im V MEMORIAL^ COLLECTION Yale University Library THE BOOK OF PSALMS THE BOOK OF PSALMS OR THE PRAISES OF ISRAEL A NEW TRANSLATION, WITH COMMENTARY BY THE REV. T. K. CHEYNE, M.A. D.D. ORIEL PROFESSOR OF THE INTERPRETATION OF HOLY SCRIPTURE AT OXFORD CANON OF ROCHESTER NEW YORK THOMAS WHITTAKER 2 & 3 BIBLE HOUSE 1892 |V\2-ra400 TO PROF. FRANZ DELITZSCH IN ADMIRATION OF NOBLE SERVICES TO SCHOLARSHIP AND THE CHURCH AND IN GRATITUDE FOR THE PRIVILEGE OF HIS FRIENDSHIP INTRODUCTION. THE NATURE OF THIS NEW VERSION OF THE PSALMS, AND ITS JUSTIFI CATION IN CERTAIN PERMANENT WANTS OF THE EDUCATED READER — HOW THOSE WANTS WERE SATISFIED IN THE REFORMATION PERIOD AND AFTERWARDS — EMENDATION OF THE TEXT, WHY AND HOW RESORTED TO — THE SPIRIT OF THE PRESENT COMMENTARY — THE ALTERNATIVE TITLE EXPLAINED — THE DIVISIONS OF THE PSALTER — THE DOXOLOGIES OR SUBSCRIPTIONS— THE TITLES OR SUPERSCRIP TIONS — EWALD'S CHRONOLOGICAL ARRANGEMENT — EWALD CHARAC TERISED. Later than I hoped, but sooner than I have sometimes feared, comes this fresh contribution to the study of the Hagiographa ; the enforced delay, however painful, may at least have added somewhat to the maturity of the book. I need scarcely say that it would have been impossible to cover the whole subject of the Psalms in a single volume. I made it my object, therefore, to diminish the amount of necessary exposition by bestowing special care on the clearness of the transla tion, reserving the higher criticism and the consideration of psalm- theology for another occasion. Circumstances led me, uncertain whether I should proceed further, to prepare a translation first, and to accept the offer of my publishers to include it in the Parchment Library. That translation is here repeated, with numerous cor rections which do not, I trust, materially affect the style. Where a literary as well as a scholarly standard has been aimed at, it is desirable to exercise caution in alteration. For the friendly reception accorded to my version of 1884 on both sides of the Atlantic, I can but express mingled surprise and gratitude. It confirms me in the belief that the careful but still in many respects somewhat antique Revised Version does not sufficiently reveal to the educated reader the thoughtful, radiant beauty of Hebrew poetry. That he has not been uncared for by the Revisers is indeed evident ; a Revision merely VIII THE PSALMS intended for use in churches, or for simple, uneducated readers, would have contained far fewer modifications and innovations. But his wants could only be satisfied by (to quote Dr. De Witt's' words) 'inde pendent, individual effort,' and the Revision Company had neither individuality nor independence. It is of course true — and most happily true — that no single translator, however independent, could fully meet the demands of educated Bible-readers. Next to fidelity, he is bound to cultivate ease and clearness of expression ; otherwise, instead of meaning too much, his version will certainly to the common ear and eye mean too little. But he has also to warn the reader that the waters which run so clear are deep, and that it is often difficult to determine between different interpretations of some group of words, or different forms of a single vague idea, the key to which must be derived from the context, not to speak here of the frequent uncertainty of the text. It is possible to do this by marginal notes, with or without comment ; but evidently the reader can judge best of the effect of a different rendering by seeing it in a continuous version. One cannot therefore too strongly recommend the com parison of such careful independent versions of the Psalter as those of Kay, Perowne, and De Witt, to which may be joined Reuss' French translation, and this not only from the point of view of literature, but from that of devotion. For I fear that there is too much truth in the late Professor Brewer's remark that the present generation, almost too familiar with the Church-versions, ' has broken down the strong meaning of his (David's) words into the devotional dust of vague generalities.' The two pleas which I have urged for independent translations of the Psalter— viz. their superior intelligibility and their devotional helpfulness— were, I suppose, advanced long since in the Reformation period. So at least I can better account for the constant popularity among the educated classes of Greek and Latin metrical versions of the Psalter, at least in the lands of the Reformation (for at Rome there were those who compared such classicized Psalters to ' seed com mitted to the arid sand,' the ' sand ' being not the classic but the Hebrew element1). We may observe in the first place that the modern literary style did but slowly develope ; to many educated persons the classic tongues seemed alone to furnish a worthy mould for the 1 H. Su&uams, Liber Psalmorum Davidis cum Cathol. Exposit. Ecclesiastic (Par. 1562), quoted by Tholuck. INTRODUCTION ix poetry of Zion. To us indeed the idea of Homeric and Virgilian grafts on the Davidic stock is an aesthetic offence, and it is rightly regarded as one of the merits of Herder that, unlike the ' elegant ' Lowth, he forgot his Horace and .