Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

Vers. 4 — 5. In this instance the voluntative has its own proper signification: may He root out (cf. cix. 15, and the oppositive xi. 6). Flattering lips and a vaunting tongue are

*The Aryan root man to remain, abide (Neo -Persic mdnden), also takes a similar course, signifying usually "to continue in any course, wait, hope." So the old Persic man, Zend upaman, cf. ^veiv with its derivatives which are applied in several ways in the New Testament to characterise itioti;.

one, insofar as the braggart becomes a flatterer when it serves his own selfish interest, *)t$fN refers to lips and tongue, which are put for their possessors. The Hiph. T2JJ1 may mean either to impart strength, or to give proof of strength. The combination with 7, not 2, favours the former: we will give emphasis to our tongue (this is their self-confident declaration). Hupfeld renders it, contrary to the meaning of the Hiph.: over our tongue we have power, and Ewald and Olshausen, on the ground of an erroneous interpretation of Dan. ix. 27, render: we make or have a firm covenant with our tongue. They describe their lips as being their confederates (DN as in 2 Kings ix. 32), and by the expression "who is lord over us" they declare themselves to be absolutely free, and exalted above all authority. If any authority were to assert itself over them, their mouth would put it down and their tongue would thrash it into submission. But Jahve, whom this making of themselves into gods challenges, will not always suffer His own people to be thus enslaved.

Vers. 6 — 7. In ver. 6 the psalmist hears Jahve Himself speak; and in ver. 7 he adds his Amen. The two tq in ver. 6 denote the motive, nriy the decisive turning-point from forebearance to the execution of judgment, and IDK"1 the divine determination, which has just now made itself audible; cf. Isaiah's echo of it, Isa. xxxiii. 10. Jahve has hitherto looked on with seeming inactivity and indifference, now He will arise and place in ytp, i. e a condition of safety (cf. D*H2 DH£', lxvi. 9), him who languishes for deliverance. It is not to be explained: him whom he, i. e. the boaster, blows upon, which would be expressed by ID JTD}, cf. x, 5; but, with Ewald, Hengstenberg, Olshausen, and Bottcher, according to Bab. ii. 3, where b ITCH occurs in the sense of panting after an object: him who longs for it. PPSJ is, however, do! a participial adjective = pjD^ but the fut., and ]b TOJ ia therefore a relative clause occupying the place of the object, just aa we find the same thing occurring in Job xxiv. 1!), [sa. xli. 2,25, and frequently. Hupfeld's rendering: "in order tl he may gain breath {respirciy leaves rptS'N without an object, and accords more with Aramaic ami Arabic than with

In ver. 7 the announcement of Jahve is followed by its echo in the heart of the seer: the words (ffi'TEN instead of nTOX by changing the Sheba which closes the syllable into an audible one, as e.g. in VTlBte) of Jahve are pure words, i. e. intended, and to be fulfilled, absolutely as they run without any admixture whatever of untruthfulness. The poetical mi?N (after the form mpi) serves pre-eminently as the designation of the divine power-words of promise. The figure, which is indicated in other instances, when God's word is said to be PIDD^ (xviii. 31, cxix. 140, Prov. xxx. 5), is here worked out: silver melted and thus purified bvj?3

V"!$. Wj?. signifies either a smelting- pot from bby, JLc, immittere, whence also ty (Hitz.); or, what is more probable since the language has the epithets 113 and FpSO for this: a workshop, from bby, Jld, operari (prop, to set about a thing), first that which is wrought at (after the form ^>yp, b^DQ, b^Uf), then the place where the work is carried on. From this also comes the Talm. W}g2 = 1!6s2 manifested occurring in the Mishna Bosh ha-Shana i. 5 and elsewhere, and which in its first meaning corresponds to the French en effet* According to this, the b in Y^xb is not the b of property: in a finingpot built into the earth, for which yibb without anything further would be an inadequate and colourless expression. But in accordance with the usual meaning of V*ifc6 as a collateral definition it is: smelted (purified) down to the earth. As Olshausen observes on this subject, "Silver that is purified in the furnace and flows down to the ground can be seen in every smelting hut; the pure liquid silver flows down out of the smelting furnace, in which the ore is piled up." For it cannot be b of reference: "purified with respect to the earth", since y*\x does not denote the earth as a material and cannot therefore mean an earthy element. We ought then to read y2^ which would not mean "to a white brilliancy", i. e. to a pure bright mass (Bottch.), but "with

* On this word with reference to this passage of the Psalm vid, Steinschneider's Hebr. BibliograpMe 1861, S. 83.

respect to the stannum, lead" (yid. on Isa. i. 25). The verb ppj to strain, filter, cause to ooze through, corresponds to the German seihen, seigcn, old High German sihan, Greek ootxxstv (oaxxtCsiv), to clean by passing through a cloth as a strainer, pip. God's word is solid silver smelted and leaving all impurity behind, and, as it were, having passed seven times through the smelting furnace, i.e. the purest silver, entirely purged from dross. Silver is the emblem of everything precious and pure (vid. Bahr, Symbol, i, 284); and seven is the number indicating the completion of any process (Bibl. Psychol. S. 57., transl. p. 71).

Vers. 8 — 9. The supplicatory complaint contained in the first strophe has passed into an ardent wish in the second; and now in the fourth there arises a consolatory hope based upon the divine utterance which was heard in the third strophe. The suffix em in ver. 8 a refers to the miserable and poor; the suffix ennu in ver. 8b (him, not: us, which would be pointed U^nri, an(i more especially since it is not preceded by WlE#n) refers back to the man who yearns for deliverance mentioned in the divine utterance, ver. 6. The "preserving for ever" is so constant, that neither now nor at any future time will they succumb to this generation. The oppression shall not become a thorough depression, the trial shall not exceed their power of endurance. What follows in ver. 9 is a more minute description of this depraved generation. *tn is the generation whole and entire bearing one general character and doing homage to the one spirit of the age (cf. e. g. Prov. xxx. 11 — 14, where the characteristics of a corrupt age are portrayed). N (always without the article, Ew. § 293, a) points to the present and the character it has assumed, which is again described here finally in a few outlines of a more general kind than in vers. 3 — 5. The wicked march about on every side ("TT"" used of going about unopposed with an arrogant and vaunting mien), when (while) vileness among (?) the children of men rises to eminence (en as in Prov. xi. 11, cf. u:r: Prov. xxix. 2), so that they come to be under its dominion. Vileness is called niS from bbl (cogn. "~ to l"1 supple and lax, narrow, low, weak and worthless. The form is passive just as is the Talm. ffi^l (from b\ — bv] • Mid it is the epithet applied to that which is depreciated, despised, and to be despised; here it is the opposite of the disposition and conduct of the noble man, 2nj, Isa. xxxii. 8, — a baseness which is utterly devoid not only of all nobler principles and motives, but also of all nobler feelings and impulses. The 3 of 0*13 is not the expression of simultaneousness (as e. g. in Prov. x. 25): immediately it is exalted — for then ver. 9 would give expression to a general observation, instead of being descriptive — but D"13 is equivalent to 0*12, only it is intentionally used instead of the latter, to express a coincidence that is based upon an intimate relation of cause and effect, and is not merely accidental. The wicked are puffed up on all sides, and encompass the better disposed on every side as their enemies. Such is the state of things, and it cannot be otherwise at a time when men allow meanness to gain the ascendency among and over them, as is the case at the present moment. Thus even at last the depressing view of the present prevails in the amidst of the confession of a more consolatory hope. The present is gloomy. But in the central hexastich the future is lighted up as a consolation against this gloominess. The Psalm is a ring and this central oracle is its jewel.

2 HOW long, Jahve, wilt Thou forget me, How long wilt Thou veil Thy face from me?!

3 How long shall I cherish cares in my soul, Sorrow in my heart by day?!

How long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?!

G And as for me, in Thy mercy do I trust, My heart shall rejoice at Thy salvation; I will sing of Jahve, because He hath dealt bountifully with me.

The Q1T of the personal cry with which David opens Ps. xiii. harmonizes with D"13 of the general lament which he introduces into Ps. xii.; and for this reason the collector has coupled these two Psalms together. Hitzig assigns Ps. xiii. to the time when Saul posted watchers to hunt David from place to place, and when, having been long and unceasinglypersecuted,David dared to cherish a hope of escaping death only by indefatigable vigilance and endurance. Perhaps this view is correct. The Psalm consists of three strophes, or if it be preferred, three groups of decreasing magnitude. A long deep sigh is followed, as from a relieved breast, by an already much more gentle and half calm prayer; and this again by the believing joy which anticipates the certainty of being answered. This song as it were casts up constantly lessening waves, until it becomes still as the sea when smooth as a mirror, and the only motion discernible at last is that of the joyous ripple of calm repose.

Vers. 2 — 3. The complicated question: till when, how long... for ever (as in lxxiv. 10, lxxix. 5, lxxxix. 47), is the expression of a complicated condition of soul, in which, as Luther briefly and forcibly describes it, amidst the feeling of anguish under divine wrath "hope itself despairs and despair nevertheless begins to hope". The self-contradiction of the question is to be explained by the conflict which is going on within between the flesh and the spirit. The dejected heart thinks: God has forgotten me for ever. But the spirit, which thrusts away this thought, changes it into a question which sets upon it the mark of a mere appearance not a reality: how long shall it seem as though Thou forget! me for ever? It is in the nature of the divine wrath, that the feeling of it is always accompanied by an impression that it will last for ever; and consequently it becomes B foretaste of hell itself. But faith holds fast the LoTe that is behind the wrath; it sees in the display of anger only a self- masking of the loving countenance of the God of love, and longs for the time when this loving countenance shall be again unveiled to it. Thrice does David send forth this cry of faith out of the inmost depths of his spirit. To place or set up contrivances, plans, or proposals in his soul, viz. as to the means by which he may be able to escape from this painful condition, is equivalent to, to make the soul the place of such thoughts, or the place where such thoughts are fabricated (cf. Prov. xxvi. 24). One such ni$ chases the other in his soul, because he recognises the vanity of one after another as soon us they spring up. With respect to the UQ\* which follows, we must think of these cares as taking possession of his soul in the night time; for the night leaves a man alone with his affliction and makes it doubly felt by him. It cannot be proved from Ezek. xxx. 16 (cf. Zeph. ii. 4 D*Tl*a), that CDV like nV (Jer. vii. 25, short for CV> DV) may mean "daily" (Ew. § 313, a). CDV does not mean this here, but is the antithesis to rb^b which is to be supplied in thought in ver. 3a. By night he proposes plan after plan, each one as worthless as the other; and by day, or all the day through, when he sees his distress with open eyes, sorrow (paj) is in his heart, as it were, as the feeling the night leaves behind it and as the direct reflex of his helpless and hopeless condition. He is persecuted, and his foe is in the ascendant. OH is both to be exalted and to rise, raise one's self, i. e. to rise to position and arrogantly to assume dignity to one's self (sich britsten). The strophe closes vfiih'ad-ana which is used for the fourth time.

