* The changeable i goes back either to a primary form "PJ, tf"V, ^N*c; or it originates directly from Pathach; forms like niU"P and vNfltf favour the former, e in a closed syllable generally going over into Scgol favours the latter.
reference to V2U? as the shepherd's staff xxiii. 4, Mic. vii. 14, an instrument of despotism.
Vers. 10 — 12. The poet closes with a practical application to the great of the earth of that which he has seen and heard. With nr.JJ'!, xa! vuv (1 John ii. 28), itaque, appropriate conclusions are drawn from some general moral matter of fact (e. g. Prov. v. 7) or some fact connected with the history of redemption (e. g. Isa. xxviii. 22). The exhortation is not addressed to those whom he has seen in a state of rebellion, but to kings in general with reference to what he has prophetically seen and heard. tHN *B5fc are not those who judge the earth, but the judges, i, e. nil (Amos ii. 3, cf. i. 8), belonging to the earth, throughout its length or breadth. The Hiph. ^3fcfi1 signifies to shew intelligence or discernment; the Nph. "iciJ as a so-called Niph. tolerativum, to let one's self be chastened or instruct like pTD Prov. xiii. 10, to allow one's self to be advised, 0yu Ezek. xiv. 3, to allow one's self to be sought, KJfOJ to allow one's self to be found, 1 Chron. xxviii. 9, and frequently. This general call to reflection is followed, in ver. 11, by ial exhortation in reference to Jahve, and in ver. 12, in referen to the Son. H25J and 6*i answer to each other: the lati is not according to Hos. x. 5 in the sense of irn xcvi. but, — since "to shake with trembling" (Hitz.) is a taut logy, and as an imperative)b*V every wh« rejoice, — according to c. 2, in the sense of raptuj manifestation of joy at the happiness and honour of; permitted to be servants of such a God. The LXX. rendersit: frfaXXiaoOe a6x<j> $v xp6j«p. Their rejoicing, ini that it may not run to the excess of security and ba ness, is to be blended with trembling (z Z< ph. iii. l - }, viz. with the trembling of reverence and Belfis a consuming fire, Hebr. xii. 28.
The second exhortation, which now follow ence to their relationship to the inoint missed by all the ancient version though its clearness had blinded the trans] render adorate pure). Thus also Hupfeld renders it "yield sincerely'', whereas it is rendered by Ewald "receive wholesome warning", and by Hitzig "submit to duty" (^3 like the Arabic birr =* is); Olshausen even thinks, there may be some mistake in "id, and Diestel decides for 12 instead of "Q. But the context and the usage of the language require osculamini filium. The Piel pm means to kiss, and never anything else; and while 1*3 in Hebrew means purity and nothing more, and "13 as an adverb, pure, cannot be supported, nothing is more natural here, after Jahve has acknowledged His Anointed One as His Son, than that 13 (Prov. xxxi. 2, even vj2 M ^2) — which has nothing strange about it when found in solemn discourse, and here helps one over the dissonance of jD ]2 — should, in alike absolute manner to ph, denote the unique son, and in fact the Son of God.* The exhortation to submit to Jahve is followed, as Aben-Ezra has observed, by the exhortation to do homage to Jahve's Son. To kiss is equivalent to to do homage. Samuel kisses Saul (1 Sam. x. 1), saying that thereby he does homage to him.**
The subject to what follows is now, however, not the Son, but Jahve. It is certainly at least quite as natural to the New Testament consciousness to refer "lest He be angry" to the Son (yid. Apoc. vi. 16 sq.), and since the warning against putting trust (niDn) in princes, cxviii. 9, cxlvi. 3, cannot be applied to the Christ of God, the reference of 13 to Him (Hengst.) cannot be regarded as impossible. But since non 3 is the usual word for taking confiding refuge in Jahve, and
* Apart from the fact of "O not having the article, its indefiniteness comes under the point of view of that which, because it combines with it the idea of the majestic, great, and terrible, is called by the Arabian grammarians +jJhxZi >jOCuJ! orj yjJ&i! or Jl^jJ; by the boundlessness which lies in it it challenges the imagination to magnify the notion which it thus expresses. An Arabic expositor would here (as in ver. 7 above) render it "Kiss a son and such a son!" (vid. Ibn Hisham in De Sacy's Anthol. Grammat. p. Ad, where it is to be translated hie est vir, qualis vir!). Examples which support this doctrine are T,2 Isa. xxviii. 2 by a hand, viz. God's almighty hand which is the hand of hands, and Isa. xxxi. 8 Znrr\J£Q before a sword, viz. the divine sword which brooks no opposing weapon.
the future day of wrath is always referred to in the Old Testament (e. g. ex. 5) as the day of the wrath of God, we refer the ne irascatur to Him whose son the Anointed One is* therefore it is to be rendered: lest Jahve be angry and ye perish T]"Ti. This Tfil is the accus. of more exact definition. If the way of any one perish, i. 6, he himself is lost with regard to the way, since this leads him into the abyss. It is questionable whether LD^p3 means "for a little" in the sense of brevi or facile. The usus loquendi and position of the words favour the latter (Hupf.). Everywhere else \zy;j22 means by itself (without such additions as in Ezr. ix. 8, Isa. xxvi. 20, Ezek. xvi. 47) "for a little, nearly, easily." At least this meaning is secured to it when it occurs after hypothetical antecedent clauses as in lxxxi. 15, 2 Sam. xix. 37, Job xxxii. 22. Therefore it is to be rendered: for His wrath might kindle easily, or might kindle suddenly. The poet warns the rulers in their own highest interest not to challenge the wrathful zeal of Jahve for His Christ, which according to ver. 5 is inevitable. Well is it with all those who have nothing to fear from this outburst of wrath, because they hide themselves in Jahve as their refuge. The construct state iDin connects Id, without a genitive relation, with itself as forming together one notion, Ges. § 11C, 1. HDPI the usual word for fleeing confidingly to Jahve, means according to its radical notion not so much rcfugere, confuffere, abdere, condere, and is therefore never combined with -.w but always with D. *
* On old names of towns, which show this ancient RDf* stein's remark on Job xxiv. 8 [ii. p. 22 n. 2]. The Arabic still has ^~^ in the reference of the primary meaning to watoi \sV\- hidden, flows under the sand and only comes to sij rocky bottom on which it collects beneath th the sand and by which it is prevented from oozing away or dryii. 5"**
"There is no help for him in God". (Sela)
4 But Thou, 0 Jahve, art a shield for me, My glory and the lifter up of my head.
7 I will not be afraid of ten thousands of the people Who have set themselves against me round about.
For Thou smitest all mine enemies on the cheek, Thou breakest the teeth of the ungodly.
The two Psalms forming the prologue, which treat of cognate themes, the one ethical, from the standpoint of the riDDn, and the other related to the history of redemption from the standpoint of the Dfr023, are now followed by a morning prayer; for morning and evening prayers are surely the first that one expects to find in a prayer- and hymnbook. The morning hymn, Ps. iii., which has the mention of the "holy hill" in common with Ps. ii., naturally precedes the evening hymn Ps. iv.; for that Ps. iii. is an evening hymn as some are of opinion, rests on grammatical misconception.
With Ps. iii., begin, as already stated, the hymns arranged for music. By "P"6 *11D?C, a Psalm of David, the hymn which follows is marked as one designed for musical accompaniment. Since *totq occurs exclusively in the inscriptions of the Psalms, it is no doubt a technical expression coined by David. *yofl (root CT) is an onomatopoetic word, which in Kal signifies to cut off, and in fact to prune or lop
(the vine) (cf. Arabic *jv to write, from the buzzing noise of the style or reed on the writing material). The signification of singing and playing proper to the Piel are not connected with the signification "to nip". For neither the rhythmical division (Schultens) nor the articulated speaking (Hitz.) furnish a probable explanation, since the caesura and syllable are not natural but artificial notions, nor also the nipping of the strings (Bottch., Ges.), for which the language has coined the word pj (of like root with jqj). Moreover, the earliest passages in which rnn and ibt occur (Gen. xliii. 11, Exod. xv. 2, Judges v. 3), speak rather of song than music and both words frequently denote song in distinction from music, e. g. xcviii. 5, lxxxi. 3, cf. Cant. ii. 12. Also, if IB] originally means, like <|>£XXetv, carpere (puhare) fides, such names of instruments as Arab, zemr the hautboy and zummara the pipe would not be formed. But IS] means, as Hupfeld has shewn, as indirect an onomatope as canere, uto make music" in the widest sense; the more accurate as of the language, however, distinguishes Its? and yttf M to play and to sing. With 2 of the instrument *JS| den with musical accompaniment (like the iEthiopic 1D1 instru* mento carter e) and THE)? (Aram. *)Dl) is sometimes, as in Ai. v. 23, absolutely: music. Accordingly 11DTD signift I nically the music and "W the words. And therefore \ late the former by "Psalm", for 6 ^odfio; lonv — Bays G gory of Nyssa — tj hi* tou dpYavoo too poootxou 0£ 7j Sia oi&ixaxoc; Ysvofiivoo tou piXoo< [ietd
That Ps. iii. is a hymn arranged for musi fest from the nfeo which occurs here 3 times. I md in the Psalter, as Bruno has correctly calm; times in the 1st book, 30 in the 2nd, 20 in t n th
4th) and, with the exception of the anonymona P lxvii., always in those that are inscribed by th< and of the psalmists famed from the time it is a marginal note referring to the David is clearly seen from the fact, thai all th have the lJStfb which relates to the m the exception "of eight (xxxii. xlviii. I. 1 lxxxix. cxliii.) which, 001 « the are at least manifestly designed for music. The Tephilla of Habbakuk, ch. iii., the only portion of Scripture in which rV?D occurs out of the Psalter, as an exception has the n^jE^ at the end. Including the three rbo of this tephilla, the word does not occur less than 74 times in the Old Testament. Now as to the meaning of this musical nota bene, 1st, every explanation as an abbreviation, — the best of which is = "It^'n rOUgh 2D (turn thyself towards above i. e. towards the front, 0 Singer! therefore: da capo), — is to be rejected, because such abbreviations fail of any further support in the Old Testament. Also 2ndly, the derivation from n^ ==" TwD siler e j according to which it denotes a pause, or orders the singers to be silent while the music strikes up, is inadmissible, because r^D in this sense is neither Hebrew nor Aramaic and moreover in Hebrew itself the interchange of w with D (NH&, fl^P) *s extremely rare. There is but one verbal stem with which r6p can be combined, viz. y?D or H/D (N^D). The primary notion of this verbal stem is that of lifting up, from which, with reference to the derivatives C^D a ladder and rfcp in the signification an ascent, or steps, 2 Chron. ix. 11, comes the general meaning for rte, of a musical rise. When the tradition of the Mishna explains the word as a synonym of n£j and the Targum, the Quinta, and the Sexta (and although variously Aquila and sometimes the Syriac version) render it in accordance therewith "for ever (always)", — in favour of which Jerome also at last decides, Ep. ad Marcellam "quid sit Sela"), — the original musical signification is converted into a corresponding logical or lexical one. But it is apparent from the Bia^ocXjict of the LXX. (adopted by Symm., Theod., and the Syr.), that the musical meaning amounts to a strengthening of some kind or other; for Sia^aXfia signifies, according to its formation ( — jj.a=n — fxsvov), not the pause as Gregory of Nyssa defines it: 7] jjle70c£'J T7J; <[»aX[i(p?HOCs ysvo[asv7) xaia to ctOpoov £zrlt0£ar(T.; irpo? ukooo^tjv too ftsoOsv £7:rxpivou-Evoo vor,u.aToc, but either the interlude, especially of the stringed instruments, (like Sicco- Xiov (oiaoXeiov), according to Hesychius the interlude of the flutes between the choruses), or an intensified playing (as Sia^aXXeiv Tpi-ywvoi? is found in a fragment of the comedian
Eupolis in Athenseus of the strong play of triangular harps).* According to the pointing of the word as we now have it, it ought apparently to be regarded as a noun L,D with the ah of direction (synonymous with fill, up! Job xxii. 29); for the omission of the Dagesh beside the ah of direction is not without example (cf. 1 Kings ii. 40 nnj which is the proper reading, instead of nnJ, and referred to by Ewald) and the —, with Dag. forte implicitum, is usual before liquids instead of —, as rOlD Gen. xxviii. 2, mn Gen. xiv. 10 instead of paddannah, karrah, as also nScnD i Sam. xxv. 5 instead of ftbcTQ. But the present pointing of this word, which is uniformly included in the accentuation of the Masoretic verse, is scarcely the genuine pointing: it looks like an imitation of ITX1 The word may originally have been pronounced r6p {elevatio after the form nn?, rbl). The combination rfe }Vln ix. 17, in which p^n refers to the playing of the stringed instruments (xcii. leads one to infer that rbo is a note which refers not to the singing but to the instrumental accompaniment. But to understand by this a heaping up of weighty expn accords and powerful harmonies in general, would be to confound ancient with modern music. What is meant is the joining in of the orchestra, or a reinforcement of the instruments, or even a transition from piano to forte.