-Eschylus when he read David and Job. But if even Lowth was blind to this late-discovered law of good taste, can we wonder that in the previous century a greater scholar than either Lowth or Herder (J. Spencer, author of De Legibus Hebraorurri) called the Cambridge professor Duport's Meta- pkrasism. Homeric verse (Lond. 1674) ' golden,' and that earlier still the friend of the author of the Faerie Queene delightedly asks — * ' 'What Festivall Hymnes so divinely dainty as the swete Psalmes of King David, royally translated by Buchanan ' ? Certain at least it is, that these pseudo-classic works served a good purpose in their day. They promoted the enjoyment of the Psalms as continuous poems and artistic wholes — an enjoyment too seldom known to Bible-readers in our own time. My next observation may to some appear stranger, but I cannot help making it. These faulty and hybrid compositions were true helps to piety and kindled the flame of devotion. The frequent use of the Church-versions was even then seen to have its dangers ; ' devotional dust ' was no support for faith in those rough times of persecution. Personal edification was Olympia Morata's motive for translating the Psalms into Greek verse in 1552, and religious interests dictated the retention of Buchanan's Psalms in Scottish and in some English schools. As late even as 1722 we find a Scottish gentleman (Sir Patrick Hume, of Polwarth) declaring that this Psalter, which he could repeat from end to end, had been his comfort by night and by day, and most of all when, like the royal psalmist, he had been hunted into dark hiding- places.2 He was among the last of a good old school, brought up to value most in religion a strong and direct faith, and nourished intel lectually on the lucid clearness of the classic models. To us the same escape from the combined familiarity and obscurity of the Church- versions is offered by translations such as I have mentioned, to which I venture diffidently to add my own in its present revised form. I trust that I need not defend myself for deviating so often from 1 Gabriel Harvey, Foure Letters and certaine Sonnets, 1592, p. 48. (There is a copy of this curious work in the Bodleian. ) 2 See quotation in Ker's The Psalms in History and Biography, p. 182. x THE PSALMS the Massoretic text. I agree with an old commentator on Isaiah, earnestly commended to me by the late Dr. Pusey (alas ! at twenty- one, I found his noble work too voluminous)— need I mention the name of Vitringa ?— ' Praestat dicere, si res ita sit, nos sensum Vatis non perspicere, quam dura et voluntaria ei impingere.' Yes, 'voluntaria'— that is the right word. Those who, out of simple conscientiousness, emend the Hebrew text are ofttimes accused of ' subjectivity.' The term is then used in a bad sense ; but I think that a subjectivity which forms and disciplines and tests itself by critical methods and canons is nothing to be ashamed of. Where long reflexion has convinced me that the mutilations of time have rendered exegesis impossible, I have either left a blank in my version, or else sought for a worthy rendering, based upon some natural emendation. The critical notes, which, out of regard for my readers and my printers, I have limited to the most essential points, will, I hope, account for my innovations. Of the commentary proper, much need not be said here. This too could easily have been expanded into twice the size ; it would then perhaps have been easier reading. Delitzsch has somewhere remarked that the Oriental writer reckons largely on the intellectual cooperation of his reader, and that even Oriental commentaries them selves need commentaries. I trust that there is not an unpardonable amount of this Orientalism in my book, though I confess that I think it no hardship myself to work on a good commentary. Some fair products of Christian scholarship there are which it is an education both for head and for heart to read. And though this book falls far short of its ideal, yet of one thing those who work