THE PSALMS.

 

 

 

 

                                            BOOK III.

 

                              PSALMS LXXIII.-LXXXIX.

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                           CONTENTS.

 

                                          THE PSALMS.

 

                                              BOOK III.

                                                                                                            PAGE

PSALMS LXXIII.-LXXXIX.                                                            I-157

 

                                               BOOK IV.

PSALMS XC.--CVI                                                               159-267

 

                                                 BOOK V.

PSALMS CVII.-CL                                                                           269-487

 

APPENDIX:--

            I. MESSIANIC INTERPRETATION                                    489-499

            II. THE MASSORETH                                                          500-503

 

GENERAL INDEX                                                                           505-520

 

GRAMMATICAL AND CRITICAL INDEX                                   521-523

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                  PSALM LXXIII.

 

            THERE are some questions which never lose their interest, some

problems of which it may be said, that they are ever old and yet

ever new. Not the least anxious of such questions are those which

deal with God's moral government of the world. They lie close to

man's heart, and are ever asking and pressing for solution. They

may differ in different times, they may assume various forms; but

perhaps no man ever looked thoughtfully on the world as it is with-

out seeing much that was hard to reconcile with a belief in the love

and wisdom of God.

            One form of this moral difficulty pressed heavily upon the pious

Jew under the Old Dispensation. It was this: Why should good

men suffer, and bad men prosper? This difficulty was aggravated,

we must remember, by what seemed to be the manifest contradiction

between the express teaching of his Law, and the observed facts of

human experience. The Law told him that God was a righteous

Judge, meting out to men in this world the due recompense of their

deeds. The course of the world, where those who had cast off the

fear of God were rich and powerful, made him ready to question

this truth, and was a serious stumbling-block to his faith. And

further, "the Hebrew mind had never risen to the conception of

universal law, but was accustomed to regard all visible phenomena

as the immediate result of a free Sovereign Will. Direct interposi-

tion, even arbitrary interference, was no difficulty to the Jew, to

whom Jehovah was the absolute Sovereign of the world, not acting,

so far as he could see, according to any established order."* Hence

it seemed to him inexplicable that the world of life should not reflect

perfectly, as in a mirror, the righteousness of God.

            This is the perplexity which appears in this Psalm, as it does in

the 37th, and also in the Book of Job. Substantially it is the same

problem: but it is met differently. In the 37th Psalm the advice

given is to wait, to trust in Jehovah, and to rest assured that in the

end the seeming disorder will be set right even in this world. The

wicked will perish, the enemies of Jehovah be cut off, and the

 

            * For some valuable suggestions on this Psalm I am indebted to a friend,

the Rev. J. G. Mould.

 

4                                       PSALM LXXIII.

 

righteous will be preserved from evil, and inherit the land. Thus

God suffers wickedness for a time, only the more signally to manifest

His righteousness in overthrowing it. That is the first, the simplest,

the most obvious solution of the difficulty. In the Book of Job,

where the sorrow and the perplexity are the darkest, where the ques-

tion lies upon the heart, "heavy as lead, and deep almost as life,"

the sufferer finds no such consolation. As a Gentile, he has no need

to reconcile his experience with the sanctions of the Pentateuch.

But he has to do that which is not less hard, he has to reconcile it

with a life's knowledge of God, and a life's love of God. He

searches his heart, he lays bare his life, he is conscious of no trans-

gression, and he cannot understand why chastisement should be laid

upon him, whilst the most daring offenders against the Majesty of

God escape with impunity. Sometimes with a bitterness that cannot

be repressed, sometimes with a sorrow hushing itself into resig-

nation, he still turns to God, he would fain stand before His

judgement-seat, plead with Him his cause, and receive a righteous

sentence. But Job does not find the solution of the Psalmist. He

is driven to feel that all this is a mystery. God will not give an

account of any of His matters.  "I go forward, but He is not there

and backward, but I cannot perceive Him " (Job xxiii.). And when

Jehovah appears at the end of the Book, it is to show the folly of

man, who would presume to think that, short-sighted and ignorant

as he is, he can fathom the counsels of the Most High. He appears,

not to lift the veil of mystery, but to teach the need of humiliation

and the blessedness of faith.*

            In this Psalm, again, a different conclusion is arrived at. In part

it is the same as that which has already met us in Psalm xxxvii., in

part it is far higher. The Psalmist here is not content merely with

visible retribution in this world. He sees it indeed in the case of the

ungodly. When he was tempted to envy their lot, when he had all

but yielded to the sophistry of those who would have persuaded

him to be even as they, the temptation was subdued by the reflection

that such prosperity came to an end as sudden as it was terrible.

But he does not place over against this, on the other side, an earthly

portion of honour and happiness for the just. Their portion is in

 

            * There is a difficulty, no doubt, in reconciling this solution, or rather

non-solution of the problem, with that which is given subsequently in the

historical conclusion of the Book. There we find Job recompensed in

this life for all his sufferings. If the historical parts of the Book are by

the same author as the dialogue (as Ewald maintains), then we must

suppose that when Job is brought to confess his own vileness, and his own

ignorance and presumption, then, and not till then, does God reward him

with temporal prosperity.

 

                                  PSALM LXXIII.                                             5

 

God. He is the stay and the satisfaction of their hearts now. He

will take them to Himself and to glory hereafter. This conviction it

is which finally chases away the shadows of doubt, and brings light

and peace into his soul. And this conviction is the more remark-

able, because it is reached in spite of the distinct promise made

of temporal recompense to piety, and in the absence of a full and

definite Revelation with regard to the life to come. In the clear

light of another world and its certain recompenses, such perplexities

either vanish or lose much of their sharpness. When we confess

that God's righteousness has a larger theatre for its display than this

world and the years of man, we need not draw hasty conclusions

from "the slight whisper" of His ways which reaches us here.

            It is an interesting question suggested by this Psalm, but one

which can only be touched on here, how far there is anything in

common between doubts, such as those which perplexed the ancient

Hebrews, and those by which modern thinkers are harassed.* There

are some persons, who now, as of old, are troubled by the moral

aspect of the world. To some, this perplexity is even aggravated by

the disclosures of Revelation. And men of pious minds have been

shaken to their inmost centre by the appalling prospect of the ever-

lasting punishment of the wicked. But the difficulties which are,

properly speaking, modern difficulties, are of another kind. They

are, at least in their source, speculative rather than moral. The

observed uniformity of nature, the indissoluble chain of cause and

effect, the absolute certainty of the laws by which all visible phe-

nomena are governed, these are now the stumbling-blocks even to

devout minds. How, it is asked, can we reconcile these things with

the belief in a Personal God, or at least with an ever-active Personal

Will? Had the world ever a Maker? or, if it had, does He still

control and guide it? Knowing as we do that the order of cause

and effect is ever the same, how can we accept miracles or Divine

interpositions of any kind? What avails prayer, when every event

 

            * This point has been touched on by Dr. A. S. Farrar in his "Bampton

Lectures," a work which, for breadth and depth of learning, has few

parallels in modern English literature, and which combines in no common

degree the spirit of a sound faith and a true philosophy. Dr. Farrar

says:  "It is deeply interesting to observe, not merely that the difficulties

concerning Providence felt by Job refer to the very subjects which

painfully perplex the modern mind, but also that the friends of Job

exhibit the instinctive tendency which is observed in modern times to

denounce his doubt as sin, not less than to attribute his trials to evil as

the direct cause. These two books of Scripture [Job and Ecclesiastes],

together with the seventy-third Psalm, have an increasing religious

importance as the world grows older. The things written aforetime were

written for our learning."—Lecture I. p. 7, note.

6                                     PSALM LXXIII.

 

that happens has been ordained from eternity? How can any words

of man interrupt the march of the Universe? Ships are wrecked

and harvests are blighted, and famine and pestilence walk the earth,

not because men have forgotten to pray, but in accordance with the

unerring laws which storm, and blight, and disease obey. Such are

some of the thoughts—the birth, it may be said, of modern science

—which haunt and vex men now.

            Difficulties like these are not touched upon in Scripture. But the

spirit in which all difficulties, all doubts should be met, is the same.

If the answer lies in a region above and beyond us, our true wisdom

is to wait in humble dependence upon God, in active fulfilment of

what we can see to be our duty, till the day dawn and the shadows

flee away. And it is this which Scripture teaches us in this Psalm,

in Job, and in that other Book, which is such a wonderful record of

a doubting self-tormenting spirit, the Book of Ecclesiastes. It has

been said that the Book of Job and the 73rd Psalm "crush free

thought."*  It would have been truer to say that they teach us that

there are heights which we cannot reach, depths which the intellect

of man cannot fathom; that God's ways are past finding out; that

difficulties, perplexities, sorrows, are best healed and forgotten in the

Light which streams from His throne, in the Love which by His

Spirit is shed abroad in the heart.

            But the Psalm teaches us also a lesson of forbearance towards

the doubter. It is a lesson perhaps just now peculiarly needed.

Christian sympathy is felt, Christian charity is extended toward

every form of misery, whether mental or bodily, except toward that

which is often the acutest of all, the anguish of doubt. Here it

seems as if coldness, suspicion, even denunciation, were justifiable.

And yet doubt, even to the verge of scepticism, as is plain from this

Psalm, may be no proof of a bad and corrupt heart; it may rather

be the evidence of an honest one. Doubt may spring from the very

depth and earnestness of a man's faith. In the case of the Psalmist,

as in the case of Job, that which lay at the bottom of the doubt,

that which made it a thing so full of anguish, was the deep-rooted

conviction of the righteousness of God. Unbelief does not doubt,

faith doubts.†  And God permits the doubt in His truest and noblest

 

            * Quinet, OEuvres, tome i. c. 5, § 4.

            † The expression has been criticised as paradoxical, but the following

admirable passages, which I have met with since the first edition of this

work was published, may justify my language. They are quoted by

Archbishop Whately in his Annotations on Bacon's Essays, pp. 358, 359.

The first is from a writer in the Edinburgh Review for January, 1847,

on "The Genius of Pascal": "So little inconsistent with a habit of

intelligent faith are such transient invasions of doubt, or such diminished

 

                                        PSALM LXXIII.                                   7

 

servants, as our Lord did in the case of Thomas, that He may

thereby plant their feet the more firmly on the rock of His own ever-

lasting truth. There is, perhaps, no Psalm in which Faith asserts

itself so triumphantly, cleaves to God with such words of lofty hope

and affection, and that precisely because in no other instance has

the fire been so searching, the test of faith so severe. It may be

well to remember this when we see a noble soul compassed about

with darkness, yet struggling to the light, lest we "vex one whom

God has smitten, and tell of the pain of His wounded ones " (Ps.

lxix. 26).

            The Psalm consists of two parts:--

            I. The Psalmist tells the story of the doubts which had assailed

him, the temptation to which he had nearly succumbed. Ver. 1-14.

            II. He confesses the sinfulness of these doubts, and explains how

he had been enabled to overcome them. Ver. 15-28.

            These principal portions have their further subdivisions (which are

in the main those given by Hupfeld):

            I. a. First we have, by way of introduction, the conviction to

which his struggle with doubt brought him, ver. 1; then the general

statement of his offence, ver. 2, 3.

            b. The reason of which is more fully explained to be the prosperity

of the wicked, ver. 4, 5; and their insolence and pride in con-

sequence, ver. 6-11.

            c. The comfortless conclusion which he had thence drawn, ver.

12-14.

 

perceptions of the evidence of truth, that it may even be said that it is

only those who have in some measure experienced them, who can be said

in the highest sense to believe at all. He who has never had a doubt,

who believes what he believes for reasons which he thinks as irrefragable

(if that be possible) as those of a mathematical demonstration, ought not

to be said so much to believe as to know; his belief is to him knowledge,

and his mind stands in the same relation to it, however erroneous and

absurd that belief may be. It is rather he who believes — not indeed

without the exercise of his reason, but without the full satisfaction of his

reason—with a knowledge and appreciation of formidable objections—it

is this man who may most truly be said intelligently to believe."

            The other is from a short poem by Bishop Hinds:

                        "Yet so it is; belief springs still

                              In souls that nurture doubt;

                        And we must go to Him, who will

                              The baneful weed cast out.

                        "Did never thorns thy path beset?

                               Beware—be not deceived;

                        He who has never doubted yet

                               Has never yet believed.'

