and made for Himself a name. His
election
is not a dark one, but manifest, confirmed by facts.
Without
such facts the God of Jacob would be nameless, His
name
would be a nomen vanum.
Ver. 2. Send thee help from the sanctuary, and out of
port thee. Here also is the help
of God sought on the ground of
His
covenant, of His relation to the Church. This is implied in the
words,
"out of the sanctuary, out of Zion;" comp. on Ps. xiv. 7.
Ver. 3. Remember all thy meat-offerings, and accept thy
burnt-offerings. That we are here to
think, not of the sacri-
fices
of the king in general, but specially of the solemn oblations
presented
before going forth to battle (comp. 1 Sam. xiii. 9 ss.,
where
Saul offers such a sacrifice, with the view of entreating
God's
favour, and making Him gracious toward him), appears
from
the Selah, which can only be explained on the supposition,
that
between this verse and the following one the work of
offering
the sacrifices intervened, during which there ensued a
solemn
pause. The word, "remember," seems to allude to the
name
hrAKAz;xa, which in the law was borne by that part of the
meat-offering
which was burnt on the altar, because it put God,
as
it were, in remembrance of the offerer; comp. Lev. ii. 2,
PSALM XX. VERS. 4, 5. 345
vi.
8, etc. To remembering is opposed forgetting, or indif-
ferent
reception. The expression is likewise used in the New
Testament;
comp. Acts x. 31. According to the entire spiri-
tual
point of view, from which the Psalmist speaks, it is of
course
to be understood, that the sacrifices are here considered,
not
in regard to their body, but in regard to the soul, which
dwelt
in them; and that their gracious acceptance by God was
hoped
for only on the ground of the presence of the internal
aim
and disposition, which were embodied in them. In the
symbolism
of the law, the presentation of the burnt-offering ex-
pressed
the consecration and yielding up of self. Whoever
presented
the meat-offering, which was closely connected with
the
burnt-offering, vowed that he would present to God the
spiritual
nutriment due to Him, good works. Where such pro-
fession
is made in truth, there, the subjective conditions on
which
the dispensation of salvation proceeds, are such as they
are
required to be; then, God cannot do otherwise than give to
the
suppliant according to his heart, and fulfil all his counsel.
Luther
remarks:" Just as in the new law there are other
persons,
other matters, other times, other places, so are there
also
other sacrifices; though still there remains one faith and
one
spirit: the external only has changed, the internal re-
mains
the same.—Wherefore, our sacrifice, which we must
present
to God in the time of trouble, is a broken heart, and
the
confession of sin; and this we do when we sigh after
God
in the time of trouble, recognise our distress as right-
eous,
bear patiently the mortification of self, and yield our-
selves
up to God, as ready to do all His will.”—Nw.edi signifies,
"to
make fat," Ps. xxiii. 5, and then "to declare fat, good,"
to
accept with satisfaction. The h is the h of striving; comp.
Ew.
§ 293.
Ver. 4. Give thee what thy heart desires, and fulfil all thy
counsels. The discourse is not
of the desires and counsels of
the
king generally, but only of those which relate to the present
necessity.
Ver. 5. May we rejoice over thy salvation, and through the
name of our God be
lifted up; the Lord fulfil all thy petitions.
Various
expositors render, "then shall we rejoice," etc.; but
this
construction is inadmissible, partly on account of the form,
which
discovers itself to be the optative through the appended
h, partly on account of the last member, which,
like the preced-
346 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
ing
context, still contains the expression of a wish. We must,
therefore,
expound: "may we rejoice," etc., equivalent to,
“may
occasion be furnished us, through thy salvation, for re-
joicing.”
The name of God stands here emphatically, as in
ver.
1. The explanation of lgdn is uncertain: the supposition
that
it is denomin. lgd of "banner," is opposed by Cant. v.
11,
where
the part. per. occurs in the sense of exalted, or distin-
guished.
Probably the verb is related to ldg. The LXX.
already
rendered, as we have done, megalunqhso<meqa, and the
Vulgate,
magnificabimur.
Ver. 6. Now know I that the Lord helps His anointed, He
hears him from His holy
heaven, through the salutary exploits of
His right hand. Till now the people
had spoken in the plural;
here
they speak as an ideal person in the singular. That there
is
here a great turning-point, is also indicated by the circum-
stance
that the king is no more addressed, but is spoken of.
The
now is to be explained from the fact,
that the suppliants
suddenly
obtain confidence of being heard. This now
also,
in
that it shows that the transition from prayer to confidence is
effected
here quickly and directly—precisely as, for example, in
Ps.
vi. 8—is an objection against reckoning ver. 5 to the second
strophe.
The now I know is, quite
misunderstood by those who,
with
Maurer, would refer it to a just won victory; it refers to
an
internal fact, and Luther has quite correctly explained it:
"Henceforth
the prophet is full of sure hope, and converts into
a
promise what lie had hitherto been praying for. For in such
a
manner does the heart which rests its full confidence in
God,
imagine quite certainly that what it has prayed for will
infallibly
be done. Faith, if it is truly in the heart, takes such
a
firm hold of that which it believes, that it can speak of nothing
as
more certain, and it knows it, indeed, to be as certain as if
it
had actually happened. Therefore he does not say here,
I
conceive, I think, but, I know."
The deliverance is here
expected
from heaven, as in ver. 2, from
gether,
that God dwells in
the
sure ground of hope. The first proves that God will help,
the
second that He can help; the first is
a pledge of God's love,
the
second of His almightiness. Heaven is characterized as
holy, on account of the
strong contrast between it and earth,
with
its impotence and helplessness. On the expression, from
His
holy heaven, see on Ps. xi. 4; "the right hand of God," is
PSALM XX. VERS. 7,
8. 347
mentioned
in the same connection in Ps. xviii. 36: fwaye occurs
also
in Ps. xii. 5.
Ver. 7. Some make mention of chariots, and some of horses;
but we, of the name of
the Lord our God.
Ver. 8. They stoop
and fall; but we rise
and stand upright.
As the object of con-
fidence
in the world and in the Church is different, so is also the
fate:
there, from height to depth; here, from depth to height.
rykzh elsewhere always signifies "to make
mention," never, "to
praise"
(where the latter signification is adopted, it rests on a
false
explanation); and this signification must here be the more
firmly
held, as it exists also in the radical passage, Ex. xxiii.
"The
name of other gods ye shall not make mention of," as
appears
from the parallel, "neither let it be heard in thy mouth."
That
the mention is in the way of praise, does not lie in the
word
itself, but in the constr. with b, pointing to the
feeling of
confidence
with which the person mentioning rests in the object.
Parallel
to ver. 7 is 1 Sam. xvii. 45, where David says to Goliath,
"Thou
comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with
a
shield; but I come to thee in the name of the Lord God of
Hosts:”
Ps. xxxiii. 17; Isa. xxxi. 3. By the chariots, chariots
of
war are to be understood. The contrast lies between human
means
of help, and the assistance of God. The Preterites of
ver.
8 are to be explained by the fact, that the people in faith
see
the enemies as already conquered. Luther: "Faith alone,
which
commits itself to God, can sing the song of triumph be-
fore
the victory, and raise the shout of joy before help has been
obtained;
for to faith all is permitted. It trusts in God, and
so
really has what it believes, because faith deceives not; as it
believes,
so is it done." Before the catastrophe here described
the
enemies had the upper hand, and the people of God were
put
to the worse. This especially appears from Mvq, which
means,
not, "to stand," but, "to stand up." Luther: "At
the
commencement of the attack, the ungodly, indeed, appear
to
stand firm, confiding in their chariots and horsemen; on the
other
hand, the pious, who trust in the name of the Lord, ap-
pear
to be far from equal to them. But faith boasts thus:
Although
those stand, and we seem to be weak and to fall, yet
we
are sure, that presently matters shall be entirely reversed,
and
they shall fall; but we shall be raised on high and stand,
nay,
we are already lifted up and stand erect. 0 what a noble
pattern
of faith is this!"
348 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
Ver. 9. Lord, help; the King hear us when we call. The last
strophe,
that of the renewed prayer, stands in close relation to
the
preceding context. The help is based
on the, He helps, in
ver.
6; the hear us points back to, He will hear him, in the
same
verse. The prayer springs from the promise: "the
Lord
is entreated to do what He has promised." By this re-
ference
to the promise, the prayer at the end is distinguished
from
that at the beginning. The expression, "may He hear
us,"
here, is much more emphatic than the expression, "may
He
hear thee," there, which is now
resumed again. Special
emphasis
rests on jlmh;
Luther: "Hear Thou us, Thou who
truly
art our King. For David, who serves Thee, is not king,
and
governs not his, but Thy kingdom. With what vehement
emotion
does he move God, that is, does he teach us to move
God,
as one who is moved when we ourselves are moved! For
how
should He not hear when His kingdom, His interest, His
honour
is in danger? In other words, we then pray most ear-
nestly
when we have confidence that we are God's kingdom
and
His heritage. For then we seek not our own, and are cer-
tain
that He will not abandon a cause which belongs to Him,
and
a kingdom which is His, especially when we call upon
Him
for this." As King of Israel, God appears already in
Deut.
xxxiii. 5, comp. Ps. xlviii. 3. Without ground, several
expositors,
following the LXX. and Vulgate, domine salvum
fac
regem, leave the accents, and connect jlmh with the first
clause.
By this exposition the sense of the first member is
weakened;
the simple, "Lord, help," is more emphatic; then,
in
the second member, the designation of God is awanting,
which
grounds the prayer for help; and what is the chief point,
the
transition from the address to the third person is then de-
prived
of all occasion, on which account also the Vulgate, on its
own
authority, supplies the address, "et exaudi nos." The
expression,
"in the day of our calling," rests on Deut. xv. 2.
PSALM
XXI.
The people testify their joy at the
rich benefits which the
Lord
has bestowed upon His king, vers. 1-6; express the hope,
that
through God he will destroy all his enemies, vers. 8-12:
and
conclude by praising the Lord, ver. 13.
PSALM XXI. 349
The speakers rise first to the Lord:
0 Lord, what hast
Thou
done to the king? ver. 1 ss.; then come down to the king,
first
speaking of him, ver. 7, then to him, "0 king, what wilt
thou
do in the Lord?" vers. 8-12; finally, again ascend to the
Lord,
ver. 13, "Praise to Thee, 0 Lord, for what Thou hast
done
to the king, and what the king has done in Thee."
In the address to God, the benefits
are more comprehen-
sively
and generally described: perpetual continuance of do-
minion,
salvation, strength, honour; on the other hand, in the
address
to the king, a particular point is specially brought out,
namely,
how through God's help he will be superior to all his
enemies.
Various expositors—most recently,
Kaiser, Hitzig, Koester
—suppose
that our Psalm stands in a closer relation to Ps. xx.
than
the mere circumstance that the people in both present
themselves
before God on the business of their king; that Ps.
xx.
was composed when the king went forth to war, the pre-
sent
one on his return home. What is there wished, is here
thankfully
acknowledged; the salvation desired in the one, is
spoken
of as having been found in the other, Ps. xxi. 1; and
the
wish here mentioned in ver. 2 as obtained, is that which
was
uttered there. But this supposition is quite inadmissible.
Our
Psalm does not give thanks for any particular victory
granted
to the king, but for strength and salvation in general,
for
dominion received; compare the words, "Thou settest a
crown
of gold upon his head," and, what is perfectly decisive,
for
"length of days for ever and ever," ver. 4.
According to De Wette, the Psalm is
a wish for the success
of
the king in an impending campaign, with an introduction
in
vers. 1-7; in it the deliverance just about to be afforded to
the
king, is celebrated. But then we cannot explain the con-
clusion
in ver. 13, where the Lord is thanked for what has
already
been obtained, as appears alone from the circumstance,
that
De Wette feels himself obliged, in favour of his hypo-
thesis,
to change thanks and praise into "a prayer for Jehovah's
help."
The only correct view is this: The
Psalm expresses the
thanksgivings
of the people for the promises given to David in
2
Sam. vii., and for the joyful hope in regard to their fulfil-
ment.
Only on this view can we explain ver. 4, according to
which
an eternal duration of life is guaranteed to the king,
350 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
and
ver. 6, according to which he has been set for an eternal
blessing—passages which exclude
all reference to any single
royal
individual as such. The supposition of a hyperbolical
mode
of speech, which is necessarily to be rejected, appears the
more
objectionable when we compare the promise in 2 Sam. vii.,
and
the other Psalms which have their foundation in it, Psalms
lxxxix.
cxxxii. cx.
This Psalm forms a side-piece to Ps.
xviii., from which it is
separated
only by Ps. xix. and Ps. xx., which with this is united
into
a pair. In Ps. xviii. David presents to the Lord, in pre-
sence
of the Church, thanks for the glorious promise which
had
been vouchsafed to him; here he utters, in the name of the
people,
grateful joy for the same promise. His aim is to call
forth
and quicken in the mind of the Church a feeling of grati-
tude
toward the Lord, of love toward His anointed, of immove-
able
confidence in the prospect of danger.
Precisely as here, David, in his
last words, as recorded in
2
Sam. xxiii., finds in the promise of the Lord, 1. The pledge of
salvation
for his house, ver. 5; and 2. The pledge of destruc-
tion
in regard to his enemies, the sons of Belial, vers. 6, 7.
The exclusively Messianic
exposition, which has been de-
fended
by many of the older commentators, and latterly by
Rosenmüller,
in his 2d ed., is deprived by our view of the
foundation
which it was conceived to have in vers. 4 and 7.
It
is opposed even by the undeniable reference which the Psalm
has
to 2 Sam. vii. This admits of the application to Christ
only
in so far as the promise found its last and highest fulfil-
ment
in Him, in whom the royal stem of David culminated, but
at
the same time imperiously demands the reference to Christ
in
this sense. Apart from Christ, the words, "Thou givest
him
length of days for ever and ever," and, "Thou settest him
for
blessing for ever," are nothing but an empty dream.
The testimony of the superscription
in behalf of the Davidic
authorship
is confirmed by characteristic coincidences with the
Davidic
Psalms, many of which have been noticed by Hit-
zig.
Then the exultant, confident tone of the Psalm points
to
the times of David, showing that the idea had as yet come
into
no conflict with the reality, as it did latterly in so impor-
tant
a manner through the degeneracy of the line of David.
How
entirely otherwise does Ps. lxxxix. sound, which was com-
posed
after the beginning of this conflict!
PSALM XXI. VERS. 1, 2. 351
First, in vers. 1-6 we have the
blesser in relation to the
blessed;
the general principle in ver. 1, the expansion of it in
vers.
2-6.
Ver. 1. 0 Lord, the king rejoices at Thy strength, and how
greatly does he rejoice
at Thy salvation!
Properly, in Thy
strength,
in Thy salvation. The in stands for our at, concern-
ing, in accordance with
another mode of contemplation. There
the
joy rests in, here upon its object. The strength, the salva-
tion
of the Lord, are the things promised by the Lord, and,
in
consequence of the promise, to be granted by Him. For lygiyA,
the
Masorites would without ground ready lg,yA, the Fut. apoc.
with
abbr. vowels on account of the transference of the tone to
the
first syllable. Ew., p. 415.
Ver. 2. Thou gavest him the wish of his heart, and the desire
of his lips Thou didst
not withhold from him. The wish does
not
simply denote here the wished-for thing—this is opposed by
the
parallel words, "the desire of his lips"—it is rather, "to
give the wish,"
equivalent to, "to grant or fulfil it." The silent
wish,
and the spoken prayer, stand in contrast. Luther: "The
arrangement
is certainly fine here, namely, that the prayer of
the
heart must go before, without which the prayer of the lips
is
an unprofitable bawling." By the connection with the pre-
ceding
context, whose further expansion here begins, the nature
of
the desire is more exactly defined to be one after deliverance
and
strength; but it is still more exactly determined, by con-
necting,
it with what follows, as one after the continuance of
dominion
in his line, of honour and glory in his posterity. De
Wette's
affirmation, that it is "general, and not to be understood
of
any determinate wish," is clearly refuted by ver. 4, which is
linked
to our verse by the words, "he desired life of Thee."—
That
the promise in 2 Sam. vii. was a hearing of prayer for
David,
is not expressly stated there, but it may be regarded as
self-evident,
inasmuch as certainly no king is without thought
for
the future lot of his offspring; and especially under the Old
Testament
was the interest taken in the offspring peculiarly
lively.
The fate of David's race must, moreover, have lain all the
nearer
to his heart, having constantly before his eyes the mourn-
ful
fate of the family of Saul. If the promise had not met the
ardent
wishes and prayers of David, it could scarcely have made
so
deep an impression upon him, or filled him with such tri-
umphant
joy and inward gratitude.—The Preterites of this verse
352 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
are
falsely taken by many expositors aoristically, with reference
to
the following Futures. David's desire for the perpetuity of
his
kingdom, and the salvation of his seed, was already satisfied
by
the promise. The discourse is here of a fact already past
and
concluded.—The Selah stands suitably between the indica-
tion
and the further expansion, admonishing us before the latter
to
consider the grace of God, which brought satisfaction to the
wish
of His servant.
Ver. 3. For Thou surprisest him with the blessings of pro-
sperity, Thou settest
upon his head a crown of gold. In reference
to
the connection with what precedes, Luther says excellently
"But
what has the heart desired? What have the lips wished?
This
comes next." Mdq, "to surprise," comp. on Ps. xvii.
12,
xviii.
5. The character of joyful surprise appears throughout
the
whole of that prayer of David, which he made after receiving
the
promise, in 2 Sam. vii. The "blessings of the good,"
equivalent
to, "consisting in good, or prosperity," denote the
entire
sum of the benefits which the Lord promised to give to
David's
stem. A closer description of these benefits is given in
what
follows. The setting on of the crown marks the bestow-
ment
of dominion. David was crowned, as it were, anew,—or
even
for the first time, for the earlier crowning did not come, in
this
respect, into consideration,--when he received that great
promise
of the everlasting supremacy of his offspring. He then,
for
the first time, became king in the true and proper sense.
The
kings of the Philistines, to distinguish themselves from the
poor
elective kings, took the name of Abimelech, king's-father,
and
here was unspeakably more than there! That we are not
to
suppose David's first crowning, or the conferring on him of
the
kingly office in general, to be referred to, is evident from the
following
context, which is to be regarded as a further enlarge-
ment
of the words before us.
Ver. 4. He asked of Thee life, Thou gavest him long life for
ever and ever. God has so far placed a
golden crown on David's
head,
as He gives him to reign perpetually in his posterity.
vin
and many other expositors think that a comparison is here
made
between David's earlier time, when, surrounded as he was
by
pressing dangers, he must have regarded it as a special fa-
vour
to be delivered from the moment's danger of death, and
the
later time, when, so far beyond his boldest wishes, he ob-
tained
from God the promise that he should live and reign for
PSALM XXI. VERS. 5-7 353
ever
in his posterity. But it is better to refer the words. "for
life
he asked of Thee," to the wish of David to have his life con-
tinued
in his posterity,—a wish which, as is said in the second
clause,
was more than fulfilled by God. Then the words, " he
asked
life of Thee," perfectly correspond to the wish of the heart
and
the desire of the lips in ver. 2; and the life which David
asks
for himself, stands on the same footing as the length of
days
which is granted to him. With the "length of days for
ever
and ever," is to be compared 2 Sam. vii. 13, "I will esta-
blish
the throne of his kingdom for ever," and ver. 16, "and
thy
house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before
thee,
thy throne shall be established for ever;" Ps. lxxxix. 4,
"Thy
seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to
all
generations."
Ver. 5. Great is his honour through Thy salvation; glory and
majesty Thou layest upon
him. In
his seed, David will possess
the
full enjoyment of the kingly honour and glory. Ver. 6. For
Thou settest him for
blessing for ever, Thou makest him bright
with joy before Thy
countenance.
"Thou settest him for bless-
ing"—the
plural points to the rich fatness of the blessing—for
"Thou
blessest him, so that he seems to be blessing itself;" comp.
Gen.
xii. 2. The joy with the Lord's countenance (the very
peculiar
expression, with Thy countenance, is
used in the very
same
connection also in Ps. xvi. 11), is the joy which arises from
David's
being in fellowship with the Lord's countenance, from
this
countenance being graciously directed toward him; there-
fore,
in substance, the same as "through Thy favour." He does
not
mean the joy which arises from "consciousness of the Divine
favour,"
but which the enjoyment thereof gives.
Ver. 7. For the king trusts in the Lord; and through the fa-
vour of the Highest, he
shall not be moved.
This verse, which
speaks
of the king and of the Lord, forms the transition from
the
first part, the address to God, to the second, the address to
the
king. The connection with the preceding is falsely given
by
De Wette thus: "The king deserves it through his confidence
in
God." Confidence is here considered not as an affection,
but
in respect to its object. This is shown by the parallel, "he
shall
not be moved." The expression, "he trusts in the Lord,"
is
as much as, "the Lord is his ground of hope, his Saviour."
Calvin:
“Though the world turns round like a wheel, whence
it
happens that those who were elevated to the highest point are
354 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
suddenly
brought down again, yet the
its
antitype, the
The people now tell the king what he
has to hope for him-
self
and his posterity, in consequence of the Divine promise.
Ver. 8. Thy hand shall find out all thine enemies, thy right
hand shall find out thy
haters.
Ver. 9. Thou wilt make them
like a fiery oven, when
thou lookest on them; the Lord in His
anger will destroy them,
and the fire will devour them. In the
words,
"like a fiery oven," the
comparison, as often happens, is
merely
indicated, q. d. "Thou wilt put
them in such a condition
that
they shall be as if they were in a fiery oven." We reject
the
supposition of a reference to
must
rather compare such passages as Mal. iv. 1, "Behold, the
day
comes that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea,
and
all that do wickedly, shall be stubble, and the day that
cometh
shall burn them." Hupfeld's exposition, "Thou wilt
treat
them as a fiery oven," is inadmissible. For tyw does not
signify,
to treat. The expression, "at the time of thy counte-
nance,"
equivalent to, "as soon as thou turnest to them thy
countenance,
lookest on them," has reference to, "with thy
countenance,"
in ver. 6. Because the Lord's countenance is
turned
toward the king, the king's countenance is terrible to
the
enemies. That what has hitherto been spoken of is ascribed
to
the king only as an instrument of God, and is to be referred
to
God in the king, and to the king in God, is put beyond a
doubt
by the two last clauses.
Ver. 10. Their fruit thou wilt extirpate from the earth, and
their seed from the
children of men.
The sense is: Thou wilt
entirely
uproot them. "Fruit and seed," denote posterity, ver.
11.
For they intended evil against thee, they
conceived designs,
yet they are not able
for it.
According to many expositors, the
wickedness
of the godless is here announced as the cause of their
destruction.
But then it would be unsuitable to say, "they are
not
able for it." We must rather view the connection thus,
"For
though they threaten thee with destruction, yet they can-
not
execute their designs; these shall rather turn out to their
own
destruction, as certainly as God has promised perpetuity to
the
here
refers to the distinction of earlier and later in the future.
The
attempt is expressed by the Pret., the result by the Fut.
Several
expound, "they span against thee
evil," supposing the
PSALM XXI. VERS. 12, 13;
XXII. 355
image
to be taken from the spreading out of the net. But hFn
is
never thus used. We must rather expound, "they incline,
bend evil upon thee, in
order to throw it down on thee." hFn, in
this
sense in Ps. lxii. 3, and in the same kind of connection in
1
Chron. xxi. 10, "three things I bend
over thee," where in the
parallel
passage, 2 Sam. xxiv. 12, the corresponding, lFvn, "I lift
up,"
is used.—In the expression, "they cannot, are not able,"—
what
they are unable to work or accomplish, must be supplied
from
the context.
Ver. 12. For thou wilt make them for shoulder, fill thy strings
against their
countenance.
The first member, "Thou wilt put
them
into a condition, that they shall be altogether shoulder,
thou
wilt put them to flight," comp. on Ps. xviii. 40, where,
instead
of shoulder, there is neck. The "for" refers to the last
words
of the preceding verse, "they are not able," which con-
tain
the leading idea thereof. Nnvk signifies, not "to
aim," but,
"to
load;" comp. on Ps. vii. 12, xi. 2. Luther: "The troubles
stimulate
them to flight; and the bow, meeting them in the face,
compels
them to retreat; so that they find themselves in a strait,
and
in seeking to escape the rain, go under the spout."
Ver. 13. Praise to Thee, 0 Lord, for Thy strength: we will
sing and extol Thy might. The Psalm is not,
according to the
common
supposition, closed with a prayer, but with the praise
of
the Lord, for the great, grace which He manifests to His
king
and people, through the promise and its fulfilment. hmvr,
not,
"raise Thyself," or "show Thyself exalted,"—this were
against
usage, comp. Ps. lvii. 5-11, against the parallelism,
and
against the analogy of the conclusion of Ps. xviii. 46 ss.; —
but,
"be exalted in our consciousness," equivalent to, "praise be
to
Thee." God's power and strength are what He unfolds when
He
gives power and strength to His anointed; comp. on ver. 1.
PSALM XXII.
The Psalm contains the prayer of a
sufferer. It begins
with
the cry, "My God, why hast Thou
forsaken me?" vers.
1,
2; and then develops, as it proceeds, how completely anoma-
lous
it would be, if God, as all appearances seemed to show,
intended
to forsake him: "Thou art the Holy and the Glori-
ous
One, in all time past the faithful deliverer of Thy people,"
356 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
vers.
3-5. In singular contrast to this, stands my misery, my
condition,
to all appearance completely desperate, which loudly
proclaims,
that Thou hast forsaken me, vers. 6-8:—a contrast
all
the more singular, that Thou hast manifested Thyself as my
God
from my early youth; so that the explanation of the diffi-
culty
cannot be found in this, that Thou art not my
God as well
as
theirs, vers. 9,10.
Having demonstrated how completely
anomalous desertion
would
be, and having shown that to the inquiry, "Why hast
Thou
forsaken me?" there is but one answer, "I have not
forsaken
thee," the foundation is laid for the petition of ver. 11,
"Be
not far from me;" and the assignment of the reason there-
of,
viz., "for distress is nigh, because there is no helper," pre-
pares
the way for a detailed description of the trouble, after
which
the prayer returns developed and strengthened. The
whole
description of the trouble, vers. 12-18, is directed to
show,
that it had come to the very last extremity with the
sufferer;
that now to be far away, that now not
to help, would
be
thoroughly and completely to forsake; which, according
to
vers. 1-10, is impossible, inasmuch as it would involve God
in
opposition to Himself: for the sufferer, it was now a question
of
existence and non-existence; he is in
articulo mortis; another
moment,
and he will no longer be an object of the Divine as-
sistance
at all; surrounded by powerful and furious enemies,
in
a state of complete exhaustion and dissolution, wasted away
and
emaciated, a living corpse, the sufferer is awaiting the stroke
of
death, while those around, breaking the bridge between him
and
life, are employed in stripping him of, and dividing, his
clothes.
The prayer, which, after the last
basis had thus been
given
to it (God cannot forsake, vers.
1-10; He would forsake,
if
He did not help now, vers. 12-18) breaks out in an ex-
panded
form in vers. 19-21, passes on, at its conclusion, to the
confident assurance of an answer,—a
confidence which can never
fail
when built on such a solid foundation.
In the last part (from vers. 22-31),
the sufferer depicts the
happy
consequences of his deliverance,
which he anticipates in
faith,
and, lifted up in spirit above the present, beholds as if it
were
present. These truly great consequences will extend to
all
without distinction. First, the greatest of all distinctions,
that
between
be
abolished. Among
PSALM XXII. 357
of
the glory of God, in the deliverance of His servant, will
greatly
strengthen faith, and will fill all believers with adoring
wonder
at such a God, and with courage and joy: their heart
shall
live for ever through this great proof of the life of their
God.
The heathen, vers. 27, 28, from one end of the earth to
the
other, as they seriously ponder this glorious manifestation
of
Jehovah, will turn to Him with adoring hearts, as the only
true
God, so that He, who is the king of the earth, will be re-
cognised
as such over it all. In the next place, the distinction
of
individual circumstances will be removed: rich and poor,
high
and low, happy and miserable, will take part in blessing
this
publication, and with devout feelings will thank Him for it.
Finally,
in vers. 30 and 31, the distinction of time will be re-
moved:
not only at present, but also throughout the distant
future,
will the praise and the worship of God be extended
through
this manifestation of His righteousness and faithfulness.
The Psalm naturally divides itself
into three strophes, each
containing
a distinct subject of its own, of the same length,
and
consisting of ten verses, vers. 1-10, vers. 12-21, vers. 22-31.
Between
the first and second strophe a verse is thrown in,
which,
connecting the two together, leads on from the one to
the
other. De Wette and Koester's division into strophes of
five
members cannot be continued throughout, without break-
ing
the connection. The three and the ten play a conspicuous
part
in several of the Psalms of David. Compare, for example,
the
18th Psalm.
David is named in the title as the
author of the Psalm, and
even
De Wette is obliged to concede that nothing decisive can
be
urged against this view.
Hitzig would have Jeremiah
acknowledged as the author of
the
Psalm, but the grounds of his opinion are not such as to
call
for a formal refutation. "The somewhat diffuse and loose
style
of Jeremiah" is more or less common to him with all who
are
in deep distress, and with those who speak from the souls of
such.
The entire originality of our Psalm does not at all cor-
respond
to Jeremiah's style. There are no characteristic pas-
sages
in which Jeremiah agrees with our Psalm; and though
there
were, it would not be sufficient to prove the point. We
should
only have to assume that Jeremiah, according to his
usual
practice, borrowed from the older scriptures.
The determination of the subject is
a much more difficult
358 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
point
than the determination of the author
of the Psalm. Many,
going
on the supposition that he who appears as speaker can be
no
other than the author, have assumed that David
is the suf-
ferer
of the Psalm. Against this idea there are insuperable
objections,
drawn even from the first part (vers. 1-21). David
never
was in such great trouble as is here described; his ene-
mies
never parted his clothes, or cast lots upon his vesture;
even
in the greatest heat of the conflict with Saul, to which
alone
we can look, he never was in that state of exhaustion,
weakness,
and emaciation, which meets us in the subject of this
Psalm.
In addition to this, we must observe, that while in the
picture
of the sufferings there is much which does not suit
David's
case, we do not meet, on the other hand, with one ex-
pression,
by which we could single out any circumstance in
David's
history to which this prayer could be referred. This
hypothesis,
moreover, appears completely untenable, when we
look
at the second part. Such consequences
as are there spoken
of—among
others, the conversion of all the nations of the
whole
earth to the true God, the fulfilment of the great pro-
mise
made to the Patriarchs—David could not possibly expect
to
flow from his deliverance.
The objections urged against David
apply with equal force
against
any other Israelitish individual—against Hezekiah (ac-
cording
to Jahn), and Jeremiah (according to Hitzig)—sup-
positions
which are, moreover, rendered untenable by the words
of
the title.
That the reference of this Psalm to
David, or to any other
member
of the Jewish nation, is untenable, appears from the
efforts
made by all who maintain it to get rid of the facts con-
tained
in the Psalm by arbitrary interpretations. What sacri-
fices,
for example, is Hoffmann compelled to make (Prophecy
and
its Fulfilment,
according
to which the Psalm refers to David, in the circum-
stances
narrated at 1 Sam. 25, 26. The first part con-
tains,
according to him, a strange medley of fact and imagina-
tion,
distinguished from each other by no rule, except as they
best
suit the convenience of the maintainer of this hypothesis.
In
the first strophe, the first and second verses contain matters
of
fact, the seventh and eighth matters of fancy: "how they
will
insult the prisoner, and mock at his trust in God." In the
second
part, from ver. 12 to ver. 15, the subject-matter is his-
PSALM XXII. 359
torical;
from ver. 16 to ver. 18, the circumstances (which
cannot
be made to correspond to the supposed condition) are
hypothetical:
"He sees Himself in their midst, and witnesses
their
joy at His wasted form, and how after His death they
part
and cast lots for His clothes." A very singular way, as-
suredly,
of determining the situation. One, according to it,
would
need to have a very free hand, and to have a peculiar
taste
for following every sudden idea. In the second
part, the
conversion
of the heathen is violently separated from its cause
and
occasion: "The time will come when the people will again
think
upon Jehovah, and turn to Him." The whole passage,
from
ver. 26 to ver. 31, will merely show, "what a God He
must
be who has listened to such a prayer, and to whom such
praise
will be rendered." Against this the last verse is quite
sufficient:—
They shall make known His righteousness,
and that
He hath done this. At the expression,
"they eat," ver. 29,
there
will have to be supplied, "the good things of life,"—ar-
bitrarily
(for the object to be eaten must be determined from
the
preceding context), and in opposition to ver. 26.
Other attempts to set aside the
actual state of the case by ex-
position, I have already adverted to in my Christology.
Among
these
we reckon the assertion, which, after the example of Ve-
nema,
has been frequently brought forward, that the sufferer
in
the Psalm is not yet in the power of his enemies, but only
threatened
by them. The passages which are brought forward
for
the purpose, viz., 11, 12, 20, 21, do not prove it: for the
nearness
of the trouble in ver 11, is not contrasted with its pre-
sence,
but with its distance; trouble is near to him who is in
the
midst of it; the expression, "many
bulls have compassed
me, etc.," suits a victim
which has been seized, and, to cut
off
every
hope of escape, has been surrounded by ferocious ene-
mies,
for the purpose of inflicting the death-stroke; and the
20th
and 21st verses only show, what of itself is obvious, that
this stroke has not yet
fallen. The 17th and 18th verses prove
the
contrary:—according to them, his
enemies have already
stripped
the sufferer quite naked, so that his emaciation lies
exposed
to his own eyes and to theirs, while they enjoy the
miserable
spectacle, and divide his clothes among themselves.
To
refer, with Rosenmüller and others, the 18th verse merely
to
the proposal to divide the clothes,
will not do, irrespective of
every
other consideration, on account of the connection with
360 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
the
17th verse, where the sufferer is represented as already
stripped
naked. Those who propose to understand the 18th
verse
figuratively, appear to be at a loss
what to say in their
embarrassment.
The hypothesis of Jarchi, Kimchi,
and others, is much more
tolerable,
viz., that by the sufferer we are to understand the
people,
or the pious part of the same. It will afterwards come
out
that this hypothesis, and in a certain measure, also, the one
which
refers the Psalm to David, has truth for its foundation.
But
if we apply the Psalm to the people directly
and exclusively,
we
shall meet with insuperable difficulties. On the supposition
that
the sufferer is the whole people, it will clearly be necessary
to
understand, that by the troop of evil-doers, the dogs, the lions,
and
the bulls, the heathen are especially
and exclusively meant;
for
which idea the Psalm does not furnish one single particle of
evidence.
The opposition everywhere, is between wickedness
and
uprightness: and it is quite
arbitrary here, as in all the
similar
cases which are so frequent in the Psalms, to turn a
purely
moral into a national opposition. Further, if we suppose
the
whole people, or the pious part of the same, to be the suf-
ferer,
how could he say he would make known the name of the
Lord
among his brethren, that he would
praise Him in the
midst
of the congregation, that from him would go forth His
praise
in the great assembly, that he would pay his vows before
them
that fear Him? How could he exhort the fearers of
God,
the whole seed of Jacob, the whole seed of
himself
over against them, to praise the Lord for what had
happened
to him? How could he promise to the meek, to
those
who seek the Lord, nothing more than
the co-enjoyment
of
a salvation which was primarily conferred on himself, and
nothing,
more than the strengthening of their faith from the
same?
The whole passage, from 22d to 26th verse, is, on
that
hypothesis, altogether unintelligible: it is fatal to every
view
which removes the contents of the Psalm entirely from
the
domain of individual application. Such views also are con-
tradicted
by the strong prominence given throughout the Psalm
to
what specially belongs to an individual person: the sufferer
speaks
of his mother, his heart, his tongue, his skin, his hands,
his
feet, etc.—a form of speech which can lose its proper appli-
cation
only when well-defined marks show that the term em-
ployed
is a collective one.
PSALM XXII. 361
The view which has really prevailed
in the Christian Church,
is
that which refers the Psalm directly and exclusively to Christ.
The
author by no means regrets that he adopted this view in
the
Christology. It was the easiest and the most natural of
those
which were then before the world, to which his atten-
tion
was more immediately directed; and he would not even
now
hesitate for one moment to adopt it, were he limited to
making
a choice among these, as he supposed he was,—having
as
yet advanced but a little way on an independent footing into
the
depths of the Old Testament. In addition to the views
already
mentioned, there was still another, held by Calvin,
Melancthon,
Amyrald, and others, and advocated in modern
times
by Stier and Umbreit,—the typical-Messianic. David,
it
is maintained, according to this hypothesis, in crying to the
Lord
on the ground of a particular case of distress, transfers,
elevated
by the spirit of Messianic prophecy, his own being
into
the extreme sufferings of the hoped-for Messiah, and
speaks
as the present type of the coming Deliverer. Although
the
author acknowledges that in this attempt justice is done to
those
considerations which may be pleaded in favour of oppos-
ing
expositions, yet he cannot but regard it as an unsuccessful
attempt
at reconciliation. Such a view of the way in which
the
Psalm was produced, appears to him as psychologically alto-
gether
inconceivable. How David could extend his own con-
sciousness
to that of his offspring, is conceivable enough; but
without
a destruction of the life of the soul, we cannot conceive
of
an hesitation and vacillation between one's own and another's
personality.
Meantime, the direct and exclusive
reference of the Psalm to
Christ,
presents such difficulties, that one cannot feel perfectly
satisfied
with it, but is inwardly forced to look round for some
other
interpretation, which may content the exegetical conscience.
We
cannot, without violence, suppose the Messiah to be intro-
duced
speaking, without any
characterization whatever of His per-
son,—compare,
for example, our remarks on the 16th Psalm.
The
Psalm, moreover, is so nearly related to a number of others,
which
have the sufferings of the righteous one
generally for their
subject,
that it appears very difficult to break its connection
with
them, and to isolate it too much. Finally, what is said, in
the
second part, of the consequences of the deliverance of the
sufferer,
is undoubtedly far too grand to allow of its application
362 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
to
any one Israelitish individual, and far too personal to allow
of
its application directly and exclusively to the people; and,
on
the other hand, the exegetical sense cannot reconcile itself to
set
aside all other realizations of the idea, that
nothing more pro-
motes the glory of God,
that nothing more powerfully tends to
awaken and move the
spirits of men to serve Him, than the deliver-
ance of suffering
righteousness,
whether these realizations be in the
experience
of individuals, or in that of the Church at large, and
to
confine all to the one realization of the idea in Christ. The
mighty
influence, for example, which the almost miraculous de-
liverance
of David from the hand of Saul must have had in
quickening
the fear of God,—the events also which are recorded
in
Ex. xviii. 19, "And Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness which
the
Lord had done to
hand
of the Egyptians; and Jethro said, Blessed be the Lord,
who
hath delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians: now
know
I that the Lord is greater than all gods," —in 2 Chron.
xxxii.
23, "And many (after the Lord had glorified Himself in
the
deliverance of righteous Hezekiah from his enemies) brought
gifts
unto the Lord to
of
henceforth,"--and
those in Dan. iii. 28,—come so obviously
within
the domain of the second part, that one can scarcely rest
satisfied
with any interpretation which places them altogether out
of
connection with it.
While all existing interpretations
are thus encumbered with
serious
difficulties, we make our escape at once, and completely,
from
the region of embarrassment and constraint, if we consider
the
Psalm as referring to the ideal person of
the Righteous One,--
a
character which is introduced more frequently throughout the
Psalms
than any other, so that nothing but ignorance can raise
against
this interpretation the reproach of arbitrariness. In this
interpretation,
justice is done to that truth which lies at the
foundation
of every one of the existing views, while, at the same
time,
the difficulties which stand in the way of every one of these
are
avoided. On this view, the case stands as follows: "David
composed
this poem for the use of the Church, like most of his
other
productions, on the ground-work of his own experience,
which,
in this respect, had from the beginning been so peculiarly
rich.
How the righteous man in this world of sin must suffer
much;
and how the Lord, when it comes to the last extremity,
PSALM XXII. 363
gloriously
delivers him; and how his sufferings, through the
manifestation
of the Divine glory in his deliverance and in his
victory
over an ungodly world, subserve the honour of God and
the
sanctifying of His name, and accelerate the approach of His
kingdom—this
is the theme. Every particular righteous
man
might
appropriate to himself the consolation of this Psalm—might
expect,
in his own experience, the realization of the hopes ex-
pressed
in it, in so far as the reality in him corresponded to the
idea,—in
so far as he embodied in his own person the ideal
righteous
man. In like manner also might the community of
the
righteous, the people of the covenant, in all public troubles,
draw
from it comfort, — the confident assurance, that the ex-
tremity
of trouble must at the same time be the turning-point,
and
that the seed of tears must produce a rich harvest in the
way
of advancing the
retained,
on the whole, till the coming of Christ, the character
of
an unfulfilled prophecy. According to the proportion of
righteousness
was the proportion of deliverance, and of blessed
results
for the
pointed
forward to a perfect one yet to come. By those in whom
hope
in the Messiah was in general a living one, this could be
expected
only in Him. The most perfect righteousness belongs
so
necessarily to the idea of the Messiah, that it could not be
present
to the mind without the most distinct recognition thereof.
Now,
in this Psalm we find righteousness represented as neces-
sarily
connected with the severest and deepest suffering, spring-
ing
out of the natural enmity of the ungodly world. Conse-
quently,
the inference is clear, that the Messiah, if a righteous,
must
also be a suffering one. And, further, as here we find
connected
suffering righteousness and such exalted deliverance,
we
infer that this salvation in the highest and fullest sense must
be
the lot of him who should be the first to realize in perfection
the
idea of suffering righteousness. Lastly, as the glory of God
will
be in proportion to the salvation vouchsafed, it must be in
the
time of the Messiah that this will for the first time appear in
all
its extent and depth, as here described.
That, according to this view,
justice is done to all the refer-
ences
which occur in the New Testament to our Psalm (com-
pare
Matt. xxvii. 39, 43, 46; Mark xv. 34; John xix. 24; Heb.
ii.
11, 12; and on the passage, the Christology, page 176, etc.,
and
besides, also Matt. xxviii. 10, and John xx. 17, where our
364 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
Saviour,
after His resurrection, with a significant reference to
ver.
22, calls His disciples His brethren), is clear as day, and
becomes
particularly obvious, when we direct our attention to the
other
quotations from the Psalms in the history of our Saviour's
sufferings.
Not one of them refers to a Psalm which is of direct
and
exclusive Messianic import. The 69th Psalm, which, next
to
the one now under consideration, is the most remarkable,
contains
features which will not apply to Christ (the strong
prominence,
for example, given to the sinfulness
of the sufferer),
and
which exclude the idea that our Lord and His Apostles have
given
it a direct and exclusive Messianic interpretation. Still,
it
is necessary to observe, that the providence of God so ordered
the
circumstances, that the inward conformity of the sufferer of
our
Psalm to Christ should become outwardly manifest. The
Psalm
would have been fulfilled in Christ, even although the
passers-by
had not shaken the head, or the mockers quoted its
very
words; even although there had been no dividing of His
garments
or casting lots upon His vestures. But the striking
resemblance
in these particular circumstances must be considered
as
an index, pointing to the hidden, inward resemblance. The
same
object subserved by this secret guidance of Divine provi-
dence,
Christ also had in view, when He borrowed His first ex-
clamation
on the cross from the commencement of the Psalm,
and
referred in His last words to its closing sentence; thereby
impressively
intimating, that the whole Psalm was now being
fulfilled.
The question may very naturally be
asked, What is it that
has
brought such honour to our Psalm (which even Strauss,
though
without a good intention, has entitled the programme
of
the crucifixion of
Christ)
what is it that has led to its being ex-
alted
above so many similar Psalms by which it is surrounded,
—Psalms
which celebrate the contest of the righteous in this
world
of sin, and the deliverance which the Lord vouchsafes to
them,
and are consequently, also, indirect prophecies of Christ;
inasmuch
as every suffering that fell to the lot of a righteous
man
because of his righteousness, and every deliverance which
a
righteous man obtained because of his righteousness, was pre-
significant
of Him? To this question a threefold answer may
be
given. First, as has been suggested by Umbreit: "Among
the
many Psalms which speak of the persecutions of the right-
eous
by their enemies, there is not one other Psalm which so
PSALM XXII. 365
expressively
and powerfully collects together, and concentrates
in
one individual figure, the accumulated pains and tortures of
the
sufferers in the contest with an ungodly world." Second,
those
Psalms which originally refer to one particular individual
sufferer,
stand one degree more remote from direct application
to
the Messiah than this one, which does not first require a sepa-
ration
of the idea from the individual. In like manner, the re-
ference
to the Messiah is less prominent in those Psalms in
which
the righteous man is introduced speaking, but with a
reference
to his own failings and weaknesses. Of these no
mention
whatever is made in this Psalm. Lastly, in no Psalm
are
the consequences which flow from the deliverance of the
righteous
man painted in such prominent and comprehensive
colours
as they are here.
Title.
To the chief musician—on the hind of the dawn of the
morning—a choice Psalm
of David.
The expression, rHwh
tlyx lf,
has
been very variously interpreted. The simple remark, however,
that
hlyx, wherever it occurs,
always signifies a hind, and that
it
would be perfectly arbitrary to give it any other interpreta-
tion
here, so decidedly sets aside a whole host of expositions,
that
it is unnecessary even to quote them. The interpretation
of
rHw is in like manner ascertained:
all expositions which do
not
translate it by the dawn of the morning,
must at once be
thrown
aside. Those who keep by the ascertained sense of the
words,
are generally of opinion that these words are either the
beginning
of a song, or a passage from one, the tune of which
is
to be sung to this Psalm: like, "The hind of the morning."
These
again are divided, as to whether the expression must be
understood
as denoting literally a hind, or (according to Ge-
senius
in the Thes.) as a poetical phrase for the rising sun.
This
last interpretation is without any analogy in the Hebrew
language;
and has a very insufficient ground to rest on in the
fact
that Arabic poets designate the rising sun "roe;" and a
still
weaker support in the fact that the Talmud uses the term,
"the
hind of the dawn of the morning," which, however, is not
original,
but has obviously flown from the passage before us.
This
whole exposition, however, has this against it, that there
is
not one single ascertained case, in which a poem, the tune of
which
is to be sung to the Psalm, is quoted in the title. Only
in
a case of utmost necessity, therefore, could we come to the
resolution
of adopting such an interpretation. Especially, be-
366 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
fore
adopting it, would it be necessary for us to investigate
whether
it be not possible to interpret the words as designative
of
the subject of the Psalm. On a close examination of simi-
lar
dark and enigmatical superscriptions, especially of such as
are
introduced with lf, it almost always
appears that they de-
mand
such an interpretation. More especially in those Psalms
of
which David is the author, such a reference is one which
might
a priori be expected, as David was
particularly fond of
indicating,
by such enigmatical superscriptions, the contents
and
object of his Psalms. It cannot be denied that the hind
is
a very appropriate emblem of the suffering and persecuted
righteous
man who meets us in the Psalm. On the one hand,
the
stag, or the hind and the roe, are frequently employed as
emblematical
of one persecuted or put to death. For example,
2
Sam. i. 19, David himself says of Jonathan, "The roe, 0
makes
the following remark, "comparator Jonathan cum caprea
a
venatoribus confossa:" Prov. vi. 5, "Deliver thyself as a roe
from
the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of
the
fowler," Isa. xiii. 14. And, on the other hand, the hind and
the
roe are used as emblems of loveliness, Gen. xlix. 21; Prov.
v.
19; Song of Sol. ii. 7, 9, viii. 14; and by the Arabians as
emblems
of innocence, especially on the persecuted. In Meid-
ani
(Freytag, Th. 1, N. 148), there occurs the proverb, "eum
invadat
malum, non dorcadem," him—not an
innocent or a right-
eous person: and Ferazadak (in
Freytag on the passage) says,
on
receiving intelligence of the death of one of his enemies:
"dico
ei, cum ejus mors mihi nunciata esset ei non dorcadi
albae
in arenarum tumulo (accidat)." There is the less reason
for
hesitating as to this interpretation, if we remember that
David,
in other places, draws from the animal creation emblems
of
the sufferers and the persecuted: 1 Sam. xxvii. 20, "The
king
of
a
partridge on the mountains;" xxiv. 15, "After whom is the
king
of
After
a dead dog, after a flea?" and, in the title to the 56th
Psalm,
"on the dumb dove among the strangers," which bears
a
remarkable analogy to the passage before us. The reasons
already
adduced show, that it is at least exceedingly probable
that
the hind may be a figurative expression significant of suf-
fering
innocence. And it is put beyond doubt by the fact, that
PSALM XXII. 367
the
wicked and the persecutors in this Psalm, to
the peculiar
physiognomy of which
belong emblems drawn from the brute crea-
tion, are designated by the
terms dogs, lions, bulls, and buf-
faloes.
In the title of such a Psalm, we might, a
priori, ex-
pect
to find such a description of the sufferer as should corre-
spond
to that of the persecutors, especially as no such appellation
occurs
in the body of the Psalm. A special argument in favour of
this
interpretation is furnished by the term ytvlyx, my strength,
ver.
19,—a word which occurs nowhere else in Scripture, and
which
seems to have been formed by the Psalmist for the sake
of
the allusion to the title. The hlyx
(hind) has its name from
strength,
but it lacks the substance: — a creature without
strength,
it is the natural prey of dogs, lions, buffaloes. But
the
strength which it has not in itself it has in the Lord, who
must
hasten to the help of the weak. On every other inter-
pretation,
the reference of tvlyx to tlyx which is so manifest,
remains
unexplained. Finally, this reference shows at the same
time
that the title came from the pen of the author of the
Psalm,
and goes far to establish the originality generally of the
titles.
We are led to the same result by the manifest connec-
tion
between tlyx, and the expression ylx, ylx,
properly, my
Strong One, at the very opening of
the Psalm, and also by the
circumstance
that the symbolical designation of the sufferer in
the
title exactly corresponds to those of his enemies in the
Psalm
itself. All these references are so fine and significant,
that
they can have proceeded only from the author himself.
Hitherto
we have been discussing only the term "hind," and
have
left its adjunct, "the dawn of the morning," out of sight.
The
generality of those who consider the title as indicating the
contents
of the Psalm, trace the connection which the hind has
with
the morning dawn to its being early
hunted. But this re-
ference
is too remote to admit of its being intended by such a
short
expression. The only legitimate exposition is that which
is
grounded on the general figurative use of the morning dawn.
That
the morning dawn is used in a figurative sense, we are
entitled
to expect from the analogy of the hind. Now, the
common
idea conveyed by the figurative use of the morning
dawn,
is that of "prosperity coming after misfortunes." Hence
in
Isa. lviii. 8, "Then shall thy light break forth as the morn-
ing;"
10, "Then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy dark-
ness
be as the noon day:" Isa. xlvii 11, "There shall evil come
368 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
upon
thee, the morning whereof thou shalt not know;" viii. 20.
Hos.
vi. 3, x. 15. 2 Sam. xxiii. 4. The expression will thus
indicate
the prosperous termination of the sufferer's condition:
the suffering righteous
man to whom salvation is imparted,—a
title
as suitable, as exactly corresponding to the contents, as
can
well be conceived. The fact so carefully brought forward
by
the Evangelists, that Christ rose at the day-dawn,—a cir-
cumstance
by no means unimportant,—points to the expression,
“of
the morning.”
The first division of the first part
begins, in the 1st and 2nd
verses,
with the complaining question, and the interrogative
complaint,
"My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?"
In
grounding this complaint, it is shown first, vers. 3-8, that
God
is acting towards the sufferer, whom He is giving over to
destruction,
in a very different manner from the way in which
He
had manifested Himself, in all time past, in the experience
of
His people; and then, vers. 9 and 10, that God is as really
the
God of the sufferer as He had been theirs. To this de-
tail
the prayer is next appended, ver. 11, that God would remove
the
anomaly thus demonstrated to exist, that He would not be
far
from the sufferer, that He would not forsake him.
Ver. 1. My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me, far
from my deliverance, far
from the words of my groaning? In
the
first clause everything depends upon defining the idea of
forsaking. This term can here
signify nothing less than an en-
tire
and complete giving up. For the trial is completely at an
end,
as soon as God reveals to the sufferer that now his suffer-
ings
shall have an end. As soon as he can say, "Thou hast
heard
me," he sees that everything is right. The trial also
does
not consist in temporary suffering, considered as such—
this
the sufferer knows that he must lay his account with—but
in
the supposition that he has been given up by God altogether,
and
for ever. Hence therefore the cry,” Thou hast forsaken
me,"
does not refer to an actual fact, but
rests on a conclusion
which
the sufferer draws from his apparently thoroughly despe-
rate
condition, and upon the feeling of his
flesh, which cries,
that
now, when there is but a "hair between him and death,"
everything
is utterly lost. To get free from this conclusion
and
this feeling, is the work that devolves on the sufferer.
After
he has honestly done his part, and taken living hold of
those
truths which render the forsaking altogether impossible,
PSALM XXII. VER. 1. 369
he
receives from God the only answer which can be given to
his
complaint, "Why hast Thou forsaken me?" "I have not
forsaken
thee, notwithstanding appearances and feeling." From
this
exposition, it is evident that these words, so far from being
expressive
of despair, are rather destined to counteract despair,
to
tear it up by the roots, when it is like to steal over us. From
it,
also, it is evident that the idea of the Berleb. Bible, that
these
words are strictly suitable only in the lips of Christ, is
altogether
erroneous. "Among us," it is there said, "no
man
may, in his suffering, ask God why hast Thou sent this
or
that affliction? for we shall at all times find sufficient rea-
son
why we have deserved this, and much more. All that
a
suffering man can say is, 0 my, God
forsake me not." The
sufferer
before us does not ask why God, in general, allows
him
to suffer, but why He has forsaken
him. To this why,
every
one has a right, who can in truth call God his God, not-
withstanding
his manifold failings. For "God has forsaken no
one
who trusts in Him at all times," and God can forsake no such
one. In short, the
expression, forsake me not, which
alone, it would
appear,
is admissible, is not essentially different from the excla-
mation,
Why hast Thou forsaken me, and must
rest on precisely
the
same ground. He only who can ask God, "Wherefore
hast
Thou
forsaken me?" can pray with confident assurance, "For-
sake
me not."—The previous appellation, My
God, my God, con-
tains
the ground of the wherefore, the
right to put such a question.