Vers. 4 — 5. In contrast to God's seeming to have forgotten him and to wish neither to see nor know anything of his need, he prays: HE^SI (cf. Isa. lxiii. 15). In contrast to his being in perplexity what course to take and unable to help himself, he prays: ttjjf, answer me, who cry for help, viz. by the fulfilment of my prayer as a real, actual answer. In contrast to the triumphing of his foe: £*}J m^Tl, in order that the triumph of his enemy may not be made complete by his dying. To lighten the eyes that are dimmed with sorrow and ready to break, is equivalent to, to impart new life (Ezra ix. 8), which is reflected in the fresh clear brightness of the eye (1 Sam. xiv. 27, 29). The lightening light, to which TNII points, is the light of love beaming from the divine countenance, xxxi. 17. Light, love, and life are closely allied notions in the Scriptures. He, upon whom God looks down in love, continues in life, new powers of life are imparted to him, it is not his lot to sleep the death, i. e. the sleep of death, Jer. li. 39, 57, cf. Ps. lxxvi. 6. nan is the accusative of effect or sequence: to sleep so that the sleep becomes death (LXX. el? davaxov), Ew. § 281, e. Such is the light of life for which he prays, in order that his foe may not be able at last to say VVfco] (with accusative object, as in Jer. xxxviii. 5) — ]b W3J? cxxix. 2, Gen. xxxii. '26, I am able for him, a match for him, lam superior to him, have gained the mastery over him. *2, on account of the future which follows, had better be taken as temporal (quum) than as expressing the reason (quod), cf. i(jn L31D2, xxxviii. 17.

Ver. 6. Three lines of joyous anticipation now follow the five of lament and four of prayer. By vj&o he sets himself in opposition to his foes. The latter desire his death, but he trusts in the mercy of God, who will turn and terminate his affliction. 2 PIES denotes faith as clinging fast to God, just as D ncn denotes it as confidence which hides itself in Him. The voluntative ^ pre -supposes the sure realisation of the hope. The perfect in ver. 6 c is to be properly understood thus: the celebration follows the fact that inspires him to song. b)l bty to do good to any one, as in cxvi. 7, cxix. 17, cf. the radically cognate (by) TDJ lvii. 3. With the two iambics gamdl (aldj the song sinks to rest. In the storm -tossed soul of the suppliant all has now become calm. Though it rage without as much now as ever — peace reigns in the depth of his heart.

1 THE fool hath said in his heart: "There is no God*; Corrupt, abominable are their doings, There is none that doeth good.

men To see if there be any that have understanding, If any that seek after God.

3 They are all fallen away, altogether they are corrupt, There is none that doeth good,

4 "Are they so utterly devoid of understanding, all the workers of iniquity, Who eating up my people, eat up bread, They call not on Jahve?"

6 Would ye bring to shame the counsel of the afflicted, For Jahve is indeed his refuge!

7 Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! When Jahve turneth the captivity of His people, Jacob shall rejoice, Israel shall be glad.

Just as the general lamentation of Ps. xii. assumes a personal character in Ps. xiii., so in Ps. xiv. it becomes again general; and the personal desire *JPaP| xiii. 6, so full of hope, corresponds to DpjP ^P, which is extended to the whole people of God in xiv. 7. Moreover, Ps. xiv., as being a gloomy picture of the times in which the dawn of the divine day is discernible in the background, is more closely allied to Ps. xii. than to Ps. xiii., although this latter is not inserted between them without some recognised reason. In the reprobation of the moral and religious character of the men of the age, which Ps. xiv. has in common with Ps. xii., we at once have a confirmation of the T)-6. But xiv. 7 does not necessitate our coming down to the time of the Exile.

In Ps. liii. we find this Psalm which is Jehovic, occurring again as Elohimic. The position of Ps. xiv. in the primary collection favours the presumption, that it is the earlier and more original composition. And since this presumption will bear the test of a critical comparison of the two Psalms, we may leave the treatment of Ps. liii. to its proper place, without bringing it forward here. It is not as though Ps. xiv. were intact. It is marked out as seven three-line verses, but vers. 5 and 6, which ought to be the fifth and sixth three lines, are only two; and the original form appears to be destroyed by some deficiency. The difficulty is got over in Ps. liii., by making the two two -line verses into one three -line verse, so that it consists only of six three-line verses. And in that Psalm the announcement of judgment is applied to foreign enemies, a circumstance which has influenced some critics and led them astray in the interpretation of Ps. xiv.

Ver. 1. The perfect 1EK, as in i. 1, x. 3, is the so-called abstract present (Ges. § 126, 3), expressing a fact of universal experience, inferred from a number of single instances. The Old Testament language is unusually rich in epithets for the unwise. The simple, ^n£, and the silly, ^Dr, for the lowest branches of this scale; the fool, T)if:, and the madman, bb'iT), the uppermost. In the middle comes the notion of the simpleton or maniac, t>DJ, — a word from the verbal stem ta} which, according as that which forms the centre of the group of consonants lies either in 21 (Genesis S. 636), or in ta (comp. tatf, tat, tatt, tap), signifies either to be extended, to relax, to become frail, to wither, or to be prominent, eminere, Arab, nabula; so that consequently 72) means the relaxed, powerless, expressed in New Testament language: irvsufia oux lyovia. Thus Isaiah (ch. xxxii. 6) describes the ta^: "a simpleton speaks simpleness and his heart does godless things, to practice tricks and to say foolish things against Jahve, to leave the soul of the hungry empty, and to refuse drink to the thirsty." Accordingly b2) is the synonym of yb the scoffer (vid. the definition in Prov. xxi. 24). A free spirit of this class is reckoned according to the Scriptures among the empty, hollow, and devoid of mind. The thought, CH'ta pK, which is the root of the thought and action of such a man, is the climax of imbecility. It is not merely practical atheism, that is intended by this maxim of the taj. The heart according to Scripture Language is Dot only the seat of volition, but also of thought. The?2G not content with acting as though there were no God, but directly denies that there is a God, i.e. a personal God. The psalmist makes this prominent as the very extreme and depth of human depravity, that there can be among men those who deny the existence of a God. The subject of what follows are, then, not these atheists but men in general, among whom such characters are to be found: they make the mode of action, (their) doings, corrupt, they make it abominable. nbvJN a poetical brevity of expression for DrvWg, belongs to both verbs, which have Tarcha and Mercha (the two usual conjunctives of Mugrash) in correct texts; and is in fact not used as an adverbial accusative (Hengstenberg and others), but as an object, since rPPIB'TI is just the word that is generally used in this combination with PiWy. Zeph. iii. 7 or, what is the same thing, T]~h Gen. vi. 12; and D^nn (cf. 1 Kings xxi. 26) is only added to give a superlative intensity to the expression. The negative: "there is none that doeth good" is just as unrestricted as in xii. 2. But further on the psalmist distinguishes between a "in p^lX, which experiences this corruption in the form of persecution, and the corrupt mass of mankind. He means what he says of mankind as xoojjlos, in which, at first the few rescued by grace from the mass of corruption are lost sight of by him, just as in the words of God, Gen. vi. 5, 12. Since it is only grace that frees any from the general corruption, it may also be said, that men are described just as they are by nature; although, be it admitted, it is not hereditary sin but actual sin, which springs up from it, and grows apace if grace do not interpose, that is here spoken of.

Ver. 2. The second tristich appeals to the infallible decision of God Himself. The verb PJ'Pt^il means to look forth, by bending one's self forward. It is the proper word for looking out of a window, 2 Kings ix. 30 (cf. Niph. Judges v. 28, and frequently), and for God's looking down from heaven upon the earth, cii. 20, and frequently; and it is cognate and synonymous with JT^'n, xxxiii. 13, 14; cf., moreover, Cant. ii. 9. The perf. is used in the sense of the perfect only insofar as the divine survey is antecedent to its result as given in ver. 3. Just as inTRtfl reminds one of the history of the Flood, so does ffl&ob of the history of the building of the tower of Babel, Gen. xi. 5, cf. xviii. 21. God's judgment rests upon a knowledge of the matter of fact, which is represented in such passages after the manner of men. God's all-seeing, all-piercing eyes scrutinise the whole human race. Is there one who shews discernment in thought and act, one to whom fellowship with God is the highest good, and consequently that after which he strives? — this is God's question, and He delights in such persons, and certainly none such would escape His longing search. On DENTIN, xov 6c6v, vid., Ges. § 117. 2.

Ver. 3. The third tristich bewails the condition in which He finds humanity. The universality of corruption is expressed in as strong terms as possible. b'2!r\ they all (lit. the totality); nrP with one another (lit. in its or their unions, i. e., universi); "TlN"Da pN not a single one who might form an exception, "id (probably not 3 prcet. but partic, which passes at once into the finite verb) signifies to depart, viz. from the ways of God, therefore to fall away (dTroaidxr^). l"6w, as in Job xv. 16, denotes the moral corruptness as a becoming sour, putrefaction, and suppuration. Instead of "inX'Cil PN, the LXX. translates oux eaxiv eto? svo; (as though it were "in&r"JJ, which is the more familiar form of expression). Paul quotes the first three verses of this Psalm (Rom. iii. 10 — 12) in order to shew how the assertion, that Jews and heathen all are included under sin, is in accordance with the teaching of Scripture. What the psalmist says, applies primarily to Israel, his immediate neighbours, but at the same time to the heathen, as is self-evident. What is lamented is neither the pseudo-lsraelitish corruption in particular, nor that of the heathen, but the universal corruption of man which prevails not less in Israel than in the heathen world. The citations of the apostle which follow his quotation of the Psalm, from xacpo; dvs^Ypivos to drEvavxi x<J5v &<p6aX|Aa>v auxuiv were early incorporated in the Psalm in the KoiWj of the LXX. They appear as an integral part of it in the Cod, Alex., in the Greco-Latin Psalterium Veronense, and in the Syriac Vsalterium Mediolanense. They arc also found in Apollinaris' paraphrase of the Psalms as a later interpolation; the Cod. Vat. has them in the margin; and the wordfl a xpi|X[ia xai xctXai7ra>piot &v xat; 6&Ol< auxuiv have found admit- tance in the translation, which is more Rabbinical than Old Hebrew, DTTITna jn V&fl JH bjO even in a Hebrew codex (Kennicott 649). Origen rightly excluded this apostolic Mosaic work of Old Testament testimonies from his text of the Psalm; and the true representation of the matter is to be found in Jerome, in the preface to the xvi. book of his commentary on Isaiah.*

Ver. 4. Thus utterly cheerless is the issue of the divine scrutiny. It ought at least to have been different in Israel, the nation of the positive revelation. But even there wickedness prevails and makes God's purpose of mercy of none effect. The divine outburst of indignation which the psalmist hears here, is applicable to the sinners in Israel. Also in Isa. iii. 13 — 15 the Judge of the world addresses Himself to the heads of Israel in particular. This one feature of the Psalm before us is raised to the consistency of a special prophetic picture in the Psalm of Asaph, lxxxii. That which is here clothed in the form of a question, N^n 1J?T, is reversed into an assertion in ver. 5 of that Psalm. It is not to be translated: will they not have to feel (which ought to be IJHj); but also not as Hupfeld renders it: have they not experienced. "Not to know" is intended to be used as absolutely in the signification non sapere, and consequently insipientem esse, as it is in lxxxii. 5, Ixxiii. 22, xcii. 7, Isa. xliv. 18, cf. 9, xlv. 20, and frequently. The perfect is to be judged after the analogy of novisse (Ges. § 126, 3), therefore it is to be rendered: have they attained to no knowledge, are they devoid of all knowledge, and therefore like the brutes, yea, according to Isa. i. 2, 3 even worse than the brutes, all the workers of iniquity? The two clauses which follow are, logically at least, attributive clauses. The subordination of cnb TON to the participle as a circumstantial clause in the sense of DPP feiO is syntactically inadmissible; neither can nrb fatf, with Hupfeld, be understood of a brutish and secure passing away of life; for, as Olshausen, rightly observes urb tott does not signify to feast and carouse, but simply to eat, take a meal. Hengstenberg correctly translates it

„who eating my people, eat bread", i. e. who think that they are not doing anything more sinful, — indeed rather what is justifiable, irreproachable and lawful to them, — than when they are eating bread; cf. the further carrying out of this thought in Mic. iii. 1 — 3 (especially ver. 3 extr.: "just as in the pot and as flesh within the caldron."). Instead of IfcOp nS 'PI Jeremiah says in ch. x. 21 (cf., however, x. 25): W'T[ *6 TrnNV The meaning is like that in Hos. vii. 7. They do not pray as it becomes man who is endowed with mind, therefore they are like cattle, and act like beasts of prey.