at it may be assured . — that it has been written from love, and contains nothing which the author has not found helpful to himself. He has enjoyed this Book of Praises alike for its poetry, for its critical and exegetical problems, and for its rich historical and religious significance. The messages which, both in dark days and in bright, it has borne to him, he has endeavoured to hand on to others. He does not therefore compete with his predecessors, nor seek to supplant them. The Psalm-country is wide and full of interest ; each traveller may see something fresh, though not without toil and preparation. I know that it is also a ' holy land.' Thou, Jehovah, art the Holy One, Enthroned upon the praises of Israel. INTRODUCTION 'xi These Spirit-taught utterances of the heart can, like the ' throne- bearing ' cherubim, at any moment bring Him nigh : thus I venture to paraphrase the passage. I know and feel this. The Psalter is a ¦Bible within the Bible, and has the twofold sacredness of its origin and its associations. I have lost no fair opportunity of showing my sense of this ; or rather, as I hope, a fragrant breath from the hills has followed me throughout. I have not said everything, however ; this is virtually the first volume of a treatise on the Psalms. Will the reader kindly remember this, and accept me as a sympathetic guide to the outermost part of the meaning of this deep Book ? Before passing on, I would offer a few indispensable hints on some technical points. And first, let me account for the alternative title ' The Praises of Israel.' One cannot, I think, be very grateful for the awkward foreign word Psalm, which conveys no definite mean ing to the Enghsh reader, and which we owe to the old Latin version based upon the Septuagint. With the Greek-speaking Jews it was otherwise; i/.a\juos (=")iDtp, Syr. mazmtira,1) gave them a truthful though not a complete description of the nature of the poems in this Book, which are in fact songs or poems set to music (and partly at least to the music of stringed instruments) for use in the temple and the synagogue.2 In hke manner, uVXtjjphjv (properly a stringed instrument described by St. Augustine on Ps. xxxii. ; cf. the psanterin of the Book of Daniel) is a metaphorical expression for the collection of such songs or poems : the idiom is well reproduced by Bythner in the title of his once popular analysis of the Psalms called Lyra Davidis. But even if ' psalm ' expressed more to us than it does, there is a title of this precious book which throws a brighter light upon its contents, and which is therefore even more preferable to the Greek title than Koheleth is to Ecclesiastes. The Jews in fact called the Psalter by 1 The Arabic word zab&r, used in the Koran (see Sur. iv. 61, xxi. 105) for the Psalter, may, perhaps, be a mutilated form of mazbu'r = mazm&r, and so be virtually an Aramaic loan-word. More probably it was used in this sense by Mohammed on account of its resemblance to mazmtir, but was really derived from a S. Semitic root zabara 'to write,' whence also comes zubur 'Scriptures ' (Sur. iii. 181). Comp. T. Fraenkel, Die aram. Fremdwbrter im Arabischen (Leiden, 1886), p. 248. 2 Strictly speaking, of course, "I'lDTD and tyiAfibs mean the music to which the song ("V^ oiSii) was set. This distinction is clearly expressed by Gregory of Nyssa, quoted by Delitzsch (Psalms, E. T., i. 132). XU THE PSALMS the expressive title ' praises ' or ' songs of praise ' ' — D'?nPl (shortened into D^lil or, with the Aramaic termination, ppfl). This is attested for the third century a.d. by Hippolytus (ed. Lagarde, p. 188), 'E/3pdlot irepieypaipav rrjv jiijiXov ~%i and other references in Furst, Der Kanon, &c, p. 71. ««u.es 5 Missing the fact that lxxii. 20 is a subscription to a whole group of psalms. INTRODUCTION XV than that of ' boundary-stones ' (Delitzsch) ; but properly speaking they are liturgical doxologies, as appears from the fact that in i Chron. xv'- 35j 36 the doxology in Ps. cvi. 48 (together with v. 47) is attached to the artificial psalm which precedes, with introductory invitation to the worshippers ' and say ye,' and that in Neh. ix. 5 the Levites summon the congregation to ' bless Jehovah their God from everlast ing to everlasting.' A Talmudic tradition illustrates this. It states that to every benediction a response was uttered by the congregation which in the temple took this form : ' Blessed for ever be the name of the glory of his kingdom,' and elsewhere consisted of a simple ' Amen.' ' It is certainly strange that these liturgical doxologies should only occur at the end of four particular psalms, especially if we consider the fond ness of the later Jews for benediction-formulas ; and it is one of Grate's more probable conjectures that a benediction was usual at the end of every psalm, though to save space the scribes only wrote it at the end of Books I.