He
who cannot call God his God, he who is without the covenant
and
without the promises, he who has obtained no pledges of
the
grace of God, may be justly forsaken: he has no ground to
implore
of God, that He would show by the result that the de-
sertion
is altogether a matter of appearance and feeling. Nay
more,
the greater the right any one has to call God his God, the
greater
is the confidence and decision with which he can utter
the
why. Thus it is evident that the most
complete right to the
why is reserved for one, viz. Christ, who, in the full
sense, can call
God
His God; at the same time, a sufficient
right belongs also
to
all believers. The emphatic repetition
of the expression, My
God, shows how firmly the
sufferer clings to this his only ground
of
hope, how thoroughly conscious he is that it is here that he
is
to find an antidote to despair, that it is from this point that
there
must go forth a reaction against present appearances. The
expression,
My God, occurring three times, here
and in ver. 2,
370 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
is
assuredly not accidental.—The following remarks are Lu-
ther's:
"Wherefore, let us shut up these words in our hearts,
and
let us keep them carefully there, till the proper time comes
when
we shall need them. Whoever cannot comprehend them,
let
him remain with the people on the plain, in the field below,
and
allow the disciples to go to Christ to the mountain. Luke
vi.
12, 17. For, not all the sayings of this Psalm are uttered
to
each and every man, since all have not the same gifts, and all
have
not the same sufferings. The Scriptures, according to the
circumstances
of individuals, have milk for sucklings, and wine
and
food for the strong; so that there is consolation not only for
the
weak, but also for the strong and for those who are enduring
great
sufferings."—The second clause most interpreters, after
the
example of the Septuagint and Luther (I
cry, but my help
is far), translate: "far
from my deliverance are the words of
my
lamentation:" there is a great gulf between the cry for help,
and
the help itself, which, now that matters
are at the very last
extremity with the
sufferer—now
that he stands with one foot in
the
grave,—ought to stand in close contact with each other.
Others
translate: "far from my help, from the words of my
lamentation."
This translation is undoubtedly to be preferred.
Were
we to refer qvHr to yrbd, the plural would be
required; and,
what
is still more decisive, the reference of qvHr to God is ren-
dered
necessary by the expression qHrt lx
in the 11th and 19th
verses.
The cry in these verses, "be not far," grows out of the
address
here, "Thou art far," after
that the impossibility of his
continuing
longer in existence had been shown. God is far from
the
deliverance which He does not work out, and from the corn-
plaint
which He does not hear. This is all the more painful,
that
the time for deliverance is just expiring, and that the man
from
whom the complaint proceeds, is at the very gates of death;
so
that not to help now—not to hear now— appears to be to give
up
altogether. We may not, however, adopt the view of most
of
those who follow this exposition, and translate, "Thou art far."
This
would require the pronoun: qvHr
is in apposition to the pro-
noun
in yntbzf. The term hgxw signifies primarily,
"roaring," or
"bellowing,"
and secondarily, "loud complaining."
Ver. 2. My God, I cry in the day time, and Thou answerest
not; and in the night
time, and I am not silent. Substantially,
the
"why" is to be supplied here also. To be able to call God
his
God, and, in extreme distress, to cry continually without
PSALM XXII. VER.
3. 371
being
heard, is a striking contradiction, which imperiously calls
for
removal by God's at length hearing. The last words are
translated
by many, and I have no rest. But the
term hymvd al-
ways
signifies "silence;" and this, translation is particularly
necessary
here, in consequence of the opposition between the
term
and the "cry" of the first clause. The sufferer can be
silent
when his cry finds an answer, when he gets assurance of
being
heard and helped: so that thus I am not
silent is exactly
parallel
to Thou answerest not.
Ver. 3. And Thou art holy, sitting enthroned on
There
is no reason for substituting and yet in room of the simple
and
ascertained and. The contrast between
the supposed reality
and
the idea—between the apparent personal and the general
experience—is
not here indicated in relation to the first and
second
verses, but is drawn for the first time in vers. 6-8 in re-
lation
to the contents of vers. 3-5. The import is: that I may
lay
down a further basis on which I rest my right to utter the
complaint,
"Why hast Thou forsaken me?"--Thou
art holy, and
hast always taken an
interest in Thine own people, hast never for-
saken any one of them;
but I appear to be altogether forsaken by
Thee. For Thou takest no
interest in me, although I am now
sunk to the very depth
of misery.—The
idea of holiness in Scrip-
ture,
embraces in it the idea meant to be conveyed by theologians
when
they define the term to be, "the highest purity in God
demanding
the same purity on the part of the creature." This
is
evident from the command, "Be ye holy, for I am holy;" and
Isa.
vi. 5, where the thrice repeated "holy" of the seraphims
awakens
in the prophet a consciousness of his own impurity.
But
the two ideas are by no means identical: the scriptural one
is
much more comprehensive than the other. Holiness in the
Scriptures
comprehends majesty, as well as holiness in the limited
sense.
God is holy, inasmuch as He is separated from every
created
and finite being, and lifted above them, particularly above
sin,
which can establish its seat only within the domain of finite
beings.
The opinion of Gesenius (Thes.) and of Nitzsch (Sys.
77),
who would identify the scriptural with the theological sense,
is
negatived by the very passage, the sixth chapter of Isaiah,
which
shows above all others, that the Divine holiness forms also
a
contrast to human sinfulness. There, the thrice repeated cry
of
"holy" is immediately followed up by the expression, intended
to
form its foundation, "the whole earth is full of His glory;"
372 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
and
is accompanied by the description of the prophet, "seated
on
a throne, high, and lifted up," and "mine eyes have seen the
King,
the Lord, the Lord of hosts." In like manner, also, we
have
in Isa. lvii. 15, the holiness of God placed in juxtaposition
with
"high," and "lifted up," and in contrast to, "of a
contrite
and
humble spirit:" "Thus saith the high and lofty One, that
inhabiteth
eternity, whose name is Holy, I dwell in the high and
holy
place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit."
In
Isa. xl. 25 and 26, we find the "holiness" of God brought
into
connection with His power, as displayed in the creation of
the
world, in a way which is inapplicable on the theological view:
"To
whom will ye liken Me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy
One:
lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created
these
things:" to whom will ye compare
Me, who am lifted up
above
all created and finite beings, as their Creator, from whom
I
am separated? In Hab. iii. 3, the holiness of God stands in
connection
with His glory and His praise. "God came from
Teman,
and the Holy One from
the
heavens, and the earth was full of His praise." In the 99th
Psalm,
the holiness of God, into which His whole praise is re-
solved,
separates Him not only from sin, but from everything
earthly
and human. In the third verse, it is parallel to, "great
and
terrible" (xrvn). With the latter of
these terms it stands
also
in intimate connection in Ps. cxi. 9, "holy and reverend
(xrvn) is His name." The
signification of purity, then, so far from
being
the only one of wvdq, cannot be considered
even as the
fundamental
one. Nothing can be said in favour of this; for
the
remarks made by Gesenius, for the purpose of proving that
the
fundamental idea of wvdq is that of physical
purity, rest on
a
mistaken view of the symbolical character of the precepts, in
reference
to the outward purity required by the law:—and that
the
idea implied in wvdq in such passages is
that of holiness, and
not
that of outward purity, is evident simply from the motive
appended
to the exhortation, "Be ye holy, for God is holy."
On
the other hand, the position for which we are arguing is
confirmed
by the circumstance, that wvdq
is much more frequently
used
with a general reference to the distance between God and
all
created beings, than to the distance specially between Him
and
sin—a circumstance which does not admit of explanation,
on
the supposition that the theological sense is the fundamental
one.—In
so far as the term is used in reference to God, those
PSALM XXII. VER. 4. 373
explanations
are altogether to be rejected which imply the idea
of
God separating Himself from all other nations, and conse-
crating
Himself as the God of Israel, or (Menken and Stier)
as
one who condescends in self-denying love.—Even in the
passage
before us, wvdq stands in opposition,
not only to what is
sinful,
but also generally to whatever is created, earthly, human.
It
indicates that, in reference to God, every thought of inability
or
unwillingness, where He has promised, as proceeding from un-
faithfulness,
must be excluded. God has always manifested Him-
self
as holy, inasmuch as He has delivered His people through the
mighty
deeds of His right hand, has maintained His covenant, and
has
gloriously fulfilled His promises. He shines like a clear bright
sun,
unsullied by the spots of weakness or falsehood of the human
race,
which is wholly covered over with these spots, and presents
points
of light only where it is illuminated by this sun. That the
holiness
of God here undoubtedly comprehends His faithfulness,
is
obvious from the expression, "His righteousness," in the 31st
verse.—In
the second clause, the praise-songs
of
notice,
in so far as God, in proving Himself to be the Holy One,
has
given ample occasion to praise Him.
There is, in all pro-
bability,
an allusion to the frequent expression, Mybvrkh bwvy; at
least,
on comparing this it becomes evident that the praises of
of
God: enthroned on the praise-songs.
The exposition of De
Wette
is unsuitable: "Inhabitant of the praises." bwy does not
signify
to inhabit, but only to sit, to dwell, to be enthroned.
Gesenius
regards bwvy as used in a transitive
sense—and dwell-
ing
among the praise-songs of
the
praises of
an
accusative. Of the three passages which Gesenius adduces
for
this construction, in the first, Gen. iv. 20, it is not admissible,
and
in the other two, Is. xlii. 11 and xliv. 13, it is not necessary.
Ver. 4. Our fathers trusted in Thee; they trusted, and Thou
deliveredst them. Ver. 5. They cried to Thee, and were de-
livered; they trusted in
Thee, and were not put to shame.
Luther
remarks: "These words look very like as if they were
spoken
out of envy and vehement indignation against God.
For
although He is the same God, yet He has heard and de-
livered
the fathers who have hoped in Him and cried to Him,
but
from this sufferer here, who also hopes and cries, He turns
away,
and forsakes him. For it is really a hard matter, and
374 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
one
which tempts a person sorely to despair and to blaspheme,
that
the same God should act differently towards one from
what
He does to another, without any fault on his part. Who-
ever
has been engaged in such a contest has felt such unutter-
able
distress in his mind." Assuredly, the pain of the sufferer
must
be greatly augmented by the isolation of his condition, so
soon
as he decidedly concludes himself to be entirely forsaken.
But
this is not the case with our sufferer. Although appear-
ances
and his own feelings say that he is forsaken, yet, even
from
the beginning, faith is in the background, and by and
by
it gains a complete victory over sight and sense. What at
the
first glance strengthens the complaint,
becomes, when more
deeply
pondered, the transition to hope: for
whoever is fully
persuaded
that God has at all times, and without any exception,
manifested
Himself as the Holy One, the deliverer of His
people,
cannot but come gradually to know that there must be
a
mistake as to the assumed single exception. The expression,
"Thou
art the Holy One," is a corroding element, which must
by
and by entirely consume the other, "Thou hast forsaken,
me."—The
deeds of the Lord, to which the speaker refers, are
peculiarly
those which took place when the Israelites were de-
livered
from
land.
The expression, our fathers, of which
the natural coun-
terpart
is, "we, their posterity, Thy present people," would
seem
to lead to the conclusion, that the speaker is not an indi-
vidual,
but a personified community. At least, in all similar
passages,
it is not an individual, but the
introduced
complaining of the difference between the present
and
the past, praying for its removal, and grounding hope for
the
future on the early deliverances vouchsafed by the Lord
to
His people: comp., for example, Ps. xliv. 2, "0 God, we
have
heard with our ears, our fathers have told us what Thou
hast
done in their days, in the days of old;" and also Ps.
lxxviii.
12, etc.; Isa. lxiii. 7, etc.; Hab. iii. 1. Still the refer-
ence
to the community of the righteous is designedly of the
most
indistinct character, in order that the individual suffering
righteous
man also may appropriate to himself the contents of
these
verses.—The repetition of vhFb
in the second clause of
the
4th verse, is intended to bind together, as inseparably as
possible,
the trust and the deliverance, and to show that there is
the
most intimate connection between them; that trust is always
PSALM XXII. VERS. 6,
7. 375
succeeded
by deliverance. The occurrence of the expression
three times is assuredly not
accidental.—Stier refers vwvb to the
being
confounded before the world, to the disgrace before the
ungodly,
which is more painful than any disappointment of
one's
own. But there is no reason for making this special
reference;
for wvb is constantly used in
the sense of, to be
ashamed,
to be disappointed of one's hope.
Ver. 6. But I am a worm, and no man, a reproach of men,
and one despised of the
people.
All that is brought forward in
this
and the two following verses, appears evidently designed
to
produce the impression, that the sufferer is entirely forsaken
by
God; and it is only in this view that it is here brought for-
ward.
It is not suffering in itself, but the deepest and appa-
rently
irremediable depth of suffering that is placed in opposition
to
the deliverance of the fathers. The term yknxv is expressive
of
emphatic contrast—"it is altogether otherwise with me: I
am
a worm, etc." Man is compared to a worm in Job xxv. 6,
on
account of the nothingness of his existence. The worm in
the
passage before us, as in Isa. xli. 13, serves to designate
nothingness
within nothingness, "Fear not, thou worm Jacob."
The
passage, 1 Sam. xxv. 15, is analogous, where David de-
scribes
himself as a dead dog, or as a flea. To the clause, and
no man, corresponds Mywiyxi ldaHE. in Isa. liii. 3,
literally, "ceasing
from
among men, no longer belonging to them." The term, a
reproach of men, properly, of the human race, indicates that the
domain
of the reproach is so extensive, that the whole human
race
may be said to reproach. One despised of
the people, is
one
despised by the people. The people
stands in opposition to
one
individual. The reproach is not that of an individual, it is
of
a popular character. The reproach and the contempt are
brought
under our notice, not so much in themselves, as in
reference
to the ground on which they rest,—the deep misery
of
the sufferer, whose condition is such that it is reckoned by
all
men as altogether desperate.
Ver. 7. All who see me laugh me to scorn: they open wide
the lips, they shake the
head.
The b in hpWb indicates that the
lip
is the instrument of the opening. A parallel passage, Ps.
xxxv.
21, "They open their mouth wide against me," and Job
xvi.
10. Instead of "they shake the head," the later com-
mentators,
after the example of Lackemacher, whose renderings
are
always somewhat suspicious, have, "they nod the head;"
376 THE BOOK OF PSALMS
adducing
as the reason, that it is not the shaking of the head,
which
is a gesture of denial, that is here suitable, but the nod-
ding
of the head, which is a gesture of assent, and in the face
of
the sufferer a gesture of satisfaction. But this exposition is
etymologically
inadmissible: the word fynh is altogether identical
with
our shake; and to shake the head is exactly the import of
wxr
fynh, the phrase
which occurs in quite a similar connection,
and
also of kinei?n th>n kefalh>n of the Septuagint and of Mat-
thew.
And the reason above adduced for departing from the
only
correct rendering in an etymological point a view, is at
once
set aside by the remark, that the denial does not here refer
to
the suffering, but to the existence of the sufferer. This they
deny
him, on the ground of his irremediable misery. The idea
is
this: They shake the head, in connection especially with what
follows,
where they declare his condition to be completely des-
perate,
and him to be wholly forsaken of God. This connec-
tion
is all the more significant, that what follows, from the
omission
of the rmxl, is clearly seen to be
a mere commentary
on
the gesture: after saying by pantomime, it
is all over with
him, they say it by words.
Ver. 8. "'Devolve upon the Lord' (he has said), Now let
Him rescue him, let Him
deliver him, since He has delight in
him." The reproach and
contempt grounded on the great depth
of
the sufferer's misery, and illustrative of it,—the whole world
has
given him over for lost,—we have intimated to us in general
in
ver. 6th; in ver. 7th, we have its expression by gestures, and
in
the verse before us, in words. How
sure the mockers are of
the
destruction of the sufferer,—how completely impossible it
appears
to them, that God should deliver him, —is evident in
the
clearest manner from this, that they express, in the form of
a
wish, what, if it should really happen, would be in the highest
degree
fatal to them. Had they entertained a single thought
of
deliverance, they never would have uttered the expression,
"Let
Him deliver him." lg is, according to many,
an infinitive.
Some
understand it as used in the sense of an imperative,—Let
him trust in the Lord. But this is
inadmissible; for, in such a
case,
the absolute form lOlGA
must have
been used: comp. Ewald,
Sm.
Gr. 355, 56. The infinitive, moreover, is not simply and
everywhere
used for the imperative; and there is no reason
here
for the substitution. Finally, let him
commit, is altogether
unsuitable
to the connection; for hvhy
lx lg must
correspond to
PSALM XXII. VER. 8. 377
vb
CpH, and
can therefore refer only to the relation in which the
sufferer
has hitherto stood to God, not to that which he is now to
do.
According to others, the infinitive is used instead of the
Preterite
tense. But in this case, also, the absolute form would
be
necessary: moreover, the infinitive cannot be used generally
for
the Preterite, but only in certain cases (see Ew. 355), of
which
the passage before us is not one. Those who, in conse-
quence
of these difficulties, give up the form of the infinitive
altogether,
either like Ewald change lGo
into lGa or take it as a
Preterite
with an intransitive sense, indicated by the tone of
the
voice, he depended. But this
alteration is altogether an
arbitrary
one; there is no trace anywhere of the form in the
Preterite,
and there is not one single example of the verb being
used
in an intransitive sense. Besides, the Preterite is unsuit-
able
to the parallel: vb
CpH would,
in that case, refer to the
sufferer,
not to God: he has trusted in God; let
Him deliver him,
let Him rescue him,
since He loves him.
But that this will not
answer,
will be shown immediately.—The form lGo is, in other
passages,
always used as an imperative. Comp. Prov. xvi. 9,
and
Ps. xxxvii. 5. And this last passage
makes it evident that
it
must be understood as such in the passage before us. But
we
must not on this account suppose, with Gesenius, that the
imperative
is used here in the third person: devolvat,
which
does
not exist. "Devolve upon the Lord," had been the motto
of
the sufferer. This the mockers call out to the sufferer in an
ironical
manner, so that we must read the words with double
marks
of quotation. As the ungodly are introduced speaking,
without
any note of preparation, it can make no difficulty that
they
introduce the sufferer speaking in the same way. "Trust
in God is his motto; now let
this God deliver him." The "he
has
trusted,"—the "pe<poiqen" of the
Septuagint, and of Mat-
thew
(ch.xxvii.43) after the Septuagint, —is contained, according
to
this exposition, in the words. To the "devolve" is, accord-
ing
to Prov. xvi. 3, Ps. xxxvii. 5, and 1 Pet. v. 7, to be sup-
plied,
"thy way," "thy circumstances," "thy cares," or
some-
thing
similar. The idea is taken from those who lay a burden
on
the shoulders of others, which is too heavy for them to bear
themselves.—The
subject in vb CpH is the Lord, not the
sufferer,
as
was seen by the Septuagint, o!ti qe<lei au]to<n, and by Matt.,
ei] qe<lei au]to<n. vb CpH is frequently used of the complacency
with
which the Lord regards His people: hvhyb CpH nowhere
378 THE BOOK OF PSALMS
occurs.
This exposition is also demanded by the
ninth verse.
Trust
on the part of man, and delight on the part of God, cor-
respond:
the conviction of being the object of delight to God,
is
the ground of the confidence;—it is because the righteous
man
knows that God delights in him, that he commits to Him
all
his cares. The mockers see in the condition of the sufferer
(considering
it as they do as utterly hopeless) an unqualified
reproach
of his confidence—a practical denial of his conviction
of
being delighted in by God.—Finally, the mockers here,
without
intending it, bear testimony, and a testimony of all
others
the most beautiful, to the righteous man, that he has
comforted
himself in the grace of God, that he has cast him-
self,
with his whole existence, upon God; and thus the insult-
ing
words, "Let Him rescue him, let Him deliver him," although,
in
their view, deliverance, in the circumstances of the case, is
altogether
impossible, contain an undesigned prophecy. God
ordained
it so, that the mockers at the cross of Christ, from an
unconscious
recollection, should utter these very words, and
thus
characterize themselves as the ungodly in relation to the
righteous
one.
Ver. 9. But Thou didst take me out of my mother's womb, Thou
didst permit me to trust
when on my mother's breasts. The suf-
ferer
had hitherto, while complaining of its being altogether
anomalous that God should forsake
him, silently taken it for
granted, that he stood in quite
the same relation toward God as
those
who had been gladdened by deliverances vouchsafed by
God.
What had hitherto been taken for granted, is here, and
in
the 10th verse, expressly asserted and defended: God is the
God
of the sufferer, as He has been the God of the fathers,—He
has
already shown Himself as such in his helpless infancy,—He
has
given him good ground for exercising that confidence which
is
always followed by deliverance. Thus every other answer to the
complaint,
Why hast Thou forsaken me? is cut off
except this,
I have not forsaken thee: and full preparation
is made for the
prayer,
ver. 11, Be not far from me. The
verse before us is in
point
of form an appendage to the last clause of the preceding
one,
"He has delight in him:" this is true; for Thou, 0 God,
hast
given me the richest proofs of Thy
delight. This connec-
tion
is all the more suitable, when we observe that the mockers
took,
"He has pleasure in him," out of the lips of the sufferer,
and
spoke it out of his soul: What they in
contempt upbraid me
PSALM. XXII. VER.
9. 379
with, I have with
perfect truth asserted; for Thou, etc. It appears
at
first sight remarkable, that the righteous man, in advancing
proof
for the position that God is his God, should give such
prominence
to what is common to all. Still this difficulty loses
much
of its weight through the remark of Calvin: "This wonder
has,
through its frequency, become common; but if it were not
that
ingratitude had blinded our eyes, every birth would fill us
with
amazement, and every preservation of a child in its tender
infancy,
exposed as it is, even at its very entrance into the world,
to
death in a hundred forms." The following passage from
Luther
is of a similar import: "Augustine, in the first book of
his
Confessions, finds great enjoyment and consolation in similar
reflections,
where he praises God with devout admiration for his
creation
and birth, and extols the Divine goodness in taking him
up,
and committing him to the care and attention of his mother.
Although
thoughts such as these may appear childish, effemi-
nate,
and unseasonable, for those who are in such pain and con-
flicts,
yet experience here teaches us to remember these tender,
cheerful,
lovely works of God, to seek a place of refuge when
suffering
the hard bites of the wrath and of the rod of God, and
to
enjoy the sweet and pleasant milk of our mother's heart, and
all
these other acts of mercy which were shown during the years
of
infancy. Thus shall we, when brought into trouble, be led
to
think (as we are commanded to do) on the days of happi-
ness
gone by: when distress and suffering are upon us, we shall
remember
the great grace and goodness of God manifested to us
in
early youth; and when we suffer as men, we shall reflect on
what
we enjoyed when children. . . . Try, and you will then
understand
what it is to see the Divine majesty employed and
taken
up with childish, that is, with small, insignificant, yea
contemptible
works." If any difficulty is felt after this, it may
be
removed by the assumption, that while the words were de-
signed
to suit the individual who peculiarly appropriated this
Psalm,
the Psalmist had primarily before his mind
the community
of the righteous, and on this account
gave peculiar prominence
to
the grace of God manifested at the beginning of its existence,
because
then (that is, at the deliverance from
grace
was most gloriously manifested. Still we cannot go fur-
ther;
we cannot apply the verses directly and exclusively to the
Church,
because their tone is so individual, that the individual
reference
cannot be given up. This also is evident, as was seen
380 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
in
the introduction, from the passage, 22-26.—The term
difficult.
The still obscurer expression yviOG,
in the borrowed
passage,
Ps. lxxi. 6, gives us no assistance. It cannot be the
participle,
"my drawer forth;" for Hvg signifies always, and even
in
Micah iv. 10, to break forth: this
form of the participle, more-
over,
is always intransitive; Ewald, § 140. We must, therefore,
just
consider yHg as the
infinitive,—"my breaking forth."
God
may
be called "the breaking forth,"
because it was by His power
alone
this took place, just as He is in other places called the
covenant,
the salvation, the blessing, the joy, etc., because all
these
depend-on Him. yHyFbm refers back to vHFb in vers. 4 and
5:—to
make or permit to trust, is to give ground to trust, to
warrant
to do so; and this God had done to the sufferer, fly
protecting
him in his early youth. Now, whoever is entitled to
trust, and it does not depend
on whether a man is yet capable of
trusting,
is also entitled to help. For trust
and help have al-
ways,
in times past, been inseparably connected.
Ver. 10. Upon Thee was I cast from my mother's womb, from
my mother's lap Thou
wast my God.
In the first of these clauses,
there
lies at the bottom a reference to those who receive the
child
at the birth. Compare Gen. xvi. 2, Job iii. 12, "Why
did
the knees receive me?" and Ruth iv. 16. The clause may
be
thus paraphrased: "Thou hast received me when I was help-
less
under Thy mild protection; I fell as it were into Thy lap,
which
was stretched out to receive me at my birth; and from
having
been fostered and cared for by Thee, I have retained my
life,
whereas, otherwise, I should most assuredly have been the
prey
of death:" compare, in reference to the whole Church,
Ezek.
xvi. 5. The word ytklwh is wholly passive; and the
exposi-
tion
of De Wette is altogether inaccurate, "I have trusted in
thee;"
and Stier remarks, "Some such thing is indicated as the
old
theologians ascribed to children in baptism." Here, as in
the
remaining portions of these two verses, the Psalmist does not
speak
of the state of feeling of the sufferer, but of the mercy of
God
actually manifested in deeds towards him. The clause,
Thou art my God, is equivalent to,
"Thou has manifested Thyself
as
such." The first part of this Psalm thus returns at its close
to
the point at which it opened,—My God, my
God. The
sufferer's
right to use this address, and consequently to put the
question
following upon it, Why hast Thou forsaken
me? has its
foundation
assigned to it in the two closing verses. Thus it is
PSALM XXII. VERS. 11-14. 381
that
every other answer to this question is cut off except this one,
I have not forsaken
thee.
Ver. 11. Be not far from me, for trouble is near, because there
is no helper. From the demonstration
given in the first part,
that
the forsaking would be completely anomalous, flows here
the
prayer, "Be not far;" in laying down the basis of which it
is
shown, that to be far away at such a time would be the same
thing
as entirely to forsake. The prayer has its basis assigned
it
here in the very short expression, for
trouble is near. This is
much
more accurately explained by Luther than by most modern
expositors:
"We are not to understand, that when the Psalmist
says,
Trouble is near, he has any reference to time,
as if it were
now
in his neighbourhood, and would fall suddenly upon him;
but
we are to understand him as speaking of the strength, the
might,
and the power of the trouble which, even now,
is upon
him,
and concerning which he complains that it is not taken
away."
That thus the expression, "trouble is near" (the suf-
ferer
says Trouble is near, instead of, It is there, on account of
the
contrast of the distance of the Lord), is only to be under-
stood
of a trouble which had already been really inflicted, is evi-
dent
from the expression which contains its reason, "for there
is
no helper;" i. e., for I have been delivered over in a state of
helplessness
into the power of my enemies (the man with whom
this
is the case must assuredly find himself in the midst of the
very
deepest trouble): vers. 12-18 are to be considered as a
further
development of the same thought.
Ver. 12. Many bulls surround me, the strong ones of
encompass me. In applying the term
bulls to his enemies, the
Psalmist
has an eye to their strength and fury. In "the bulls
of
both
characteristics are brought vividly before us: first, be-
cause
of their excellent pasture; the second, because they fed on
mountains
and in forests, and were consequently further removed
from
men, and more untamed in their habits.
Ver. 13. They open their mouth wide against me,--a tearing
and roaring lion. The enemies are not
only like lions, they are
a
lion, or lions themselves, in a spiritual sense. The lion roars
chiefly
when he looks at his prey, and is about to fall upon it.
Compare
Amos iii. 4; Ps. civ. 21.
Ver. 14. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are
separated; my heart has
become like wax, melted in the midst of
382 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
me. The sufferer turns now
from describing his outward trou-
ble
(in the 12th and 13th verses), to lay open in this and the
15th
verse his consequent inward state, which in like manner
loudly
proclaims, that now to be far away would mean utterly to
forsake.
"The picture of inward dissolution sketched here in
a
few strokes," remarks Ewald, "is a very terrible one." The
poured-out
water is here, according to the parallel clause, "my
bones
are separated," not descriptive of fear or-dejection, but of
the
most complete dissolution of all strength and of powerless-
ness.
The parallel passages, therefore, are such as Ps. lviii: 8;
2
Sam. xiv. 14, "For we die, and are like water poured out --
on
the earth;" and especially 1 Sam. vii. 6, where the idea is .
embodied
in a symbolical action,—the Israelites, when oppressed
by
the Philistines, assembled at Mizpah, drew water and poured
it
out before the Lord, and cried out to Him by symbolical signs,
"We
are poured out like water." Passages such as the follow-
ing
are not parallel: Jos. vii. 5, "And the heart of the people
melted,
and became like water;" or Lam. ii. 19. The reference
in
them is chiefly to the heart, and they are rather to be con-
sidered
as parallel to the last clause of the verse before us. As
emblematical
of moral helplessness or mental imbecility, the
figure
occurs in Gen. xlix. 4, "Unstable as water, thou shalt not
excel."—"All
my bones are separated," implies, in like manner,
complete
powerlessness and exhaustion. Muis: non secus vacillat
totem
corpus quam si omnia ossa luxata sint et a suis quaeque
avulsa
locis. Compare Dan. v. 6. — The heart
melts, when a
person
sinks into despair when in extreme, irremediable distress.
Luther:
"Those who have good hope, and are cheerful, are said
to
have a fresh, strong, confident, hard, good heart, which stands
immovable
like a hard rock. And thus also, on the other hand,
those
who are cast down and terrified, are said to have a soft
and
feeble heart, which dissolves and melts like wax." Such
melting
sometimes befalls even those who, like David, have the
heart
of a lion. Compare 2 Sam. vii. 10.
Ver. 15. My strength is dried up like a potsherd: and my
tongue cleaves to the
roof of my mouth: and Thou layest me in the
dust of death. As Hk always signifies strength, and cannot be
translated
moisture, the wby must be understood as
used in an
improper
sense: my power is entirely wasted away like the
moisture
out of a dried potsherd. There are other instances of
similar
abrupt comparisons: Ps. cii. 4, "My heart is smitten
PSALM XXII. VER.
16. 383
and
withered like grass;" i. e., is as much destroyed as withered
grass
is.—The cleaving of the tongue to the roof of the mouth
is
the consequence of pain and anguish;—compare Job xxix. 10.
Luther:
"It is incredible how this inward anguish, and terror,
and
dismay, withers and dries up completely and suddenly the
whole
moisture of all the parts of the body, and makes them
weak
and good for nothing, especially the moisture of the tongue,
in
which we chiefly feel this thirst and drought." On the ac-
cusative
yHvqlm compare Ewald, p.
588.—In reference to the last
clause,
Luther remarks, "This he adjoins as the sum and final
conclusion."
rpfl, taken strictly,
signifies not, "into the dust,"
but,
"so that I belong to the dust." The dust of death is the
dust
which stands in relation to death, that is, the dust of the
grave.
The Future is used in the sense of the Present—the
sufferer
is already more dead than alive. Everything that
belongs
peculiarly to life has already disappeared—all vital
spirits,
all vital strength,—so that when what is commonly called
death
comes, which the sufferer sees immediately before his
eyes,
it finds scarcely anything left for it to take. The expres-
sion,
"Thou bringest me," is
deserving of observation. The suf-
ferer
considers everything only as an instrument in the hands
of
God. Hence, on the one hand, his pain was augmented;
but
hence, also, there was laid the necessary foundation for his
hope.
He who cannot trace his sufferings to God alone, cannot
with
a full heart look to Him for deliverance. He only who
sends
it can remove it; and He must remove it in cases similar
to
the present one, even when all prospect of deliverance appears
to
be gone. Calvin: "As often as this darkness befalls the
spirits
of believers, there are always some remains of unbelief,
which
prevent them from rising into the light of the new life.
But
in the case of Christ, there were united in a wonderful
manner
both terror from the curse of God, and patience from
faith,
so quieting all inward movements, that they were kept at
rest
under the rule of God."
Ver. 16. For dogs compass me, the band of the wicked besets
me, like lions on, my
hands and feet.
The sufferer calls his ene-
mies
here dogs, on account of their fury and bitterness. Com-
pare
on the savage ferocity of Eastern dogs, Oedmann's Collec-
tions,
5, p. 31, 2, and Laborde's Geographical Commentary on
Exodus
and Numbers, p. 59.—The first word of the last clause
is
read differently: yrixEKA
(in the
received text), yrex;;KA, UrxEKA
384 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
UrKA. If we pay regard to
external evidence, there can be no
doubt
that yrixEKA is the true reading;
and it would be to abandon
everything
like certainty in criticism, and along with this, criti-
cism
itself, were we to reject this reading, and to substitute in-
stead
of it, with Ewald, the reading UrxEKA.
The external evidence
for
the other readings is as good as nothing. vrxk is found only
in
two unmspected Jewish manuscripts: vrk not even in one at
first
hand, and only in a few cases written on the margin. The
received
text, besides having on its side the whole weight of the
MSS.,
is also supported by the Masora. None of the old trans-
lators
are against it, for, without following any other reading, they
might,
like many of the later expositors, explain yrxk in the sense
expressed
by them; and even although, in some few instances,
yrxk may not have lain at
the foundation of the translation, this
would
not imply that there was a different reading, but only a
conjectural
emendation, caused by the difficulty felt in interpret-
ing
the word in the text. Assuredly, if the old translators had
found
airy variety in the text, some traces of it would have re-
mained
in their translations. Further, though the reasons of
an
external kind were equally balanced on both sides, considera-
tions
of an internal nature would lead us to decide in favour of
the
received text. For it is from the more difficult reading that
the
others may be conceived to have arisen, and not the con-
trary.—In
regard to the explanation of yrxk, thus determined to
be
the true reading, most interpreters proceed on the supposition
that
it is the plural of a participle, the rare plural-form instead
of
Myrxk, from the root rvk. The participle is properly rKA, but
there
are other examples of the insertion of an x
(see Gesenius'
Lehrg.
p. 401). If we adopt this view as to the form, which for
a
time was the almost universally prevailing one, we must still
attach
weight to all the points adverted to in the Christol. I. i.
p.
180: we can neither translate it "they fetter," as was usually
done
at the time of the publication of the Christology, nor "they
disfigure,"
but only "they pierce," after the example of the
Septuagint,
the Vulgate, and the Syriac. It is also obvious, that
if
we adopt this view, the words must have a special reference
to
Christ, for the piercing of hands and feet here is nowhere
else
alluded to; and the idea of Gesenius, that the hands and
feet
may poetically denote the whole body, is altogether unten-
able.
What was brought forward in the Christology to prove,
that
not only Christ's hands, but also His feet, were literally
PSALM XXII. VER. 16. 385
pierced,
has been presented more in detail by Bahr, in a paper
specially
devoted to this purpose, and in a defence of the same
against
the objections of Paulus, which appeared in Tholuck's
Literary
Anzeiger for 1833. But we must not forget
that the
supposition that yrxk is a plural participle,
which was commonly
entertained at the date
of the publication of the Christology, is en-
compassed by so many
difficulties, that it can be adopted only at
the very last extremity. When three
irregularities occur in the
same
word, as in the present instance,--1st, The use of the plural
form
in y, which at the best is
extremely rare, and indeed occurs
only
in one other at all certain instance; 2d, The participial
form
with x; and 3d, The use of rvk in the sense of hrk,—they
acquire
a force, when united, very different from what they would
have
if they occurred apart. Besides, let it be remarked, these
words,
according to this interpretation, have a special reference to
Christ;
whereas, on the grounds adduced in the introduction, it
is
evident that the Psalm has reference to Him only as embody-
ing
the perfect idea of the righteous
man,—a supposition which
would
render unsuitable anything having reference exclusively
to
Christ. Last of all, had the New Testament writers ap-
proved
of the correctness of this interpretation, which was put
into
their hands by the current translation of the Septuagint,
w@rucan xei?ra<j mou kai>
po<daj mou,—so
eagerly laid hold of by all
the
Christian fathers,—how comes it that they should not have
pointed
to the fulfilment of this very characteristic feature in
Christ,
and that, when they obviously had this Psalm before
their
eyes throughout their whole narrative of Christ's sufferings,
they
should have quoted what assuredly was not so character-
istically
and individually fulfilled in Him? So far are they, how-
ever,
from applying this clause to Christ, that they do not ex-
pressly
mention the piercing of His feet at all. Thus this view
can
be adopted only in the very last extremity; and this is not
the
case here. There is another view which
can be suggested, in
which every anomaly of
form disappears, without introducing any
impropriety in regard to
the sense.
The k is the particle of com-
parison:
the yrx is the same as hyrx, a lion. The yrxk, written
exactly
as it is here, occurs in the sense of lion-like in Is. xxxviii.
13.
The Masoretic remark is not of so much importance as that
we
need to give the yrxk here a different sense from the yrxk
there,
any more than the Keris of the Masora, which, through-
out,
are obviously false. The ylgrv
ydy is the
accusative, so often
386 THE BOOK OP PSALMS.
used
in defining more accurately any part or member of the
body
to which more special reference is made (comp. Ewald,
512)—thus:
"They beset me, lion-like, as to hands and feet."
The
mention of lions cannot but be
regarded here as extremely
natural,
as emblems drawn from the brute creation are used
throughout
the whole Psalm; as the enemies have already been
represented
in the 13th verse, under the emblem of a tearing
and
roaring lion; as the sufferer, the poor defenceless hind,
prays
in the 21st verse, "Deliver from the mouth of the lion;"
and
finally, as the connection between the lions
here and the
dogs,
introduced in the first clause of the verse before us, is
exceedingly
appropriate. The objections urged against this
interpretation,—an
interpretation which Luther recognised as
decidedly
required by the grammar, but which, as he most un-
accountably
thought, must give way to the theology of the
case,—are
only of importance in so far as they show in what
way
the old translations, the Masora, and a few Hebrew manu-
scripts,
were induced to give up the true interpretation or reading,
and
thus prove that they cannot be regarded as having any
authority
whatever. It is said that to surround
will not apply
to
lions, who spring upon their prey. But the surrounding is
not
here attributed to lions, but to the band of evil-doers; and
the
point of comparison between them and the lion is not the
surrounding,
but their wild fury. It is further
objected, that
the
singular, "like a lion," is not at all appropriate. But this
objection
can be urged as of force, only on the supposition that
the
point of comparison is, "the
surrounding." Except on this
supposition,
the singular is as suitable here as it is in ver. 13 and
ver.
21; and the fact that the singular is used in both these
passages,
tends very much to give our interpretation more of an
appearance
of certainty:—compare also the singular blk in ver.
20.
Besides, the expression is not, "as
a lion," but, "as the
lion."
The
Kametz shows that the word has the article:— otherwise it
would
have had Patach;—compare Ewald, 464. The term,
"the
lion," indicates the species, and must be viewed as re-
ferring
not to the number, but to the disposition and nature.
Further,
that the ylgrv ydy, as there is already an
accusative in
ynvpyqh, requires another verb,
or renders an extraordinary ellipsis
necessary,
could be maintained only before the relative form of
the
accusative had been sufficiently examined. Last of all,
"hands and feet," are by no means
superfluous. The hands are
PSALM XXII. VERS. 17,
18 387
the
instruments of defence, the feet the means of escape.—my
furious foes have so
beset me, that I can stir neither hand nor foot.
These
are the objections of Stier. Ewald remarks that the figure
of
lions is not at all appropriate in this connection, for it is
only
the shamelessness that is intended to be depicted. But this
objection
is wholly futile. It is not the shamelessness,
but the
wild fury, that is the point of
resemblance iii the comparison of
dogs.
The designation of the enemies as "evil-doers," and the
connection
of this verse with the two preceding ones—assigning
as
it does, the cause of the effect described in them—show that
we
have to do in this case with coarse ill-treatment.
Ver. 17. I count all my bones; these men look, they stare at
me. The furious enemies
have already stripped the sufferer
doomed
to death, and feed their eyes on the sad spectacle of his
complete
emaciation, —a sight which fills him with pain. rpsx
is
generally rendered, "I could count." Against this tame
rendering we have the analogy of vFyby and vxry—I count, they
look,—and of the other
Futures both preceding and following.
The
sufferer, sunk in pain at his complete emaciation, counts the
bones
of his naked body, every one of which attracts involuntary
painful
attention: here one and there one, and all wanting flesh
from
the first to the last, every one of them. Job xxxiii. 21 is
parallel.
Of the enemies it is said: first,
that they are spectators
of
a miserable sight, from which every feeling man would turn
away
and shut his eyes, feeling his soul pierced by the sight of
such
suffering in a brother; and next, that they look upon
this
sight, not only with rude unconcern, but even with inward
joy. The hxr with b,
signifies to look at anything to which one
has
a strong inclination, in which one has delight.
Ver. 18. They part my garments among them, and on my ves-
ture they cast the lot. Clothing is the
necessary condition of
life;
without clothes no man can be seen in public. When
one's
clothes are taken away, and, what is worse, disposed of,
that
person, if he is not dead, must be considered as destined to
a
certain and speedy death. The sufferer, in this view, in con-
cluding
the description of his distress, and when on the very
threshold
of his prayer, declares that he is
now at the very last
stage,—that
his enemies are even ready to give him the last
stroke,
now that he is, apart from this, more dead than alive.—
It
is impossible here to think of the custom of spoiling enemies,
for
the distress throughout the Psalm is not of a warlike charac-
388
THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
ter:—the
sufferer is completely helpless, his situation corre-
sponding
entirely to that of Christ. Moreover, it is a slain
enemy,
not a living one, that is spoiled. Neither may we render
the
clause: "they will divide my clothes among them," or, "they
already
think of doing it." For, vqlHy
and vlypy, like the pre-
ceding
verbs, must refer to what is going on in the present.
The
idea of nakedness is indeed implied in the preceding verse
also.
We have not only, "I count all my bones," but, "they
look,
they stare at me," i.e. "they enjoy themselves in looking
at
one disfigured to a skeleton." The connection would be
broken
were we to refer the looking only to distress in general.
Lastly,
we cannot suppose that a figurative
expression is here
used;
so much, however, is true, that this trait, like the rest of the
description,
has an individual character, as is
indeed involved in
the
fact, that the Psalm refers to the ideal person of the Righteous
One. The situation of such
a one, with death immediately be-
fore
him, might have been described also by other expressions.
—How
exactly the whole contents of this verse were fulfilled
in
Christ, is rendered very clear if we keep in view an obser-
vation
which Luther, manifestly with good reason, makes on
the
dividing of the clothes: "I hold that the soldiers did not
divide
the clothes from need, or for gain, but in the way of jest,
and
for the purpose of enjoying a laugh, and as
a sign that it
was now all over with
this Christ,
that he was utterly ruined, de-
stroyed,
extirpated, and never more to be heard of."— Mydgb is,
“clothes,”
in general; wvbl is specially the
principal article of
dress,
the long robe, without which the person is altogether naked.
There
is thus a gradation in the clauses: compare Job xxiv.
7-10;
Ps. xxxv. 13; Es. iv. 2; John xix. 23,24.
The sufferer had shown, first, that
it would be completely
anomalous
if God intended to forsake him; second, that for
God
not to help him at present would be to forsake
him; and
now
the prayer breaks forth with full power, vers. 19-21, that
God
would help him now, which, towards its conclusion, passes
into
the confident expectation of being heard.
Ver. 19. And Thou, 0 Lord, be not far from me; 0 my strength,
make haste to my help. Stier well remarks
that ytvlyx looks very
like
as if it were an etymological explanation of the ylx in the
commencement
of the Psalm. The reference to the tlyx of the
title
has been already pointed out. The expression, make haste to
help me, refers us back to the
eleventh verse, there is none to help.
PSALM XXII. VERS. 20, 21. 389
Ver. 20. Deliver my soul from the sword, my lonely person
from the power of the
dog.
Calvin: "Should any one ask, How
can
this apply to Christ, seeing the Father did not deliver Him
from
death? I answer, in one word, He was more mightily
delivered
than if the danger had been averted, just as much
more
so, as to raise from the dead is a mightier act than to heal
from
sickness. Wherefore the death of Christ did not prevent
his
resurrection from testifying that He was delivered." His
death
might well be called no death, but a simple passage to
life.—The
sword is an individualizing designation of what-
ever
is an instrument of death. Compare 2 Sam. xi. 25, and
ver.
24. The dym cannot, from what
follows, from the mouth,
from the horns,—be with propriety
considered as equivalent to
the
simple Nm; the Psalmist is here
speaking of dogs who have
hands.
On ytdyHy Luther remarks:
"He wishes to say, ‘My
soul
is alone and forsaken by everybody; there is no one who
inquires
after it, cares for it, or comforts it.'" In like manner,
at
Ps. cxlii. ver. 5, he says, "Look on the right hand; see, there
no
one will know me: I cannot escape; no one cares for my soul."
Most
interpreters, like Gesenius, consider the sufferer as saying
that
he has only one life to lose. But the view given above by
Luther
is to be preferred, because, according to it, the word is a
succinct
description of the condition given in the preceding verses,
and
because of the parallel passages, Ps. xxv. 16, xxxv. 17, lxviii.
7.
The other idea does not occur in any similar passage.
Ver. 21. Deliver me from the lion's mouth, and from the horns
of the buffalo,— Thou
Nearest me.
Luther: "The rage of the
furious
devil is so great, that the prophet does not consider it
enough
to have represented it by a sharp sword, but introduces
further,
for the same purpose, the tearings of raging furious
dogs,
the mouth of the greedy and hungry lion, which stands
already
open, and is ready to devour, and the dreadfully fierce
wrath
of the raging terrible unicorn (buffalo)." hnf, is here used
pregnantly,
and involves the idea of deliverance. There can be
no
grammatical objection made to the common rendering, "hear
me." When the
preceding verbs are imperative or optative, the
succeeding
ones are very frequently simply descriptive. But, on
the
other side, and in favour of the word being considered as an
expression
of the confidence of being heard, is
the circumstance
of
its standing at the end of the prayer; that which follows,
also,
implying necessarily that something must have been pre-
390 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
viously
said expressive of confidence, and, lastly, the reference
to
hnft xl of verse second, are of
considerable weight. To the
word,
Thou hearest me not, there,
correspond here, at the close of
the
conflict, the words, Thou dost hear me.
In a prayer of this
kind,
which rests on a foundation such as that on which the
sufferer
builds, the transition to confidence is a very easy one.
"In
such a Lord, come, there is always a
tacit, Here, Son!"
We
may consider Mymr
ynrqm and yntynf as separated by a small
pause.
The sufferer had, 0 do Thou save me,
upon his tongue;
but
then he receives the assurance of being heard, and hence
the
desire for deliverance is suddenly transformed into assured
confidence:
and from the horns of the buffalo--Thou hast heard
me.
Having thus become assured of his
deliverance, the sufferer
next
paints the happy consequences which were to flow from it.
First,
from ver. 22-ver. 26, in regard to
Ver. 22. I will make known Thy name to my brethren: in the
midst of the assembly I
will praise Thee.
The name is the focus
in
which all the rays of the acts converge, so that, to make known
the
name of the Lord, especially in a situation defined by the
preceding
description, is to make known what He has done. The
address
in the 23d verse shows whom we are to understand by -
the
brethren: they are the whole posterity of
liverance
vouchsafed, is important not only to the sufferer, and
perhaps
to a few of his friends; —all his brethren, the whole
people
of the covenant (compare our fathers,
ver. 4), shall par-
ticipate
in it, and shall be led by means of it to see the glory of
God.
We find the heathen, in ver. 27,
opposed to the brethren.
The
false seed exclude themselves from
sharing in this blessing.
The
assembly is not a small circle of
friends, but consists of all
the
brethren of the sufferer—the whole seed of
"the
whole assembly of
xxxi.
30. But this assembly, which also is meant in all parallel
passages,
Ps. xxv. 18, xl. 10, xlix. 1, is here in a twofold
sense
an ideal one. First, every public
assembly in the temple
was
considered as an ideal assembly of the whole people, inas-
much
as, though from accidental causes all the members could
not
really be present in person, those present represented the
whole
people. Compare 2 Chron. xx. 3-15: "And
Jehoshaphat
proclaimed
a fast over all Judah: and all
pray
to the Lord: and Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of
PSALM XXII. VER. 23. 391
of
the Lord came upon Jehaziel in the midst of the assembly,
and
he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jeru-
parallel
passages, the Psalmist considered a literal assembly of
the
people to be necessary to realize the idea meant to be con-
veyed.
It is unlikely that every one who should obtain de-
liverance
could have an opportunity, in the public assemblies
for
the worship of God, of praising aloud the delivering grace
of
God. The kernel is only this, that the grace imparted to an
individual
member of the Church might tend to the good of the
whole. The form in which the
salvation was brought by the indi-
vidual
before the whole Church, is an accidental circumstance
of
minor importance. The Psalmist here makes choice of that
form
which is most vivid, and has in it most of a poetical charac-
ter,
without, in reality, intending it more
than the others,—that
form,
for example, in which the Lord fulfilled the contents of
the
passage before us. He selected, namely, a solemn assembly
of
the whole people in the sanctuary, and the delivered sufferer
glorifying
God, and singing praise in the midst thereof.—The
observation
of De Wette is altogether incorrect: "We are to
consider
the brethren, the assembly, as sharing the same lot with
the
poet" (the righteous one). There is no trace of this in what
follows.
The salvation vouchsafed to the single individual ex-
tends
in so far to all, whether they be in the same situation or
not,
as the glory of God is reflected in it, advancement in the
knowledge
of which is salutary and quickening to all.
There follow, in the 23d and 24th
verses, the words in which
the
sufferer, now delivered, intends to make known the name of
God,
and to praise Him in the midst of the assembly.
Ver. 23. Ye who fear the Lord, praise Him; all ye of the
seed of Jacob, glorify
Him; and be afraid before Him, all ye of
the seed of
begin
with, ye who fear God. He thereby
intimates that he has
to
do, not with the seed of Jacob as such, with those who are
united
together only by a carnal bond, but with those whose souls
are
animated by one common spiritual principle. In point of
form,
the address is directed to the whole assembly. Those who
are
not of the Church, though they are in the Church, are over-
looked.
As intruders, they are ignored; as such, they are, how-
ever,
sufficiently indicated even in the words, ye
who fear God.
392 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
The
"praise," the "glorify," and the "be afraid,"
especially
the
last, show evidently that the delivered sufferer had to do
not
merely with those who are in a situation similar to his own.
To
those he would have cried out before everything else, Put
your trust in Him. The "be ye
afraid," shows that He who is
great
in grace must also be as great in wrath, against those who
despise.
God is as omnipotent in all aspects as He is in one.
Ver. 24. For He did not despise nor abhor the affliction of
the afflicted, neither
did He hide His face from him; and
when he cried to Him, He
heard.
Luther: “This makes God
exceedingly
lovely, so that all the godly love Him, and must
praise
Him, that His eyes alone see and are turned upon the
afflicted
and the poor; and the more despised and rejected a
man
is, so much the more is God near and gracious to him.
As
if he said, 'See and learn from my example: I, who
have
been the most despised and rejected of all men, have
been
regarded, cared for, and heard in the most friendly man-
ner.'”
tvnf, is explained erroneously, by the old
translators, by
prayer.
Ver. 25. Of Thee shall my praise be heard in the great con-
gregation; I will pay my
vows before them that fear Him. Of
Thee
is my praise:—not, Thou hast given me occasion to
praise;
but, Thou art the subject of my praise. Calvin:
"David
canendi argumentum ex deo petit." According to the
connection
and the parallel, the speaker does not describe what
God
has done to him, but how he will thank
God, what blessed
consequences,
as regards the cause of God, will flow from his
deliverance.
The my praise refers back to the
praises of
in
ver. 3. The grating discord, caused by the groanings of the
sufferer
being heard mingling with the praises of
at an end.—In the second clause,
and in the following verse,,
which
is intimately connected with it, the representation is of
a
figurative kind. It was customary, in circumstances of great
distress,
to make vows, which were wont to
consist of a promise
to
offer a certain number of sacrifices.
After deliverance had
been
obtained, it was customary to invite to the feast connected
therewith,
the widow, the orphan, and the poor (comp. Deut.
xii.
18, xvi. 11). They thus became partakers of the salva-
tion,
which, in point of fact, was never imparted to the indivi-
dual
merely for himself; and thus also they were sharers of his
joy.
In such cases, the enjoyment throughout was not merely
PSALM XXII. VERS. 26, 27. 393
of
a sensual kind; the guests tasted at the same time how
good
is the Lord. The soul of the feast was admission into the
community
of thanks and blessing. And hence, in the passage
before
us, when the gratitude of the delivered sufferer expresses
itself
under the emblem of paying a vow—the
usual expression
of
gratitude,—it is exceedingly natural that others should be
invited
to share in the blessing and the thanksgiving, under
the
image of a great sacrificial-feast given by him, in which
all
that fear God take part.—Hoffmann denies that the idea of
a
feast is at all implied in the passage. He interprets the pay-
ing
of the vows as expressing nothing more than the giving of
thanks.
But the vow always refers to something outward—
never
to mere feelings or words: Throughout, the usual kind
of
vows are offerings: compare Lev. vii. 16 ; and especially
Ps.
lxvi. 12-15: Michaelis on the Law of Moses, Part iii.
p.
145. In Ps. 1. 14, lxi. 9, to which Hoffmann appeals, there
is
such a figurative representation. That by the vow here we
are
to understand literally promised thank-offerings, which are
substantially
identical with thanksgiving and praise—for the
sacrifice
is altogether a symbol, as in Hos. xiv. 3; Heb. xiii. 15,
and
other passages,—is evident from, they
shall eat, in the fol-
lowing
verse; compare also vlkx
ver. 29.
Ver. 26. The meek shall eat and be satisfied; praise the Lord
shall they that seek
Him: may your heart live for ever. The may
live includes within it, shall live, and expresses, that this is
agreeable
to the wishes of the speaker. The heart dies
in
trouble,
care, pain (Ps. cix. 22; 1 Sam. xxv. 37), and especi-
ally
when it has become perplexed in regard to God. The for
ever
forms the opposition to the transitory life, or brief quicken-
ing,
which any inferior manifestation of God would give. He
has
here made Himself known in such a
glorious manner, that
whoever
has incorporated into his soul this
His manifestation,
will
henceforward stand in need of no other spiritual food, but
is
strengthened by it for ever.