Ver. 5. When Jahve thus bursts forth in scorn His word, which never fails in its working, smites down these brutish men, who are without knowledge and conscience. The local demonstrative c# is used as temporal in this passage just as in lxvi, 6, Hos. ii. 17, Zeph. i. 14, Job xxiii. 7, xxxv. 12, and is joined with the perfect of certainty, as in xxxvi. 13, where it has not so much a temporal as a local sense. It does not mean "there = at a future time", as pointing into the indefinite future, but "there = then", when God shall thus speak to them in His anger. Intensity is here given to the verb in© by the addition of a substantival object of the same root, just as is frequently the case in the more elevated style, e. g. Hab. iii. 9; and as is done in other cases by the addition of the adverbial infinitive. Then, when God's long-suffering changes into wrath, terror at His judgment seizes them and they tremble through and through. This judgment of wrath, however, is on the other hand a revelation of love. Jahve avenges and thus delivers those whom He calls i^y (My people); and who are here called pHS TH; the generation of the righteous, in opposition to the corrupted humanity of the time (xii. 8), as being conformed to the will of God and held together by a superior spirit to the prevailing spirit of the age. They are so called inasmuch as 111 passes over from the signification generatio to that of genus hominum here and also elsewhere, when it is not merely a temporal, but a moral notion; cf. xxiv. 6, lxxiii. 15, cxii. 2, where it uniformly denotes the whole of the children of God who arc in bondage in the world and longing for deliverance, not Israel collectively in antith< to the Scythians and the heathen in general (Hitzi

Ver. 6. The psalmist himself meets the oppressed full of joyous confidence, by reason of the self-manifestation of God in judgment, of which he is now become so confident and which so fills him with comfort. Instead of the sixth tristich, which we expected, we have another distich. The Hiph. B^50 with a personal object signifies: to put any one to shame, i. e. to bring it about that any one must be ashamed, e. g. xliv. 8 (cf. liii. 6, where the accusative of the person has to be supplied), or absolutely: to act shamefully, as in the phrase used in.Proverbs, tt^D |3 (a prodigal son). It appears only here with a neuter accusative of the object, not in the signification to defame (Hitz.), — a meaning it never has (not even in Prov. xiii. 5, where it is blended with tfl&pri to make stinking, e. e. a reproach, Gen. xxxiv. 30), — but to confound, put to shame = to frustrate (Hupf.), which is at once the most natural meaning in connection with nsg. But it is not to be rendered: ye put to shame, because..., for to what purpose is this statement with this inapplicable reason in support of it? The fut. W^2D is used with a like shade of meaning as in Lev. xix. 17, and the imperative elsewhere; and "O gives the reason for the tacitly implied clause, or if a line is really lost from the strophe, the lost clause (cf. Isa. viii. 9 sq.): ye will not accomplish it. n%V is whatsoever the pious man, who as such suffers reproach, plans to do for the glory of his God, or even in accordance with the will of his God. All this the children of the world, who are in possession of worldly power, seek to frustrate; but viewed in the light of the final decision their attempt is futile: Jahve is his refuge, or, literally the place whither he flees to hide himself and finds a hiding or concealment (^J, I)dfe, IPO, JL, Arabic also ^3). inpriE has an orthophonic Bag., which obviates the necessity for the reading IDDno (cf. D^JR x. 1, IBjflfl xxxiv. 1, nbN^ cv. 22, and similar instances).

Ver. 7. This tristich sounds like a liturgical addition belonging to the time of the Exile, unless one is disposed to assign the whole Psalm to this period on account of it. For elsewhere in a similar connection, as e.g. in Ps. cxxvi., fH3# S-llf means to turn the captivity, or to bring back the captives. 3^ has here, — as in cxxvi. 4, Nah. ii. 3 (followed by UN), cf. Ezek xlvii. 7, the Kal being preferred to the Hiph. 3H£;PI (Jer. xxxii. 44, xxxiii. 11) in favour ot the alliteration with rVD# (from T\2Vt to make any one a prisoner of war), — a transitive signification, which Hengstenberg (who interprets it: to turn back, to turn to the captivity, of God's merciful visitation), vainly hesitates to admit. But Isa. lxvi. 6, for instance, shews that the exiles also never looked for redemption anywhere but from Zion. Not as though they had thought, that Jahve still dwelt among the ruins of His habitation, which indeed on the contrary was become a ruin because He had forsaken it (as we read in Ezekiel); but the moment of His return to His people is also the moment when He entered again upon the occupation of His sanctuary, and His sanctuary, again appropriated by Jahve even before it was actually reared, is the spot whence issues the kindling of the divine judgment on the enemies of Israel, as well as the spot whence issues the brightness of the reverse side of this judgment, viz. the final deliverance, hence even during the Exile, Jerusalem is the point (the kibld) whither the eye of the praying captive was directed, Dan. vi. 11. There would therefore be nothing strange if a psalm-writer belonging to the Exile should express his longing for deliverance in these words: who gives = oh that one would give = oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! But since r\)2W 21$ also signifies metaphorically to turn misfortune, as in Job xlii. 10, Ezck. xvi. 53 (perhaps also in Ps. lxxxv. 2, cf. ver. 5), inasmuch as the idea of rrcifi' has been generalised exactly like the German uEIend", exile (Old High German elilenti = sojourn in another country, banishment, homelessness), therefore the inscribed yc\h cannot be called in question from this quarter. Even Hitzig renders: "if Jahve would but turn the misfortune of His people", regarding this Psalm as composed by Jeremiah during the time the Scythians were in the land. If this rendering is possible, and that it is is undeniable, then bain the inscription m-6. And we do so the more readil; miah's supposed authorship rests upon a non- recognition of his reproductive character, and the history of prophet's times makes no allusion to any incursion by the Scythians.

The condition of the true people of God in the time of Absolom was really a n-121^ in more than a figurative sense. But we require no such comparison with cotemporary history, since in these closing words we have only the gathering up into a brief form of the view which prevails in other parts of the Psalm, viz. that the "righteous generation" in the midst of the world, and even of the so-called Israel, finds itself in a state of oppression, imprisonment, and bondage. If God will turn this condition of His people, who are His people indeed and of a truth, then shall Jacob rejoice and Israel be glad. It is the grateful duty of the redeemed to rejoice. — And how could they do otherwise!

1 JAHVE, who may sojourn in Thy tabernacle, Who may dwell on Thy holy mountain?

2 He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness And speaketh truth in his heart.

4 That is displeasing in his own eyes, to be despised, But those who fear Jahve he honoureth;

And taketh not a bribe against the innocent — He that doeth these things shall never be moved.

The preceeding Psalm distinguished pnSJ ^H, a righteous generation, from the mass of the universal corruption, and closed with a longing for the salvation out of Zion. Ps. xv. answers the question: who belongs to this pnu "1H. and whom shall the future salvation avail? Ps. xxiv., composed in connection with the removal of the Ark to Zion, is very similar. The state of mind expressed in this Psalm exactly corresponds to the unhypocritical piety and genuine lowliness which were manifest in David in their most beauteous light on that occasion; cf. ver. Ab with 2 Sam. vi. 19; ver. 4# with 2 Sam. vi. 21 sq. The fact, however, that Zion (Moriah) is called simply Bhpri *li1 in ver. 1, rather favours the time of the Absolomic exile, when David was cut off from the sanctuary of his God, whilst it was in the possession of men the very opposite of those described in this Psalm (yid. iv. 6). Nothing can be maintained with any certainty except that the Psalm assumes the elevation of Zion to the special designation of "the holy mountain" and the removal of the Ark to the bilfc erected there (2 Sam. vi. 17). Isa. xxxiii. 13 — 16 is a fine variation of this Psalm.

Vers. 1 — 2. That which is expanded in the tristichic portion of the Psalm, is all contained in this distichic portion in nuce. The address to God is not merely a favourite form (Hupfeld), but the question is really, as its words imply, directed to God. The answer, however, is not therefore to be taken as a direct answer from God, as it might be in a prophetical connection: the psalmist addresses himself to God in prayer, he as it were reads the heart of God, and answers to himself the question just asked, in accordance with the mind of God. "tfil and }2U/ which are usually distinguished from each other like Trapoi/siv and xaxotxetv in Hellenistic Greek, are alike in meaning in this instau It is not a merely temporary T)j| (lxi. 5), but for ever, that is intended. The only difference between the two in changeable notions is this, the one denotes the finding of an abiding place of rest starting from the idea of a wand ing life, the other the possession of an abiding place ot'r starting from the idea of settled family life.* The holy

* In the Arabic aJU! ^L^ is "one under the protection of 1 1 dwelling as it were in the fortress of God." vid. Fleu ich- tabernacle and the holy mountain are here thought of in their spiritual character as the places of the divine presence and of the church of God assembled round the symbol of it; and accordingly the sojourning and dwelling there is not to be understood literally, but in a spiritual sense. This spiritual depth of view, first of all with local limitations, is also to be found in xxvii. 4, 5, lxi. 5. This is present even where the idea of earnestness and regularity in attending the sanctuary rises in intensity to that of constantly dwelling therein, lxv. 5, lxxxiv. 4 — 5; while elsewhere, as in xxiv. 3, the outward materiality of the Old Testament is not exceeded. Thus we see the idea of the sanctuary at one time contracting itself within the Old Testament limits, and at another expanding more in accordance with the spirit of the New Testament; since in this matter, as in the matter of sacrifice, the spirit of the New Testament already shews signs of life, and works powerfully through its cosmical veil, without that veil being as yet rent. The answer to the question, so like the spirit of the New Testament in its intention, is also itself no less New Testament in its character: Not every one who saith Lord, Lord, but they who do the will of God, shall enjoy the rights of friendship with Him. But His will concerns the very substance of the Law, viz. our duties towards all men, and the inward state of the heart towards God.

In the expression Q>CF) TjTjn (here and inProv. xxviii. 18), D^cn is either a closer definition of the subject: one walking as an upright man, like boi T\hin one going about as a slanderer, cf. lh\T\ 1^11 Mic. ii. 7 "the upright as one walking"; or it is an accusative of the object, as mrfljTpi «|7|PI Isa. xxxiii. 15: one who walks uprightness, i. e. one who makes uprightness his way, his mode of action; since CED may mean integrum = integritas, and this is strongly favoured by DW2 DC^'n, which is used interchangeably with it in Ps. lxxxiv. 12 (those who walk in uprightness). Instead of Dj5"2 T\\vy we have the poetical form of expression CHS ^79. The characterising of the outward walk and action is followed in ver. 2b by the characterising of the inward nature: speaking truth in his heart, not: with his heart (not merely with his mouth); for in the phrase 2^2 "XN, 2 is always the Beth of the place, not of the instrument — the meaning therefore is: it is not falsehood and deceit that he thinks and plans inwardly, but truth (Hitz.). We have three characteristics here: a spotless walk, conduct ordered according to God's will, and a truth-loving mode of thought.