8                              PSALM LXXIII.

 

            II. a. By way of transition, he tells how he had been led to

acknowledge the impiety of this conclusion, and how, seeking for

a deeper, truer view, he had come to the sanctuary of God, ver. 15—

17, where he had learned the sudden and fearful end of the wicked,

ver. 18-20, and consequently the folly of his own speculation.

            b. Thus recovering from the almost fatal shock which his faith had

received, he returns to a sense of his true position. God holds him

by his right hand, God guides him for the present, and will bring him

to a glorious end, ver. 23, 24; hence he rejoices in the thought that

God is his great and only possession, ver. 25, 26.

            c. The general conclusion, that departure from God is death and

destruction; that in His presence and in nearness to Him are to be

found joy and safety, ver. 27, 28.

 

 

                                    [A PSALM OF ASAPH.a]

 

            I SURELYb God is good to Israel,

                        (Even) to such as are of a pure heart.

            2 But as for me, my feet were almost gone,c

 

I. SURELY. This particle, which

occurs twice again in this Psalm, is

rendered differently in each case by

the E. V.; here truly, in ver. 13

verily, in ver. 18 surely: but one

rendering should be kept through-

out. The Welsh more correctly

has, yn ddiau (ver. I), diau (ver. 13,

18). The word has been already

discussed in the note on lxii. 1,

where we have seen it is capable of

two meanings. Here it is used

affirmatively, and expresses the

satisfaction with which the con-

clusion has been arrived at, after all

the anxious questionings and de-

batings through which the Psalmist

has passed: "Yes, it is so; after

all, God is good, notwithstanding

all my doubts." It thus implies at

the same time a tacit opposition to

a different view of the case, such as

that which is described afterwards.

"Fresh from the conflict, he some-

what abruptly opens the Psalm with

the confident enunciation of the

truth, of which victory over doubt

had now made him more, and more

intelligently, sure than ever, that

God is good to Israel, even to such

as are of a clean heart."—Essential

Coherence of the Old and New

Testament, by my brother, the Rev.

T. T. Perowne, p. 85, to which I

may, perhaps, be permitted to refer

for a clear and satisfactory view of

the whole Psalm.

    It is of importance to remark

that the result of the conflict is

stated before the conflict itself is

described. There is no parade of

doubt merely as doubt. He states

first, and in the most natural way,

the final conviction of his heart.

      ISRAEL. The next clause limits

this, and reminds us that "they are

not all Israel, which are of Israel."

To the true Israel God is Love; to

them "all things work together for

good."

    OF A PURE HEART, lit. "pure of

heart," as in xxiv. 4. Comp. Matt.v.8.

     2. BUT AS FOR ME. The pro-

noun is emphatic. He places him-

self, with shame and sorrow, almost

in opposition to that Israel of God

 

                                         PSALM LXXIII.                                       9

 

            My steps had well-nigh slipt.

3 For I was envious at the arrogant,

            When I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

4 For they have no bands in their death,d

            And their strengthe (continueth) firm.

5 They are not in trouble as (other) men,

 

of which he had just spoken. He

has in view the happiness of those

who had felt no doubt. Calvin some-

what differently explains: Even I,

with all my knowledge and advan-

tages, I who ought to have known

better.

    GONE, lit. "inclined," not so

much in the sense of being bent

under him, as rather of being

turned aside, out of the way, as in

Numb. xx. 17, 2 Sam. ii. 19, 21, &c.

The verb in the next clause ex-

presses the giving way from weak-

ness, fear, &c., HAD . . . SLIPT, lit.

"were poured out" like water.

    3. ENVIOUS, as in xxxvii. 1, Prov.

xxiii. 17, wishing that his lot were

like theirs who seemed to be the

favourites of heaven. Calvin quotes

the story of Dionysius the Less,

who, having sacrilegiously plundered

a temple, and having sailed safely

home, said: "Do you see that the

gods smile upon sacrilege?" The

prosperity and impunity of the

wicked invite others to follow their

example.

     THE ARROGANT. The word de-

notes those whose pride and in-

fatuation amounts almost to mad-

ness. It is difficult to find an exact

equivalent in English. Gesenius

renders it by superbi, insolentes, and

J. D. Michaelis by stolide gloriosi,

"vain boasters." It occurs in v.

5 [6], where see noted, and again in

xxiv. 4 [5]. The LXX., in all these

instances, render vaguely, a@nomoi,

para<nomoi.

     4. BANDS. This word "bands,"

or "tight cords,"or "fetters," occurs

only once besides, Is. lviii. 6. I

have now [2nd Edit.] adopted the

simplest and most straightforward

rendering of the words, "They

have no bands in their death" (lit.

at or for their death, i.e. when they

die), because the objection brought

against it, that such a meaning is

at variance with the general scope

of the Psalm, the object of which is

not to represent the end of the un-

godly as happy (the very reverse

is asserted ver. 17, &c.), but to

describe the general prosperity of

their lives, no longer appears to me

to be valid. For we must remember

that the Psalmist is describing here

not the fact, but what seemed to him

to be the fact, in a state of mind

which he confesses to have been

unhealthy. Comp. Job xxi. 13, and

see the note on ver. 18 of this

Psalm. Otherwise it would be

possible to render [as in 1st Edit.],

"For no bands (of suffering) (bring

them) to their death." No fetters

are, so to speak, laid upon their

limbs, so that they should be de-

livered over bound to their great

enemy. They are not beset with

sorrows, sufferings, miseries, which

by impairing health and strength

bring them to death. This sense

has been very well given in the

P.B.V., which follows Luther:

"For they are in no peril of death,

    But are lusty and strong."

      5. The literal rendering of this

verse would be:--

"In the trouble of man they are not,

    And with mankind they are not

            plagued."

The first word used to express man

is that which denotes man in his

frailty and weakness. See on ix. 19,

20, note i; x. 18, note.1 The other

is the most general term, Adam,

man as made of the dust of the

 

10                              PSALM LXXIII.

 

            Neither are they plagued like (other) folk.

6 Therefore pride is as a chainf about their neck;

            Violence coverethg them as a garment.

7 Their eyeh goeth forth from fatness;

            The imaginations of (their) heart overflow.

8 They scoffi and speak wickedly,

            Of oppression loftily do they speak.

9 They have set their mouth in the heavens,

            And their tongue walkethk through the earth.

10 Therefore his people are turnedl after them,

 

earth. These men seem exempt

not only from the frailties and in-

firmities of men, but even from the

common lot of men. They appear

almost to be tempered and moulded

of a finer clay than ordinary human

nature.

    PLAGUED, lit. "smitten," i.e. of

God; a word used especially of

Divine chastisement. Comp. Is.

liii. 4.

    6. IS AS A CHAIN ABOUT THEIR

NECK, or "hath encircled their

neck." See for the same figure,

Prov. i. 9, iii. 21. The neck (the

collum resupinum) is regarded as

the seat of pride: comp. lxxv. 5 [6],

Is. iii. i6.

     7. FROM FATNESS, i.e. from a

sleek countenance, conveying in

itself the impression of worldly ease

and enjoyment. The whole figure

is highly expressive. It is a picture

of that proud satisfaction which so

often shines in the eyes of well-to-do

men of the world.

      OVERFLOW. The metaphor is

from a swollen river which rises

above its banks. The verb is used

absolutely, as in Hab. i. 11, "Then

(his) spirit swells and overflows,"

where the same figure is employed

in describing the pride and insolence

of the Chaldeans. See also Is. viii.

8. This is better than, with the

E. V., to take the verb as transitive,

"They have more than heart could

wish" (lit. they have exceeded the

imaginations of the heart); the two

clauses of the verse correspond, the

proud look being an index of the

proud heart; these being followed,

in the next verse, by the proud

spirit.

     8. According to the Massoretic

punctuation, the verse would be

arranged thus:

"They scoff and speak wickedly of

            oppression,

Loftily do they speak."

But the LXX. arrange the clauses

as in the text and render the latter,

a]diki<an ei]j to> u!yoj e]la<lhsan, and so

Aq. sukofanti<an e]c u!youj lalou?ntej.

    LOFTILY, or "from on high," not

"against the Most High," as the

P. B. V. See note on lvi. 2.

      9. IN THE HEAVENS, not "against

the heavens." The stature of these

men seems to swell till it reaches

heaven. Thence they issue their

proud commands, the whole earth

being the theatre of their action.

     10. THEREFORE. This, as Men-

delssohn has observed, is co-ordi-

nate with the "therefore" in ver. 6.

Both depend on the statement in

ver. 4, 5. Because the wicked have

no bands, &c., therefore pride corn-

passeth them, &c., and therefore

others are induced to follow their

example.

     HIS PEOPLE. This is capable of

two interpretations. (I) In accord-

ance with a common Hebrew idiom,

there may be an abrupt transition

from the plural to the singular,

an individual being now substituted

for the mass. "His people," in this

 

                                           PSALM LXXIII.                                 11

 

            And at the full stream would slake their thirst:m

11 And they say: "How doth God know?

            And is there knowledge in the Most High?"

12 Lo, these are the wicked,

            And (these men), ever prosperous, have increased wealth,

sense, are the crowd who attach

themselves to one and another of

these prosperous sinners, that they

may share his prosperity, and then

"his people " is equivalent to "their

people," the crowd which follows

them. (2) The pronoun may refer

to God. So the Chald. "they (the

wicked) turn upon His (God's)

people to punish them; "and the

LXX. o[ laoj mou, Vulg. populus

meas. But with this reference of

the pronoun we may explain: Even

His people, forsaking Him, are led

away by the evil example, just as

the Psalmist confesses he himself

was.

      AFTER THEM, lit. "thither," i.e.

to the persons before described,

and, as is implied, away from God.

The next clause of the verse is

more difficult of explanation. The

E. V. by its rendering, "And waters

of a full (cup) are wrung out to

them," probably means us to under-

stand that the people of God, when

they turn hither, i.e. to the consi-

deration of the prosperity of the

wicked, are filled with sorrow, drink

as it were the cup of tears; the

image being the same as in lxxx. 5

[6]. The P. B. V. comes nearer to

the mark:--

     "Therefore fall the people unto

            them,

     And thereout suck they no

            small advantage,"--

only that apparently in the second

clause the pronoun they refers, not

to the people, but to the wicked

mentioned before. Whereas it is

the people, the crowd of hangers-on,

who gather like sheep to the water-

trough, who suck this advantage,

such as it is, as the reward of their

apostasy.

     AND AT THE FULL STREAM, &C.,

lit. "and fulness of water is drained

by them;" i.e. broad and deep are

the waters of sinful pleasures, which

they, in their infatuation, drink.

     11. AND THEY SAY. The refer-

ence of the pronoun has again been

disputed. Mostly it is referred to

those just spoken of, who have

been led astray by the prosperity of

the wicked to follow them. Hupfeld

thinks it is the wicked themselves

(of ver. 3) who thus speak, and cer-

tainly the boldness of the language

employed, which questions the very

being of a God, is more natural

in the mouth of those whose long

prosperity and long security have

made them unmindful of His provi-

dence.

     But much depends on the view

we take of the next three verses.

Do these continue the speech, or

are they the reflection of the Poet

himself? The former is the view

of Ewald, Stier, Delitzsch, and

others. In this case the words

must be throughout the words of

those who have been tempted and

led astray by the untroubled happi-

ness of the wicked. They adopt

their practically atheistical prin-

ciples; they ask, "How doth God

know," &c.; they point, with a

triumph not unmingled with bitter-

ness, at their success:  Lo, these

are the ungodly, whose sudden and

utter overthrow we have been

taught to expect; they come to the

conclusion that the fear of God is

in vain, for it does not save a man

from suffering and disappointment,

and thus they justify their choice.

It is certainly in favour of this

view that ver. 15 seems naturally

to introduce the reflections of the

Psalmist himself, who had almost

been carried away by the same

sophistry. On the other hand

12                               PSALM LXXIII.

 

13 Surely in vain have I cleansed my heart,

            And washed my hands in innocency,

14 And have been plagued all the day long,

            And chastened every morning.

15 If I had said,n "I will utter (words) like these,"

            Lo, I should have been faithless to the generation of

                        Thy children.

16 And when I ponderedp it that I might know this,

            It was a trouble in mine eyes;

17 Until I went into the sanctuary of God

 

Hengstenberg and Hupfeld suppose

the reflections of the Psalmist to

begin at ver. 12. Verses 13, 14

will then describe the temptation

which pressed upon him, the

thoughts which forced themselves

into his mind, and which, as verses

15, 16 show, he only with difficulty

repressed. He did utter his disap-

pointment, he was gliding on to

something worse, to the atheistic

language of ver. 11, when he checks

himself as in ver. 15. In favour of

this interpretation it may be urged,

that the LXX. have introduced a

kai> ei#pa at the beginning of ver. 13.