From
Ver. 27. All the ends of the earth shall ponder and turn to
the Lord; all the tribes
of the heathen shall worship before Thee.
rkz very frequently
signifies, not, "to remember," but, "to
ponder,"
"to lay to heart." The object
of this pondering is in
reality
identical with the object of the eating in vers. 26 and
29—the
thanks and the praise of the righteous man for the
394 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
glorious
deliverance wrought out for him; and hence, indirectly,
with
the deliverance itself: compare vtqdc in ver. 31. The sal-
vation
of the Lord is so great, that it awakens the whole heathen
world
out of its stupid insensibility. Hoffmann refers vrkzy to
Jehovah:
they
will think upon Jehovah. But this exposition
proceeds
only from the attempt to make the conversion of the
heathen
independent of the deliverance of the speaker. And
the
circumstance, that this connection is obscured by this inter-
pretation,
is against it. Besides, if we compare with vlkxy of
ver.
26, and vlbx of ver. 29 (to which they worship stands in
the'
same relation as vbvwy here does to vrkzy), rpsy of the 30th
verse,
which also refers to the salvation imparted to the speaker,
and
hWf of the 31st verse, we
shall feel compelled to reject this
exposition,
and that whole view of the Psalm, which requires
such
forced assistance.—In vbvwy it is not at all
implied, as
Umbreit
thinks, that the heathen originally possessed the truth.
bvw means properly,
"to turn oneself away" (here, from idols),
and
the meaning, "to turn back," is a secondary one.—The
second
clause alludes to the promises made to the patriarchs,
and
especially to Gen. xii. 3, xxviii. 14.
Ver. 28. For the kingdom is the Lord's, and He rules among
the heathen. The verse grounds the
announcement given in
the
preceding one, that, at a future time, the heathen shall do
homage
to the Lord, on this, that He alone is the lawful King
of
the earth. To be in reality, and not to be acknowledged,
can
be separated only for a little. The Lord is the King of
the
whole earth, and He must at some future time be acknow-
ledged
as such—a result which will be brought about through
the
manifestation of the Divine glory seen in the deliverance of
the
righteous man. Zech. xiv. 9, or Obad. 21, are not parallel
passages,
but Ps. xcvi. 10, xcvii. 1, and xcix. 1.
The removal of the distinction
between Jews and Gentiles
is
succeeded by the removal of the distinctions of rank, and of
circumstances (ver. 29), and of time (vers. 30, 31).
Ver. 29. All the fat ones of the earth eat and worship, all
who are gone down to the
dust, and those who respited not their
lives shall bow down
before Him.
The image of the feast is
here
resumed. There is, however, a contrast to the ordinary
sacrificial
feasts, to which the poor more
especially are invited.
This
great spiritual feast (and it is proved even by this verse
also
to be a spiritual feast) is not
unworthy of the presence
395 PSALM XXII. VER. 30.
even
of those who live in the greatest abundance: it contains a
costly
viand, which all their plenty cannot give—a viand for
which
even the satisfied still hunger; and, on the other hand,
the
most needy and the most miserable are not excluded. It is
a
feast at which all earthly distinctions are abolished, because
here,
all guests are poor, and here, God is rich for all. The idea,
that
"to eat," may be interpreted by "to worship," does not
merit
a refutation. The words, "they eat," belong substantially
also
to the second clause: the "bow down," corresponding to
the
"worship," is the thanks for the entertainment The ynwd,
from
the adjective NweDA, fat, denotes the satisfied fulness of exist-
ence.
rpf ydrvy is not a general
designation of misery, but spe-
cially
of death, in opposition to MyyH
in the emphatic sense, and
denotes
one who may be said to be dead,
though he has still the
appearance
and the lowest conditions of life. This is clear,
first,
from the reference to the clause of the 15th verse, "Thou
layest
me in the dust of death;" according to which the dust
here
can mean only the dust of the grave, for which rpf is very
often
used: compare the Lexicons. The same person who had
to
complain that he had fallen into the possession of death, be-
comes
now the fountain of life to all who may be in similar cir-
cumstances.
Second, from the parallel, who respited
not their
lives. Third, from comparing
the frequently occurring phrases,
tvm
ydrvy, rvb ydrvy, lvxw ydrvy, which at the same time
show that the
language
does not refer to those who are going down, but to
those
who are already gone down.— The last clause, literally,
who made not alive his
own soul,
is equivalent to, "who could
not
deliver themselves from that death, into whose hands they
had
fallen."
The last barrier that is removed, is
that of time.
Ver. 30. Posterity shall serve Him: it shall be told of the
Lord to the generation. Several interpret: the seed which shall
serve Him shall be
reckoned to the Lord for a generation. But,
according
to this view, the whole is thrown into one sentence,
and
thus the parallelism is destroyed. This interpretation also
is
opposed by the following verse, in which the idea expressed
here
is more fully brought out, viz. that the deliverance shall not,
like
other benefits of inferior moment, be ever forgotten; by
the
correspondence between the abolition of the limits of time
here
announced, of those of nation and rank adverted to in
the
preceding verses; and, lastly, by the reference of rpsy to
396 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
hrpsx in ver. 22. frz, seed,
is defined by its connection with
what
precedes to be, "the posterity," of those there spoken of.
yndxl is properly, in reference to the Lord. The thing to be
made
known, that, viz., which the Lord has done to the righteous
man,
is not more nearly described, because it is sufficiently clear
from
the preceding context. In like manner there is under-
stood,
immediately after "shall serve Him," "because of this
glorious
manifestation." The generation here, is equivalent to,
NvrHx
rvd in Ps.
13, lxxviii. 4. The generation which tells,
is
the present one; and the generation to which it is told, is the
future
one. In like manner, in Ps. lxxi. 18, "the genera-
tion,"
is defined from the connection. rvd
is never used in a
collective sense. That it
indicates here the succeeding genera-
tion,
is evident from ver. 31. The revelation of the Divine
glory
goes forth from the present to the next, and from that
again
to the one which follows it.
Ver. 31. They shall come and make known His righteous-
ness to the people which
then have been born, that He has done it.
The
subject is the seed and the generation of the former verse.
The
succeeding generation will not allow the knowledge com-
mitted
to them to die out. It will, from its excellence, get life
among
them, and from them be handed down again to the next
generation.
They shall come, is, they shall appear on
the theatre
of the world: comp. Ps. lxxi. 18.
The righteousness of God
embraces
His faithfulness to His covenant and to His promises,
which
He has so gloriously manifested in the deliverance of the
righteous
man. There is no reason why we should translate
dlvn
Mf, the people which shall yet be born:
compare on the use
of
the participle for the Future, Ewald, p. 534. The most ob-
vious
interpretation, the people which has been
born at the time
when the future
generation is on the scene, gives a very suitable
sense.
In like manner, xrbn
Mf, in Ps.
cii. 18, is, "the people
which
is then created." We must supply the object from the
preceding
context to the hWf, viz. what has been previously de-
scribed: as was the case with vlbxy in ver. 26, vrkzy in ver. 27,
and
vlkx in ver. 29. It will not
do to suppose that hWf is used
in
an absolute and emphatic sense, He has
acted, i.e. Mani-
fested
Himself gloriously. Whenever it is used in the way in
which
it is in the verse before us, the object always lies con-
cealed
in what had previously been said. The last word of our
Saviour
on the cross, tele<lestai, evidently refers to
this hWf as
PSALM XXIII. 397
His
first exclamation is taken from the beginning of the Psalm:
—of
all proofs of the profound significance of this whole thus
bounded,
this is the surest, giving, at the same time, the key to
the
variously misinterpreted word of our Saviour. According to
this
view, we are to regard the work of God
as that which was
finished. The last moment of
suffering is the first of deliver-
ance;
and the expiring Saviour here indicates that this is now
at
hand; that He has now received an answer, not in words
but
in deed, to the question, Why hast Thou forsaken Me? and
that
the morning dawn now succeeds the dark night. The
Resurrection certifies the
exclamation: It is finished.
PSALM XXIII.
The first verse— The Lord is my shepherd, I want for
nothing—contains the
fundamental thought of the Psalm. This
thought
is merely expanded from ver. 2 to ver. 5: for He affords
delightful
rest to the weary, ver. 2; refreshment to the languid,
and
deliverance to the miserable, ver. 3; protection and defence
in
the midst of danger, ver. 4; food and drink to the hungry
and
thirsty, ver. 5; thus everything which human necessity
requires.
The conclusion returns to the generality of the com-
mencement,
with this difference, that the figure employed there
is
presented in its reality here.
According to the common view, the
goodness of God to-
wards
His people is represented in this Psalm by a double figure:
first,
that of a shepherd (vers. 1-4); and, second, that of the
master
of a household (ver. 5). But this view, which destroys
altogether
the unity of the Psalm, depends only on the gratui-
tous
supposition, that the Psalmist must always speak of the
spiritual
shepherd in terms which have been taken from the
relations
of the temporal shepherd. That the Psalmist paid
very
little attention to any such rule of criticism, but made
a
free use of his figure, is evident from the third verse, which,
on
this view, it would be impossible to explain. But substan-
tially,
if not in form, even the fifth verse praises the shepherd-
faithfulness
of God. It is because He is faithful to His charge
as
a shepherd, that He prepares a table before the Psalmist. In
this
He does in reality nothing more than what a good shepherd
would
do for his irrational sheep. But what is altogether de-
398 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
cisive
against this view, is, that on the idea that the praise of the
good
shepherd terminates at ver. 4, the principal and indispens-
able
feature (John x. 9), that he provides nourishment, is alto-
gether
wanting. And that there is no trace of this in the 2d
verse,
according to the common view, will be evident from our
exposition.
That David is the author of this
Psalm, admits of no doubt;
and
the attempt of Hitzig to attribute it to Jeremiah, will be
always
welcome to those who would characterize his critical
ways.
The Psalm requires, and will bear, no historical exposi-
tion.
The opinions which have been advanced on this subject,
such
as those of J. D. Michaelis, Maurer, and others, that David
composed
it on some occasion when his provisions having be-
come
exhausted, there was sent to him, in the fields, a plentiful
supply
of food, only show how far this predilection for histori-
cal
interpretation may lead. This tendency is rooted in the
ignorance
of its representatives of the things of religion and
the
Church, and in their consequent inability to recognise like
by
like. From the spirit and tone of the Psalm, we should of
course
judge that it was composed at a time when David was
not
disturbed by any sufferings or dangers in his enjoyment of
the
grace of God,—at a time of quiet and quickening, which
he
knew so beautifully to describe. It shows us that David not
only
took God for his refuge in distress, but that, in prosperity
he
did not forget the Giver amidst the gifts, but made these
(as
Calvin expresses it) a ladder by which he might ascend con-
tinually
nearer to God. Some have thought it necessary to re-
ject
even this definition of the position. "Why," says Stier,
"should
he not for once, even in trouble, be thus confident and
quiet?"
But the unanimity with which other expositors of
spiritual
experience express their conviction, that this Psalm was
sung
by David at a time of revival, renders us exceedingly dis-
trustful
of this idea. The expression in the 12th chapter of the
Epistle
to the Hebrews, that no affliction for the present seemeth
to
be joyous but grievous, holds unexceptionably
true. The suf-
ferer
may, even in the midst of severest trials, maintain a cer-
tain
degree of joyful confidence; but for all this, the sun will be
only,
as it were, shining through clouds; the pain and the distress
will
never be looked upon as at so great a distance, will never
be
so completely triumphed over, as they are in the case before
us.—Finally,
the confidence to which expression is here given,
PSALM XXIII. 399
is
not that of a child, is not that of
one who goes forth to meet
the
pains and troubles of life, of which he has had no experi-
ence,
with a clear joy, flowing from consciousness of communion
with
God: it is that of an experienced
combatant, one who has
come
through many troubles, who knows what they mean, and
who
has richly experienced how the Lord comforts in them,
and
delivers out of them. The praise of the rest,
which the
Lord
imparts, lets us see in the Psalmist a weary pilgrim; the
thanksgiving
for refreshment shows us one worn
out; the ex-
pression,
"When I walk through the valley of the shadow of
death,"
etc., brings before us one who had already had experi-
ence
of the dark ways of suffering, and who had yet to walk in
them.
The expressions, in sight of my enemies,
ver. 5, and shall
follow me, ver. 6, show that we
have here to do with one who,
like
David, had fought hard with enemies.
Everywhere, it is not
the
sunburnt shepherd-boy, in the midst of his peaceful lambs,
that
meets us here, but the man David, who had experienced
the
hardships of the days of Saul. And yet it is from the, recol-
lections
of this peaceful season of youth that the figure of the
Good
Shepherd is drawn, which meets us for the first time in
this
Psalm in a full form.
The absence of everything like exact
personal reference ren-
ders
it exceedingly probable that David sung this Psalm, as it
were,
from the soul of every believer; and that he expressed in
it
his own personal joy, with the design
of strengthening his
brethren,
and embodying their feelings in language. The
reference,
made by the Jewish commentators, of the Psalm to
the
whole people, is only to be decidedly
rejected if placed in
opposition to an individual
interpretation. As David undoubt-
edly
designed the Psalm for the public worship of God, the
thought
could not be far distant from his mind, that its con-
tents
must be applicable no less to the whole body of the people
than
to each individual. The whole body of the people is the
less
to be lost sight of, as in all the other passages of the Old
Testament,
the figure of a good shepherd is used in reference
to
the faithfulness which God manifests towards the Church.
It has been frequently maintained
(latterly by Umbreit),
that
the contents of the Psalm, strictly speaking, surpass the
Old
Testament; that they stand especially opposed to the Mosaic
law,
with its jealous God, who visits the sins of the fathers. upon
the
children to the third and fourth generation. This idea,
400 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
however,
is decidedly incorrect. It proceeds altogether from
directing
exclusive attention to God's relationship to sinners as
expressed
in the law, and from not observing the aspect of grace
which
even there He presents. It is in the books of the law
that
God is first represented as the Shepherd of Israel, Gen.
xlviii.
15, xlix. 24; and nowhere do we find such touching proofs
of
the shepherd-care of God as in the lives of the patriarchs.
The
description of the tender care of God for His people, in
Deut.
xxxii. 6-14, forms a remarkable parallel to
the Lord is my
Shepherd: and the care of God
for His people during their jour-
ney
through the wilderness, as detailed
in the law, is described
in
Ps. lxxviii. 52 as that of a faithful shepherd.
Ver. 1. The Lord is my Shepherd, I want for nothing. Of
all
the figures that are applied to God in the Old Testament,
that
of a shepherd is the most beautiful. "The other names,"
says
Luther, "sound somewhat too gloriously and majestically,
and
bring, as it were, an awe and fear with them, when we hear
them
uttered. This is the case when the Scriptures call God
our
Lord, King, Creator. This, however, is not the case with
the
sweet word shepherd. It brings to the
godly, when they
read
it or hear it, as it were, a confidence, a consolation or se-
curity,
like the word father. We cannot
better understand this
consoling
and lovely word, than by going to nature, and learn-
ing
carefully from her what are the dispositions and the proper-
ties
of the sheep, and what the duty, the labour, the care of a
good
shepherd. A sheep can only live through the help, pro-
tection,
and care of its shepherd. As soon as it loses him, it is
exposed
to dangers of every kind, and must perish, for it cannot
help
itself. The reason is, it is a poor, weak, silly creature.
But,
weak creature though it be, it has the habit of keeping
diligently
near its shepherd, of depending upon his help and
protection;
it follows wherever he leads, and, if it can only be
near
him, it cares for nothing, is afraid of no one, but feels se-
cure
and happy, for it wants for nothing." It is to be observed,
that
in both the cases in which the figure of the shepherd is
first
used in Scripture, the speakers, Jacob and David, were led
to
employ it from their own personal experience. Having been
introduced
by them, the figure was made use of by other writers,
who
were not led to make use of it from their own history. This
is
the case particularly with Isaiah (xl. 11), and Ezekiel (xxxiv.
13),
who comforts the poor, dispersed, neglected sheep of Israel,
PSALM XXIII. VER. 1. 401
during
the time of their captivity, by referring to the shepherd-
faithfulness
of God. See also Micah vii. 14, and Ps. lxxx. 2,
and
xcv. 7. It is in obvious reference to these Old Testament
passages
that our Saviour calls Himself the Good Shepherd
(John
x.), and is also so called by the Apostles, 1 Pet. ii. 25,
v.
4; Heb. xiii. 20. All that Jehovah, under the Old Tes-
tament,
does to His own, He does through His Angel and
Mediator;
this is His common aspect to His Church. He—
the
lo<goj—appeared in the flesh in Christ. Hence, whatever in
the
Old Testament was said of Jehovah and His Angel, is imme-
diately
transferred in the New to Christ. See the Christology,
ment,
as regards this subject, is especially laid open in Zech. xi.
and
xiii. 7, where the Angel of the Lord is spoken of as the
Shep-
herd
of
sheep
is mentioned. Compare the Christology on the passage, P.
2.—
Still the question remains, On what foundation does the idea
expressed
in the words, the Lord is my Shepherd,
depend, in so
far
as the Psalm is, in the first instance, the expression of the
feelings
of the author, and of individual believers? The
answer
is this:—The general foundation for
this conviction lies
in
the covenant of God with
true
and living member of the Church is entitled to apply to
himself.
The special foundation lies in personal experience,
such
as that which was enjoyed by David in such abundant
measure.
How often did he experience this shepherd-faithful-
ness
of God! How often did he enjoy from Him quiet, quick-
ening,
protection, and blessings!—It will not do to translate, I
shall not want. The correct
translation is, I want nothing.
This,
among other reasons, is obvious from the use of the Pre-
terite
tnwd
in ver. 5. The development of an idea can give
nothing
except what is contained in the general statement. I
want nothing excludes want generally,
and not merely that of
food:
compare the expansion of the idea, vers. 2-5; rbd trsH xl,
Deut.
ii. 7, thou hast lacked nothing;
Deut. viii. 9, thou wantest
nothing at all in it, to which the Psalmist
appears especially to
allude;
and Ps. xxxiv. 10, they who seek the Lord
shall not want
any good thing. This is evident also
from the concluding verse,
where
the affirmative, goodness and grace
follow me, corresponds
to
the negative here, I want nothing. We
must not, on the
other
hand, extend arbitrarily the sphere of, I
want nothing,
402 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
but
must limit it as directed by the development of the expres-
sion,
in which we read only of the blessings of life, and not of
deliverance
from spiritual needs. We must not forget that the
Psalmist
(ver. 5) sings in presence of his enemies, and, conse-
quently,
that he is congratulating himself only on such good
things
as these designed to deprive him of.
The following is
Luther's
paraphrase: "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall as-
suredly
want nothing. I shall eat and drink, and have abund-
ance
of clothes, food, protection, peace, and necessaries of every
kind
which contribute to the support of life; for I have a rich
Shepherd,
who will not allow me to suffer want. But he speaks
particularly
of spiritual blessings and gifts, which the word of
God
brings," etc. This, on the principles of strict grammatico-
historical
interpretation, is correct only till he comes to say,
"But
he speaks particularly," etc. The theological interpreta-
tion,
however, will in this case undoubtedly break down the
boundaries
which the grammatico-historical has set up. For
the
view to which the Psalmist for a moment confines himself
undoubtedly
implies, that He who has made such abundant
provision
in lower matters, will not suffer any blessings of a
higher
kind to be withheld. Still we must not, like Umbreit,
who
finds at once that the words, I want
nothing, express de-
liverance
from all spiritual troubles, mingle up the results of
the
grammatical interpretation with the theological exposition.
By
so doing, we lose altogether an insight into the train of
thought
and structure of the Psalm, and rob it even of that
practical
power, from a false regard to which it is that such
attempts
are made.—The paraphrase of P. Gerhard forms the
best
commentary on the verse before us. "The Lord, who
rules
all the ends of the earth with His power, the fountain of
eternal
good, is my Shepherd and Guardian. So long as I have
Him,
I am in want of no blessing the riches of His fulness
most
completely replenish me."—Those who, on reading the
words,
the Lord is my Shepherd, I am in want of
nothing, are
inclined
to say, " How shall I know that the Lord is my Shep-
herd?
I do not find that He acts so friendly a part to me as
corresponds
to what the Psalmist says; nay, I have ample ex-
perience
to the very contrary;" are
directed by Luther in the
following
words into the right way: "The prophet has not at
all
times been so happy; he has not been able at all times to
sing
as he does here. He has at times been in want of much,
PSALM XXIII. VER. 2. 403
yea,
almost of everything. He has felt that he possessed
neither
the righteousness, nor the consolation, nor the help of
God;
but only sin, the wrath of God, terror and dismay, as he
complains
in many of his Psalms. Still, as often as he turns
him
from his own feelings, and lays hold of God by His pro-
mises, and thinks, ‘It may be with me as it may, yet
this is
the
comfort of my heart, that I have a gracious, a compassion-
ate
Lord for my Shepherd, whose word and whose promises
strengthen
and comfort me; therefore I shall be in want of
nothing.’
And he has written this and other Psalms for the
very
purpose of assuring us, that in real temptation there is no
council,
help, or comfort to be found, unless we have learned
the
golden art of holding firm by the word and promises of
God,
and deciding by them, in opposition to the feelings of our
own
hearts. Thus assuredly shall help and comfort follow, and
we
shall be in want of nothing."
Ver. 2. He causeth me to lie down in green meadows; He tendeth
me by the waters of rest. Luther: "The
prophet has shortly
expressed,
in the first verse, the import of the whole Psalm, viz.
that whoever has the
Lord for his Shepherd, shall be in want of
nothing. He attempts nothing
more in the whole Psalm than to
expand,
in fine glowing words and comparisons, how well it is
with
those who are the Lord's sheep." According to most in-
terpreters,
the green meadows, which are properly grass-pas-
turage,
are introduced here in connection with the good pasture
which
they afford. But this view is opposed, first, by, He causeth
me to lie down; second, by the
parallel in the second clause, which
speaks
of rest for the weary; and, lastly, by the circumstance,
that
another verse, viz. the 5th one, is devoted to the care of the
shepherd,
as regards the providing of food. The green meadows
serve
another useful purpose beside that of pasturage: they form
a
pleasant place of repose, where the Eastern shepherd at noon,
when
the heat is at its height, permits his weary flock to lie
down.
Compare Song of Sol. i. 7. Jacob (Gen. xxxiii. 17)
made
booths for his sheep, when they were wearied with the
long
and severe travelling; in like manner, the heavenly Shep-
herd
gives delightful rest and repose to his spiritual sheep, when
they
are worn out with wandering under the burning heat of
this
world's sufferings and temptations. He sends to them times
of
health, that they may recruit their strength for wandering in
the
rough paths of life, till at last they are brought to that eternal
404 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
rest,
of which every season of temporary repose is, both to indi-
viduals
and to the Church as a body, a foretaste, a pledge, and
a
prophecy.—In the second clause, the
waters of rest are
generally
interpreted as meaning quiet or still
water,—"water
which
is not agitated, and therefore not dreaded by the sheep."
Claus,
however, has very improperly impugned this interpreta-
tion.
The plural, certainly, is remarkable. Then the question
occurs,
Can rest be attributed to water? There is at least no
parallel
passage. The parallelism with He maketh
me to lie down,
favours
another interpretation: waters of rest = waters at which
rest
(properly rests) are enjoyed,—the plural indicating that the
rest
imparted is of a manifold kind, and respects not one gift,
but
a whole train of gifts. The Psalmist, as was perceived by
the
Septuagint translators, who have rendered tvHvnm by a]napau<-
sewj, and by the Vulgate, who give "ad aquam
refectionis," is
speaking
of the refreshing rest which shepherds, at the noon of
a
hot summer day, give to their wearied flocks at the side of a
shady
brook, to which they have led them to drink. Compare
Bochart,
Hieroz. p. 529. Luther: "David here speaks of this
matter
after the manner of the country. The country on which
so
many praises have been lavished, is a hot, dry, sandy, rocky
country,
which has many deserts and little water. In our part
of
the world, we know nothing of this; for we find everywhere
plenty
of water. Hence David has seen, and he extols it as a
great
blessing, that he is under the protection of the Lord, who
not
only pastures him on green meadows, but also leads him
during
the heat to refreshing water." Hence, according to this
view,
the rest conveys the same idea as it does in all other pas-
sages:
for example, 2 Sam. vii. 1, "When the king sat in his
house,
and the Lord had given him rest round
about from all his
enemies:"
1 Chron. xxii. 9, "Behold, a son shall be born to thee,
who
shall be a man of rest; and I will give him rest
from all his
enemies
round about:" Jer. xlv. 3, "I fainted in my sighing,
and
I find no rest," where the prophet complains that he could
not
find that which David here promises to all believers. Israel
was
led to waters of rest in the wilderness, when, at the command
of
the Lord, repose and refreshment were granted them in some
one
of its more favoured spots: "The ark went before them,
(Num.
x. 33), to search out a resting-place for
them." The ex-
pression
before us was fulfilled much more completely in
when
they were privileged to rest in
PSALM XXIII. VER. 3. 405
of
their long wandering. Compare Deut. xii. 9; Ps. xxii. 11.
David was led to waters of
rest after the ruin of Saul, after his
victory
over his Gentile enemies, and after the suppression of
Absalom's
conspiracy. And it was fulfilled in the most complete
manner
in the case of Solomon, whose reign was a type of the rest
of
heaven to be enjoyed by the Church triumphant. Innumer-
able
times might David say, as he did in Ps. cxvi. 7, "Return
unto
thy rest, 0 my soul; for the Lord hath
dealt bountifully
with
thee."—lhn in Pihel should, according to the common ac-
ceptation,
mean "to lead." Doubts on this point are raised by
the
use of the lf here, and in the parallel passage, Is. xlix. 10.
In
Is. xl. 11, the idea of leading is
scarcely suitable; and in 2
Chron.
xxxii. 22, and in Gen. xlvii. 17, it is wholly incongruous.
The
sense of tending, in this passage
absolutely necessary, is to
be
retained in all passages. In Ex. xv. 13, which alone appears
to
contradict this, Thou leadest through Thy
grace the people whom
Thou hast redeemed, and
tendest them through Thy power by Thy
holy habitation, is to be explained, Thou leadest them to Thy holy
habitation, and watchest
over them there.
This interpretation is
demanded
by lf.
In Gen. xxxiii. 14, the Hitlipael form is used
in
the sense of to take care of one's self.—The
import of the verse
is
therefore this:—The Good Shepherd, with tender care, imparts
sweet
repose to His weary sheep. After the rest
which, according
to
our verse, is given to the weary,
there follows suitably, in the
next
verse, the quickening which the Good
Shepherd imparts to
the exhausted—to the
fainting.
The extreme importance here
attached
to rest—its having assigned to it the first place in the
enumeration
of the good deeds of the Good Shepherd—indicates
how
severe the journey through this world is, how hot is the sun
which
shines even on the righteous; so that the need for rest
outweighs
every other, and the righteous man is not more truly
thankful
for any blessing than for this one. The outward rest,
however,
of which our verse more immediately speaks, is, in
reality,
a blessing to him only who has previously attained to
that
inward peace which, like an
unperishable possession, ac-
companies
the believer amid all outward distresses. This inward
rest—this
peace of the soul in God—gives a title, which never
fails
to be acknowledged by God, to the outward peace.
Ver. 3. He revives my soul; He leads me in, the paths of right-
eousness, for His name's
sake.
On the first clause compare Ps.
xix.
7. The import is: When my soul is exhausted and wearied,
406 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
He
revives me, as is the custom of the good shepherd, who not
only
cares for the sound sheep, but also
and especially attends to
the
weak and the sick. The import of the second
clause is, He
sends me salvation,
when, wearied with the rough paths of life, I
am pressed down with
suffering.
Several interpreters read it:
"He
leads me in an even path." But qdc never stands, in a
physical
sense, for straightness; it means always righteousness.
And
this signification could only be considered as unsuitable
from
assuming the false position, that the Psalmist everywhere
must
use expressions that are borrowed from the natural rela-
tions
connected with the figure which he is, for the time, em-
ploying
in illustration of spiritual matters. This, however, is
by
no means a principle observed by the sacred poets in their
use
of figurative language. They are often satisfied with a very
slight
allusion to the natural relations. In the present instance,
the
corresponding idea is undoubtedly that of leading in even
and
quiet paths, in opposition to, among thorns, and over stones
and
cliffs. The righteousness is not to
be understood, as Mi-
chaelis
would have it, in a moral sense—that I
may lead a holy
and a pious life in this
world;
but it is to be considered as a
gift of God, which He imparts to His
own—that practical justifi-
cation
or clearing up of the character which forms a part of the
salvation.
Salvation itself is never designated qdc; so that the
exposition,
He leads me in the path of salvation,
must be rejected
as
not sufficiently exact. The clause, for
His name's sake, is
equivalent
to, for the sake of His glorious nature, because He is
the
Holy One, in the scriptural sense (Ps. xxii. 3), only so that
attention
is at the same time directed to the fact, that His glorious
nature
has not remained concealed, but has
been made fully
known
by deeds. The product and echo of these is the name:
—so
that the expression is the same as, for
the sake of the glory
historically manifested, which forms the
foundation on which
rests
the confidence of the Psalmist, that the Lord leads him in
the
paths of righteousness. The name of God
is thus always
used
as the product of the development of the Divine nature,
as
the sum of the deeds of God. Thus,
for example, Josh. ix. 9,
"And
they said unto him, From a very far country are thy
servants
come because of the name of the Lord
thy God; for we
have
heard the fame of Him, and all that
He did in
all
that He did to the two kings of the Amorites:" 1 Kings viii.
41,
42, " That cometh out of a far country for Thy name's sake:
PSALM XXIII. VER. 4. 407
for
they shall hear of Thy great name, and of Thy strong hand,
and
Thy stretched-out arm:" Is. lxiii. 12, "Who led them by
the
right hand of Moses, with His glorious arm dividing the
waters
before them, to make to Himself a glorious name." The
exposition
of Aben-Ezra and others, "that His name might be
praised
throughout the whole world," is to be rejected; as also
that
of Stier, "not for any merit of mine, but out of free grace."
What
the Lord is and has done, is a pledge to the Psalmist for
that
which He is to do for him. If He has at all times endowed
His
people with righteousness; if He has, for example, in
caused
the sun of His salvation to shine upon the darkness of the
misery
of His people; if he justified Joshua, by giving him the
victory
over his enemies, He will not deny Himself towards this
His
servant. For His name's sake, has a
much more extended
import
for us than it had for David. For the name of God,
during
the lapse of time, has become infinitely more glorious.
Between
us and David there lies a long succession of glorious
unfoldings
of the nature of God, in imparting salvation to His
own,
both as individuals and in their collective capacity, every
one
of which is a new pledge to us.
Ver. 4. Even when I walk in the valley of death-darkness, I
fear no calamity: for
Thou art with me; Thy rod and Thy staff,
they comfort me. Calvin: "As a
sheep, when it wanders
through
rugged deserts dark valleys, is secured by the mere
presence
of its shepherd against the assaults of wild beasts and
other
dangers, so does David here testify, that as often as he is
in
a situation of danger, he has a sufficient protection in the
shepherd-care
of God. But now that God, in the person of the
only-begotten
Son, has manifested Himself as a shepherd, in a
far
clearer and more glorious manner than He did formerly to
the
fathers under the law, we do not sufficiently honour His pro-
tection,
unless, with eye directed towards it, we trample all fear
and
danger under foot." Venema supposes that David over-
values
here his confidence: his despondency at the time of Ab-
salom,
shows that his firmness was by no means so unwavering.
Ps.
xxx. 6, 7, might be adduced here, where David accuses
himself
of high-minded confidence. But this idea proceeds alto-
gether
upon a misunderstanding. David is not here praising
himself:
he is praising the Lord. In reality, I
fear no evil, is
identical
with I DARE fear no evil: and the
Psalmist expresses
himself
in these words, only because for the moment his feeling
408 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
corresponds
to the reality. It is not on the feeling
that he lays
stress,
but on the cause which called it forth. Mg is, "even,"—
because,
under these circumstances, the shepherd-care of God
seemed
as if it had come to an end. We cannot, with most ex-
positors,
translate it, even though I wandered, but only, even when
I wander. The analogy of the
other Futures, and a glance at
the
history of the author, who had been obliged so often to wan-
der
through the valley of the shadow of death, show that the
author
is speaking, not of something imaginary, but of some-
thing
real. Hitzig's version, though I even
wandered, I would
fear no evil, brings us at once in an
unpleasant manner out of
the
domain of experience in which the whole Psalm moves. The
death-darkness is darkness of the
thickest kind, such as prevails
in
the grave or in sheol. The expression is too strong to allow
us
to think of a valley surrounded by thick forests,
and over-
hung
by high hills: the darkness is that of midnight:— compare
Jer.
xiii. 16, "Give glory to the Lord your God, before He
cause
darkness, and before your feet stumble on the dark moun-
tains,
and, while ye look for light, He turn it into the shadow
of
death:"—all the more suitable, that it is at night when the
beasts
go forth to their prey. The valley is
particularly men-
tioned
on account of the wood-clad surrounding hills, in which
these
beasts live. To such a valley of death-darkness there cor-
respond
to the spiritual sheep, seasons of great trouble, danger
and
severe suffering. Compare Jer. ix. 1; Ps. xliv. 19. Luther:
"As
now our friends wander in the valley at Augsburgh." fr,
properly
evil, indicates, according to the
connection, some fatal
misfortune.
This befalls the wicked only. The sheep of the
Good
Shepherd stumble, but they do not fall. On the words,
for Thou art with me, Luther remarks:
"This presence of the
Lord
cannot be discerned by the five senses, but
it is seen by faith,
which
is confident of this, that the Lord is nearer to us than we
are
to ourselves." The rod and the staff, according to many
interpreters,
are to be regarded as the weapons with which the
shepherd
drives off the wild beasts. But they do not suit this
purpose,
they are too peaceable. They are rather here, as
usually,
to be considered as the instrument for guiding the sheep.
In
the dark night of suffering, the trembling soul derives com-
fort
from the thought, that it is under the
guidance of the Lord,
that
He has led it into its salvation,
that He protects it there, and
that
He will bring it out at His own time.
A look at the shep-
PSALM XXIII. VERS. 5,
6. 409
herd-staff
of the Lord fills the soul with joy in the midst of pain.
The
following remark of De Wette is important: "The some-
what
diffuse language (two synonyms and the pronoun) is in-
tended
to depict the repose of confidence." Luther: "David
prescribes
here to all Christians a common rule, that there is no
other
way or plan upon earth by which a man can be delivered
from
trouble of every kind, than to cast all his care upon the
Lord,
to lay hold of Him by His word of grace, to hold this
fast,
and by no means to let it go. Whoever does this, shall be
happy,
be he in prosperity or adversity, be he in life or in death:
he
shall hold on to the end, and gain the victory over all—the
devil,
the world, and misfortune."
Ver. 5. Thou spreadest before me a table in sight of mine ene-
mies; Thou anointest my
head with oil,—my cup overflows. The
Psalmist
had hitherto spoken only of the provident care of the
Good
Shepherd, in removing the manifold miseries, pains, and
sufferings,
which this life brings with it—of rest, refreshing,
and
consolation. All this is predominantly of a negative
cha-
racter.
His language now rises higher. God not only helps
His
people in suffering, and out of suffering: He also bestows
upon
them a rich fulness of joy, He satisfies His children with
the
good things of His house. To these positive
blessings, there
corresponds,
in the temporal shepherd, the provision of fodder
and
water made for the sheep. This, however, would have
been
too prosaic. The Psalmist hence depicts the shepherd-
care
of God in this respect by another figure, yet so as to keep
as
near as possible to the idea of the figure already employed.
The
blessings with which God satisfies the desires of His needy
people,
appear under the figure of a rich feast
prepared for them.
NHlw is not a table of any kind, but only one on
which viands
are
spread. In sight of my enemies, is a
very picturesque trait.
They
must look on quietly, how the table is spread, and how the
Psalmist
sits down at it. The grace of God towards His own
appears
all the more glorious, that it breaks through all hin-
drances,
makes its way through all the hostile efforts that are
directed
with a ruinous design against the
righteous one, and
leaves
nothing for the enemies but a tormenting sight. The
anointing with the oil of joy,
Ps. xtv. 7,—that is, the oil which
is
the symbolical expression of joy,—is one of the necessary
accompaniments
of a festive and joyful entertainment.
Ver. 6. Only goodness and love follow me all the days of my
410 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
life; and I dwell in the
house of the Lord for ever. The con-
clusion
assumes the general form of the introductory clause, and
explains
the figurative language employed throughout. j`x has
its
customary import, only
goodness—nothing else. There is an
implied
antithesis in they follow me. Stier:
"As the enemies,
out
of malignity, so the goodness of God follows all my steps
with
blessings." Compare Ps. xxxiv. 14. The ytbw is, accord-
ing
to several interpreters, I turn back.
But bvw
with w,
never
signifies
to turn back, neither in 1 Kings ii. 33, nor in Hosea
xii.
7: compare on the passage Ch. B. Michaelis. The charac-
ter,
which is general throughout, and
continues to be so in the
first
clause of this verse, and the joyful tone of the same, are
also
unfavourable to this view, which assumes that David com-
posed
this Psalm when excluded from the services of the sanc-
tuary.
And, finally, this view is opposed also by the parallel
passages,
particularly Deut. xxx. 20, and Ps. xxvii. 4. These
parallel
passages show also that ytbw, notwithstanding its Patach,
instead
of Chirek, must be taken as an infinitive, my
dwelling,
and
not (as is the view adopted by others) as a Preterite instead
of
ytbwy—an anomaly, besides, of
much greater consequence than
the
one implied in the other interpretation. Dwelling
in the
house of the Lord is commonly understood
as being equivalent
to
undisturbed abiding in the temple.
But it is impossible that
the
expression can be applied to literally abiding in the external
temple;
and it is altogether arbitrary to substitute, as Gesenius
does,
frequenting (frequentem adesse)
instead of abiding. More-
over,
the possibility opened up by God of frequenting the tem-
ple,
if occurring at all in a Psalm which extols so well what is
great
and glorious in God, is least of all to be expected at the
conclusion,
where there ought to have come in some compre-
hensive
significant expression, and where it serves no other
purpose
except to weaken the impression of the whole. As
parallel
to goodness and love follow me all the
days of my life,
the
words, I dwell in the house of the Lord
for ever, sound ex-
ceedingly
feeble and cold, if they relate to a frequenting of the
sanctuary.
Finally, by adopting this exposition, we disjoin the
expression
from the fundamental passage, Deut. xxx. 20, "That
thou
mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou mayest obey
His
voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto Him; for this is
thy
life and the length of thy days, that thou dwell, tbwl, in
the
land, which the Lord sware unto thy fathers;" according
PSALM XXIV. 411
to
which, we should expect such a designation of the enjoyment
of
the grace of God as should be as expressive and general as
the
dwelling in the land of the fathers. The foundation for the
right
exposition has been already laid at Ps. xv. We there
saw
that, according to the usage in the Psalms, to dwell in the
house
of the Lord is a figurative expression for the closest in-
timacy
with God, and for the enjoyment of His favour, and that
the
righteous always dwell in the house
of the Lord,—even
when
they are far absent from it in the body,—a figurative
expression,
which has its foundation in the law, in which the
holy
tabernacle is designated as the tabernacle of meeting, of
intercourse
between God and His people. Thus interpreted,
the
words before us form really the focus in which the rays of
the
whole passage are concentrated. In reference to the whole
Church,
they admit of being applied with truth, notwithstanding
those
words, "Your house is left unto you desolate," Matt.
xxiii.
38. For those, who at that time were thrust out of the
house
of God, or rather were left alone in a house which had
lost
the indwelling of God, were those souls only who had been
cut
off from their people. The true members of the Church.
remain
always in the house not made with hands, the Church,
members
of the household of God, Eph. ii. 19, and in the en-
joyment
of all the blessings of God's house.
PSALM XXIV.
Most interpreters suppose that the
Psalm was composed by
David
at the time when he brought the ark of the covenant to
Mount
Jewish
interpreters, on the other hand, to whom Stier may be
added,
have supposed that David composed this Psalm for future
use,
at the dedication of the temple, after he had received the
revelation
as to its site. De Wette has proposed an extension
of
this idea, viz. that the Psalm was composed at the dedication
of
the new temple under Solomon. But against this view, and
in
favour of the one first mentioned, the following weighty
reasons
may be urged:--1. The superscription assigns the Psalm
to
David. 2. If the Psalm be supposed to have reference to
the
dedication of the temple under Solomon, by the everlasting
gates we can understand
nothing else than the gates of the
412 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
temple,
for into none other did the ark of the covenant at that
time
enter. But the gates of the newly built temple could not
possibly
be called everlasting gates. It is only an evasion to
suppose
that the everlasting refers to the future continuance of
the
gates. But no one would apply, simpliciter, the term ever-
lasting
to new gates which it was hoped would last for ever; the
hope
of everlasting endurance which Solomon (1 Kings viii. 13)
expresses
in reference to the whole temple, cannot be thus sim-
pliciter
referred to any particular part of it; the connection
requires
that the predicate denote an already existing, a gene-
rally
acknowledged excellence. As soon, however, as we refer
the
Psalm to the entrance of the ark of the covenant under
David,
every difficulty vanishes. The gates are then those of
Mount
of
Abraham a city of the Canaanites. With the Psalmist, how-
ever,
whose object it was to extol the worth of the gates, for the
purpose
of enhancing the glory of the entrant, of whom, after
all,
the gates were unworthy, the idea of antiquity would easily
expand
in feeling into that of eternity. 3. In the appellations
given
to God, the Lord strong and a hero, the
Lord a warlike
hero, we clearly discern the
voice of the warrior and the con-
queror,
David, who had so often, in the heat
of battle, sought
and
obtained help from the Lord. Solomon
would have chosen
some
other mode of expression, inasmuch as God had stood pro-
minently
forth on his behalf under other aspects. 4. The
fifteenth
Psalm is so strikingly allied to the one before us, that
the
grounds which were there sufficient to establish, without a
doubt,
the authorship as that of David, particularly the expres-
sion,
"in Thy tabernacle," are of equal weight here. The nine-
teenth
Psalm also, which was composed by David, is allied to
the
one before us. There, as here, the greatness of God, as the
Lord
of the world, serves in the introduction only as the ground-
work
of what forms the peculiar object of the Psalmist. Lastly,
the
idea, that this Psalm is to be considered as a song of victory
for
the return of the ark of the covenant from a battle, is to be
utterly
rejected. This view would scarcely harmonize even with
the
second part; for there the language employed refers to the
coming, not to the returning of the Lord; and the call
to the
gates
to open, proceeds on the supposition that the Lord is
entering
in through them for the first time, and appears unsuit-
PSALM XXIV. 413
able
if He had frequently gone out and in on former occasions.
But
the first part is wholly unintelligible on this supposition.
The
question, Who will ascend to the hill of
the Lord, and who
will stand in his holy
place?
would, on such an occasion, be
altogether
out of place; while, on the occasion which we have
supposed,
it would be highly suitable. It served at the com-
mencement
of a new state of things to determine the nature
thereof,
and to bring it before the minds of the people; it
served
to furnish a counterpoise to the outward pomp which ac-
companied
the bringing in of the ark of the covenant; it served
to
indicate that real, not mere outward, fellowship with a God
such
as this, the Lord of the whole earth, and participation in
His
blessings, are to be obtained only in one
way, that of true
righteousness;
it served to indicate to the people the high seri-
ousness
of the claims upon the subjects, as seen in connection
with
the glory of the King who is entering in. This Psalm,
which,
according to vers. 7-10, must have been sung at the en-
trance
itself, is the first, in point of date, of the sacred songs
which
were composed with this view. The fifteenth followed at
a
later period.
The contents are as follows: Jehovah
is God in the full
sense,
the Lord, because the Creator, of the whole earth, vers.
1,
2. Who then will, in truth, ascend the hill of the Lord, and
stand
in His holy place? Who will dwell spiritually
beside
Him,
in the newly-erected holy place, and receive from Him
blessing,
salvation, and righteousness? Not the posterity of
Jacob
according to the flesh, as such,—this would be a wretched
family
for such a King and God,—but only he who, in thought,
word,
and deed, is pure and without spot. It is only those, who
bear
this character, that constitute Jacob,—the true people of
the
Lord,—and not the rude crowd who falsely make their
boast
of this name, vers. 3-6. The ark of the covenant has
now
approached the gates. These, poetically personified, are
commanded
to open, that the glorious King, that the Lord, rich
in
help for His people, that the God of the
world, may enter in,
vers.
7-10.
Ewald has advanced the hypothesis,
that the Psalm is made
up
of two odes originally distinct, vers. 1-6, and vers. 7-10.
But
the chief reason which led him to adopt this hypothesis,
namely,
the want of connection and unity between the two
parts,
disappears entirely on closer investigation. The glory of
414 THE BOOK OF PSALMS
the
approaching Lord is, in both parts of the Psalm, the fun-
damental
idea. From this proceeds, in the first part, the demand
for
holiness, and, in the second, the command, addressed in
form
to the gates, but in reality to the hearts of His people, to
open.
The original connection of the two parts with each other
is
seen in this, that the Psalm concludes,
as it began, with the
praise
of God as the God of the whole earth; and assuredly
therefore
in this, that the beginning and the conclusion mutually
supplement
each other—ver. 1, Jehovah, the Lord of the whole
earth, in ver. 10, Jehovah,
the Lord of the heavenly hosts.
The coming of the Lord of glory, the
high demands upon
His
people originating therein, the absolute necessity to prepare
worthily
for His arrival, form the subject-matter of the Psalm.
It
admits of applications far beyond the special occasion which
called
it forth. The Lord may be conceived of as constantly
coming,
in relation both to His Church collectively, and to His
people
individually. And His people therefore ought to be con-
tinually
preparing to give Him a suitable reception. Hence it
follows
that the Messianic interpretation, which in former times
was
so very prevalent, has an important element of truth in it.
The
coming of God to His kingdom took place in a manner in-
finitely
more real at the appearance of Christ than it did at the
entrance
of the ark of the covenant. That lower occurrence
was
only the shadow, but the body was in Christ. At this truly
real
coming, which has different gradations,—the coming in
humility,
the coming in spirit, and the coming in glory,—the
demands rise in proportion to
the greater reality. The question,
"Who
shall ascend to the hill of the Lord, and who shall stand
in
His holy place?" becomes more solemn, and the command,
"Lift
up your heads, ye gates," is given in a louder tone.
Venema saw clearly that the idea,
that the Psalm was sung
by
alternate choruses, is altogether without foundation. The
questions
(vers. 7-10), on which alone this idea rests, like the
question
in ver. 3, and in Ps. xv. 1, are to be considered simply
as
interrogatory clauses.
The reason why this Psalm has been
placed in immediate
juxtaposition
to the 23d, will appear on comparing ver. 3 here,
with
ver. 6 there. The 23d Psalm concludes with the hope of
dwelling
for ever in the house of the Lord, and the Psalm be-
fore
us begins, after some clauses of a preparatory and intro-
ductory
nature, with the question, "Who is qualified to dwell
PSALM XXIV. VERS. 1, 2. 415
with
God on His hill, and in His holy place?" The connection
between
the two Psalms is so interwoven with the sense, that
their
juxtaposition cannot be attributed to the collector. The
probability
is exceedingly strong, that David, from the begin-
ning,
united them as one pair; and that the 23d Psalm also was
composed
on the occasion of the removal of the ark of the cove-
nant.
For the purpose of preventing the hypocrites from appro-
priating
to their use what does not belong to them, he follows
up
his expression of inward confidence in God, with a represen-
tation
of those demands of a moral nature which God makes
upon
His people. The Shepherd of Israel is also the Almighty
God.
Wo to him who trusts in His grace without being holy
as
He is holy! We have already shown that the 15th Psalm,
which
is closely allied to the one before us, stands in a similar
relation
to the 14th.
Ver. 1. The earth, is the Lord's, and that which fills it; the world,
and those who dwell upon
it. The
God who is in a peculiar sense
the
God of Israel, is at the same time the Lord of the whole
earth,
and the sovereign proprietor of all things. With what
holy
reverence must the subjects of such a King be filled!
What
high demands must be made upon them! With other
gods
there may be an animal love and a favouritism for their
own
worshippers, without regard to their hearts and lives; but
the
God of Israel,—who is God in the true sense of the word,
—cannot,
without absurdity, be spoken of as having connection
with
any except with such as are of a pure heart. The exhor-
tation
in Deut. x. 14, to circumcise the heart, is, like the one
before
us, enforced by the consideration, that Jehovah is the
Lord
of heaven and earth, and that He regardeth not persons,
nor
taketh rewards. Crx denotes the earth in general; lbt,
properly,
the bearing,—the third Fut. of lby, it bears,—the
fruit-bearing
part of the earth, the oi]koume<nh. Hence the ful-
ness is properly applied to
the earth, and the inhabitants speci-
ally
to lbt.
Ver. 2. For He has founded it above the seas, and made it
fast above the floods. That the earth, with
all that fills it, and
with
its inhabitants, is the Lord's, is founded on the fact, that
He
alone has made it earth,—dry, fruitful, habitable, and that
He
preserves it such. Without Him, the waters would still or
again
cover it as they did at the beginning. "Above the seas,"
"above
the floods," imply that it stands at a higher level, so
416 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
that
it is not immersed below the sea. Compare the examples
of
lf
in similar connections in Ges. Thes. p. 1026. Many ex-
positors
apply "the seas," and "the floods," to the great sub-
terraneous
cavities which stand in connection with the mundane
sea,—to
the great deep, which, according to Gen. vii. 11, was
broken
up at the deluge. "Nothing but the almighty power
of
God could found the earth on such weak materials." But
these
interpreters overlook, that at ver. 1 it is only the inhabited
and
cultivated earth that is spoken of; and, consequently, that
it
can only be such an act of God as has made and preserves
the
earth fruitful and habitable, that can be referred to here:
the
earth, with its fulness and its inhabitants, belongs to the
Lord;
for He has made it habitable and fruitful, and He pre-
serves
it in this condition. The reference to an occult doctrine
of
a physical character, to which allusion is made only in one
single
passage of Scripture, and that, too, in a very obscure and
doubtful
manner, would not be at all suitable in this passage.
The
Psalmist evidently refers to some act of God, generally
known,
and frequently spoken of in Scripture. Further, it
may
be objected to this view, that Mymy is seas, and tvrhn, floods;
and
that, though the singular My might denote the
subterraneous
water,
the plural, as even Luther observed, cannot. Finally, it
will
not do to tear the passage from its connection with the fun-
damental
passage, Gen. i. 9, 11, to which it manifestly refers,
and
from the parallel passages, Ps. cxxxvi. 6, "Who stretches
out
the earth above the waters," where everything preceding
and
following stands in obvious reference to Gen. i.; Ps. cvi.,
where,
in like manner, the dividing between the land and the
sea
comes in, in exact accordance with Genesis and Job. xxxviii.
8,
where it is mentioned as one of the most wonderful works of
God,
that "He hath set for the sea bars and doors, and path
shut
it in within firm bounds." These observations will, we
think,
be sufficient to set aside for ever the idea of the subter-
ranean
waters.—The change of the mood is not unworthy of
notice:
hdsy, refers to the creation, hnnvky to the preservation.
Luther:
"For it proceeds from the great power of God, that
those
cities and countries which are situated on seas and rivers,
are
not destroyed and torn to pieces." He has founded it above
the
seas and floods, and He keeps it fast above them.
Ver. 3. Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord, and who shall
abide in His holy place? This question has for
its foundation
PSALM XXIV. VER. 3. 417
the
statements of vers. 1 and 2, and the sense is correctly given
by
several interpreters: "Who, then,
shall ascend?" "Is the
Lord
such a mighty One?" "Who, then,
can well be ad-
mitted
into His holy and glorious presence?" The common
translation
is, Who may ascend into the hill of
the Lord? who is
worthy
to do so? But, on comparing Ps. xv., it becomes obvi-
ous
that we must keep to the usual sense of the Future.
is
not for all the hill of the Lord; the temple is not for all His
holy
place. To
had
good legs; but to the hill of the Lord, to His holy place, as
sure
as He is Lord of the whole earth, none get except those
who
are of a pure heart. These dwell there, always with Him,
even
when, in a bodily sense, they are absent. On the other
hand,
the ungodly, even though they can boast of being the
seed
of Abraham, even though they are indefatigable in their
observance
of the ceremonies, are, even when present, never-
theless
absent:—they walk only on the earth and the stones;
God
shuts them out from His holy presence. That we must
interpret
the passage in this way, and that the ascending of the
hill
of the Lord, and the standing in His holy place, are only
figurative
expressions of gracious relationship to Him (
"As
a true member of the holy Church, and a denizen of His
kingdom"),
is evident from the parallel, ver. 5. The "Who
shall
receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness
from
the God of his salvation," is expository of, "Who shall
ascend?"
To ascend the hill of God, is to begin
to walk with
God;
to abide in His holy place, is constantly to remain in His
presence.
Mvq
is not, "to stand" (that is dmf: the passages
which
Gesenius adduces to prove this are not sufficient)—but
"to
abide."—Luther "To this question the haughty self-
righteous
return answer at once, We, we are worthy, especially
the
Jews. For from the beginning of the world there have
been
two kinds of those who profess to be seeking after God;
yea,
there still are, and there will be till the end of time. The
first
are those who serve God without heart, without grace,
without
spirit, and only by external works, ordinances, sacri-
fices,
and ceremonies. Thus Cain offered his gift, but kept
back
his heart and his person." The design of the Psalmist,
however,
is to repel hypocrites, and to bring self-deceivers to
serious
thought, while he answers the above question, by de-
glaring,
that as sure as the God of Israel is the God of the
418 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
whole
earth, is God in the true and full sense of the word, so
sure
can only the pure in heart and conduct stand before Him.
Luther,
in the style of true theological exposition: "It is not
he
who sings so well or so many Psalms, nor he who fasts and
watches
so many days, nor he who divides his property among
the
poor, nor he who preaches to others, nor he who lives quietly,
kindly,
and friendly; nor, in fine, is it he who knows all sciences
and
all languages, nor he who works all virtuous and all good
works
that ever any man spoke or read of; but it is he alone
who
is pure within and without."