Vers. 3 — 5. The distich which contains the question and that containing the general answer are now followed by three tristichs, which work the answer out in detail. The description is continued in independent clauses, which, however, have logically the value of relative clauses. The perff. have the signification of abstract presents, for they are the expression of tried qualities, of the habitual mode of action, of that which the man, who is the subject of the question, never did and what consequently it is not his wont to do. bT) means to go about, whether in order to spie out (which is it usual meaning), or to gossip and slander (here, and the Piel in 2 Sam. xix. 28; cf. ^dt, "TCl). Instead 13203 we have "D#^>J7 (with Dag. in the second h, in order that it may be read with emphasis and not slurred over*), because a word lies upon the tongue ere it is uttered, the speaker brings it up as it were from within on to his tongue or lips, xvi. 4, 1. 16, Ezek. xxxvi. 3. The assonance of il>H injn^ is well conceived. To do evil to him who is bound to us by the ties of kindred and friendship, is a sin which will bring its own punishment. 211£ is also the parallel word to jn in Exod. xxxii. 27. Both are here intended to refer not merely to persons of the same nation; for whatever is sinful in itself and under any circumstances whatever, is also sinful in relation to every man according to the morality of the Old Testament. The assertion of Hupfeld and others that Kiw in conjunction with T]£T\ means cfferre = effari, is opposed by its combination with 7j; and its use elsewhere in the phrase DBTI NiWuto bear reproach"* (lxix. 8). It means (since Nipj is just as much tollcre as f'errc) to bring reproach on any one, or load any one with reproach. Reproach is a burden which is more easily put on than cast off; audacter calumniarey semper aliquid hceret.

In ver. 4# the interpretation "he is little in his own eyes, despised," of which Hupfeld, rejecting it, says that Hitzig has picked it up out of the dust, is to be retained. Even the Targ., Saad., Aben-Ezra, Kimchi, Urbino (in his Grammar, "WE ^HN) take VO^JD DT2J together, even though explaining it differently, and it is accordingly accented by Baer DNDJlWJ? T\]2\ (Mahpach, Asia Legarme, Retia magnum)* God exalts him who is V^JD ]£p, 1 Sam. xv. 17. David, when he brought up the ark of his God, could not sufficiently degrade himself (^pj), and appeared wga b%W, 2 Sam. vi. 22. This lowliness, which David also confesses in Ps. cxxxi., is noted here and throughout the whole of the Old Testament, e. g., Isa. lvii. 15, as a condition of being well-pleasing before God; just as it is in reality the chief of all virtues. On the other hand, it is mostly translated either, according to the usual accentuation, with which the Beth of VW2 is dageshed: the reprobate is despised in his eyes (Rashi, Hupf.), or in accordance with the above accentuation: despised in his eyes is the reprobate (Maurer, Hengst., Olsh., Luzzatto); but this would say but little, and be badly expressed. For the placing together of two participles without an article, and moreover of similar meaning, with the design of the one being taken as subject and the other as predicate, is to be repudiated simply on the ground of style; and the difference among expositors shews how equivocal the expression is.

On the other hand, when we translate it: "despicable is he in his own eyes, worthy to be despised" (Ges. § 134, 1), we can appeal to xiv. 1, where irpntP'ri is intensified just in the same way by IIPJJIJPI, as n?2J is here by DKE3; cf. also Gen. xxx. 31, Job xxxi. 23, Isa. xliii. 4. The antithesis of

* The usual accentuation DN£3 WJQ I i"IT2J forcibly separates V^y2 from r*]i2J to which according to its position it belongs. And Heidenheim's accentuation DNCO V^^D HTDJ is to be rejected on accentuolog-ical grounds, because of two like distinctives the second has always a less distinctive value than the first. We are consequently only left to the one given above. The MSS. vary.

ver. 4& to ver. 4a is also thus fully met: he himself seems to himself unworthy of any respect, whereas he constantly shews respect to others; and the standard by which he judges is the fear of God. His own fear of Jahve is manifest from the self-denying strictness with which he performs his vows. This sense of jnr6 y2l$ is entirely misapprehended when it is rendered: he swears to his neighbour (jn = JTl), which ought to be njn?, or: he swears to the wicked (and keeps to what he has thus solemnly promised), which ought to be jn^; for to what purpose would be the omission of the elision of the article, which is extremely rarely (xxxvi. 6) not attended to in the classic style of the period before the Exile? The words have reference to Lev. v. 4: if any one swear, thoughtlessly pronouncing DtD'H? IK PT^ to do evil or to do good, etc. The subject spoken of is oaths which are forgotten, and the forgetting of which must be atoned for by an asham, whether the nature of the oath be something unpleasant and injurious, or agreeable and profitable, to the person making the vow. The retrospective reference of jnr6 to the subject is self-evident; for to injure another is indeed a sin, the vowing and performance of which, not its omission, would require to be expiated. On yirb = SHC'r vid. Ges. § 67, rem. 6. The hypothetical antecedent (cf. e. g.} 2 Kings v. 13) is followed by *izj &6l as an apodosis. The verb -pED is native to the law of vows, which, if any one has vowed an animal in sacrifice, forbids both changing it for its money value (wnn) and exchanging it for another, be it 11503 JTTjN jnaaiB* Lev. xxvii. 10, 33. The psalmist of course does not use these words in the technical sense in which they are used in the Law. Swearing includes making a vow, and *)& N'b disavows not merely any exchanging of that which was solemnly promised, but also any alteration of that which was sworn: he does not misuse the name of God in anywise, tfJtfH

In ver. 5a the psalmist also has a passage of the T6ra before his mind, viz. Lev. xxv. 37, cf. Exod. xxii. 24, Deut. xxiii. 20, Ezek. xviii. 8. '•JBfra ]HJ signifies to give a thing away in order to take usury (!]B0 from "ir: to bite, Wxvi for it. The receiver or demander of interest is ~:: the one who pays interest IptM, the interest itself "^#3. The trait of character described in ver. 5b also recalls the language of the Mosaic law: Hjjb tih "initf, the prohibition Exod. xxiii. 8, Deut. xvi. 19; and W"vJJ, the curse Deut. xxvii. 25: on account of the innocent, i. e. against him, to condemn him. Whether it be as a loan or as a gift, he gives without conditions, and if he attain the dignity of a judge he is proof against bribery, especially with reference to the destruction of the innocent. And now instead of closing in conformity with the description of character already given: such a man shall dwell, etc., the concluding sentence takes a different form, moulded in accordance with the spiritual meaning of the opening question: he who doeth these things shall never be moved (]G\W fut Niph.), he stands fast, being upheld by Jahve, hidden in His fellowship; nothing from without, no misfortune, can cause his overthrow.

"These are the excellent, in whom is all my delight".

for an idol — I will not pour out their drink-offerings of blood, Nor take their names upon my lips.

5 Jahve is the portion of my land and of my cup, Thou makest my lot illustrious.

6 The lines have fallen unto me in pleasant places, Yea, the heritage appears fair to me.

7 I will bless Jahve, who hath given me counsel; In the night-seasons also my reins instruct me.

9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory exulteth, My flesh also shall dwell free of care.

10 For Thou wilt not abandon my soul to Hades, Nor give up Thy Holy One to see the pit;

11 Thou wilt make me know the path of life — Fulness of joy is in Thy countenance, Pleasures are in Thy right hand for evermore.

The preceding Psalm closed with the words E1SJ *6; this word of promise is repeated in xvi. 8 as an utterance of faith in the mouth of David. We are here confronted by a pattern of the unchangeable believing confidence of a friend of God; for the writer of Ps. xvi. is in danger of death, as is to be inferred from the prayer expressed in ver. 1 and the expectation in ver. 10. But there is no trace of anything like bitter complaint, gloomy conflict, or hard struggle: the cry for help is immediately swallowed up by an overpowering and blessed consciousness and a bright hope. There reigns in the whole Psalm, a settled calm, an inward joy, and a joyous confidence, which is certain that everything that it can desire for the present and for the future it possesses in its God.

The Psalm is inscribed *vr6; and Hitzig also confesses that "David may be inferred from its language". Whatever can mark a Psalm as Davidic we find combined in this Psalm: thoughts crowding together in compressed langua which becomes in ver. 4 bold even to harshness, but then becomes clear and moves more rapidly; an antiquated, peculiar, and highly poetic impress OiTK, my Lord, r:vr. HT *1S#, "^Cln); and a well -devised grouping of the Btropo In addition to all these, there are manifold points of cont. with indisputably genuine Davidic Psalms (comp. c ver. 5 with xi. 6; ver. 10 with iv. 4; ver. 11 with xvii. 1 and with indisputably ancient portions of the Pi ich

(Exod. xxiii. 13, xix. G, Gen. xlix. G). Scarcely any otl Psalm shews so clearly as this, what deep roots psalm-]

has struck into the Tora, both as it regards the matter and the language. Concerning the circumstances of its composition, vid. on Ps. xxx.

The superscription "ir6 EPIC, Ps. xvi. has in common with Ps. lvi. — lx. After the analogy of the other superscriptions, it must have a technical meaning. This at once militates against Hitzig's explanation, that it is a poem hitherto unknown, an avexBoxov, according to the Arabic mdktum, hidden, secret, just as also against the meaning x£i{XY]Xiov, which says nothing further to help us. The LXX. translates it axirjXoYpacpia (el? anqXoypacpiav), instead of which the Old Latin version has tituli inscriptio (Hesychius xixXos* Tixu^tov £7iLYpajj.{jLa £X0V)- That this translation accords with the tradition is shewn by that of the Targum Nijnri N?^ sculptara recta (not erecta as Hupfeld renders it). Both versions give the verb the meaning CP3 insculpere, which is supported both by a comparison with 2H2, cogn. 2Sn, -^>N ano^ by cnn imprinter e (sigillum). Moreover, the sin of Israel is called CPD3 in Jer. ii. 22 (cf. xvii. 1) as being a deeply impressed spot, not to be wiped out. If we now look more closely into the Michtam Psalms as a whole, we find they have two prevailing features in common. Sometimes significant and remarkable words are introduced by \T)EN, ICfc^.j T2F?, xvi. 2, lviii. 12, lx. 8, cf. Isa. xxxviii. iO, 11 (in Hezekiah's psalm, which is inscribed urDB = CPID as it is perhaps to be read); sometimes words of this character are repeated after the manner of a refrain, as in Ps. lvi.: / will not fear, what can man do to me! in Ps. lvii.: Be Thou exalted, Elohim, above the heavens, Thy glory above all the earth! and in Ps.lix.: For Elohim is my high tower, my merciful God. Hezekiah's psalm unites this characteristic with the other. Accordingly CfO£, like e7rtYpajxjj.a,* appears to mean first of all an inscription and then to be equivalent to an inscription-poem or epigram, a poem containing pithy sayings; since in the Psalms of this order some expressive sentence, after the style of an inscription or a motto on a monument, is brought prominently forward, by being either specially introduced or repeated as a refrain.

The strophe-schema is 5. 5. 6. 7. The last strophe, which has grown to seven lines, is an expression of joyous hopes in the face of death, which extend onward even into eternity.