     I confess that, while inclining to

the former, I feel it difficult to

decide between these two views;

and the decision must after all rest

upon a certain feeling and instinct,

rather than upon critical grounds.

     15. IF I HAD SAID, i.e. to myself

(as the verb is constantly used); if

I had given way to the temptation

to utter thoughts and misgivings

like these. "The Hebrew Psalm-

ist," it has been well said, "instead

of telling his painful misgivings,

harboured them in God's presence

till he found the solution. The

delicacy exhibited in forbearing

unnecessarily to shake the faith of

others, is a measure of the disin-

terestedness of the doubter."—FAR-

RAR, Bampton Lectures, p. 27.

    I WILL UTTER (WORDS) LIKE

THESE, or, "I will recount the

matter thus."

     THE GENERATION OF THY

CHILDREN. As in xiv. 5, "the

generation of the righteous." So

the people at large are called, Deut.

xiv. I; Hos. ii. 1. Here, however,

the true Israel, "the clean of heart,"

are meant. But the individual is

not called a son of God under the

Old Testament, except officially, as

in ii. 7.

     16. I PONDERED. See the same

use of the verb in lxxvii. 5 [6], "the

days of old;" Prov. xvi. 9, "one's

way." THAT I MIGHT KNOW, i.e.

reconcile all that I saw with the

great fact of God's moral govern-

ment.

     A TROUBLE, or a weariness, as of

a great burden laid upon me (comp.

Eccles. viii. 17). Thought could

not solve the problem. The brain

grew wearier, and the heart heavier.

Light and peace come to us, not by

thinking, but by faith. "In Thy

Light we shall see Light." God

Himself was the Teacher.

    17. THE SANCTUARY is the place

of His teaching; not heaven, "the

world of angels and spirits," as

Qimchi and others, but the Temple,

as the place of His special mani-

festation, not only by Urim and

Thummim, but in direct answer to

prayer. There, in some hour of

fervent, secret prayer, like that of

Hannah (1 Sam. i. 13, comp. Luke

xviii. to), or perhaps in some solemn

service—it may have been (who can

tell?) through the words of some

inspired Psalm—a conviction of the

truth broke upon him. The word

 

                                 PSALM LXXIII.                                   13

 

            (Until) I considered their latter end.

18 Surely in slippery places dost Thou set them,

            Thou hast cast them down to ruin.q

19 How are they brought to desolation as in a moment!

SANCTUARY is in the plural, which

is used here, as in xliii. 3, lxviii. 35

[36], for the singular.

     18. The conclusion is remarkable.

That which dispels the Psalmist's

doubts, and restores his faith, is the

end of the ungodly in this world,—

their sudden reverses, their terrible

overthrow in the very bosom of their

prosperity. Hitherto he has not

taken notice of this fact as he

ought: he has been so dazzled with

the prosperity of the wicked, that

he has forgotten by what appalling

judgements God vindicates His

righteousness. He does not follow

them into the next world. His eye

cannot see beyond the grave. Even

the great horror of an evil con-

science is scarcely, in his view, a

part of their punishment, unless

the expression "because of terrors,"

in ver. 19, may be supposed to point

that way, which, however, is very

doubtful. But this Theodicee was

the only one then known, and is in

fact based upon the Law, which,

resting upon temporal sanctions,

justified the expectation of visible

retribution in this world. The

judges of Israel were appointed as

the vice-gerents of God, to execute

this retribution (Deut. i. 17). Hence

the deep-rooted conviction on this

point, even in the minds of the

godly. It was not till a later period,

and especially till after the Exile,

that the judgement after death was

clearly recognised. Comp. Mal.

iii. 13, &c.

    It is singular that in Job xxi. 13

(comp. ix. 23) it is reckoned as an

element in the good fortune of the

wicked, that they die not by a

lingering disease, but suddenly;

but it may be that Job, perplexed

and eager to make everything tell

on his side, which his friends would

urge against him, is determined not

to admit their inference from the

facts of Divine Providence. Other-

wise this passage of Job supports

the obvious rendering of ver. 4,

"They do not die by lingering dis-

eases, but easily," this being the

mistaken view afterwards corrected.

"We come to the conclusion," it

has been well said, "that in the

case of the wicked this Psalm does

not plainly and undeniably teach

that punishment awaits them after

death; but only that in estimating

their condition it is necessary, in

order to vindicate the justice of

God, to take in their whole career,

and set over against their great

prosperity the sudden and fearful

reverses and destruction which they

not unfrequently encounter. But

in turning to the other side of the

comparison, the case of the right-

eous, we are not met by the thought,

that as the prosperity of the wicked

is but the preparation for their ruin,

so the adversity of the godly is but

an introduction to worldly wealth

and honour. That thought is not

foreign to the Old Testament writers

(see Psalm xxxvii. 9-11). But it

is not so much as hinted at here.

The daily chastening may continue,

flesh and heart may fail, but God

is good to Israel notwithstanding.

He is their portion, their guide,

their help, while they live, and He

will take them to His glorious

presence when they die. ‘Never-

theless I am continually with Thee,’

&c. The New Testament has no-

thing higher or more spiritual than

this."—Essential Coherence, &c.,

pp. 86, 87.

     19. This verse, taken in connec-

tion with ver. 27, seems almost to

point, as Ewald has remarked, to

some particular instance of the

Divine judgement which had re-

cently been witnessed.

14                               PSALM LXXIII.

 

            They are come to an end, they are cut off because of

                        terrors.r

20 As a dream when one awaketh,

            (So), 0 Lord, when Thou arousest Thyself,s dost Thou

                        despise their image.

21 For my heart grew bitter,

            And I was pricked in my reins;

22 So brutish was I myself and ignorant,

            I became a very beastt before Thee.

23 And yet as for me,—I am always with Thee,

 

     20. AS A DREAM, the unreality

of which is only seen when a man

awakes. Comp. xc. 5; Job xx. 8.

The first member of this verse

is apparently connected by the

LXX., and perhaps by Symm.,

with what goes before, "they are

cut off as a dream," &c.

     WHEN THOU AROUSEST THY-

SELF. The verb in Hebrew is a

different one from that in the pre-

vious clause, although in the E.V.

both are in this passage rendered

by the, same word. In xxxv. 23,

where the two verbs also occur to-

gether, our translators have em-

ployed two different words to ex-

press them, and I have thought it

best to do so here. The figure is

carried on. When God thus awakes

to judgement, the image, the shadow,

of the wicked passes from Him as a

dream from the mind of a sleeper.

He "despises" it, as a man in his

waking moments thinks lightly of

some horrible dream.

    21. FOR. There is no reason to

depart from this, the common

meaning of the particle. (See

Critical Note.) It explains the

whole of the previous struggle. I

was tempted to think thus, for I

brooded over these difficulties till

I became no better than the dumb

cattle. So it ever is. Man does

not show wisdom when he wearies

himself to no purpose with the

moral and speculative problems

which beset him. His highest

wisdom is to stay himself upon

God.

    22. So BRUTISH, lit. "And I

myself (the pronoun is emphatic)

was brutish." Comp. Prov. xxx. 2, 3.

     A VERY BEAST. The noun is in

the plural, which is here used in a

superlative or emphatic sense (see

note on lxviii. 35), so that we need

not render “like the beasts,” still

less "like Behemoth" as though

some particular beast were meant.

     23. The words that follow, in

their exquisite beauty, need not

comment or interpretation, but a

heart in unison with them. They

lift us up above the world, above

doubts, and fears, and perplexities

into a higher and holier atmosphere:

we breathe the air of heaven. The

man who can truly use these words

is not one who has "crushed free

thought," but one who has seen all

his doubts swallowed up in the full

light of God's Love. "Though all

else in heaven and earth should

fail, the one true everlasting Friend

abides."—Ewald.

     It strangely mars the force of

such a passage to limit its appli-

cation to this life. To render the

words of ver. 24 as Grotius and

others do, "Thou shalt receive me

with honour" (in allusion to David

as placed on the throne), or "bring

me to honour," i.e. in this world,

is to rob the whole passage of

its Divine significance. The verb

"Thou shalt take me," is the same

 

                                 PSALM LXXIII.                                    15

 

            Thou hast holden my right hand;

24 Thou wilt guide me in Thy counsel,

            And afterward Thou wilt take me to glory.u

25 Whom have I in heaven (but Thee) ?

            And there is none upon earth in whom I delight beside

                        Thee.

26 (Though) my flesh and my heart fail,

            (Yet) God is the rock of my heart and my portion for

                        ever.

27 For behold they that are far from Thee must perish;

            Thou hast destroyed every orfe that goeth a-whoring

                        from Thee.

28 But as for me, it is good for me to draw near unto God;

            I have made in the Lord Jehovah my refuge,

                        That I may tell of all Thy works.

 

as that employed in xlix. 15 (where

see note), and Gen. v. 24, to which

last passage there is doubtless an

allusion in both places in the

Psalms. But this Psalm is an

advance on Ps. xlix.

    The great difference, though with

essential points of contact, between

the hope of the life to come, as

pourtrayed even in such a passage

as this, and what we read in the

New Testament, will best be under-

stood by comparing the language

here with St. Paul's language in the

4th and 5th chapters of the Second

Epistle to the Corinthians, and the

1st chapter of the Epistle to the

Philippians, ver. 21-23.

    THOU HAST HOLDEN; either im-

plying that thus he had been saved

from falling altogether, when his feet

were almost gone (ver. 2), or per-

haps rather as stating more broadly

the ground of his abiding com-

munion with God, at all times and

under all circumstances. Comp.

lxiii. 8 [9].

    24. THOU WILT GUIDE ME.

"With confidence he commits him-

self to the Divine guidance, though

he does not see clearly the mystery

of the Divine purpose (counsel) in

that guidance."—Delitzsch. It is

because he has forgotten to look to

that counsel, and to trust in that

counsel, that his faith has received

so startling a shack.

    TAKE ME TO GLORY. Others,

“receive me with glory.” (See

Critical Note.)

    25. BUT THEE, or "beside

Thee," lit. "with Thee." These

words are to be supplied from the

next clause, a word or a phrase

belonging to two clauses being com-

monly in Hebrew expressed only in

one.

     THERE IS NONE, &C., lit. "I have

no delight (in any) upon the earth."

    26. FAIL, lit. "have failed," i.e.

"may have failed," the preterite

being here used hypothetically.

     27. The figure is very common.

Israel is the spouse of God, and

idolatry is the breaking of the mar-

riage vow. But here it seems to be

used, not merely of idolatry, but of

departure from God such as that

described in ver. 10.

    28. At the end of this verse the

LXX. add, "in the gates of the

daughter of Zion," whence it has

passed through the Vulgate, into

our Prayer-Book Version.

 

16                                    PSALM LXXIII.

 

            a See Psalm I. notea, and General Introduction, vol. i. pp. 94, 97.

            b j`xa surely, or as it may be rendered, with Mendels. and others, even

more pointedly, nevertheless. The exact force of the particle here has

been best explained by Calvin: "Quod autem abruptum facit exordium,

notare operae pretium est, antequam in hanc vocem erumperet David,

inter dubias et pugnantes sententias aestuasse. Nam ut strenuus athleta

seipsum exercuerat in pugnis difficillimis: postquam vero diu multumque

sudavit, discussis impiis imaginationibus, constituit Deum "amen servis

suis esse propitium, et salutis eorum fidum esse custodem. Ita subest

antithesis inter pravas imaginationes quas suggesserat Satan, et hoc verae

pietatis testimonium quo nunc se confirmat: acsi malediceret carnis suae

sensui qui dubitationem admiserat de providentia Dei. Nunc tenemus

quam emphatica sit exclamatio . . . quasi ex inferis emergeret, pleno

spiritu jactare quam adepts erat victoriam." This has been seen also

by some of the older interpreters (Symmachus, plh<n; Jerome, attamen),

as well as by the Rabbinical and other expositors. In like manner we

have in Latin writers passages beginning with a nam or at, where some-

thing is implied as already existing in the mind of the writer, though not

expressed.

     c yvFn. "The K'thibh is part. pass. sing., either absol. with the accus.

following, or in the stat. constr. yUFn; with the gen., either construction of

the part. pass. being admissible. Comp. 2 Sam. xv. 32 with 2 Sam. xiii.