-IV. This will account for the doxology appended to a composition in 1 Chron. xvi. mainly drawn from Psalms cv. and xcvi., which have no benediction either in the Hebrew or in the Greek text. It would seem, too, though further evidence is desirable, that the psalms were sometimes designated Berakhoth or ' benedictions.' 2 On the subject of the titles or superscriptions, I hope to write else where. So far as they relate to the music of the psalms, we may perhaps assume that they come neither from the age of the national independence, nor yet from that of the Greek dominion, but mainly from the beginning of the Persian period, when Ezra and Nehemiah so systematically reorganised the temple-services. So far as they relate to the authorship of the psalms, we may refer them partly to that and partly to a later period. They represent, as I have said elsewhere, ' traditional opinions of ancient critical schools — opinions, however, which were not universally held, as the Hebrew headings do not altogether agree with those in the ancient versions. At an earlier day much labour was rather unprofitably spent in defending the Davidic authorship of psalms transparently non-Davidic. An opposite tendency now prevails. Of the three most distinguished (see note), Calvin actually supposes that Ps. Ixxii. is the last prayer of David put into a poetical form by Solomon. 1 (Talm. Jerus.) Berakhoth, 14 c ; (Talm. Bab.) Taanith, 16 b. 2 See Gratz, 'Die Doxologien in den Psalmen,'in his Monatsschrift for 1872, pp. 481-496 ; but comp. Perowne, The Psalms, i. 73, ii. 267. a xvi THE PSALMS recent critics, Ewald acknowledges only 1 1 entire psalms and some fragments of psalms as Davidic, Hitzig 14, and Delitzsch 44. All of these agree as to the Davidic authorship of Psalms iii., iv., vii., viii., xi., xviii., xix. 1-7, and two out of three as to that of Psalms ix., x., xii., xiii., xv.-xviii., xix. 8-14, xxiv., xxix., xxxii., ci. Kuenen, however, will admit no Davidic psalms, though Davidic passages may perhaps have been inserted. In any case, it is quite certain that there are none in the last three books, and the probability is that Ewald's is the most conservative view of the headings at present tenable.' Need I add that I merely record his position without either endorsing it l or attaching any special weight to his authority ? ' Non enim me cuiquam eman- cipavi ; nullius nomen fero : multum magnorum virorum judicio credo, aliquid et meo vindico. Nam illi quoque non inventa, sed quserenda nobis reliquerunt.' 2 I am in no other sense a disciple of Ewald than that in which Biblical scholars generally must continue to be so, as long as lofty ideals and noble achievements are had in honour. A recent American writer on the Psalms has called Ewald ' the great denier : ' the expression is singularly ill-chosen ; Ewald is much more moderate in denying than in asserting. Especially is this the case in his chronological rearrangement of the Psalms (first published in 1839), which might have been less defective if Ewald had not attempted it so early in his career. We must not therefore accept his contribu tions to the conservative side of psalm-criticism without a careful test ing ; as a critic, he stands decidedly higher in his other works. And yet how much may be learnt even from this premature attempt ! How much of permanent value it contains ! With the hasty assertions how much solid truth is intermingled ! And passing from the critical sphere, how precious upon the whole are its exegetical qualities ! What a distinct view of the connexion of thought, and above all what a lively emotional sympathy with the psalmists ! This indeed is a characteristic which Ewald has in common with the accomplished scholar to whom this volume is dedicated, and it comes from that personal religious experience which alone can qualify any one to be a sympathetic interpreter of the Old Testament saints.3 May I not 1 Comp. Parchment Library Psalms, Introd., pp. xi.-xvi. All that can be said for a more conservative view than Ewald's will be found in Delitzsch, or more clearly expressed in Perowne. 