Three times in this Psalm we meet with thifl H< brew fin In sixteen Psalms (vii. xx. xxi. xliv. xlvii. xlviii. 1. liv. Ix. lxi. lxxv. lxxxi. lxxxii. lxxxiii. lxxxv. cxliii.) we find it only once; in fifteen Psalms (iv. ix. xxiv. xxxix. xlix. lii. It. 1 lix. lxii. lxvii. lxxvi. lxxxiv. lxxxvii. lxxxriii.), twice; in b seven Psalms (iii. xxxii. xlvi. lxvi. lxviii. lxxvii. cxl. Hab. iii.), three times; and only in one (lxxxii It never stands at the beginning of a Psalm, fort music was not as yet so fully developed, thd WC absolutely correspond to the ritomelto. Moi not always stand at the close of B sign of a regular interlude, but it is alu the instruments are to join in sinmlt
• On the explanation* of ftiAjtaXpa in tl I the melody — a thing which frequently happens in the midst of the strophe. In the Psalm before us it stands at the close of the 1st, 2nd, and 4th strophes. The reason of its omission after the third is evident.
Not a few of the Psalms bear the date of the time of the persecution under Saul, but only this and probably Ps. lxiii. have that of Absolom. The Psalter however contains other Psalms which reflect this second time of persecution. It is therefore all the more easy to accept as tradition the inscription: when he fled before Absolom, his son. And what is there in the contents of the Psalm against this statement? All the leading features of the Psalm accord with it, viz. the mockery of one who is rejected of God 2 Sam. xvi. 7 sq., the danger by night 2 Sam. xvii. 1, the multitudes of the people 2 Sam. xv. 13, xvii. 11, and the high position of honour held by the psalmist. Hitzig prefers to refer this and the following Psalm to the surprize by the Amalekites during David's settlement in Ziklag. But since at that time Zion and Jerusalem were not free some different interpretation of ver. 5 b becomes necessary. And the fact that the Psalm does not contain any reference to Absolom does not militate against the inscription. It is explained by the tone of 2 Sam. xix. 1 [xviii. 33 Engl.]. And if Psalms belonging to the time of Absolom's rebellion required any such reference to make them known, then we should have none at all
Vers. 2 — 3. The first strophe contains the lament concerning the existing distress. From its combination with the exclamative PIO, 13*1 is accented on the ultima (and also in civ. 24); the accentuation of the perf. of verbs yy very frequently (even without the Warn consec.) follows the example of the strong verb, Ges. § 67 rem. 12. A declaration then takes the place of the summons and the c_H implied in the predicate Q*J now becomes the subject of participial predicates, which more minutely describe the continuing condition of affairs. The b of H*/&i^ signifies "in the direction of", followed by an address in xi. 1 (= "to"), or, as here and frequently (e. g. Gen. xxi. 7) followed by narration (= "of1, concerning). *#£b7 instead of "6 implies that the words of the adversaries pronounce a judgment upon his inmost life, or upon his personal relationship to God. nnjfltfi is an intensive form for HJW'?, whether it be with a double feminine termination (Ges., Ew., Olsh.), or, with an original (accusative) ah of the direction: we regard this latter view, with Hupfeld, as more in accordance with the usage and analogy of the language (comp. xliv. 27 with lxxx. 3, and Tw\i prop, vuxxa, then as common Greek 7, vaxxo, vj/Oa). God is the ground of help; to have no more help in Him is equivalent to being rooted out of favour with God. Open enemies as well as disconcerted friends look upon him as one henceforth cast away. David had plunged himself into the deepest abyss of wretchedness by his adultery with Bathsheba, at the beginning of the very year in which, by the renewal of the Syro-Ammonitish war, he had reached the pinnacle of worldly power. The rebellion of Absolom b to the series of dire calamities which began to come upon him from that time. Plausible reasons were not wanting for such words as these which give up his cause as
Vers. 4 — 5. But cleansed by penitence he stands in a totally different relationship to God and God to him from that which men suppose. Every hour he lias reason to ome
Mount of Olives (2 Sam. xv. 30), but Jahve is thi be heard and answered. The rendering I answered me" is erroneous here where tnf*J in an historical connection. The futui
God's part, which will follow his prayi r. I like &OJSJ "6ip, Hitzig and Hupfeld regard ^fp as the narrower subject-notion beside the more general one (as xliv. 3, lxix. 11, lxxxiii. 19): my voice — I cried; but the position of the words is not favourable to this in the passage before us and in xvii. 10, xxvii. 7, lvii. 5, lxvi. 17, cxlii. 2, Isa. xxvi. 9, though it may be in lxix. 11, cviii. 2. According to Ew. § 281, c, *h)p is an accusative of more precise definition, as without doubt in Isa. x. 30 cf. Ps. lx. 7, xvii. 13 sq.; the cry is thereby described as a loud cry.* To this cry, as OJJFI as being a pure mood of sequence implies, succeeds the answer, or, which better corresponds to the original meaning of P05J (comp. ^£. to meet,stand opposite) reply;** and it it comes from the place whither it was directed: lW~lp "lilD. He had removed the ark from Kirjath Jearim to Zion. He had not taken it with him when he left Jerusalem and fled before Absolom, 2 Sam. xv. 25. He was therefore separated by a hostile power from the resting-place of the divine presence. But his prayer urged its way on to the cherubimthrone; and to the answer of Him who is enthroned there, there is no separating barrier of space or created things.
Vers. 6 — 7. That this God will protect him, His protection during the past night is now a pledge to him in the early morning. It is a violation of the rules of grammar to translate rtft^M: I shall go to sleep, or: I am going to sleep. The 1 pers. fut. consec. which is indicated by the i, is fond of taking an ah of direction, which gives subjective intensity to the idea of sequence: "and thus I then fell asleep", cf. vii. 5, cxix. 55, and frequently, Gen. xxxii. 6, and more especially
* Bottcher, Collectanea pp. 166 sq., also adopts the view, that ^Bi *£, vIp are each appositum vicarium subjecti and therefore nomin. in such passages. But 1) the fact that HN never stands beside them is explained by the consideration that it is not suited to an adverbial collateral definition. And 2) that elsewhere the same notions appear as direct subjects, just as 3) that elsewhere they alternate with the verbal subject-notion in the parallel member of the verse (cxxx. 5, Prov. viii. 4) — these last two admit of no inference. The controverted question of the syntax is, moreover, an old one and has been treated of at length by Kimchi in his Book of Roots s. r. HW.
** vid. Redslob in his treatise: Die Integritat der Stclle Hos. vii. 4 — 10 in Frage gcstelll S. 7.
so in the later style,Ezra ix. 3, Neh. xiii. 21, vid. Ges. § 49, 2, Bottcher,. Neue Aehrenlese, No. 412. It is a retrospective glance at the past night. Awaking in health and safety, he feels grateful to Him to whom he owes it: "OIED"1 mrp. It is the result of the fact that Jahve supports him,' and that God's hand is his pillow.* Because this loving, almighty hand is beneath his head (Cant. ii. 6) he is inaccessible and therefore also devoid of fear, n^ (rW) carries its object in itself: to take up one's position, as in Isa. xxii. 7, synon. r:~ xxviii. 3 and UW 1 Kings xx. 12, cf. £-tTi6£vat xivt. David does not put a merely possible case. All Israel, that is to say ten thousands, myriads, were gone over to Absolom. Here, at the close of the third strophe, rfco is wanting because the K} N'VN (I will not fear) is not uttered in a tone of triumph, but is only a quiet, meek expression of believing confidence. If the instruments struck up boldly and suddenly here, then a cry for help, urged forth by the difficulties that still continually surrounded him, would not be able to follow.
Vers. 8 — 9. The bold HDIp is taken from the mouth of Moses, Num. x. 35. God is said to arise when He takes a decisive part in what takes place in this world. Instead of kumah it is accented kumdh as Milra, in order (since the reading iJIX PlDlp is assumed) that the final ah may be sharply cut off from the guttural initial of the next word, and thus render a clear, exact pronunciation of the latter possible (Hitz., Ew. § 228, 6).** Beside p|CT we have >n*N, with I
** This is the traditional reason of the accentuation thu shithdh before HliT: it is intended to prevent the one or other of I gutturals being swallowed up (IJ^ *bv) by too rapid b] it is that the same thing takes place even when am name of God, follows, if it begins with N or the like, an nected with it by meaning and accentuation: c g..1 twice Milra before N; Ps. lvii. 9.""vy, Milra 1 H, Exod. v. 22; nm Is.xi. 2, and RMH Gen. xxvi. 10, and the following fact favours it, viz. thai placed were two ' would come together, e. g. < with the stroke of separation between the I Trov. viii. 21. The fact that in Jer. xL suff. of appropriating faith. The cry for help is then substantiated by "O and the retrospective perf. They are not such perff of prophetically certain hope as in vi. 9, vii. 7, ix. 5 sq., for the logical connection requires an appeal to previous experience in the present passage: they express facts of experience, which are taken from many single events (hence b"2) down to the present time. The verb T\2T\ is construed with a double accusative, as e. g., Iliad xvi. 597 tov jasv apa TXauxo; ctyj6o? [xsaov ouxaas Soupi. The idea of contempt (Job xvi. 10) is combined with that of rendering harmless in this "smiting upon the cheek". What is meant is a striking in of the jaw-bone and therewith a breaking of the teeth in pieces ("1312/). David means, an ignominious end has always come upon the ungodly who rose up against him and against God's order in general, as their punishment. The enemies are conceived of as monsters given to biting, and the picture of their fate is fashioned according to this conception. Jahve has the power and the will to defend His Anointed against their hostility: njntfyi rb. penes Jovam est salus. Plglt^ (fromytr>, i^I, amplum esse) signifies breadth as applied to perfect freedom of motion, removal of all straitness and oppression, prosperity without exposure to danger and unbeclouded. In the t> of possession lies the idea of the exclusiveness of the possession and of perfect freedom of disposal. At Jahve's free disposal stands njWNI, salvation, in all its fulness (just so in Jon. ii. 10, Apoc. vii. 10). In connection therewith David first of all thinks of his own need of deliverance. But as a true king he cannot before God think of himself, without connecting himself with his people. Therefore he closes with the intercessory inference: 5|rD*0 ^V'^V. Upon Thy people be Thy blessing! We may supply Tin or ^2H. Instead of cursing his faithless people he implores a blessing upon for by its being separated from the following n^n5"7N by Pazer; a real exception, however {Michlol 112 &), — and not as Norzi from misapprehension observes, a controverted one, — is •"D^, Milel before "V^n 2 Sam. xv. 27, but it is by no means sufficient to oppose the purely orthophonic (not rhythmical) ground of this w//?ma-accentuation. Even the semi-guttural "i sometimes has a like influence over the tone: ribdhribi xliii. 1, cxix. 154.
those who have been piteously led astray and deceived. This "upon Thy people be Thy blessing!" has its counterpart in the "Father forgive them" of the other David, whom His people crucified. The one concluding word of the Psalm — observes Ewald — casts a bright light into the very depths of his noble soul.