31; Ezek. ix. 2 with 11 (Ges. § 132). For this the Q'ri very unnecessarily

substitutes 3 pl. perf. Uy.FAnA, but in the full form, which would only be

suitable in pause. In the same way the following hnpw, which is no

doubt hkAP;wu, 3 fem. sing., with the plur. noun yraUwxE (a not uncommon

construction, as in xxxvii. 31, see Ges. § 143, 3), has been just as

unnecessarily corrected in the K'ri to UkP;wu.  It is, however, possible that

the punctuation, ylag;ra and yraUwxE, as plur. depends on the Q'ri of the

verbs, and that these words in the K'thibh are meant to be singular (as

xliv. 19, Job xxxi, 7). So Cler., Hasse, and others."—Hupfeld.

            d MtAOml;. This, as it stands, must mean "for, or at, or belonging to,

their death," i.e. when they die. So the E.V. "in their death," and so

the Welsh : "yn eu marwolaeth." But this, it has been said, does not fall

in with the general scope of the passage, where not the death but the life

of the wicked is described as one that seems enviable. Hence Hupfeld

would render, "till their death," and refers to the use of the prep. in Is.

vii. 15 to justify this interpretation ; but there OTf;dal; means not "till he

knows," but "when he knows," as both Ewald and Knobel take it; and

Drechsler, on the passage, has clearly shown, in opposition to Gesenius,

that the prep. l; is in no instance used to mark duration of time up to a

certain point, and therefore never means until. Bates, quoted by Horsley,

proposed to make of MtAOml; two words, MtA OmlA, joining OmlA with the

first clause, "they have no bonds," and MTA, as an adjective, with what

follows, "souna and fat is their body." This has been adopted by

Strut, Fry, &c., and by Ewald, who defends this sense of MTA (which is

                                PSALM LXXIII.            17

 

nowhere used of physical, but always of moral, soundness), by the use of

the noun MTo in Job xxi. 23 [Delitzsch refers to the similar use of MymiTA,

xviii. 33, Prov. i. 12, but the first of these seems doubtful]. Mendelssohn

supposes Mtvml to be for MtAOmyli, and renders: "Kein Knotten hemmt

ihrer Tage Lauf;" the figure being that of the thread,of life, which, if it

becomes knotted and entangled, is liable to be broken. But retaining

the reading of the present Massoretic text, two interpretations are

possible: (1) "They have no fetters for their death," which may either

mean, if we take fetters (as in Is. lviii. 6, the only other passage in which

the word occurs) in the literal sense, "they are not delivered over bound

to death;" or, if we take it metaphorically, "they have no sufferings,

diseases," &c., which bring them to death. So Hulsius: "Nulla sunt

ipis ligasnenta ad mortem eorum, i.e. nullis calamitatibus, nullis morbis

sunt obnoxii; morbi sunt mortis ligamenta quod in mortis potestatem

homines conjiciant." And Delitzsch, in his first Edition : " Denn keine

Qualen gibts, daran sie stürben." (2) " They have no fetters (i.e. troubles,

cares, sufferings) in their death." In this case the Psalmist is stating

here by anticipation, not his present conviction as to the death of the

wicked, but the view which he once took of it, in a mood of mind which

he afterwards discovered to be wrong. So Aq. ou]k ei]si> duspa<qeiai t&?

qana<t& au]tw?n. It is of importance to observe, however, that Symm. and

Jerome seem to have had a different reading. The former has: o!ti ou]k

e]nequmou?nto peri> qana<tou au]tw?n, the latter: "quod non cogitaverint de

morte sua." Did they read Mybiw;h Nyxe? Or did they intend to explain

the present text in this sense, "They have no troubles, anxious reflections,

&c. with reference to their death?" The Syr. also here, as indeed

throughout the Psalm, differs from the Heb. It has              “there

is no end to their death," the exact meaning of which is not very clear.

The rendering of the LXX. is equally obscure: ou]k e@stin a]na<neusij e]n t&?

qana<t& au]tw?n. With all this variation in the ancient Versions, they agree

in one respect, they all have the word death. But for this, I should be

disposed to accept the alteration of the text proposed above, as the

simplest solution of the difficulty. Delitzsch has now (in his 2d Edit.)

accepted this, and renders: Denn keine Qualen leiden sie, gesund and

mastig ist ihr Wanst.

 

            e MlAUx, from the noun lUx, strength (connected with tUlyAx<, lxe, &c., from

the root lvx), with the suffix, and occurring only here (an alleged plur.

form, 2 Kings xxiv. 15, is doubtful). Symm. and others of the ancient

interpreters, supposed it to be the noun MlAUx, meaning vestibule, portico,

&c., and hence the rendering of Symm., sterea> h#n ta> pro<pula au]tw?n, and

Jerome, vestibula. The LXX. have kai> stere<wma e]n t^? ma<stigi au]tw?n. The

Syr.                             , "and great is their folly," seems to have

read by a confusion of letters MTAAl;Uaxi hbArAv;, but the variations of the Syr.

in this Ps., as in the 56th, are very numerous.

            f Omt;qanAfE, a denominative from qnAfE, a necklace, and occurring in the

Qal only here.

18                               PSALM LXXIII.

            g JFAfEya. The second clause of this verse will admit of four renderings:

(1) tywi may be in constr. with smAHA (comp. Is. lix. 7), "a clothing of

violence," and 10, the object of the verb (which is the construction of

other verbs of clothing, comp. l; hs.AKi, Is. ix. 9); (2) tywi may be the

predicate (which the accent Rebia Geresh would indicate), "violence

covereth them as a garment;" (3) OmlA may belong to smAHA, and the object

of the verb be understood, "their violence covereth (them) as a garment"

[this rendering is most in accordance with the accents]; (4) By an

enallage of number, sing. for plur., "they cover (themselves) with their

own violence as with a garment." So the LXX. perieba<lonto a]diki<an,

Symm. u[perhfani<an h]mfia<santo, and Jerome, Circumdederunt sibi inigui-

tatem.

            h Omneyfe [or Omyneyfe, which is found in some MSS. the dual noun being

with the sing. verb. Stier, indeed, maintains that this is the only correct

form, as Om-e is not used with a singular noun, but we have Omyneyxe; in ver. 5,

which is only a plena scriptio for Omneyxe, Nyixa having no plural], lit. "their

eye goeth forth (looks out proudly) from fatness (i.e. a sleek countenance)."

Comp. Job xv. 27. Aq. e]ch?lqon a]po> ste<atoj o]fqalmoi> au]tw?n, and Symm.

proe<pipton a]po> liparo<thtoj (al. e]c^<esan a]po> li<pouj) oi[ o]fq. au]t., take ‘yf as

plural. Ewald, Hupfeld, and others, following the LXX. e]celeu<setai w[j

e]k ste<atoj h[ a]diki<a au]tw?n, would read OmneOfE, "their iniquity," or without

changing the word, would take Nyf here to stand for Nvf, as in Zech. v. 6,

and the Q'ri in Hos. x. to. (And so the Syr.          .)  They also take bl,He, as in xvii.

10, in the sense of heart, or as Ewald renders, aus feistem Innern, the word fatness

denoting a stupid, insensible heart. And so Ges. Thes. in v.

            i UqymiyA.  The word occurs only here. It is doubtless to be connected

with the Aramaic Eng. mock. Comp. the Greek, mu?koj, mukth<r, the

nose, as expressing scorn; mukthri<zw, &c. So Symm., katamwkw<menoi, and

Jerome, irriserunt. The Chald., Rabb., and others, wrongly connected the

word with qqm, either (1) trans. "they make to melt, i.e. afflict, others ;"

or as the P. B. V., "they corrupt other;" or (2) "they melt away, i.e.

they are dissolute, corrupt," &c.

            k j`lahETi, as in Ex. ix. 23, for j`leTe, though it looks almost like an

abbreviated Hithpael, a form which would be peculiarly suitable here in

its common meaning, grassari. UTwa in the first clause of the verse is

for UtwA, as in xlix. 15, and with the tone on the ult. The perfect, followed

by the future, shows that the second clause is subordinated to the first:

"They have set, &c., whilst their tongue goeth," &c. The construction is

the same as in ver. 3.

            I bywy.  If we retain the K'thlbh, we must assume that the sing. is here

put for the plur., the subject being virtually the same as that of the plur.

verbs in ver. 7, 8, only that now these prosperous sinners are regarded

singly, not collectively. " He, i.e. one and another of these proud,

ungodly men, makes his people (those whom he draws after him) turn

hither, i.e. copy his example;" or, more generally, "one turns his people,"

which is equivalent to the passive, "his people are turned." Hence the

                                         PSALM  LXXIII.                                                   19

 

Q'ri, according to which Om.fa is the subject, is unnecessary. Phillips, who

adopts the Q'ri, refers the suffix to Jehovah. His people, i.e. the people

of God. And so the Chald., and Abulwalid, and the LXX. who have o[

lao<j mou.

            m Ucm.Ayi, from the root hcm, to wring out, to drain. The verb is several

times used with htw, to drink, in order to convey the idea of draining to

the dregs. So in lxxv. 9, Is. li. 17, Ezek. xxiii. 34. It is used of wringing

out (a) the dew from the fleece, in Judg. vi. 38; (b) the blood of the

sacrifices, Lev. i. 15, v. 9. Our Version has everywhere employed wring

out as the equivalent, except in Ezek., where it has suck out. Mendelssohn

renders:--

            Bethöret folgt ihm das Volk in ganzen Haufen,

                        Strömt ihm, wie Wasserfluthen, nach.

In the Biur, "waters to the full" is explained to mean "the waters of a

full river, which rush along with strength," and to be used as a figure or

comparison; "so the men of their generation run after them;" and Ucm.Ay  

is said to be for Uxc;m.Ayi, the x being dropt, as in Num. xi. 11, and Ezek.

xxviii. 16. So this word was taken, too, by the older interpreters. The

LXX h[merai>  (reading ymey;) plhrei?j e]neuretqh<sontai e]n au]toi?j. Sym. kai>

diadoxh> plh<rhj eu[reqh<setai e]n au]toi?j. Jerome, quis (ymi) plenus invenietur in eis.

            n yTer;maxA. The word, Hupfeld thinks, is out of place. What is the

meaning, he asks, " If I had said (or thought, i.e. said to myself) let me

declare thus"? Not the forming the purpose to speak so, but the

speaking so itself, would have been the treachery against the children of

God. And therefore he would transpose the word either before the

particle Mxi, "I said (thought) if I should declare thus," &c., or to the

beginning of ver. 13. See on xxxii. note c. But is it not possible that

yTir;maxA may stand parenthetically: "If (methought) I should declare

thus"?

            o OmK;. If the reading be correct, this word must here stand as an

abverb, in the sense so, thus =NKe, a meaning, however, in which it never

occurs anywhere else. [Maurer, however, contends for this as the

primary meaning, K; being abbreviated from NKe and Om = hmA, indefinite,

quidquam; hence the compound Omk;. means tale quid.]  Some would

punctuate OmKA, and suppose it to stand for Mh,KA, like them (the persons

mentioned before), or like these things (such words as those just repeated),

but this form, again, is never found. Ewald would read hnA.heOmK;, and

supposes the hn.Ahe to have been dropt out because of the following hne.hi,

and we must either adopt this supposition, or with Ges., Hupf., and Del.

conclude that the word OmKi is here used abnormally as an adverb, as the

older interpreters take it. LXX. ei] e@legon, dihgh<somai ou!twj. Aq. (perhaps

Symm.), Theod., ei] e]. d. toiau?ta. Del. compares the elliptical use of the

prep. lfaK; Is. lix. 18, and the absolute use in Hos. vii. 16, xi. 7.

            p hbAw;HaxEva. The punctuation of the v with Pathach here, instead of

Qametz, appears to be arbitrary. Delitzsch, indeed, draws a distinction,

20                               PSALM LXXIII.

 

and says that with vA the word would mean et cogilavi, whereas with it

means et cogitabam (or, which would be unsuitable here, et cogitare volo).

But in other passages where this last form occurs, as lxix. 21; Judg. vi. 9;

Job xxx. 26, it is joined either with another verb in the fut., with vA, or

with a verb in the pret., without any mark of difference of time. There

is more force in what Del. says as to the cohortative form of the fut.,

which often serves, without a particle of condition, to introduce the

protasis. (See on xlii. note c.) So here we might render, "And when

(or if) I thought to understand," &c., kai> ei] e]logizo<mhn, as Aq. and Theod.