Ver. 4. He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who draws
not his soul unto
falsehood, nor swears deceitfully, ver. 5. He
shall draw the blessing
from the Lord, and righteousness from
God his Saviour. The import is this:
he, and he only, shall
ascend
the holy hill of the Lord, and abide in His holy place:
—this
is what is meant by, shall draw the
blessing, etc.—The
Psalmist
unites cleanness of hands and purity of heart. The
hands
are the instruments of action, the heart the seat of feel-
ing.
God's demands upon His people go beyond the domain
of
action. Those only see Him (and that is altogether the
same
as what is implied here, in ascending the
hill of the Lord,
and abiding in His holy
place)
who have a pure heart. The
Psalmist
in the first clause ascends from outward deeds to the
heart,
and in the second he descends from the heart to the
tongue,—he who shuns sin in thought, word, and deed.
We
have
here the same threefold division which obtains in the
decalogue:
deed, "Thou shalt not
kill," "Thou shalt not com-
mit
adultery," "Thou shalt not steal;" word, "Thou shalt not
bear
false witness;" thought,
"Thou shalt not covet." But the
heart
is put here in the second place, for the purpose of showing
that
everything ultimately is dependent on it--that purity of
hands
and tongue has its root in purity of heart, and is import-
ant
only in so far as it is rooted there. The expression wpn
xWn
is
not of rare occurrence: it occurs, for example, Deut. xxiv.
15;
Prov. xix. 18; Ps. xxv. 1, lxxxvi. 4, cxliii. 8, with this
difference,
that it is construed in these passages with lx, and
here
with l.
The construction with l here is of importance
for
determining the signification of the
phrase. The common
translation
is, "to lift up the soul."
But for this sense the l is
not
suitable. We cannot say, "to lift up his soul to falsehood."
l rather demands the signification, to carry, to carry to,—
PSALM XXIV. VER. 4. 419
"Where
your treasure is, there will your heart be also;" and
on
comparing Ex. xx. 7 and the xWy in ver. 5, it is
evident that
this
is the true rendering of our passage,—he
who does not bear
his soul to falsehood,
he shall bear away;
and at the same time in
all
other passages. Several interpreters render xvw by "vanity"
or
"wickedness:" Meyer, "bad ways;" Stier, "everything
which
the heart makes an idol of instead of the true God;"
and
some, "idols," in the proper sense. But if we observe the
relation
in which xvwl
stands to hmrml,
it will appear obvious
that
we can only translate, "to falsehood and deceit." This
translation
also will be at once recognised as the correct one
from
Ex. xx. 7: "Who hath no love for falsehood and deceit,
and
who, in consequence of this, does not swear deceitfully."—
After
the example of Stange, many interpreters render, "who
does
not utter his person to a lie," that is, "who does not misuse
the
name of God to confirm a lie," and refer to Ex. xx. 7, xl
xvwl j`yhlx hvhy Mw tx xwt, which they render,
"Thou shalt not
utter
the name of the Lord thy God to confirm a lie." But
this
interpretation depends upon the marginal reading, ywpn, my
soul, which is decidedly to
be rejected, as God is not introduced
speaking
throughout the whole Psalm. It is now, therefore,
very
easy to dispose of this view; and, on the other side, it may
be
observed that the soul of the Lord cannot stand for His per-
son,
nor this for His name; the phrase wpn xWn has constantly
the
sense of, "to carry the soul:" xWn here, from the xWy in
ver.
5, must signify, "to carry," and never
signifies, "to utter"
(compare
on Ps. xv. 3); the connection between vwpn and bbl,
and
the obvious opposition between the soul and the tongue,
render
it impossible to refer vwpn to God. It is now more the
time
to point out the truth from which the
false reading and
exposition
have proceeded. This is the position, that the words
before
us have a reference to Ex. xx. 7. The resemblance is
so
striking, that any exposition which would tear
asunder the
connection
between the two, cannot possibly be the correct one.
According
to our interpretation, however, this connection be-
comes
most manifest as soon as the passage in Exodus is cor-
rectly
translated. It must be translated, "Thou shalt not bear
away
the name of the Lord to a lie;" i.e. Thou shalt not mix
up
His name with what is false; thou shalt not utter it to con-
firm
a lie. The Psalmist, by the verbal reference which he
makes
to this passage, indicates that this bearing of one's soul
420 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
to
a lie—the having a pleasure in it—is the ground and foun-
tain
of bearing God's name to a lie, and that this last sin is the
natural
consequence of the first. The only sure preservative
against
the fearful sin of perjury, is heart-abhorrence of deceit
and
falsehood.— In ver. 5, he shall carry
away the blessing, we
may
find, with Amyrald, a contradiction of the idea, that there
is
efficacy in the priestly and the royal benediction, apart from
the
moral condition of those upon whom that blessing was pro-
nounced.
When the ark of the covenant was brought in,
David
blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts
(2
Sam. vi. 18). The righteousness,
parallel with the blessing,
is
the blessing itself, inasmuch as it is the clearing up of the
character
by facts, the answer of God to the subjective right-
eousness
of the worshipper: compare 1 Kings viii. 31, 32. This
righteousness,
as the gift of God, is carefully to be distinguished
from
justification. The justification of a sinner before God
goes before holiness; the
righteousness here spoken of follows
it.
Finally, the purity which the Psalmist here speaks of as the
indispensable
condition of salvation, is not to be understood as
a
perfect, spotless holiness. It is enough that the innermost
intent
of the soul—the spiritual eye of Matt. vi. 23—be pure.
But,
assuredly, as the condition of
salvation is always imperfect
in
this life, so is the salvation itself in like manner imperfect.
Ver. 6. This is the generation which reverences Him: they who
seek thy face, are Jacob. The Psalmist having
defined those to
whom
access to God has been opened up, brings prominently
forward
once more the truth, that they, and they only, are real
worshippers
of God, and therefore partakers of His favour,
members
of His Church. The name, those who seek
the Lord
(the
textual reading Owr;Do being obviously a contraction for the
marginal
vywAr;Do, which ought to be rejected), circulated, as it ap-
pears,
like a coin, and the whole people were wont to apply to
themselves
this name. But the Psalmist claims it for those to
whom
it belongs. That man only deserves this name, who fulfils
the
law of God. That only can be called a reverencing of God,
which
is concerned about purity of heart.— To
see the face of
the Lord, is to be a sharer in
His favour; and, therefore, to seek
the face of the Lord, is to be concerned
about His favour, sin-
cerely
to strive to please Him. And this striving manifests
itself
in earnest endeavours to obtain purity of heart, as the only
means
of seeing God, of pleasing Him. "Jacob," stands for,
PSALM XXIV. VERS. 6, 7. 421
"the
generation of Jacob." Jacob, and not
the
purpose of opposing the prevailing fancy of the times. The
people
laid great stress on their descent from Jacob, and sup-
posed
descent from Jacob according to the flesh, and incorpora-
tion
with the people of the covenant, to be identical. In oppo-
sition
to this, the Psalmist remarks, that only those who are
earnest
in their pursuit after holiness, according to the good
pleasure
of God, are the true posterity of Jacob, and form the
people
of the covenant, who are under the dominion of grace.
The
others, notwithstanding their descent from Jacob, belong
not
to Jacob, but are heathen, and thus children of wrath. We
may
compare, on this point, those passages in which the ungodly
members
of the Church, in contempt of their pretensions, found-
ed
on mere external relationship, are addressed as heathen, as
uncircumcised,
or specially as Canaanites, or by the name of
some
other heathen nation: Jer. iv. 4, ix. 25; Isa. i. 10; Ezek.
xvi.
3; see also the Christol. Part 2, p. 398. In the New Tes-
tament,
Rom. ix. 6, 7 is exactly parallel: "For they are not all
God,
who seek Thy face, gives additional
emphasis to the declara-
tion,
which is uttered as it were in the presence of God.—Ac-
cording
to Stier and others, the true
room
of those who are descended from Jacob according to the
flesh:
—"Whoever, among all nations, inquires after God, receives
the
blessing of Abraham, and belongs to Jacob." But, in reality,
we
have here nothing more than a preliminary step to the idea,
“among
all nations, this is the generation,” etc.,—we have not
yet
that idea itself. The only distinction drawn, is one among
the
natural descendants of Jacob; and the only notion refuted,
is
the notion, that the grace of God is given along with descent
from
Jacob, and to every one of his lineal posterity.—The ex-
position
which, to the destruction of the parallelism, understands
"Jacob"
as in apposition, is to be rejected as harsh and forced:
"This,
the generation of His worshippers, those who seek Thy face,
Jacob;
that is, the true descendants of Jacob:"—the address to
God
is, on this view, altogether intolerable. The same remark
may
be made on the interpretation, "who seek thy face, 0 Jacob,
i.
e. 0 God of Jacob;" as also, on the supposition that yhlx has
dropped
out of the text.
Ver. 7. The procession, with the ark
of the covenant, has
approached
422 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
commands
them to open, that the glorious King may enter in.
Lift up, ye gates, your
heads; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting
doors, that the King of
glory may come.
The King of glory is the
glorious,
majestic King. What, in the first instance, is only a
poetical
figure, becomes, within the spiritual domain, a reality.
What
the external gates would have done if
they had been en-
dued
with reason, will in reality be performed by hearts which
are
capable of comprehending the majesty and the glory of the
approaching
King. Here the doors and gates will in reality
open.
They will give to the King that wide and ready entrance,
which
formerly they gave to the world and to sin. This appli-
cation,
which indeed is more than an application,--is really an
exposition,—becomes
evident as soon as we refer back the com-
mand
to open to the why given by the
Psalmist himself.—Along
with
the ark of the covenant, the Lord also came in all the ful-
ness
of His glory, and with all the riches of His grace and justice:
compare,
in reference to the import of the ark of the covenant,
Num.
x. 35, 36; Christology, P. 3, p. 523, etc. It was not the
mere
change of place of a symbol that was then celebrated: it
was
the bringing in of a new era in the relationship of God to
His
people; and the Psalmist took occasion to exhort the people
to
know the time of their visitation. Long had the ark of the
covenant
been, as it were, resting in the grave: compare the
Beitr.
P. 3, p. 48. And now that it rose out of it, now that the
Lord
intended to make His habitation among His people, it was
of
great consequence for them to receive Him in a worthy man-
ner,
that so His arrival might bring upon them, not a curse, but
a
blessing.
Ver. 8. Who is He, the King of Glory? The Lord, strong
and a hero; the Lord,
mighty in battle.
It is certainly more natu-
ral
to suppose that a second chorus here falls in with the ques-
tion,
than, with others, that the Psalmist represents the gates as
putting
the question. Even this supposition, however, is un-
necessary.
The question is of the same kind with those in ver.
3,
and Ps. xv. 1, and is equivalent to, "Askest thou who He is?"
It
is intended merely to awaken attention. Venema "The in
habitants
of
deep
seriousness the characteristics of the King." The hz in the
question
has, according to several interpreters, the character of
an
adverb, "Who is there?" and therefore it stands without the
article,
and forward. Compare Ewald's Small Grammar, § 446.
PSALM XXIV. VERS. 9, 10. 423
Others
again consider it as really the pronoun. In reference to
the
answer, Calvin has the following very important remark:
“The
glorious appellations by which the Psalmist extols the
power
of God, are intended to show to the people of the cove-
nant
that God does not sit idly in the temple, but that He is
prepared
to help His people, and to stretch out His strong hand
to
preserve and to save them.”
nations,
and as yet a small people, could found his hope of safety
only
on the help of his heavenly Hero-King. Compare Ex. xv.
3;
Num. x. 35, 36; and 1 Sam. xvii. 45, where David says to
Goliath,
"I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the
God
of the armies of
Lord's,
and He will give you into our hands."
Ver. 9. Lift up your heads, ye doors; and lift them up, ye
everlasting gates, that
the King of glory may come. The sum-
mons
is repeated, with little alteration, for the purpose of con-
necting
with it a second question, as the first answer had not
been
sufficient, had represented only imperfectly the majesty of
the
King of glory.
Ver. 10. Who is He, the King of glory? The Lord, the Lord
of hosts, He is the King
of glory.
Several interpreters, and
latterly
Koester, interpret the Lord of hosts as
equivalent to the
God of battle. But the parallelism to
which they appeal in
favour
of this entirely arbitrary exposition is decidedly against
it.
The expression, "Lord of hosts," must necessarily have a
fuller
meaning than ver. 8. For otherwise, no reason can be
assigned
for the repetition of the question. The new idea con-
tained
in vers. 9 and 10 is, that the God who,
in the 8th verse, is
represented as the hero
of the earth, as the God of the earthly
hosts (
host
of God, hvhy tvxbc, Ex. xii. 41), is
also the God of the hea-
venly hosts. He cannot be the
first, in the right and full sense,
unless
He is also the second, just as He cannot in the full sense
be
the God of Israel, unless He is also the
God of the world.
What
God is on earth, depends upon what He is in heaven. If
He
has any who are equal to Him there, He is not in the full
sense
the King of glory upon earth. The conclusion thus comes
back
to the opening strain of the Psalm, where the Lord, in like
manner,
had been praised as the God of the world: and the
whole
Psalm, which was intended to call forth in the Church a
living
view of the glory of her approaching God, concludes with
424 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
that
appellation of God which reflects this glory most clearly.
Michaelis:
Plus enim et majus et brevius quid dicere de eo vobis
non
possum.—The hosts are always heavenly, and not created
things generally. For in the
passage, Gen. ii. 1, the heaven and
the earth is to be regarded as
equivalent to the universe; and the
hosts
belong to it, according to that passage, only in respect to
one
of its two parts. The phrase, heavens and
the earth, is un-
questionably
used in the sense of the universe, in
Gen. ii. 4, where
man
is spoken of as the product of the heavens and the earth.
Just
as in the second passage we find attributed to the heavens
what
belongs exclusively to the earth, so in the first verse there
is
attributed to the earth what belongs only to the heavens.
The
heavenly hosts are divided into spiritual hosts— the angels,
and
material—the stars. No single passage represents the
angels
as standing in closer relation to the stars, than that they
together
make up the heavenly hosts; and the confident asser-
tion
of Gesenius, "Quippe quas (the stars) ab angelis geniisque
coelestibus
habitatas esse existimarent," must be rejected as alto-
gether
without foundation. This appellation refers, throughout,
principally
and usually to the sun, moon, and stars, on account
of
the opposition implied to the prevailing Sabeanism,—which
contributed
very much to give the name Jehovah
Sabaoth its
importance.—We
cannot translate, with Gesenius and others,
Jehovah of hosts, but, Jehovah, of hosts: the general idea,
God,
must
be derived from Jehovah, as has been adverted to in the
Christology,
P. 3, p. 218. The reasons are these: 1. hvhy cannot
be
used as a proper noun in the status
constructus. 2. Myhlx hvhy
tvxbc occurs in several passages, as Ps. lix.
6, lxxx. 5. 3.
tvxbc occurs in Isa. x. 16. 4. Ku<rioj
sabaw<q occurs
in the
Septuagint,
and in Rom. ix. 29, and Jas. v. 40, which shows,
that,
to a certain extent, tvxbc was regarded as standing by itself.
On
the other hand, those who would isolate Sabaoth completely,
and
maintain that it is to be considered just as a name of God,
as
Baumgarten has recently done, require to be reminded that it
never
occurs except in connection with one of the names of God.
—In
the Pentateuch (Gen. ii. 1) there is to be found the basis
of
the appellation, but not the appellation itself. That this is
not
to be attributed to design on the part of the author (as might
be
said in the case of Ezekiel and Job), but is to be explained
by
the assumption that the name had not yet been formed, is
evident
from the fact that it does not occur either in Joshua or
PSALM XXV. 425
Judges.
It would certainly be a very singular circumstance
that
the word should be omitted designedly in the three most
ancient
historical books.
PSALM XXV.
The Psalm begins and concludes with
the prayer for deliver-
ance from enemies: and this is to be
considered as its peculiar
theme.
The forgiveness of sins, which the
Psalmist frequently
claims
in the middle, is introduced only as the ground of the
deliverance.
But of moral strength there is no
mention made
throughout
the Psalm.
There are no traces in the contents
of any particular occa-
sion
for which the Psalm might be composed; and the prayer
on
behalf of
any
such. For the transition from the individual to the whole
body
was much easier when the Psalm was, from the first,
intended
to awaken the godly, when they are pressed hard by
their
enemies, to hope in the guidance and protection of God.
Lastly,
the form in which the Psalm is composed, is decidedly
against
any particular reference. The alphabetical arrange-
ment,
which obtains here, as in Ps. xxxiv. xxxvii. cxi. cxii. cxix.
cxlv.,
is throughout adopted in Psalms which are general in
their
character, and seems, from its nature, to be suitable only
for
such.
The superscription announces that
David is the author; and
with
this announcement the contents of the Psalm are fully ac-
cordant.
David was peculiarly exposed to sufferings, arising
from
enemies, throughout a great part of his life; he always
treats
this subject with peculiar delight, and regarded it as the
main
duty of his life to comfort others with the same consola-
tion
wherewith he himself had been comforted of God. But
the
alphabetical arrangement has been pleaded as furnishing
some
ground for doubt on this point: "this conceit belongs to a
later
age of degenerate taste." This might with as much pro-
priety
be said of such poems as "befiel du
deine wege" of P. Ger-
hardt,
and "wie schön leucht uns der
Morgenstern" of Nikola.,
because
these poems are characterized by such conceits as might
not
have been expected in such eminent and powerful writers.
One
single superscription, assigning an alphabetical Psalm to
426 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
David,
is entitled to more weight than this a
priori assertion
And
there are several such superscriptions. And, besides, there
are
at least two alphabetical Psalms, the ix. and x., which, from
internal
evidence of the strongest kind, we know were com-
posed
by David. Lastly, we deny that the alphabetical ar-
rangement
ought to be termed "conceit." It belongs in gene-
ral
to those means which have been adopted for the purpose of
giving
to poetical compositions that character of compactness
which
so essentially belongs to them, and it stands on the same
footing
exactly with the parallelism of clauses, and the strophe
arrangement.
It can deserve to be called a conceit only when
it
is forced upon resisting materials (its use being, from the
nature
of the case, confined within a narrow compass), or when
it
is employed in a composition which requires a strict progres-
sion
of thought and feeling. It occurs, however, at least when
completely
carried out, only in a particular class of Psalms,—
those,
namely, in which the effort is obvious to arrange a col-
lection
of individual sayings, which, from beginning to end,
bear
upon the same subject, but are presented in different
aspects,
and always with new additions. For such Psalms, the
alphabetical
arrangement—the carrying out of the thought
through
the whole alphabet, the symbol of completeness and
compactness—is
exceedingly natural. De Wette indeed main-
tains
that the want of connection is the consequence, not the
cause,
of the alphabetical arrangement. But on this supposi-
tion
there are certain facts which cannot be explained: the
alphabetical
arrangement does not so completely stand in the
way
of the connection, as to render abortive every attempt,
however
zealous, to unite them together. But in the Psalms
no
such effort is at all conspicuous. The writers of the Psalms
were
under the less necessity of sacrificing the connection for
the
sake of the alphabetical arrangement, that they make a
much
freer use of it than is observed to have been done among
other
nations. From this fact, the objection of conceit or con-
straint
may be the more easily set aside. Even within its own
peculiar
province, the alphabetical arrangement is pursued only
in
so far as it can be done without any constraint. How little
force,
then, there is in what has been said of the alphabetical
arrangement,
that it corresponds to a special need, is evident
from
the fact, that we find it adopted by very different nations,
and
always in poetry of a particular kind.
PSALM XXV. 427
Nothing beyond this, of any
consequence, has been adduced
against
considering David as the author of the Psalm. For
example,
it has been said that the prayer at the close of the
Psalm,
for deliverance for
not
correspond to the time of David. But it need scarcely be
remarked,
that at all times, even the most prosperous, there is
enough
of trouble; and that our assuming David to be the author
of
the Psalm, does not necessarily imply that we limit its ap-
plication
to the circumstances of his day.
The low opinions which have been
formed as to the merits
of
the Psalm, proceed from misunderstanding its peculiar cha-
racter
and design. As an alphabetical Psalm, it is beautiful;
and
whoever reads it in the frame of mind in which an alpha-
betical
Psalm ought to be read, will find it to be both beautiful
and
edifying.
The alphabetical arrangement in our
Psalm is not strictly ad-
hered
to. The second verse begins, like the first, with x, and the
b follows at the second word. The l is either omitted, or it oc-
curs,
not at the beginning, but at the middle of the verse. The
q is altogether wanting. On the other hand, there
are two
verses
which begin with r. After the last letter
t, there is
a
verse
beginning with p. A great many critics, up to Hitzig and
Ewald,
have considered it necessary to remove these irregularities
by
emendations. But there are many very weighty reasons to
be
urged against every such attempt. 1.
Errors of this kind
in
alphabetical Psalms are extremely unlikely to occur: the
opposite
may be expected, viz. alterations made by transcribers,
with
a view to remove irregularities. 2. Such irregularities
occur
in all the alphabetical Psalms without exception. 3. There
are
gradations among the deviations in
particular Psalms: first,
there
are cases in which only a single irregularity occurs, and
where,
of course, a critical emendation might with some appear-
ance
of propriety be made; second, there are cases, such as Ps.
ix.
and x., in which nothing more than an attempt at alphabeti-
cal
arrangement seems to have been made, and which utterly
defy
all efforts of emendatory criticism; and, lastly, there are
cases
in which the alphabetical arrangement is directed, not so
much
to the first word as to the number of the verses. The
extensive
deviations indicate that the minor ones are original,
and
to be attributed to the author himself. 4. There are special
reasons
in the Psalm before us why no alterations should be
428 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
attempted
The omission of the q is evidently not accidental,
as
its place is occupied by r, the letter following it in the alpha-
bet:
nothing can be suggested either in the case of q or r, which
might
have been appropriately substituted; and it is as clear as
day
that the author sacrificed the form to the sense. The first
and
the last verses are peculiar, inasmuch as they consist each
of
only one clause, while all the other verses contain two; they
thus
stand out, as it were, from the series, for the purpose of
being
recognised as the beginning and the end. And it is
natural
that they should preserve this character also in reference
to
the alphabetical arrangement. The x, although it begins
ver.
1, yet, as if this were regarded in a certain measure as
accidental,
is repeated at the beginning of the proper series, in
ver.
2,—in such a manner, however, as that, while it gets, as it
were,
what is its due, it has not a whole verse devoted to it, for b
follows
in the second word; the last verse again, which begins
with
its p
(instead of which any other letter would have answered
equally
well), stands altogether out of the alphabetical arrange-
ment.
Hitzig's attempt to join the yhlx of ver. 2 to ver. 1,
proceeds
from an entire misapprehension of this correspondence
between
the beginning and the end of the Psalm: the same
remark
may be made on his singular hypothesis in reference to
the
p.
Ver. 1. To Thee, 0 Lord, do I bear my soul. The bearing
of
the soul to the Lord (wpn xWn means always to bear the
soul,
to bear towards, never to lift;
compare Ps. xxiv. 4, and
Deut.
xxiv. 15) signifies the longing of the heart after Him.
The
soul is wherever the object of its regard is. The more im-
mediate
object which the Psalmist has in view becomes obvious
in
the following verse, where we find him speaking of seeking
help from the Lord. Hence
the longing after God, here spoken
of,
is the longing after Him as the Saviour, the helper in all
trouble:
compare Ps. 8, where the bearing of the soul to
God
stands parallel with trusting in Him: "Cause me to hear
Thy
loving-kindness in the morning, for in Thee do I trust;
cause
me to know the way wherein I should walk, for I bear my
soul
to Thee." The Psalmist says, that when in distress, he does
not,
like the ungodly, draw his soul at one time in this direction,
and
at another time in that; that he does not seek to catch now
at
this, now at that ignis fatuus of
human help: but that he goes
straight
with all his desire to God, and that he rests in His pro-
PSALM XXV. VERS. 2, 3. 429
tection.
In the form of fact, there is in reality an exhortation
expressed:
I bear, which is put into the mouth
of the sufferer,
in
whose name the Psalmist speaks, contains the hortative
"bear"
in it. The lively and undivided desire
for the help of
the
Lord, is the indispensable condition, and at the same time
the
sure ground, of deliverance.
Ver. 2. My God, I trust in Thee, let me not be put to shame,
let not mine enemies
rejoice over me.
The import is, "therefore,
may
I not," etc. The trust in God of this verse corresponds to
the
bearing of the soul to Him of the preceding verse. The
Psalmist
grounds his prayer for deliverance on the general
truth,
that that man shall never be put to shame who hopes in
God:
the maxim, "that whoever puts his confidence in God
shall
not be forsaken," is the ground of his hope, his confidence,
and
his joy. This maxim, from which he draws an inference
applicable
to his special case, is expressly announced in ver. 3.
Ver. 3. Yea, all who wait on Thee shall not be put to
shame: those shall be
put to shame who act perfidiously without
cause. The waiting corresponds to the drawing of
the soul to
the
Lord, and to the trusting in Him, of
the preceding verses.
The
yea, which superficial observers have
supposed to be
dragged
in for the sake of the alphabetical arrangement, indi-
cates
that the sufferer does not claim anything peculiar
for
himself,
but only what belongs to all who are
in the same cir-
cumstances.
It is only when this "yea" can be uttered, that
the
prayer has a solid foundation. The Futures are not, accord-
ing
to many interpreters, to be considered as optatives (this
would
give to the verse a very insipid character); they give
utterance
to a general truth. The dgb has its usual sense, to act
perfidiously. The perfidiousness is such as is perpetrated
not
against
God, but against our neighbour. Perfidiousness
com-
prehended
every violation of duty towards one's neighbour.
For
there existed a brotherly relationship among all the mem-
bers
of the
bodily
and spiritual race, all were interested in the covenant;
and,
as such, all had vowed not only love to God, but also love
to
each other. And perfidiousness was the want of this due
and
promised love. Perfidiousness, moreover, might be seen in
the
violation of some particular
relationship, arising out of what
was general in its origin. Compare Ps. 9. The
highest
degree
of wickedness .exists where fidelity is violated without a
430 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
cause,—
Mqyr,
without any provocation on the other side,—where
perfidiousness
is practised against him who is faithful. Many
expositors
have been led to adopt a false interpretation, from
the
idea that, as there is no suitable contrast between those who
wait
on God and the perfidious, the perfidiousness must be that
which
has God for its object. But this
ground proves nothing:
for
hope in God is grounded on a good conscience; the man
who
is not faithful to his neighbour, cannot hope for the help of
God;
as often as he attempts to do so, he meets with the ter-
rible
reply, "Depart from Me, ye workers of iniquity." We
are
prevented from considering God as the object of the per-
fidiousness
by the expression, "without cause," which is, pro-
perly,
"empty," and secondarily, "without ground;" as when
we
speak of "empty," that is, "groundless excuses;" and stands
in
the same connection as it does in those clauses which speak
of
the unprovoked violation of duty towards a neighbour in Ps.
vii.
4: compare the corresponding Mn.AHi yxan;W in Ps. lxix. 4. In
these
passages, "without a cause," cannot refer to God—the
expressions
there explain themselves. Mqyr signifies
"thought-
less,"
"wicked," or, "in a vain worthless way;" and may be
taken
as a verbal proof of the Davidic origin of our Psalm, as
it
occurs nowhere else in a similar connection except in Ps. vii
4.
But quite decisive is the relation between the expression,
"mine
enemies," in ver. 2, and the expression, "perfidious with-
out
a cause:" Let me, who trust in Thee, not be ashamed, for
all who wait on Thee are
kept from being put to shame: let
mine
enemies not triumph over me, for all
who, like mine ene-
mies,
are perfidious without a cause, are forbidden to triumph,
and
shall be put to shame; and it would be a turning of the
tables
if Thou wert to permit them to triumph, and me to be
put
to shame. Finally, the expression at the 19th verse, "they
hate
me with cruel hatred," is all the more deserving of being
compared
with the one before us, that it is impossible to fail
to
observe the correspondence between the beginning and the
conclusion
of the Psalm.
Ver. 4. Make known to me Thy ways, 0 Lord; teach me Thy
paths. Expositors generally
understand by "the ways and
paths
of the Lord," "that manner of life which is well-pleasing
to
Him." The Psalmist, on this supposition, prays for instruc-
tion
and guidance that he may walk worthily in these ways.
But
it is much more correct to suppose that the Psalmist is here
PSALM XXV. VER. 5. 431
repeating
in other words the prayer which he had already uttered
in
the preceding verse, and that the ways of God are the ways
of
deliverance, which He makes known to
His own that they
may
walk in them—a limitation which results from the person
of
the speaker: the Psalmist is not speaking of the ways of God
generally, but only of those
which relate to godly sufferers; and
these,
according to His nature and word, can be none other
than
the ways of deliverance. That this
interpretation is the
correct
one, is clear from the connection, which would be broken
in
an unpleasant manner by the prayer for moral guidance;
also
from the circumstance, that in the xxxiv. Psalm, which is
nearly
related to the one before us, the prayer is only for the
protection
of God in trouble. It is still further clear from the
for in the 5th verse: “Teach me Thy way, and lead me in it,
for Thou art the God of my
deliverance.” It is impossible to
do
justice to this for in any other way
than by supposing that
the
making known of the ways, and the guidance in them,
indicate
nothing else than safety and deliverance. How strong
this
proof is, is evident even from the remark of De Wette:
"That
the second clause of this verse is not closely connected
(according
to his exposition) with what goes before (and yet yk
shows
that such a connection must necessarily exist), and that
we
must not give to ‘my God of salvation’ too exact an inter-
pretation!"
Further, the 10th verse is in favour of this expo-
sition,
where, as is undeniable and generally allowed, "the
ways"
are "those in which He leads His own." Compare "all
His
ways are truth" in Deut. xxxii. 4. In like manner also, ver. 9.
Ver. 5. Lead me in Thy truth and teach me, for Thou art the
God of my salvation; I
wait on Thee continually. Most exposi-
tors
consider "in Thy truth," as equivalent to "in true godliness,
which
is well-pleasing to Thee," or even (Hitzig) "in fidelity to
Thee."
But this view is opposed, in the first place, by yk, to
which
we have already adverted in exposing the false interpre-
tation
put upon the preceding verse. Secondly, hvhy tmx is
always,
"the truth and faithfulness which belongs to God," and
never,
"the truth which He desires, and which is well-pleasing
to
Him," or "faithfulness towards Him." Compare Ps. xxx. 10,
lxxi.
22, xci. 4. Lastly, this exposition is opposed by the 9th
verse:
"All the ways of the Lord are grace and truth." Here,
as
in the above-mentioned, and in all other passages, "the truth
of
God" is "His faithfulness in fulfilling His promises." In so
432 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
far
as this should be exhibited in the experience of the Psalmist,
he
represents it as the way in which he prays that God would
lead
him (j`yrdh,
generally with b of the way in which one is
led),
just as he says in ver. 9, The meek God leads in right-
eousness,
in the paths of the same." Compare also Ps. xxvi. 3.
After
the words, "teach me," we must supply, "Thy truth, let
me
know it by experience." It appears that the v here stands
instead
of a vau at the beginning of a verse, where it could not
have
been conveniently placed; and that the Psalmist, for the
purpose
of making this apparent, repeats a word which he had
already
used, and introduces it in an abrupt manner: the
strange
appearance of the yndml was meant to suggest that it was
thus
placed from regard to the alphabetical arrangement. The
reason
assigned in the second clause of the verse, applies equally
to
the preceding verse, as to the first clause of this one. God
must
undertake for the Psalmist, because He is his Saviour,
and
the only ground of his hope.
Ver. 6. Remember Thy tender mercies, 0 Lord, and Thy
favours; for they are
from eternity.
God cannot be unlike Him-
self:
He cannot deny His character. Love and goodness have
been
His attributes from eternity; He has always had compas-
sion
on His own people, as a father has on his children; and
therefore
He cannot do otherwise than make the Psalmist, who
is
one of His children, partaker of His love and pity.
Ver. 7. Remember not the sins of my youth, and my trans-
gressions: according to
Thy grace remember me, for Thy goodness'
sake, 0 Lord. Calvin explains as
follows the connection with
the
preceding verse: "Because our sins raise up a partition
wall
between us and God, so that He does not hear our wishes,
or
stretch out His hand to help us, David now takes this obstacle
out
of the way. He acknowledges that he cannot otherwise,
than
by having his sins forgiven, be made partaker of the favour
of
God." But the forgiveness of sin is rather that in which
God
first makes known that favour and
pity, for the manifesta-
tion
of which the Psalmist had prayed in the preceding verse.
If
he has really become partaker of this,
salvation and deliver-
ance
will follow as a matter of course. God remembers His
tender mercies, for He cannot do
otherwise, since they have
dwelt
with Him from eternity; and therefore He cannot remem-
ber
the sins of the Psalmist's youth, for to remember them
would
be to give scope to His strict justice,
and not to His tender
432 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
far
as this should be exhibited in the experience of the Psalmist,
he
represents it as the way in which he prays that God would.
lead
him (j`yrdh,
generally with b of the way in which one is
led),
just as he says in ver. 9, "The meek God leads in right-
eousness,
in the paths of the same." Compare also Ps. xxvi. 3.
After
the words, "teach me," we must supply, "Thy truth, let
me
know it by experience." It appears that the v here stands
instead
of a vau at the beginning of a verse, where it could not
have
been conveniently placed; and that the Psalmist, for the
purpose
of making this apparent, repeats a word which he had
already
used, and introduces it in an abrupt manner: the
strange
appearance of the yndml was meant to suggest that it was
thus
placed from regard to the alphabetical arrangement. The
reason
assigned in the second clause of the verse, applies equally
to
the preceding verse, as to the first clause of this one. God
must
undertake for the Psalmist, because He is his Saviour,
and
the only ground of his hope.
Ver. 6. Remember Thy tender mercies, 0 Lord, and Thy
favours; for they are
from eternity.
God cannot be unlike Him-
self:
He cannot deny His character. Love and goodness have
been
His attributes from eternity; He has always had compas-
sion
on His own people, as a father has on his children; and
therefore
He cannot do otherwise than make the Psalmist, who
is
one of His children, partaker of His love and pity.
Ver. 7. Remember not the sins of my youth, and my trans-
gressions: according to
Thy grace remember me, for Thy goodness
sake, 0 Lord. Calvin explains as
follows the connection with
the
preceding verse: "Because our sins raise up a partition
wall
between us and God, so that He does not hear our wishes,
or
stretch out His hand to help us, David now takes this obstacle
out
of the way. He acknowledges that he cannot otherwise,
than
by having his sins forgiven, be made partaker of the favour
of
God." But the forgiveness of sin is rather that in which
God
first makes known that favour and
pity, for the manifesta-
tion
of which the Psalmist had prayed in the preceding verse.
If
lie has really become partaker of this,
salvation and deliver-
ance
will follow as a matter of course. God remembers His
tender mercies; for He cannot do
otherwise, since they have
dwelt
with Him from eternity; and therefore He cannot remem-
ber
the sins of the Psalmist's youth, for to remember them
would
be to give scope to His strict justice,
and not to His tender
PSALM XXV. VER. 8. 433
mercy. The Psalmist makes
mention of his sins of youth, not
as
if he were now an immaculate saint, but because in youth the
power
of original corruption is particularly strong: my sins, in
which
my youth particularly was so rich.
Luther: "For youth
is
not fit for virtue, or for anything that is good; because the
blood
is still too young and fresh, it cannot govern itself, or
think
of anything that is useful or good. For if any one will
allow
a youth to grow up, and do as he likes, he will become
quite
a devil; before one is aware what he is doing, it is already
done."
Compare Job xiii. 26; 2 Tim. ii. 22. That the temp-
tations
to sin are strong in youth, is obvious not only in the case
of
individuals, but also in that of nations. Moses reminds the
Israelites
(Deut. ix. 7) that they had provoked the Lord from
the
day that He had led them out of
sents
to them, in detail, the sins of their youth. It is all the
more
important to make this remark, that the Psalm, according
to
its conclusion, is intended not only
for individual members,
but
also for the whole body of the Church. The
"transgres-
sions"
is a stronger word than "sins:" the climax implies that
the
Psalmist acknowledged the whole magnitude, and all the
aggravations
of his transgressions. In the words, "think on
me
according to Thy grace," the Psalmist does not ask God to
act
towards him in an arbitrary manner, but, like every pious
suppliant,
that He would act according to the necessity of His
own
nature. The strict and inexorable righteousness of God
comes
into operation in regard to those only who are without
the
covenant and the promises. God is under the necessity of
remembering
His own children, according to His grace. The
words,
"for Thy goodness' sake," point to this necessity in the
nature
of God. This is the ground in God from which the
fulfilment
of the prayer proceeds; because Thou art good, there-
fore
canst Thou not be severe and relentless towards the weak-
ness
of Thy people. If God were not good, it would be in
vain
to offer up to Him such a prayer as this.
Ver. 8. Good and upright is the Lord; therefore does He teach
sinners the way. The Psalmist, in the
passage from vers. 8-10,
in
following up, "for Thy goodness' sake," enters upon the con-
sideration
of the Divine perfections, for the purpose of obtain-
ing
thereby stronger confidence in God's compassion, and new
zeal
in prayer. The principles on which the early petitions de-
pend
are here expressed. Vitringa, at the fundamental pas-
434 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
sage,
Deut. xxxii. 4, has some very important observations upon
rwy, upright,
in so far as it is used in reference to God. It de-
notes
agreement between the Divine nature and actions on the
one
hand, and the idea of what is good or Divine on the other,
perincle
ac architectis rectum dicitur quod exactum est ad libram
ant
calamum. Vitringa observes, that in this rwy there was
made
known the true idea of God, which the popular and mythic
theology
of the Gentiles had corrupted, and remarks, "that in
speaking
of the operations of Divine providence, we ought to
take
great care lest we entertain of God the blasphemous and
absurd
idea that He can do anything which is inconsistent with
right
reason, equity, and purity." God, because not good, would
not
even be upright, were He to fail to assist His own people in
spite
of their sins of infirmity. The clause, He
teaches the way,
properly,
He instructs in the way (which
explains the construc-
tion
with b,
which occurs instead of the usual construction with
the
accusative also in Ps. xxxii. 8), is equivalent to, He is their
leader in the path of
life, their helper, their protection. We can-
not,
as most interpreters do, consider the words as having any
reference
whatever to moral instruction. This
idea is opposed
by
the relation in which they stand to what goes before, and to
what
follows. The Psalmist merely expresses in this verse, in
the
form of a general affirmation, that the regular course of
God's
procedure was to grant what he had there besought from
God
for himself, and which he will. still beseech from Him. The
verse
before us stands in the same relation, to vers. 4-7, as Ver.
3
does to vers. 1 and 2. But in vers. 4-7, the discourse is not
concerning
moral instruction, but concerning forgiveness of sin
and
salvation. That God helps sinners,—that
is, such as are at
the
same time righteous (the expression is not the
sinners:
there
is also an important difference between MyxFH and Myfwp
or
Myfwr),
or, what amounts to the same thing, His own people,—
is
a necessary outgoing of the goodness and righteousness of
God,
tends to the praise of these attributes.
Ver. 9. He guides the meek in righteousness, and teaches the
meek His way. Calvin misinterprets
this clause: "He speaks
here
of the second favour which the Lord imparts to His believ-
ing
people, after that they have become the willing subjects of
His
kingdom." According to the correct
exposition, the Psalmist
speaks
here of the same favour of which he
had spoken in the
preceding
verse. There, as here, the subject is the imparting
PSALM XXV. VERS. 10, 11. 435
of
help and salvation. The meek here are
the sinners of the
preceding
verse; from which again it is evident what sort of
sinners
it is that we are to think about;—those, namely, who are
at
the same time meek. He leads them in
righteousness; that
is,
He gives to them, who do not oppose might with might,
justice
against their oppressors. Righteousness appears here
like
a road along which God leads His people, like truth in the
4th
verse. The abbreviated Future j`rdy stands in the sense of
the
usual form. The whole verse expresses the truth on the
foundation
of which the prayer of the 4th verse
rises; and, as it
is
evident that it refers to what one
experiences, or, what hap-
pens to one, that it is altogether
inadmissible to think of moral
instruction
and guidance there.
Ver. 10. All the ways of the Lord are grace and truth to those
who keep His covenant
and His testimonies.
Calvin: "The sum
is,
God acts in such a manner towards His faithful people as
that
they experience Him, at all points, to be gracious and
true."
The keeping of the covenant and the testimonies stands,
according
to the 8th verse, in opposition to bold and wilful
transgressions.
Sins of infirmity cannot deprive a
man of his
interest
in the promises of the covenant. The covenant itself
provides
for them the means of expiation and forgiveness, when
they
are confessed and repented of.
Ver. 11. For Thy name's sake, 0 Lord, thus wilt Thou forgive
mine iniquity, for it is
great.
The v
in tHlsv
is what is termed
the
vau conversivum of the Future; or, according to Ewald,
p.
551, Sm. Gr. 613, the vau relative of the first mode. "On
account
of Thy name," is "on account of Thy nature." The
name
of Jehovah,—arising out of His manifestations,—brings
before
the mind for contemplation all that Jehovah is, renders
present
His whole historical character. It is the goodness
and
righteousness of God, according to
ver. 8, that is here brought
particularly
under notice; according to which, He cannot do
otherwise
than open up to His own people the fountain of for-
giveness.
Luther: "We have a throne of grace for sin, so that
our
Lord God must absolutely shut His eyes, and say, as it
stands
in Ps. xxxii. 1, Blessed is the man to whom the Lord
imputeth
not his sin. This is our theology, as we pray in the
petition
of the Lord's Prayer, Forgive us our sins; from this we
know
that we live only under grace. Grace, however, does not
only
take away sin; it also bears with it, and endures it: this is
436 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
the
import of the throne of grace." De Wette is mistaken:
"An
opposition—not for my sake, not on account of any merit
of
mine." The Psalmist cannot be excluding his own merit as
the
ground of forgiveness of sin, for it never occurred to him.
The
opposition is rather, "Because Thou art good and upright,
do
not take vengeance on mine iniquity with inexorable severity,
but
forgive it." The words,
"for it is great," form the ground of
the
Psalmist's prayer for forgiveness. His iniquity is so great,
that
he must be irremediably lost if God were to deal with him
according
to his works.
Ver. 12. Who is the man who fears the Lord? He teaches
him the way which he may
choose.
The "Who is the man?" ex-
presses
the sense, that wherever there is such a one, he shall not
fail
of the gracious guidance of God; and that the fear of the Lord
and
deliverance are inseparably, and
without exception, bound
together.
The way here also, as what follows
sufficiently shows,
is
not to be understood in a moral sense. The fearers of God
have,
in their journey through life, a faithful leader and guide;
the
Lord points out to them the way of deliverance. The un-
godly,
on the other hand, left to themselves, choose the way of
destruction;
they run upon their own ruin.
Ver. 13. His soul spends the night in good, and his seed pos-
sesses the land. The
soul of the God-fearing man, is his own
person
in opposition to his posterity. To spend
the night in
good, is to enjoy an enduring prosperity. The second clause
alludes
to those passages in the law in which the Lord promises
to
His people lasting possession of
tinue
in the fear of God: compare, for example, Ex. xx. 12;
Lev.
xxvi.; Deut. xxviii. While the ungodly, with their pos-
terity,
are rooted out from among their people, the promise is
fulfilled
to the godly and to their posterity who resemble them.
Crx, with the poetical omission of the article,
stands for the land
of
vidualizing
designation for the Divine blessings attendant on
faithfulness
to the covenant, it is easy, without any fear of mis-
understanding,
to distinguish between the general substance of
the
thought,—viz., the enjoyment of Divine blessings, of sal-
vation,—and
its special Old Testament dress. Our Lord quotes
the
passage in this way in Matt. v. 5.
Ver. 14. The friendship of the Lord is with them that fear
Him, and He makes known
to them His covenant.
At the first
PSALM XXV. VERS. 15-18. 437
clause,
compare Prov. iii. 32: "The ungodly is abomination to
the
Lord, but His intimate friendship is with the righteous,"
vdvs; Job xxix. 4. The second clause, literally,
"His covenant
is
in order to make known to them," is "designed to be made
known
to them." Comp. on the infinitive with l, Ewald, p. 621,
Sm.
Gr. 544. Or it may be thus expounded: "His covenant
is
for the fearers of God, that He may make it known to them."
The
making, known of the covenant is not inwardly;
it takes
place
in matters of fact, through the
events of their history, in
which
the covenant-relation is realized. Several expositors, in
opposition
to the parallelism, the connection, and usage, sup-
pose
the Psalmist to be speaking of insight into the meaning of
the
law.
Ver. 15. Mine eyes look always towards the Lord, for He takes
my feet out of the net. Comp. Ps. ix. 15.
Ver. 16. Turn Thyself to me, and be gracious to me; for I am
lonely and miserable.
Ver. 17. The troubles of my heart they enlarge; bring me out
of my distresses. hrc is, properly,
"narrowness." We cannot
take
vbyHrh
in an intransitive sense. The many who oppress
the
Psalmist, stand over against the one from whom he can hope
for
deliverance. Substantially, the enemies and haters (comp.
the
19th verse) are the subject; but the circumstance that they
are
not named expressly as such, increases the emphasis. Every-
thing
had conspired against the Psalmist; compare dyHy of the
preceding
verse, out of which the subject is to be taken. Several
interpreters,
and lastly Hitzig, wish here to alter the text. They
take
the v
from the end of vbyHrh, and join it to the next clause,
and
point byHir;ha: make wide the
straitnesses of my heart. But one
does
not see how the more easy could ever be supplanted by
the
more difficult reading. There is in the mere description of
the
greatness of the trouble, in the first clause, a stronger cry
to
God for help, than if the cry had been at the same time ex-
pressed.
The first clause of this verse corresponds exactly to
the
second of the preceding, and the second to the first. On
an
attentive consideration, it is obvious that this arbitrary alter-
ation
does not give a suitable sense, as the troubles do not admit
of
being enlarged.
Ver. 18. See my misery and suffering, and forgive all my
sins. The l
is not the
mark of the accusative, but is properly
to
be translated forgive: grant forgiveness
to all my sins.
438 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
Ver. 19. See my enemies, for they are many, and they hate me
with unrighteous hatred. If God once sees, He
cannot but help:
but
that He should see and not further overlook, is rendered
necessary
from their great numbers and malicious wickedness.
Ver. 20. Keep my soul, and deliver me; let me not be ashamed,
for I trust in Thee. Muis: "An
excellent reason:—otherwise
I
should have trusted in Thee in vain. The glory of God de-
mands
that He help."
Ver. 21. Blamelessness and uprightness shall preserve me,
for I hope in Thee, who helpest the
upright. Otherwise the
expectation
that salvation shall follow uprightness would be a
foolish
one. Luther: "Simple and right; i.e., that I am up-
right
and without blame in my life."
Ver. 22. Redeem, 0 God,
verse,
which Rosenmüller supposes to have been added at a later
period,
is obviously intended to be a closing verse, from the cir-
cumstance
of its containing only one clause. It has this in
common
with the 1st verse, which, in like manner, stands to
a
certain extent out of the alphabetical arrangement, as the
2d
verse also begins with x. The 1st verse begins with x, that
the
Psalm might have, as it were, the signature of an alpha-
betical
one on its forehead; and inasmuch as the x gets thus
only
a part of its rights, it has assigned to it the first word of
the
2d verse. The transition from the prayer, in regard to the
necessities
of the individual, to one on behalf of the whole
Church,
is all the more easy, that the Psalm throughout has no
special
application. There is a similar conclusion in Ps. xxxiv.
23.—Elohim,
the general name of God, is used
here, although
Jehovah
had been used throughout the Psalm, because
is
destitute of all human help. The
opposition which called
this
forth is distinctly expressed in the preceding context.
PSALM XXVI.
The Psalmist begins at ver. 1 with
the prayer to God for
help
in trouble, which he grounds on his earnest moral efforts
and
his unfeigned piety, especially his trust
in God. He then
turns
first, in vers. 2-8, to expand this basis of his prayer: his
heart
is pure, and needs not fear the strictest scrutiny; for (as
the
expansion of, I have trusted in the Lord)
he has had the
PSALM XXVI. 439
love
of God and the faithfulness of God always before his eyes
and
in his heart, and in regard to them (I
have walked in mine
integrity), he has shunned all
intercourse with the wicked in
their
wickedness: towards his neighbour he has acted blame-
lessly,
and towards God his heart is filled with fear and love.
After
this follows the development of the prayer,
that God
would
not, as regards community of experience,
join him with
those
from whom he is inwardly separated:
that He would not
give
him over, like the wicked, to death.
He obtains, in ver. 12,
the confidence of being heard in this
prayer, so that, at the con-
clusion,
he is able to give utterance to a purpose involving the
most
assured confidence of salvation—to thank
God.
We have thus an introductory and a
concluding verse, and
two
main divisions. All the significant numbers of the Old
Testament
we here find brought into use. The whole Psalm
has
twelve verses: the main body is complete in ten; the first
division
of this main body, containing the description of the
fulfilment
of the duties of the covenant (comp.
Ps. xxv. 10, such
as keep His covenant), in seven, the number
of the covenant;
and
the second division, containing the prayer for the blessing
of
the covenant, in three, which is the number of the Mosaic
blessing.
The situation of the Psalmist, and
the occasion of the
Psalm,
have been almost without exception misunderstood by
recent
expositors. Thus De Wette remarks: "The prayer in
ver.
9 has no special reference, but means, that when God
sits
in judgment and inflicts punishments, He will exempt the
Psalmist
from these;" and Ewald concludes from the same
verse,
"that the Psalm was composed on the occasion of a
pestilence."
The situation is not that of one who fears misery;
it
is that of one who finds himself
already in misery: the prayer
is
not one for preservation from misery, but for deliverance out
of
misery, and for defence against utter destruction, against
that
annihilating punishment which belongs
only to the wicked;
while
of the righteous it is said,
"God afflicteth me sore, but He
does
not give me over to destruction." There is not a word
throughout
the whole Psalm of general judgments or pestilences.
That
this is the correct view, is evident from the very first word,
judge me; that is,
"interpose to give me justice, deliver me from
a
condition in which, if it were to be regarded as permanent, it
would
be unrighteous to suffer me to remain." The prayer for
440 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
the
judgment of God always proceeds from
such as are already
in
misery. It is still further evident from the 11th verse, de-
liver me, or redeem me, after which De Wette
inaccurately sup-
plies
the words, from threatening judgment,
and also from the
clause,
have mercy on me. The same use may be
made of the
first
clause of the concluding verse, my foot
standeth in an even
place, which implies that hitherto the Psalmist had been stand-
ing
on difficult and dangerous ground.
All attempts to find out an
individual application for our
Psalm,
or to mark out any historical circumstances with which
it
may be connected, have utterly failed. Thus Ewald, from
the
strong contrast drawn between the wicked and the right-
eous,
concludes that it was composed at a late period, and
from
vers. 6-8, that it was composed in the temple. The cir-
cumstance,
that the trouble is nowhere carefully defined, and
that
the language used is manifestly and designedly as general
as
it could possibly be, is sufficient to show that the Psalmist
speaks
in the name and out of the soul of the righteous man.
If
this be established, it is also clear that the Psalm is of a hor-
tatory
character. The theme is this: "Only he who can with
truth
say, I have walked in mine integrity, and
I have trusted in
the Lord, may hope for Divine aid
in trouble, but he may do
so
with full confidence." The general tendency is also clear
from
the connection with Ps. xxv.
In pointing out the general
character of our Psalm, we also
remove
an objection which Köster has drawn, from the graphic
descriptions,
and from the uniform division of the verses into
two
parts, against its Davidic origin. Its origin is fully con-
firmed,
not only by the superscription, but also by its manifest-
relationship
to Ps. xvii., xviii. 21, xv. and xxiv.
The manifest resemblance between the
clause, judge me, 0
God, for I have walked
in mine INTEGRITY,
at the beginning of
our
Psalm, and the one, INTEGRITY and uprightness
shall pre-
serve me, near the close of Ps.
xxv., is sufficient to lead to the
idea,
that the two Psalms are very nearly related to each other.
This
idea is confirmed by the similarity between them as to for-
mal
arrangement: in Ps. xxv. we have, 1. 20. 1.,—an introduc-
tory
verse, two decades, and a concluding verse,—and in the
Psalm
before us, 1. 10. 1. Perhaps also in the 25th Psalm, the
effort
not to go beyond the number 20 may have been the cause
wily
the v
and the q
were omitted. Along with this outward
PSALM XXVI. VER. 1. 441
similarity,
there is an inward resemblance of the
closest kind.
The
contents of the one Psalm supplement those of the other.
In
the one Psalm, the suffering righteous man is directed to
seek
refuge in the Divine compassion,
which secures forgiveness
for
manifold sins of infirmity: in the other, again, he is led,
from
a consideration of the Divine righteousness, which must
make
a distinction between the righteous and the wicked, to en-
tertain
the firm hope of deliverance. We have, therefore, be-
fore
us a pair of Psalms, which point to the compassion and
the
righteousness of God, as the two foundations on which the
Lord's
people may rest a confident hope of deliverance. In
order
that the two might be connected, as it were, by a bridge,
the
idea which, in the one Psalm, is brought prominently for-
ward,
and has the first place assigned to it, is introduced as a
subordinate
element at the close of the other.
Ver. 1. Judge me, 0 Lord, for I have walked in mine in-
tegrity; and I have
trusted in the Lord, therefore may I not slide.
The
two members of this verse are parallel to each other. I
walk in mine integrity, corresponds to, I trust in the Lord; and
judge me, to, may I not slide. In each member there is
contained
the
description of a subjective condition, and a prayer grounded
on
that condition. This manifest parallelism would be destroyed,
were
we, with most recent expositors, to translate: "and I trust
in
the Lord without sliding." Against this interpretation, more-
over,
we may urge: 1st, That to slide occurs frequently in the
sense
of to perish, Job xii. 3; Ps. xviii.
36, xxxvii. 31; while
there
is no such expression anywhere else, as to
slide in trusting
in God. 2d, I have trusted in the Lord, which is not at all a
suitable
expression in an address to God. 3d, My foot standeth
in an even place, at the close of the
Psalm, announces that the
prayer,
may I not slide, has been heard, just
as, I shall praise
the Lord, implies that an answer
has been received to judge me,
0 God. Judge me is, in the mouth of a
righteous man, equiva-
lent
to, help me. For if God takes up the
cause of such a one,
He
must decide it in his favour. Only he can say, help me, in
confidence
of being heard, who can with a good conscience also
change
help me into judge me. That Mt is more than openness
or
sincerity, that it denotes moral blamelessness, and purity in
all
its extent, is evident from its development (4-6), and from
442 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
its
opposite in ver. 10: compare also the similar Ps. ci. This
is
also the fundamental meaning. In 1
Kings xxii. 34, the word.
is
used in an improper or popular sense. To walk
is to act.