2 WHEN I call answer me, 0 God of my righteousness, Who hast made space for me in straitness;
3 Ye sons of men, how long shall my honour become shame, Since ye love appearance, ye seek after leasing?! (Sela)
Commune with your own heart upon your bed and bo still! (Sela.)
6 Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, And put your trust in Jahve!
0 lift up the light of Thy countenance upon us, Jahve!
9 In peace will I lay me down and forthwith sleep, For Thou, 0 Jahve, in seclusion
The Davidic morning hymn is now followed by a Davidic evening hymn. It is evident that they belong together fri the mutual relation of iv. 7 with iii. 3, and iii. 6 with iv. They are the only two Psalms in which the di: others are taken up into a prayer with the formula say", DnDN Wl. The history and chronological position the one is explained from the inscription of the otto the quousque iv. 3, and the words of the feeble-faiths iv. 7, it follows that Ps. iv. is the later of the two.
It is at the head of this Psalm that we are first met by T&tob (or rfifto^ with Gaja, Hab. iii. 19), which still calls for investigation. It is found fifty five times in the Psalter, not 54 as is usually reckoned: viz. 19 times in book i., 25 times in book ii., 8 times in book iii., 3 times in book v. Only two of the Psalms, at the head of which it is found, are anonymous: viz. lxvi., lxvii. All the others bear the names of David and of the psalmists celebrated from David's time, viz. 39 of David, 9 of the Korahites, 5 of Asaph. No fewer than 30 of these Psalms are Elohimic. HXJD^ is always the first word of the inscription; only in Ps. lxxxviii., which is easily liable to be overlooked in reckoning, is it otherwise, because there two different inscriptions are put together.
The meaning of the verb n*& is evident from the Chronicles and the Book of Ezra, which belongs to them. The predilection of the chronicler for the history of religious worship and antiquarian lore is also of use in reference to this word. He uses it in the history of the time of David, of Solomon, of Josiah, of Zerubbabel and Joshua, and always in connection with the accounts of the Temple-service and the building of single parts of the Temple. To discharge the official duties of the Temple-service is called nr*6p~^7 H^J '(TTP3 1 Chron. xxiii. 4 (comp. 28 — 32), and the expression is used in Ezra iii. 8 sq. of the oversight of the work and workmen for the building of the Temple. The same 3300 (3600) overseers, who are called rCN^&2 Dfefyn CJp DH1H in 1 Kings v. 30 are described by the chronicler (2 Chron. ii. 1) as CH\7g DTSttp. In connection with the repair of the Temple under Josiah we read that Levites were appointed n&b (2 Chron. xxxiv. 12), namely TOtfoto Hfety bib (ver. 13), instead of which we find it said in ii. 17 T2yr6, to keep the people at their work. The primary notion of nitt is that of shining, and in fact of the purest and most dazzling brightness; this then passes over to the notion of shining over or outshining, and in fact both of uninterrupted continuance and of excellence and superiority (vid. Ithpa. Dan. vi. 4, and cf. 1 Chron. xxiii. 4 with ix. 13; 1 Cor. xv. 54 with Isa. xxv. 8).
Thus, therefore, n^;p is one who shews eminent ability in any departement, and then it gains the general signification of master, director, chief overseer. At the head of the Psalms it is commonly understood of the director of the Temple-music. n^JD est dux cantus — Luther says in one place — quern nos dicimus den Kapellenmeister [the band-master], qui orditur etgubernat cantum, Itapyos (Opp. lat. xvii. 134 ed. Erl). But 1st, even the Psalms of Asaph have this TMlich at the beginning, and he was himself a director of the Temple-music, and in fact the chief-director (t^Nin) 1 Chron. xvi. 5, or at any rate he was one of the three (Heman, Asaph, Ethan), to whom the 24 classes of the 4000 Levite singers under the Davidico-Salomonic sanctuary were subordinate; 2ndly, the passage of the chronicler (1 Chron. xv. 17 — 21) which is most prominent in reference to this question, does not accord with this explanation. According to this passage the three directors of the Temple-music managed the cymbals pC£'P~, to sound aloud; eight other musicians of high rank the nablas and six others the citherns il&lb. This expression cannot mean "to direct", for the direction belonged to the three, and the cymbals were also better adapted to it than the citherns. It means "to take the lead in the playing": the cymbals directed and the citherns, better adapted to take the lead in the playing, were related to them, somewhat the violins to the clarinets now-a-days. Hence nSjO is not the director of the Temple-music but in general the masl of song, and niUD^ addresses the Psalm to him whose duty it is to arrange it and to train the Levite chori it therefore defines the Psalm as belonging to the son the
Temple worship that require musical accompaniment I translation of the Targum (Luther) also corresponds to tl general sense of the expression: MT3b6 "to be sung liturgically", and the LXX.: eU ™ xiXoc/if this signifies execution" and does not on the contrary ascribe I I -
The riW}3 which is added is not governed hy it. This can be seen at once from Hab. iii. 19: to the chief singer, with an accompaniment of my stringed instruments (vid. my Commentary), which Hitzig renders: to the chief singer of my musical pieces; but 3 r&J is not a phrase that can be supported, and PO'Oj does not mean a piece of music. The Piel, ]jp, complete with"P3, signifies to touch the strings (cogn. y:o), to play a stringed instrument. Whence comes rw;p (lxxvii. 7, Isa. xxxviii. 20) which is almost always used as a pluralet.: the play of the stringed instruments, and the superscribed nOT}3 Ps. iv. vi. liv. lv. lxvii. lxxvi.: with an accompaniment of the stringed instruments; and 2 is used as in xlix. 5, Isa. xxx. 29, 32. The hymn is to be sung in company with, probably with the sole accompaniment of, the stringed instruments. The fact of the inscribed words fW:iJ3 PISttD^ preceding ir6 TiETD probably arises from the fact of their being written originally at the top over the chief title which gave the generic name of the hymn and the author.
Ver. 2. Jahve is p"S SjbfeJ, the possessor of righteousness, the author of righteousness, and the vindicator of misjudged and persecuted righteousness. This God of righteousness David believingly calls his God (cf. xxiv. 5, lix. 11); for the righteousness he possesses, he possesses in Him, and the righteousness he looks for, he looks for in Him. That this is not in vain, his previous experience assures him: Thou hast made a breadth (space) for me when in a strait. In connection with this confirmatory relation of *? rcrnn *&3 it is more probable that we have before us an attributive clause (Hitz.), than that we have an independent one, and at any rate it is a retrospective clause, rnrnn is not precative (Bottch.), for the perf. of certainty with a precative colouring is confined
Psalms with nXMD? and HO^JD refer to the last days. Gregory of Nyssa combines the different translations by rendering: zh ~eXos, 6;rep £axiv 7] vtxT]. Ewald's view, that -z£\oz in this formula means consecration, celebration, worship, is improbable; in this signification it is not a Septuagint word.
to such exclamatory utterances as Job xxi. 16 (which see). He bases his prayer on two things, viz. on his fellowship with God, the righteous God, and on His justifying grace which he has already experienced. He has been many times in a strait already, and God has made a broad place for him. The idea of the expansion of the breathing (of the stream of air) and of space is attached to the n f^ of 3m, root ni (Deutsch. MorgenL Zeitschr. xii. 657). What is meant is the expansion of the straitened heart, xxv. 17. Isa. lx. 5, and the widening of a straitened position, xviii. 20, cxviii. 5. On iheBag. in ^ vid. on lxxxiv. 4.
Vers. 3 — 4. Righteous in his relation to God he turns rebukingly towards those who contemn him whose honour is God's honour, viz. to the partisans of Absolom. In contrast with 0"fePJ3, men who are lost in the multitude, B*N 02 denotes such as stand prominently forward out of the multitude; passages like xlix. 3, lxii. 10, Prov. viii. 4, Isa. ii. 9, v. 15, shew this distinction. In this and the preceding Psalm David makes as little mention of his degenerate son as he does of the deluded king in the Psalms belonging to the period of his persecution by Saul. The address is directed to the aristocratic party, whose tool Absolom has become. To these he says: till when (r\r2~~V_ beside the non-guttural which follows with Segol, without any manifest reason, as in x. 13, Isa. i. 5, Jer. xvi. 10), i. e. how long shall my honour become a mockery, namely to you and by you, just as we c also say in Latin quousque tandem dignitas mea ludibrio? The two following members are circumstantial clauses subordinate to the principal clause with PEny (similar to Isa. i. 5«; Ew. § 341, b). The energetic fui with Nun paraff. does not usually stand at the head of independent clans.-; it therefore to be rendered: since ye love pn, that winch empty — the proper name for their high rank is appearance— how long will ye pursue after Z*r, fal — they seek to find out every possible lying i order to trail the honour of the legitimate king dust. The assertion that the personal honour not his kingly dignity, is meant by HQ3, is inseparable. They are eager to injure hi same time as his personal reputation. Therefore David appeals in opposition to them (ver. 4) not only to the divine choice, but also to his personal relationship to God, on which that choice is based. The 1 of Ijni is, as in 2 Kings iv. 41, the 1 of sequence: so know then. The ffiph. rfen (from pfe = K^D, cogn.?pQ, prop, to divide) to make a separation, make a distinction Exod. ix. 4, xi. 7, then to distinguish in an extraordinary and remarkable way Exod. viii. 18, and to shew Ps. xvii. 7, cf. xxxi. 22, so that consequently what is meant is not the mere selection ("TO), but the remarkable selection to a remarkable position of honour (LXX., Vulg. mirificavit, Windberg translation of the Psalms gervunderlichef). "h belongs to the verb, as in cxxxv. 4, and the principal accent lies on "ppn: he whom Jahve Himself, not men, has thus remarkably distinguished is a Tpn, a pious man, i. e. either, like the Syriac frCPDn =* KCTO.* God's favourite, or, according to the biblical usage of the language (cf. xii 2 with Isa. lvii. 1), in an active signification like to^B, p"10, and the like: a lover of God, from ~pn (root DPI (j*cs» stringer e^ whence hassa to curry, mahassa a curry-comb) prop, to feel one's self drawn, i. e. strongly affected (comp. hiss a mental impression), in Hebrew, of a strong ardent affection. As a "PDP] he does not call upon God in vain, but finds a ready hearing. Their undertaking consequently runs counter to the miraculously evidenced will of God and must fail by reason of the loving relationship in which the dethroned and debased one stands to God.