Vers. 1 — 3. The Psalm begins with a prayer that is based upon faith, the special meaning of which becomes clear from ver. 10: May God preserve him (which He is able to do as being ^K, the Almighty, able to do all things), who has no other refuge in which he has hidden and will hide but Him. This short introitis excepted from the parallelism; so far therefore it is monostichic, — a sigh expressing everything in few words. And the emphatic pronunciation '3TO0 shamereni harmonises with it; for it is to be read thus, just as in lxxxvi. 2, cxix. 167 shamerah (cf. on Isa. xxxviii. 14 npt^Jj), according to the express testimony of the Masora.*

The text of the next two verses (so it appears) needs to be improved in two respects. The reading rncN as addressed to the soul (Targ.), cf. Lam. iii. 24 sq., is opposed by the absence of any mention of the thing addressed. It rests upon a misconception of the defective form of writing, FnpN (Ges. § 44, rem. 4). Hitzig and Ewald (§ 190, d) suppose that in such cases a rejection of the final vowel, which really occurs in the language of the people, after the manner of the Aramaic (fppx or rHCN), lies at the bottom of the form. And it does really seem as though the frequent occurrence of this defective form (nj?T = T^T cxl. 13, Job xlii. 2, nvi:} = *rM3 1 Kings viii. 48, rpfcty = TWy Ezek. xvi. 59, cf. 2 Kings xviii. 20, mCN now pointed rnctf, with Isa, xxxvi. 5) has its occasion at least in some such cutting away of the i, peculiar to the language of the common people; although,

* The Masora observes N")DDI ptfinJI '2, i. c. twice in the V D"iD"; is in the imperative, the 6 being displaced by Gaja (M and changed into a, vid. Baer, Torath Emeth p. 22 Bq. In Bpite of this the grammarians are not agreed as to the pronunciation of the im] and infinitive forms when so pointed. Luzzatto, like Lonzano, read shomercni.

if David wrote it so, THOU is not intended to be read otherwise than it is in xxxi. 15, cxl. 7.*

First of all David gives expression to his confession of Jahve, to whom he submits himself unconditionally, and whom he sets above everything else without exception. Since the suffix of tf~]K (properly domini met = domine mi, Gen. xviii. 3, cf. xix. 2), which has become mostly lost sight of in the usage of the language, now and then retains its original meaning, as it does indisputably in xxxv. 23, it is certainly to be rendered also here: "Thou art my Lord" and not "Thou art the Lord". The emphasis lies expressly on the "my". It is the unreserved and joyous feeling of dependence (more that of the little child, than of the servant), which is expressed in this first confession. For, as the second clause of the confession says: Jahve, who is his Lord, is also his benefactor, yea even his highest good. The preposition *y$_ frequently introduces that which extends beyond something else, Gen. xlviii. 22 (cf. lxxxix. 8, xcv. 3), and to this passage may be added Gen. xxxi. 50, xxxii. 12, Exod. xxxv. 22, Num. xxxi. 8, Deut. xix. 9, xxii. 6, the one thing being above, or co-ordinate with, the other. So also here: "my good, i. e. whatever makes me truly happy, is not above Thee", i. e. in addition to Thee, beside Thee; according to the sense it is equivalent to out of Thee or without Thee (as the Targ., Symm., and Jerome render it), Thou alone, without exception, art my good. In connection with this rendering of the by, the b% (poetic, and contracted from "73), which is unknown to the literature before David's time, presents no difficulty. As in Prov. xxiii. 7 it is short for rvrrr1?!!. Hengstenberg remarks, "Just as Thou art the Lord! is the response of the soul to the words I am the Lord thy God (Exod. xx. 2), so Thou only art my salvation! is the response to Thou shalt have no other gods beside Me C0D~^)". The psalmist knows no fountain of true hap- hare sprung from H^'D as the primary form of the 1. pcrs. sing, from which then came >rtVB an(l later still ijvy?) is untenable accordiug to the history of the 'language.

Such is his confession to Jahve. But he also has those on earth to whom he makes confession. Transposing the l we read:

While Diestel's alteration: "to the saints, who are in his land, he makes himself glorious, and all his delight is in them," is altogether strange to this verse: the above transfer of the Warv * suffices to remove its difficulties, and that in a way quite in accordance with the connection. Now it is clear, that n^Mpb, as has been supposed by some, is the dative governed by VHCK, the influence of which is thus carried forward; it is clear what is meant by the addition p&Q "M'K, which distinguishes the object of his affection here below from the One above, who is incomparably the highest; it is clear, as to what HEPI defines, whereas otherwise this purely descriptive relative clause n^H iH*G "USftf (which von Ortenberg transposes into nEHj HS"]N ^NQ appears to be useless and surprises one both on account of its redundancy (since noD is superfluous, cf. e. g. 2 Sam. vii. 9, ii. 18) and on account of its arrangement of the words (an arrangement, which is usual in connection with a negative construction, Deut. xx. 15, 2 Chron. viii. 7, cf. Gen. ix. 3, Ezek. xii. 10); it is clear, in what sense "HHN alternates with DW'Hp, since it is not those who are accounted by the world as DHHN on account of their worldly power and possessions (cxxxvi. 18, 2 Chron. xxiii. 20), but the holy, prized by him as being also glorious, partakers of higher glory and worthy of higher honour; and moreover, this corrected arrangement of the verse harmonises with the Michtam character of the Psalm. The thought thus obtained, is the thought one expected (love to God and love to His saints), and the one which one is also obliged to wring from the text as we have it, either by translating with De Welte, Maurer, Dietrich and others:

* Approved by Kamphausen and by the critic in the Liter. I of the Allgem. Kirchen-Zeitung 1864 S. 107.

"the saints who are in the land, they are the excellent in whom I have all my delight", — a Waw apodoseos, with which one could only be satisfied if it were TEHl (cf. 2 Sam. xv. 34) — or: "the saints who are in the land and the glorious — all my delight is in them". By both these interpretations, b would be the exponent of the nom. aosol. which is elsewhere detached and placed at the beginning of a sentence, and this b of reference (Ew. § 310, a) is really common to every style (Num. xviii. 8, Isa. xxxii. 1, Eccl. ix. 4); whereas the b understood of the fellowship in which he stands when thus making confession to Jahve: associating myself with the saints (Hengst.), with (von Lengerke), among the saints (Hupf., Thenius), would be a preposition most liable to be misapprehended, and makes ver. 3 a cumbersome appendage of ver. 2. But if b be taken as the Lamed of reference then the elliptical construct rfHKl, to which ^■"IND ought to be supplied, remains a stumbling-block not to be easily set aside. For such an isolation of the connecting form from its genitive cannot be shown to be syntactically possible in Hebrew (vid. on 2 Kings ix. 17, Thenius, and Keil); nor are we compelled to suppose in this instance what cannot be proved elsewhere, since DD^BfV^O is, without any harshness, subordinate to >*plK1 as a genitival notion (Ges. § 116, 3). And still in connection with the reading 'HHNI, both the formation of the sentence which, beginning with b, leads one to expect an apodosis, and the relation of ver. 3 to ver. 2, according to which the central point of the declaration must lie just within D2~^£rr^r, are opposed to this rendering of the words "bD ^THNl

Thus, therefore, we come back to the above easy improvement of the text. DHJfTlp are those in whom the will of Jahve concerning Israel, that it should be a holy nation (Exod. xix. 6, Deut. vii. 6), has been fulfilled, viz. the living members of the ecclesia sanctorum in this world (for there is also one in the other world, lxxxix. 6). Glory, 66£a, is the outward manifestation of holiness. It is ordained of God for the sanctified (cf. Rom. viii. 30), whose moral nobility is now for the present veiled under the menial form of the vjy; and in the eyes of David they already possess it. His spiritual vision pierces through the outward form of the servant. His verdict is like the verdict of God, who is his all in all. The saints, and they only, are the excellent to him. His whole delight is centred in them, all his respect and affection is given to them. The congregation of the 6aints is his Chephzibah, Isa. lxii. 4 (cf. 2 Kings xxi. 1).

Vers. 4 — 5. As he loves the saints so, on the other hand, he ahhors the apostates and their idols. I^PID inK is to be construed as an appositional relative clause to the preceding: multi sunt cruciatus (cf. xxxii. 10) eorum, eorum scil. qui alium permutant. The expression would flow on more smoothly if it were 13*]*: they multiply, or increase their pains, who..., so that DPID *inN would be the subject, for instance like 1DDX 'PI (he whom Jahve loves), Isa. xlviii. 14. This ver. 4 forms a perfect antithesis to ver. 3. In David's eyes the saints are already the glorified, in whom his delight centres; while, as he knows, a future full of anguish is in store for the idolatrous, and their worship, yea, their very names are an abomination to him. The suffixes of DPp3DJ and DnlCl^ might be referred to the idols according to Exod. xxiii. 13, Hos. ii. 19, if ")HX be taken collectively as equivalent to D "inx, as in Job viii. 19. But it is more natural to assign the same reference to them as to the suffix of Dni2S£j which does not signify "their idols" (for idols are D'SSijj), but their torments, pains (from VQ%V. derived from 2*ty), cxlvii. 3, Job ix. 28. The thought is similar to 1 Tim. vi. 10, £oci)toi>s 7T£pi£7T£ipav 6ouvai? iroixiXai?. InN is a general designation of the broadest kind for everything that is not God, but which man makes his idol beside God and in opposition to God (cf. Isa. xlii. 8, xlviii. 11). nPlO cannot mean festinant, for in this signification it is only found in Piel *lP])p, and that once with a local, but not a personal, accusative of the direction, Nah. ii. 6. It is therefore to be rendered (and the per f. is also better adapted to this meaning): they have taken in exchange that which is not God (IPIO like "vcn, cvi. 20, Jer. ii. 11). Perhaps (cf. the phra VJEJNPUT) the secondary meaning of wooing and fondling ia connected with it; for "TO is the proper word for acquiri a wife by paying down the price asked by her father, Exod. xxii. 15. With such persons, who may seem to be CTHN in the eyes of the world, but for whom a future full of anguish is in store, David has nothing whatever to do: he will not pour out drink-offerings as they pour them out. CPP2DJ has the Bag. lene, as it always has. They are not called c~p as actually consisting of blood, or of wine actually mingled with blood; but consisting as it were of blood, because they are offered with blood-stained hands and blood-guilty consciences, jjp is the min of derivation; in this instance (as in Amos iv. 5, cf. Hos. vi. 8) of the material, and is used in other instances also for similar virtually adjectival expressions, x. 18, xvii. 14, lxxx. 14.

In ver. 4 c the expression of his abhorrence attains its climax: even their names, i. e. the names of their false gods, which they call out, he shuns taking upon his lips, just as is actually forbidden in the Tora, Exod. xxiii. 13 (cf. Const. Apost. V. 10 EtStoXov [AVYj|iov£U£iv 6v6|xaxa Baifxovixa). He takes the side of Jahve. Whatever he may wish for, he possesses in Him; and whatever he has in Him, is always secured to him by Him. *p7>n does not here mean food(B6ttch.),for in this sense p^n (Lev. vi. 10) and Dj£ (1 Sam. i. 4) are identical; and parallel passages like cxlii. 6 shew what ^p^n means when applied to Jahve. According to xi. 6, ^DID is also a genitive just like ip^n; pbn rijp is the share of landed property assigned to any one; D13 HJO the share of the cup according to paternal apportionment. The tribe of Levi received no territory in the distribution of the country, from which they might have maintained themselves; Jahve was to be their p^n, Num. xviii. 20, and the gifts consecrated to Jahve were to be their food, Deut. x. 9, xviii. 1 sq. But nevertheless all Israel is (taaiXsiov Updxeujxa, Exod. xix. 6, towards which even CttTlp and QHIK in ver. 3 pointed; so that, therefore, the very thing represented by the tribe of Levi in outward relation to the nation, holds good, in all its deep spiritual significance, of every believer. It is not anything earthly, visible, created, and material, that is allotted to him as his possession and his sustenance, but Jahve and Him only; but in Him is perfect contentment.