            In the next clause it is unimportant whether we adopt the K'thbh xyhi,

or the Q'ri xUh. The former may refer more immediately to the preceding

txoz, and the latter to the whole preceding sentence, but either must be

taken equally in a neuter sense.

            q tOxUwma occurs again only in lxxiv. 3. It is related, as Hupf. remarks,

to such forms as hxAOwm;, and the like, but is not to be derived from hxw,

as if it were for tOxUxwma, "an impossible form," but from a root xwn,

with the common interchange of letters in weak stems. (See next note.)

The LXX. kate<balej au]tou>j e]n t&? e]parqh?nai, connecting the word with the

root xWn).

            r tOhlA.Ba. The noun is apparently by transposition of letters for hlAhAB,

It occurs once in the sing. in Is. xvii. 14, elsewhere only in Job and

Ezekiel, and there always in the plur.

            s ryfiBA. So far as the grammatical form goes, this might mean in the

city, as the ancient interpreters understood (whence our P. B. V., but in

defiance of grammar, "Thou shalt make their image vanish out of the

city"). But the sense is not suitable. The word is evidently a contracted

form of the Hiphil infin. for ryfihAB;, and is used intransitively, as in xxxv.

23. For other instances of this contracted infin. see Jer. xxxix. 7; 2

Chron. xxxi. 10; Prov. xxiv. 17.

            t yKi. According to Hupfeld, this introduces the protasis "when my

heart," &c., the apodosis beginning with 1 in ver. 22, and the imperfects

(futures) being relative preterites. Similarly Ewald. But I know of no

instance by which such a construction can be defended. Commonly

when yKi introduces the protasis, followed by a verb in the future, that

tense is used in its proper future (not its imperfect) meaning. Comp.

lxxv. 3; 2 Chron. vi. 28. Delitzsch, feeling this, supposes that the

Psalmist is speaking, not of the past, but of a possible return of his

temptation, and renders, si exacerbaretur animus meus aique in renibus

meis pungerer, " if my mind should grow bitter, &c. . . . then I should

be," &c. But I cannot see why, if be taken simply as a conjunction,

(LXX., Aq., o!ti) for, and not as governing the clause, the verbs may not

be regarded as imperfects, describing continued past action. The first

verb means, properly, "to turn acid" (lit. "make itself acid"). Flam.,

acescere, Call, acidum esse instar fermenti. Perhaps Aq. meant this by

his rendering e]turou?to. The second is also strictly a reflexive, "to prick

                                          PSALM LXXIV.                                      21

 

oneself." Both verbs, misunderstood by the ancient interpreters, were

first rightly explained by Rashi.

            u 't dObKA. The Hebrew will admit of the rendering, "Thou wilt

receive me with glory" (accus. of instrument). So the LXX. meta> do<chj

prosela<bou me. Symm. takes 'K as the nominative, and the verb as in the

3d pers., kai> u!steron timh> diede<cato< me. Contrary to the accents, others

would take rHaxa as a prep. (referring to Zech. ii. 12, which is not really

analogous): "Thou leadest me after glory," i.e. as my aim (Ew. Hitz), or

"in the train of glory" (Hengst.). But the other interpretation, "to

glory," i.e. "to the everlasting glory of God's presence," is far better.

rHx is an adverb, as in Gen. x. 18, xxx. 21, Prov. xx. 17, and many other

places. On the use of the verb Hql in this sense, see xlix. 16. The whole

context is in favour of the rendering "to glory."

 

 

 

 

                                         PSALM LXXIV.

 

            THIS Psalm and the Seventy-ninth both refer to the same calamity,

and were, it may reasonably be conjectured, written by the same

author. Both Psalms deplore the rejection of the nation, the occu-

pation of Jerusalem by a foreign army, and the profanation of the

Sanctuary: but the Seventy-fourth dwells chiefly on the destruction

of the Temple; the Seventy-ninth on the terrible slaughter of the

inhabitants of Jerusalem. Assuming that both Psalms refer to the

same event, we have to choose between two periods of Jewish

history, and only two, to which the language of the sacred Poet

could reasonably refer. The description might apply either to the

invasion of Nebuchadnezzar, or to the insolent oppression of An-

tiochus Epiphanes; and with one or other of these two occasions

it has been usually connected.

            That no presumption can be raised against the latter of these

dates from the history of the Canon, I have already shown in the

General Introduction to Vol. I. pp. 17-19, and in the Introduction

to Ps. xliv.; and there are, more particularly in this Psalm, some

expressions which are most readily explained on the supposition that

it was composed in the time of the Maccabees.

            (a) One of these is the complaint (ver. 9), "There is no prophet

any more." It is difficult to understand how such a complaint could

have been uttered when Jeremiah and Ezekiel were both living; or

22                                  PSALM LXXIV.

 

with what truth it could be added, "Neither is there any among us

who knoweth how long," when Jeremiah had distinctly foretold that

the duration of the Captivity should be seventy years (Jer. xxv. 11,

xxix. 10).* On the other hand, such words are perfectly natural in

the mouth of a poet of the Maccabean age. For 250 years, from

the death of Malachi, the voice of Prophecy had been silent. During

that long interval, no inspired messenger had appeared to declare

and to interpret the will of God to His people. And how keenly

sensible they were of the greatness of their loss in this respect, we

learn from the frequent allusions to it in the First Book of Maccabees

(iv. 46, ix. 27,  xiv. 41). The language of this Psalm, then, is but

the expression of what we know to have been the national feeling

at that time.

            (b) Another feature of this Psalm is the description of the pro-

fanation of the Sanctuary, and the erection there of the signs (ver. 4),

the military standards or religious emblems, of the heathen. The

Book of Maccabees presents the same picture. There we read that

Antiochus, on his return from the second Egyptian campaign, "en-

tered proudly into the Sanctuary, and took away the golden altar, and

the candlestick of light, and all the vessels thereof" (i. 21). Two

years later, the king sent a division of his army against Jerusalem,

which fell upon the city and having made a great slaughter of the

inhabitants, plundered it, set it on fire, pulled down the houses and

walls, and carried away captive women, and children, and cattle. A

strong garrison was placed in the city of David, the sanctuary was

polluted, and the sabbaths and festival days profaned. The abomina-

tion of desolation was set up on the altar, and sacrifice offered "on

the idol altar, which was upon the altar of God." (I Macc. i. 30-

53. See also ii. 8-12, iii. 48-51.)

            On the other hand it has been urged, that there is nothing in

the language of the Psalm inconsistent with the supposition that it

refers to the Chaldean invasion. The desolation of Jerusalem and

the profanation of the sanctuary are described in terms quite as

suitable to that event. Indeed, one part of the description, "They

have cast Thy sanctuary into the fire," ver. 7, it is argued, would

only hold good of the destruction of the temple of the Chaldeans.

Antiochus Epiphanes plundered the temple, but did not burn it. On

the contrary, we are particularly informed that not the temple itself,

but the gates of the temple (I Macc. iv. 38; 2 Macc. viii. 33) and

the porch of the temple (2 Macc. i. 8), were burned, nor is the

 

            * It has been suggested to me by a friend, that this complaint would

not be unsuitable to the time of Esar-haddon's invasion (2 Chron. xxxiii.

11). That period was singularly barren in prophets.

                                      PSALM LXXIV.                                      23

 

complete destruction of the whole building implied in the same way

as it is in the Psalm.

            It has also been contended that even the complaint of the cessation

of prophecy is not absolutely at variance with the older date, pro-

vided we suppose that the Psalm was written during the Exile, when

both Jeremiah and Ezekiel had ceased to prophesy, and before

Daniel entered upon his office. (So Delitzsch; and Calvin admits

this to be possible). Tholuck, however, observes that ver. to, 18,

23, lead us to infer that the Chaldean army was still in the land, and

even in Jerusalem itself, and therefore that the Psalm must have been

written when Jeremiah had already been carried away in chains to

Ramah, on his way to Babylon (Jer. xl. 1). He suggests further,

that these words (and the same may be said of the words which

immediately follow, "Neither is there any among us who knoweth,"

&c.) need not be taken in their exact literal meaning. The deep

sorrow of the poet would lead him to paint the picture in colours

darker and gloomier than the reality. Seventy years—who could

hope to see the end of that weary length of captivity?—who knew

if the end would ever come? Such was the language of despondency.

To one who refused to be comforted, the end promised was as

though it were not.

            Further, both Jeremiah and Ezekiel, it has been observed, indulge

in a similar strain. Thus the former sings: "Her gates are sunk

into the ground; He hath destroyed and broken her bars: her king

and her princes are among the Gentiles:  the Law is no more; her

prophets also find no vision from Jehovah" (Lam. ii. 9). And the

latter threatens: "Then shall they seek a vision of the prophet:

but the law shall perish from the priest, and counsel from the

ancients" (Ezek. vii. 26). Neither of these passages, however, so

absolutely denies the existence of a prophet as that in the Psalm.

One other expression in the Psalm, ver. 3, "Lift up Thy feet to the

everlasting ruins," seems, it must be confessed, most suitable in the

mouth of an exile during the Babylonish captivity.

            The relation both of this Psalm and the Seventy-ninth to the

writings of Jeremiah, presents another difficulty. Jeremiah x. 25

is almost word for word the same as Ps. lxxix. 6, 7. Again, Lam.

ii. 2 resembles lxxiv. 7, and Lam. ii. 7 is very similar to lxxiv. 41

and, as we have already seen, there is at least a point of connexion.

between lxxiv. 9 and Lam. ii. 9; besides these, other minor simi-

larities may be observed, on a comparison of the Psalmist with the

Prophet. Now we know that it is the habit of Jeremiah to quote

largely and frequently from other writers, and in particular from the

Psalms and the Prophets. But on either of the hypotheses above

24                                 PSALM LXXIV.

 

mentioned, as to the date of our two Psalms, the writer of these must

have imitated the language of Jeremiah. This is, of course, quite

possible. A similar problem, and a very interesting one, arises out

of the relation of Jeremiah to the later chapters of Isaiah xl.—lxvi.

That one of the two writers was familiar with the other, is beyond

a doubt.

            On the whole, I am inclined to think that this Psalm may be most

naturally explained by events that took place in the time of the

Maccabees. If, in any particular, the language seems too strong as

applied to that time—as, for instance, the description of the burning

of the temple—this may be as readily explained by poetic exaggera-

tion, as ver. 9 is so explained by those who hold the opposite view.

Or perhaps, as Calvin suggests, the writer, overcome by the mournful

spectacle before his eyes, could not but carry back his thoughts to

the earlier catastrophe, and thence borrowed some images, blending

in his imagination the two calamities in one.

            The Psalm does not consist of any regular system of strophes.

            It opens with a cry of complaint, and a prayer that God would

remember His people in their desolation. Ver. 1-3.

            It then pictures the triumph of the enemy, the destruction of the

sanctuary, and the loss of Divine counsel in the day of peril. Ver.

4-9.

            Then again there is an appeal to God for help (Ver. 10, 11), and

a calling to mind of God's past wonders on behalf of His people,

and of His Almighty power as seen in the world of Nature. Ver.

12-17.

            And finally, based upon this, a prayer that God would not suffer

reproach to be brought upon His own Name, by the triumph of the

heathen over His people, Ver. 22, 23.

 

 

                               [A MASCHIL OF ASAPH.a]

 

1 0 GOD, why hast Thou cast (us) off for ever,

            (Why) doth Thine anger smoke against the sheep of

                        Thy pasture?

 

    I. HAST THOU CAST OFF. See

note on xliv. 9. The object here may

be supplied from the next clause,

viz. "the sheep of Thy pasture."

    WHY DOTH THINE ANGER

SMOKE. For the figure, compare

xviii, 8 [9], where see note. There

is a change in the tenses, the pre-

terite in the first clause being used

to denote the act of casting off, the

future (present) here to denote the

continuance of the same. See on

xliv. 9.

    SHEEP OF THY PASTURE; a

favourite figure in those Psalms

which are ascribed to Asaph. (See

 

 

                                  PSALM LXXIV.                               25

 

2 Remember Thy congregation which Thou hast pur-

                        chased of old,

            Which Thou hast ransomed to beb the tribe of Thine

                        inheritance,

            (And) the mount Zion wherein Thou hast dwelt.

Introduction, Vol. I. p. 97.) It is

found also in Jer. xxiii. 1. The

name contains in itself an appeal to

the compassion and tender care of

the shepherd. Can the shepherd

slay his sheep?