The
blamelessness of the Psalmist is that in which his conduct
rests,
the guiding principle of his life. The blamelessness of
the
Psalmist is the quality, the character, the walk, the procedure
thereby
determined. Hence it appears that the
suffix in mine
integrity
is by no means superfluous, as it is permissible to inter-
pret, in the integrity to which I have been
accustomed.— To walk
in integrity has reference to the
commandments of the second
table;
and to trust in the Lord, to those of
the first. To walk in
integrity is co-ordinate with to trust in the Lord, only in the sense
in
which the commandment to love our neighbour is co-ordinate
with
the commandment to love God, in Matt. xxii. 39. Trust
in
God is the fountain of integrity.
Whoever places his hope
in
God need not seek to advance his worldly interests by ne-
glecting
his duties: he expects everything from
above, and, at
the
same time, always takes heed that he do not deprive himself
of
the favour of his heavenly Saviour through violating His
commandments.
There follows now, in vers. 2-8, the
development of I have
walked in integrity, and
trusted in the Lord.
The Psalmist first
affirms the cleanness and the
purity of his heart, ver. 2; then
he
grounds this affirmation, vers. 3-8,
in which he first descends
from
piety to morality, vers. 3-5, and then comes back again
from
morality to piety, as at ver. 1. The first division of the
Psalm,
which is complete in seven verses,
has thus a threefold
division
within itself—an introduction, and two strophes, each of
the
latter consisting of three verses. The thrice-repeated name
of
Jehovah is in unison with this.
Ver. 2. Prove me, 0 Lord, and try me; for my heart and my
reins are purified. The Psalmist had, in
the preceding verse,
grounded
his prayer for help on his trust in God, and on his
integrity.
But these could form a good basis for prayer only
if
they were true, unfeigned, heartfelt;
for, as everything de-
pends
on the heart, it is at it that the law points expressively.
In
order, then, to represent them as such, the Psalmist calls
upon
God to try his innermost heart, and affirms that this trial
will
be most satisfactory in its results. Ps. xvii. 3 is exactly
parallel.
The reading in the text is hpvrc, the part. paul, my
reins and my heart are
purified.
The union of the feminine
PSALM XXVI. VER. 3. 443
singular
with the plural is quite common: compare
Ew.
Sm. Gr. p. 568. The connection with the first clause may
either
be thus explained: the Psalmist confidently exhorts God
to
make trial;—for his heart has been purified, so that the trial
cannot
but be satisfactory to him,—when Thou makest the trial,
Thou
shalt find, etc.: or we may consider the two clauses as
simply
co-ordinate, and the first in the sense, I
need not fear the
strictest scrutiny. The reading on the
margin, hpAr;cA, the impera-
tive,
is a mere conjecture, and is indebted for its existence only
to
the effort to produce a conformity between the two clauses.
The
textual reading is favoured by the for
at the beginning of
the
following verse, which, with the marginal reading, could not
be
so easily explained.
Ver. 3. For Thy loving-kindness was before my eyes, and I
walked in Thy truth. The for refers, not only to the verse, but
to
the whole section, vers. 3-8; the object of which is to establish
the
assertion of the Psalmist, that he did not fear the strictest
scrutiny,
because (or, and that) his heart is purified. To a
purified
heart there belongs first sincere piety:
this the Psalmist
claims
for himself, here and at the end of this section, in the
second
half of ver. 6, and in vers. 7 and 8. The second part
of
purity of heart is true righteousness:
this the Psalmist claims
in
vers. 4, 5, and the first half of ver. 6. The copiousness
in
regard to piety in the second strophe, corresponds to the
brevity
on the same subject in the first. The Psalmist design-
edly
begins and ends with piety: righteousness, of which it is
the
cause and source, is in this way enclosed within it. The
import
of I have walked in Thy truth, is
obvious from the parallel,
Thy love was before my
eyes,
i.e. I have always kept my eyes fixed
upon Thy love. Hence the truth of
God,—His faithfulness to
His
promises,—is the domain within which the Psalmist spi-
ritually
moves, the territory on which he walks: I
continually
thought upon the truth. The inward connection
between morality
and
piety is here clearly exhibited. Whoever has the love of
God
before his eyes, and His truth in his heart, or, in one word,
whoever
trusts in God (for our verse is only
the development of
I have trusted in the
Lord,
ver. 1), will not sit with men of
falsehood,
etc. Wherever the consciousness of the grace and
faithfulness
of God rules the life, the man will quietly expect
from
on high that which one living without God in the world,
and
acting under the impulse of his own strong natural desire
444 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
for
enjoyment, will endeavour to take in his own way, and with
violation
of the holy commandments of God.—Expositions such
as
those of Hitzig, for love of Thee was
before mine eyes, and I
have walked in
faithfulness to Thee,
disappear of themselves, as
soon
as we gain a real insight into the organism of the Psalm.
Besides,
tmx
is not "faithfulness:" hvhy dSH signifies always,
"the
love of God," never, "love to God" (compare Ps. v. 8),
and
hvhy tmx always, "the truth of God;" compare Ps. xxv. 5.
It
will not do, with Maurer and others, to understand by the
truth of God, His
commandments,
because dsH
and tmx
always
refer,
when used in this connection, to the love of God, and to
His
faithfulness in keeping His promises. Lastly, we cannot
translate,
with Muis: "I have Thy love and truth always before
me
for imitation." For the love and the faithfulness of God
are
never brought before us as a pattern or example, but always
only
as a ground of confidence.
Ver. 4. I sat not with men of falsehood, and with dissemblers
I do not come. The change of tense is
to be carefully observed.
The
Preterite indicates what the Psalmist had hitherto done; the
Future,
what he would take care to do. It is not without design
that
the Psalmist begins with falsehood.
The conviction of the
truth of God raises him above
all temptation to be untrue. This
reference
to the preceding verse clearly requires us to under-
stand
xvw,
in its usual sense of "lying," "falsehood." We cannot,
therefore,
with Hitzig, translate it by crime,
nor, with others, by
vanity, worthlessness: the parallel term is
also against all such
renderings,
Mymlfn dissemblers, qui frontem aperiunt, mentem
tegunt.
After I do not come, we are to
understand, to their
meeting or assembly, which is very easily supplied out of the
first
clause. Compare Genesis xlix. 6.—Ver. 5. I
hated the
assembly of the
evil-doers, and with the wicked I do not sit. The
import
is: "I take no part in the assemblies for the ruin of
others."
In ver. 4, also, the "sitting,"
and the "coming," do not
refer
to intercourse and conversation generally, but to the mak-
ing
common cause in some respect or other.
Ver. 6. I wash mine hands in innocency, and I will compass
Thine altar, 0 Lord. The threefold Jehovah
of the section is
so
divided, that it opens it, and concludes it, and stands here in
the
first verse of the second strophe,—the strophe of the ascent
from
morality to piety. The hands are
considered, in the first
clause,
as the instruments of action: innocence
is the spiritual
PSALM XXVL VER. 7. 445
water;
compare Ps. lxxii. 13, where the washing
of the hands
in innocency corresponds to cleansing the heart; Job ix. 30, where
instead
of innocency there stands
"potash;" and Deut. xxi. 6,
and
Matt. xxvii. 34, where the hands were washed in protesta-
tion
of innocence. The Psalmist describes himself as one inte-
ger
vitae scelerisque purus.—The second clause is translated by
Gesenius
and others: "I go round about Thy altar." But bbvs
never
occurs in the sense of "to go round anything." And
besides,
there is no mention elsewhere of processions
round the
altar. Luther seized the true
sense: "I hold fast by Thine
altar,
0 Lord." To encompass, is used
of a single individual,
to
denote a clinging to, or strong attachment to: compare Jer.
xxxi.
22; see on the passage the Christology, P. III. p. 567.
The
altar of the Lord, which the Psalmist approaches, is placed
in
opposition to the assembly of the wicked, which he shuns.
The
Fut. parag. may very suitably be taken in its usual sense:
"I
will encompass." As the Psalmist had done it hitherto, so
is
he determined to continue to do it in future. The changes
of
the Preterite, of the common Future, and of the paragogic
Future,
are assuredly not accidental, and must not be overlooked.
De
Wette does not seem to have had a correct view of the con-
tents
of this verse "Besides pure morality, the poet is a zealous
observer
of religious rites." To this it may be replied, it is not
the
outward worship of God, as such, that is referred to in the
clause,
I have trusted in God, of which the
passage before us is
merely
the development. The verse, moreover, is connected
with
the one following; and from that verse it is obvious that the
object
which the Psalmist has in view in coming to God's altar,
the
thing which brings him there, is not that he may offer out-
ward
sacrifices (to this, as a matter of inferior moment, assuredly
no
allusion is made), as if they were meritorious in themselves,
but
that he may bless and praise God, and may express his trust
in
Him in the place consecrated to His service, and in the pre-
sence
of His Church. Thus the expression, I
encompass Thine
altar, is very suitable after
my heart has been purified, and
stands
related,
as is obviously designed by the Psalmist, as cause to
effect,
to I wash my hands in innocency.
Ver. 7. That I may cause the voice of praise to be heard, and
may make known all Thy
wonders.
There is no reason for trans-
lating
fymwl,
contracted for fymwhl, contrary to the usual import
of
the infinitive with l, by in
that I tune up. Though the con-
446 THE BOOK OF PSALMS
struction
of fymwh,
followed by b, cannot without difficulty admit
of
the sense of tuning up, there is no
objection here, as in
Ezek.
xxvii. 30, to take the sense of to cause
to be heard, to
cause that others hear, with b as the instr. b. The wonders of
the
Lord, the manifestations of His glory in guiding
especially
the Psalmist, form the subject of the praise. Only
he
whose heart is so full of these wonders, that his mouth can-
not
refrain from uttering them, can offer up, in a manner
worthy
of being heard, the prayer, judge me, 0
Lord, and shall
be
made to share in new wonders. For
wonders are designed
only
for trust, and trust calls forth praise and thanks.
Ver. 8. 0 Lord, I loved the place of Thine house, and the
place where Thine honour
dwelleth.
The Psalmist proceeds to
show
that he has approved himself, through fulfilling the com-
mandments
of the first table, as one to whom the help of God
belongs.
The sum thereof, even in the law, is love to God; and
this
love is directed, not to a distant and abstract God, but to
one
made known to His people, and dwelling in the midst of
them:
just as a Christian can love God only in Christ, so, under
the
Old Testament, love to God was at the same time love to
the
place of His house. The honour of God is His glory, which
is
wherever He is, for He is the glorious God:—where
Thou
dwellest, the glorious
God;
compare Ex. xl. 34, 35; Num. ix.
15,
16.—De Wette maintains, that the circumstance of so much
importance
being attached to repairing to the sanctuary, betrays
the
late period of the writer. But there is assuredly nothing
said
of repairing to the sanctuary; and
the idea, that as there
is
but one Lord, so there is but one sanctuary,
is exceedingly
suitable
to the time of David. It is shown in the Beitr., P. 3,
p.
54, etc., that even during the period of the Judges, the ark of
the
covenant, which had its place at
it
ought to be according to the law, as the heart, the spiritual
centre-point
of the nation, and the Lord and the ark were viewed
as
inseparably connected together. As a proof that in David's
time
the ark of the covenant, which was brought by him to
same
position, it is sufficient to refer to 2 Sam. xv. 25: "And
the
king said unto Zadok, Carry back the ark of the covenant
into
the city: if I shall find favour in the eyes of the Lord,
He
will bring me again, and show me both it and His habita-
tion."
The ark and the Lord appear here as inseparably con-
PSALM XXVI. VER. 9-11. 447
nected:
to see the dwelling-place of the Lord, is at the same
time
to see Himself. In full accordance with this, are those
Psalms,
manifestly of Davidic origin, in which the expression of
hope
of help from
for
example, Ps. xiv. 7, xx. 3.
The development of I have walked in mine integrity, and
trusted in the Lord, is followed by the
development of judge me,
and may I not slide.
Ver. 9. Take not away my soul with the wicked, and my life
with men of blood. Mf here plainly refers to Mf in vers. 4, 5.
The
Psalmist prays that God would not, in contradiction to His
own
nature, and His word grounded therein, bind him up in
community
of outward condition with those with
whom he had
always
avoided having any communion in thought
and action;
that
He would not visit one, who was already in a suffering
condition,
with that irremediable ruin which is
the portion of the
wicked—the
penalty of daring sin, not the
fatherly chastisement
of
infirmity compare Ps. lxxxvi. 1, 2:
"Bow down Thine ear,
0
Lord, hear me; for I am poor and needy. Preserve my soul,
for
I am holy: 0 Thou my God, save Thy servant who trusteth
in
Thee." Calvin: "It might appear, at first sight, an absurd
prayer,
that God would not involve the righteous in destruction
with
the ungodly; but God, in the exercise of His fatherly in-
dulgence,
permits His people to give such free expression to
their
feelings, that they may, even by the exercise of prayer
itself,
alleviate their care. For David, in giving utterance
to
this wish, sets the righteous judgment of God before his
eyes
for the purpose of delivering himself from care and fear,
inasmuch
as nothing can be more strange to God than to blend
together
good and evil." There is an allusion to Gen. xviii.
23,
etc.
Ver. 10. In whose hand is crime, and whose right hand is full
of bribery. Compare for the first
clause, Ps. vii. 3; and for the
second,
Ps. xv. 5.
Ver. 11. But I walk in mine integrity; redeem me, and
be merciful unto me. The reason why the
Psalmist, in this
second
part, makes mention only of duties of the second table,
is
because these are more tangible, because mistakes as to one's
own
condition or that of others are not so easy here, and be-
cause
the opposites are clear, and cannot be mistaken for each
other.
448 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
Ver. 12. My foot stands in an even place; in the assemblies
will I praise the Lord. hdmf is the prophet.
Preterite. The
Psalmist
in faith sees his deliverance as already present. It is
clear
as day that the first clause refers to this, and not to right-
eousness.
This is required by the connection, by the parallel-
ism,
by the relation in which the words stand to
may I not slide,
ver.
7 (whose fulfilment they announce),
by the ordinary use of
the
term, Ps. xxvii. 11, cxliii. 10, and by the analogy of the
Preterites
in the concluding verses of those Psalms which are
generally
prophetic. The even place stands in
opposition to a
difficult territory, full of steep cliffs and precipices.—The second
clause
expresses, in like manner, the confident expectation of
being
heard and delivered:—the Lord will give me opportunity
to
praise Him. The assemblies are not private meetings of the
faithful
for edification, but assemblies for the public worship of
God
in the temple: compare vers. 6 and 7, and Ps. xxii. 26.
The
words, I shall praise the Lord,
proclaim the fulfilment of
the
prayer, judge me, 0 Lord. The “Jehovah”
completes the
threefold
repetition of the word in the conclusion and introduc-
tion,
which, in this respect, correspond to the main body of the
Psalm.
At the conclusion of the exposition
it is necessary to advert to
the
charge of self-righteousness. The
older expositors had already
prepared
the way for the charge. Amyraldus remarks: "David
speaks
in such high terms of his innocence and piety, that the
Psalm
can be fully interpreted only by considering David as a
type
of Christ, and by taking it for granted that he had not so
much
himself as Christ before his mind when he composed it."
And
De Wette has openly taken notice of the subject in
the
way of an objection to this Psalm. The poet, he thinks,
speaks
with so much self-complacency and confidence, as to let
it
be seen that he fully considers himself entitled to a better lot
than
is assigned to other men. We, whose minds have been
enlightened
by the teaching of the New Testament on the sub-
ject
of the righteousness of faith without works, are reminded
by
such language of the prayer of the Pharisee. The ground
of
this error lies in the prominence given to legal observances
among
the Hebrews: to these there was more attention paid than
to
the requirements of morality. But that this whole charge is
founded
upon a complete mistake, is evident from what has
been
said at Ps. xvii. 1 xviii. 20, and in the introduction to the
PSALM XXVI. 449
Psalm
before us, on its didactic tendency, and its connection with
Ps.
xxv., which, according to De Wette, “is distinguished for
the
most beautiful humility, and acknowledgment of unworthi-
ness.”
To all this the following observations may still be added.
--That
the Psalmist is very far from representing himself as a
spotless
saint, and that the righteousness and piety of which he
speaks,
is as yet to be formed, and relates
only to the funda-
mental tendency of the soul, and does
not exclude manifold sins
of
infirmity, is evident, irrespective
of the connection of our
Psalm
with the preceding one (a connection, however, which
must
not be impossible), from the circumstance, that the Psalmist
acknowledges,
as a right in itself, the suffering to which he is ex-
posed:
it is destruction only, not chastisement, that he deprecates,
—this
he knows to be perfectly right in itself, and to have been
fully
merited by him. Righteousness in this sense is, even in
the
New Testament, spoken of as the indispensable prerequisite
of
salvation. It is thus that we read, "Blessed are the pure in
heart,
for they shall see God;" that is, they shall experience Him
to
be gracious. Our Psalm is a commentary on this statement,
and,
indeed, generally on the beatitudes of the Sermon on the
the
Mount. Let it not be said, that though this righteousness
should
undoubtedly be in existence, yet it must not, on any ac-
count,
be a matter of consciousness: false humility is really a
lie,
and cannot be acceptable to a God of truth. Such a con-
sciousness
is not incompatible with the doctrine of the right-
eousness
of faith, except when that doctrine is misemployed as
subservient
to the purposes of rationalism; ought
and am are
separated
by an immense gulf: the righteousness of faith, in
the
scriptural sense, is the parent, not the enemy of integrity of
life.
Assuredly the Christian poet sings, that he who has
washed
away his sins in the blood of Christ, cannot but main-
tain
a holy walk.—The prayer of the Pharisee has nothing to do
with
our Psalm: the righteousness there is imaginary,
here it is
real; there it consists in
the careful observance of rites and cere-
monies, here it is inward piety and outward morality; there
it is
absolute, here it is limited.—Finally, though there were here
the
expression
of inordinate self-complacency, it could not well be
traced
to the prevalence among the Hebrews of superior regard
to
the ceremonial over the moral law. For how can the Psalmist
be
conceived to refer to ceremonial observances, when his whole
language
has reference to his trust in God, to his love to God,
450 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
and
to the blamelessness of his walk as the outward expression
of
the purity of his heart?
Instead of bringing forward such an
unwarrantable charge,
it
would have been much more becoming to have expressed ad-
miration
at the high purity of the moral and religious feelings
which
pervade this Psalm, at its entire freedom from all false
particularism,
at its living insight into "Be ye holy, for I am
holy,"
and at its decisive opposition to everything approaching to
Pharisaism,
whose fundamental error is the separation between
religion
and morality, accompanied with completely raw con-
ceptions
as to the former.
PSALM XXVII.
The Lord is the Psalmist's light and salvation; therefore he
may
not fear, though in the midst of the greatest dangers. If
he
only remain an inmate in the house of God, in possession of
the
favour of God, he is hid; for God protects His own.
Therefore,
though he is in the midst of the oppressions of
enemies,
he is sure of deliverance and victory, vers. 1-6. The
Psalmist
had, in the first part, risen to heaven on the wings of
faith,
and, looking down from thence on the trouble and danger
deep
below upon the earth, despised them.
Now he descends
again,
with the power which he had there acquired, into the
midst
of the troubles and oppressions of earth. The tone of
triumph
now disappears; but there still remains so much of joy,
that
the Psalmist, even in the midst of his melancholy and
complaint,
can still pray, in the second part,
with heartfelt con-
fidence,
vers. 7-12, that God would take pity upon his trouble,
and
would deliver him out of the hands of those who, through
artifice
and force, seek his ruin. After these
two strophes,—the
one,
that of confidence, the other, that of prayer; the one, that
of
the descent from God to trouble, the other, that of the ascent
(thereby
rendered possible) from trouble to God,—there follows
the
conclusion in vers. 13 and 14, which
brings together within
a
short compass the contents of the whole Psalm, and points
out
what is really its scope: if the
Psalmist place not his trust in
God,
he must—so great is his danger—necessarily despair.
Hence
he exclaims to his soul, expressively and repeatedly, "Wait
on
the Lord," which forms the essence of the whole Psalm.
PSALM XXVII. 451
It will not do to subdivide the two
chief divisions of the
Psalm,
each into two strophes of three verses, though the 4th
verse
would seem, at first sight, to lead us to make such an
attempt.
For the 6th verse draws the conclusion which it con-
tains,
not only from the 4th and 5th verses, but also from the
whole
preceding paragraph; and in the second part there is no
break
in the sense at ver. 9.
The Psalmist has evidently paid
particular attention to
numbers.
The main body of the Psalm is complete in twelve,
--the
number of the people of the covenant: the whole Psalm
contains
twice seven,—the signature of the
covenant. The
word
Jehovah is repeated six times in the first half, in manifest
accordance
with the six verses in each of the two chief divisions,
and
in reference to the twelve verses of the whole main body
of
the Psalm. In accordance with the doubled seven of the
verses
of the whole, the word Jehovah occurs seven times in
the
second half, the second strophe (7-12), and the conclusion
together.
If we count up the number of times the word
Jehovah
is repeated in the first strophe and the second together,
we
find it amounts to ten,--the
signature of completeness.
The
names of God occur in the conclusion three times,—the
signature
of the blessing.—That the position of the name of
Jehovah
was designed, even as to most minute particulars, is
evident
also from the circumstance, that it begins
and concludes
the
Psalm, and that it also marks where the first strophe ends,
and
the second begins.
The situation referred to in the
Psalm, is that of one who
is
completely surrounded by enemies, ver. 6, who in every way
seek
his ruin (which is the most earnest wish of their hearts),
ver.
12; who is destitute of all human help, ver. 10; and who,
unless
God interpose, is utterly ruined, ver. 13.
The intimation given in the title,
that David is the author
of
the Psalm, is confirmed by internal
evidence. It is impossible
to
refer the Psalm to a later age than that of David, because at
ver.
5 the author speaks of God hiding him in His pavilion,
and
in His tabernacle, and in the 6th
verse, of offering unto
God
sacrifice in His tabernacle. While it
is evident that the
lkyh, from the use of which in the 4th verse an
argument has
been
drawn against the Davidic authorship of the Psalm, was
applied
to the holy tabernacle, as is proved by what has been
said
on the 5th Psalm, there cannot even be the shadow of a
452 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
proof
adduced to show that, under Solomon, the temple was
still
called a tabernacle or pavilion. And in proof that David
was
the author of the Psalm, it may be said, not only in general,
that
among the manifold kinds of troubles, there is here, in re-
markable
correspondence with his experience, peculiar promi-
nence
given to distress arising from the oppression
of enemies,
but
also, in particular, that the Psalmist speaks like a warrior
borne
down by hostile armies, and that the
idea uppermost in
his
mind is that of a battle that has
been waged, and of a
camp that has been pitched
against him.
All attempts to find out any
particular event in the life of
David,
to which the Psalm may more especially be referred,
have
failed. And from the failure of these, we may draw the
inference,
either that David originally uttered the Psalm from
the
soul of the oppressed righteous man,
or, that if he wrote it
in
reference to a particular occasion, he generalized his own
experience.
Ver. I. The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall
I fear? The Lord is the
strength of my life, of whom shall I be
afraid? Calvin: "David, in laying, as it were, in
the balances
all
the power of earth and hell, considers the whole as lighter
than
a feather, while God alone infinitely outweighs it all."
He
represents misery and trouble under the figure of darkness,
and
the Lord, who graciously sends help, under that of light,
which
enlightens the darkness: compare Micah vii. 8, "If I sit
in
darkness, the Lord is my light." What, therefore, he first
expresses
figuratively by "my light," he immediately expresses
in
proper language by "my salvation." The Psalmist re-
cognises
God as his light and his salvation, first, from His word
—from
the promises of Divine aid which are held out in the
law
to the righteous, directly and indirectly, under the form of
history,
in the experience of those who stand on the same
ground
with himself, particularly the patriarchs; and second,
from
his own personal experience—every
case in which the Lord
had
manifested Himself as the Psalmist's salvation, has strength-
ened
his conviction that He is so. The question, "Whom shall
I,"
etc., throws aside, as it were, with indignation, every cause
of
fear. The Psalmist calls God the strength
of his life, because
He
protects his life, of which his enemies seek to rob him, as
PSALM XXVII. VERS. 2, 3. 453
surely
as the strong walls of a fortified town defy the assaults
of
an enemy, and afford protection to the inhabitants.
Ver. 2. When the wicked wretches come near against me, to
eat my flesh, mine
opponents and my enemies against me: THEY
stumble and fall. The case is, in the
first instance, as it is also
at
ver. 3, a supposed one. But it is
evident from the 6th and
12th
verses, that the Psalmist really was in a situation very
analogous to this supposed one.
While the Psalmist rises above
possible dangers, he, at the
same time, rises above those also
that
are real, which he therefore
afterwards sets before the eye
in
a stronger and more defined manner, because an over-hasty
glance
at them, which easily assume an unreasonable importance,
might
have disturbed the view of the real relations of things.
Luther,
not wholly correctly, connects this verse with the one
preceding
it, by the word wherefore. The verse,
like the one
which
follows it, carries forward the thought, "Whom should I
fear,
of whom should I be afraid, even when, for
example, the
wicked?"
etc. The idea of hostile approach does not lie in brq,
but
in lf,
to come near over any one, so that
one falls upon him,
sets
on him. The metaphor in to eat my flesh,
is taken from
-savage
beasts of prey. ybyxv yrc is not in apposition to Myfrm.
In
that case, yl is inexplicable. It is evident that this word
can-
not
be "redundant." When it appears to stand thus, as it does
in
Ps. cxliv. 2, it renders the my more
emphatic than a simple
affix
could do: my deliverer to me = MY deliverer, tenderly ex-
pressed.
But in the case before us such an emphasis is un-
suitable.
It is necessary rather to supply brqb, though my op-
ponents and enemies come
near to me:
and there is the less
objection
to this, as brq is elsewhere connected with l, Job
xxxiii.
22. It is not without reason that the Psalmist gives pro-
minence
to the word evil-doers. For he cannot
expect victory
over
his enemies unless he stand to them in the relationship of
a
righteous man to the wicked: this was the case in all the con-
flicts
which David had to maintain. hmh is a word of emphasis,
—they, not I, with whom this would
assuredly be the case, did
not
the circumstance that the Lord is my light and my salva-
tion
disturb their otherwise very accurate calculations. The Pre-
terites and vlwk and vlpn
are
explained from the confidence of faith.
Ver. 3. Though an host encamp against me, yet my heart is
not afraid: though war
rise against me, yet in this case I am full
of confidence. This verse agrees
remarkably with Ps. iii. 6.
454 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
hnHm is, in all probability, here, as at Gen. xxxii.
9, united to a
feminine
for the sake of the symmetry with Mvqt. txzb, "in
this,"
is, "even in such circumstances, to all human appearance
desperate;"
compare Lev. xxvi. 27; Job i. 22. The exposition,
"I
trust in this, namely, that Thou, 0
Lord, art my light and
my
salvation," is unnecessary, because, though undoubtedly HFb
is
generally construed with the b of the object, we do
repeatedly
meet
with it in an absolute form, in Judges xviii. 7; Jer. xii.
5;
Prov. xi. 5. It is moreover opposed by the analogy of the
preceding
clauses, which merely expand, "I am afraid of no
one,"
without again pointing to the cause
of the fearlessness.
"I
am full of confidence," corresponds exactly to "my heart
is
not afraid.” Luther's translation depends on this exposition:
"I
trust in Him," being only a free rendering.
Ver. 4. One thing I desired of the Lord, after that I seek: that
I may dwell in the house
of the Lord all the days of my life, to
behold the beauty of the
Lord, and to meditate thereon in His
holy place. The Lord is the
Psalmist's light and salvation,
affords
him protection against all enemies and all dangers. On
this
account he has only one prayer, one wish,—if this be
granted,
happen what may,—namely, that the Lord may abide
with
him, in which everything else is given to him; that he
may
never lose His favour, or be shut out from His fellowship.
For
the Lord (ver. 5) protects His own in
all dangers.—The
change
of tense in ytlxw, and wqbx, is to be carefully
attended
to:
it indicates that this prayer and desire extend through-
out
the whole of the Psalmist's life. The Preterite denotes
the
action completed, concluded, but yet reaching unto the
present
time; Ew. Sm. Gr. 262, (Venema's semper
is more
correct
than Schmidt's jam olim): the Future
marks still more
particularly
the continuance of this effort in the present.--The
prayer
is a true one, only when it goes forth on the ground
of
effort and exertion, when the longing desire of the heart is
directed
towards its object.—The “dwelling in the house, of
the
Lord,” towards which the prayer and the desire are di-
rected,
is here, as in all other passages (compare Ps. xxiii. 6,
xv.
1), to be understood figuratively, as
equivalent to, "being
an
inmate of God's house," "to stand towards Him in a confi-
dential
relation," "to enjoy His favour." The cause of this
figurative
language is, that the tabernacle, and afterwards the
temple
itself, bore a symbolical character, represented the con-
PSALM XXVII. VER. 4. 455
nection
between God and His people who dwelt with Him
spiritually
there; compare the proof of this in Part III. of the
Beitr.
p. 831, etc.—It is for this reason that the Psalmist, desires
to
be, and to continue to be, an inmate in God's house. To
this
the words point, "That I may behold," etc.; that is, "that
I
may in this way behold what is inseparably connected there-
with,"
etc. When God takes any man into the number of His
own people, such a one beholds
also His beauty, and enjoys the
opportunity
of meditating upon it in His sanctuary. hvhy Mfn,
means
always the beauty of the Lord: compare Ps. xc. 17,
"Let
the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us," i.e. let it
be
made known in our experience; Zech. xi. 7.1 To behold it,
is
to experience it, to know God as beautiful in His dealings.
The
expression in the 13th verse is exactly parallel: "to see the
goodness of the Lord."—The rqb means always, "to
search for,"
Lev.
xiii. 36, xxvii. 33; Ezek. xxxiv. 11, 12; "to meditate on,"
2
Kings xvi. 15; Prov. xx. 25, in accordance with the Chaldaic
usage,
and the fundamental sense of the word, "to open," "to
cleave:"
compare Gesenius on the word. As the word is never
followed
by b
of the object, the object of the inquiry and the
meditation
cannot therefore be contained in the vlkyhb, but must
thus
be drawn from what goes before:
"and meditate thereon,"
namely,
on the beauty of the Lord manifested in the experience
of
the inmates of His house, in His holy place. The holy place
is
mentioned as the place of meditation, because there thanks
are
offered to the Lord for the manifestations of His beauty.
This
exposition is confirmed by the 6th verse, where the Psalmist
expresses
his hope that, being delivered by the Lord, he shall
offer
joyful offerings in His tabernacle:
compare also Ps. xxvi.
7,
according to which the Psalmist lets the voice of praise be
heard
in the sanctuary, and makes known all God's wondrous
works.—According
to the usual interpretation, the Psalmist
expresses
a wish to be delivered from danger, to serve God
undisturbed
in the temple, and to enjoy the pleasure of, looking
upon
the splendour of the sanctuary. Some translate, "that
I
may spend my life in the house of Jehovah, for the pur-
pose
of beholding the splendour of Jehovah (Luther: ‘the
beautiful
service of God'), and viewing His temple" (others,
1 Venema: The beauty of
the Lord here denotes whatever in the Lord
is
sweet, pleasant, and salutary to the sinner; and therefore His virtues of
goodness
and grace, together with all their signs and effects.
456 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
“repairing
to His temple”). This translation, in the first place
is
contrary to the usus loquendi in
three respects. It is alto-
gether
arbitrary to consider "to dwell in the house of the
Lord"
equivalent to "to attend it carefully," "to abide in it;"
compare
against this at Ps. xxiii. 6. This difficulty is not
removed
by Hitzig's violent supposition, that the Psalm was
composed
by a priest: for not even the priests
dwelt in the
temple.
hvhy Mfn is arbitrarily translated by "the splendour of
the
Lord;" and this is just as arbitrarily supposed to signify
the
splendour of His sanctuary, or His splendid service. rqb is
never
united with b, and means neither "to view," nor
"to
repair
to." If we interpret, agreeably to
etymology, the clause,
"to
behold the beauty of the Lord," etc., we shall be compelled
to
abandon the idea of outward dwelling in the house of the
Lord;
for that which is derived from the dwelling of the Lord,
cannot
be regarded as the consequence of outward presence in
the
temple. This exposition is, moreover, opposed by the
parallel passages in which dwelling in
the temple is spoken of:
in
all these, the idea is that of spiritual
presence; compare,
for
example, Ps. xxiii. The fifth verse is also opposed to it.
The
thought of that verse, "for He protects me," is not at all
fitted
to give the reason why the Psalmist wishes to be in the
temple;
this is clear from the fruitless attempt of De Wette to
refer
the "for," with which he does not know how to begin,
not
to our verse, but to the first paragraph of the Psalm (vers.
1-3).
It is also altogether inadmissible, if we understand
there
the "hiding in the pavilion," and the "concealing in
the
tabernacle of the Lord," in a figurative sense, to interpret
literally
the "dwelling in His house." Lastly, only on the figur-
ative
view of "dwelling in the house of the Lord," can we
give
any explanation of "one thing I
desire of the Lord," etc.
The
one thing which gives the Psalmist strength and courage
against
the whole world, is the favour of God; hence the one
thing
which he desires and seeks after, is not his bodily presence
in
the temple, with which in such a connection a man can have
nothing
to do, but the possession of the favour of God. In reality,
"to
dwell in the house of the Lord," must be similar to, "to
have
Him for light and salvation." This is clear, moreover, from
the
circumstance, that the same consequence is deduced from
"the
dwelling in the house of the Lord," in ver. 5, which is de-
duced
from "the Lord is my light and salvation" (1-5), namely,
PSALM XXVII. VER. 5. 457
safety
against all attacks of enemies; and also from the circum-
stance,
that in ver. 6 assurance of victory in present trouble is
deduced
from the two taken together, "the Lord is my light
and
my salvation," and, "I dwell in the house of the Lord."
Ver. 5. For He hides me in His pavilion in the time of
trouble, He covers me in
the covering of His tent, He lifts me up
upon a rock. The Psalmist here gives
the ground why, in view
of
the oppression of his enemies, "the dwelling in the house of
the
Lord, the possession of His favour," is sufficient for him:
whom
the Lord loves, him He also protects.
Corresponding to
the
representation of the gracious relation to the Lord, under
the
figure of dwelling with Him in the temple, we have, in the
first
two clauses of this verse, the protection which is the con-
sequence
of this gracious relation, represented by the figure of
a
sure place of refuge and concealment, which the Lord affords
to
His persecuted people, beside Himself in His tabernacle.
These
two clauses have been misunderstood in two ways. First,
by
those who, like the Jewish expositors and Knapp, understand
the
words in a coarse literal sense, and suppose that David on
one
occasion found shelter in the holy tabernacle, and was in
this
manner delivered out of the hands of his enemies. This is
opposed
by the last clause, which must necessarily be taken
in
a figurative sense. Second, by those who, with De Wette,
maintain
that the pavilion and the tabernacle of this passage
are
not at all the holy place, but are only emblems of protection,
taken
from the master of a house, who gives protection in his
house
to a stranger, from some peril to which he may be ex-
posed.
This is undoubtedly the origin of the figurative expres-
sion;
but that the friendly pavilion and the friendly tabernacle
are
the sanctuary of the Lord, is clear
from the corresponding
expression,
"the house of the Lord," in ver. 4: "I have only
one
wish, to abide in the house of the Lord; for
He hides me in
His
house, or His tabernacle;" and "His tabernacle" in 6th
verse:
"He hides me in His tabernacle; therefore shall I bring'
forward thank-offerings in His
tabernacle." It will not do to
refer
to Ps. xxxi. 20, "Thou keepest them secretly in a
pavilion;"
for there it is in a pavilion, here
it is in His pavilion.
hks, a
pavilion, is used poetically for the
holy tabernacle in Ps.
lxxvi.
2. It has already been adverted to in the introduction,
that
the expression, "in His pavilion and in His tabernacle,"
involves
in insuperable difficulty the supposition that the Psalm
458 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
was
composed at a period posterior to that of David. Solomon's
temple,
especially, could not possibly be called "a pavilion."
The
name, "tabernacle," might have been carried forward
from
the earlier to the later sanctuary: there is, however, no
proof
even of this.
Ver. 6. And now mine head shall be lifted up above all mine
enemies round about, and
I will offer in His tabernacle offerings
of joy, I will sing and
praise the Lord.
This verse concludes
the
first strophe: in vers. 1-5, the conviction that the Lord is
the
Psalmist's light and salvation, and that he dwells in the
house
of the Lord, gives him confidence against all conceivable
dangers:
here, in the possession of this
favour of God, he is
completely
sure of victory in the difficulties in which he now
finds
himself. htfv is either "and
now,"—quare etiam nunc in
presenti
periculo,—or it may be considered as the particle of in-
ference,
"and now, since it is so (compare Ps. ii. 10, xxxix. 7),
I
shall triumph securely over my present enemies." On, "my-
head
shall be lifted up," compare Ps. iii. 3. The clause, "I will
offer,"
etc., shows that the Psalmist feels as sure of deliverance
as
if he had already obtained it. He is already preparing to
offer
thanks for it. Joy-offerings
are offerings which are ac-
companied
with rejoicings for deliverance, and are themselves
matter-of-fact
rejoicings. The hfvrt stands here, as in Num.
xxiii.
31, and in all other passages, in the general sense of
“shouts
of joy:” comp. hdvt lvq in Ps. xxvi. 7. De Wette and
other
expositors give, "offerings of the sound of trumpets:"
"the
holy trumpets were blown at the burnt and thank-offer-
ings,"
Num. x. 10. But this passage refers only to the public
thank-offerings
on holy days. We never read of trumpets being
used
at private offerings.
At the beginning of the second
strophe, the tone changes at
once.
Instead of triumphant confidence, we have mournful
supplication.
But the last verse of the first strophe softens the
transition.
There the Psalmist has descended from the serene
heights
of heaven to the earth: from the contemplation of pos-
sible dangers, in which he conquers,
through the aid of his
heavenly
helper, to whom in faith he rises, he has begun to turn
to
the consideration of those that are real.
At first, the tone of
triumph
still continues: the danger is rather too small than too
great
for him. But, in proportion as he gets a nearer view of
it,
it becomes greater; he is terrified, and begins to sink; and
PSALM XXVII. VERS. 7, 8. 459
retains
only so much of his early confidence as to enable him to
cry
out, and to say, "Lord, help me." But this is in reality a
very great deal; and for a man who has
begun to take to heart
the
sufferings and the dangers of this life, it is really enough.—
It
is in this transition from triumphant confidence to mournful
supplication,
that is to be found the truth of the
Psalm, and also
much
of its practical power. We could not have found ourselves
in
it, had the tone of triumph been continued to the end. The
first
strophe is sufficient only for painted
suffering.
Ver. 7. Hear, 0 Lord, when I cry with my voice, and be
gracious to me, and
answer me.
In reference to xrqx ylvq, com-
pare
what has been said on Ps. iii. 4. The ylvq is not redundant,
it
indicates a loud cry.
Ver. 8. My heart always holds forth to Thee Thy word, "Seek
My face:" Thy face,
0 Lord, I do seek.
As always, so particu-
larly
now, the heart of the Psalmist in trouble is turned towards
God,
expecting deliverance from Him alone; and whoever is in
such
a state of mind is all the more sure of being delivered by
God,
inasmuch as His word commands us to seek Him in trouble,
and
promises that those who seek shall find Him. rmx and
wqbx; stand in the same relation to each other as ytlxw, and
wqbx do in ver. 4: always, and particularly now. It is im-
possible
to translate simply: my heart says to
Thee. There was
no
need for inserting "Thy word,"
which we have supplied,
inasmuch
as the clause, “seek My face,” shows by its form, that
what
the Psalmist says to God, is only an echo of what God has
said
to His people. "To seek the face of any one," is to "seek
to
be admitted to his presence:" compare Prov. xxix. 26, "Many
seek
the ruler's face." As admission into the presence is allowed
only
to those who enjoy the favour of the ruler, it is the mark
and
expression of this favour, and because it is so, is sought after;
so,
to seek the face of the Lord, is to seek to be admitted into
His
presence, and in reality to seek to enjoy His favour com-
pare
2 Sam. xxi. 1, "There was a famine in the days of David,
and
David sought the face of the Lord;" Ps. xxiv. 6, and cv. 4.
In
reality, "to seek the face of the Lord," is "to seek the
Lord;"
2
Sam. xii. 16; 2 Chron. xx. 4, xv. 2. The Divine saying, to
which
the Psalmist here refers, occurs, though not exactly in
the
same terms, in Dent. iv. 29, "And ye seek from thence the
Lord
thy God, and thou findest Him, if thou seek Him with all
thy
heart (compare here, ‘my heart says
to Thee’), and with all
460 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
thy
soul." The seeking of the Lord,
and the finding Him, are
there
placed in inseparable connection with each other. Hosea
v.
15 refers, like the passage before us, to the same expression:
"I
will go and return to My place, till they acknowledge their
offence,
and seek My face: in their affliction
(verbatim from
Deut.)
they will inquire after Me:" compare the Beitr. ii. p. 61.
There,
as here, "to seek the face of God," is substituted for "to
seek
God."—Muis, De Wette, and other interpreters, translate
the
first words: "my heart speaks of Thee." But, in this way,
the
signification of the Preterite is misunderstood: rmx with l
signifies,
with a few exceptions, "to speak to some one," and
the
sense of, "to speak of one," is unsupported. "To seek the
face
of the Lord," is considered as equivalent to, "to repair to
the
temple." But this sense is one in which the phrase is never
used;
and, in the case before us, it is excluded both by the
reference
to the fundamental passage, and by what follows in
the
next verse, "hide not Thy
face:" the whole scope and con-
nection,
moreover, are altogether opposed to any reference to
repairing
to the temple.—After the example of the Vulgate,
"de
to dixit cor meum: require 0 facies mea," Hitzig trans-
lates,
"my heart speaks of Thee, Seek Him,
my face." But,
irrespective
of all other considerations, the phrase hvhy ynp wqb
will
not admit of such a rendering.
Ver. 9. Hide not Thy face from me, drive not away Thy
servant in anger, Thou
who hast always been my helper; leave me
not, neither forsake me,
0 God, my salvation.
The "hiding" of
the
face stands opposed to the "showing" of it, which God in
His
word hath promised to those who seek it with all their heart.
The
Ft lx--apoc.
Fut. in Hiph.—is not to be translated,
"turn
not away," but, "drive not away:" compare hFH, in the
sense
of "to set aside," "to put aside," which suits very well to
the
hiding of the face, in Job xxiv. 4; compare also xxxvi. 18;
2
Sam. iii. 27. "Thy servant," contains in it the ground of the
prayer:
"Do not act towards Thy servant as Thou attest only
towards
the wicked." This ground is
given still more distinctly
in
what follows: "Thou who hast always been my helper."
This
corresponds to the expression at the conclusion, "my
salvation-God;"
and must therefore denote the abiding relation
in
which God stands to the Psalmist, on which he grounds his
prayer
for special deliverance. The Preterite tyyh, denotes past
time
stretching forward to the present.
PSALM XXVII. VERS. 10, 11. 461
Ver. 10. For my father and my mother forsook me, and the
Lord takes me up. The Psalmist gives the
reason why he had
called
upon the Lord for assistance so mournfully in the pre-
ceding
verse: the love of God is the only love that is sure, in
heaven,
or on earth: the love of men
disappears on the approach
of
misfortune, in which they recognise a dispensation to renounce
love;
but the love of God is proved most gloriously in affliction:
the
afflicted are above all others dear to Him.—In the clause,
"father
and mother have forsaken me," the Psalmist speaks of
something
which had already happened; and the
translation,
"though they forsake me," is
inadmissible. But there is no
reason
why we should feel ourselves necessitated to seek for an
individual
reference. Every one who is in great trouble may
speak
in this manner. Father and mother stand as an individu-
alizing
designation of those who are united to us by the closest
ties,
and in whom love towards us, when we are in a state of
suffering,
might be expected to continue the longest. Whoever
has
no parents, puts his friends in their
room. It lies deep in
human
nature that suffering should cool, if it does not extinguish,
love:
men are only too much inclined to seek in the sufferer
the
cause of this. This is seen in the case of the friends and
the
wife of Job; compare also Ps. lxxxviii. 8. The proverb,
"that
the unfortunate may lay their account with contempt,"
is
verified even in the case of nearest relatives. David had, in
all
probability, had experience of the instability of human love
in
suffering under the very form to which he here refers, and
made
choice of this expression in reference to his own personal
experience.
His parents, whom, according to 1 Sam. xxii. 3,
he
took care of in misfortune, were, assuredly, on many occa-
sions
(from the character of human nature, it could scarcely be
otherwise),
ill pleased with him by whom their peace had been
to
often disturbed, and he must have had to bear with many
hard
speeches at their hand. The Lord takes me
up, like one
who
takes a weary wanderer, or a fugitive who has lost his way,
into
his house, and treats him kindly: compare ver. 5; Josh.
xx.
4; Judges xix. 5.
Ver. 11. Teach me, 0 Lord, Thy way, and lead me in an even
path, because of mine
enemies.
Most expositors are of opinion,
that
the Psalmist prays that the Lord would lead him by His
Spirit
and preserve him from sin. Calvin saw that this sense
would
not do in connection with what precedes and follows,
462 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
where
the whole language is about Divine assistance against
enemies.
The way of the Lord here is the way of salvation: this
limitation
flows from the person who is speaking, for the paths
of
God can be only paths of safety for His servants. The even
path
forms a contrast to the stones and rocks which rendered
the
Psalmist's progress through life so difficult. Ps. xxv. 4 is
exactly
parallel, where we met with the same false exposition:
compare
also Ps. xxvi. 12. "Because of mine enemies," points
out
the cause, more fully opened up in the following verse, why
the
Psalmist stood so much in need of Divine guidance and help.
Ver 12. Give me not over to the will of mine enemies; for
there are false
witnesses risen up against me, and such as breathe
violence. The soul of the enemies
stands for their passions, be-
cause
the soul is wholly absorbed by these. By "the false
witnesses,"
and "such as breathe violence," two classes of enemies
are
meant: those who seek to accomplish their ardent wish to
annihilate
the righteous man by cunning lies and deceit, and
by
false and slanderous accusations; and, second, those who
employ
open violence. Hpy is the status
constructus of the ad-
jective
HapeyA.
This is to be derived not from Hpy, but from the
Fut.
Hithp. of Hvp,
which occurs in the same form in Hab.
ii.
3: compare breyA from byr. "Those who
breathe violence"
(not,
who breathe out), are "those whose every breath is vio-
lence:”
compare Prov. vi. 19, "A false witness that speaketh
(lit.
breatheth) lies;"
"breathing threatenings and slaughter,"
Acts
ix. 9; "Spirare minas" in Latin; and "kaki<aj
kai> suko-
fanti<aj pnei?, in Aristoph. Knights,
435.
The conclusion now follows, summing
up once more in nar-
row
compass the contents of the Psalm, trouble and distress in
the
world, and hope in God.
Ver. 13. If I had not believed to see the goodness of God in
the land of the living, . . . That this verse is not to be imme-
diately
connected with what goes before, but marks the be-
ginning
of the conclusion, is clear from the
circumstance, that
whereas
in the former verses God is addressed, here He is
spoken
of, and that this verse contains the foundation for the
exhortation
of the last verse, to trust in God.— Had the Psalmist
brought
the sentence to a conclusion, he would have added, "I
must
have yielded to despair, or I should
have been ruined."
This
fatal word, however, he finds it very difficult to utter; and
ere
he does so, a voice within is raised, exhorting him to con-
PSALM XXVII. VER. 13. 463
tinue
firmer and firmer in his trust in God, which he designated
as
his only ground of hope. Among all the passages which
contain
similar aposiopeses, there is none so exactly like the one
before
us as Gen. xxxi. 42: "Except (ylvl) the God of my
fathers,
the God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac, had been
with
me, . . . (it would have been all over with me); for Thou
wouldst
have sent me away empty." Compare also Gen. 1. 15;
Zech.
vi. 15. Ewald, p. 663. In this aposiopesis the Masorites
have
not been able to find their feet: they put their so-called
puncta extraordinaria over the xlvl, which perplexed them:
they
are,
however, just as little deserving of regard as the Keris.
The
old translators, with the exception of the Chaldaic, leave
out
xlvl
altogether: no conclusion, however, ought to be drawn
from
this against it; they may have been of the same opinion
as
De Wette, who remarks, "We may very easily get quit of it,
seeing
it yields no very suitable sense." In favour of the genu-
ineness
of xlvl,
it may be remarked, that it would certainly never
occur
to any one to insert it; and that, on deep reflection (such,
however,
as a glossarist was not likely to indulge in), it appears
to
be indispensably necessary to complete the sense. The bare
and
unconditional clause, "I believe to see," etc., is unsuit-
able
and incongruous, after the anxious prayer of the preced-
ing
verse for deliverance from false witnesses and those who
breathe
violence, whose look cries out to the Psalmist that he
is
lost; and then the exhortation of the following verse implies
that
weakness had come over the Psalmist, and that danger
had
assailed him with great violence: the weakness is here, the
remedy
is there. hvhy bvF is explained by several
interpreters
as
"the good things of the Lord," "His blessings and acts of
kindness."
Gesenius: "optima dei munera." But hvhy bvF
always
signifies the "goodness of God," "the goodness of His
nature:"
compare Ps. xxv. 7, xxxi. 19; Zech. ix. 17, where
the
goodness and the beauty of the Lord occur together (Chris-
tology,
P. 3, p. 135, 6); and this sense is especially demanded
here
by the corresponding clause in ver. 4, hvhy Mfn. To see
the
goodness of the Lord, is to experience His excellence. The
"land
of the living" stands in opposition to "the land of the
dead,"
or "Sheol;" compare Jer. xxxviii. 11; Ezek. xxvi. 20,
xxxii.
32. The reference, revived by Claus and Stier, to the
"life
to come," has been completely set aside by Muis. It is
assuredly
in this life, ere he "go whence he shall not return,
464 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
to
the land of darkness and the shadow of death," Job. x. 21,
into
which his enemies are on the point of sending him, that
the
Psalmist hopes still to see the goodness of the Lord. The
writers
of the Psalms are far removed from that resignation,
which
gives up to the ungodly everything on
this side the grave.
Their
faith is far too fresh and powerful for this.
Ver. 14. The reflection, that the
grace of God is his only
ground
of hope, and that but for it, his own
weakness, and the
fury
and might of his enemies, would have
brought him into an
irremediable
condition, and left him the prey of despair, gives
the
Psalmist occasion to exhort himself to trust in the Lord.--
Wait on the Lord: be
strong, and may He strengthen thy heart;
and wait upon the Lord. The strong part of the soul speaks to
the
weak, as is the case throughout the whole of the 42d and
43d
Psalms. We cannot entertain the idea,
that the Psalmist
is
addressing the pious, and that he makes an application of his
own
experience to the case of those in similar circumstances.
In
this way, the connection with the 13th verse would be alto-
gether
broken. The individual who is here exhorted to trust
in
God, must be the same one who had there declared, that but
for
his trust in God he must become the victim of despair.
Instead
of, "may He strengthen thy heart," most translators
have,
"may thy heart get strong." But we cannot give up the
usual
sense of the Hiph. either here or in the passage, Ps.
xxxi.
25;—these are the only two passages in which the Hiph.
of
Cmx
occurs. And the strictly grammatical translation in the
passage
before us, brings out a much finer meaning. The
Psalmist,
after having exhorted himself to be strong, directs
attention
to Him who alone can give the strength to comply
with
this exhortation. He does not express His
name, because
none
but He who is the fountain of all strength can be thought
of,
when we speak of being strengthened.
There is something
very
great in the expression, "be strong." Calvin: "When
trembling
comes upon thee, when temptation shaketh thy faith,
when
the feelings of thy flesh are driven hither and thither, be
not overcome, but rather rise up
with indefatigable power of
mind."
Nature cannot accomplish this: none but He can
bring
it about, who giveth might to the weary and sufficient
strength
to the weak. He gives not only outward
strength, but
also
that which is inward: He not only gives deliverance to
those
who trust in Him, but He also works trust in Him.
PSALM XXVIII. 465
PSALM XXVIII.
The Psalmist first sends forth the
petition that he may be
heard
in his prayer, remarking, that unless this be done, he is
given
over to irremediable destruction.
This forms the intro-
duction
(ver. 1). After repeating this petition at the beginning
of
the first division, he unfolds his request, viz. that God would
not
entangle him in that destruction
which is the portion of the
wicked, and would inflict upon
these, specially his enemies, the
punishment which they deserve,
vers. 2-5. He obtains assur-
ance
of being heard, and praises the Lord
as the Saviour of His
anointed
one and of His people, vers. 6-8. The conclusion,
ver.
9, contains the prayer that the Lord would reveal Himself
in all future time, as He had done on the present occasion, as the
Saviour
of His people.
That ver. 1 is to be considered as the introduction, and ver. 9,
which
corresponds to it, as the conclusion,
is obvious, not only
from
the contents, but also from the circumstance that the as-
surance
of being heard (ver. 6), which verbally is appended to
the
prayer, does not belong to the first
but to the second verse.
The
main division of the Psalm thus consists of seven
verses.
This
number is again divided, as it frequently is, into a four
and
a three. The strophe of confidence points to the Mosaic
blessing,
not only by the three verses, but
also by the threefold
repetition
of the word Jehovah. Any further remarks on the
formal
arrangement we shall make in the introduction to Ps.
xxix.,
which, along with the one now before us, makes up one
pair.
We shall there find the arrangement, 1. 7. 1., proposed
here,
confirmed; and, at the same time, we shall see why Jehovah
occurs
here, in all, five times.
The situation is that of one who is in great danger, and is
utterly
lost unless the Lord help (ver. 1); who prays earnestly
for
deliverance (vers. 2-6); and is threatened with destruction
(ver.
3).