In ver. 5#, ^Dln, as it stands, looks at first sight as though it were the Hiph. of a verb Tjpj Ojci). But such a verb is not to be found anywhere else, we must therefore seek some other explanation of the word. It cannot be a substantive in the signification of possession (Maurer, Ewald), for such a substantival form does not exist. It might more readily be explained as a participle = "pin, somewhat like PPQfy Isa. xxix. 4, xxxviii. 5, Eccl. i. 18, = FpV, — a comparison which has been made by Aben-Ezra (Sefath Jether No. 421) and Kimchi (Michlol 11«), — a form of the participle to which, in writing at least, D^?1D, 2 Kings viii. 21, forms a transition; but there is good reason to doubt the existence of such a form. Had the poet intended to use the part, of "[En, it is more probable he would have written ^Tl!l OD1F1 nPN, just as the LXX. translators might have had it before them, taking the Chirek compaginis as a suffix: oo el 6 aTToxaGtoTaSv tyjv xX7jpovo|iiav (xou Ijaoi (Bottcher). For the conjecture of Olshausen and Thenius, fvpin in the sense: "thou art continually my portion" halts both in thought and expression. Hitzig's conjecture ^ptNR "thou, thy Tummim are my lot", is more successful and tempting. But the fact that the COT are never found (not even in Deut. xxxiii. 8) without the D'HW, is against it. Nevertheless, we should prefer this conjecture to the other explanations, if the word would not admit of being explained as Hiph. from 1\& ("Cl), which is the most natural explanation. Schultens has compared the Arabic wamika, to be broad, from which there is a Hiphil form JLoJ, to make broad, in Syro-Arabic, that is in use even in the present day among the common people.* And since we must at any rate come down to the supposition of something unusual about this "pDin, it is surely not too bold to regard it as a arca; Yefpapp.: Thou

* The Arabic Lexicographers are only acquaints! with a noun rvamka, breadth (amplitudo), hut not with the verb. And even tl does not belong to the universal and classical language. Bn< *1 the present day viJLolJ! (pronounced numk), breadth, and wamik. mon use in Damascus; and it is only the verb that is shur better conversational style. — Wetzstein.

makest broad my lot, i. e. ensurest for me a spacious habitation, a broad place, as the possession that falleth to me,* — a thought, that is expanded in ver. 6.

Vers. 6 — 8. The measuring lines (n^zsn) are cast (Mic. ii. 5) and fall to any one just where and as far as his property is assigned to him; so that bzT) bO) (Josh. xvii. 5) is also said of the falling to any one of his allotted portion of land. C^Djtf (according to the Masora defective as also in ver. 11 niD$) is a pluralet., the plural that is used to denote a unity in the circumstances, and a similarity in the relations of time and space, Ges. § 108, 2, a; and it signifies both pleasant circumstances, Job xxxvi. 11, and, as here, a pleasant locality, Lat. amcena (to which niD^ in ver. 11, more strictly corresponds). The lines have fallen to him in a charming district, viz. in the pleasurable fellowship of God, this most blessed domain of love has become his paradisaic possession. With F|N he rises from the fact to the perfect contentment which it secures to him: such a heritage seems to him to be fair, he finds a source of inward pleasure and satisfaction in it. rftrp — according to Ew. § 173, d, lengthened from the construct form r6nJ (like rOTJ lxi. 1); according to Hupfeld, springing from ^nSnj (by the same apocope that is so common in Syriac, perhaps like DICK ver. 1 from ^mcN) iust like mDT Exod. xv. 2 — is rather, since in the former view there is no law for the change of vowel and such an application of the form as we find in lx. 13 (cviii. 13) is opposed to the latter, a stunted

* It is scarcely possible for two words to be more nearly identical than 7J1il and xXfjpo?. The latter, usually derived from x\auu (a piece broken off), is derived from xeAeaQai (a determining of the divine will) in Doderlein's Homer. Glossar, iii. 124. But perhaps it is one word with?")U. Moreover xXf}po<; signifies 1) the sign by which anything whatever falls to one among a number of persons in conformity with the decision of chance or of the divine will, a pebble, potsherd, or the like. So in Homer, //. iii. 316, vii. 175, xxiii. 351, Od. x. 206, where casting lots is described with the expression xXfjpoc. 2) The object that falls to any one by lot, patrimonium, e. g. Od. xiv. 64, //. xv. 498, olxos xai xXfjpo;, especially of lands. 3) an inheritance without the notion of the lot, and even without any thought of inheriting, absolutely: a settled, landed property. It is the regular expression for the allotments of land assigned to colonists (xXTjpou^ot).

form of nrfjHJ: the heritage = such a heritage pleases me, lit. seems fair to me (iBl^, cognate root ~)£D, IDS, cognate in meaning ifeO, wio, to rub, polish, make shining, intr. 1£# to be shining, beautiful), ipjj of beauty known and felt by him (cf. Esth. iii. 9 with 1 Sam. xxv. 36 vby 21£, and the later way of expressing it Dan. iii. 32). But since the giver and the gift are one and the same, the joy he has in the inheritance becomes of itself a constant thanksgiving to and blessing of the Giver, that He ("i#N quippe qui) has counselled him (lxxiii. 24) to chose the one thing needful, the good part. Even in the night-seasons his heart keeps watch, even then his reins admonish him ("ID'1, here of moral incitement, as in Isa. viii. 11, to warn). The reins are conceived of as the seat of the blessed feeling that Jahve is his possession (vid. Psychol. S. 268; tr. p. 316). He is impelled from within to offer heart-felt thanks to his merciful and faithful God. He has Jahve always before him, Jahve is the point towards which he constantly directs his undiverted gaze; and it is easy for him to have Him thus ever present, for He is WEPQ (supply wn, as in xxii. 29, lv. 20, cxii. 4), at my right hand (i. e. where my right hand begins, close beside me), so that he lias no need to draw upon his power of imagination. The words £;BX~^2, without any conjunction, express the natural effect of this, both in consciousness and in reality: he will not and cannot totter, he will not yield and be overthrown.

Vers. 9 — 11. Thus then, as this concluding strophe, as it were like seven rays cf light, affirms, he has the most blessed prospect before him, without any need to fear death. Because Jahve is thus near at hand to help him, his heart becomes joyful (ncttf) and his glory, i. e. his soul (vid. od vii. 6) rejoices, the joy breaking forth in rejoicing the fut. consec. affirms. There is no passage of Scripture that so closely resembles this as 1 Thess. v. 23. zh is Jtveojia (vooc), -ilDr, ^u/tj (vid. Psychol. S. 98; tr. p. 119), nfra ding to its primary meaning, attrectabiie, that which is frail), Ofoixa. The ctui|iT:Tio; T7)pT)07]vat which the apostle ID above passage desires for his readers in res] all thi parts of their being, David here ezpres expectation; for F)$ implies that he also hopes for hi that which he hopes for his spirit-life centred in the heart, and for his soul raised to dignity both by the work of creation and of grace. He looks death calmly and triumphantly in the face, even his flesh shall dwell or lie securely, viz. without being seized with trembling at its approaching corruption. David's hope rests on this conclusion: it is impossible for the man, who, in appropriating faith and actual experience, calls God his own, to fall into the hands of death. For ver. 10 shews, that what is here thought of in connection with \lV2b pt^, dwelling in safety under the divine protection (Deut. xxxiii. 12, 28, cf. Prov. iii. 24), is preservation from death. nn# is rendered by the LXX. 5iacp6opa, as though it came from nnt£* 6iacp6£ipsiv, as perhaps it may do in Job xvii. 14. But in vii. 16 the LXX. has p66po<;, which is the more correct: prop, a sinking in, from ni# to sink, to be sunk, like nriJ from no, nrn from nn. To leave to the unseen world (21V prop, to loosen, let go) is equivalent to abandoning one to it, so that he becomes its prey. Ver. 10b — where to see the grave (xlix. 10), equivalent to, to succumb to the state of the grave, i.e. death (lxxxix. 49, Lk. ii. 26, John viii. 51) is the opposite of "seeing life", i. e. experiencing and enjoying it (Eccl. ix. 9, John iii. 36), the sense of sight being used as the noblest of the senses to denote the sensus communis, i. e. the common sense lying at the basis of all feeling and perception, and figuratively of all active and passive experience (Psychol. S. 234; tr. p. 276) — shews, that what is said here is not intended of an abandonment by which, having once come under the power of death, there is no coming forth again (Bottcher). It is therefore the hope of not dying, that is expressed by David in ver. 10. For by TpDn David means himself. According to Norzi, the Spanish MSS. have fH^pn with the Masoretic note "iy ypp, and the LXX., Targ., and Syriac translate, and the Talmud and Midrash interpret it, in accordance with this Keri. There is no ground for the reading *PTDH, and it is also opposed by the personal form of expression surrounding it.*

* Most MSS. and the best, which have no distinction of Keri and Chethib here, read ITOfl, as also the Biblia Vcn. 1521, the Spanish

The positive expression of hope in ver. 11 comes as a companion to the negative just expressed: Thou wilt grant me to experience (J7H1D, is used, as usual, of the presentation of a knowledge, which concerns the whole man and not his understanding merely) Q^n mfc, the path of life, i. e. the path to life (cf. Prov. v. 6, ii. 19 with ib. x. 17, Mat. vii. 14); but not so that it is conceived of as at the final goal, but as leading slowly and gradually onwards to life; c™n in the most manifold sense, as, e. g., in xxxvi. 10, Deut. xxx. 15: life from God, with God, and in God, the living God; the opposite of death, as the manifestation of God's wrath and banishment from Him. That his body shall not die is only the external and visible phase of that which David hopes for himself; on its inward, unseen side it is a living, inwrought of God in the whole man, which in its continuance is a walking in the divine life. The second part of ver. 11, which consists of two members, describes this life with which he solaces himself. According to the accentuation, — which marks O^n with Olervejored not with Rebia magnum or Pazer, — nlnEti? J?2t? is not a second object dependent upon yjPTIFl, but the subject of a substantival clause: a satisfying fulness of joy is?PJDTW, with Thy countenance, i. e. connected with and naturally produced by beholding Thy face (nN preposition of fellowship, as in xxi. 7, cxl. 14); for joy is light, and God's countenance, or doxa, is the light of lights. And every kind of pleasurable things, fflDJtt, He holds in His right hand, extending them to His saints — a gift which lasts for ever; nSJ equivalent to TWlb. n£), from the primary notion of conspicuous brightness, is duration extending beyond all else — an expression for D^iyS, which David has probably coined, for it appears for the first time in the Davidic Psalms. Pleasures arc in Thy right hand continually — God's right hand is nevei empty, His fulness is inexhaustible.