     2. THOU HAST PURCHASED .

THOU HAST RANSOMED. Both

verbs contain in themselves a rea-

son why God should remember His

people. The first verb (kanah) may

mean only to get, to acquire, the idea

of a price paid for the acquisition

being not necessarily contained in

the word. So Gen. iv. 1, "I have

gotten a man with (the help of)

Jehovah:" Gen. xiv. 22, "the most

High God, possessor of heaven and

earth;" Prov. viii. 22, "Jehovah

possessed me in the beginning of

His way." And Jerome renders

here possedisti and the LXX. e]kth<sw.

Exactly analogous is the use of the

Greek peripoiei?sqai. Acts xx. 28,

"The church of God which He

purchased (acquired) with His own

blood." 1 Tim. iii. 13: "Purchase

(acquire) to themselves a good

degree." Comp. Eph. i. 14, and 1

Thess. v. 9, where see Vaughan's

note. The second verb (ga-al, to

ransom, whence goel,) from a root

meaning to loosen [see Fürst's Con-

cord.], is the technical word for

every kind of redemption under the

Law, whether of fields (Lev. xxv.

25), tithes (Lev. xxvii. 31, 33),

or slaves (Lev. xxv. 48, 49). The

next of kin was called Goël, be-

cause on him devolved the duty of

redeeming land which his poor re-

lation had been compelled to sell

(Lev. xxv. 25), and also because on

him fell the obligation of redeem-

ing, demanding satisfaction for, the

murder of a kinsman. (Num. xxxv.

12, 19, and often.)

    A third word is common in He-

brew, padah, which means properly

to separate, and then to loosen, and

so to redeem, as in Dent. ix 26,

"Thine inheritance which Thou

hast redeemed." This word is also

employed, but more rarely, in the

technical sense of the redemption

of the first-born of animals for

instance (Ex. xiii. 13, xxxiv. 20).

Both this and the verb ga-al are

frequently used of the deliverance

from Egypt and from Babylon.

    OF OLD, as in xliv. 2, with refer-

ence, doubtless, to the deliverance

from Egyptian bondage.

     THE TRIBE. Such is, apparently,

the meaning of the word here, the

whole nation being regarded, not as

many tribes, but as one tribe, pro-

bably in reference to other nations.

The same expression occurs besides

only in Jeremiah x. 16, and li. 19,

whereas in Isaiah lxiii. 17 we have

the plural form, "the tribes of Thine

inheritance." The E. V. has here

" rod of thine inheritance," and so

Luther, Calvin, and others, and the

word frequently means rod, staff

as in xxiii. 4), sceptre (as in x1v. 6

]), &c., but here it is usually ex-

plained to mean measuring-rod, and

so the portion measured out — a

meaning, however, in which the

word never occurs. Jerome explains

it by sceptre, and so Theophylact,

dhloi? de> h[ r[a<bdoj th>n basilei<an.

     The CONGREGATION represents

the people in their religious aspect,

THE TRIBE in their national and

political aspect, or as distinct from

other nations (Del.) cf. Jer. x. 16, li.

19, with Is. lxiii. 17. The two great

facts, the redemption from Egypt,

and God's dwelling in the midst of

them, the one of which was pre-

paratory to the other, seem here, as

in the Sixty-eighth Psalm, to sum

up all their history.

 

26                           PSALM LXXIV.

3 Lift up Thy feet unto the everlasting ruins!c

            The enemy hath laid waste all in the sanctuary;

4 Thine adversaries have roared in the midst of Thine

                        assembly;d

            They have set up their signs as signs.

    3. LIFT UP THY FEET (lit. foot-

steps, the word being a poetical

one), i.e. "come speedily to visit

those ruins which seem as though

they would never be repaired." A

similar phrase (though the words in

the original are different) occurs in

Gen. xxix. 1, where it is said of

Jacob, that after his vision, "he

lifted up his feet," a phrase "which

in Eastern language still signifies to

walk quickly, to reach out, to be in

good earnest, not to hesitate."—

Kitto, Bible Illustrations, i. 305.

    EVERLASTING, the same word as

in ver. I, "for ever," i.e. which

seem to human impatience, looking

forward as if they would never be

built again. In Is. lxi. 4, "the ever-

lasting ruins," (where, however, the

Hebrew words are different) are so

called, looking back on the long

past continuance of the desolation.

      IN THE SANCTUARY. This is

his greatest grief. His country has

been laid waste with fire and sword,

his friends slain or carried into

captivity, but there is no thought so

full of pain as this, that the holy

and beautiful house wherein his

fathers worshipt has been plundered

and desecrated by a heathen sol-

diery. Instead of the psalms, and

hymns, and sacred anthems which

once echoed within those walls, has

been heard the brutal shout of the

fierce invaders, roaring like lions

(such is the meaning of the word in

the next verse) over their prey.

Heathen emblems, military and re-

ligious, have displaced the emblems

of Jehovah. The magnificent

carved work of the temple, such

as the Cherubim, and the palms,

and the pillars, with pomegranates

and lily-work (i Kings vi. 15, &c .,

if the allusion be to the first temple)

which adorned it, have been hewed

down as remorselessly as a man

would cut down so much wood in

the forest. And then that splendid

pile, so full of sacred memories, so

dear to the heart of every true

Israelite, has been set on fire, and

left to perish in the flames. Such

is the scene as it passes again

before the eyes of his mind.

    4. THINE ASSEMBLY, i.e. here

evidently "a place of assembly," a

word originally applied to the Mo-

saic tabernacle, and afterwards to

the great national festivals. Here

it would seem the temple is meant.

Comp. Lam. ii. 6, where the word

occurs in both senses. "He hath

destroyed His assembly (or temple;

E.V. His places of assembly) . . .

He hath caused to be forgotten

solemn feast, and sabbath," &c. It

comes from a root signifying to fix

to establish, &c., and hence is used

both of a fixed time (see on 1xxv. 2)

and a fixed place.

     THEIR SIGNS. An emphasis

lies on the pronoun, comp. ver. 9.

I have retained the literal rendering,

together with the ambiguity of the

original. These were either mili-

tary ensigns, standards, trophies,

and the like (as in Num. ii. 2 ff.), the

temple having been turned into

a barrack; or, religious emblems,

heathen rites and ceremonies, per-

haps even idols, by which the

temple and altar of Jehovah were

profaned. (In this last sense the

words would aptly describe the

state of things under Antiochus

Epiphanes. Comp. I Macc. i. 54

and 59," Now the five-and-twentieth

day of the month they did sacrifice

upon the idol altar, which was upon

the altar of God." Again in chap.

iii. 48, it is said that "the heathen

had sought to paint the likeness of

their images" in the book of the

 

                                  PSALM LXXIV.                                27

 

5 It seemse as though one lifted up on high

            Axes against the thickets of the wood:

6 And now the carved work thereof f altogether

            With hatchet and hammers they break down.

7 They have set Thy sanctuary on fire;

            They have profaned the dwelling-place of Thy Name

                        (even) unto the earth.

8 They have said in their heart: "Let us make havocg

                        of them altogether."

            They have burnt up all the housesh of God in the land.

 

Law.) This last sense is further

confirmed by the use of the word

in ver. 9. But both meanings may

be combined, the word sign being

here used in its most general sense

of all symbols of a foreign power

of whatever kind. So Geier, "ita

ut accipiatur pro indicio potestatis

alienae, quae est turn politica, tum  

religiosae: ita namque hostes muta-

verant quoque signa priora, quibus

turn Dei, turn magistratus proprii

jurisdictio ac veneratio designa-

batur."

     5. This verse has been com-

pletely misunderstood by our trans-

lators, who have here followed

Calvin, as well as by nearly all the

older interpreters. It does not de-

scribe the preparation once made

for building the temple, by hewing

down cedars in the forest of Leb-

anon, but it compares the scene of

ruin in the interior, the destruction

of the carved work, &c., to the wide

gap made in some stately forest by

the blows of the woodman's axe.

See the use of the same figure, Jer.

xlvi. 22. Buchanan's paraphrase

gives the true meaning:--

    AEdis ruentis it fragor:

Quales sub altis murmurant quercus

        jugis

Caesa bipenni quum ruunt.

      IT SEEMS, lit. "it is known,

makes itself known, appears," &c.,

as in Gen. xli. 21; Ex. xxi. 36, xxxiii.

16.  Or possibly, "he, i.e. the

enemy, makes himself known as

one who lifts up," &c.

     7. THEY HAVE SET ON FIRE, lit.

"They have cast into the fire."

Hupfeld compares the German, "in

Brand legen, stecken," and the

French, "mettre a feu."

    THEY HAVE PROFANED . . . UNTO

THE EARTH, i.e. "by casting it to

the earth," as the expression is filled

up in the E. V., but in the P. B. V.

the English idiom is made to adapt

itself to the Hebrew, and this I have

followed. We have a similar con-

struction in lxxxix. 39 [4o], "Thou

hast defiled his crown to the earth,"

i.e. by casting it to the earth. For

the fuller expression, on the other

hand, see Lam. ii. 2.

     8. ALL THE HOUSES OF GOD IN

THE LAND, lit. "all the assemblies,"

which must here mean " places of

assembly," as in ver. 4, and Lam.

ii. 6. The work of devastation

does not stop short with the temple.

The plain meaning of the words is

that there were many other places

for religious worship in the land

besides the temple, and that these, as

well as the temple, were destroyed.

All attempts to get rid of this mean-

ing are utterly futile. It is as-

sumed that this Psalm refers to

the Chaldean invasion, and as we

hear of no synagogues or legalized

holy places before the Exile, there-

fore it is said the temple must be

meant, the plural being here used

for the singular. It is quite true

 

28                       PSALM LXXIV.

 

9 Our signs we see not; there is no prophet any more,

            Neither is there with us any who knoweth how long.

that we have other plural forms

applied to the temple. Thus in

xxiii. 3, "Thy tabernacles," lxxii. 17,

"the sanctuaries of God," the plural

being used to denote the several

parts, courts, chambers, &c., of the

one building. But it is not only the

plural word that we have here, but

the far wider phrase, "all the places

of assembly in the land." Hupfeld

tries to escape from this difficulty

by saying that all the previous

different names of the sanctuary

are finally comprised in one—that

one house which may be called

"all the houses of God," because it

represents and is the substitute for

all and he attempts to defend this

by Is. iv. 5, where, however, "every

dwelling-place," and "her assem-

blies," are expressly confined to

"Mount Zion." Mendelssohn has

a similar explanation, except that

he supposes the expression to be

used from the point of view of the

enemy:  "They say in their heart,

that by destroying this house, we

shall destroy all the assemblies of

God together:  "Israel having but

one sanctuary, while all other nations

build houses of assembly for their

gods in every city and district.

But all this is the merest trifling,

and it is surprising that commen-

tators of unquestioned ability should

have recourse to such strained in-

terpretations. Such interpretations

are unnecessary, even on the as-

sumption that this Psalm refers to

the Chaldean invasion. Before that

time synagogues are not mentioned,

it is true, nor indeed are they in the

Books of the Maccabees; still it is

scarcely credible that even before

the Exile there were no houses of

God, no places for religious worship,

except the temple in Jerusalem.

Without holding, as Vitringa sur-

mised and as others have thought,

that sacred places, such as those

consecrated by the patriarchs and

others, in earlier times—Ramah,

Bethel, Gilgal, Shiloh--are meant,

or "the high places" (see 2 Chi..

xxxiii. 17; comp. I Kings xviii. 30,

from which it appears that in

[? before] Elijah's time there was an

altar of Jehovah on Mount Carmel),

there must have been buildings

where it was customary to meet,

especially on the Sabbath (which

in Lev. xxiii. 3 is called "an holy

convocation), and to pray, turn-

ing towards Jerusalem. There must

surely have been some public wor-

ship beyond the limits of the family,

and if so, places, houses, for its

celebration. If, however, the Psalm

be of the age of the Maccabees,

there is no difficulty, for before

that time, there can be little doubt,

synagogues were established. Our

translators would seem, by their

rendering "synagogues," to have

regarded this as a Maccabean

Psalm. See more in Critical Note.

    9. OUR SIGNS, i.e. the sign of

God's dominion and presence in

the midst of us. Taken in connexion

with what immediately follows,

"There is no prophet," &c., these

may mean miraculous signs, in

which sense the word frequently

occurs. Or it may only denote

here religious emblems, which were

displaced to make room for the

signs of the heathen. See ver. 4.

    No PROPHET. Such a com-

plaint seems most suitable to the

time of the Maccabees, when, in

fact, the complaint was frequent.

See Introduction to the Psalm.