Vers. 5 — 6. The address is continued: they are to repent and cleave to Jahve instead of allowing themselves to be carried away by arrogance and discontent. The LXX. has rendered it correctly: 6pYtCso&s xal [irj ajxap-avsxs (cf. Ephes. iv. 26): if ye will be angry beware of sinning, viz. backbiting and rebellion (cf. the similar paratactic combinations xxviii. 1, Josh. vi. 18, Isa. xii. 1). In connection with the rendering contremiscite we feel to miss any expression of that before which they are to tremble (viz. the sure punishment which God decrees). He warns his adversaries against blind passion, and counsels them to quiet converse with their own hearts, and solitary meditation, in order that they may not imperil their own salvation. To commune with one's own heart, without the addition of the object, is equivalent to to think alone by one's self, and the bed or restingplace, without requiring to be understood literally, points to a condition of mind that is favourable to quiet contemplation. The heart is the seat of the conscience, and the Spirit of God (as Hamann, Werke i. 98, observes on this subject) disguises itself as our own voice that we may see His exhortation, His counsel, and His wisdom well up out of our own stony heart. The second irnper. continues the first: and cease, prop, be still (CEH from the sound of the closed mouth checking the discourse), i. e. come to your right mind by self-examination, cease your tumult — a warning coming with the semblance of command by reason of the consciousness of innocence on his part; and this impression has to be rendered here by the striking in of the music. The dehortation passes over into exhortation in ver. 6. Of course the sacrifices were continued in the sanctuary while David, with his faithful followers, was a fugitive from Jerusalem. Referring to this, David cries out to the Absolomites: offer pTspnDT. Here at least these are not offerings consisting of actions which are in accordance with the will of God, instead of slaughtered animals, but sacrifices offered with a right mind, conformed to the will of God, instead of the hypocritical mind with which they consecrate their evil doings and think to flatter God. In li. 21, Deut.xxxiii. 19 also, "the sacrifices of righteousness'' are real sacrifices, not merely symbols of moral acts. Not less full ot meaning is the exhortation 'Trb* in©?5!. The verb HL- U construed with b* as in xxxi. 7, lvi. 4, lxxxvi. 2, combinii with the notion of trusting that of drawing nearto, hanging on, attaching one's self to any one. The Arabic word ^Ja*, expandere, has preserved the primary notion of the wo notion which, as in the synon. Ja~o, when referred to; effect which is produced on the heart, countenance and wh nature of the man by a joyous cheerful state of mind, | over to the notion of this state of mind itself, BO thai (like the Arab, inbasata to bo cheerful, fea expanded (cf.:rn Isa.'lx. 5) - unstraitened) i signifies to be courageous, confident. They are to renounce the self-trust which blinds them in their opposition to the king who is deprived of all human assistance. If they will trustingly submit themselves to God, then at the same time the murmuring and rancorous discontent, from which the rebellion has sprung, will be stilled. Thus far the address to the rebellious magnates goes.
Vers. 7 — 8. Looking into his own small camp David is conscious of a disheartened feeling which is gaining power over him. The words: who will make us see, i. e. (as in xxxiv. 13) experience any good? can be taken as expressive of a wish according to 2 Sam. xxiii. 15, Isa. xlii. 23; but the situation gives it the character of a despondent question arising from a disheartened view of the future. The gloom has now, lasted so long with David's companions in tribulation that their faith is turned to fear, their hope to despair. David therefore prays as he looks upon them: Oh lift upon us (W^THM)* the light of Thy countenance. The form of the petition reminds one of the priestly benediction in Num. vi. There it is: TOD 71 "IK"1 in the second portion, in the third iW] VJD 'PI, here these two wishes are blended into one prayer; and moreover in HDJ there is an allusion to Dj a banner, for the imper. of N&O, the regular form of which is Kttf, will also admit of the form Nfco (x. 12), but the mode of writing DDJ (without example elsewhere, for HDJ Job iv. 2 signifies "to be attempted") is only explained by the mingling of the verbs
NtW and DDJ, (joj, extollere (lx. 6); ipj 71 (cf. lx. 6) is, moreover, a primeval word of the Tora (Ex. xvii. 15). If we may suppose that this mingling is not merely a mingling of forms in writing, but also a mingling of the ideas in those forms, then we have three thoughts in this prayer which are brought before the eye and ear in the briefest possible expression:
* The Mctheg which stands in the second syllable before the tone stands by the Sheba, in the metrical books, if this syllable is the first in a word marked with a greater distinctive without any conjunctive preceding it, and beginning with Sheba-, it is, therefore, not ^v^TlDJ but U^JTHDJ, cf. li. 2 "N132, lxix. 28 "Un, lxxxi. 3 HNt', cxvi. 17 — 17, cxix. 175 "^nn. The reason and object are the same as stated in note p. 84 supra.
may Jahve cause His face to shine upon them; may He lift upon them the light of His countenance so that they may have it above them like the sun in the sky, and may that light be a banner promising them the victory, around which they shall rally.
David, however, despite the hopelessness of the present, is even now at peace in His God. The joy which Jahve has put into his heart in the midst of outward trial and adversity is }ZP] DtP'Trni UH1 njJD. The expression is as concise as possible: (1) gaudium prce equivalent to gaudium magnum prce = majus quam; then (2) nj?E after the analogy of the comparatio decurtata (e. g. xviii. 34 my feet are like hinds, i. e. like the feet of hinds) is equivalent to ny nnofefO; (3) 1Bf« is omitted after ng according to Ges. § 123, 3, for n^ is the construct state, and what follows is the second member of the genitival relation, dependent upon it (cf. xc. 15, Isa. xxix. 1); the plurality of things: corn and new wine, inasmuch as it is the stores of both that are specially meant, is exceptionally joined with the plur. instead of the sing., and the chief word rabbu stands at the end by way of emphasis. The suff. does not refer to the people of the land in general (as in lxv. 10), but, in accordance with the contrast, to the Absolomit to those of the nation who have fallen away from David. When David came to Mahanaim, while the rebels were i camped in Gilead, the country round about him was hostile, so that he had to receive provisions by stealth, 2 Sam. xvii. 26 — 29. Perhaps it was at the time of the feast of I nacles. The harvest and the vintage were over. A rich harvest of corn and new wine was garnered. The follower* of Absolom had, in these rich stores which wen disposal, a powerful reserve upon which to fall back. David and his host were like a band of beggars or in But the king brought down from the sceptre to the staff is nevertheless happier than they, the rel him. What he possesses in his heart is a richer treaw than all that they have in their barns and cellars.
Ver. 9. Thus then he lies down to peacefully. The hymn closes as it began with a tl verse. fTC (lit. in its unions = collectively, OlshM like fe altogether, fnj72 at the right time) is by no means unemphatic; nor is it so in xix. 10 where it means "all together, without exception". With synonymous verbs it denotes the combination of that which they imply, as Isa. xlii. 14. It is similar in cxli. 10 where it expresses the coincidence of the fall of his enemies and the escape of the persecuted one. So here: he wishes to go to sleep and also at once he falls asleep (jt£?W in a likewise cohortative sense =» rijt^frO). His God makes him to dwell in seclusion free of cond. The former is not, after Deut. xxxii. 12, equivalent to trek, an addition which would be without any implied antithesis and consequently meaningless. One must therefore, as is indeed required by the situation, understand TQ; according to Num. xxiii. 9, Mic. vii, 14, Deut. xxxiii. 28, Jer. xlix. 31. He needs no guards for he is guarded round about by Jahve and kept in safety. The seclusion, TD, in which he is, is security, np2, because Jahve is near him. Under what a many phases and how sweetly the nature of faith is expressed in this and the foregoing Psalm: his righteousness, exaltation, joy, peace, contentment in God! And how delicately conceived is the rhythm! In the last line the evening hymn itself sinks to rest. The iambics with which it closes are like the last strains of a lullaby which die away softly and as though falling asleep themselves. Dante is right when he says in his Conviio, that the sweetness of the music and harmony of the Hebrew Psalter is lost in the Greek and Latin translations.
2 GIVE ear to my words, 0 Jahve, Consider my meditation!
3 Hearken unto my loud cry, my King and my God, For unto Thee do I pray.
5 For Thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness, An evil man cannot dwell with Thee.
6 Boasters cannot stand in Thy sight, Thou hatest all workers of iniquity;
8 Yet I, through Thy rich grace, may enter Thy house, I may worship towards Thy holy Temple in Thy fear.
11 Punish them, Elohim, let them fall from their counsels, In the multitude of their transgressions cast them aw
may ever shout for joy; And defend Thou them that they may exult in Thee, who love Thy name.
13 For Thou, even Thou, dost bless the righteous — Jahve! with favour dost Thou compass him as with
The evening prayer is now followed by a second morning prayer, which like the former draws to a close with PIFHT (iv. 9, v. 13). The situation is different from that in Ps. iii. In that Psalm David is fleeing, here he is in Jerusalem and anticipates going up to the Temple Bervice. If this Pa also belongs to the time of the rebellion of ahsolom, it,m have been written when the fire which afterwards br was already smouldering in seci
The inscription rYfrnsrr** is certainly Do1 dicative of its contents (LXX.,Vulg., Luther, H As such it would stand afterniDTD. H with no£, always has reference to the mus* came from t>PO it might according to the biblical use of this verb signify "inheritances", or according to its use in the
Talmud "swarms", and in fact swarms of bees (Ji^); and rv6vO ought then to be the beginning of a popular melody to which the Psalm is adapted. Hai Gaon understands it to denote a melody resembling the hum of bees; Reggio a song that sings of bees. Or is rYPTD equivalent to r\)bw (excavatce) and this a special name for the flutes (cWn)? The use of the flute in the service of the sanctuary is attested by Isa. xxx. 29, cf. 1 Sam. x. 5, 1 Kings i. 40.* The prcep. hx was, then, more appropriate than by; because, as Redslob has observed, the singer cannot play the flute at the same time, but can only sing to the playing of another.
The Psalm consists of four six line strophes. The lines of the strophes here and there approximate to the caesuraschema. They consist of a rising and a sudden lowering. The German language, which uses so many more words, is not adapted to this caesura -schema [and the same may be said of the English].
Vers. 2 — 4. The introit: Prayer to be heard. The thoughts are simple but the language is carefully chosen. CHEN is the plur. of ")£& ("ION), one of the words peculiar to the poetic prophetical style. The denominative pjjCl (like audire = aus, ous, dare) belongs more to poetry than prose. XflTI (like ZT^N) or IMfi (like THE) occurs only in two Psalms "11 "6, viz. here and xxxix. 4. It is derived from un = run
(vid. i. 2) and signifies that which is spoken meditatively, here praying in rapt devotion. Beginning thus the prayer gradually rises to a vox clamoris. vjpw from jn#, to be distinguished from *jfl# (inf. Pi.) xxviii. 2, xxxi. 23, is one word with the Aram, mi, JEthiop. yitf (to call). On D^'PH used of intent listening, vid. x. 17. The invocation V^NT *?te, when it is a king who utters it, is all the more significant. David, and in general the theocratic king, is only the representative of the Invisible One, whom he with all Israel adores as his King. Prayer to Him is his first work as he begins the day. In the morning, *ip*2 (as in lv. 18 for ~!p22, lxxxviii. 14),shalt Thou hear my cry, is equivalent to my cry which goes forth with the early morn. Hupfeld considers the mention of the morning as only a "poetical expression" and when getting rid of the meaning prima luce, he also gets rid of the beautiful and obvious reference to the daily sacrifice. The verb '-hy is the word used of laying the wood in order for the sacrifice, Lev. i. 7, and the pieces of the sacrifice, Lev. i. 8, 12, vi. 5, of putting the sacred lamps in order, Ex. xxvii. 21, Lev. xxiv. 3 sq., and of setting the shew-br< in order, Ex. xl. 23, Lev. xxiv. 8. The laying of the wood in order for the morning offering of a lamb (Lev. vi. 5, cf. Num. xxviii. 4) was one of the first duties of the pii as soon as the day began to dawn; the lamb was slain I fore sun-rise and when the sun appeared above the horizon laid piece by piece upon the altar. The morning prayer icompared to this morning sacrifice. This is in its way also sacrifice. The object which David has in his mind in connection with rpyx is >rfen. As the priests, with the early morning, lay the wood and pieces of the sacrifices of tho Tamid upon the altar, so he brings his prayer befoi as a spiritual sacrifice and looks out for an answer (r^ culari as in Hab. ii. 1), perhaps as the priest lookfl out foi fire from heaven to consume the sacrifice, or looksmoke to see that it rises up straight towards heaven.