The person who speaks is a righteous man (ver. 3), the Lord's
anointed
(ver. 8); and whose cause also is identical with that
of
the people (vers. 8, 9). It is here
that lies the difference
between
this Psalm and Psalm xxvi. The situation and the
fundamental
thought in both are--that God cannot bind up
together
in similarity of outward fate those who inwardly are
466 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
different,
and that the lot of the. wicked cannot be the same
as
that of the righteous. There, it is the oppressed righteous
man in general that speaks:
here, it is specially the oppressed
righteous King.
The contents of the Psalm throughout
apply very well to
David
during the time of Absalom's rebellion, when, to all ap-
pearance,
the design of God was that the lots of the righteous
and
the wicked should be exchanged; the people were brought
into
danger on account of the king; and the enemies especially
were
those who "spoke peace to their neighbours, while mis-
chief
was in their hearts." But, in the absence of all special
historical
circumstances, it is in the highest degree probable,
that
the design of David, in composing the Psalm, was to draw
out
a form of prayer, grounded on his own experience at this
time,
for the use of his successors who should walk in the foot-
steps
of his righteousness: compare Ps. xviii. 50. If this be
the
case, it is manifest, at the same time, that the Psalm in
reality
possesses a didactic and hortatory character:—the right-
eous
king, in a time of severe trouble, desires to set before his
eyes
the righteous judgment of God, which will not permit the
righteous
to be involved in the lot of the wicked, nor the wicked
to
go unpunished; to be calm and composed in dependence on
this;
and to wait with confident expectation for the help of God.
This
didactic tendency is particularly obvious in the 5th verse,
where
the form of address to God is abandoned.
The assertion of Ewald and Hitzig,
that the portion from the
6th
to the 9th verse was first written after the danger had gone
past,
is based on the false idea, that the Psalm has an individual
character;
proceeds from mistaking the nature of the transi-
tions
in the Psalm; and overlooks the truth, that faith is the
substance—the
u[po<stasij—of things hoped for, Heb. xi. 1.
Ver. I. Unto thee, 0 Lord, do I cry, my rock; be not silent
to me: lest, if Thou be
silent to me, I become like those who go
down to hell. The expression,
"my rock," points to the immu-
tability,
the certainty, and the inviolable faithfulness of God:
compare
Ps. xviii. 1, 3, xix. 14, p. 342. This address contains
in
it the ground of the prayer, "be not silent." The faithful
God,
who chastises His people, but does
not give them over to
death,
cannot be silent when circumstances
are such, that it
PSALM XXVIII. VER. 2. 467
may
with truth be said, that to be silent is the same as to bring
destruction. The "be not
silent from me" needs nothing to
be
supplied.
The idea of "removing to a distance from" is clearly
involved
in that of "silence;" and, on the other hand, every
answer implies the idea of an
approach and a nearness of God.
"Lest,
if Thou be silent to me, I become like," etc.; literally,
"lest
Thou be silent from me, and I become like," etc., equiva-
lent
to, "lest, in the great danger to which I am now exposed, I
utterly
perish." Calvin: nullus sum, si a me discesseris; nisi
tu
unus succurras, perii. rvb, a pit,
is used in the sense of the
grave,
Isa. xiv. 19; of Sheol, Isa. xiv. 15 and Ps. xxx. 3. We are
manifestly
to take it always in this sense in the common phrase
rvb ydrvy. For this phrase designates everywhere
"the dead."
But
as we must here translate, "those who go down to the pit,"
not,
"those who have gone down," we must think of the long
journey
to Sheol, and not of the short journey to the grave.
Ver. 2. Hear the voice of my supplication when I cry to Thee,
when I lift my hands to
Thy holy oracle. The
lifting of the
hands
was the usual attitude of prayer, not only among the
Israelites,—comp.
Ex. ix. 29, xvii. 11, 12; 1 Kings viii. 54; Ps.
lxiii.
4; Lam. iii. 41; 1 Tim. ii. 8,—but also among the heathen:
comp.,
the passages in Iken, Dissert. i. p. 220. The lifting up
of
the hands symbolized the lifting up of the heart. That the
Psalmist
lifted up his hands,--not to heaven, but to the most holy
place,
where was the ark of the covenant (comp. 1 Kings vi. 19),
is
to be understood in the same sense in which we call upon God
in
Christ. God had, in loving condescension to the weakness
of
His people, who were unable to rise to that which is unseen,
except
through the medium of something visible, taken, as it
were,
a form in the midst of them, in anticipation of the incar-
nation
of His Son, by which this want, which lies deep in the
nature
of man, was satisfied in a manner infinitely more real:
compare
the Beitr. P. iii. p. 629, and at Ps. xxvi. S. That by
rybd is meant the most holy place in the tabernacle
and temple,
admits
of no doubt. The derivation, however, and the import
of
the word, may be disputed. According to the ancient expo-
sitors,
the most holy place was so termed, because it was from it
that
God returned answers to those who consulted Him:
and
Symmachus, xrhmatisth<rion; Jerome, lalhth<rion. Modern
expositors
again, after the example of Simon and Iken, Diss. i.
p.
214, give the word the sense of "the back part:" compare
468 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
particularly
Gesenius's Thes. It appears, however, that this
exposition
owes its introduction merely to the ground which
has
been assigned for considering the primary sense of trpk to
be
"a covering,"—viz. awe for what is deep. Etymologically,
there
can be no objection to the old exposition. rybd is, pro-
perly,
"what is said," and secondarily, "the place where it is
said;"
just as Jysx
is, properly, "what is gathered," and then,
"the
season when the fruits are gathered." The appellation
given
to this part—the place where God speaks to His people,
or
converses with them—stands in most beautiful harmony
with
the appellation given to the whole, dfvm lhx, the taber-
nacle
of meeting, where God meets with His
people. The most
holy
place is, as it were, the audience-chamber. But the proper
basis
of this exposition, which its opponents pass over alto-
gether
in silence, is given in the passages, Num. vii. 89, "And
when
Moses was gone into the tabernacle of the congregation
to
speak with Him, then he heard the voice of one speaking with
him from off the
mercy-seat, that was upon the ark of testi-
mony,"
and Ex. xxv. 22. Finally, the signification given by
the
old expositors answers remarkably well to the passage before
us:--this
passage alone is sufficient to refute the objection of
Iken,
that rybd
is never used in a connection in which there is
any
reference to a speaking on the part of God. The Psalmist
had
prayed that God would not be silent to him—that He
would
hear his supplication. What, in these circumstances,
could
be more natural, than that he should stretch out his hands
to
the place whence God speaks with His
people, and that he
should,
with full confidence, look for an answer from thence to
his
cry for help?
Ver. 3. Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the
workers of iniquity, who
speak peace to their neighbours, and
have mischief in their
hearts.
There are marks of quotation to
be
supplied at the beginning of this verse. There are here
given
the contents of the prayer which God
has been called upon
in
the preceding verses to hear: "that God would not deliver
the
Psalmist His servant over to destruction, inasmuch as,
according
to His own word, that is the portion only of the
wicked."
j`wm is, "to
draw," "to draw away," "to carry off:"
comp.
Job xxiv. 22; Ezek. xxxii. 20. In the parallel passage,
Ps.
xxvi. 9, the expression used is Jsxt lx. The description of
the
character of the wicked, with whom the Psalmist desires
PSALM XXVIII. VERS. 4,
5. 469
that
he might not be united in community of lot, is borrowed
from
that of his enemies. "David," says Venema, "tacitly
transfers
these crimes to his enemies, whose real character was
what
is here described." The description corresponds rather to
domestic
villains, who endeavour by the arts of dissimulation to
gain
their object, such as Absalom and his party, than to public
enemies,
whose weapons are those of open violence. The wicked
are
described as men who conduct themselves as they ought to
do
only as to their lips, but are hostile in their intentions and
their
deeds towards him, who, both by the special appointment
of
God and by the laws of nature, is their neighbour,
united to
them
by that common bond by which all the members of the
this,
by the ties of tenderest affection. Between fr and hfr
there
is a significant paronomasia.
Ver. 4. Give them according to their conduct, and according to
the wickedness of their
actions: give them according to the work of
their hands; make good
to them their portion. This is the second
petition
of the Psalmist. The first was, "that the Lord would
not
punish him with the wicked;" the second, which is here,
is,
"that He would not let the wicked go unpunished." Them,
that
is, the wicked and evil-doers, particularly my
enemies. The
objection
which has been taken against this prayer of the
Psalmist,
and so many others of a similar kind, is most assur-
edly
an ungrounded one, inasmuch as the Psalmist prays that
God
would do nothing more than what He necessarily must do
according
to His own nature. "He practises the jus
talionis
according
to His own righteousness. Justice reverberates: the
unrighteous
blow which I aim at another recoils, according to
the
moral government of the world, back upon myself." Compare
Matt.
vii. 2. On lvmg compare at Ps. vii. 4.
Ver. 5. Because they regard not the operation of the Lord,
nor the work of His
hand, therefore shall He destroy them and
not build them. The Psalmist recalls
to his recollection the ob-
jective
ground of his petitions, on which his confidence of being
heard
depends: "It is not without thought that I have directed
this
prayer to God; for, inasmuch as they regard not, etc., the
Lord
will destroy them and not build them up. I pray thus
for
that only, which the Lord will do and must do." The
operation
of the Lord, and the work of His hands, is the exer-
cise
of His righteous judgments against the ungodly. Com-
470 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
pare
Ps. xcii. 5; Isa. v. 12. Not to regard these,
is the sure
way
to become ourselves involved in these judgments. For
he
who does not fear the judgment of God, gives himself
over
to iniquity. That the not regarding the operation of the
Lord
comes here into notice, in so far as it produces wick-
edness,
is obvious from the manifest reference to the preced-
ing
verse: "The operation of the Lord,
and the work of His
hands,"
corresponds to "their conduct,
and the work of their
hands."
The idea conveyed consequently is, "because they do
not
regard the judgment of the Lord, and therefore give them-
selves
over, without fear, to wickedness." Several interpreters
give,
"may He destroy them." But with the optative form,
we
can see no reason why the address to
God should have been
given
up. We cannot substitute for "not to build," "not to
build
up again." Nothing is more common than to find what
had
been expressed positively, repeated, for the sake of strength-
ening
the impression, in a negative form.
Prayer, according to the will of
God, is followed now in
natural
order by confidence. The Psalmist obtains from the
holy
place the answer for which he had prayed, and makes this
known
in joyful expressions.
Ver. 6. Blessed be the Lord, because He hath, heard the voice
of my supplications. The words of the
second verse are here
designedly
repeated, only the imperative is changed into the
Preterite.
The Lord be thanked, exclaims the Psalmist joyfully,
I now possess what I have prayed for.
Ver. 7. The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart
trusted in Him, and I
have been helped: therefore my heart re-
joices; and with my song
I will praise Him.
The sense is:
"The
Lord is my Saviour: He has manifested
Himself as such
by
the help which He has granted me: therefore," etc. yrywm is
properly,
"out of my song;" in so far as the song is the foun-
tain
of the praise that goes out from it. vndvhx is the full poetic
form,
with the characteristic He of the Hiphil retained.
Ver. 8. The Lord is their strength, and He is the saving
stronghold of His
anointed one.
There follows here the song
spoken
of in the preceding verse, so that we are to read this
verse
as if with marks of quotation. The reason why we have
"their,"
without any noun going before to which it might re-
fer,
obviously is, that the king in the preceding verses had prayed
for
himself, not so much as an individual, but as a king, and as
PSALM XXIX. 471
thus
one with his people. Compare ver. 9. The Psalmist so
sunk
his personality in his official position, and so identified
himself
with his people, that he wrote simpliciter
vml
instead of
yl. When the Psalmist, in the second clause,
applies to himself
the
title of "the anointed of the Lord" (compare Ps. 50),
he
must thereby be understood as expressly asserting, that the
help
which had been vouchsafed to him as king was therefore
imparted
in him to the people of God. On the plu. tvfvwy, com-
pare
at Ps. xviii. 50.
In the conclusion, the Psalmist
prays that the Lord vould
do
eternally that which He had now done.
Ver. 9. Help Thy people, and bless Thine inheritance, and
feed them, and lift them
up for ever.
On the first clause, com-
pare
the fundamental passage, Deut. ix. 29: "They are Thy
people
and Thine inheritance, which Thou broughtest out by
Thy
mighty power and Thine outstretched arm." On "feed
them,"
compare Ps. xxiii. 1. On "lift them up," 2 Sam. v. 12.
Several
expositors render "carry them," and refer to Isa. xl. 11.
But
xWn
never signifies in Pi. "to carry," not even in Isa lxiii.
9,
but always "to lift up," "to lift on high," "to prop
up."
PSALM XXIX.
The key to the interpretation of
this Psalm is to be found
in
its conclusion: "The Lord sitteth enthroned as King for
ever:
the Lord will give strength unto His people; the Lord
will
bless His people through peace." From this it is obvious
that
the Psalm has no personal reference,
but that the Psalmist
has
sung it from the soul of the people,
the congregation of God,
and
for their edification. Hence also it is obvious that the
situation
is that of the suffering, the danger, and the hostile op-
pression
of the people of God, and of the fear of the little flock
in
view of the might of the world. Hence it is clear from what
point
of view we are to contemplate all that goes before. The
words,
"the Lord has might," which form the sum of the whole
Psalm,
are introduced merely as the foundation for the declara-
tion,
"the Lord will give might." The majesty of God in
nature
is described only for this reason:—that the Church may
thus
see that there is a shield ready prepared for her against all
anxious
cares.
472 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
In the introduction, vers. 1 and 2, the heavenly servants of
God
are exhorted to give to the Lord glory and strength. In
the
main division, vers. 3-9, the
Psalmist describes the manifesta-
tion
of Divine glory and strength which forms the basis of this
exhortation.
As the result of this manifestation—the revelation
of
the glory of God in a thunder-storm—the celestial servants
of
God comply with the exhortation given them in the 1st and
2d
verses: in His temple every one says,
"Glory!" The con-
clusion, in vers. 10 and 11,
expresses the hope and confidence
which
sprung up for the
tion
of the Divine glory and majesty: if her God is such a
God,
her own powerlessness need give her no further concern.
There is no ground for the idea,
that the Psalm was occa-
sioned
by the sight of a thunder-storm. "The freshness of the
painting,
the vigorous conceptions, and the rapid transitions of
the
whole," will give rise to this view only when low ideas are
entertained
of the power of poetry. According to
the analogy
of
Ps. xvii. and Job xxxvii. vers. 1-5, where, in the case of
similar
descriptions of nature, no one ever thought of any out-
ward
occasion; it was in spirit that David
here also heard the
"voice
of God."
The Psalm before us gives us a very
instructive example as
to
how we ought to interpret the language of nature, and to turn
it
to our own edification. Every thunder-storm, every hurricane,
should
tell us that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the
Church
of God, or against ourselves, if we are really members
of
that Church and servants of God. Everything depends on
our
being sure of our condition. The
revelations of God in
nature
speak a double language: they speak to every man ac-
cording
to his own spiritual condition. The thunder-storm, for
example,
is a matter-of-fact promise to the
pious—to the Church
of
God; while to the ungodly—to the world —it is a matter-of-
fact
threatening. Whoever feels assured of
the love of God,
sees,
in the manifestation of the omnipotence of God, a ground
of
consolation; whereas to those who are conscious of being
objects
of the Divine displeasure, the sentiment inspired by such
appearances
is that of terror.
The artistic arrangement of the
Psalm is seen not only in
the
circumstance, that both the introduction and the conclusion
consist
each of two verses, and that the description of the thun-
der-storm
occupies exactly seven verses, but also in the positions
PSALM XXIX. 473
of
the names of God. In the introduction
and conclusion the
name
Jehovah occurs in every clause, that is, eight times in all,
—which
can scarcely be accidental. In the main body, the
"voice
of the Lord" occurs seven times (Luther has introduced
an
eighth voice of the Lord), which, as the number of verses is
exactly
the same, seven, cannot be regarded as accidental. As
the
seven thunders of the Apocalypse (x. 3, 4) were obviously
borrowed
from this Psalm, it is clear that attention must have
been
directed very early to these appearances. In like manner,
it
can scarcely be considered accidental that the name Jehovah
should
occur, in all, in the main division, ten times. This out-
ward
signature of completion indicates that it is complete and
concluded
within itself. Köster's idea, that the art displayed in
the
arrangement is too high for David, requires no further
refutation,
after the discoveries which we have made in the
preceding
Psalms. In fact, it is characteristic of David to aim
at
the highest possible kind of artistic arrangement.
The Psalm before us is united to the
28th, and forms with
it
one pair. The fundamental idea in
both Psalms is the same,
and
is expressed in both, to all appearance designedly, almost in
the
same words: compare "the Lord is their strength," Ps.
xxviii.
8, with "the Lord will give strength to His people,"
xxix.
11, where the relation of vml to vmfl
is
specially noticeable.
The
differences also render still more evident the design to draw
attention
to the connection between the two Psalms, than even
an
unlimited agreement, which might have been accidental.
The
distinction between the two Psalms is, that the Psalmist in
the
28th has to do with domestic, and here with foreign enemies.
Then,
there is a very striking agreement in the arrangement of
the
two Psalms: in the one, there is an introduction and a con-
clusion
of one verse; in both, a main division of seven verses;
and
in the other, an introduction and a conclusion of two verses.
Further,
the nine verses of the 28th, and the eleven of the
29th
Psalm, make up together two decades, the verse which is
wanting
in the one Psalm being supplied from the other.
Finally,
the five repetitions of the name Jehovah in the 28th
mark
it out as a half—as incomplete: compare on the number
five
as the signature of incompleteness, the divided ten, Bähr.
Symb.
P. I. p. 183. Still more remarkable is the circumstance,
that
the five repetitions of the name Jehovah in the preceding
Psalm)
the eight repetitions of it in the introduction and con-
474 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
clusion
of this one, together with the seven repetitions of "the
voice
of God," make up the number twenty, which is exactly
the
number of verses in both Psalms.
Those who are opposed to the idea of
attaching any import-
ance
to the numbers in the arrangement of the Psalms, and are
suspicious
as to the existence of any design in the positions of
the
names of God, and of the juxtaposition of two Psalms as one
pair,
through which the same, or a similar train of thought may
run
(although as to this latter point none of the ancient exposi-
tors
felt any difficulty), and are disposed to bring forward the
common
objection of artificial arrangement or conceit, would do
well
to bestow a thorough examination on those two Psalms:
those
who do so, will scarcely fail of obtaining new light on the
matter.
Ver. 1. Give to the Lord, ye sons of God, give to the Lord
glory and strength. The call addressed to
the celestial servants
of
God, to praise His glory and strength, directs attention to the
glory
of the manifestations thereof set forth in what follows. If
the
highest creatures of God, the angels, must humble them-
selves
in the dust before these manifestations; and if they feel
themselves,
in consequence thereof, called upon to express their
devout
acknowledgment, and to give utterance to liveliest praise;
should
not the servants of God on earth be led thereby to banish
from
their minds all care and all fear, deeply impressed by a
sense
of the presence of Him "who appointeth to the clouds, to
the
air, and to the wind, their way, their course, their path, and
who
will find out a way where His people can walk?" The Bne
Elim
are the same as those who, in other passages, are called
Bne
Elohim. In both cases, the explanation of the plural seems
to
lie in the idea, that the Divine unity is a unity; not of poverty,
but
of riches. In the one true God all that fulness is concen-
trated
which the heathens divided among their many gods. He
alone
is instar multorum. Elohim and Elim
are the abbreviated
forms
of Myhlxh yhlx and Mylx lx: compare Deut. x. 17, "For
Jehovah,
your God, He is the God of gods, and the Lord of
lords;"
Dan. xi. 36; Ps. cxxxvi. 2, 3. As this use of the plural
of
majesty is very widely spread throughout the language (see
on
this subject the "Dissertation on the names of God in the
Pentateuch,
in the Beitr."), there is no reason for adopting the
PSALM XXIX. VER. 1. 475
idea
of Ewald, that the plural is expressed doubled in the com-
pound—an
idea opposed by all the parallel passages, and which
it
is impossible on logical-grounds to justify.— Very many of the
older
expositors understand by the Bne Elim the kings and the
mighty
men of the earth, referring to Ps. xcvi. 7, where, instead
of
Bne Elim, we find "kindreds of the people" introduced.
This
exposition has been partially revived by Köster. "Sons
of
God," he supposes, is an expression which may be applied to
whatever
is powerful: the angels in heaven, kings on the earth.
But,
that the mention of angels is peculiarly suitable here, ap-
pears
from comparing the really parallel passages, Ps. ciii. 20,
21:
"Bless the Lord, ye His angels that excel in strength, that
do
His commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His word:
bless
the Lord, ye His hosts, ye ministers of His that do His
pleasure:"
and Isa. vi., where the seraphim who stand round the
throne
of God, sing, Holy, holy, holy, the whole
earth is full of
His glory, and ascribe to the
Lord glory and might. Not only
is
Bne Elohim, but also Bne Elim, used in other passages very
decidedly
of angels: see Ps. lxxxix. 6. On the other hand,
neither
Bne Elim, nor Bne Elohim, nor Bne Eljon, is ever used
of
the mighty men of the earth: for in Ps. lxxxii. 6, to which
Köster
appeals, it is distinctly denied that the mighty ones of
the
earth are the sons of God: "I thought that ye were gods,
and
sons of the Highest, all of you; but ye shall die as men."
Finally,
the 9th verse is decisive against the reference to the
mighty
ones of the earth, where everything in the temple of
God
says, "Glory!" It is impossible here to think of the earthly
temple;
for the rulers of the nations assuredly are not there.
Nothing
but the heavenly sanctuary can be meant, in which the
angels
make known the praise of God. Most assuredly, how-
ever,
there is an indirect reference made, in the passage before
us,
to the potentates of earth; and it is to this that the ap-
plication
made in Ps. xcvi. 7, etc., of the first and second verses,
refers:—the
exhortation to the angels to praise the glory and
the
might of God, is intended to convince the
that
she has very little reason to quail before the potentates of
earth,—the
glory and the might of her God, which even the
angels
devoutly praise, is a sufficient ground of confidence in the
face
of a whole hostile world.—Several expositors take "glory"
here
in the sense of praise, and zf in the sense of renown.
But,
that
dvbk is
rather to be understood of "glory," is evident from
476 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
the
clause, "Give to the Lord the glory of His name;" and, that
zf signifies here, as it always does,
"strength," is evident from
the
connection in which the expression, "the Lord will give
strength
to His people," in the conclusion, stands to the clause,
"Give
to the Lord strength," at the opening of the Psalm: He
has
strength, therefore He will give strength. This exposition,
moreover,
is refuted by the parallel passage, Ps. xcvi. 6, 7:
"Strength
is in His holy place; give to the Lord strength;" and
by
the fundamental passage, Deut. xxxii. 3: "Ascribe ye great-
ness
to our God." In the fundamental passage, and in those
derived
from it, "to give," is "to ascribe glory, strength, great-
ness
to God," "to recognise these as present," "to glorify Him
accordingly."
The design of vers. 1-9 is to awaken the mind
to
a vivid perception of the truth, that the Lord possesses glory
and
strength: from this the inference which concludes the whole
is
drawn, that the Lord, will give strength to His people.
Ver. 2. Give to the Lord the glory of His name; adore the
Lord in holy attire. The name of the Lord
is considered as the
product
of His deeds: the glory of His name is the glory which
belongs
to Him as resulting from His glorious manifestations
and
deeds. The expression, "in holy attire," is equivalent in
sense
to, "with deep reverence." As the earthly priests, before
engaging
in the service of God, must put off their usual cloth-
ing,
and clothe themselves in holy garments
(the expression is
used
in this sense in 2 Chron. xx. 21: compare also Ps. cx. 3,
xcvi.
9), so must the angels, His servants in heaven, do the
same.
Their usual clothing is too mean to allow of their draw-
ing
near in it to their holy and exalted Lord, and testifying that
reverence
with which the glorious manifestations of His omni-
potence
have filled their minds.
There follows now the description of
that revelation of the
glory
of God in a thunder-storm, which formed the basis of the
preceding
call to the angels to do Him homage.
Ver. 3. The voice of the Lord is upon the waters; the God
of glory thundereth: the
Lord is upon many waters. The "Je-
hovah"
of the first clause, is supplemented in the second, and
the
"water" in the third. Thunder is "the voice of the Lord"
only
for believers. An ungodly Hebrew would assuredly not
consider
it as such. Every gentle breath of air is also the
voice
of the Lord: all nature proclaims His glory: God speaks
in
everything to men. But because our ears are dull of hear-
PSALM XXIX. VERS. 4-6. 477
ing,
that especially is called His voice, by which He speaks in
loudest
tones, and proclaims to us, in spite of all unwillingness
on
our part to hear, His omnipotence and His majesty. The
“waters”
are the clouds, "the waters which are above the
firmament,"
Gen. i. 7; "the dark waters," Ps. xviii. 11; "the
multitude
of waters," Jer. x. 13: compare Ps. 17, Job
xxxvi.
28. Several interpreters apply the term to the waters of
the
sea and rivers. But the word "many," in the last clause,
is
decisive against this: it shows that the waters form a part of
the
storm itself; for only in this case is their multiplicity of im-
portance
to the object in view, inasmuch as it serves to bring
forward
the greatness of God in the storm. The designation of
God
as "the God of glory," points back to vers. 1, 2, and shows
that
the description which begins in our verse, serves as a basis
to
the exhortation which is there addressed to the angels to
praise
the glory of God.
Ver. 4. The voice of the Lord is power: the voice of the Lord
is majesty. It is generally remarked
that b
with the substan-
tive
supplies the place of the adjective. But in this way the
article
is left altogether out of sight. The b in this passage
must
rather be considered as indicating that in which the being
of
anything consists; Ewald's Sm. Gr. p. 528. The voice of
God
has its essence in the power and majesty which appear
in
it: it is, as it were, power and majesty itself.
Ver. 5. The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars; the Lord
breaketh the cedars of
Lebanon.
The lightning is here, as it is
also
at ver. 7, and Ex. ix. 28, considered as an appendix to the
thunder.
The cedar is named, as the queen of the forest; and
in
the way of climax, the cedars of Lebanon are introduced in
the
second clause, because they are the stateliest of all. With
the
same omnipotence with which God breaks the cedars of
quently
represented by this emblem), who threaten to endanger
His
Church.
Ver. 6. And He maketh them to skip like a calf;
and Sirion like a young
buffalo.
The "them" must be referred
to
the cedars. As the skipping of the trees,
however, is only
the
consequence of the skipping of the hills,
these also are men-
tioned
in the second clause. Sirion is, according to Deut. iii. 9,
the
Sidonian name of Hermon. Terms of rare occurrence and
of
antiquated character are congenial to poetry. Jo. Arndt has,
478 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
with
great accuracy, expressed the practical import of this verse:
"Just
as in great storms the hills quiver and quake before the
thunder,
so our beloved God is able by His word to make the
proud
and lofty quiver and quake." Schmid, in like manner:
"sic
etiam hostes Jehovae cum omni sua potentia coram ipso
irato
dissilient, fulminibus judiciorum ejus disjecti."
Ver. 7. The voice of the Lord heweth with flames of fire. The
brevity
of this verse depicts the rapid motion of the lightning,
which
comes in here as the wounding instrument in the hands
of
the voice of the Lord, the weapon with which it adds de-
struction to terror. The verb bcH means always to hew,
never
to
cleave, or to scatter; so that the expositions, "He scatters,"
"He
casts abroad," i. e. "fiery thunderbolts," are to be rejected:
compare
Hos. vi. 5 ; Isa. where bcH is used in speaking of
an
avenging. God. wx tvbhl is in the accusative (comp. Ew.
§
512), "with flames of fire." It stands related to the voice of
God,
as what is particular does to what is general.
Ver. 8. The voice of the Lord maketh the wilderness to quiver;
the voice of the Lord
maketh the wilderness of Kadesh to quiver.
Expositors
ask why the wilderness is represented
as quivering
by
the thunder. The only correct answer is, that the wilder-
ness
gives the impression of something great, immense, terrible:
compare
Deut. i. 19, "The great and terrible wilderness;" viii.
15,
"Who led thee through the great and terrible wilderness,
where
were serpents, and scorpions, and drought;" Deut. xxxii.
10,
"He found him in a desert land, and in a waste howling
wilderness."
The wilderness is, next to the hills, the most ap-
propriate
symbol of the power of the world: its quivering be-
fore
the voice of the Lord must convince every pious mind of
the
folly of giving way to fear before the might of the world.
In
this way we see the reason why, as an ascending climax, in
the
second clause the particularly horrible wilderness of Kadesh,
the
northern part of the
as
it were, one pair with
the
power of the world on the north and south of the Lord's
land
are overwhelmed with terror at His voice. This parallelism
with
desert
is mentioned which borders immediately on the land of
Ver. 9. The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to cast their
young, and strips the
forest; and in His temple everything says:
PSALM XXIX. VER. 9. 479
Glory. The opposition between
the hinds and the forest
tends
to impress upon our minds, that the Lord, in a thunder-
storm,
makes known His power over every
created thing; that
which
is great shall not escape Him because of its greatness,
nor
that which is little because of its littleness. llvHy, Pil. from
lvH, can only be translated, “makes them bring
forth;” i.e. "so
terrifies
them with the loud peals of thunder, that they cast
their
young before the time:" this is evident from Job xxxix. 1;
compare
also 1 Sam. iv. 19. According to ver. 3 of Job xxxix.
the
hinds bring forth their young easily;
so that there can be
no
room for the idea of Bochart and others being referred to
here,
that they bring forth with difficulty. "It strips the
forests,"
is, it strips them of their attire, their branches and
leaves.
The Chaldee has correctly given the sense of the last
words:
In His upper sanctuary all His servants praise His
glory
before Him. A common exposition is, The whole universe,
heaven,
and earth, and sea, together with all that they contain,
are
awed by the glory of the Lord, as seen in a thunder-storm,
and
feel themselves called upon to praise Him. But the only
correct
point in this exposition, is its opposition to another,
according
to which, by "the temple," is meant "the temple at
according
to xi. 4, xviii. 6, His heavenly dwelling-place, and
those
who there praise His glory are the angels. The correct-
ness
of this interpretation appears also from verse 1 and 2. The
angels
in this verse, after they have seen the Divine glory,
comply
with the exhortation which the Psalmist had addressed
to
them, grounded upon that manifestation. If they, the
highest
of all God's creatures, are filled with holy awe before
the
Divine glory, how great must that glory be, and how easily
may
the
all
danger and all fear under foot! He, whom angels praise,
must
impart to His people unassailable protection against all
their
enemies. The suffix in vlk, refers back to the temple,—
its
entirety, the entirety of that which is therein, or of those
who
are therein. vl, never occurs without a
preceding noun n to
which
the suffix refers. dvbk, which is to be considered as a cry,
"Glory!"
has its commentary in the words, "Holy, holy, holy
is
the Lord, the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of His
glory,"
of the seraphim in Isaiah; where the holiness denotes
not
specially moral excellence, but also the infinite superiority
480 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
of
God to all created beings, His glory. Compare what has been
said
on Ps. xxii. 3.
Several expositors have endeavoured
to exhibit a regular
progression
of thought in the description of the thunder-storm:
first,
the storm is seen in the sky (ver. 3,
4); then it attacks the
hills (5, 6); and, last of
all, its influence is felt in the plains
(8).
But
this progression is altogether forced. Verse 4th contains a
description
of the voice of the Lord, which is wholly gene-
ral:
it is impossible to see, according to this view, in what
way
verse 7th is brought in; and in verse 8th, it is not the
plains that are mentioned, but
the wilderness with its frequently
lofty
hills.
There follows now, in vers. 19 and
11, the application: If
God
is the God of glory, His people need be afraid of nothing.
Ver. 10. The Lord sat at the deluge, and therefore the Lord
sits as King for ever. As the Lord on one
occasion manifested
Himself
at the deluge as King and Judge, in the destruction
which
He prepared for the ungodly, and in the deliverance
which
He afforded to those who feared Him, therefore will He
also,—this
confidence the Psalmist had acquired from the ma-
jestic
sight which he had seen with the eye of his mind, and
from
the "glory!" of the sons of God, which had penetrated
the
very depths of his soul,—throughout all eternity, manifest
Himself
as King and Judge in the deliverance of His people,
and
in the destruction of all His and their enemies. Sitting is
the
position peculiar to a king and judge: comp. John iv. 12;
Rev.
xviii. 7; see also Ges. Thes. on the word. It is more ac-
curately
defined by the second clause: "as king" belongs in
reality
also to the first. That the l in lvbml has reference to
time, at the deluge—compare
on this usage, Ew. Sm. Gr. 527;
Ges.
Thes. 730; the l is, in such cases, as it is always, the par-
ticle
of proximity—appears from the corresponding Mlvfl, in
which
the usage of l seems to have given rise to its usage in
lvbml. The article points to a particular
flood, and directs at-
tention
manifestly to the deluge—an event which would occur
all
the more suitably to the mind of the Psalmist, that the Lord
had,
on that occasion, manifested His glory in the tempest.
This
is evident, as lvbm is used only of the deluge, Gen. vi. 17,
vii.
6, 7, etc.—a word which, even at the time when the Penta-
teuch
was composed, had disappeared from the ordinary lan-
guage,
and had been handed down as a kind of proper noun
PSALM XXX. 481
for
that particular flood, with the memory of it, from the times
of
old. The Fut. with the V. conv. bwyv, intimates, that what
is
to
come, develops itself out of what has already been.—Other
translations
of the verse are to be rejected; such as: the Lord
sits
on the floods; He directs the inundations which follow a
thunder-storm,
and guides them; or, He is enthroned above
the
floods
of the sky. But, in addition to the Preterite and the
lvbm, it may be urged, that into the conclusion of
the Psalm,
where
an application only is appropriate,
an unsuitable element
is
introduced.
Ver. 11. The Lord shall give strength to His people; the
Lord shall bless His
people with peace.
The second clause
points
to the beginning and end of the Mosaic blessing
"May
the Lord bless thee—and give thee peace." Jo. Arnd
remarks
on the first clause: "This is
glorious consolation
against
the contempt and persecutions of poor Christians, the
little
flock, which has no outward protection in the world, no
outward
strength. But the Holy Ghost imparts consolation,
and
says, The world shall not give strength and power to the
Church,
but the Lord; as king Jehosaphat comforted himself
when
he said, ‘With them is an arm of flesh, but with us is
the
Lord of Hosts;’ and John, ‘He who is in us, is greater
than
he who is in the world.’"
PSALM XXX.
This Psalm, which consists in all of
twelve verses, may be
naturally
divided into two parts— an introduction
of five, and a
main body of seven verses. In the
introduction, the Psalmist
takes
a rapid survey of the subject of his poem: the Lord has
graciously
delivered him out of great danger, danger which
threatened
him with entire destruction, vers.
1-3; then, inti-
mating
that he sings for the Church, he
exhorts all the pious to
praise
the glory of God, His forgiving mercy, which had been
manifested
to him on this occasion, vers. 4 and 5. In the detail,
he
first gives an account of his misfortune:
prosperity had pro-
duced
in him pride and false confidence; out of this sinful state
he
bad been roused by a judgment which God had permitted
to
befall him, vers. 6, 7. He next tells us what the prayer was
which
he had offered up to God from the depths of that misery
482 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
into
which he had been sunk by Him in punishment of his pride,
vers.
8-10; narrates the deliverance which,
in answer to this
prayer,
had been vouchsafed to him, ver. 11; and concludes
with
a promise of eternal gratitude for
the deliverance thus
wrought
out, ver. 12.
The occasion for which the Psalm was written is announced
in
the title: "A Psalm, a song of the
dedication of the house of
David."
We cannot, with De Wette (Introd. p. 32), consider
these
words as designative of the tune,—as
if the Psalm were to
be
sung to a tune which was generally sung at the dedication
of
houses. The words do not admit this interpretation; a song
of
the dedication of a house cannot possibly be a song like the
song
of the dedication of a house; the contents possess nothing
at
all similar to what would be the contents of a poem composed
for
such an occasion. Every attempt has failed to prove that the
titles
ever indicate the tune to which the Psalms are to be sung;
and
this idea has simply originated in the difficulty felt in en-
deavouring
to give a satisfactory explanation. In like manner,
we
must reject the explanation given by Calvin, Grotius, and
others,
that the house is the palace of David; and that the
Psalm
was composed when David consecrated his house a second
time
by a religious service, after it had been polluted by Absa-
lom.
The term hknH
is never used except as applicable to the
consecration
of a new building, and the contents
of the Psalm
do
not at all accord with such an occasion. The house clearly
is
the house of God, the temple. And the title indicates that
the
Psalm was sung at the dedication by David of the site of
the
future temple, as recorded in 2 Sam. xxiv. and 1 Chron.
xxv.
The object of the Psalm is very correctly given by Ve-
nema:
"That the remembrance might be
perpetuated to all
posterity
of the occasion on which the site of the temple to be
erected
by Solomon was selected, and the temple itself conse-
crated
by a sign from heaven."
Against this view nothing of any
consequence can be urged,
except
that the dedication of the future site of the temple, by
the
erection of an altar, can scarcely be called the dedication of
a
house. But really one does not see why
it may not. That a
house
of God may be where there are no splendid buildings, but
only
a simple altar, is evident from Gen. xxviii.
22; and that
the
house of the Lord was really here present, is unquestionably
evident
from 1 Chron. xxi. 26: "And David built there an altar
PSALM XXX. 483
unto
the Lord, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings,
and
called upon the Lord; and He answered him from heaven
by
fire, upon the altar of burnt-offering." The place was, in
the
fullest sense of the word, even in David's time, a sanctuary,
yea,
the sanctuary, and therefore the house of God; and in reality
there
was nothing added to its dignity by Solomon. The Lord
had
declared it to be His house; He had granted David the for-
giveness
of his sin on the condition of his erecting the altar; He
had,
at its dedication, consecrated it by fire from heaven. David
recognised
in this altar the sanctuary of the Lord; he sacrificed
there
not only once, but he used it ever afterwards as a place of
sacrifice.
Besides all this, we have one passage in which it is
expressly
said, that David gave to that place the name of the
house of the Lord,—an appellation which he
would regard as
all
the more appropriate from the circumstance, that he foresaw
that
the form would very soon be superadded to the reality, in
that
edifice which he knew would be completed by his son, and
in
the preparation for which he henceforth himself engaged
with
so much alacrity: compare 1 Chron. xxii. 2, etc. The pas-
sage
is 1 Chron. xxii. 1: "And David
said, This is the house of
the
Lord, and this is the altar of the burnt-offering for
On the other hand, and in favour of
this interpretation, we
have
the contents of the Psalm, in exact agreement with 2 Sam.
xxiv.
and 1 Chron. xxi. First, there is an agreement in reference
to
David's sin. Here, as there, it was
no outward sin on the
part
of David that brought down the Divine judgment: it was
a
sin which lay concealed within the recesses of the heart. His
sin
here, as there, was pride, which led
him to consider what had
been
given him by the Lord as acquired by his own might, and
as
a lasting possession. Here David expressly tells us this, in
the
7th verse, where his sin is represented as consisting in his say-
ing,
in his prosperity, "I shall never be moved." Buddaeus, who
remarks
on the numbering of the people, "The thing itself shows
that
David, in the whole matter, was actuated by pride and vain-
glory,"
takes a correct view of the matter, in opposition to that
of
J. D. Michaelis, who cannot understand what a sin is, which
lies
wholly within the heart; and by others who follow; him,
such
as Keil, on Chronicles, p. 351, who maintains that the
numbering
of the people was for military
purposes, was like an
enrolment
for service, and proceeded from that love of conquest
which
David had acquired in his old age, in consequence of
484 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
having
brought so many wars to a successful termination. It
is
expressly said in 2 Sam. xxiv. 2, that David's design was "to
take
the number of the people;" and the remark of Joab in
ver.
3 renders it evident that David, in so doing, was seeking to
gratify
his pride and vain-glory much in the same way that an
avaricious
man gratifies his avarice by counting his gold. It is
clearly
evident from Ex. xxx. 12, that the numbering of the
people,
which is in itself an action entirely innocent, and in
some
circumstances absolutely necessary, may very easily be-
come
a sin through pride. The punishment
also shows that the
essence
of the sin was pride: quia David
multitudine populi
superbire
voluit, ideo Deus eum diminutione populi punivit.
Thenius,
in his remarks on the passage, has shown clearly, that
it
is only by a false interpretation that 2 Sam. xxiv. 5 can be
made
to favour the view taken by J. D. Michaelis.—Further,
the
calamity spoken of is one which came upon the Psalmist after
a
long season of peace and prosperity, vers. 6, 7. This was
the
case at the numbering of the people. The pride, which
prompted
David to that act, had been induced by prosperity.
—The
calamity referred to in the Psalm was very
severe, but
it
was of short duration: the pain was
quickly and suddenly
changed
into joy; compare ver. 2, ver. 11, and especially ver.
5:
"Weeping lasts for an evening, and
in the morning there is
joy."
Such was exactly the case at the numbering of the
people.
The calamity—which so rent the heart of David, that,
in
a state in which it might be said that he was rather dead
than
alive, he besought the Lord to make an end of it, at the
expense
of his own life—came suddenly to a
close, after it had
lasted
less than one entire day. The calamity, according to 2
Sam.
xxiv. 15, "lasted from morning till the time of meeting."
That
by this, we are to understand, "the evening religious
assembly,"
i.e. "till the time of the evening sacrifice " (1
Kings
xviii. 36, comp. with ver. 29; 2 Kings xvi. 15), is clear
from
the context. Of the two religious assemblies of the day,
the
first is excluded by the expression, "from the morning."
The
interpretation given by many, "till the time appointed,"
is
inadmissible, inasmuch as with the morning only a part of the
same
day can be contrasted, and, from the succeeding context,
it
is evident that the judgment did not
last till the time ap-
pointed
by God, but was shortened in consequence
of David's
repentance.—The
punishment, according to ver. 7 of our Psalm.
PSALM XXX. VER 1. 485
was
one which broke the power of the kingdom.
This was the
case
at the numbering of the people. The enemy,
the usual
instrument
of Divine judgments in the Psalms, especially in
those
that were composed by David, comes into notice, here
only
as rejoicing over the calamity of the
Psalmist—an expres-
sion
which indicates simply his presence; and this is in accor-
dance
with 2 Sam. xxiv. 13, where, among the three evils sub-
mitted
to David's choice, we find this, "that he was to flee three
months
before his enemies while they pursued him." —Here,
as
there, the deliverance followed in
immediate connection with
the
prayer of David.—Verse 11, "Thou hast put off my sack-
cloth,
and girded me with gladness," may be compared with 1
Chron.
xxi. 16, "Then David and the elders of
clothed
in sackcloth, fell upon their faces." Lastly, verse 4th
indicates,
in accordance with our view of the title, that the
Psalm
was prepared for the purpose of being used in public
worship.
Our Psalm affords a very remarkable
proof of the correct-
ness
and originality of the Titles. The circumstances above
adverted
to, are so very far from being obvious, that the title
could
not possibly have been framed from a later combination
thereof.
The idea, arbitrarily entertained by
Hitzig, that the Psalm
was
composed by Jeremiah, is refuted by the obvious allusions
to
it in the song of Hezekiah, as recorded in the 38th Chapter
of
Isaiah: compare vers. 18 and 19 of that chapter, with the
9th
verse of this Psalm.
The forgiving mercy of God towards
His own people is ex-
pressly
pointed out in ver. 5 as the kernel
of the Psalm. It is
very
remarkable that, previous to the laying of the material
foundation
of the temple, this should have been pointed out by
God
Himself, as the spiritual basis on which the temple was to
rest.
David comes forth in this Psalm, as the interpreter of
this
announcement,—an announcement implied in the pro-
cedure
adopted on the occasion by God.
Ver. 1. I wilt exalt Thee, 0 Lord, for Thou hast exalted me,
and hast not permitted
my foes to rejoice over me. Muis: "I will
praise thee, is followed in the
second clause by the ground, why
he
desires to praise God; and he expands this in the two follow-
486 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
ing
verses, for the purpose of shoving how great
is his obliga-
tion
to praise Him." The three verses are bound together as
one
whole; by the thrice-repeated address to God. The first
clause,
"I will exalt Thee," stands
in manifest reference to the
second,
"because Thou hast exalted
me." Calvin: "Because he
was,
as it were, exalted from the grave to the vital air, he pro-
mises
that he will exalt the name, of God. For as God exalts
on
high by His hand when we are sunk in the deep, so it is, on
the
other hand, our duty to exalt His praise with heart and lips."
The
term hld,
properly to draw water, is explained
by the cir-
cumstance,
that the calamity is represented under the figure of
a
deep well, into which the Psalmist
had sunk. That we are
not
to dream of a literal rendering, is manifest from the 3d
verse,
"Thou hast brought up my soul from the grave;" and
from
ver. 2, where "Thou hast drawn me up" corresponds to
“Thou
hast healed me.” Hmw with l designates, according to
the
connection, malicious pleasure. It
signifies, properly, to
rejoice
at any one, so that the joy pertains to him, or bears re-
ference
to him. David's enemies, like those of every pious
king,
were the numerous enemies of the Lord,—the
ungodly:
compare
2 Sam. xii. 14, "Because by this deed thou hast given
great
occasion to the enemies of the Lord
to blaspheme, the child
also
that is born unto thee shall surely die." As these had
hitherto
contemplated with envy the previous
manifestations of
the
grace of God towards him, so now they derived a peculiar
gratification
from the calamity with which he had been visited.
They
hoped that he would now be utterly destroyed--a con-
summation
which they had in vain looked for in the days of
Absalom.
This hope was frustrated, when they saw that God
had
forgiven the infirmity of His repentant servant, and that
He
did not destroy him along with the ungodly.
Ver. 2. 0 Lord, my God, I cried to Thee, and Thou didst heal
me. Every severe suffering
appears under the figure of a sick-
ness,
and the Lord, who remove it, under the figure of a
physician.
Compare Isa. vi. 10; 2 Chron. xxxvi. 16.
"To
heal,"
here, is explained by the "helping" of ver. 10, and the
"gladdening"
of ver. 11. To conclude from the expression,
"Thou
didst heal me," that David had been literally ill of a
bodily
disease, would be as absurd as to conclude from the ex-
pression,
"Thou hast drawn me out," of the 1st verse, that he
had
fallen into a well.
PSALM XXX. VERS.
3, 4. 487
Ver. 3. 0 Lord, Thou hast brought up my soul from hell;
Thou hast brought me
alive from among those who go down to the
pit. David had been brought
near death, through grief, on
account
of the sufferings in which his criminal conduct had in-
volved
his people: compare on Ps. vi. 6, 7. He was, as it
were,
dead, though still literally alive: compare 2 Cor. 10.
Calvin:
"He thought that he could not
otherwise adequately
describe
the greatness of the favour of God, than by comparing
the
darkness of that time to that of the grave and the pit." In
reference
to rOb yder;Oy, compare on Ps. xxviii. 1. "From those,"
is
"taking me out of the number of those." The marginal
reading
ydir;y.Ami, “from my going down,” that is, "so that I may
not
go down," is to be decidedly rejected. For the infinitive of
dry, is always tdr (compare ver. 9), and the
Psalmist represents
himself
in the first clause as one who had already sunk to Sheol.
The
Masorites made the change because they could not under-
stand
how the Psalmist reckoned himself among the dead.
After this short glance at the
circumstances, there follows
in
the 4th and 5th verses the announcement of the kernel of the
doctrine which they contain,
which extends far beyond the range
of
individual and personal experience, and is of importance to
the
whole community of believers. These are exhorted to con-
cur
in the praise of the Psalmist for the deliverance vouchsafed
to
him, because it gloriously illustrates the nature of God.
Ver. 4. Sing to the Lord, ye saints of His, and praise His
holy memorial. The memorial of the Lord is what presents
itself
to the mind when we think of Him; therefore, everything
by
which He makes known His nature,—His historically mani-
fested
properties, His character as exhibited in His acts. "Were
He
the hidden God, He would have no
name, no Memorial.
The
fundamental passage is Ex. iii. 15: "This
(viz. Jehovah,
the
God of your fathers) is My name for ever, and My memo-
rial
unto all generations,"—that is, I shall always from this
time
make Myself known as possessed of this property, so that
it
shall not be possible for men to name Me except by it, or to
think
of Me except according to it. Compare Isa. xxvi. 8 ; Ps.
cxxxv.
13, xcvii. 12; Hos. xii. 6. The addition vwdq presents
us
with the contents of the memorial.
The holiness of God is,
in
this passage also, His infinite elevation above all created being:
compare
on Ps. xxii. 3. This the Lord manifests in the most
glorious
manner, in the "being compassionate, gracious, and
488 THE BOOK OF PSALMS
merciful."
Compare Hos., xi. 9, where, in like manner, the
forbearance
and the grace of God are represented as the out-
going
of His holiness. What is mentioned
here in two words
as
the holy memorial of God; is set
before us in a more expanded
form
in the 5th verse. The historical character of God, as the
Holy
One, rich in forgiveness, and infinitely elevated above all
human
passion, had been manifested in the experience of David.
This
furnished an opportunity for calling upon the whole
Church
to praise Him in this aspect. What the Lord does in
the
first instance to an individual, pertains for ever to the whole
Church;
and the people of God ought joyfully to avail them-
selves
of every such opportunity to grow in the knowledge and
love
of God.
Ver. 5. For His anger brings on a moment, His favour life;
weeping in the evening
remaineth over the night, and in the morn-
ing joy is there. This verse gives the
basis of the exhortation
to
praise the Lord, and especially His holiness. That vpxb is
not
to be translated, "during His
anger," but, "through His
anger,"
is obvious from the opposite term, "through His favour:"
compare
the jnvcrb
in ver. 7. The literal rendering is: "Be-
cause
a moment (is) through His anger, life through His favour:"
the
import is: "Because through His
anger there comes only
one
sorrowful moment, and then there comes again life through
His
favour." The "moment" is defined by the connection and
the
parallelism to be a sorrowful one.
The life is to be ex-
plained
neither as bare life, nor simpliciter
as deliverance. It
includes
both,—life in the proper sense, and deliverance: com-
pare
on Ps. xvii. 11. It is explained, on the one hand, by ver.
3,
where the Psalmist says, that the Lord had brought him back
to
life from the death, into which he
had as good as fallen, and
by
the "my blood," in ver. 9th; and on the other hand, by
ver.
11, and by the parallel term "
joy." God delivers His
people
from apparent death, and bestows upon them deliver-
ance.
Mere life could not be called life; it would only be death
in
disguise.—From attempting to bring out the most exact
parallelism
possible, and from not at the same time observing
that
the fgr
is defined by the connection to be a moment of
sorrow,
denoting suitably the opposite of MyyH, critics have been
led
into two false expositions. Several, like the Septuagint and
Hitzig
force out of fgr a false sense: "sudden death lies in His
anger."
Most, however, display their ingenuity on MyyH. It is
PSALM XXX. VER. 6. 489
made
to denote the whole of life: "His anger lasts only one mo-
ment; His favour, on the
other hand, diffuses happiness among
His
people throughout their whole lifetime."
But then, MyyH
never
occurs
as equivalent to "all the days of life;" it is rather used
throughout
the Psalms in opposition to death, in the full sense
of
that term: compare, for example, xvi. 11, xxxiv. 12, xxxvi. 9.
Even
in the second clause, there is
nothing said of the long
continuance
of the deliverance, of which the Psalmist could as
yet
know nothing, but only of the short duration of the suffer-
ing
and of the sudden transition to joy. The same observation
may
be applied to vers. 2 and 11.—In the second half of the
verse,
WEEPING is personified, and represented by the figure of
a
wanderer, who leaves in the morning the lodging into which
he
had entered the preceding evening. After him another
guest
arrives, viz. JOY. Nyly can refer only to the first clause:
in
the second, the substantive verb must be supplied.—The con-
tents
of the verse are applicable to those only who are exhorted
in
the 4th verse to praise the glory of God therein represented,
which
forms the ground of their joyful hope and of their patience
in
affliction, viz. the pious. The Divine judgments are fre-
quently
annihilating in their character to
the ungodly: in their
case,
joy never follows weeping.
There follows after the introduction
a more full and distinct
description,
on the one hand, of the distress which David by his
own
sin had brought upon himself; and, on the other, of the
grace
of God which had wrought out his deliverance.
Ver. 6. And I said in my security, I shall never be moved.
Calvin:
"An effeminate indolence had stolen
over his spirit,
so
that he was disinclined to prayer, and had no sense of his de-
pendence
upon Divine grace, but trusted too much to frail tran-
sitory
prosperity." The "speaking" here, is the speaking of the
heart. There is no necessity
arising from this passage for sup-
posing
that there is another form of the noun vlw, instead of the
usual
one, hvlw:
compare on the dropping of the feminine ter-
mination
before the suffixes, Hitzig on Hos. xiii. 2. The phrase
itself,
"in my security," may be understood either as lequivalent
to
"when I was prosperous" (Luther), or as indicating that
carnal security of the soul which is also caused by worldly pro-
sperity,
as in Prov. i. 32, "The prosperity of fools shall destroy
them,"
and the adj. in Ezek. xxiii. 42. In favour of this last
interpretation
it may be urged, that the words, except when
490 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
considered
in this view, are not sufficiently explicit. It is only
from
the spirit in which they are spoken
that they have a sinful
character.
Considered in themselves, they might be taken as
an
expression of living faith.—The
deepest insight into the
dangers
of prosperity, and the necessity which thence arises for
affliction,
had previously been exhibited in the law:
compare,
for
example, Deut. xxxii. 15, "But Jeshurun waxed fat and
kicked
thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art
covered
with fatness; then he forsook God which made him,
and
lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation:" but especially
Deut.
viii. 11-18, where almost every word agrees exactly with
the
case before us: "Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy
God,
lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and thine heart be
lifted
up, and thou say in thine heart, My power and the might
of
mine hand hath gotten me this wealth; but thou shalt re-
member
the Lord thy God, for He it is that giveth thee power
to
get wealth." Besides
ing
to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and
their
heart was exalted; therefore have they forgotten Me")
and
David, we have in the Old Testament a remarkable example
of
the dangers of prosperity in the case of Hezekiah, who stood
so
nobly when in adversity. These dangers are not only incident
to
worldly prosperity, but are also to be dreaded in a season of
spiritual
enjoyment. J. Arnd says: "Behold! we have here a
very
affecting warning in the example of beloved David, which
should
teach us to fear God during our days of prosperity, and
never
to be confident, or to put our dependence on earthly
things.