2 Seneca, Ep. ad Lucil, xiv. 8 See ' Franz Delitzsch,' by Prof. Salmond, Expositor, 1886 (1), pp. 456-471- and ' The Life and Works of Heinrich Ewald,' by the present writer, ibid ' 1886 (2), pp. 241-265, 361-376. Introduction xvii then on this ground couple the preceding caution with an equally emphatic statement of Ewald's claims not only upon our admiration but upon our reverence? We need not adopt his or any man's chronology of the Psalter, but we may obtain from him the secret of the reconciliation of faith and criticism, and so like him maintain our spiritual ardour amidst the coldest and driest philological analysis. Would that the serene atmosphere which envelopes his best exegetical and historical work had more completely penetrated his outward life ! Would that his spiritual development had been less tragically inter rupted ! We may learn many a lesson from the imperfections of our best teachers. But I must pause : we have lingered long enough in the vestibule. Let us now press on with alert minds and uplifted hearts into the sanctuary of the 'praises of Israel' Notice. — Asterisks in the translation indicate either that an incurable corrup tion is suspected in the Hebrew text, or that words appear to have dropped out which cannot even conjecturally be supplied. When, however, such words can be conjecturally restored the English equivalent is generally enclosed in square brackets. THE PSALMS. BOOK I. PSALM I. 1 T is mentioned in the Talmud (Berakhoth, 9 b) that Psalms i. and ii. form a single Parasha ; and this was formerly the case in many more Hebrew MSS. than at present (Euthymius, in Wettstein on Acts xiii. 33). According to another arrangement in some MSS. of the Hebrew text and of Sept. this psalm is not Ps. i., but simply a prologue. Originally, it would seem, it was prefatory to Books I. and II. The date of the psalm is therefore specially important ; it is unwise to decide too hastily, on the ground of the parallelism of vv. 3, 4 and Jer. xvii. 5-8, that the psalm must have been written not later than the age of Jeremiah. 1 Happy the man that has not walked in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stood in the way of sinners, nor sat in the company of scoffers ! 2 But in the law of Jehovah is his delight, and on his law meditates he day and night. 3 For he is like a tree planted by water-courses, that brings forth its fruit in due season, and whose leaf withers not ; and whatever he does, makes he to prosper. 4 Not so are the ungodly, but they are like the chaff which the wind drives away. 5 Therefore the ungodly cannot stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. 6 For Jehovah takes knowledge of the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly perishes. 1 Happy. Lit., ' O the happi- righteous man. So Moses before ness (or, good fortune) 6f;' not his death exclaims, 'Happy art 'blessed' (the word in Jer. xvii. 7) thou, O Israel' (Deut. xxxiii. 29). to quote Carlyle's famous dis- The external rewards of righteous- tinction (De Witt) is not in point. ness will sooner or later be assigned The psalmist, standing aside like a ('ashrf implies this even in xxxii. I, Greek chorus, congratulates the 2, xciv. 12) ; one of the leading B THE PSALMS ideas of the psalmists, and natu rally put forward in the prologue. May we not add that the ' generous universal invocation of all nature' which forms the envoi of the Psalter supplies a necessary balance to this heart-searching announcement ? — That has not walked, &c In this and the two next clauses both verbs and nouns have by many been regarded as forming a climax — by Ibn Ezra and Kimchi not less than Hitzig and Delitzsch. Hup- feld and Hengstenberg, however, take the clauses as synonymously parallel, and there is no adequate reason against this, which is the simpler view. Three forms of a corrupting association with the wicked are delicately distinguished (cf. Judg. v. io, ' ye that ride . . . sit . . . walk ') : for the first, cf. Mie. vi. 16, Jer. vii. 24 ; for the second, Prov. iv. 14 ; for the third, xxvi. 4, 5, Jer. xv. 17. The un godly. Whatever be the root- meaning of rasha1-, the word is cer tainly the opposite of caddiq. If the latter means ' one who adheres strictly to the divine rule or stan dard,' the former signifies ' one who neglects this rule or standard.' In Proverbs and Job, it is clearly used of anyone who, at the bidding of his passions, violates the divinely appointed laws of ordinary mo rality ; the wise men had reached that distinction between the ritual and the purely moral which was obscured again when the lawbook became predominant. There is con sequently no occasion (except in Ps. cxix.) to assign to rasha'-, ' the ungodly,' the sense which dere/3j?s has in Josephus and avopos in 1 Mace, viz. 