Vers. 5—7: The basing of the prayer on God's holini The verbal adjective yzn (coming from the primii tion of adhering firmly which is still preserved in wojLb* fut i.) is in the sing, always (xxxiv. 13, xxxv. 27) joined witl accusative, jn is conceived as a person, for although "Wi have a material object, it cannot well have a mat ject. *nji is used for brevity of expression in (Ges. §121, 4). The verb ■*! (to turn in. to abode with or near any one) frequently I object, cxx. 5, Judges v. 17, and I:xui. 1 I to which the light of the divine holin( consuming fire, which they cannot endu low specific designations of the wicked. D*tf
= hoFlim, or even Poal => hdlalim ( = O^Uie),* are the foolish, and more especially foolish boasters; the primary notion of the verb is not that of being hollow, but that of sounding, then of loud boisterous, non-sensical behaviour. Of such it is said, that they are not able to maintain their position when they become manifest before the eye of God ("Taj? as in ci. 7 manifest before any one, from TD to come forward, be visible far off, be distinctly visible), |ltf ^gs are those who work (ol epyocCojxsvoi Mat. vii. 23) iniquity; ]1K breath (avefioc) is sometimes trouble, in connection with which one pants, sometimes wickedness, in which there is not even a trace of any thing noble, true, or pure. Such men Jahve hates; for if He did not hate evil (xi. 5), His love would not be a holy love. In 2TD H?5^ "H^l is the usual form in combination when the plur. is used, instead of ^2ip. It is the same in lviii. 4. The style of expression is also Davidic in other respects, viz. PIEDE! D'EH t&"K as in lv. 24, and with the Aram. 2$ to despise, treat with indignity, and the Arabic caib a stain (cf. on Lam. ii. 1). The fact that, as Hengstenberg has observed, wickedness and the wicked are described in a sevenfold manner is perhaps merely accidental. Vers. 8 — 10. Since the Psalm is a morning hymn, the futt. in ver. 8 state what he, on the contrary, may and will do (lxvi. 13). By the greatness and fulness of divine favour (lxix. 14) he has access (siaoSov, for N13 means, according to its root, "to enter") to the sanctuary, and he will accordingly repair thither to-day. It is the tabernacle on Zion in which was the ark of the covenant that is meant here. That
* On the rule, according to which here, as in ^Vfi $ ver. 9 and the like, a simple Shcba mobile goes over into Chateph pathach with Gq/a preceding it, vid. the observations on giving a faithful representation of the 0. T. text according to the Masora in the Luther. Zeilschr. 1863. S. 411. The Babylonian Ben-Naphtali (about 910) prefers the simple Sheba in such cases, as also in others; Ben-Asher of the school of Tiberias, whom the Masora follows, and whom consequently our Masoretic text ought to follow, prefers the Chalcph, vid. Psalter ii. 460 — 467.
daily liturgical service was celebrated there mast be assumed, since the ark of the covenant is the sign and pledge of Jahve's presence; and it is, moreover, attested by 1 Chron. xvi. 37 sq. It is also to be supposed that sacrifice was offer daily before the tabernacle. For it is not to be infen from 1 Chron. xvi, 39 sqq. that sacrifice was only offered regularly on the Bama (high place) in Gibeon before the Mosaic tabernacle.* It is true sacrifice was offered in Gibeon, where the old tabernacle and the old altars (or at least the altar of burnt-offering) were, and also that after the removal of the ark to Zion both David (1 Chron. xxi. 29 sq.) and Solomon (1 Kings iii. 4, 2 Chron. i. 2 — G) worshipped and sacrificed in Gibeon. But it is self-evident sacrifices might have been offered where the ark was, and that even with greater right than in Gibeon; and since both David, upon its arrival (2 Sam. vi. 17 sq.), and Solomon after his accessi (1 Kings iii. 15), offered sacrifices through the priests who were placed there, it is probable, — and by a comparison of the Davidic Psalms not to be doubted, — that there waa daily service, in conjunction with sacrifices, before the ark on Zion.
But, moreover, is it really the 5Hfe on Zion which ia meant here in ver. 8 by the house of God? It is still maintained by renowned critics that the tabernacle pitched by David over the sacred ark is never called 71 TO ~- T Tl p#0 or B>ipD or tthp. But why could it not have all I names? We will not appeal to the fact that the ho God at Shilo (1 Sam. i. 9, iii. 3) is called rt»3 and 71 fc since it may be objected that it was really more of than a tabernacle,** although in the same book, oh. ii. is called nylo^nx, and in connection with the othi lations the poetic colouring of the historical style of 1 • i. — iii. is to be taken into consideration. Moreover, we put aside passages like Ex. xxiii. 19, xxxiv. 26, since it may be said that the future Temple was present to the mind of the Lawgiver. But in Josh. vi. 24, 2 Sam. xii. 20, the sanctuary is called T) rPD without being conceived of as a temple. Why then cannot the tabernacle, which David pitched for the ark of the covenant when removed to Zion (2 Sam. vi. 17), be called T) rPD? It is only when PHN and rip are placed in opposition to one another that the latter has the notion of a dwelling built of more solid materials; but in itself belt (bet) in Semitic is the generic term for housing of every kind whether it be made of wool, felt, and hair-cloth, or of earth, stone, and wood; consequently it is just as much a tent as a house (in the stricter sense of the word), whether the latter be a hut built of wood and clay or a palace.* If a dwellinghouse is frequently called ^riK, then a tent that any one dwells in may the more naturally be called his fP3. And this we find is actually the case with the dwellings of the patriarchs, which, although they were not generally solid houses (Gen. xxxiii. 17), are called rps (Gen. xxvii. 15). Moreover, bo^l (from by = b)D to hold, capacem esse), although it signifies a palace does not necessarily signify one of stone, for the heavens are also called Jahve's?yr\,e. g. xviii. 7, and not necessarily one of gigantic proportions, for even the Holy of holies of Solomon's Temple, and this par excellence, is called fe*n, and once, 1 Kings vi. 3, nj3PI byT\. Of the spaciousness and general character of the Davidic tabernacle we know indeed nothing: it certainly had its splendour, and was not so much a substitute for the original tabernacle, which according
* The Turkish Kamus says: "ooj is a house (Turk, erv) in the signification [of chane (Persic the same), whether it be made of hair, therefore a tent, or built of stone and tiles". And further on: "Beit originally signified a place specially designed for persons to retire to at night [from v^>L? be has passed the night, if it does not perhaps come from the N13, Arab. j which stands next to it in this passage, vid. Job ii. 125]; but later on the meaning was extended and the special reference to the night time was lost." Even at the present day the Beduin docs not call his tent ahl, but always bet and in fact bet shar (^VJV H^D), the modern expression for the older bet wabar (hair-house).
to the testimony of the chronicler remained in Gibeon, as a substitute for the Temple that was still to be built. But, however insignificant it may have been, Jahve had His throne there, and it was therefore the 72T1 of a great king, just as the wall-less place in the open field where God manifested Himself with His angels to the homeless Jacob was H*7fm rVD (Gen. xxviii. 17).
Into this tabernacle of God, i. e. into its front court, will David enter (fcfla with ace. as in lxvi. 13) this morni: there will he prostrate himself in worship, itpooxoveiv (mnPBftl reflexive of the Pilel Plinth j Ges. § 75, rem. 18), towards (bx as in xxviii. 2, 1 Kings viii. 29, 35, cf. b xcix. 5, Jahve's uNp fevij i- e. the Tin, the Holy of holies xxviii. 2, and that "in Thy fear", i. e. in reverence before Tl. (genit. oljectivus). The going into the Temple which David purposes, leads his thoughts on to his way through Li and the special ostjoi?, which only begins here, moulds itself accordingly: he prays for God's gracious guidance as in xxvii. 11, lxxxvi. 11, and frequently. The direction 0 by which he wishes to be guided he calls rr~— Such ifl the general expression for the determination of conduct by an ethical rule. The rule, acting in accordance with which, God is called par excellence p*>lX, is the order of salvation which opens up the way of mercy to sinners. When God forgives those who walk in this way their sins, and near to bless and protect them, He shews Himself Dot 1 pv-^ (just), than when He destroys those who in the heat of His rejected love. By this right accords with the counsel and order of in to be led iy$0 ]yvb, in order that the malicious those who lie in "wait for him may not be fulfilled, but J to shame, and that the honour of God may n by him. TW is equivalent to YJ10O (Aquil insidiator) from the Pilel T1.W to fij especially of hostile observation. David furl God will make his way (/. e. the w;.y in walk according to God's will) eten an the praying one, in order that! going astray and unimpeded. I I '"
the straightness of a line and the evenness of a surface. The fut. of the Hiph. T^H is ■)*#}! in Prov. iv. 25, and accordingly the Keri substitutes for the imper. "lE^in the corresponding form Tt&^n, just as in Isa. xlv. 2 it removes the Hiphil form nt?lN (cf. Gen. viii. 17 &wnn #<?™ N^H), without any grammatical, but certainly not without some traditional ground.
vp in ver. 10 is closely connected with i*ni# ]V^ • on account of my way-layers, for the following are their characteristics. ]">N is separated by CTB? (=*VS3 lxii. 5) from HJDJ the word it governs; this was the more easily possible as the usage of the language almost entirely lost sight of the fact that)ix is the construct of PK, Ges. § 152, 1. In his mouth is nothing that should stand firm, keep its ground, remain the same (cf. Job xlii. 7 sq.). The singular suffix of liTSZS has a distributive meaning: in ore uniuscujusque eorum. Hence the sing, at once passes over into the plur.: nilH D2"lf? their inward part, i. e. that towards which it goes forth and in which it has its rise (yid. xlix. 12) is nilD corruption, from a yawning abyss and a gaping vacuum, and then, inasmuch as, starting from the primary idea of an empty space, the verbal significations libereferri (especially from below upwards) and more particularly animo ad or in aliquid ferri are developed, it obtains the pathological sense of strong desire, passion, just as it does also the intellectual sense of a loose way of thinking proceding from a self-willed tendency (yid. Fleischer on Job xxxvii. 6). In Hebrew the prevalent meaning of the word is corruption, lvii. 2, which is a metaphor for the abyss, barathrum, (so far, but only so far Schultens on Prov. x. 3 is right), and proceeding from this meaning it denotes both that which is physically corruptible (Job. vi. 30) and, as in the present passage and frequently, that which is corruptible from an ethical point of view. The meaning strong desire, in which nip) looks as though it only differed from niN in one letter, occurs only in lii. 9, Prov. x. 3, Mic. vii. 3. The substance of their inward part is that which is corruptible in every way, and their throat, as the organ of speech, as in cxv. 7, cxlix. 6, cf. lxix. 4, is (perhaps a figure connected with the primary meaning of rvnn) a grave, which yawns like the jaws, which open and snatch and swallow down whatever comes in their way. To this "they make smooth their tongue" is added as a circumstantial clause. Their throat is thus formed and adapted, while they make smooth their tongue (cf. Prov. ii. 16), in order to conceal their real design beneath flattering language. From this meaning, p^nn directly signifies to flatter in xxxvi. 3, Prov. xxix. 5. The last two lines of the strophe are formed according to the caesura schema. This schema is also continued in the concluding strophe.