    Stier draws attention to the em-

phatic way in which the lament

here closes: no signs—religion de-

stroyed and rooted out: no prophet

—to announce approaching con-

solation, or to begin the work of

restoration; none of us all there-

fore knows how long this sad state

of things shall last. The latter ex-

pression refers, not to the prophet

(as Hupfeld), but to the mass of

the people.

                             PSALM LXXIV.                              29

 

10 How long, 0 God, shall the adversary reproach?

            Shall the enemy despise Thy name for ever?

11 Why withdrawest Thou Thy hand, even Thy right hand?

            (Pluck it out) from the midst of Thy bosom, consume

                        (them)!

12 Surely God is my King of old,

            Working deliverances in the midst of the earth;

13 THOU didst divide the sea through Thy strength,

            Thou brakest the heads of the monsters upon the

                        waters.

 

10. Taking up that word, How

long? the Psalmist turns with it to

God, beseeching Him not to suffer

this reproach to be cast upon His

Name. Twice the same appeal is

made, see verses 18 and 22. This

holy jealousy for the honour of God,

as bound up with His people's de-

liverance, is characteristic of the

Old Testament. The feeling is

strikingly exemplified in the prayers

of Moses, Ex. xxxii. 12, 13; Num.

xiv. 13-16; Deut. ix. 28, comp.

xxxii. 27.

    II. WHY WITHDRAWEST THOU,

lit. "Why makest Thou to return,"

i.e. into Thy bosom. See Ex. iv. 7,

where the full expression occurs: it

denotes, of course, a state of inac-

tivity, the hand being enveloped in

the ample folds of the Eastern robe.

     (PLUCK IT OUT.) It seems neces-

sary to supply the ellipse in this

way. The construction is a pregnant

one, similar to that which we have

already had in ver. 7. For the ab-

solute use of the verb, CONSUME,

comp. lix. 13 [14]. It may either be

rendered as above, or perhaps as

Meyer, Stier, and others, "Make an

end," i.e. of this state of things.

    12. SURELY, or, "and yet," in

spite of this seeming inactivity. The

appeal rests, first, on the fact that

God has already manifested His

power in signal instances on behalf

of His people, and next, on the

dominion of God as Creator and

absolute Ruler of the universe.

     MY KING, expressive of the strong

personal feeling of the Psalmist. See

note on xliv. 4, and comp. Hab. i. 12,

where in like manner the Prophet

claims his own covenant relation to

God, whilst speaking as the re-

presentative of the people, "Art

Thou not for everlasting, O Jeho-

vah my God, my Holy one?—we

shall not die."

    13-15. Special instances of God's

wonder-working power in the pass-

age of the Red Sea, in bringing

water from the rock, and in the

passage of the Jordan.

   13. THE MONSTERS. (Symma-

chus, tw?n khtw?n, the whales). A sym-

bolical description of the Egyptians.

Comp. Is. li. 9, and Ezek. xxix. 3,

where Pharaoh is called the "mon-

ster which is in the sea." The E.V.

has in all these places, "dragon" as

the equivalent word. Here the

LXX. have dra<kwn, to express both

this word and Leviathan in the

next clause. The same Hebrew

word, tannin, is employed again

cxlviii. 7, and also Gen. i. 21 (where

it is rendered whales), to denote

huge sea-monsters, lit. creatures

extended, stretched out, hence ser-

pents, crocodiles, &c. Perhaps the

crocodile (as in the next verse

Leviathan) is meant here as em-

blematic of Egypt. The head of

the monster has been smitten, and

the huge unwieldy carcase lies

floating on the waters.

    The plural HEADS has been sup-

 

30                           PSALM LXXIV.

 

14 THOU didst crush the heads of Leviathan,

            That Thou mightest give him as food to the people

                        inhabiting the wilderness:

15 THOU didst cleave fountain and brook;

            THOU driedst up everflowing rivers.

16 Thine is the day, Thine also is the night,

            THOU hast established the light and the sun.

17 THOU hast set all the borders of the earth:

 

posed to refer to Pharaoh and his

princes, as in next ver., but it may

be only poetic amplification.

    14. LEVIATHAN, i.e. the crocodile,

as in Job xl. 25 (x1i. 1. E. V.). In

what sense is this said to be given

as food to the people inhabiting the

wilderness? Bochart, who is fol-

lowed by Hengstenberg and others,

supposes that the allusion is to the

Ichthyophagi who, according to

Agatherides, fed on the sea-mon-

sters which were thrown up on

their shores. Comp. Herod. ii. 69.

Similarly, the LXX. render laoi?j

toi?j Ai]qi<oyi. Others, again, think

that by the people inhabiting the

wilderness are meant the Israelites,

to whom the Egyptians, are said,

figuratively, to be given as food,

i.e. as plunder. But by far the

simplest way is to understand the

passage as meaning that the corpses

of the Egyptians were cast upon the

shore, and so became the prey

of the wild beast, which are here

called a people inhabiting the wil-

derness, as in Prov. xxx. 25, 26,

the ants and the conies are called

"a people." Comp. also Joel i. 6,

Zeph. ii. 14.

    INHABITING THE WILDERNESS.

On this word see on lxxii. note.b

   15. THOU DIDST CLEAVE FOUN-

TAIN, &c. Another instance of a

pregnant construction: for "Thou

didst cleave the rock, whence foun-

tain and brook issued forth." Comp.

lxxviii. 15; Hab. iii. 9. The re-

ference, is, no doubt, to Exod.

xvii. 6.

     THOU DRIEDST UP. The same

word is used, Josh. ii. 10, of the

Red Sea, and iv. 23, v. i, of the

Jordan.

    EVERFLOWING RIVERS, literally

LL streams of constant flow." The

same word occurs in Exod. xiv. 27,

"The sea returned to its constant

flow, its usual current." See also

Deut. xxi 4; Amos v. 24. Here the

Jordan is meant, the plural being

used, not to denote the several

streams by which it is fed (as Qim-

chi), but merely by way of poetic

amplification. Aq. potamou>j stereou<j.

Sym. p. a]rxai<ouj.

     16. From the wonders wrought

by God on behalf of His people in

their history, the Poet rises to the

wider view of His ever-continued,

ever-displayed power and majesty

in the world of nature. The miracle

does not lead him to forget God's

power and goodness in that which

is not miraculous. The one is rather

a witness to, and an instance of, the

other.

    LIGHT, or rather "luminary,"

corresponding to the Greek fwsth<r

(which Aquila employs here). It is

the same word which occurs in Gen.

i. 14, 16, and is there rendered

"lights.". The singular is used col-

lectively for the plural, all the hea-

venly bodies being meant, and then

of these the sun is named as chief.

In the same way we have, as Hup-

feld remarks, Judah and Jerusalem,

Ephraim and Samaria, and so the

Greeks say, "  !Ellhnej te kai>   ]Aqhnai?oi,

and the like.

     17. THE BORDERS OF THE

EARTH, i.e. not those merely by

which the land is divided from the

sea (Gen. i. 9, comp. Prov. viii. 29;

 

 

                                    PSALM LXXI V.                                 31

            Thou hast formed summer and winter.

18 Remember this, how the enemy hath reproached Jehovah,

            And how a foolish people have despised Thy Name.

19 0 give not the soul of Thy turtle-dove to the wild beast,k

            The life of Thine afflicted forget not for ever.

20 Look upon the covenant,

            For the dark places of the land are full of the habita-

                        tions of violence.

21 0 let not the oppressed turn back confounded,

Job xxxviii. 8, &c.), but all the

boundary lines by which order is

preserved, as those of the seasons,

those of the nations, Deut. xxxii. 8;

Acts xvii. 26, &c.

    SUMMER AND WINTER, as before,

DAY AND NIGHT, as marking the

everlasting order of the world, and

perhaps with reference to Gen. viii.

22. The literal rendering is, "Sum-

mer and winter—Thou has formed

them." This verb is used of the

fashioning of men and the animals,

Gen. ii. 7, 19, from the dust, and

here it is applied to the seasons, as

in Is. x1v. 7, to "the light and the

darkness," as creatures of God's

hand.

    18. REMEMBER. The petition re-

curs (comp. ver. 2) with renewed

force after the Psalmist has com-

forted himself with the recollection

of God's Almighty Power, as both

ruling the history of Israel, and

giving laws to the material universe.

    A FOOLISH PEOPLE, i.e. the hea-

then oppressors of Israel, whether

Chaldean or Syrian. In ver. 22,

again, we have the same word, "the

foolish (man)." There the Targum

has, "a foolish king," which has

been supposed to mean Antioehus

Epiphanes, though it might of course

refer to Nebuchadnezzar. The same

Chaldee word (xwAP;Fi tiphsha) is in

the Targum on Deut. xxxii. 21 the

equivalent of the same Hebrew word,

where again the reference is to a

heathen nation employed as the

instrument of Israel's chastisement.

In Lev. xxvi. 41, it is equivalent to

the Hebrew uncircumcised. In Ec-

clus. 1. 26, the Samaritans are called

"that foolish people."

     20. LOOK UPON THE COVENANT.

The appeal lies to that, not to any-

thing in the Psalmist himself, or in

his people. "This," says Tholuck,

"is the everlasting refuge of the

saints of God, even in the greatest

clangers. And even if they have

broken it, can the unbelief of men

make the truth of God of none

effect?  "The covenant is that

made first with Abraham, and then

renewed with him and with the

fathers. Comp. lxxviii. 10; Is.

lxiv. 8.

    THE DARK PLACES, or, "dark-

nesses." The word occurs else-

where of the darkness of the grave,

lxxxviii. 6 [7], cxliii. 3; Lam. iii. 6,

and hence it may be used here in a

figurative sense, merely as express-

ing, generally, misery, gloom, &c.,

or as Delitzsch explains (who under-

stands the Psalm of the Chaldean

invasion), "Turn where we may,

the darkened land is full of abodes

of tyranny and oppression." It

seems most probable, however, that

those spots are meant which were

the best fitted for scenes of violence

and murder—the haunts of robbers,

who there lay in wait for their vic-

tims. The banditti would speedily

become numerous in a country

where law and order were at an

end. Com. x. 8.

   21. THE OPPRESSED, lit. "the

crushed:"  TURN BACK, as in vi.

10 [11], or, perhaps, simply " re-

 

32                          PSALM LXXIV

 

            Let the afflicted and the poor praise Thy name!

22 Arise, 0 God, plead Thine own cause;

            Remember how the foolish man reproacheth Thee all

                        the day long.

23 Forget not the voice of Thine adversaries,

            The tumult of them that rise against Thee which

                        goeth up for ever.

 

turn" (the usual meaning of the                           foolish man all the day." See note

verb), i.e. from his approach and                        on ver. 18.

entreaty to Thee.                                                   23. GOETH UP, i.e. which ascends

    22. REMEMBER HOW, &c.: lit,                   to heaven, crying aloud for ven-

"Remember Thy reproach from a                       geance.

 

     a On Maschil, see above on xxxii. note a, and General Introduction,

Vol. I. p. 86 ; on Asaph, see 1. note a, and General Introduction, Vol. I.

P. 97.

    b 'Hn Fb,we. These words seem to be a predicate, the relative being

supplied before J. So Ewald:  "Hast erlöst zum Stammer" &c.

Mendelss. renders somewhat differently, as if Fb,we depended on rkoz;, and

'Hn were the predicate: "(Denke), Des Stammes, dir zum Eigenthum,

befrei't." But in the Biur, the explanation of Ibn Ezra is quoted: "to

be a tribe on the mountain of Thine inheritance," which is substantially

the same view of the construction as that I have given. Delitzsch

(1st Edit.) takes this clause as parenthetical, and says that the relative

form of expression is here given up, though the next clause depends on

rkoz;, but in his 2d Edit. renders as in text.

    c tOxUw.ma. On the form and derivation of this word see on lxxiii.

note q.

   d j~d,fEOm.  A large number of MSS. and editions have the plur.

as in ver. 8. The Chald., Qimchi, and others, have also adopted it, and it

is in itself admissible, even if the temple be meant. See note on ver. 8.

     e fdaUAyi.  It is known, and so it appears, see note on ver. 5. This word

puzzled all the ancient interpreters. The Chald. omits it altogether, but

gives the true sense of the passage, which all the others have missed.