How did the prophets preach against the mighty kings
and
nations in their prophecies against
those
mighty nations, cities, and kings who depended on their
own
might and riches, have been broken and laid waste, and
levelled
with the ground; while, on the other hand, all who
acted
humbly, feared God, and cherished a sense of dependence
on
His grace, have been maintained, and shall continue to exist
for
ever. The sentence also is to be understood in a spiritual
sense:
many a one is so strong in faith, so spiritually minded,
so
joyful, so full of confidence, that he bids defiance to the devil
and
the world, and says, with David, ‘I will not fear though
hundreds
of thousands were encamped against me.’ But when
our
beloved God tries us a little, when He withdraws from us
His
grace, 0 then all is over with us, and we are ready to sink
PSALM XXX. VER. 7. 491
into
hell, and to give up all for lost. This God does, that we
may
become acquainted with our own weakness, and may know
that
we are entirely dependent on Divine grace." The Berleb.
Bib.:
"A change is necessary, in order
that the soul may be
brought
to know that its firmness is entirely dependent on the
strength
which God has imparted. If its
beautiful day had no
evening,
if its sun were never darkened, the soul would infallibly
ascribe
all to its own power and care. But as soon as God with-
draws
His sensible co-operation, evening and darkness destroy
its
beautiful day: and it then knows that everything comes
from
this source and sun, and that everything proceeds from
the
will of God, and through the working of His grace, without
any
merit on our own part at all."
Ver. 7. 0 Lord, through Thy mercy Thou hadst imparted
strength to my mountain:
Thou didst hide Thy face, and I was
confounded. David complains of his
folly, in that it was neces-
sary
for him to learn by misfortune that his prosperity was
nothing
else than a gift of Divine grace, the continuance of
which
did not depend on any power in its possessor, but on its
heavenly
Author. The verse may be thus paraphrased: "I
have
learned by painful experience that the power of my king-
dom
had its root in Thy favour; for, when Thou didst withdraw
Thy
grace, I was in a miserable condition, and felt myself to
be
irretrievably lost." It is of importance to compare the
history here. How speedily were
all the foolish ideas, which
led
David to number the people, dissipated, when the Divine
judgments
broke in upon him! dymfh, with the accusative of
the
thing and the dative of the person, is "to appoint any-
thing
to any one:" compare 2 Chron. xxxiii. 8, "The land
which
I have appointed for your fathers;"—in the parallel pas-
sage,
2 Kings xxi. 8, it is Ntn "gave." The "mountain" is
in
general a striking emblem of dominion. But there was
in
the case before us a particular reason why the Psalmist
selected
this figure. A mountain was the centre, and therefore
the
natural symbol, of David's kingdom: compare
2 Sam. v. 9,
"And
David dwelt in the fort, and called it the City of
David."
On the top of the high and steep eminence, in the
a@nw po<lij, the royal city was
situated (Neh. iii. 25), which was
termed
the King's upper house. Its situation must have ren-
dered
it a place of great security. This is evident from the
contemptuous
language used by the Jebusites when David was
492 THE BOOK OF PSALMS
endeavouring
to obtain possession of it. They insinuated that
the
blind and the lame were sufficient to defend it. Micah iv.
8
is exactly parallel to our passage. The prophet employs the
hill
of the daughter of
built
upon it, as an emblem of the dominion of the seed of
David:
compare Christol. P. III. p. 273. Those passages are
analogous,
in which the hill of Sion appears as the symbol of
the
it:
Isa. ii. 3; Ps. lxviii. 17, etc. Hence the expression, "Thou
hast
imparted strength to my mountain," is, "Thou hast im-
parted
strength to my kingdom:" compare 2 Sam. v. 12, "And
David
perceived that the Lord had established him king over
tions
are to be rejected in which the mountain is considered
as
symbolical either of security, of dignity and greatness.
Neither
security nor dignity can have strength imparted to
them.
According to our exposition, the passage stands in re-
markable
agreement with the history. The
Divine judgment,
which
followed the numbering of the people, destroyed to a
great
extent the strength of the kingdom.
There follows now (vers. 8-10) the
prayer which David,
after
he had been brought to a right state of mind, offered up
to
God as the fruit of the Divine chastisement. Calvin:
"David,
who had hitherto been sound asleep, is suddenly
alarmed,
and begins to cry to God. For as iron, when it has
become
rusty through long rest, cannot again be made use of
till
it has passed anew through the fire, and been struck again
with
the hammer, so, when carnal confidence has obtained the
mastery,
it is impossible for any man to address himself in right
earnest
to prayer, until he has been struck by the cross, and
made
fit for the work."
Ver. 8. To Thee, 0 Lord, I cried; and I supplicated the Lord
for His grace. Several expositors
consider this verse as ex-
pressive
of future time, and consequently read it with marks of
quotation,
as if it formed part of the prayer. This is the view
taken
by Luther: "I will call upon Thee, 0
Lord; I will sup-
plicate
the Lord." But in opposition to this, it may be urged,
that,
in the second clause, God is not addressed, but is spoken
of.
Hence it is better to interpret the future, as arising from
the
living realization of the events which should take place in it.
Ver. 9. "What profit is there to Thee in my blood, that I
PSALM XXX. VER. 10. 493
should go down to the
grave? Will dust praise Thee? will it
make known Thy truth?" The two first questions (literally,
"What
gain is there in my blood? What gain hast Thou
if
Thou spill my blood, if Thou suffer me to die; or in my going
down
to the grave?") are answered in the two verses which fol-
low.
God would have very little profit. He
would be deprived
of
the praise of the Psalmist, who, in the midst of all his weak-
ness,
had continued to be His servant, and whose praise conse-
quently
had been pleasant to Him: compare the parallel pas-
sage,
Ps. vi. 5. tmx is neither "grace," nor "faithfulness,"
nor
"friendship,"
but, as always, "truth." Prominence is here
given
to that attribute of God which the Psalmist will praise,
if
God does not give him over to death: compare the song of
Hezekiah
in Isa. xxxviii. 19, "The living, he shall praise Thee,
as
I do this day: the father to the children shall make known
Thy
truth;" and ver. 18: "For the grave cannot praise Thee,
death
cannot celebrate Thee; they that go down into the pit
cannot
make known Thy truth." God would
be chargeable
with
untruth, were He to punish His own
people with irreme-
diable
destruction, after having declared in His word His readi-
ness
to forgive their infirmities on their sincere repentance.--
1
Chron. ii. 14-17 shows how exactly these words suit the situ-
ation
to which we suppose them to refer. David had made an
offer
of his own life, for the deliverance of his people, to the
angel
with the drawn sword, whom he beheld with eyes which
had
been opened by a sense of his guilt. Even this offer shows
that
he looked upon himself as rather dead than alive. The
sufferings
of his people, of which he himself had been the
cause,
pierced his heart so severely, that he believed he must
have
died had they been prolonged.
Ver. 10. "Hear, 0 Lord, and be gracious to me; Lord, be
my helper."
David, after repeating his prayer,
tells us that he had been
heard. Ver. 11. Thou turnedst for me my mourning into danc-
ing: Thou hast put off
my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness.
qw is a hair garment, which mourners put on: it
was, as it
were,
the robe of penitence in which they
were led through suf-
fering
to self-examination, and through it to humiliation, under
the
mighty hand of God, to the acknowledgment of their sin,
and
to penitent prayer for forgiveness.
The conclusion consists of promises
of thanks.
494 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
Ver. 12. In order that glory may praise Thee, and not be
silent; 0 Lord, my God,
I will praise Thee for ever. Several
translators
give: "for this reason," etc. But Nfml, when joined
to
verbs, never signifies "for ,this reason," but always, "in order
that:"
and this signification, as Calvin saw, is here even more
suitable
than any other. As David, in ver. 9, had grounded his
prayer
for deliverance on the plea that otherwise he would not
have
it in his power to praise God, so now he sets forth the
praise
of God as the final aim of the deliverance which had been
actually
wrought out for him. And what a motive was there
in
this for David not to become weary in praising God! The
"glory"
indicates what value God puts upon the praises of the
Psalmist.
He is made after the image of God, there is something
divine
in him: compare at Ps. vii. 5, xvi. 9. The expression,
"in
order that glory may praise Thee," is, "in order that my
soul
may praise Thee, which is glory; or, whose praise is pleasant
to
Thee, because it is glory." We are not to think of an elision
of
the suffix, which never takes place.
The reference to the
Psalmist,
that the glory which is to praise God belongs to him,
comes
out from the connection. The "for ever," indicates that
the
Psalmist will set no limits to the praise of God. In reality,
it
corresponds to "all the days of our life" of Hezekiah, in the
20th
verse.
PSALM XXXI.
After the Psalmist has shortly set
forth his prayer, and in-
dicated
the basis on which it rests, in the
introduction (ver. 1),
he
brings forward the latter of these
very prominently in the
first division (vers. 2-8): the Lord may, must, and will help
him
in his trouble, because He is his
God. With confidence
thus
acquired from the consideration of the general relationship
of
God towards him, he proceeds, in the
second division (vers.
9-18),
more immediately to the, trouble itself, which he describes
at
length in the first half of this part
(vers. 9-13), and then in
the second half (vers. 14-18) he brings
it to God. In the third
division (vers. 19-21) the
Psalmist obtains from God the heart-
felt
assurance of help, and extols loudly the goodness of God
towards
His own people. A conclusion (ver.
22) sums up in a
few
words the personal experience of the Psalmist; and an
PSALM XXXI. 495
appendix (vers. 23, 24) unfolds
the lesson which the Church
ought
to learn from this narrative:—all the pious should he led
thereby
to love God, and confidently to trust in Him in the
time
of trouble; for, as the example of the Psalmist shows, He
will
not fail to manifest Himself as faithful to His people.
This Psalm also is distinguished by
an elaborate formal
arrangement.
The main body is governed by the numbers 3,
7,
and 10, and is completed in two decades, if we reckon together
the
three verses of the third and the seven of the first part,
which
are intimately related to each other:—in the first, we have
confidence
anticipating an answer; and in the
third, confidence
resting on the inward response
of God. The second decade is
divided
into two parts of five verses each. If we add the con-
clusion and the introduction, it appears that the Psalm
is an
alphabetical
one in point of numbers. There is also an evident
attempt
at alphabetical arrangement as regards the first letters
of
the verses in the paragraph from ver. 8-12. If we add the
application, the verses amount to
24,—the doubled twelve,—
the
signature of the people of the covenant.
Several abortive attempts have been
made to find out; a parti-
cular historical
occasion
for the Psalm. It represents, as Coc-
ceius
has well remarked, the perpetual conflict which believers
and
the Church have to maintain in this world, and the deliver-
ance
and victory by which that conflict is ever anew followed.
The
Psalmist does not speak in his own person,
but in the
person
of every righteous man who finds
himself engaged in
severe
warfare. The want of all special historical reference
speaks
in favour of this view. Then the language
of the Psalm
is
exceedingly easy; while in those
called forth by individual
suffering,
the style is more or less involved.
In like, manner,
there
is the fact, that there are in this Psalm several, reminis-
cences
from other Psalms which had proceeded from a heart in
a
state of great emotion. Last of all, there is the alphabetical
arrangement.
All alphabetical Psalms have a general character.
That Jeremiah found the Psalm suitable to his circumstances,
and
drew consolation from it, is evident, besides other facts,
from
chap. xx. 10, where we find the very peculiar language of
the
first half of the 13th verse repeated word for word. Modern
expositors,
entirely misunderstanding the relation; subsisting
between
Jeremiah and the more ancient sacred writings, and
particularly
the Psalms, have, from the simple fact of the above
496 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
agreement,
drawn the conclusion that he was the author
of the
Psalm.
The conclusion is just as valid as would be the infe-
rence
that it had been composed by our Saviour, because He
made
use of the language of the 5th verse on the cross. The
more
general reasons—such as those drawn from the sameness
in
point of spirit, the union of complaint and hope, the elegiac
mood,
etc.—do not suggest Jeremiah any more than any
other
believer under the Old Testament dispensation. There
is,
moreover, not the shadow of a reason for setting aside the
superscription,
which expressly announces the Psalm to have
been
David's.
First, the Introduction in ver. 1. In
Thee, 0 Lord, do I put
my trust; let me never
be ashamed: deliver me in Thy righteous-
ness. The Psalmist prays for
something which God must grant.
His
prayer rises on the firm foundation of his
faith, which God
may
not put to shame; and of God's
righteousness, which ren-
ders
it impossible that the lots of the righteous and the wicked
should
be interchanged. On "Let me never be ashamed," the
Berleb.
Bib. correctly remarks: "Which would be the case,
wort
Thou not to fulfil my desire and prayer;" and Venema
"He
shows that he feels himself to be in such a situation, that
he
must either be immediately delivered, or put to shame for
ever."
To be put to shame now, is the same
thing as to be put
to
shame for ever; for matters have come
to the very last ex-
tremity
with the Psalmist: compare vers. 9-13, particularly the
words,
"They devise to take away my life,"
with which this
description
of the trouble concludes, and, "Deliver me speedily,"
of
ver. 2. Now the servants of God, notwithstanding all their
weaknesses,
are not put to shame for ever. God
may, yea, must
visit
His people with transitory suffering; but He cannot be
God,
and give them over to destruction.
This is the part only
of
the wicked, not of those who put their trust in God. It is
utterly
impossible to substitute "goodness" for "righteousness."
The
only question is, whether the prominent idea intended here
to
be conveyed is faithfulness in fulfilling promises, or justice
in
dispensing to each one according; to his works. In favour
of
the latter view, we have the mention made of the righteous
in
ver. 18; of them that fear God, in
ver. 19; of those who trust
in God, ver. 6, as the objects
of the Divine assistance; and the
PSALM XXXI. VER. 2. 497
corresponding
expression in the verse before us itself, in
Thee,
0 Lord, do I put my
trust.
The righteousness of God demands
that
He should not give over to destruction (as is the case with
the
wicked scoffers) those who trust in Him—it
being of course
understood
that it is a real, heartfelt trust
that is meant, such a
trust
as springs from a pure conscience:
compare at Ps. xviii. 1;
Ps.
xxvi.
The first division is from ver. 2 to
ver. 8. The Psalmist
utters
the prayer to God for deliverance, grounds it upon the
inward
relation in which he stands to God, and expresses his
assurance
of being heard.
Ver. 2. Bow down Thine ear to me, deliver me speedily: be
a strong rock to me, and
a fortress to help me.
Of the two ele-
ments
contained in the Introduction,—the Prayer and its Basis,
—we
have the first here, and the second in ver. 3.
Jo. Arnd:
"0
God, Thou hearest such light tones, that Thou hearest even
my
sigh! Ah! delay not too long! I have no temporal de-
fence,
no place of strength and safety; be Thou my castle and
stronghold.
Here we learn how the children of God ought to
speak
to their beloved Father, namely, as friend to friend, or as
a
child to his father: Ah! my beloved Father, bow down Thine
ear
to me. See, this is what faith, what child-like love and
confidence
does! It embraces the Lord, and falls upon His
neck!
0 Lord, Thou knowest, and Thou alone art acquainted
with
my trouble: to Thee alone will I complain, and speak, as
it
were, secretly into Thy ear." It is of the nature of fervent
prayer
to realize the presence of God in the most lively manner;
so
that, in the prayers of the godly of the Old Testament, even
before
the incarnation of the Word, He took, as it were, flesh
and
blood. Hence it is that, in the Psalms, we find the strongest
possible
instances of what have been termed anthropomorphisms
and
anthropopathies. The non-existence of the anthropomor-
phisms
of feeling is just as objectionable,
yea, more so, than the
existence
of the anthropomorphisms of dogma,
which are met at
the
threshold of the Old Testament by the law forbidding
images—a
law which is based on the absolute spirituality
of
God.
Aversion to anthropomorphisms of feeling, or inability
to
make use of them in a way consistent with inward truth, is
the
result of practical atheism. “A strong rock and a fortress.”
is
literally a rock of security, and a house of a mountains top:
compare
Ps. xviii. 2.
498 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
Ver. 3. For Thou art my rock and my fortress, and for Thy
name's sake Thou wilt
lead me and guide me.
The Psalmist
had,
in the preceding verse, prayed to God that He would be
his
rock and fortress; and he now grounds this prayer on the
fact,
that the Lord is in reality his rock
and fortress, because he
knew
Him as such, by the faith which God never puts
to shame.
God
must, in the particular case, necessarily help him, because
He
stands towards him in the general relation of a helper.
Hence
we see how little ground Koester has for maintaining
that
the "for" is illogical, and for drawing from this his con-
clusion
that the Psalm is a compilation. The "for" refers to
both clauses of the verse.
Even in the second clause, the
special
thing to which the Psalmist lays claim, is referred back
to
its necessity. Not to allow trouble to darken consciousness,
is
one of the highest and most difficult tasks set before sufferers.
—The
expression, "for Thy name's sake," is equivalent to, "for
the
sake of Thy historically manifested glory," viz. "Thy right-
eousness"
of ver. 1: compare at Ps. xxiii. 3. The words ynHnt
and
ynlhnt
(compare on the meaning of lhn, Ps. xxii. 2) are to
be
considered as expressive, not of prayer
(Luther: "Wilt
Thou
not lead and guide me?"), but of hope.
This is evident
from
the connection of the verse with what precedes, and from
what
follows, when the Psalmist passes from hope to confidence.
The
prayer of the preceding verse, "that the Lord would de-
liver
the Psalmist," is here based on the consideration, "that the
Lord
will deliver him for His name's sake."
Ver. 4. Thou wilt lead me out of the net which they laid for
me, for Thou art my
strength.
Ver. 5. Into Thine hand I com-
mit my spirit: Thou
redeemest me, God of truth. The Preterite,
htydp, is to be taken in the prophetic sense,
as expressive of con-
fident
hope, and stands like the Preterite in
the 7th and 8th
verses.
The basis of this confidence is
pointed out in the de-
signation
of God as the God of truth: "God
of truth" corre-
sponds
to "my strength," in the preceding verse. That God
is
a God of truth, affords security for deliverance, inasmuch as
He
has revealed Himself in His word as the righteous rewarder;
so
that He would not be acting in accordance
with truth, were
He
not to help.—Our Lord uttered on the cross the words of
the
first half of the verse before us; and this circumstance led
many
of the old expositors to apply the whole Psalm directly to
the
Messiah. Huss repeated frequently on the way to the stake
PSALM XXXI. VERS. 6, 7. 499
the
words: "Into Thine hands I commend my spirit: Thou
hast
redeemed me, my Lord Jesus, God of truth."
Ver. 6. I hate those who regard lying vanities, and I trust in
the Lord. The Psalmist had in
the preceding verse rested his
hope
of deliverance on Jehovah--the God of truth. In the
verse
before us he expands this thought. He does not, like the
ungodly
world, which he hates, put his trust in deceitful vani-
ties,
in idols, which cannot afford the assistance which they pro-
mise
to their votaries: he places his trust in the Lord, the I AM,
the
God of truth, who performs what He promises; and therefore
he
is sure of deliverance. The emphasis does not lie on the trust,
but
on the object of the trust. Many
expositors substitute tAxneWA,
"Thou
hatest," instead of ytixneWA; but the sense does not suit the
connection,
and Ps. xvi. 4 and xxvi. 5 are in favour of the
first
person. rmw,
in the sense of, "to wait upon anything,"
occurs
in Hos. iv. 10, and Zech. xi. 11. Mylbh, "vanities,"
is
applied
to idols in Deut. xxxii. 21, in parallelism with lx xl:
and
also in Jonah ii. 9; Jer. x. 3, 15, 19. That it refers here
primarily
to idols in the proper sense, is evident from compar-
ing
Ps. xvi. 2-5. The remark of Calvin, however, is substan-
tially
perfectly correct: "All those vain
hopes which we invent
for
ourselves, and which withdraw our trust from God, David
calls
vanities, and even vanities of nothingness or of lies, be-
cause
they delude and deceive us, though they feed us for a
long
while with their mighty boastings." Mylbh
stands in
oppo-
sition
to hvhy
of the preceding verse—the I AM, the pure and
absolute
entity, in opposition to the nonentity; and xvw, "the
lie,"
is opposed to tmx , "the truth." They are in themselves
nothing,
and, on this account, they are deceitful
to all those
who
place their hope in them. ynxv, on which many have
stum-
bled,
is to be explained by considering the words, "I hate, etc.,"
as
equivalent to "Those whom I hate, etc." Jo. Arnd re-
marks
"The soul remains with that on
which it depends, on
which
it places its hope, where it seeks comfort and rest, with
which
it is united. Is thy soul united with any earthly thing,
has
it conceived an affection for it, does it depend on it? Woe to
thy
poor soul, it will remain where its hope is. Therefore look
well
to what it is that thy soul is depending on."
Ver. 7. I will be glad, and rejoice in Thy goodness, Thou who
seest my trouble, who
knowest the necessity of my soul. The suf-
ferer
sees, with the eye of faith, the deliverance for which he
500 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
hopes
already present,—the prayer with which the paragraph
begins is based on hope, and the hope soon passes on to confi-
dence,—and exhorts himself,
now that God had performed His
part,
to render Him joyful thanks. The exposition of Michaelis
and
others, "Let me give thanks," "Give me, by delivering
me,
occasion to render thanks," is confuted by the Preterites.
—The
seeing is not without meaning. When
God sees the
misery
of His people, He also helps them. fdy with b is used
of
a knowledge which dwells with strong emotion (in this
case,
that of love) upon its object: compare Job xxv. 15.
The
exposition of Luther, "Thou knowest my soul in trouble,"
which
has been again brought into notice by Stier, is negatived
by
passages such as Gen. xlii. 21, where wpn trc already occurs,
and
Ps. xxv. 17.
Ver. 8. And Thou dost not give me over into the hand of my
enemy; Thou settest my
feet in a large room.
"To shut up into
the
hand," is to give over into the power, in such a way that
there
can be no deliverance. The phrase is made use of by
David,
1 Sam. xxiii. 11. Compare xxvi. 8, xxiv.
19. On the
second
clause, compare Ps. xviii. 19.
There follows now the second division (vers. 9-18), in which
the
Psalmist, in the spirit of heartfelt trust in the helping grace
of
God, to which, after much exertion, he had attained, pro-
ceeds,
first, to describe at length his
trouble (vers. 9-13), and,
second, to pray for
deliverance (14-18).
"Ver. 9. Lord, be merciful unto me, for I am hard pressed;
mine eye is decayed
because of vexation, my soul and my body.
Compare
Ps. vi. 7. We have already seen at this passage, and
at
Ps. x. 14, that sfk does not signify grief, but vexation or in-
dignation, especially at the
unrighteous conduct of enemies.
Ver. 10. For my life is spent with grief, and my years with
sighing; my strength is
broken through my iniquity, and my bones
are consumed. The expressions,
"in grief," and "in sighing,"
are
to be explained from the effect being conceived as rest-
ing in its cause. The sense
is, "my constant pain, my continual
sighing,
wear me out before the time, end my life, shorten my
years."
hlk is "to waste
away," "I to tend towards dissolution."
lwk is in many places "to stumble"
"to sink from weakness:"
compare,
for example, Ps. cix. 24. It is applied here to sink-
ing,
broken strength. Many of the
expositors are altogether at
sea
in their efforts to explain, "through my iniquity:" it was
PSALM XXXI. VER. 11. 501
not
the guilt of the Psalmist, say they, but the wickedness of his
enemies,
that had involved him in suffering; he appeals to the
justice
of God (ver. 1), and represents himself as an upright and
pious
man, suffering innocently. They therefore explain the
term,
"through my suffering." But
Nvf
is always "iniquity," and
never
"suffering," such as befalls an innocent man, nor even
“punishment.”
The wickedness of enemies, and the guilt of
the
Psalmist, co-exist as causes that have brought on his dis-
tress:
the Lord, on account of his guilt, has given power to the
malice
of his enemies to injure him. Neither are the guilt of
the
Psalmist and his own righteousness
inconsistent with each
other:
he was a righteous man in regard to the prevailing ten-
dency
of his life; but this was quite compatible with the exist-
ence
of manifold sins of infirmity, which rendered it necessary
that
he should be purified by the cross. The righteousness of
God
may have brought on the Psalmist's suffering; but that
need
not prevent the Psalmist from hoping that the same right-
eousness
will effect his deliverance. Sins of infirmity call for
punishment, not destruction; and it is that this, which
the
Psalmist
finds to be already near, may be averted, that he ap-
peals
to the righteousness of God. Finally, the Psalmist might
be
innocent in reference to his enemies, and might, nevertheless,
be
given over to suffering by God on account of his guilt. It
is,
moreover, altogether impossible for us to keep out of view
the
guilt as the cause of the suffering, inasmuch as, according
to
the teaching of Scripture, every
suffering is, and must be, a
punishment,
since God is just. To recognise in our sufferings
a
righteous retribution, is the prime condition of the hope of
deliverance:
he only who can say with the heart, "My strength
is
broken through mine iniquity," will be able to utter with
inward
truth the prayer, "Deliver me for Thy righteousness'
sake." The case of Job
affords a remarkable illustration of
this.
His despair of a prosperous issue to his sufferings arose
solely
from that lack of a knowledge of sin, which rendered it
impossible
for him to reconcile his experience with the right-
eousness
of God. The same point, which is merely hinted at
here,
occupies the foreground in other
similar Psalms, as, for
example,
the 38th. The bones are mentioned as
the seat of
strength.
Very severe pain penetrates the bones and the mar-
row,
and renders the whole man thoroughly feeble.
Ver. 11. On account of mine enemies I have become a reproach,
502 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
and even to my
neighbours very much, and an object of aversion
to my acquaintances;
those who see me in the street flee from me.
The
Psalmist complains of the loss of his reputation, which, to a
man
who feels himself deserted by God, is altogether insupport-
able,
and even to those in fellowship with God, is very difficult
to
be borne. Calvin: "He says the multitude of his enemies
have
gained over almost the whole people to their side, and
therefore
even amongst his friends and acquaintances he has
been
covered with disgrace: in these circumstances, public
opinion
carries away our souls like. a mighty hurricane." Jo.
Arnd:
"It cannot be worse with us than when we are so over-
whelmed
with lies and slanders that we come to be utterly de-
spised,
so that people are ashamed of us and shun us, and it is
reckoned
disreputable to associate with us, and even our inti-
mate
friends forsake us. This was the case in a remarkable
manner
at the crucifixion of our Lord: His friends stood afar
off;
for had they come near, they would have been recognised as
connected
with Him. It is a piece of the curse, a portion of
the
poison, and one of the most murderous blows, of the devil,
so
to slander a man that he is looked upon as an abomination
and
a curse." The groundwork of this description is to be
found
in the painful trial which David experienced during the
persecution
of Saul. The Nm is causal: "on account of,"
"the
reproach arises from my enemies." The Psalmist first
says
in general, "I have become a reproach," and then men
tions
particularly those whose contempt he felt peculiarly to be
painful,
"and (particularly, I have become a reproach to my
neighbours)
very much—in a high degree." Those
who see me
in the street, etc. Not only will no
one associate with me under
the
same roof, or hold confiding intercourse with me, every one
flees
from me as soon as I am seen in the streets.
Ver. 12. I am forgotten in the heart like a dead man; I have
become like a broken
vessel.
blm is,
properly, out of the heart. On
"a
broken vessel," the Berleb. Bib. remarks: "which is good
for
nothing, which can be made no use of, cannot be made
whole
again, for which no one cares, and the fragments of which
are
thrown away." That this last clause refers not only to the
contempt, but also, in general,
to the completely comfortless con-
dition
of the Psalmist, is evident from the "for" with which
the
next verse opens.
Ver. 13. For I hear the slander of many; fear is on every side:
PSALM XXXI. VERS. 11-16. 503
when they take counsel
together against me, they devise to take
away my life. The sufferer here assigns the basis of the clause,
"I
am like a broken vessel." The thought of the slanderings
of
the enemies is naturally followed by that of their acts of per-
secution: "fear is on every
side," etc. In order to be able to
perpetrate
these without hindrance, they devised their slanders.
They
withdrew public sympathy from their victim by covering
him
with disgrace, that they might then be able to sacrifice
him
undisturbed and unpunished. On dHy dsvH compare Ps. ii.
2.
The representation of the trouble closes with intimating
that
the enemies were preparing to make a determined onset
against
the life of the sufferer. If this be
the case, God, as was
brought
prominently forward in the first part, must, as sure as
He
is the Psalmist's God, put forth His helping hand without
delay:
delay is dangerous; not to help now,
is the same thing
as
not to help at all.
Ver. 14. And I trust in Thee, 0 Lord; I say, "Thou art my
God." Calvin, by the
following remark, removes the appa-
rent
contradiction between the confidence in God expressed
here,
and the complaints uttered in the previous verses:—"He
was
indeed sunk in the darkness of sorrow and in dreadful
affliction,
yet the hidden light of faith still glimmered inwardly
in
his heart; he sighed under his heavy load of trial, yet he
still
had strength left to call upon God." On "Thou art my
God,"
he remarks: "There is nothing more difficult, when we
see
our faith despised by the whole world, than to direct our
language
to God alone, and to rest on the testimony of our con-
science
that He is our God.'"
Ver. 15. My times are in Thine hand: deliver me from the
hands of my enemies, and
from my persecutors.
Mytf
never sig-
nifies
fate, but always times. The Psalmist affirms that the
times,
with their sufferings and joys (comp. 1 Chron. xxix. 30),
are
in the hand of God, and that it requires only a nod from
Him
to transform the evil into good; while he rises on the wings
of
faith above the visible world, even after no such change ap-
peared
any longer possible.
Ver. 16. Make Thy face to shine upon Thy servant; deliver
me through Thy goodness. On the last clause,
which refers to
Num.
vi. 25, compare at Ps. iv. 6. The words, "upon Thy
servant,"
contain the basis of the prayer. God cannot do other-
wise
than manifest Himself as gracious to His servant.
504 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
Ver. 17. Lord, let me not be put to shame, for I call upon
Thee: may the wicked be
put to shame, and be silent in shed.
"For
I call upon Thee," corresponds to "in Thee, 0 Lord, do
I
put my trust," at the beginning of the Psalm. The "calling"
is
noticed merely so far as it is an act of "trust." Jo. Arnd:
"The
beloved prophet puts God in remembrance of His pro-
mise,
that He will hear and help those who call upon Him with
heartfelt
confidence. 'I call upon Thee,' he says, 'therefore
let
me not be put to shame.' Whoever can hold fast by this
hope,
cannot be put to shame by God: His promises, and even
He
Himself, must sooner be put to shame." The contrast
between
the Psalmist, who calls upon God, and
the wicked,
shows,
on the one hand, that not to call
upon God is an infallible
mark
of the wicked; and, on the other hand, that calling upon
God
thrives only on the soil of a pure heart. The wicked are
not
the enemies of the Psalmist, the enemies only belong to the
wicked;
they are not wicked because they are enemies, but
enemies
because they are wicked:—let me not be ashamed (and
in
me all the righteous); may those rather, who deserve it, be
ashamed,
even the wicked, and among them, my enemies. The
following
verse renders it evident that "may they be silent," is
equivalent
to "may they be struck dumb," and that the expres-
sion
forms the contrast to the blustering noise of the wicked.
Jo.
Arnd: "May death and sheol stop their mouth, so that they
may
not have it in their power to revile and slander any more."
The
lvxwl,
properly "to sheol,"
indicates that their silence be-
longs
to sheol, that it originates from their abode in it—the
noiseless
kingdom of the dead.
Ver. 18. May the lying lips be put to silence, which speak reck-
lessly against the
righteous man, in pride and contempt. Com-
pare
ver. 13. The lying lips are brought to silence by the
destruction
of the wicked slanderers.
There follows now the third part, the hearing of the prayer
(vers.
19-21).
Ver. 19. How great is Thy goodness which Thou hast laid up
for them who fear Thee,
which Thou manifestest to them that trust
in Thee, before the sons
of men.
The sufferer, after he had
obtained
inwardly the assurance of being heard,
first praises in
general
(vers. 19, 20) the goodness of God towards His own
people,
and next sets forth (ver. 21) the personal experience
which
had given him occasion thus to praise
God. In the first
PSALM XXXI. VER. 20.
505
clause,
the goodness of God, which had been enjoyed by the
Psalmist in rich abundance on behalf of the
Lord's people, appears
under
the emblem of a treasure which He has
laid up for them.
Those
interpreters who cannot see their way through the abbre-
viated
comparison, the force of which is, "which in rich ful-
ness,
like a hoarded treasure, is present for those who are
Thine,"
are inclined to substitute "possessions" instead of
“goodness.”
But hvhy bvF means always the
goodness of the
Lord
(compare at Ps. xxvii. 13); and that this signification is to
be
retained here, is obvious from the expression, Ps. xxxvi. 7,
"How
precious is Thy love!" jdsH. Jo. Arnd: "Oh!
whoever
heartily
trusts in God with lively stedfast hope, possesses God,
with
all His treasures of grace, with all His goodness, and love,
and
friendship. God gives Himself to those as their own, who
give
themselves to Him and trust in Him. Whoever gives to
God
his whole heart, receives in return from God His whole
heart,
with all its goodness and felicity."—Arnd expounds cor-
rectly,
"before the sons of men:" "so that every one, friend
and
foe, must say that it is a work of God. Thus were the
faith
and prayer of Hezekiah made known to the whole world,
when
the sun went back: thus was it also with the faith and
prayer
of Daniel and the three men in the fiery furnace. Who
would
have thought that God would have had such goodness
among
His secret treasures to manifest to His people! Such
goodness
has He laid up in His treasures for you and for me, if
we
trust in Him." Luther and others, in violation of the
accents,
translate: "who trust in Thee before the people."
But,
in opposition to this view, there must be urged the refer-
ence,
as noticed by Arnd, in which "before the sons of men"
stands
to tnpc.
Besides, the expression, "to trust in God
before
the sons of men," never occurs, and indeed can scarcely
occur;
whereas repeated and emphatic mention is made of the
fact,
that the grace which God manifests towards His own
people
is visible to the whole world, and specially to their
enemies:
comp. Ps. xxiii. 5.
Ver. 20. Thou hidest them in the secret of Thy presence from
every man's league: Thou
concealest them in a pavilion from
the strife of tongues. In the first clause,
the regard of God for
His
people, His favour appears as a place of resort, which He
provides
for them: compare "make Thy face to shine upon
Thy
servant," ver. 16. The term Mkr, which occurs in no
other
506 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
passage,
is from Mkr,
"to bind," and signifies "a bond," "a
confederation:"
compare, "while they took counsel together
against
me," ver. 13. "The slander of many," in that verse,
corresponds
to "the strife of tongues," in the verse before us.
The
"pavilion," in which God conceals His people, is a spiri-
tual one, and there is no need
for supplying the b. Arnd
"This
our beloved God does secretly, so that no human eyes
may
or can see; and the ungodly do not know that a believer is,
in
God, and in the presence of God, so well protected, that no
reproach
or contempt, and no quarrelsome tongues can do him
any
harm." Ps. xxvii. 5 is parallel.
Ver. 21. Praised be God, for He bath showed me wonderful
goodness in a strong
city.
Arnd is short and good: "The strong
city
is God Himself, and His powerful and gracious protection,
in
which we are even more secure than in a strong city:" Ps.
xlvi.
The Psalmist had already prayed (ver. 2) that God would
be
to him a stronghold on a high mountain. He now sees this
prayer
fulfilled. Ver. 22 corresponds to
ver. 1, in the same
way
as the verse before us corresponds to ver. 2,—the last of
the
second decade to the first of the first.
There follows in ver. 22 the conclusion, which shortly recapi-
tulates
the whole. And I said in my rapid flight,
"I am torn
away from Thine
eyes;" but Thou heardest the voice of my prayer
when I cried to Thee. NpH always means to hasten
from fear:
compare
especially 1 Sam. xxiii. 26. Here it is used figura-
tively: the dejected man, who
looks upon his case as lost, appears
like
one in a trembling haste. The word shows us how much
of
anxiety and despondency lies concealed under the apparently
strong
and unwavering faith which met us at the beginning of
the
Psalm. rzgn,
with which zrgn evidently agrees in significa-
tion
(compare Ps. lxxxviii. 8), always signifies to
be cut off,
to be rooted out, and never to be shut out. ytzrgn denotes irre-
mediable destruction,
death,—compare,
"they think to take my
life," ver. 13, and MyyH
Crxm rzgn "he was rooted out of the land
of
the living," Isa. liii. 8. There can be no reason drawn
from
the appended words, "from Thine eyes," for forcing on
zrgn a meaning foreign to the term. The man who is
rooted
out,
who has descended to the kingdom of the dead, is at the
same
time removed from the eye of God,
that is, is no longer
the
object of the delivering grace of God: compare Isa.
xxxviii.
11, where Hezekiah says, "I said, I shall not see the
PSALM XXXII. 507
Lord
in the land of the living." The voice
of supplication is
not
"the supplicating voice;" but MynvnHt are the proper objects
of
answer, and the "voice" is
added only because it is the object
of
the bodily hearing: the sound, the
call of my supplicatory
complaint.
After the Psalmist had ended matters
with God, he turns
round
to his brethren in the faith, for the
purpose of setting
before
them the lesson to be drawn from the great drama which
had
been acted before their eyes.
Ver. 23. Love ye the Lord, all ye His saints: the Lord keepeth
faith, and plentifully
rewardeth him who acteth with haughtiness.
The
exhortation to love the Lord is followed by the basis on
which
it is made to rest, "for the
Lord keepeth faith." After
"the
Lord keepeth faith," we must supply, "towards His
saints;"
and this supplied clause finds its opposite in "acteth
with
haughtiness." There is no reason for translating, "the
Lord
preserveth the faithful,"— rcn does occur in the sense
of
"to
hold," "to observe," as, for example, Ex. xxxiv. 7, and
Isa.
xxvi. 3,—and, on the other side, there is no clear proof
of
Mynvmx
being used as an adjective. Compare at Ps. xii. 1.
rty lf is, properly,
"superabundantly," "plentifully."
Ver. 24. Be ye strong, and may He strengthen the heart of all
of you who trust in the
Lord.
Compare at Ps. xxvii. 14.
PSALM
XXXII.
David celebrates in this Psalm the
happiness of a sinner
who
has obtained mercy from God, the preciousness of the for-
giveness
of sins, and the blessing of purity and uprightness
before
God, which alone lead to the obtaining of forgiveness.
In
the introduction, vers. 1 and 2, he
indicates his subject in
general,
by pronouncing the man to be blessed who has obtained
the
forgiveness of sin, and has not excluded himself from it by
inward
impurity. In the main body of the
Psalm, he depicts;
first
(vers. 3 and 4), the misery which he
endured, so long as
the
sin of which he was conscious stood like a partition wall
between
him and God, and he, stained with impurity, had
neither
repented before God, nor asked from Him the grace of
forgiveness.
Then he tells us that forgiveness
immediately fol-
lowed
upon confession, ver. 5. In vers. 6
and 7, he represents,
508 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
in
opposition to vers. 3 and 4, the blessed consequences of for-
giveness
obtained through uprightness: he is now sheltered from
those
judgments which hang over sinners; he has God again for
his
friend; and in Him he has protection against every danger,
and
the joyful assurance of deliverance. In vers. 8 and 9, he
grounds
doctrine upon history: the righteous man who has fallen
may
seek the forgiveness of sin through the free return to God,
alone
worthy of him. In the conclusion,
vers. 10 and 11, the
Psalmist,
proceeding from what is particular to what is general,
pronounces
the man to be happy who has placed his confidence
in
God: all things, even his sins, must in the end work together
for
good, while the ungodly is visited with severe punishment.
The formal arrangement of this Psalm
is very obvious. The
whole
is broken up into strophes of two verses, with the excep-
tion
that the fifth verse, which may be considered as the heart
of
the Psalm, representing, as it does, the inseparable connection
between
free confession and forgiveness, forms a strophe by itself,
and
thus stands apart from the general train of the Psalm—a cir-
cumstance
which is evidently pointed out by its disproportionate
length. The introduction consists of two verses, and
there is a
corresponding
conclusion of an equal number. The main body
is
complete in the number seven. The three chief divisions in
the
historical part are indicated by the thrice repeated selah.
Most commentators suppose that David
composed this Psalm
when
he obtained forgiveness from God after his adultery with
Bathsheba,
and the death of Uriah, to which that sin led. The
correctness
of this view can scarcely be called in question. That
the
case represented in ver. 3 is no fiction,
but a reality, is clear
as
day. The Psalmist speaks in language far too definite of
himself
and of a particular case, to allow us to regard the matter
as
a fiction. Now, if the matter be a reality, no other circum-
stances
can be referred to, except those above mentioned. All
the
characteristic features agree exactly. Here, as there, it is
none
of the common sins of infirmity that
are spoken of, but a
dreadful transgression, yea, an assemblage of
dreadful trans-
gressions:
compare the expression in the 5th verse, "I will
confess
my crimes to the Lord," in which
respect, the transgres-
sion
of David with Bathsheba, and the accompanying circum-
stances,
are said to hold a peculiar place in the history of David,
1
Kings xv. 5. Here, as there, we have a long continuance of
impenitence:
according to ver. 3, "the bones of the Psalmist
PSALM XXXII. 509
waxed
old continually;" according to
ver. 4, "the hand of the
Lord
was heavy upon him day and night;" and, according to
the
history, there elapsed nearly a whole year between the sin
of
David and the repentance. Here, as there, we have a sudden
transition: confession of sin at
once breaking out, and forgive-
ness
immediately following. Compare ver. 5, "I acknowledged
my
sin unto Thee, and I did not hide my iniquity; I said, I
will
confess my transgressions unto the Lord, and Thou didst
take
away the guilt of my sin," with 2 Sam. xii. 13, "And
David
said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And
Nathan
said to David, The Lord forgiveth thy sin, thou shalt
not
die."—The reasons which have been adduced to show that
the
historical account given in Samuel is not wholly in accord-
ance
with the Psalm, are easily set aside. David, it is said,
according
to that account, did not confess his sin, but had it
brought
before him by Nathan. But, even according to Samuel,
David
did confess his sin; and the
circumstance, that his confes-
sion
was called forth by Nathan's address, did not detract from
its
character as a voluntary act. David must have arrived,
within
his own mind, even at the very threshold of repentance;
otherwise
the address of Nathan would not have produced the
effect
which it did. Nathan did not originate
the confession, he
only
set it loose. In what other way can
we explain the fact,
king
for such a length of time after the sin was committed,
that
Nathan postponed the discharge of his duty towards the
except
by assuming that he waited, according to the direction of
God,
for the crisis in David's mind? Inasmuch, therefore, as
the
address of Nathan occupied only a subordinate place, and
was
not the ground, but merely the occasion of David's confes-
sion,
David might very well pass it over in silence in this Psalm,
in
the same way in which he does in the 51st Psalm, which
refers
to the same circumstance. Again,
stress is laid upon the
circumstance,
that the writer of this Psalm is joyful at having
obtained
deliverance from the punishment of
his sin, with which
he
had already been visited (vers. 6 and 7); whereas in 2 Sam.
xii.,
David obtained forgiveness previous to the infliction of the
punishment.
But the punishment, in deliverance from which
the
Psalmist rejoices, is not one with which he had been already
visited,
but one which he dreaded, with which he was threatened,
—one,
present indeed, in the view of conscience, which already
saw
the angel with the flaming sword approaching, but in
510 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
reality
yet future. In ver. 6, it is said that "the floods shall not
reach to the godly who prays
at the right time to God for for-
giveness
of sin," but not that "they shall turn
away from him;"
and
in ver. 7, the preceding clause, "Thou preservest me from
trouble," leads us to
consider the "songs of deliverance," as
songs
called forth by deliverance from threatened
danger. Now,
David
had been visited with anxiety in regard to future punish-
ment
after his adultery with Bathsheba. Nathan's words, 2
Sam.
xii. 10, "Now therefore the sword shall never depart from
thine
house, because thou hast despised Me and taken the wife
of
Uriah," would not have produced such a dreadful impression
on
his mind, had not his conscience, before this, distinctly and
repeatedly
made the same announcement.
It has been frequently maintained
that this Psalm stands in
opposition
to the general point of view of the Old Testament.
"It
teaches inward reconciliation with God through faith;
whereas,
according to the theocratic view and practice, recon-
ciliation
is outward, and obtained by sacrifice." But there
cannot
be produced, out of the whole Old Testament, one single
passage
in which the doctrine that sacrifices of themselves, and
apart
from the state of mind of the offerers, are well-pleasing to
God,
is advanced, except for the purpose of vigorously oppos-
ing
it. The law of Moses disowns this doctrine with complete
decision.
When, for example, in Lev. xxvi. 31, it is said in
reference
to the ungodly, "I will not smell the savour of your
sweet
odours;" and when, in Gen. iv. 4, 5, we find that, along with
an
outward similarity, the offerings of Cain and Abel met with
such
different receptions from God, and that this difference
is
traced back to a difference in the persons; it is all but ex-
pressly
asserted, that sacrifices are regarded only as expres-
sive
of the mind within. Moreover, how could any such im-
portance
be attached to sacrifices, considered as such, when the
value
of all that man does is so repeatedly and so decidedly
represented
as dependent on his love to God? Compare Beitr.
P.
iii. p. 611. Now, just as sacrifices
do not exclude faith, but
faith
is rather the soul of sacrifices, so
faith does not exclude
sacrifices.
It is not a matter of any consequence, that David
should
have made no reference to them in this Psalm, inasmuch
as,
although generally available in the case before us (compare
on
this Ps. li.), they occupy in every instance a very subordi-
nate
place.
PSALM XXXII. 511
According to Amyraldus and others,
the Psalm is irrecon-
cilably
at variance with Ps. i. "For whoever receives pros-
perity
as the reward of his virtue and holiness, stands in no
need
of forgiveness of sin; and, on the other hand, whoever
needs
forgiveness of sin, cannot hope for prosperity as the re-
ward
of his good works." But, that the variance is altogether
in
appearance, is obvious from the fact, that in many Psalms
(as,
for example, Ps. xix.), both positions are maintained, that
salvation
is the reward of righteousness (comp. on Ps. xix. 12),
and
that salvation is the consequence of forgiveness of sin, and
that
in many instances both occur in immediate connection
with
each other. As even the righteousness of the man who is
in
a state of grace (and it is only with such a man that both
these
Psalms have to do), is in every instance but a righteous-
ness
of aim, so the reward which is
promised to diligence in
good
works, and to which Ps. i. refers, can be obtained only
when
forgiveness of manifold transgressions has been sought
and
obtained from the compassion of God.
The Psalm is termed in the title, a
Maskil of David. The
most
obvious explanation of this term, which occurs in the titles
of
thirteen Psalms, is that of Instruction—a
Didactic Poem:
compare
lykwh,
in the sense of "to make intelligent, prudent,"
in
Prov. xvi. 23, xxi. 11. A very decisive circumstance in
favour
of this interpretation, is the occurrence of jlykwx in ver.
8,
where there is as good as an express explanation of the title;
and
this circumstance is to be regarded as all the more impor-
tant,
from the fact, that the word is made use of in the very
first Psalm which bears the
title. Further, it may be urged in
favour
of this interpretation, that the Psalm has so decided a
didactic
character, that the author seems as if he had resolved
beforehand
to lose sight of all regard to everything of an in-
dividual
character, for the purpose of influencing the whole
Church.
To this it may be added, that in Ps. liii. this inter-
pretation
is clearly demanded by the reference to the title con-
tained
in ver. 2. That Poem was designed to bring
to reason
the
unreasonable men there spoken of.
Compare page 211.
The
current objection against this interpretation, that all the
Psalms
so designated do not bear a didactic character, is not to
be
set aside by the remark of Stier, that it is of the nature of
such
names that they are on these occasions used also in a
vague
manner. It may rather be observed, that every expres-
512 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
sion
of holy feeling is subservient to the purpose of instruction
in
righteousness; that in the Psalms which were called forth by
individual occasions, the Psalmists
express their feelings on
behalf
of the whole Church; that in the very many Psalms in
which
the Righteous man is the speaker, the
hortatory character
is
obvious to all except the most superficial readers. The de-
signation
is indeed applicable, properly, to all the
Psalms, inas-
much
as they all have been reckoned worthy to be made use of
in
the services of the sanctuary, and to be admitted as part of
the
sacred Scriptures: compare 2 Tim. 16, where as much
is
said of the whole Scriptures of the Old Testament. For
this
reason, after a Psalm had been placed at the head, the
very
form of which at once shows it to be
a didactic Psalm,
might
this designation be prefixed especially to those Psalms
in
which this character is least apparent. The didactic Psalms,
properly
so called, did not need this N.B.—The common in-
terpretations
of lykWm
have been refuted in the Christology,
I.
1, p. 113. The exposition there adopted, "a pious poem,"
cannot
be maintained against the positive grounds on which
the
exposition, "Instruction," rests.—The relation of lykWm to
jlykWx in ver. 8, leaves little room for doubt
as to David's
having
composed the title, and affords a pretty strong presump-
tion
in favour of the titles generally.
Ver. 1. Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose
sin is covered. Ver. 2. Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord
imputeth not iniquity,
and in whose spirit there is no guile. The
reasons
why the Psalmist pronounces the man to be blessed
who
has
obtained forgiveness of sin, are apparent in the following
verses:
compare Rom. iv. 6. He, whose sins have not been
forgiven,
and who has the hand of God lying heavy upon him,
and
is in fearful expectation of the judgment with which, at
its
own time, he will infallibly be visited. In this declaration
of
blessedness belonging to the man whose sin has been for-
given,
there lies an indirect exhortation
not to shut ourselves
out
from this benefit by our own fault. Compare 1 John i. 8,
9.
Hence is explained the stringing on of the last clause, in
which
mention is made of that which brings this exclusion in-
fallibly
in its train. The words are directed against the error
of
those who seek to come to terms with their sin, by expiating
PSALM XXXII. VERS. 1, 2. 513
it
themselves, by concealing, or by not charging themselves
with
it. The Berleb. Bib.: "As children
imagine that they
are
not seen when they put their hands upon their eyes, and
cover
them so that they themselves see no one, in like manner,
men
act with equal folly, in supposing that their sins and
crimes,
when concealed from themselves, are also concealed
from
the all-seeing eye of God." The three expressions ap-
plied
to sin (compare on fwp at Psalm xix. 14), are borrowed
from
the fundamental passage on the forgiveness of sin, Ex.
xxxiv.
7: "Keeping mercy for thousands, and forgiving ini-
quity,
transgression, and sin." The form yvWn, instead of xvWn,
is
adopted on account of its similarity in form to yvsk. bwH
with
l occurs,
as it does here, in 2 Sam. xix. 19, where Shimei
addresses
David, apparently in allusion to common religious
expressions,
and particularly, perhaps, to this very Psalm: "Let
not
my lord impute iniquity to me, neither do thou remember
that
which thy servant did perversely." The king, who could
extol
so gloriously the forgiving grace of God, would not turn
away
the man who had fled to his forgiving
grace. Compare
Matt.
xviii. 23, etc.—The succeeding context contains an ex-
planation,
as to where it is that the guile
lies. As an outflow
thereof,
we find mention made of "keeping silence," of "not
making
known," of "hiding iniquity," and of "not confessing
transgressions."
The guile, the want of inward truth, which
denies,
extenuates, excuses, or seeks for apologies, is the cause
why
so few attain to the blessedness of forgiveness, here praised
by
David, which is bestowed only for sin acknowledged
and con-
fessed. The roots of this
guile, which made its appearance
immediately
after the fall, are pride, want of
confidence in God,
and love of sin. Many are hereby prevented
altogether from
confessing
sin: with Pelagian self-delusion, they take pleasure
in
their misery, and consider themselves as altogether excellent.
Others,
again, exhibit the first beginnings
of true confession of
sin,
but they do not reach the proper point, because this guile
will
not allow them to recognise the whole magnitude of their
guilt.
But even those also who have really attained to the
state
of grace, embitter, in many ways, by means of this guile,
the
blessing of forgiveness, which they have obtained through
uprightness
and sincerity. What exposes them particularly to
this
temptation is, their stern views of sin, and of their con-
demnation
before God, and the consciousness of the favour
514 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
obtained
from God, and of their state. Nature struggles hard
against
that thorough humiliation of soul which brings with it
for
them conviction and acknowledgment of sin. Hence it is
necessary
for them to lay to heart the words of this verse, dic-
tated
for their use by David, as the result of his own peculiarly
painful
experience of the misery which flows from sin unfor-
given,
because of the prevalence of guile. In the case of David,
although
his transgressions were so enormous, guile
found, as
it
generally does, when the heart is so inclined, many points
on
which to lay hold. The first sin was not one which he had
sought
for; it was one, the temptation to which presented itself
before
him: and a monarch, especially an
Eastern one, in a case
of
this kind, would feel quite disposed to adopt a standard of
his
own. And after the first sin was committed, it is easy to
see
how he might look upon after circumstances, rather as the
result
of a sad necessity, than as involving
heinous guilt.
In the main body of the Psalm, the Psalmist unfolds the
grounds which led him to
pronounce the man to be blessed
whose
sin had been forgiven, and in whose spirit there was no
guile.
These grounds, as manifested in his own experience,
were
the sufferings which he had endured when, through guile,
he
continued shut out from the forgiveness of sin, and the peace
which
he enjoyed when he had unreservedly acknowledged his
guilt.
Upon this he founds an exhortation,
addressed to the
fallen,
to follow him in the way of sincerity and repentance.
Ver. 3. For I kept silence, then my bones wasted away, through
my howling continually. The particle yk
which is
rendered by
some
expositors, "when," and by others, "because," is, as the
part. rat., altogether in the
right place, whether we refer it
merely
to the verse before us—the suffering induced by the
silence,
the guile with which the holding fast of sin is insepa-
rably
connected, lays the basis of the
declaration of blessedness
belonging
to the man whose sin has been forgiven, because in
his
spirit there is no guile—or to the
whole following exposition
in
reference to the two introductory verses. The object of the
silence
is defined by the context: I was silent in regard to my
sin.
"I made known to Thee my sin," in ver. 5, is the opposite
clause.
The expression, "I was silent," does not imply that
David
altogether refrained from prayer, but
intimates that he
had
never once brought forward in prayer the matter in ques-
tion.