Vers. 11 — 13. The verb Dtt>N or CL^N unites in itself the three closely allied meanings of becoming guilty (e. g. Lev. v. 19), of a feeling of guilt (Lev. v. 4 sq.), and of expiation (Ps. xxxiv. 22 sq.); just as the verbal adj. Dfiftf also signifies both liable to punishment and expiating, and the substantive Ctt>K both the guilt to be expiated and the expiation. The Hiph. D^NH signifies to cause any one to render I expiation due "to his fault, to make him do penance. Afl an exception God is here, in the midst of the Jehovi called G^n'bg, perhaps not altogether unintentionally as bail God the Judge. The ]o of CiTfllSJJtee (with Gaja by the |0 and a transition of the counter-We Methcg into GaUjal, in Hos. xi. 6 into Meajla, vid. Psalter ii. 526) ii i ■ rtainly that of the cause in Hos. xi. 6, but here it is to be explain with Olsh. and Hitz. according to Sir. xiv. 2, Judith \i (cf. Hos. x. 6): may they fall from their own 00 founder in the execution of them. Then of "down from, away", a sense which the parallel K thrust them away (cf. «in*l from nrn xxxvi. 1 The a of zh2 is to be understood'according to Johi 24 "ye shall die iv tou« tyapxfoK tytfv", The mnltit their transgressions shall remain on state God is to cast them into bi terrible prayer is set forth by 1J3 Of >?■ for a well-known reason (of. lxxii. 17) has retreated to the penuli
TLc, "JUi, to press and stiffen against one another in wrestling, ^cvLc, ^5;Uj>> to struggle against anything, whether with outward or mental and moral opposition. Their obstinacy is not obstinacy against a man, but against God Himself; their sin is, therefore, Satanic and on that account unpardonable. All the prayers of this character are based upon the assumption expressed in vii. 13, that those against whom they are directed do not wish for mercy. Accordingly their removal is prayed for. Their removal will make the ecclesiapressa free and therefore joyous. From this point of view the prayer in ver. 12 is inspired by the prospect of the result of their removal. The futt. do not express a wish, but a consequence. The division of the verse is, however, incorrect. The rise of the first half of the verse closes with 7p (the pausal form by Pazer), its fall is ttjffl C^iy1?; then the rise begins anew in the second half, extending to "p which ought likewise to be pointed 7]2, and »2riN?|DtP is its fall. Id^JJ "DHl (from Tjpn Hiph. of ^Dxci. 4) is awkward in this sequence of thoughts. Hupfeld and Hitzig render it: "they shall rejoice for ever whom Thou defendest"; but then it ought not only to be pointed UTVj but the i must also be removed, and yet there is nothing to characterise)wbv 1DD as being virtually a subject. On the other hand it does not harmonise with the other consecutive futures. It must therefore, like &©*, be the optative: "And do Thou defend them, then shall those who love Thy name rejoice in Thee". And then upon this this joy of those who love the name of Jahve (t. e. God in His revelation of Himself in redemption) lxix. 37, cxix. 132, is based by flFWP? from a fact of universal experience which is the sum of all His historical self-attestations, ^^v is used instead ofDrTOJ as a graver form of expression, just like IDrWI for CPP"fi as an indignant one. The form wbjft (Ges. § 63, 3) is chosen instead of the wTgl found in xxv. 2, lxviii. 4, in order to assist the rhythm. The futt. are continuative. tenBJJFlj cinges eum, is not a contracted Hiph. according to 1 Sam. xvii. 25, but Kal as in 1 Sam. xxiii. 26; here it is used like the Piel in viii. 6 with a double accusative. The PI3S (from ]j^^Lo med. Waw, iEthiop. ptf to hedge round, guard) is a shield of a largest dimensions; larger than pa 1 Kings x. 16 sq. (cf. 1 Sam. xvii. 7, where Goliath has his DjS borne by a shield-bearer). n^3wlike a shield" is equivalent to: as with a shield (Ges. §T118, 3, rem.). The name of God, HIPP, is correctly drawn to the second member of the verse by the accentuation, in order to balance it with the first; and for this reason the first clause does not begin with mm Hn&nD here as it does elsewhere (iv. 9, xii. 8). pin delight, goodwill, is also a synonym for the divine blessing in Deut. xxxiii. 23.
3 Be gracious unto me, for I am fading away; Oh heal me, Jahve, for my bones are affrighted,
4 And my soul is affrighted exceedingly — And Thou, 0 Jahve, how long?!
6 For in death there is no remembrance of Thee, In Sheol who can give Thee thank
7 I am exhausted with my groaning. Every night make I my bed to swim — With my tears I flood my couch.
10 Jahve hath heard my supplication: Jahve will accept my prayer.
back upon a sleepless, tearful night. It consists of three strophes. In the middle one, which is a third longer than the other two, the poet, by means of a calmer outpouring of his heart, struggles on from the cry of distress in the first strophe to the believing confidence of the last. The hostility of men seems to him as a punishment of divine wrath, and consequently (but this is not so clearly expressed as in Ps. xxxviii., which is its counterpart) as the result of his sin; and this persecution, which to him has God's wrath behind it and sin as the sting of its bitterness, makes him sorrowful and sick even unto death. Because the Psalm contains no confession of sin, one might be inclined to think that the church has wrongly reckoned it as the first of the seven (probably selected with reference to the seven days of the week) Psalmi posnitentiales (vi. xxxii. xxxviii. li. cii. cxxx. cxliii.). A. H. Francke in his Introductio in Psalterium says, it is rather Psalmus precatorius hominis gravissimi tentati a pcenitente probe distinguendi. But this is a mistake. The man who is tempted is distinguished from a penitent man by this, that the feeling of wrath is with the one perfectly groundless and with the other well-grounded. Job was one who was tempted thus. Our psalmist, however, is a penitent, who accordingly seeks that the punitive chastisement of God, as the just God, may for him be changed into the loving chastisement of God, as the merciful One.
We recognise here the language of penitently believing prayer, which has been coined by David. Compare ver. 2 with xxxviii. 2; 3 with xli. 5; 5 with cix. 26; 6 with xxx. 10; 7 with lxix.4; 8 with xxxi. 10; 11 with xxxv. 4. 26. The language of Heman's Psalm is perceptibly different, comp. ver. 6 with lxxxvii. 11 — 13; 8 with lxxxviii. 10. And the corresponding strains in Jeremiah (comp. ver. 2, xxxviii. 2 with Jer. x. 24; 3 and 5 with Jer. xvii. 14; 7 with Jer. xlv. 3) are echoes, which to us prove that the Psalm belongs to an earlier age, not that it was composed by the prophet (Hitzig). It is at once probable, from the almost anthological relationship in which Jeremiah stands to the earlier literature, that in the present instance also he is the reproducer. And this idea is confirmed by the fact that in ch. x. 25, after language resembling the Psalm before us, he continues in words taken from Ps. lxxix. 6 sq. When Hitzig maintains that David could no more have composed this discom edly despondent Psalm than Isaiah could the words in Isa. xxi. 3, 4, we refer, in answer to him, to Isa. xxii. 4 and to the many attestations that David did weep, 2 Sam. i. 12, iii. 32, xii. 21, xv. 30, xix. 1.
The accompanying musical direction runs: To the Precentor, with accompaniment of stringed instruments, upon the Octave, The LXX. translates uirsp x% 67067^, and the Fathers associate with it the thought of the octave of eternal happiness, rt 8 ixeivrj, as Gregory of Nyssa says, r^ic, ianv 6 s'fs;/,; 0 But there is no doubt whatever that rv^c&'rr^J has r« ence to music. It is also found by Ps. xii., and besidi 1 Chron. xv. 21. From this latter passage it is at Lea that it is not the name of an instrument. An instrument with eight strings could not have been called an octave instead of an octachord. In that passage they played upon nablas niD^y-^, and with citherns nwrztrr^. If r^:~y notes maidens = maidens' voices i. e. soprano, then, as it equivalent to all' ottava bassa. The fact that Ps. xlvi., which is accompanied by the direction niD^jrby, is ajoyov whereas Ps. vi. is a plaintive one and Ps. xii. not 1 >omj and sad, accords with this. These two were to be played in the lower octave, that one in the higher.
Vers. 2 — 4. There is a chastisement which pi from God's love to the man as being pardon I •■ is designed to purify or to prove him, and a cl which proceeds from God's wrath against tin- in ving obstinately against, or as fallen av. which satisfies divine justice. Ps. xciv. 12, should decline it, would Bel cordingly David, Like Jeremiah (ch. 1 the removal of the chastisemenl hut of tl tvrath, or what is the Bame th 1' theju ing from wrath [Zorngericht]. *)EN3 and anorp stand in the middle, between bx and the verbs, for the sake of emphasis. Hengstenberg indeed finds a different antithesis here. He says: "The contrast is not that of chastisement in love with chastisement in wrath, but that of loving rescue in contrast with chastisement, which always proceeds from the principle of wrath". If what is here meant is, that always when God chastens a man his wrath is the true and proper motive, it is an error, for the refutation of which one whole book, of the Bible, viz. the Book of Job, has been written. For there the friends think that God is angry with Job; but we know from the prologue that, so far from being angry with him, he on the contrary glories in him. Here, in this Psalm, assuming David to be its author, and his adultery the occasion of it, it is certainly quite otherwise. The chastisement under which David is brought low, has God's wrath as its motive: it is punitive chastisement and remains such, so long as David remains fallen from favour. But if in sincere penitence he again struggles through to favour, then the punitive becomes a loving chastisement: God's relationship to him becomes an essentially different relationship. The evil, which is the result of his sin and as such indeed originates in the principle of wrath, becomes the means of discipline and purifying which love employs, and this it is that he here implores for himself. And thus Dante Alighieri* correctly and beautifully paraphrases the verse:
In >i3n David prays God to let him experience His lovingkindness and tender mercy in place of the punishment" He has a right to inflict; for anguish of soul has already reduced him to the extreme even of bodily sickness: he is withered up and weary. hbfcX has Pathach, and consequently seems to be the 3 pers. Put. as in Joel i. 10, Nah. i. 4; but this
* Provided he is the author of / sette Salmi Penitcnziali trasporla/i alia volf/ar pocsia, vid. Dante Alighieri's Lyric poems, translated aud annotated by Kannegiesser and Witte (1842) i. 203 sq., ii. 208 sq.
cannot be according to the rules of grammar. It is an adjective, like jjn, ]JNty", with the passive pointing. The formation bbr2^ (from tatt Jool with the primary meaning to stretch out lengthwise) is analogous to the IX. and XI. forms of the Arabic verb which serve especially to express colours and defects (Caspari § 59). The two words \jN i^ON have the double accent Mercha-Mahpach together, and according to the exact mode of writing (yid. Baer in my Psalter ii. 492) the Mahpach, (the sign resembling Mahpach or rather Jethib), ought to stand between the two words, since it at the same time represents the Makkeph. The principal tone of the united pair, therefore, lies on ani; and accordingly the adj.
^OK is shortened to fetf (cf. CHEHN, SJSSSDj DJ?"!?> an(1 tlie like) — a contraction which proves that t6cN is not treated as part. Pul. (= bblixn), for its characteristic a is unchangeable. The prayer for healing is based upon the plea that his bones (Job iv. 14, Isa. xxxviii. 13) are affrighted. We have no German word exactly corresponding to this brzi which (from the radical notion "to let go", cogn. F»?3) expresses a condition of outward overthrow and inward consternation, and is therefore the effect of fright which disconcerts one and of excitement that deprives one of self-control.* His soul is still more shaken than his body. The affliction is therefore not a merely bodily ailment in which onh timorous man loses heart. God's love is hidden from him. God's wrath seems as though it would wear him completely away. It is an affliction beyond all other afflictions. Hen he enquires: And Thou, 0 Jahve, how long?! Instead nriN it is written nN, which the Keri says is to be read TTN. while in three passages (Num. xi. 15, Deut. v. 24, Ezi ill.