As regards the construction, either this and the next verse describe, as in

a parenthesis, the scene of destruction, and hence the verbs are presents,

giving more vividness to the narration; or perhaps the two verses may

be taken as protasis and apodosis. As . . . so now (hTafav;).  xybimeK;, lit.

as one causing to come in, or perhaps as one bringing. So Ges.Thes, in

v. xvb, comp. Job xii. 6. In j`bAs;, the vowel is Qametz, not Qametz-

Khatuph, as Sol. Yedidyah of Norcia calls it. Comp. tDaha-btAK;, Esth.

iv. 8.

     f hAyH,UTp, carved wood work, as in I Kings vi. 29. The fem. suff.

cannot refer immediately to any of the preceding nouns. It seems to be

 

                                  PSALM LXXIV.                                         33

 

used here as a neut., in an indefinite sense, referring generally to the

"sanctuary" and "assembly" mentioned before.

    g  MnAyni. Qimchi first rightly explained this as I plur. fut. Qal. of hny  

(elsewhere, except in the Part., occurring only in Hiph.), with suff. M-A,

instead of M-e, as MrAyni; Num. xxi. 30.

    h  lxe-ydefEOm.  The word dfeOm, as has been remarked, may be used either

of a fixed place of meeting (hence the Tabernacle was called 'm lh,xo, tent

of meeting, i.e. where God met the people) or of a fixed time, and so of

the festivals, as in Lev. xxiii. 2, 4, 37. The ancient interpreters were

divided as to the signification here. Aq. has e]ne<prhsan pa<saj ta>j sun

agwga<j. On the other hand, Sym. pa<saj ta>j suntaga>j tou? qeou?. Theod.

pa<ntaj kairou<j. And the LXX., who put the words into the mouth of the

enemy, render, deu?te, katapau<swmen (pa<saj) ta>j e[orta>j tou? Kuri<ou a]po>

th?j gh?j. The sixth translator in the Hexapla (Montf.) has katakau<swmen,

which may have been the original reading of the LXX., as Jerome (in

his Ep. to Sunnia and Fretela) contends. It might easily have been

altered to avoid the awkwardness of saying, "Let us burn up all the

feasts." Jerome translates the LXX. Quiescere faciamus omnes dies festos

Dei in terra; but his own rendering of the Hebrew is Incenderunt omnes

solennitates Dei in terra.

     i Myy.icil; Mfal;. This is grammatically indefensible. If the two nouns

are in apposition, then the first cannot be in the stat. constr. It must

be MfAl;. But more probably the second has been inserted by mistake

before Myy.ici. See a similar instance in Is. xxxii. i. The LXX. laoi?j toi?j

Ai]qi<oyin. Aq. toi?j e]celeusome<noij. Theod. (la&?) t&? e]sxa<t&. E' (la&?) t&?

e]celhluqo<ti.

    k tya.Hal;. According to the accents, this word is not to be joined with

what follows; hence many regard it as the constr. state put for the absol.

But there is no instance of such usage. Others would supply hd,WA. or

some such word, beast of (the field). It is better to regard it as an

instance of a feminine noun terminating in its absolute state, in -ath

instead of -ah. See on 1xi. note a, and Qimchi's remark there quoted.

It is, then, doubtful whether we should take ty.aHa in the sense of wild

beasts, or in the sense of host (sc. of enemies). Delitzsch contends that

the latter is required, because in the very next clause it occurs in this

sense, "the congregation or host of Thine afflicted." Comp. lxviii. to

[11], and note there.

            Others would connect wp,n, ty.ahal; together, taking wp,n,; in the sense of

eagerness, as in xvii. 9 (where see note). Hence 'n ‘l would either mean

to the eager host (sc. of enemies)—so Ges., Maur., and others—or, to the

eager (fierce, devouring) wild beast.

            Hupfeld thinks the difficulty at once got over by the simple remedy

of transposition, ytty.aHa wp,n,l; NTeTi lxa "Give not to rage (to the fierce

will of the enemy) the life of Thy turtle-dove." He tries to defend this

absolute use of wp,n, in the sense of fierce desire, by reference to xxvii. 12,

34                             PSALM LXX V.

 

xli. 2 [3], where the word, however, occurs with a genitive (" will of mine

enemies"), which he thinks may be supplied here from the context. In

the next clause he keeps the same meaning of 'H, "the life of Thine

afflicted."

            None of these explanations is satisfactory, though there can be no

doubt as to the general sense of the passage. All the ancient Versions

have misunderstood j~r,OT.  The Chald. either read j~t,rAOT, as it para-

phrases, "the souls of them that teach Thy Law," or perhaps gave this

as a midrashic interpretation. Sym. (yuxh>n) h{n e]di<dacaj to>n no<mon. Jerome,

animam eruditam lege tua. Others, apparently, as the LXX., Syr., Arab.,

and Ethiop., read j~d,OT, "the soul (which) confesseth, or giveth thanks, to

Thee." All agree in rendering the first part of the sentence alike, "Give

 

not to the wild beasts," except the Syr., which has        ‘ne des frac-

tioni" (Dathe); but why not praedae? as in Is. v. 29. Does not this point

to a reading hUAha or tOUha and may not the copyist have fallen into the

error by his eye catching t a a in the next line?

 

 

 

 

                                        PSALM LXXV.

 

            THE Psalm celebrates in prophetic strain the righteous judgement

of God. The voice of God Himself from heaven declares His

righteousness, announces to the world that He is not, as human

impatience has ever been wont to deem, regardless of wrong and

suffering, but that He only waits for the moment which to His

infinite wisdom seems best, that He may chastise the insolence of

evildoers.

            There are no clearly marked historical allusions in the Psalm. It

seems, however, not improbable, as has been conjectured by many

commentators (Ewald, Tholuck, Delitzsch, &c.), that it may refer to

the time of the Assyrian invasion, either as celebrating, or imme-

diately anticipating, the defeat of Sennacherib. Like Ps. x1vi. it

bears some resemblance to the prophecies of Isaiah uttered at that

time. But there is, as Ewald has observed, a difference in the

manner in which the Prophet and the Psalmist treats his subject.

The Prophet adds thought to thought and scene to scene; he expands,

enlarges upon, diversifies his theme. He sees in this one act of

righteous judgement the prelude to many others. He threatens not

the Assyrian only, but other nations who lift themselves up. The

Poet, on the other hand, seizes upon the one truth, the single thought

                                       PSALM LXXV.                                        35

 

of God's righteous judgement as manifested in this instance, and

strives to present it to others with the same force and vividness with

which it has filled his own mind. He too is a Prophet, a Prophet

who has heard the word of God (ver. 2, &c.) and seen the vision of

the Most High, but a Prophet, as it were, under narrower conditions

and for a more limited purpose.

            The close resemblance between many of the expressions in this

Psalm and parts of the song of Hannah in I Sam. ii. is very

noticeable.

            The Psalm opens with the ascription of praise which God's

wonders now and in all past time have called forth, ver. 1.

            It passes then to the prophetic announcement of the truth which

has been uttered from heaven and echoed with triumph upon earth,

of God's righteous judgement, ver. 2-8.

            Finally, it concludes with a determination to publish the praise

of Jehovah for ever, whilst the same prophetic strain of triumph is

heard, as in one last echo, repeating itself, ver. 9, 10.

 

[FOR THE PRECENTOR. (TO THE MELODY) "DESTROY NOT."a  A

                              PSALM OF ASAPH, A SONG.]

 

1 WE give thanks to Thee, 0 God, we give thanks;

            And (that) Thy name is near Thy wondrous works

                        have told.

 

    Ver. I, 2. The connexion between

these verses is not, at first sight,

very obvious. It may, perhaps,

be traced as follows. First, the

Psalmist blends in one the past

and the present. God has been,

and is now, the object of Israel's

praise; as He has both in the past

and in the present displayed His

wonders on their behalf. (Hence

the use of the perfect tense lit.

"We have given thanks," &c.)

Then he abruptly cites the words

of God, words whose fulfilment he

had just witnessed, or whose ap-

proaching fulfilment he saw in the

spirit of prophecy; words that were

themselves an exemplification of the

truth that God is near, despite the

madness of men and the disorders

of the world.

     AND (THAT) THY NAME IS NEAR.

The construction of this member of

the verse is doubtful. It may be

rendered in two separate clauses:

"And Thy Name is near: they

(i.e. men, or our fathers, as in x1iv.

I, [2], lxxviii. 3) have told of Thy

wonders" (so Ewald). But it is,

perhaps, better to connect the two

clauses, as our translators have

done. Luther and Mendelssohn,

and, more recently, Hupfeld and

Bunsen, have taken the same view.

     THY NAME IS NEAR, not "near

in our mouth," i.e. as the great

object of praise (as Hengstenberg

and others explain it, referring to

Jer. xii. 2, a passage which is totally

different), but near in presence, near

in self-manifestation, near in love

and power, near in succour and

 

 

36                           PSALM LXXV.

 

2 "When the set time is come,

            I myself will judge uprightly.

3 (Though) the earth and all the inhabitants thereof are

                        melting,

            I myself have set up the pillars of it. [Selah.]

 

blessing. So in Deut. iv. 7, "What

nation is there that hath God so

near unto them?" Comp. xlviii.

lxxvi. 1., "His name is great in

Israel," and see xxxiv. 18 [19],

cxly. 18, and the note on xx. 2.

    2. God is abruptly introduced as

the speaker, as in xlvi. lo [11].

The oracle is thus given as from

the mouth of God Himself, to those

who may be in doubt or perplexity

because their lot is cast in troublous

times.

    WHEN THE SET TIME IS COME,

lit. "When I shall have taken

(reached) the set time," i.e. the

time appointed in the Divine coun-

sels. The thread of time is ever

running, as it were, from the

spindle, but at the critical moment

God's hand arrests it. (For this

strong sense of the verb take, see

xviii. 16 [17] and comp. kairo>j dekto<j,

eu]pro<sdektoj of 2 Cor. vi. 2.) God

is ever the righteous Judge, but He

executes His sentence, not accord-

ing to man's impatient expecta-

tions, but at the exact instant

which He has Himself chosen.

The words are an answer to all such

misgivings as those in lxxiii. 3, as

well as a rebuke to all hasty and

over-zealous reformers, who would

pull up the tares with the wheat

rather than wait for the harvest.

      SET TIME. The Hebrew word

(mo'ed) has also the signification

assembly, congregation, which our

translators have adopted here, and

which is common in the phrase

"tabernacle of the congregation,"

&c. The root-idea is that of some-

thing fixed, whether time or place

(and hence persons gathered in a

place). See note on lxxiv. 4. The

former sense is clearly preferable

here. Comp. cii. 13 [14] (where the

E.V. has correctly "set time" in-

stead of "congregation" as here) ;

Hab. ii. 3, "the appointed time,"

i.e. for the accomplishment of the

vision. And so also Dan. viii. 19,

xi. 27, 35. The proper rendering is

given by the LXX. o!tan la<bw kairo<n.

Jerome and the Vulgate, cum  

accepero tempus. Symmachus, ap-

parently, led the way with the other

interpretation, o!tan la<bw th>n sunagw-

gh<n. The "congregation" would, of

course, mean all who are assembled

to behold the solemn act of judge-

ment, as in vii. 7 [8], 1. 5,.

      I MYSELF. The pronoun is em-

phatic. The Greek Version known

as the Fifth renders it still more

emphatically: "I am; I prepared

the pillars thereof for ever" (e]gw> ei]mi>,

h[toi<masa tou>j stu<louj au]th<j a]ei<. The

same prominence is given to the

pronoun in the second member of

the next verse.

     3. Such a critical moment is the

present. The world itself seems

"utterly broken down and clean dis-

solved" (Is. xxiv. 19, 20), but He

who once built it up like a stately

palace, still stays its pillars with

His hand. The natural framework

and the moral framework are here

identified. To the poet's eye, the

world of nature and the world of

man are not two, but one. The

words of Hannah's song (I Sam. ii.

8) furnish an exact parallel. "For

the pillars of the earth are Jehovah's,

and He hath set the world upon

them,"—language which, as the con-

text shows, has a moral application.

     HAVE SET UP, lit. "poised, bal-

anced." A word properly used of

fixing a thing by weight or measure.

Comp. Job xxviii. 25; Is,. xl. 12, 13.

                               PSALM LXXV                              37

 

4 I said unto the arrogant, Deal not arrogantly;

            And to the wicked, Lift not up the horn,

5 Lift not up your horn on high,

            Speak (not) with a stiff neck."b

6 For not from the East, and not from the West,

            And not from the wilderness (cometh) lifting up.c

7 No, God is Judge;

            He putteth down one, and lifteth up another.

8 For there is a cup in the hand of Jehovah.

 

     4. I SAID. Ewald and others