Even although he had spoken of it to God as a small
PSALM XXXII. VER. 4. 515
weakness,
and asked forgiveness for it as such, he might still be
said
to have kept silence. In all
probability, however, he care-
fully
avoided the mention of it in prayer altogether: his con-
science
must have spoken with too loud a voice to permit him to
attempt
even to extenuate such a matter either before himself or
before
God. But in very proportion to the
depth of his silence,
would
be the loudness of his sighs and his groans. He who re-
sists
the confession of his sin, and gives way to guile, lays himself
open
to the torments of conscience, which it is beyond the reach
of
human power to calm. hlb, is "to grow old," "to pine
away."
The
bones are named as the seat of
strength in the human frame.
When
they become, as it were, corroded, the whole body is weak
and
powerless. Jo. Arnd: "Melancholy
arising from sin con-
sumes
away the body, reduces it to a wretched condition, and
gives
rise to a secret weeping at heart, so that there is constantly
a
rugitus, a howling. This inward pain
and melancholy con-
tinues
to increase, so that even the bones, says David, waste
away,
when a man is determined to hide his sins from God,
and
will not confess them from the bottom of his heart, with
supplication
and humble prayer. As soon, however, as a man
turns
with his whole heart to God, confesses to Him his sins,
complains
of his melancholy and sorrow, and humbly deprecates
the
offence which he has given Him, the pain diminishes, and
conscience
becomes tranquil and happy. For, previous to humble
supplication,
there is always fear and anxiety at heart, so that
the
man takes God for his enemy; as we see Adam did, who
was
afraid of God, and hid himself among the trees, where he
was
in perpetual fear, regarding God as his enemy. Wherefore,
the
best plan to obtain a quiet conscience is to mourn over sin
before
God, and humbly to deprecate His wrath."
Ver. 4. For day and night Thy hand was heavy upon me: my
heart was changed
through the heat of summer. Selah. The "for"
gives
the reason why the bones of the Psalmist were wasted per-
petually.
How should a man not howl, upon whom the hand
of
God (Job xiii. 21) is laid! We learn from vers. 6 and 7, in
what
the Divine inflictions consisted; for there we find David
rejoicing
that, in consequence of his having received the for-
giveness
of his sins, he had obtained security against the judg-
ments
of God, protection against trouble, and the full assurance
of
deliverance. Conscience, according to Luther's expression,
pictures
the wrath of God standing as with a club over us. He
516 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
thought
of the terrible threatenings of Divine judgments against
sinners
as they occur in the law; for example, in Deut. xxviii.
15,
etc. He looked back upon the fate of Saul and of his family
as
prophetic of his own.--dwl is generally translated by "animal
spirits."
This translation is derived from the Arabic, where the
verb
signifies "to suck." But in the only other passage where
the
word occurs (Num. xi. 8), this meaning is unsuitable.
There
dwl
signifies a "compact mass." According to that pas-
sage,
and Ps. cii. 4, "My heart is smitten and withered like
grass,"
it appears that it ought to be considered as a poetical
expression
for "the heart." The heart was changed;
instead
of
being a strong, beating, lively heart, it had become faint and
dead.
The "heat of summer" is a poetical expression for the
torments
of conscience, anxiety in regard to threatened judg-
ments—identical
with " the hand of God" in the preceding
clause.
This is to the heart what the heat of summer is to the
plants:
compare Ps. cii. 4.
Ver. 5. I made known to Thee my sin, and mine iniquity I did
not cover: I said, I will confess my transgression to
the Lord,
and Thou forgavest the
iniquity of my sin.
What is expressed
here
as a personal experience, is announced in Prov. xxviii. 13
as
doctrine: "He that covereth his
sins shall not prosper; but
whoso
confesseth and forsaketh them shall find mercy." The
Psalmist
designedly repeats the three terms applied to sin in
vers.
1 and 2, for the purpose of intimating that his experience
had
amply confirmed the general truth there expressed. The
expression,
"I make known my sin to
Thee," on which many
expositors
have refined much, is to be explained by the simple
consideration,
that the strength of the Psalmist's feelings made
him
speak of what was past as actually present: compare the
corresponding
term dbkt
(ver. 4), properly, "is
heavy." It is
obvious
that the Psalmist is not speaking of "a making known"
by
the mouth, but "of an inward confession, such as is accom-
panied
with painful repentance and sorrow, with begging of
pardon
for sin, and for the offence rendered to the Divine
majesty.
Mary Magdalene did not utter one word; she wept
and
spoke with the heart." Arnd. The confession which is
here
spoken of, as the subjective condition of forgiveness, is
distinguished
from the confession of a Cain and of a Judas, by
its
being the fruit of faith, which opens the heart and the mouth.
The
Psalmist confesses his sins freely to God, because he has
PSALM XXXII. VER. 6. 517
the
conviction, that God both can and will help him; while the
forced
confession of the ungodly is connected with despair and
murmuring
against God. It must have been infinitely more
difficult,
under the Old Testament dispensation, to rise to this
confidence
than it now is, under the New, where we behold the
compassion
of God. in Christ, and are taught to regard Christ's
merits
as the cause of our justification. If we hesitate to take
refuge
in the forgiving grace of God, we shall be much more
guilty
than David was.—The expression, "I covered not,"
forms
a tacit contrast to the conduct of hypocrites, in which the
Psalmist
hitherto had participated. They endeavour, as far as
they
possibly can, to conceal and to gloss over their sins. The
words
bear reference, also, to the expression, "whose sin is
covered,"
in ver. 1. He only has his sins covered, who does
not
himself cover them. Forgiveness of sin is in exact propor-
tion
to confession of sin. hdy in Hiph., with the accusative, is,
"to
confess;" with lf, "to lay confession over."
Ver. 6. For this reason let every pious man pray to Thee at
the time when Thou
mayest be found: truly, when great water-
floods come, they shall
not reach him.
Already, even in this
verse,
the Psalmist makes an attempt to pass from the repre-
sentation
of his own personal experience, to the teaching and
exhortation
founded upon it. Still, even in this attempt,
there
remains
(and, indeed, substantially this strophe contains) a
representation
of personal experience. This is "clear from the
contents
of the 7th verse, and from the circumstance, that, for
the
first time, in the 8th verse, the Psalmist makes known his
resolution,
in accordance with the title lykWm, to base doctrine
on
history. It is as if he had said: "Because in my case for-
giveness
immediately followed confession, therefore may every
pious
man pray for the same at the right time. For my expe-
rience
has rendered it obvious that this is the sure means of
avoiding
Divine judgments: I have obtained, as the sequel of
forgiveness,
a joyful assurance of deliverance, and a sure refuge
in
God." The main idea of the strophe
is contained in ver 7,
which
cannot be understood by those who look upon the whole
strophe
as having an applicatory character. txz lf is "there-
fore,"
"for this reason,"—"on account of the close connection,
proved
in my case, between confession and forgiveness,"—the
effect
resting upon the cause, the consequence upon its basis
it
corresponds to the ordinary expression Nk
lf. After
the ex-
518 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
ample
of the Vulgate (pro hac), many
expositors give, "for this
thing,"
viz. "for the forgiveness of sin." But llpth never
occurs
with lf
of the object. The object of the prayer, viz.
the
forgiveness of sin, is not specified, because the context
renders
it apparent. The "time of finding" is equivalent to
“so
long as Thou mayest be found:" compare Isa. lv. 6, "Seek
ye
the Lord while He may be found." The object of the find-
ing,
God, is also to be supplied from the context. The funda-
mental
passage, Dent. iv. 29, directs us here: "And ye seek
from
thence the Lord thy God, and thou findest." The "find-
ing,"
there, as here, stands without any object. The "seek,"
there,
corresponds to the "pray," here. Compare also the
passage,
Jer. xxix. 12-14, which is based upon the one in
Deuteronomy.
The "finding of the Lord," is there also the
opposite
of "the seeking," and corresponds to the "being
found,"
in ver. 14. The expositions, "at
the time of obtaining,"
—
and "at the time of befalling, i.e. when misfortune overtakes
men,"
are to be rejected. The last is altogether contrary to the
sense;
for the exhortation of the Psalmist implies, that men may
be
reconciled to God before misery
comes.--The time when
God,
according to the sure promise in the fundamental passage,
may
be found, is the time previous to the infliction
of that
punishment
which invariably follows sin, unless averted by for-
giveness.
The expression, "at the time of finding," corresponds
exactly
to "ere the decree is executed," "ere the day of the
wrath
of the Lord comes upon you." "The time of finding,"
is
the space between the sin and the punishment, the day of
Grace,
which is designed to lead the sinner to repentance. qr
stands
here in its usual sense of "only." The simplest view to
take
of the word, and one in entire accordance with its position,
is
to consider it as implying the assurance that only this, and
no
other, will be the consequence: in reality, it is equivalent
to
"assuredly." That the l in JFwl is to be regarded as a
note
of
time (at the floods of many waters,
comp. Ps. xxix. 10), is
evident
from the reference, which it is impossible not to notice,
to
the preceding tfl: "whoever at the time of finding, during
the
season of grace, flies to God for forgiveness, shall at the
time
of judgment be exempted from
it." The expression, water-
flood, indicates some great
Divine judgment, spreading over
everything.
Perhaps the Psalmist refers to the deluge,
at
which,
though it overspread the whole earth, the pious Noah
PSALM XXXII. VERS. 7, 8. 519
was
delivered as one who had obtained the forgiveness of sin.
This
reference is the more obvious, from the circumstance, that
there
is also a reference in Ps. xxix. 10 to the deluge.
Ver. 7. Thou art my hiding-place, Thou preservest me from
trouble, Thou
surroundest me with songs of deliverance. "For"
might
have stood at the beginning of the verse. For it con-
firms,
by the experience of the Psalmist, the assertion contained
in
the preceding verse, that whoever has obtained from the
Lord
forgiveness of sin, is at the same time delivered from
danger
and judgment. Many expositors regard this verse, very
inaptly,
as containing the prayer to be addressed by the pious
man
to God. The object of this prayer can be nothing else
than
forgiveness of sin. It is, however, only of the blessed
consequences
of forgiveness, and not at all of forgiveness itself,
that
this verse speaks. Between rc and ynrct, and also between
ynrct and ynr, there is a significant
alliteration. The plural
form
ynr occurs
nowhere else. According to rule, the singular
ought
to be written Nro; and this form also occurs really as the
infinitive
of Nnr
in Job xxxviii. 7: compare the infinitives of Flp
and
Nybh
used as nouns. Some, and among others, Hitzig, are
inclined
to elide ynr.
Against this, however, we have the alli-
teration,
the reference to a fulness and a crowd in "Thou
surroundest
me," vnynrh
in ver. 11, and the baldness of Flp if it
stands
by itself. The words point to a whole host of dangers
and
troubles, by which the Psalmist formerly, when he had God
for
his enemy, saw himself in spirit
surrounded. He now sees
around
him joyful, instead of sorrowful
prospects.
The Psalmist had hitherto spoken to
God: now, when it is
his
purpose to base doctrine on history, he turns to his brethren.
The
circumstance, that it is here, for the first time, that such a
transition
occurs, is sufficient to show, that it is here for the
first
time that we enter the domain of application.
The Psal-
mist
informs us, first, of his
determination to give good advice
to
his brethren, ver. 8; and then, in ver. 9, he gives them that
advice.
Ver. 8. I will instruct thee, Wand teach thee the way which thou
shouldst go; I will
counsel thee with my eye. It is the pious
man,
laden with the guilt of sin, that is here addressed. The
singular
is used for the purpose of giving more impressiveness
to
the exhortation. We can speak to men most impressively
when
we are alone with them. In ver. 9, the plural is made
520 THE BOOK OF PSALMS
use
of instead of the singular; but at the end of the Psalm the
singular
again occurs, for the purpose of showing that the same
persons
are addressed. According to several expositors, it is
God that speaks in this
verse, expressing approval of the trust
of
David, the returning sinner, and promising him further help.
But
against this idea, which is not only without foundation, but
which
entirely destroys the connection and train of thought,
there
may be urged, in addition to many other reasons, the
manifest
reference which the clause, "I will instruct thee,"
bears,
on the one hand, to the title, in which David announces
his
purpose to deliver instruction, and,
on the other, to the
"without understanding," ver. 9: the
instruction given is de-
signed
to remove the want of understanding.
Then, there is
the
parallel passage, Ps. li. 13, where David promises to the
Lord,
that he will teach sinners His ways,
when he shall have
obtained
forgiveness. This promise he here fulfils.—On the
words,
"the way which thou shalt go," Jo. Arnd remarks, "This
way
means repentance and the forgiveness of sins." ynyf, pro-
perly,
"according to my eye," is the accusative, which is often
used
in this way, when, besides the whole, any particular part
is
added, which is more especially brought into action: compare
on
Ps. iii. 4. The tender care of the counsellor is expressed by
the
construction of Cfy with lf,—properly, "to
take counsel on
any
one." The eye, besides, is the
organ by which tender care
is
expressed. Hence tender forbearance is expressed by "Mine
eye
pities:" compare Gen. xliv. 21, where Joseph says, "Bring
him
down, and I will set mine eye upon him;" Jer. xxiv. 6.
Many
expositors render, "I will counsel, mine eye shall be upon
thee."
But in this way, words evidently connected are torn
asunder:
after counsel, the person who
receives the counsel
ought
to be named.—At the end of this verse, we should supply
marks
of quotation. For the counsel of tender and thoughtful
love
follows in the 9th verse.
Ver. 9. Be not like the horses and the mules, without under-
standing, whose
ornaments are bridle and bit, for restraint, be-
cause they do not come
near thee.
David compares impenitent
sinners
to irrational beasts, which must be kept under by strong
instruments
of restraint. By this comparison he directs atten-
tion
to the disgracefulness of such obstinacy— (to man, especially
in
a pious man—and it is with such alone that David has to do
—a
free, willing, and joyful obedience is becoming; for such a
PSALM XXXII. VER. 9. 521
one
it is particularly humbling to be subjected to compulsion)
—and
also to the fruitlessness of it,
since God knows as well
how
to subdue it, as man knows how to break the obstinacy of
brutes.
The Berleb. Bib.: "If we do not consent to serve
God
willingly, we must serve Him in the long run whether we
will
or not. He, who runs away from God's willing service,
falls
into His compulsory service. On this account the con-
scientious
Stoic prayed, 'Lead me, 0 God, the way which Thou
hast
chosen: and if I will not, nothing is
better than that I be
compelled.' Recourse is not had
to bit and bridle, unless we
will
not become wise by gentler means. God employs these for
the
purpose of delivering us from destroying ourselves. Let us
then
rather follow with good-will, than be dragged along by
compulsion.
. . . The ungodly will make a cross of everything
that
has been sent them by God in punishment of their sins.
But
that is not worth the name. It is nothing more than a rod
of
punishment for an ass." Jo. Arnd: "You have received
from
God a reasonable soul, yea, you hear the friendly, pleas-
ing
voice of your Father and His dear Son. But, if you will
be
as stupid as the horse or the mule, God, in that case, will
act
well in putting upon your neck a bridle, and a bit in your
mouth,
for the purpose of compelling and restraining you like a
senseless
brute. God, for example, put a bridle and bit into
Nebuchadnezzar's
mouth, and tamed the proud beast. God
also
put a bridle and bit into Manasseh's mouth: when he lay
bound
in iron chains, he would gladly have bowed the knee be-
fore
God, if his iron fetters would have permitted him. God
brought
down the proud Pharaoh by means of contemptible
creatures—frogs,
lice, and grasshoppers, and put a wonderful
bridle
into the mouth of the proud horse." —ydf has always the
sense
of "ornament:" and this is to be retained here, and by
no
means to be exchanged for the arbitrary one, "harness" (on
which
Gesenius remarks, frigidius hoc est et
otiosum), nor for
"jaw"
(Luther's: "into the mouth"). They answer very
well
as ornaments for their obstinacy, says the Psalmist: men
put
upon them bridle and bit, and know how to restrain them
by
these. b indicates that in which
the ornament consists. The
infinitive
Mvlb
occupies the place of the noun, and therefore the
suffix
is unnecessary. David speaks here in part out of his own
painful
experience: bit and bridle were, if not put upon him,
yet
threatened to be put upon him: compare vers. 3d and 4th.
522 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
—The
last clause, lit.: not to come near thee,
is abrupt, and
implies,
"because they do not come near thee, for the purpose
of
rendering a willing obedience." The "to thee," refers "to
every
one here addressed, who is exhorted not to render it
necessary
for God to use the same violence with him which he
himself
uses with his beast." Stier.
There follows, in vers. 10 and 11,
the Conclusion, in which
David,
in contrast to the miserable condition of the wicked,
praises
the happy state of the righteous, who
put their confi-
dence
in God, in language called forth by the deliverance which,
when
he had fallen very deeply, had been vouchsafed to him by
God,
out of apparently irremediable destruction. The verses
lead
from the particular to the general; and several expositors
have
in vain attempted to find in them a more precise reference
to
the case on which the Psalm is grounded.
Ver. 10. The wicked has many sorrows; but he who trusts in
the Lord, He encompasseth
him with mercy.
We may either
translate,
"mercy surrounds him," or, "He surrounds him with
mercy."
In favour of the latter translation we have the 7th
verse,
where, in like manner, bbvs is construed with a double
accusative.
"He who trusts in the Lord," is the pious man.
The
contrast shows that the language does not refer to a single
act,
but to an abiding relation. Inasmuch
as David stood re-
lated
to God, in general, as one who trusted in Him, though
God
visited him with fatherly chastisement, this chastisement
tended
to his good. Jo. Arnd "The cross of believers is a
fatherly
rod applied for the best of purposes, for correction and
instruction,
and it has a joyful termination. But the punish-
ment
of the ungodly is a plague and a pain by which their pride
and
impudence are put to shame.
Ver. 11. Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous; and
shout for joy, all ye
upright.
It is very obvious here that the
RIGHTEOUS
MEN of the Psalms are not absolutely righteous.
PSALM XXXIII.
The design of this Psalm is to fill
the little flock of
with
comfort and courage and joy, in view of the infinitely
superior
might of the world: its key-note is, "Fear not thou
worm
Jacob, thou little nation
PSALM XXXIII. 523
Psalmist
proposes that the Church should use against all the
assaults
and attacks that are made against her on the part of
the
whole world, is the Praise of God: if
you know Him as He
is,
you may despise all trouble and all danger, and say, in the
language
of the 20th verse (which may be considered as the
heart
of the Psalm, containing a very clear exposition of its
design
by the author himself), "Our soul waiteth for the Lord
He
is our help and shield."
The Psalm begins (vers. 1 and 2)
with an exhortation, ad-
dressed
to the
a basis for this exhortation,
the Psalmist first directs attention to
the
glorious attributes of God. This he does in two main divi-
sions.
First (vers. 4-11), the Lord is true and faithful, righteous
and
gracious (vers. 4, 5), and almighty (vers. 6-11). Second,
(vers.
12-19), all things on earth are subject to His govern-
ment
and infinite influence. Hence the people whom He chooses
for
an inheritance are happy; for, as sure as He is Lord over
all, all things must work
together for their good. Nothing
depends
upon earthly power; hence the want of it is no reason
why
the Lord's people should despair: His omnipotent love and
His
loving omnipotence afford them the full assurance of de-
liverance.
In the conclusion (vers. 20-22), the Church gives
utterance
to that full confidence which had been called forth by
this
contemplation of the glory of God, and prays that she may
receive
according to her faith.
The Introduction and the Conclusion,
each of three verses,
correspond
to one another; and, in like manner, the two main
divisions
are of equal length, namely, eight verses. The num-
ber
of the verses of the whole Psalm corresponds to that of the
letters
of the alphabet. The main division occurs exactly in
the
middle.
The Psalm, along with the one before
it, forms one pair.
The
chief reason for adopting this view is, that the Psalm be-
gins in the same strain as
that with which the preceding one
concludes, namely, an exhortation
to rejoice in the Lord: there,
Be glad in the Lord, and
rejoice, ye righteous; and shout for joy,
all ye that are upright
in heart:
here, Rejoice in the Lord, ye
righteous; for praise is
comely for the upright. It is impossible
to
explain this circumstance by the supposition, that the collector
of
the Psalms placed the two together on account of the acci-
dental
resemblance between the concluding verse of the one,
524 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
and
the opening verse of the other. For the transition from
the
particular to the general in Ps. xxxii. takes place in such
a
striking and sudden manner, as to suggest the idea, that it was
intended
to prepare the way for passing on to a Psalm of a
general
character. Another reason is, the want of a title in
our
Psalm, though standing in the middle of an assemblage of
Psalms
which are all designated Psalms of David. This ap-
pearance
met us in Ps. x., where we found strong reasons for
regarding
it and Ps. ix. as forming one pair. A
third reason
is
to be found in the relation which the numbers
of the verses of
both
Psalms bear to each other. In the 33d Psalm, the num-
ber
of the verses corresponds to the number of the letters of
the
alphabet,—a circumstance which we have the less reason for
considering
as accidental, as the following Psalm is truly an
alphabetical
one. And in the 32d Psalm the number is equal
to
one half of the letters of the alphabet. It is at the same
time
to be observed, that even in the 33d Psalm, the main body
is
divided into two equal parts; and that the one signature of
completion,
namely, the twenty-two, is as frequently divided
into
two elevens, as the other, viz. the ten, is divided into two
fives.
This relation of the verses would therefore lead us to
regard
the 32d Psalm as introductory to the
33d.
From these remarks, our view of the
relation of the two
Psalms
to each other, will be as follows. David, inwardly and
deeply
moved by the proof of the glory of God, which he had
obtained
in the forgiveness of his dreadful offence, begins with
praising
it, in its present special manifestation. But his heart
is
so full, that he cannot be confined to this, but must take a
wider
range. He must unfold to
rally in God, especially
God's protection and help against a
hostile
world.
Amyraldus has very correctly
characterized the style of the
Psalm.
"The style is pleasing, flowing, measured, without
any
poetical digressions, or figures, at least of such a kind as to
occasion
any difficulty." These characteristics are to be ex-
plained
from the fact, that the Psalm has no individual refer-
ence
whatever, and that, both in its introduction and contents,
it
is in the most proper sense a Psalm for the public worship
of
God.
PSALM XXXIII. VERS. 1-3. 525
Ver. 1. Rejoice, ye righteous, in the Lord; praise is comely for
the upright. Ver. 2. Praise the Lord with harp; sing unto Him
with the psaltery of ten
strings.
Ver. 3. Sing unto Him a new
song; play skilfully,
with shouts of joy.
The "righteous" and
the
"upright " are the Israelites: compare "righteous," used
of
the people as such, in Num. xxiii. 10, and ver. 12 of this
Psalm;
as also vers. 10 and 11, vers. 16 and 17, from which it is
evident
that the Psalm has a national character. Inasmuch as
clear
that the address is directed towards the true Israelites only,
to
the exclusion of those who are Israelites in
appearance—the
souls
who are rooted out from their people. Compare at Ps.
xv.,
xxxiv. The reason why the righteous and the upright
should
praise the Lord, is contained in the conclusion of the pre-
ceding
Psalm,—"He encompasseth them with mercy,"—and in
the
18th verse, where "the eye of the Lord," it is said, "is
upon
them that fear Him." To the unrighteous, the glory of
God
is not the object of joy and praise, but of terror and aver-
sion:
the highest wish of their hearts is, that He may not be
true,
righteous, full of mercy towards His own people, or al-
mighty.
To rejoice in the Lord, is not
exactly to rejoice at the
Lord,
but to rejoice in finding the inclination of the heart to-
words
God, who gives so many causes for such joy. Compare
on
rwy,
upright, at Ps. xxv. 8. The word
denotes a condition
which
is conformable to the rule and the idea, as these are
represented
in reference to the members of the Church in the
law
of God. hvAxnA
is the feminine of hv,xnA, beautiful,
becoming.
As
it is comely for God to help, so it is comely for the right-
eous
to praise.--rvwf belongs here, not as in Ps. xcii. 3, to
rbn. The two words stand either in the slat. construct.,
the lute
of ten, or they stand
unconnected, the lute ten, the ten-lute. The
ten-stringed lute would assuredly not
have been mentioned spe-
cially
by the Psalmist, had the number of the strings not been
full
of significance to him. In all
probability he does not him-
self
invent this significance, but the instrument had with refer-
ence
to it been strung with ten strings. The exhortation to
join
musical instruments with the voice in the praise of God, is
indicative
of the infinite glory of God, which cannot be suffi-
ciently
praised by the voice alone.—A new
song (compare Ps.
xi.
3, xcvi. 1, xcviii. 1; Rev. v. 9), is a song which springs up
new
from the heart. The glory of God is new every morning:
526 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
we
know it not only by hearsay and from the history of ancient
times;
and therefore we ought not merely to repeat the old
song.
It is a melancholy proof of the decline of the Church,
when
the exhortation to sing a new song is no longer attended
to;
in such a case, the greater care ought to be taken to pre-
serve
the old ones. 1 Sam. xvi. 17 agrees remarkably with
the
expression, "make good to play," i.e. "play beautifully."
Possibly
these words of Saul made a deep impression on David's
mind.
On hfvrtb,
from which some, without any foundation,
would
conclude that the Psalm was intended to be sung at the
offering of sacrifices, compare
at Ps. xxvii. 5.
In vers. 4-11, the exhortation to
praise God, is grounded
upon
His glory. First, in ver. 4, the Psalmist speaks of His
truth and faithfulness. This is placed in the
foreground, be-
cause
the books of Moses abound with most glorious promises
given
by God to His Church, for the fulfilment of which, the
truth
and the faithfulness of God are the security.
Ver. 4. For upright is the word of the Lord, and all His work
is faithfulness. Luther's translation is
rather free, but perfectly
correct
as to the sense, which is more than can be said of most
of
the recent translators. "For the word of the Lord is true;
and
what He promises, He certainly performs." Stier has very
unwarrantably
objected to it, that it is "a precipitate effort at
specializing."
According to the parallelism, "the word of the
Lord"
is not in general His revelation, or even "His will as
made
known in the creation and government of the world," but
the
word which He has spoken in reference to His own people.
What
the Psalmist here predicates in general of the word of
God
(comp. Ps. xix. 9), is, according to the parallelism, to be
considered
as having special reference to the word
of promise.
This
word is said to "be upright," inasmuch as it is in exact
accordance
with the idea: the speaker has promised what He is
both
able and willing to perform. Compare Num. xxiii. 19:
"God
is not a man, that He should lie; nor the son of man, that
He
should repent: hath He said, and shall He not do it? or
hath
He spoken, and shall He not make it good?" Ps. cv. 42.
—In
the second clause, the work of God
stands opposed to His
word: He promises nothing
which He does not perform, and
He
does all which He has promised. hnvmxb can only be trans-
lated,
in faithfulness. hnvmx, never signifies truth.
After considering the Divine truth
and faithfulness, the
PSALM XXXIII. VERS. 5, 6. 527
Psalmist
leads the Church to contemplate the Divine righteous-
ness, which must set limits
to unrighteous oppression, and the
Divine
love, which must above all be
manifested in the deliver-
ance
of the Lord's people.
Ver. 5. He loveth righteousness and justice; the earth is full
of the mercy of the Lord. The consideration of
the Divine
righteousness can be a source of
comfort only to the righteous.
For,
as such, they must have right upon their side in their con-
tests
with their enemies. From the injustice which they suffer
on
earth, they lift their eyes towards heaven, and in this way
attain
to the confidence that justice will get justice at last.
Compare
Hab. i. 13, where the Church addresses God: "Where-
fore
lookest Thou upon them that deal treacherously, and
holdest
Thy tongue when the wicked devoureth the man that is
more
righteous than he?"— On the second clause the Berleb.
Bib.
remarks: "The earth is a good
mother, which nourishes
us
daily, and gives us all things richly to enjoy." If natural
blessings thus manifest the love
of God, how gloriously will
that
love be developed towards His own people
The faithfulness, the righteousness,
and the love of God, on
which
the Psalmist has hitherto dwelt, and which are exhibited
as
linked together in the same way in Hos. ii. 21, 22, afford se-
curity
to His people, when in danger, that He is willing
to help
them.
But that the consolation may be complete, it is neces-
sary
to contemplate also the omnipotence
of God, which secures
His
ability. In reference to the love of
God, the Psalmist had
pointed
to the earth as the main seat of its manifestation; and
in
reference to His omnipotence, he points, as in Ps. viii., xix.,
xxiv.,
to the heavens with their stars, and to the sea with its
waves.
Has not He, who called the heavens into being by His
word,
and who restrains the fury of the waves, so that they do
not
overflow the earth, enough of power to protect you, 0 ye
of
little faith? If He is for you, who can be against you?
Ver. 6. Through the word of the Lord were the heavens made,
and all their hosts by
the breath of His mouth. The host of the
heavens
is the sun, moon, and stars. That the idea of the
angels
being referred to is out of the question, is evident from
the
verbal references to Gen. ii. 1: "Thus the heavens and the
earth
were completed, and all their host"—(in the preceding
context
nothing had been said of the creation of angels, but
merely
of the creation of the heavenly bodies),—and when we
528 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
reflect
that it is some tangible proof of the
omnipotence of God
that
must be here adverted to. Moreover, the heavenly bodies
are
throughout predominantly designated the host of God:
compare
at Ps. xxiv. 10. That Hvr is not spirit,
but breath, is
evident
from the words, "of His mouth" (compare Isa. xi. 4),
and
from the parallelism with "word:" a mere word corre-
sponds
to mere breath; both together form a contrast to the
exercise
of strength, to labour, to the use of means and instru-
ments,
without which feeble man can
accomplish nothing.
Then
there are the parallel passages, Job xxvii. 3, "All the
while
my breath is in me, and the Spirit of God is in my
nostrils;"
xxxiii. 4, "The Spirit of God hath made me, and the
breath
of the Almighty hath given me life;" Ps. civ. 29, 30,
"Thou
takest away their breath, and they die and return to
their
dust: Thou sendest forth Thy breath,
They are created."
But,
on the other hand, the exposition which would interpret
vyp Hvr without reference to the Spirit of God, cannot be cor-
rect.
In the history of the creation, to which the verse before
us,
as well as vers. 7 and 9, contain verbal allusions, the crea-
tion
is described as the work of the SPIRIT of God, and His
WORD.
First, the Spirit of God moved upon
the face of the
waters,
then God said. We may thus suppose
that the Spirit
and
the power of God are here represented by the figure of
breath,
because that in man is the first sign of life.
Ver. 7. He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap;
He lays up the floods in
store-houses.
The Psalmist brings it
forward
as a proof of the omnipotence of God, that the great
fluid
mass is brought together by the Lord like a heap of firm
materials,
so that it does not spread over the earth, as it did at
first.
The snk
is not "He gathered," but "He gathers."
The
wonder of Divine omnipotence here depicted is still of daily
occurrence:
if God did not keep back the waters, they would
overflow
the earth. The expression, "as a heap," stands con-
cisely
for, "in the way that a heap is gathered." There is as-
suredly
no reference here to the elevated appearance which the
sea
presents at a distance. To collect the waves,
as if they were
firm
materials, must be a work of Omnipotence. Allusion is
made
here, as also in Ps. lxviii. 13, and in Jos. iii. 13, 16,
to
Ex. xv. 8, where, in reference to the waters of the
it
is said in the song of Moses, "The waters stood as an heap,
dn vmk." The expression which is there employed to
describe
PSALM XXXIII. VER. 8-10. 529
the
miraculous effect produced by the
power of God, is here
applied
to the ordinary course of nature, for the purpose of
teaching
that this, when deeply considered, bears as clear a
testimony
to the omnipotence of God. The old expositors,
whom
Luther follows ("He holds the waters in the sea together
as
in a bag"), have confounded dne with dxno.—The second clause
is
perfectly parallel to the first. tvmvht are, as usually,
"the
floods
of the sea." These are deposited by God within the
bounds
set to the sea, like treasures in a place of security. The
point
of resemblance is the sure keeping. Several expositors
refer
here, as at Ps. xxiv. 2, to the subterraneous
waters. But
the
reasons which were there adduced against this view, hold
good,
partly, in the present instance; viz., the obvious reference
to
Gen. i., where nothing whatever is said of subterraneous
waters,
the necessity of some palpable proof of Divine omnipo-
tence,
etc.—Jo. Arnd quite correctly apprehended the prac-
tical
tendency of this verse: "The
prophet comes down from
heaven,
and leads us to the sea, where we may observe the
omnipotence
of God, and the power of His word. The great
sea
is shut up by the commandment of God: how then can
He
not tame men upon the earth, and put a bridle in their
mouth?"
Ver. 8. Let all the world fear the Lord; let everything that
dwells on the earth
stand in awe of Him.
Ver. 9. For He spake
and it was done; He
commanded, and it stood fast. That the
Lord
deserves holy fear and reverence, that therefore the ter-
ror
of those men who have Him on their side is foolish, is here
proved
from His omnipotence as seen in the creation of the
world.
Jo. Arnd: “Lo! the God who has made by His
word
the great incomprehensible heavens, and upholds and
manages
them by His word, shall also be able to uphold and
manage
thee, a poor little worm." There is no reason for trans-
lating:
"He speaks, and it is done; He
commands, and it
stands."
The use of the Pret. and the Fut. conv., the reference
to
Genesis, in which rmxyv and yhyv alternate, and the
comparison
of
the 6th verse, show that the creation of the world is here
spoken
of as a fait accompli. Ps. cxix. 90 shows that dmf has
here
its usual sense, "to stand:" compare with ver. 91. In
reality,
"to stand" is "to exist:" what does not exist,
"lies."
Ver. 10. The Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to
nought; He maketh the
devices of the people of none effect. Ver.
530 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
11.
The counsel of the Lord stancleth for
ever, the thoughts of His
heart to all generations. To the Lord, who has
manifested His
omnipotence
so gloriously in creation, it is an easy matter to
bring
to nothing the proud plans of the nations; while His own
plans
are eternal, and cannot be frustrated, or their execu-
tion
hindered by any one. How could it be possible, then,
that
their
thoughts towards them are for evil, they are only thoughts
of
powerlessness; while, on the other
hand, the thoughts of
Omnipotence towards them are
thoughts of peace.
There follows the second main division, vers. 12-19. The
proposition
with which it is headed, "Blessed is the nation whose
God
is the Lord," the Psalmist proves from the fact, that every-
thing
on earth stands under the unlimited control of God, vers.
13-15,
who abundantly compensates, by His, the Almighty's
loving
providence, for what His people want in worldly power,
vers.
16-19.
Ver. 12. Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, the
people whom He chooses
for an inheritance.
The whole is
grouped
around this position. On the one side, it is a deduc-
tion
from what goes before, and, on the other, it is a thesis
which
is proved in what follows. The Psalmist alludes, it is
true,
to
Ver. 13. The Lord looketh from heaven, He sees all the
children of men. Ver. 14. From the place of His habitation He
looketh upon all who
dwell on the earth.
Ver. 15. He who
fashioneth for them all,
their heart, who marketh all their works.
The
looking of the Lord from heaven is not an idle
act; it
is
the act of a king and judge. The 15th verse manifestly
shows
this. In it, the heart and the works stand in contrast to
each
other. The heart comes into notice as the workshop of
the
thoughts: compare ver. 11. The thoughts
are wholly under
God's
control, "for He fashioneth the heart:" so are the works,
"for
He observes them." Who then need be afraid
on account
of
the plans and works of men, if he only have God for his
friend?
God is mentioned here, as the use of the participle
shows,
as the Creator of the human spirit, in reference not only
to
His original act of creation, but also to His constant creat-
ing
influence: compare Zech. xii. 1, and the Christology on the
passage,
P. II. p. 274. God, as the God of the spirits of all
PSALM XXXIV. 631
flesh,
Num. xvi. 22, xxvii. 16, has all emotions and thoughts in
His
hands: compare Prov. xxi. 1, "The king's heart is in the
hand
of the Lord as the rivers of water, He turneth it whither-
soever
He will." Ver. 16. To the king his
great power affords no
help; a warrior is not
saved by his great strength. Ver. 17. The
horse is a vain thing
for safety, neither does he deliver any by his
great strength. The inference from the position, "that
every-
thing
on the earth is done by God," is, that nothing is done
with
our own strength. This inference was in the highest de-
gree
consolatory to
human
strength, they must go down. The
article in jlmh is
generic—the
horse is the species: compare Prov. xxi. 31,
"The
horse is prepared for the day of battle, but safety is of
the
Lord."
Ver. 18. Behold, the eye of the Lord looks upon those who
fear Him, who hope in
His mercy.
Ver. 19. To deliver their
soul, and to keep them
alive in famine.
What cannot be effected
by
what
loving
care of his almighty God, in which he rejoices.
There follows in vers. 20-22, the conclusion, in which the
Church
gives expression to the faith which
has been produced
in
her by contemplating the glory of God, and prays that she
may
receive according to this her faith.
Ver. 20. Our soul waiteth for the Lord; He is our help and
shield. The first clause
contains an allusion to the words of
dying
Jacob, in Gen. xlix. 18: "I wait for Thy salvation, 0
Lord;"
and the second to Deut. xxxiii. 26. Ver. 21. For our
heart rejoices in Him,
because we trust in His holy name. The
holiness
of God is, in this place also, His glory: compare at Ps.
xxii.
3. The holy name of God is the product of the long series
of
the manifestations of His holiness. Whoever trusts in this,
and
not in his own strength, may rejoice in the Lord, sure of
safety.
Ver. 22. Let Thy mercy come upon us, 0 Lord,
as we
trust in Thee. When faith, the condition of deliverance, is pre-
sent,
deliverance also must therefore soon appear.
PSALM XXXIV.
The Psalmist renders thanks to the
Lord for a deliverance
vouchsafed
to him; and exhorts all the pious to join
with him in
532 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
the
praise of the Lord, inasmuch as the Lord always
manifests
Himself
as equally ready to help His people as He had been on
the present occasion, vers. 1-10. "In the
second part, he turns
to
believers, addresses them, and says, that it is his design to
teach
them the art of leading a quiet life, and of being secure
against
enemies. This art consists in the fear of God, in keep-
ing
watch over the lips, in doing no evil, and in following after
peace:
the consequences of these are prayer heard, deliverance
out
of all danger, the gracious presence of God, communion
with
Him, consolation from Him, and the protection of person
and
life." Jo. Arnd.
Both parts of this alphabetical
Psalm contain an equal num-
ber
of verses—a circumstance which must have been designed,
as
that number is exactly ten. Ver. 11 is as little to be con-
sidered
as forming part of the second division, as the title of
the
Psalm is of the first: it has altogether the character of an
introduction. And ver. 22 is
evidently the conclusion of the
whole,
summing up its contents, and not more specially belong-
ing
to the second than to the first division. Like the concluding
verse
of the 25th Psalm, which resembles still further the Psalm
before
us in having no verse allotted to Vau, it begins with p,
stands
out of the alphabetical series, which terminates at ver. 21
with
the final letter of the alphabet. The first decade is divided,
as
it often is, into a three and a seven: vers. 1-3 contain the
determination
of the Psalmist to praise God, and the exhortation
to
the pious to take part in that praise: vers. 4-10, the basis of
this
determination and exhortation.
The occasion on which the Psalm was
written is announced
in
the title: Of David, when he concealed
his intellect, i. e. feigned
himself mad (Luther, after the
example of the Septuagint and
the
Vulgate, has erroneously given, "his behaviour"), before
Abimelech; whereupon he
drove him from his presence, and he went
away. The history is related
in 1 Sam. xxi. Being persecuted
by
Saul, he betook himself to the land of the Philistines. There,
he
who had on former occasions injured the Philistines so
grievously,
was recognised, and brought into the presence of
king
Achish. For the purpose of saving his life, which at the
time
was in very imminent danger, he feigned himself mad; and
God
blessed this expedient, which, considered by itself, was one
of
a very doubtful character. The 56th Psalm also refers to
the
same occasion: there we have the prayer which David ad-
PSALM XXXIV. 533
dressed
to God in his extremity; and here, his thanksgivings for
deliverance.
It is not, however, to be imagined
that David composed the
Psalm
when immediately threatened by danger. In opposition
to
any such idea, we have the quiet tone
by which it is pervaded;
whereas
all the Psalms which were immediately
called forth by a
particular
occasion, are of a much more stirring character. Be-
sides
this, we have the decided predominance of effort to draw
consolation
and instruction for the Church from his own personal
experience.
Finally, we have the alphabetical arrangement,
which
never occurs in those Psalms which express feelings im-
mediately
called forth by a particular object, but always in those,
in
which the prevailing design is to edify others. The fact is, that
David—when,
on some occasion in the subsequent part of his
history,
his mind became filled with lively emotions arising from
the
recollection of this wonderful escape, in reference to which
he
even here says, "I will praise the Lord at all times, His
praise
shall be continually in my lips,"—made it the groundwork
of
a treasure of edification for the use of the godly in all ages.
After thus limiting the sense in
which to understand the
title,
it becomes an easy matter to defend it against the attacks
of
modern criticism. It has been said: 1st, "That it cannot be
David's,
because the Achish of the book of
Samuel is confounded
with
the Abimelech of the patriarchal
times." But this appa-
rent
contradiction disappears, when we observe that Abimelech
among
the Philistines was the title of rank given to all their
kings,
just as the kings of
of
Hazor, Jabin--of Jemen, Toba, etc.: compare Beitr. P. III.
p.
306, on Balaam, p. 149. In favour of this idea we have three
reasons:
the first is drawn from Gen. xx. as compared with
Gen.
xxvi., where both Abraham and Isaac have to do with
Abimelech,
king of the Philistines; the second, from comparing
the
title of our Psalm with 1 Sam. xxi.; and the third, from
the
nature of the name itself. Abimelech means " father of a
king;"
and refers to the hereditary descent
of the crown among
the
Philistines, in opposition to the practice of electing the
sovereign,
which obtained in the neighbouring nation of the
Edomites.
It is altogether natural that the proper
name should
be
made use of in the books of Samuel, which bear the character
throughout
of very exact historical treatises; and that the generic
534 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
designation should occur in the
title of a poem, which, to a certain
extent,
must wear a poetical aspect. 2. "The title," it is main-
tained,
"is literally copied from 1 Sam. xxi. 14; and therefore
cannot
have been composed by David, or by any of his contem-
poraries."
But the title agrees with the passage referred to
only
in the single expression, "he feigned himself mad." And
if
it will not be granted that this may have been accidental, it
may
at once be urged, that the author of the books of Samuel
may
have borrowed that expression from the title before us, as
it
undoubtedly has more of a poetical than a prosaic character.
3.
"In vers. 4 and 6, a deliverance from many
dangers," it is
said,
"is referred to, and in ver. 10 the Psalmist speaks of want
and
privation." But that one trouble
consisted of many parts;
danger
threatened David in many forms; and vers. 9 and 10 do
not
refer merely to the particular occasion, but contain a general
affirmation,
which points not merely to want of the necessaries
of
life, but also to want of whatever is good, to want of salva-
tion.
4. "The language and the style," it is maintained, "are
different
from the real Davidic Psalms." We reply, they differ
certainly
from those which modern criticism has marked out as
exclusively
the Psalms of David, but not at all from a great
number,
which, from their titles, and from internal evidence,
were
likewise composed by him. The difference is perfectly ac-
counted
for by the difference as to occasion, tone, and object.
We
may here advert particularly to the expression, "Come to me,
ye
sons, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of God." David
had
hence to do with the poor simple people, and directed his voice
to
them in love, and spoke so simply, that even a child might under-
stand
and participate in the blessing which God had given him.
In
favour of the originality of the title, we have to urge, in
addition
to the general ground, that there is nothing in the con-
tents
of the Psalm to contradict it,—the more general the histo-
rical
references in the Psalms are, the less likely is the title to
be
the result of combination,—first, that the manner in which
personal
experiences are applied for the benefit of the entire
community
of the righteous, is thoroughly characteristic of
David;
and second, that a title referring to the occasion in
question,
is what might have been expected, as David appears
to
have aimed at perpetuating in the titles of the Psalms, the
remembrance
of all the most remarkable incidents of his life.
PSALM XXXIV. VERS. 1-5. 535
First, Viers. 1-3. The Psalmist
intimates his intention of
praising
God, and exhorts all the godly to join with him in the
praise.
Ver. 1. I will praise the Lord at all times; His praise shall
ever be in my mouth. The assurance of
ever-during praise ex-
alts
the greatness of the benefit, and places it in contrast to the
lesser
protections of God which we daily experience. Ver. 2.
My soul shall make her
boast of the Lord: may the meek hear
thereof, and be glad. llhth with b is "to boast of
anything."
The
meek (Luther, erroneously: the miserable)
boast of what
the
Lord has done for the Psalmist, because it is prophetic of
their own deliverance. Ver. 3. Magnify the Lord with me, and let
us exalt His name
together.
As the l cannot
be the sign of the
accusative,
and as hvhy ldg, never occurs, but only "to make great
the name of the Lord," Ps. lxix. 30,
and as ldg
is never generally,
"to
praise," but always, "to make great," it is necessary to
supply
vmw
in the first clause, from the second.
In vers. 4-10, we have the basis of the determination, and
of
the exhortation to praise God. Ver. 4. I
sought the Lord, and
He answered me, and
delivered me out of all my fear. hrvgm is
the
object of the fear, the thing that is feared: comp. Isa. lxvi. 4.
Ver.
5. They look at Him and are brightened,
and their counte-
nance is not ashamed. The Psalmist considers
himself through-
out
as the representative of the meek. The transition, there-
fore,
is easy from the singular of the preceding verse, to the
plural
here. He lays down a general position, which is anew
confirmed
by his own experience. Besides, the somewhat un-
defined
description of the subject has been caused by the al-
phabetical
character of the Psalm, which sufficiently explains
the
somewhat loose connection with what goes before and fol-
lows.
On, "they look to Him," Jo. Arnd remarks: "Just as,
in
great extremity, we look around for help, to see if any one
will
deliver us, or as a child in severe sickness looks mournfully
upon
its parents, and they are unable to help, so our heart in
faith
looks mournfully to God." Of the two significations of
rhn, "to flow together," and "to
brighten," or "to be bright,"
we
cannot, with Luther, take the first, but must prefer the
second:
compare Isa. lx. 5, where "the being bright," is in like
manner
used of the restoration of serenity to the countenance.
The
rpeHA
"to be red," viz. with shame at the refusal of the prayer,
and
is the opposite of "the brightening."
lx,
the subjective
536 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
negative,
is stronger than xl. The Psalmist is horrified at the
idea
of being ashamed, as something altogether abnormal. Ver. 6.
This miserable man
cried, and the Lord heard, and helped him out
of all his troubles. As the Psalmist had
made a transition from
the
particular to the general, as brought to view in his own case,
he
now returns to the particular, which was the pledge of the
reality
of the general. fmw is the Preterite. Ver. 7. The Angel
of the Lord encamps
round about those who fear Him, and delivers
them. As the word Jehovah is
a proper noun, and thus a definite
one
we can translate, "the angel of the Lord." Considered
by
itself, "the angel of the Lord" might be taken in a collec-
tive
sense; as, for example, "the horse," in Ps. xxxiii. 17. But
yet
there occurs no single passage in which hvhy jxlm is de-
monstrably
used in that sense; and it appears that this designa-
tion
of the angels is designedly refrained from, because hvhy
jxlm
was
the common designation of the Angel of the Lord kat. ec.,
the
Angel in whom is the name of God, according to the Pen-
tateuch,
the Angel of the presence, Isa. lxiii. 9: compare on this
the
treatise on the Divinity of Christ in the Old Testament, the
Christology,
viz.
the expression, "encamps round," and the parallel passages,
such
as Ps. xci. 11, 12; 2 Kings xvi. 17, where angels are spoken
of
in a similar connection,—disappear when narrowly examined.
The
ANGEL OF THE LORD, as the Captain of the Lord's hosts
(Jos.
v. 14; 1 Kings xxii. 19), is to be thought of as attended
by
armies of inferior ministering angels. And hnH is applied
not
only to an army, but also to the commander; for example,
2
Sam. xii. 28. Allusion is made to Gen. xxxii. 2, 3, where
Jacob,
on returning from
brother
Esau, saw with the eye of the spirit a double encamp-
ment
of angels, at the head of which, from comparing ch.
xxviii.
13, and xxxii. 25, we are to suppose the Angel of the
Lord
to have been, and between which his own encampment
would
lie. These circumstances, the memory of which was per-
petuated
by the name Mahanaim, given to the place, contained
a
prophecy embodied in action for the benefit of all who fear
the
Lord. Ver. 8. Taste and see that the Lord
is good. Blessed
is the man that trusteth
in Him.
The "taste and see" invite,
as
it were, to a sumptuous feast, which has long been ready,—
to
a rich sight openly exposed to view. The imperatives are in
reality
not hortatory, but promissory: compare, "they have no
PSALM XXXIV. VERS. 11, 12. 537
want,"
ver. 10. Ver. 9. Fear the Lord, ye His
holy ones; for
they have no want who
fear Him.
The emphasis lies, according
to
the connection, more on the consequence
than on the condi-
tion:
"only fear," or, "if you only fear." A true and lively
fear
of God, which proves itself to be such by obedience to His
commandments
(compare vers. 13, 14), need never be afraid of
losing
its reward. On Mywvdq, as designating the true Israelites,
compare
at Ps. xvi. 3. Ver. 10. The lions are
reduced to poverty,
and are hungry; but they
that seek the Lord have want of no one
good thing. That by "the
lions" here, as at Ps. lvii. 5; Neh.
ii.
12-14; Ezek. xxxviii. 13, xix. 2, 3, we are to understand
powerful
and violent men, is evident, not only from the context,
and
from the "being reduced to poverty," but also from the
parallel
passage, Job iv. 10, 11. Luther, after the Septuagint,
gives,
rather indefinitely, "the rich." We have here no special
Old
Testament truth before us. This is evident from the peti-
tion
dictated to us by our Lord Himself, and from the promise
which
that petition necessarily implies, regarding our daily bread.
It
is also evident from Matt. vi. 32, 33. The 19th verse gives
the
necessary limitation, the reference to the manifold sufferings
by
which in this life the righteous are exercised.
There follows the second strophe, in which the Psalmist
invites
all to come to the enjoyment of safety through the sin-
cere
fear of God, which is intended for those only who thus
come,
but also assuredly for those.
Ver. 11. Come, ye sons; listen to me, I will teach you the fear
of the Lord. In "ye
sons," we find one experienced in the ways
of
God addressing the young: compare
Prov. i. x. 15. On,
"I
will teach you the fear of the Lord," the Berleb. Bib. re-
marks:
"And I will not only show you what it is, but will also,
after
that, give you the strongest reasons
which will move you, and
incite you." As the author,
in what follows, manifestly directs
his
attention exclusively to the second point, it is obvious that
the
first is to be kept out of view, although it alone has occupied
the
attention of most commentators.
Ver. 12. Who is the man that desires life, that loves days
when he may see good? The Psalmist asks the
question, Who
desires
to be happy? To him who desires this—and where is
the
man who does not?—he prescribes, in what follows, the
only
and unfailing means by which it may be obtained. The
"life,"
according to the explanation given in the second clause,
538 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
is
not mere life, which frequently may be rather called death,
but
a happy life. Days in which we see
good, are happy days.
Ver. 13. Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips that they
speak not guile. Ver. 14. Turn from evil, and do good; seek
peace, and pursue it. In giving the details
of the fear of God,
the
duties toward our neighbour are, according to David's usual
way,
dwelt upon with particular care, because there hypocrisy,
which
is so ready to appropriate to itself promises with which
it
has nothing to do, finds least scope for its exercise. Ver. 13
refers
to words, and ver. 14 to deeds. It is self-evident, that
by
"peace" here, we are not to understand "virtue," or "good-
ness."
Jo. Arnd: "Hence must every man who desires to have
a
good life, take care not to cause disagreement. The devil
and
the world give many occasions of dispeace. But be thou
wary,
be silent rather, suffer somewhat, be patient, be gentle,
be
not easily provoked, be not revengeful. That thou destroy
not
noble peace, and God, with His blessing, depart from thee."
Compare
Rom. xii. 18; 2 Cor. xiii. 11.
Ver. 15. The eyes of the Lord look upon the righteous, and His
ears upon their cry. Ver. 16. The face of the Lord is against
those that do evil, that
He may root out their remembrance from
the earth. Properly, it is,
"the face of the Lord is in the
evil-
doers:"
compare on b used in the hostile sense, Ewald's Kl. Gr.
p.
521.
Ver. 17. They cry, and the Lord hears, and delivers them out
of all their trouble. The subject, the
righteous, is to be sup-
plied
from ver. 15. This is less harsh than might be supposed:
as
the author, according to the announcement in ver. 11, has
to
do only with those who fear God, what concerns the ungodly
comes
into notice only as the shade which is intended to relieve
the
light.. Thus in the 15th and 16th verses: "The eyes of the
Lord,
etc.; while His face, etc."
Ver. 18. The Lord is near to those who are of a broken heart,
and helps them who have
a contrite spirit.
Brokenness of heart,
and
contrition of spirit, designate the deep, yet soft and mild,
sadness
which is to be found only in the godly. Compare Isa.
lvii.
15, and the introduction to Ps. vi.
Ver. 19. The righteous man must apr much, but the Lord
helps him out of it all. The fact, that the
righteous man must
suffer
much, shows how imperfect human righteousness is: for
where
there is still suffering, there is
still sin; and where there is
PSALM XXXIV. VERS. 20-22. 539
much
suffering, there is much sin. That the Lord will deliver
him
out of it all, shows the greatness of the Divine compassion.
Ver. 20. He keeps all His bones, so that not one of them is
broken, viz. without His will
and gracious permission. Compare
Matt.
x. 30, where we are told that the hairs on the head of
the
godly are all numbered.
Ver. 21. Misfortune slays the wicked, and the haters of the
righteous become guilty. The relation in which
this verse stands
to
the 19th, does not permit us to render hfr by
"wickedness,"
the
term for which, in the Psalms, is always fr. There, the
godly
man is delivered out of all misfortune; here, misfortune is
fatal
to the wicked. To "become
guilty," is to be represented,
or
to appear guilty.
Ver. 22. The Lord delivereth the soul of His servants, and
none of those who trust
in Him become guilty.
This is the sum
of
the whole Psalm. The soul is
mentioned, because, as is ob-
vious
from the opposition to ver. 21, and from the personal ex-
perience
of David (compare ver. 1), the subject of which the
author
is treating, is danger to life.
Please
report any errors to Ted Hildebrandt:
ted.hildebrandt@gordon.edu