Vers. 5—8. God has turned away from him, hence the prayer r\2)W, viz. ^N. The tone of PDltf u on th cause it is assumed to be read tfTN niltf. The ultima tuation is intended to secure its distinct pronuft the final syllable of rttltf, which is liable to be drowrn
* We have translated Dr. DeUtuoh'l word i vexed of the Authorized Version leema h»rdlj equal escape notice in connection with the coming together of the two aspirates (vid. on iii. 8). May God turn to him again, rescue (ybjl froml^n, which is transitive inHebr. and Aram., to free, expedire, exuere, Arab. \JaX^ to be pure, prop, to be loose, free) his soul, in which his affliction has taken deep root, from this affliction, and extend to him salvation on the ground of His mercy towards sinners. He founds this cry for help upon his yearning to be able still longer to praise God, — a happy employ, the possibility of which would be cut off from him if he should die. "IDT, as frequently "TCiPI, is used of remembering one with reverence and honour; rnin (from ppi) has the dat. honoris after it. ^'tftt\ ver. 6L\ cLht]c, (Apoc. xx. 13), alternates with HID. Such is the name of the underground abode of the dead, the gate of which is the grave, the yawning abyss, into which everything mortal descends (from bittf = bw JLw, to be loose, relaxed, to hang down, sink down: a sinking in, that which is sunken in*, a depth). The writers of the Psalms all (which is no small objection against Maccabean Psalms) know only of one single gathering-place of the dead in the depth of the earth, where they indeed live, but it is only a quasi life, because they are secluded from the light of this world and, what is the most lamentable, from the light of God's presence. Hence the Christian can only join in the prayer of ver. 6 of this Psalm and similar passages (xxx. 10, lxxxviii. 11 — 13, cxv. 17, Isa. xxxviii. 18 sq.) so far as he transfers the notion of hades to that of gehenna. ** In hell there is really no remembrance and no praising of God. David's fear of death as something in itself unhappy, is also, according to its originally a verbal abstract, has carried over the passive meaning into the province of the concrete, e. g. kitdb = mahtiib and ilah, H ON = mdliih = md bud (the feared, revered One).
** An adumbration of this relationship of Christianity to the religion of the Old Testament is the relationship of Islam to the religion of the Arab wandering tribes, which is called the "religion of Abraham" {Din Ibrahim), and knows no life after death; while Islam has taken from the later Judaism and from Christianity the hope of a resurrection and heavenly blessedness.
ultimate ground, nothing but the fear of an unhappy death. In these "pains of hell" he is wearied with (2 as in lxix. 4) groaning, and bedews his couch every night with a river of tears. Just as the Hiph. 7\1W7\ signifies to cause to swim from nntr to swim, so the Hiph. DDpn signifies to dissolve, cause to melt, from PiDD (cogn. CDft) to melt. HJ7OT, in Arabic a nom. unit, a tear, is in Hebrew a flood of tears.
In ver. 8 ^jjdoes not signify my "appearance" (Num. xi. 7), but, as becomes clear from xxxi. 10, lxxxviii. 10, Job xvii. 7, "my eye"; the eye reflects the whole state of a man's health. The verb U/wy appears to be a denominative from #>•: to be moth-eaten.* The signification senescere for the verb pny is more certain. The closing words i*niS-7D2l (cf. Num. x. 9 ^y*7} "£>n the oppressing oppressor, from the root is yo to press, squeeze, and especially to bind together, constringere, coartare**), in which the writer indicates, partially at least, the cause of his grief (DJJ3, in Job xviii. 7 t^JD), are as it were the socket into which the following strophe is inserted.
Vers. 9 — 11. Even before his plaintive prayer is ended the divine light and comfort come quickly into his heart, as Frisch says in his "Neuklingende Harfe Davids'". His enemi mock him as one forsaken of God, but even in the face of his enemies he becomes conscious that this is not his condition. Thrice in vers. 9, 10 his confidence that God will answer him flashes forth: He hears his loud sobbing, the voi of his weeping that rises towards heaven, He hears his supplication, and He graciously accepts his prayer. The t\, fold pgtf expresses the fact and p|j^ its consequence. That which he seems to have to suffer, shall in reality be the Lot of his enemies, viz. the end of those who are rejected of God:
* Reuchlin in his grammatical analysis of the seven Penitent Psalms, which he published in 1512 after his LI. Ill de / Hebraicis (1506), explains it thus: ntftfjJ VerminatU* \ dictum qui turbant res claras puras ct mtidas, and in the i Turbatus est a furore oculus mcus, corrosus ct obflueatui, ternce obduclus.
** In Arabic T& dir is the word for a of the step-children; and V|ij din; a concubine a, tl. rival.
they shall be put to shame. The #13, Syr. zka, Chald. nJ12> nH3, which we meet with here for the first time, is not connected with the Arab. oiftJ but (since the Old Arabic as a rule has 6 as a mediating vowel between W and z, V\) with v^jL which signifies "to turn up and scatter about things that lie together (either beside or upon each other)" eruere et diruere, disturbare, — a root which also appears in the reduplicated form ^£o: to root up and disperse, whence v£o sorrow and anxiety, according to which therefore #13 (= #13 as vl>LJ = ZJC?) prop, signifies disturbare, to be perplexed, lose one's self-control, and denotes shame according to a similar, but somewhat differently applied conception to con fundi, ao-^eTo&ai, ao^uvsaOai. PHSJl points back to vers. 2, 3: the lot at which the malicious have rejoiced, shall come upon themselves. As is implied in W2\ D#>, a higher power turns back the assailants filled with shame (ix. 4, xxxv. 4). What an impressive finish we have here in these three Milelsjashubu jebdshu raga\ in relation to the tripping measure of the preceding words addressed to his enemies! And, if not intentional,.yet how remarkable is the coincidence, that shame follows the involuntary reverse of the foes, and that 1#3^ in its letters and sound is the reverse of 13#^! What music there is in the Psalter! If composers could but understand it 1 1
APPEAL TO THE JUDGE OF THE WHOLE EARTH AGAINST SLANDER AND REQUITING GOOD WITH EVIL.
2 JAHVE, my God, in Thee do I hide myself; Save me from all my persecutors, and deliver me!
3 Lest he tear my soul like a lion,
Rending it in pieces while there is none to deliver.
4 Jahve, my God, if I have done this, If iniquity cling to my hands,
5 If I have rewarded evil to him that was at peace with me And plundered mine enemy without cause:
G Then let the enemy persecute my soul and take [it], And tread down my life to the earth, And lay my dignity in the dust. (Sela.)
Lift up Thyself against the rage of mine oppressors, And awake for me, Thou hast indeed arranged justice!
8 And let the host of the nations stand round ahout Thee And over it do Thou return again on high!
10 Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end,
establish the righteous, Thou art He who trieth the hearts and reins, a just God.
13 If a man will not repent, He whetteth His sword, He hath bent His bow and made it ready,
14 And against him He directeth the weapon of death, His arrows He maketh burning arrows.
15 Behold, he travaileth with evil: he conceiveth trouble
16 He hath digged a pit and hollowed it out, And falleth into the hollow that he is making.
18 I will give thanks to Jahve according to His righteousn< And will sing praise to the name of Jahve, the Most Hi
In the second part of Ps. vi. David moots hi with strong self-confidence in God. Ps. vii.. which e Hitzig ascribes to David, continues this theme hibif to us, in a prominent example taken from the fcim secution under Saul, his purity of conscience andj< of faith. One need only read 1 Sam. mr.— xxri to this Psalm abounds in unmistakeable references to th tion of David's life. The superscribed statement of the events that gave rise to its composition point to this. Such statements are found exclusively only by the Davidic Psalms.* The inscription runs: Shiggajon of David, which he sang to Jahve on account of the sayings of Cush a Benjamite. vyyg-^g is intentionally chosen instead of b% which has other functions in these superscriptions. Although ^\21 and HIIH can mean a thing, business, affairs (Ex. xxii. 8, 1 Sam. x. 2, and freq.) and ^ZFTvj "in reference to" (Deut. iv. 21, Jer. vii. 22) or "on occasion of" (Jer. xiv. 1), still we must here keep to the most natural signification: "on account of the words (speeches)". Cush (LXX. falsely Xouai = i^3; Luther, likewise under misapprehension, "the Moor") must have been one of the many servants of Saul, his kinsman, one of the talebearers like Doeg and the Ziphites, who shamefully slandered David before Saul, and roused him against David. The epithet Wpn? (as in 1 Sam. ix. 1, 21, cf. WtSrWhR 2 Sam. xx. 1) describes him as "a Benjamite" and does not assume any knowledge of him, as would be the case if it were ^E'Osr], or rather (in accordance with biblical usage) ^DJtTp. And this accords with the actual fact, for there is no mention of him elsewhere in Scripture history. The statement 'i:n vQ"rty is hardly from David's hand, but written by some one else, whether from tradition or from the D^H "HD"! of David, where this Psalm may have been interwoven with the history of its occasion. Whereas there is nothing against our regarding "inb ]V$tf9 or at least JVJt&S as a note appended by David himself.
Since flij# (after the form jV-tPI a vision) belongs to the same class as superscribed appellations like "tfDTQ and TOtgg, and the Tephilla of Habakkuk, ch. iii. 1 (vid. my Commentary), has the addition rYUW'^JJ, JIW must be the name of a kind of lyric composition, and in fact a kind described according to the rhythm of its language or melody. Now since n^' means to go astray, wander, reel, and is cognate with yjiy (whence comes jljJitK' madness, a word formed in the same manner)
jyw'may mean in the language of prosody a reeling poem, i. e. one composed in a most excited movement and with a rapid change of the strongest emotions, therefore a dithyrambic poem, and £TD*}# dithyrambic rhythms, variously and violently mixed together. Thus Ewald and Rodiger understand it, and thus evenTarnov, Geier, and other old expositors who translate it cantio erratica. What we therefore look for is that this Psalm shall consist, as Ainsworth expresses it (1627), "of sundry variable and wandering verses", that it shall wander through the most diverse rhythms as in a state of intoxication — an expectation which is in fact realized. The musical accompaniment also had its part in the general effect produced. Moreover, the contents of the Psalm corresponds to this poetic musical style. It is the most solemn pathos of exalted self-consciousness which is expressed in it. And in common with Hab. iii. it gives expression to the joy which arises from zealous anger against the enemies of God and from the contemplation of their speedy overthrow. Painful unrest, defiant self-confidence, triumphant ecstacy, calm trust, prophetic certainty — all these states of mind find expression in the irregular arrangement of the strophes of this Davidic dithyramb, the ancient customary Psalm for the feast of Purim (Sofrim xviii. § 2).
Vers. 2 — 3. With this word of faith, love, and hope irPCH *|2(as in cxli. 8), this holy captatio benevolentirc, David aisobegins in xi. 1, xvi. 1, xxxi. 2, cf. lxxi. 1. The perf. is inchoative: in Thee have I taken my refuge, equivalent to: in Thee do I trust. The transition from the multitude of his persecutors to the sing, in ver. 3 is explained most naturally, as one looks at the inscription, thus: that of the many the one who is just at the time the worst of all comes prominently before his mind. The verb ^Tl? fromthe primary signification carper e (which corresponds still more exactly to*pn) means both to tear off and to tear in pieces (whei that which is torn in pieces); and p-}0 from its prima signification frangcre means both to break loose and to bre in pieces, therefore to liberate, e. g. in cx» break in small pieces, 1 Kings xix. 11. The persecutors are conceived of as wild animals, as lions which rend their prey and craunch its bones. Thus blood-thirsty are they for his soul, i. e. his life. After the painful unrest of this first strophe, the second begins the tone of defiant self-consciousness.