The apostolic application of this Psalm (Acta ii. 32, xiii. 35 — 37) is based on the considerations thai David's

Polyglott and other older printed copies. Those MSB. TTPQ (without any Kcri), on the other band, ^deration.

hope of not coming under the power of death was not realised in David himself, as is at once clear, to the unlimited extent in which it is expressed in the Psalm; but that it is fulfilled in Jesus, who has not been left to Hades and whose flesh did not see corruption; and that consequently the words of the Psalm are a prophecy of David concerning Jesus, the Christ, who was promised as the heir to his throne, and whom, by reason of the promise, he had prophetically before his mind. If we look into the Psalm, we see that David, in his mode of expression, bases that hope simply upon his relation to Jahve, the ever-living One. That it has been granted to him in particular, to express this hope which is based upon the mystic relation of the Ton to Jahve in such language, — a hope which the issue of Jesus' life has sealed by an historical fulfilment, — is to be explained from the relation, according to the promise, in which David stands to his seed, the Christ and Holy One of God, who appeared in the person of Jesus. David, the anointed of God, looking upon himself as in Jahve, the God who has given the promise, becomes the prophet of Christ; but this is only indirectly, for he speaks of himself, and what he says has also been fulfilled in his own person. But this fulfilment is not limited to the condition, that he did not succumb to any peril that threatened his life so long as the kingship would have perished with him, and that, when he died, the kingship nevertheless remained (Hofmann); nor, that he was secured against all danger of death until he had accomplished his life's mission, until he had fulfilled the vocation assigned to him in the history of the plan of redemption (Kurtz) — the hope which he cherishes for himself personally has found a fulfilment which far exceeds this. After his hope has found in Christ its full realisation in accordance with the history of the plan of redemption, it receives through Christ its personal realisation for himself also. For what he says, extends on the one hand far beyond himself, and therefore refers prophetically to Christ: in decachordo Psalterio — as Jerome boldly expresses it — ab inferis suscitat resurgentem. But on the other hand that which is predicted comes back upon himself, to raise him also from death and Hades to the beholding of God. Verus justitice sol — says

Sonntag in his Tituli Psalmorum, 1687 — e sepulcro resurrexit, ott]X7] seu lapis sepulcralis a monumento devolutus, arcus triumphalis erectus, victoria ao hominibus reportata. En vobis Michtam! En Evangelium! —

FLIGHT OF AN INNOCENT AND PERSECUTED MAN FOR RE- FUGE IN THE LORD, WHO KNOWETH THEM THAT ARE HIS.

1 HE AR, 0 Jahve, righteousness, hearken to my cry, Give ear to my prayer with undeceitful lips!

by night, Thou hast tried me — Thou findest nothing: If I think evil, it doth not pass my mouth.

5 My steps held fast to Thy paths, My footsteps have not slipped.

G As such an one I call upon Thee, for Thou hearest me, 0 God! Incline Thine ear unto me, hear my speech.

8 Keep me as the apple — the pupil — of the eye; Hide me in the shadow of Thy wings

From my deadly enemies, who compass me about.

11 At every step they have surrounded mo, Their purpose is to smite down to the earth.

12 He is like a lion that is greedy to ravin, And like a young lion lurking in the lair.

13 Arise, Jahve, go forth to meet him, cast him down, Deliver my soul from the wicked, with Thy sword,

world, Whose portion is in life, and with Thy treasures Thou fillest their belly, They have plenty of children and leave their abundance to their young ones.

Ps. xvii. is placed after Ps.xvi., because just like the latter (cf. xi. 7) it closes with the hope of a blessed and satisfying vision of God. In other respects also the two Psalms have many prominent features in common: as, for instance, the the petition Vjptf, xvi. 1, xvii. 8; the retrospect on nightly fellowship with God, xvi. 7, xvii. 3; the form of address in prayer *?K, xvi. 1, xvii. 6; the verb "£fi, xvi. 5, xvii. 5, &c. (vid. Symbolce p. 49), notwithstanding a great dissimilarity in their tone. For Ps. xvi. is the first of those which we call Psalms written in the indignant style, in the series of the Davidic Psalms. The language of the Psalms of David, which is in other instances so flowing and clear, becomes more harsh and, in accordance with the subject and mood, as it were, full of unresolved dissonances (Ps. xvii. cxl. lviii. xxxvi. 2 sq., cf. x. 2 — 11) when describing the dissolute conduct of his enemies, and of the ungodly in general. The language is then more rough and unmanageable, and wanting in the clearness and transparency we find elsewhere. The tone of the language also becomes more dull and, as it were, a dull murmur. It rolls on like the rumble of distant thunder, by piling up the suffixes mo, amo, emo, as in xvii. 10, xxxv. 16, lxiv. 6, 9, where David speaks of his enemies and describes them in a tone suggested by the indignation, which is working within his breast; or in lix. 12 — 14, lvi. 8, xxi. 10 — 13, cxl. 10, lviii. 7., where, as in prophetic language, he announces to them of the judgment of God. The more vehement and less orderly flow of the language which we find here, is the result of the inward tumult of his feelings.

There are so many parallels in the thought and expression of thought of this Psalm in other Davidic Psalms (among those we have already commented on we may instance more especially Ps. vii. and xi., and also iv. and x.), that even Hitzig admits the ir6. The author of the Psalm is persecuted, and others with him; foes, among whom one, their leader, stands prominently forward, plot against his life, and have encompassed him about in the most threatening manner, eager for his death. All this corresponds, line for line, with the situation of David in the wilderness of Maon (about three hours and three quarters S.S.E. of Hebron), as narrated in 1 Sam. xxiii. 25 sq., when Saul and his men were so close upon the heels of David and his men, that he only escaped capture by a most fortunate incident.

The only name inscribed on this Psalm is rfen (a prayer), the most comprehensive name for the Psalms, and the oldest (lxxii. 20); for "yt^' and TftTO were only given to them when they were sung in the liturgy and with musical accompaniment. As the title of a Psalm it is found five times (xvii. lxxxvi. xc. cii. cxlii) in the Psalter, and besides that once, in Hab. iii. Habakkuk's rfen is a hymn composed for music. But in the Psalter we do not find any indication of the Psalms thus inscribed being arranged for music. The strophe schema is 4. 7; 4. 4. 6. 7.

Vers. 1 — 2. p"is is the accusative of the object: the righteousness, intended by the suppliant, is his own (ver. 15«). He knows that he is not merely righteous in his relation to man, but also in his relation to God. In all such assertions of pious self-consciousness, that which is intended is a righteousness of life which has its ground in the righteousness of faith. True, Hupfeld is of opinion, that under the Old Testament nothing was known either of righteousness which is by faith or of a righteousness belonging to another and imputed. But if this were true, then Paul was in gross error and Christianity is built upon the sand. 1 the truth, that faith is the ultimate ground of right is expressed in Gen. xv. G, and at other turning-points in the course of the history of redemption; and the truth, that the righteousness which avails before God is a gifl is, for instance, a thought distinctly marki d out in expression of Jeremiah WP*$ 71 j "the Lord our righteousness." The Old Testament conception, it is true, looks more to the phenomena than to the root of the matter (ist mehr phanomenell ah wurzelhaft), is (so to speak) more Jacobic than Pauline; but the righteousness of life of the Old Testament and that of the New have one and the same basis, viz. in the grace of God, the Redeemer, towards sinful man, who in himself is altogether wanting in righteousness before God (cxliii. 2). Thus there is no self-righteousness, in David's praying that the righteousness, which in him is persecuted and cries for help, may be heard. For, on the one hand, in his personal relation to Saul, he knows himself to be free from any ungrateful thoughts of usurpation, and on the other, in his personal relation to God free from riCHO, i. e. self-delusion and hypocrisy. The shrill cry for help, Din, which he raises, is such as may be heard and answered, because they are not lips of deceit with which he prays. The actual fact is manifest HIIT 0?6, therefore may his right go forth VOsta, — just what does happen, by its being publicly proclaimed and openly maintained — from Him, for His eyes, the eyes of Him who knoweth the hearts (xi. 4), behold DntPD (as in lviii. 2, lxxv. 3 = Dn&»D3, ix. 9, and many other passages), in uprightness, i. e. in accordance with the facts of the case and without partiality. Dnt£"0 might also be an accusative of the object (cf. 1 Chron. xxix. 17), but the usage of the language much more strongly favours the adverbial rendering, which is made still more natural by the confirmatory relation in which ver. 2b stands to 2a.

Vers. 3 — 5. David refers to the divine testing and illumination of the inward parts, which he has experienced in himself, in support of his sincerity. The preterites in ver. 3 express the divine acts that preceded the result N^orr1??, viz. the testing He has instituted, which is referred to in *jFIS*!S and also n;r.3 as a trying of gold by fire, and in n(":D as an investigation (Job vii. 18). The result of the close scrutiny to which God has subjected him in the night, when the bottom of a man's heart is at once made manifest, whether it be in his thoughts when awake or in the dream and fancies of the sleeper, was and is this, that He does not find, viz. anything whatever to punish in him, anything that is separated as dross from the gold. To the mind of the New Testament believer with his deep, and as it were microscopically penetrating, insight into the depth of sin, such a confession concerning himself would be more difficult than to the mind of an Old Testament saint. For a separation and disunion of flesh and spirit, which was unknown in the same degree to the Old Testament, has been accomplished in the New Testament consciousness by the facts and operations of redemption revealed in the New Testament; although at the same time it must be remembered that in such confessions the Old Testament consciousness does not claim to be clear from sins, but only from a conscious love of sin, and from a self-love that is hostile to God.

With TYjB] David begins his confession of how Jahve found him to be, instead of finding anything punishable in him. This word is either an infinitive like ryj-in (lxxvii. 10) with the regular ultima accentuation, formed after the manner of the fl"b verbs, — in accordance with which Hitzig renders it: my thinking does not overstep my mouth, — or even 1 pers. prcet., which is properly Milel, but does also occur as Milra, e. g. Deut. xxxii. 41, Isa. xliv. 16 (yid. on Job xix. 17), — according to which Bottcher translates: should I think anything evil, it dare not pass beyond my mouth, — or (since DET may denote the determination that precedes the act, e. g. Jer. iv. 28, Lam. ii. 17): I have determined my mouth shall not transgress. This last rendering is opposed by the fact, that "DJJ by itself in the ethical signification "to transgress" (cf. post-biblical TTOV.. icapdpooic) is not the usage of the biblical Hebrew, and that when ^©— DJP stand close together, ^D is presumptively the object. We therefore give the preference to Bottcher's explanation, which renders TTIOT as a hypothetical perfect and is favoured by Prov. xxx. 32 (which is to be translated: and if thou thinkest evil, (lay) thy hand on thy mouth!). Nevertheless »D"n3JP ^2 is not the expression of a fact, but of a purp< as the combination of ba with the future requires it to be taken. The psalmist is able to testify of himself that he so keeps evil thoughts in subjection within him, even when they may arise, that they do not pass beyond his mouth, much less that he should put them into action. But perhaps the psalmist wrote *p© originally, "my reflecting does not go beyond Thy commandment" (according to Num. xxii. 18, 1 Sam. xv. 24, Prov. viii. 29), — a meaning better suited, as a result of the search, to the nightly investigation. The b of n1?J7E>7 need not be the b of reference (as to); it is that of the state or condition, as in xxxii. 6, lxix. 22. D"N, as perhaps also in Job xxxi. 33, Hos. vi. 7 (if D"1N is not there the name of the first man), means, men as they are by nature and habit. *pn?tP 11212 does not admit of being connected with rYJ?JJB?: at the doings of the world contrary to Thy revealed will (Hofmann and others); for 2 bv_B cannot mean: to act contrary to any one, but only: to work upon any one, Job xxxv. 6. These words must therefore be regarded as a closer definition, placed first, of the irflDt^ which follows: in connection with the doings of men, by virtue of the divine commandment, he has taken care of the paths of the oppressor, viz. not to go in them; 1 Sam. xxv. 21 is an instance in support of this rendering, where THDIP', as in Job ii. 6, means: I have kept (Nabal's possession), not seizing upon it myself. Jerome correctly translates vias latronis; for VV")D signifies one who breaks in, i. e. one who does damage intentionally and by violence. The confession concerning himself is still continued in ver. 5, for the inf. dbsol. "?]bR, if taken as imperative would express a prayer for constancy, that is alien to the circumstances described. The perfect after b% is also against such a rendering. It must therefore be taken as inf. historicns, and explained according to Job xxiii. 11, cf. Ps. xli. 13. The noun following the inf. dbsol., which is usually the object, is the subject in this instance, as, e. g. in Job xl. 2, Prov. xvii. 12, Eccl. iv. 2, and frequently. It is ^Tlt^N, and n°t VWK, "WN (a step) never having the tf dageshed, except in ver. 11 and Job xxxi. 7.