Vers. 4 — 6. According to the inscription nNT points to the substance of those slanderous sayings of the Benjamite. With i£02?yriBto~OtJ one may compare David's words to Saul DJH Hji |W 1 Sam. xxiv. 12, xxvi. 18; and from this comparison one will at once see in a small compass the difference between poetical and prose expression. ">pbt£'(Targ. *£&# ^5!r?) is the name he gives (with reference to Saul) to him who stands on a peaceful, friendly footing with him, cf. the adject. c6ttf, lv. 21, and Dlb# tt"K, xli. 10. The verb bni, cogn. -)B3, signifies originally to finish, complete, (root CJ, 03, cf. fP1? to be or to make full, to gather into a heap). One says 21ft ^121 and jn fag, and also without a material object lfoj bDJ or ^7DJ bene fecit or male fecit mihi. But we join 1FDD3 with jn according to the Targum and contrary to the accentuation, and not with >£&# (Olsh., Bottch., Hitz.), although Z&V) beside D^'p, as e. g. ^21 beside "lino might mean "requiting". The poet would then have written: jn t^DJ *F)E&#DK i. £. if I have retaliated upon him that hath done evil to me. In ver. 5 we do not render it according the meaning of ybri which is usual elsewhere: but rather I rescued... (Louis de Dieu, Ewald § 345, «, and Hupfeld). Why cannot ybr\ in accordance with its primary signification expedire, exuere (according to which even the signification of rescuing, taken exactly, does not proceed from the idea of drawing out, but of making loose, exuere vinclis) signify here exuere = spoliare, as it does in Aramaic? And how extremely appropriate it is as an allusion to the incident in the cave, when David did not rescue Saul, but, without indeed designing to take n^H, exuvice, cut off the hem of his garment! As Hengstenberg observes, "He affirms his innocence in the most general terms, thereby shewing that his conduct towards Saul was not anything exceptional, but sprang from his whole disposition and mode of action". On the 1 pers. fut. conv. with ah, vid. on iii. 6. cfrn belongs to JTllS, like xxv. 3, lxix. 5.
In the apodosis, ver. 6, the fut. Kal of *)Tl is made into three syllables, in a way altogether without example, since, by first making the Sheod audible, from pfoyi it is become tJTT> (like pnsp Gen. xxi. 6, ^nn Ps. lxxiii. 9, Ex. ix. 23, HJ/W xxxix. 13), and this is then sharpened by an euphonic Bag. forte* Other ways of explaining it, as that by Chajug = P)T)rP, or by Kimchi as a mixed form from Kal and Piel** have been already refuted by Baer, Thorath Emeth, p. 33. This dactylic jussive form of Kal is followed by the regular jussives of Hiph. W\ and Dt$^. The rhythm is similar so that in the primary passage Ex. xv. 9, which also finds its echo in Ps. xviii. 38, — viz. iambic with anapaests inspersed. By its parallelism with ^bj and wp, H133 acquires the signification "my soul", as Saadia, Gecatilia and Aben-Ezra hare rendered it — a signification which is secured to it by xvi. 9, xxx. 13, lvii. 9, cviii. 2, Gen. xlix. 6. Man's soul is his doxa, and this it is as being the copy of the divine doxa (Bib!. Psychol. S. 98, [tr.p. 119], and frequently). Moreover, "let him lay in the dust" is at least quite as favourable to this sense ofmSD as to the sense of personal and official dignity (iii. 4, iv. 3). To lay down in the dust is equivalent to: to lay in the dust of death, xxii. 16. nsy 'JOty Isa. xxvi. 19, are the dead. According to the biblical conception the soul is pable of being killed (Num. xxxv. 11), and mortal (Num. xxiii. 10). It binds spirit and body together and this bond is cut asunder by death. David will submit willingly to death in case he has ever acted dishonourably.
Here the music is to strike up, in order to give into the expression of this courageous confession. In thi strophe his affirmation of innocence to a chilli appeal to the jndgment-seat of God and a prophetic certain that that judgment is near at hand.
* The Dag. is of the same kind as the A* in D1 Arabic popular dialect farassi (my horse), wii. * S. 3G6.
** Pinsker's view, that the pointing r,"T: reader at liberty to choose between the reading r"~' bo supported. There are no safe eztm] variations of tradition found expression in thl
Vers. 7 — 9. In the consciousness of his own innocence he calls upon Jahve to sit in judgment and to do justice to His own. His vision widens and extends from the enemies immediately around to the whole world in its hostility towards Jahve and His anointed one. In the very same way special judgments and the judgment of the world are portrayed side by side, as it were on one canvas, in the prophets. The truth of this combination lies in the fact of the final judgment being only the finale of that judgment which is in constant execution in the world itself. The language here takes the highest and most majestic flight conceivable. By 7)iy\p (Milra, as in iii. 8), which is one of David's words of prayer that he has taken from the lips of Moses (ix. 20, x. 12), he calls upon Jahve to interpose. The parallel is NiMH lift Thyself up, shew Thyself in Thy majesty, xciv. 2, Isa. xxxiii. 10. The anger, in which He is to arise, is the principle of His judicial righteousness. With this His anger He is to gird Himself (lxxvi. 11) against the ragings of the oppressors of God's anointed one, i. e. taking vengeance on their many and manifold manifestations of hostility. rVTOy is a shorter form of the construct (instead of rYTOjJ Job xl. 11, cf. xxi. 31) of TXy2% which describes the anger as running over, breaking forth from within and passing over into words and deeds (cf. Arab.
(JLi used of water: it overflows the dam, of wrath: it breaks forth). It is contrary to the usage of the language to make COStPD the object to rrty in opposition to the accents, and it is unnatural to regard it as the accus. of direction = BCEto^? (xxxv. 23), as Hitzig does. The accents rightly unite n^iy "6k: awake (stir thyself) for me i. e. to help me ("ON like Vl&Ppri lix- 5). The view, that my is then precative and equivalent to PTJ2: command judgment, is one that cannot be established according to syntax either here, or in lxxi. 3. It ought at least to have been rpisi with Warn consec. On the other hand the relative rendering: Thou who hast ordered judgment (Maurer, Hengst.), is admissible, but unnecessary. We take it by itself in a confirmatory sense, not as a circumstantial clause: having commanded judgment (Ewald), but as a co-ordinate clause: Thou hast indeed enjoined the maintaining of right (Hupfeld).
The psalmist now, so to speak, arranges the judgment scene: the assembly of the nations is to form a circle round about Jahve, in the midst of which He will sit in judgment, and after the judgment He is to soar away (Gen. xvii. 22) aloft over it and return to the heights of heaven like a victor after the battle (see lxviii. 19). Although it strikes one as strange that the termination of the judgment itself is not definitely expressed, yet the rendering of Hupfeld and others: sit Thou again upon Thy heavenly judgment-seat to judge, is to be rejected on account of the ns-lt^ (cf. on the other hand xxi. 14) which is not suited to it; Cl"iab21l^ can only mean Jahve's return to His rest after the execution of judgment. That which vers. 7 and 8 in the boldness of faith desire, the beginning of ver. 9 expresses as a prophetic hope, from which proceeds the prayer, that the Judge of the earth may also do justice to him (unBLP vindica me, as in xxvi. 1, xxxv. 24) according to his righteousness and the purity of which he is conscious, as dwelling in him. ty is to be closely connected with ijbr, just as one says ^by HBfBJ (Psychol. S. 152 [tr. p. 180]). That which the individual as ego, distinguishes from itself as being in it, as subject, it d< by ^y. In explaining it elliptically: "come upon me" (Ew., Olsh., Hupf.) this psychologically intelligible usage of the language is not recognised. On ch vid. on xxv. 21, xxvi. 1.
Vers. 10 — 11. In this strophe we hear the calm language of courageous trust, to which the rising and calmly subsiding caesural schema is particularly adapted. Be Lfl Q concerned about the cessation of evil: Oh let it come end (-JD3 intransitive as in xii. 2, lxxvii. 9)... His prayer therefore not directed against the individuals as Bucfa but against the wickedness that is in them. T! key to all Psalms which contain prayers against mies. Just in the same manner \JSX^ is intended a wish; it is one of the comparatively rare Toluntaf the2 pers. (Ew. § 229): and mays! Thou be p) lish.... To the termination of evil which ifl responds, in a positive form of expression, tl. rity and establishment of the righteous, whom and whose continuance was endangered beginning of a circumstantial clause, introduced by l, but without the personal pronoun, which is not unfrequently omitted both in the leading participial clause, as in Isa. xxix. 8 (which see), and in the minor participial clause as here (cf. lv. 20): cum sis ■— quoniam es. The reins are the seat of the emotions, just as the heart is the seat of the thoughts and feelings. Reins and heart lie naked before God — a description of the only xapSioyvwaxYjc, which is repeated in Jer. xi. 20, xx. 12, Apoc. ii. 23. In the thesis the adjective is used with D^rfcx in the sing, as in lxxviii. 56, cf. lviii. 12. God is the righteous God, and by his knowledge of the inmost part He is fully capable of always shewing Himself both righteous in anger and righteous in mercy according to the requirements and necessity of the case. Therefore David can courageously add DTl"^"^ *3JO, my shield doth God carry; b (lxxxix. 19) would signify: He has it, it (my shield) belongs to Him, bv_ (1 Chron. xviii. 7) signifies: He bears it, or if one takes shield in the sense of protection: He has taken my protection upon Himself, has undertaken it (as in lxii. 8, cf. Judges xix. 20), as He is in general the Saviour of all who are devoted to Him with an upright heart, t. e. a heart sincere, guileless (cf. xxxii. with ver. 2). qvto is intentionally repeated at the end of the first two lines — the favourite palindrome, found more especially in Isa. xl. — lxvi. And to the mixed character of this Psalm belongs the fact of its being both Elohimic and Jehovic. From the calm language of heartfelt trust in God the next strophe passes over into the language of earnest warning, which is again more excited and somewhat after the style of didactic poetry.
Vers. 12 — 14. If God will in the end let His wrath break forth, He will not do it without having previously given threatenings thereof every day, viz. to the ungodly, cf. Isa. lxvi. 14, Mai. i. 4. He makes these feel His DJ?T beforehand in order to strike a wholesome terror into them. The subject of the conditional clause Dlt&n K^-CN is any ungodly person whatever; and the subject of the principal clause, as its continuation in ver. 14 shews, is God. If a man (any one) does not repent, then Jahve will whet His sword (cf. Deut. xxxii. 41). This sense of the words accords with the connection; whereas with the rendering: "forsooth He (Elohim) will again whet His sword" (Bottch., Ew., Hupf.) 2)W\ which would moreover stand close hy tflB^ (cf. e. g. Gen. xxx. 31), is meaningless; and the fr6~CK of asseveration is devoid of purpose. Judgment is being gradually prepared, as the fut. implies; but, as the perff. imply, it is also on the other hand like a bow that is already strung against the sinner with the arrow pointed towards him, so that it can be executed at any moment. pi3 of the making ready, and ^T\ of the aiming, are used alternately. ^, referring to the sinner, stands first hy way of emphasis as in Gen. xlix. 10, 1 Sam. ii. 3, and is equivalent to t6k, Ezek. iv. 3. "Burning" arrows are firearrows (CjpT, nip"1!, malleoli); and God's fire-arrows are the lightnings sent forth by Him, xviii. 15, Zech. ix. 14. The fut. by%) denotes the simultaneous charging of the arrows aimed at the sinner, with the fire of His wrath. The case illustrated by Cush is generalised: by the sword and arrow the manifold energy of the divine anger is symbolised, and it is only the divine forbearance that prevents it from immediately breaking forth. The conception is not coarsely material, but the vividness of the idea of itself suggests the form of its embodiment.
Vers. 15 — 18. This closing strophe foretells to the enemy of God, as if dictated by the judge, what awaits him: and concludes with a prospect of thanksgiving and praise. M brings forth what he has conceived, he reaps what he b sown. Starting from this primary passage, we find the punishment which sin brings with it frequently repre under these figures of rnn and ■£* (T^n, ^2H, Sri), JH1 and ~ and first of all uTJob xv. 35. The act, guilt, and pun; ment of sin appear in general as notions that run into i another. David sees in the sin of his enemies their Belf-destruction. It is singular, that travail is first spokeo 0 then only afterwards pregnancy. For ban iignifi Cant. viii. 5, (ooivsiv, not: to conceive (Hits.). Tl habila (synonym of hamala) is not to concern in d from being pregnant, but it is both: to be pregnant. The accentuation indicates thi Bhip of thethree members of the sentence. 1