Vers. 6 — 7. It is only now, after his inward parts and his walk have been laid open to Jahve, that he resumes his petition, which is so well justified and so soundly based, and enters into detail. The 'ON* found beside *pn&Op (the perfect referring to that which has just now been put into execution) is meant to imply: such an one as he has described himself to be according to the testimony of his conscience, may call upon God, for God hears such and will therefore also hear him. tjjtn ton exactly corresponds to the Latin au-di (aus-cul-ta). The Hiph. rbVT) (frozen, xxxi. 22, cf. iv. 4) signifies here to work in an extraordinary and marvellous manner. The danger of him who thus prays is great, but the mercies of God, who is ready and able to help, are still greater. Oh that He may, then, exhibit all its fulness on his behalf. The form of the address resembles the Greek, which is so fond of participles. If it is translated as Luther translates it: "Shew Thy marvellous lovingkindness, Thou Saviour of those who trust in Thee, Against those who so set themselves against Thy right hand", then D'Din is used just as absolutely as in Prov. xiv. 32, and the right hand of God is conceived of as that which arranges and makes firm. But "to rebel against God's right (not statuta, but dexteram)" is a strange expression. There are still two other constructions from which to choose, viz. "Thou Deliverer of those seeking protection from adversaries, with Thy right hand" (Hitz.), or: "Thou Helper of those seeking protection from adversaries, at Thy right hand" (Aben-Ezra, Tremell.). This last rendering is to be preferred to the two others. Since, on the one hand, one says)o HOITE, refuge from..., and on the other, 2 HCn to hide one's self in any one, or in any place, this determining of the verbal notion by the preposition (on this, see above on ii. 12) must be possible in both directions. Q^DBIpPBD is equivalent to DrPDOlprHDO Job. xxvii. 7; and "pM C^DID, those seeking protection at the strong hand of Jahve. The force of the D is just the same as in connection with ^rrcr., 1 Sam. xxiii. 19. In Damascus and throughout Syria — Wetzstein observes on this passage — the weak make use of these words when they surrender themselves to the Btrong:

raands an emphatic intonation of the secondary word in it> r to the principal word (which here is "JTlNip).

(J Jo SL^lJL b! UI am in the grasp of thy hand (in thy closed hand) i. e. I give myself up entirely to thee".*

Vers. 8 — 9. The covenant relationship towards Himself in which Jahve has placed David, and the relationship of love in which David stands to Jahve, fully justified the oppressed one in his extreme request. The apple of the eye, which is surrounded by the iris, is called |1#w, the man (Arabic insdn), or in the diminutive and endearing sense of the termination on: the little man of the eye, because a picture in miniature of one's self is seen, as in a glass, when looking into another person's eye. Pg~n2 either because it is as if born out of the eye and the eye has, as it were, concentrated itself in it, or rather because the little image which is mirrored in it is, as it were, the little daughter of the eye (here and Lam. ii. 18). To the Latin pupilla (pupula), Greek xopv], corresponds most closely pg rQ3, Zech. ii. 12, which does not signify the gate, aperture, sight, but, as P3 shews, the little boy, or more strictly, the little girl of the eye. It is singular that Y\ww here has the feminine P5JVI2 as the expression in apposition to it. The construction might be genitival: "as the little man of the apple of the eye", inasmuch as the saint knows himself to be so near to God, that, as it were, his image in miniature is mirrored in the great eye of God. But (1) the more ordinary name for the pupil of the eye is not j^y n?, but j1t&»N; and (2) with that construction the proper point of the comparison, that the apple of the eye is an object of the most careful self-preservation, is missed. There is, consequently, a combination of two names of the pupil or apple of the eye, the usual one and one more select, without reference to the gender of the former, in order to give greater definition wall from the wind, or OyJt,.wo SLcjjlILj by a fire against the cold, and 3Lfc» which is often applied in like manner to God's protection. Thus, e. g. (according to Bochari's Sunna) a woman, whom Muhammecl wanted to seize, cried out: dLoo kJULj j«_cf I place myself under God's protection against thee, and he replied: 3uuj c^Jlc. thou hast taken refuge in an (inaccessible) asylum (cf. Job, i. 310 n. and ii. 22 n. 2).

and emphasis to the figure. The primary passage for this bold figure, which is the utterance of loving entreaty, is Deut. xxxii. 10, where the dazzling anthropomorphism is effaced by the LXX. and other ancient versions;* cf. also Sir. xvii. 22. Then follows another figure, taken from the eagle, which hides its young under its wings, likewise from Deut. xxxii, viz. ver. 11, for the figure of the hen (Mat. xxiii. 37) is alien to the Old Testament. In that passage, Moses, in his great song, speaks of the wings of God; but the double figure of the shadow of God's wings (here and in xxxvi. 8, lvii. 2, lxiii. 8) is coined by David. "God's wings" are the spreadings out, i. e. the manifestations of His love, taking the creature under the protection of its intimate fellowship, and the "shadow" of these wings is the refreshing rest and security which the fellowship of this love affords to those, who hide themselves beneath it, from the heat of outward or inward conflict.

From ver. 9 we learn more definitely the position in which the psalmist is placed, tib* signifies to use violence, to destroy the life, continuance, or possession of any one. According to the accentuation tP'DJ3 is to be connected with 15^, not with *Bijpi, and to be understood according to Ez. xxv. 6: "enemies with the soul" are those whose enmity is not merely superficial, but most deep-seated (cf. ex tyr/j^, Eph. vi. 6, Col. iii. 23). The soul (viz. the hating and eagerly longing soul, xxvii. 12, xli. 3) is just the same as if #BJ3 is combined with the verb, viz. the soul of the enemies; and w'bj vsk would therefore not be more correct, as Hitzig thinks, than #BJ2 '3>K, but would have a different meaning. They are eager to destroy him (perf. conatus). and form a circle round about him, as ravenous ones, in order to swallow him up.

Vers. 10 — 12 tell what sort of people these persecutors are. Their heart is called fat, adeps, not as though zbr\ could in itself be equivalent to 2% more especially both words are radically distinct (z^n from the n><>! i"\ Xwc; zb from the root 2b, rp to envelope: that which is veloped, the kernel, the inside), hut (without any Q< von Ortenberg's conjecture D3D 1D2^ D^n "they close their heart with fat") because it is, as it were, entirely fat (cxix. 70, cf. lxxiii. 7), and because it is inaccessible to any feeling of compassion, and in general incapable of the nobler emotions. To shut up the fat = the heart (cf. xXetstv tql 0TrXaYxva 1 John iii. 17), is equivalent to: to fortify one's self wilfully in indifference to sympathy, tender feeling, and all noble feelings (cf. Z}S POtfifTI = to harden, Isa. vi. 10). The construction of ID'*© (which agrees in sound with TOD, Job xv. 27) is just the same as that of "6ip, iii. 5. On the other hand, OTIIS^I (after the form "Rfig and written plene) is neither such an accusative of the means or instrument, nor the second accusative, beside the accusative of the object, of that by which the object is surrounded, that is usually found with verbs of surrounding (e. g. v. 13, xxxii. 7); for "they have surrounded me (us) with our step" is unintelligible. But ijiw'n can be the accusative of the member, as in iii. 8, cf. xxii. 17, Gen. iii. 15, for "it is true the step is not a member" (Hitz.), but since "step" and "foot" are interchangeable notions, lxxiii. 2, the o^|xa xa6'oXov xal jxlpo? is applicable to the former, and as, e. g. Homer says, Iliad vii. 355: os jidtXiaxa ttovo? cppeva? aficptpspTjxev, the Hebrew poet can also say: they have encompassed us (and in fact) our steps, each of our steps (so that we cannot go forwards or backwards with our feet). The Keri 12132D gets rid of the change in number which we have with the Chethib *M3D; the latter, however, is admissible according to parallels like lxii. 5, and corresponds to David's position, who is hunted by Saul and at the present time driven into a strait at the head of a small company of faithful followers. Their eyes — he goes on to say in ver. lib ~— have they set to fell, viz. us, who are encompassed, to the earth, i. e. so that we shall be cast to the ground. PIE3 is transitive, as in xviii. 10, lxii. 4, in the transitively applied sense of lxxiii. 2 (cf. xxxvii. 31): to incline to fall (whereas in xliv. 19, Job xxxi. 7, it means to turn away from); and }HN? (without any need for the conjecture rniO) expresses the final issue, instead of P*ttO, vii. 6. By the expression "tfOH one is prominently singled out from the host of the enemy, viz. its chief, the words being: his likeness is as a lion, according to the peculiarity of the poetical style, of changing verbal into substantival clauses, instead of rP*ttO HEH. Since in Old Testament Hebrew, as also in Syriac and Arabic, n is only a preposition, not a connective conjunction, it cannot be rendered: as a lion longs to prey, but: as a lion that is greedy or hungry (cf. oLw.S^used of sinking away, decline, obscuring or eclipsing, growing pale, and lJ.**-^ more especially of enfeebling, hunger, distinct from rj^n = ^Ju^Sto peel off, make bare) to ravin. In the parallel member of the verse the participle alternates with the attributive clause. TEG is (according to Meier) the young lion as being covered with thicker hair.

Vers. 13 — 15. The phrase "09 DID, anlevertere faciem alicujus, means both to appear before any one with reverence, xcv. 2 (post-biblical: to pay one's respects to any one) and to meet any one as an enemy, rush on him. The foe springs like a lion upon David, may Jahve — so he prays — as his defence cross the path of the lion and intercept him, and cast him down so that he, being rendered harmless, shall lie there with bowed knees (jH3, of the lion, Gen. xlix. 9, Num. xxiv. 9). He is to rescue his soul from the ungodly S]2"in. This ~p")n, and also the spy which follows, can be regarded as a permutative of the subject (Bottcher, Hupfeld, and Hitzig), an explanation which is commend. <1 by xliv. 3 and other passages. But it is much more probably that more exact definitions of this kind are treated as accusatives, vid. on iii. 5. At any rate "sword" and "hand" are meant as the instruments by which the D?©, rescuing, is effected. The force of 7)vbD extends into ver. 14, and cnco (with a Chateph under the letter that is freed from reduplication, like FOOD, xxxiii. 14) corresponds to JHBhD, as spj to S|3*m. The word c^noo (plural of TO, men, Dent ii. 34, whence chp, each and every one), which of itself gi no complete sense, is repeated and made complete after the interruption caused by the insertion of 'n spp, — a remarkable manner of obstructing and then resuming the thought, which Ilofmann {Schrifibeweis ii. 2. 495) Beeka to >ver