'one unfaithful to the true religion.' Sometimes, however, it means 'heathen enemy' (see on iii. 8). Company (as cvii. 32), al most = ' club-meeting.' ' Seat ' (De Witt) seems too literal ; cf. Ar. mejlis ' social gathering ' (prop. ' seat '). Scoffers. The only place in the Psalms where this word lecim occurs. In Prov. it is fre quent in the sense of one who de spises that which is holy, and avoids the company of the nobler 'wise men,' but yet in his own vain way seeks for truth : his character is marked by arrogance, as that of the wise is characterised by devout caution (eiXdBeia) ; see Prov. xiv. 16, xxi. 24, and cf. Job and Solomon, pp. 119, 151. To the psalmist, as to the author of Prov. xxx. 5, the volume of revelation is sufficient for all the legitimate needs of human reason. 2 But in the law, &c. The 'law' (tord) may here include the prophets (including the prophetico- historical books) as well as the Pentateuch ; tora, in fact, before the time of Malachi, is generally used of the revelations of God's will made through the prophets (cf. The Prophecies of Isaiah, ed. 3, i. 6). In later Jewish literature, where nothing is said to the contrary, tora means the collection of canonical writings (see Sanhedrin, 90 b). Comp. Ecclus. xxxix. 1, ' But he that giveth his mind to the law of the Most High and meditates thereon, will seek out the wisdom of all the ancients, and be occupied in pro phecies.' I presume, however, that our psalmist would have placed all other books second in rank to the ' law ' properly so called, in the spirit of Josh. i. 8. 3 See the fuller description in Jer. xvii. 8, and comp. the appli cation made in Pirke Abhoth, iii. 17- po«" he Is. So our language requires us to render. Part of the meaning of a Hebrew clause has to be gathered from the context, and it is clear that 11. 3 unfolds the meaning of the fiaKapio-fios in v. 1 ; the explanatory particle ' for ' is therefore justified. But the Hebrew, through the 'vav consecutive,' states something else, which in English we should leave to be inferred. The literal rendering is, So he becomes (viz. as a consequence of studying the Law), and this is adopted by De Witt. like a tree, &c. The writer tacitly forbids us to specialise ; he implies a garden with 'trees of all kind of fruit' (Eccles. ii. 5), such as the vine PSALM I. (Ezek. xix. io), the palm (Ps. xcii. 12, 13), the pomegranate (Cant. vi. 7), and the apple (Cant. ii. 3). Mohammed is equally vague ; ' Seest thou not to what God liken- eth a good word [the preaching of Islam] ? To a good tree ; its root firmly fixed, and its branches in the heaven : yielding its fruit in all seasons by the will of its Lord' {Kordn, xiv. 29). The psalmist's application of the figure is not so very different from Mohammed's ; the life of his happy man is one in which the good word of the Law has taken form. By water-courses, i.e. by artificial streams for irriga tion (comp. Eccles. ii. 5, 6). See on xlvi. 5, Ixv. 10. Makes he to prosper. The old doctrine of Hebrew faith, so common in Pro verbs, that prosperity attends the righteous, is distinctiy adopted. The psalmist, however, is well aware that the reward may be delayed ; hence he refers in vv. 4-6 to a sifting process through which the professedly righteous community (v. 5 ; comp. cxlix. 1) will pass. 4 Xiike the chaff, &c. Thresh ing-floors, as Isa. xvii. 13 suggests, were usually in high situations, where the wind would readily carry the chaff away. The winnower beats out the wheat or barley with a stick, and then throws it up in the air ; the grain and the crushed straw (Heb. tebheri) fall in heaps, but the chaff is blown away. Thus the figure is a comprehensive one. It is implied that a winnower has been at work ; that is, God, who in each successive judgment winnows the ' corn of his floor' (Isa. xxi. 10). Comp. Matt. iii. 12. In Jer. xvii. 6 the corresponding simile is that of a stunted desert plant,1 which aesthe tically considered furnishes a better contrast to the figure of the tree planted by the watercourses. Comp. Wisdom v. 14 (' like chaff-dust,' Xvovs). 5 Therefore. The psalmist continues in a prophetic tone. He announces that the ungodly who so scandalise the pious of his day will, when another judgment-day comes round, be separated from the true Israel. This he infers from the fact, which is within his own experience, that the ungodly are 'like the chaff,' i.e. sooner or later meet with a just retribution. 6 Takes knowledge of, i.e. is in terested in, and takes trouble about. Cf. xxxi. 7, xxxvii. 18 ; Gen. xviii. 19, &c. The way, &c. 'Way' here means not ' behaviour ' (as Prov. xii. 15, &c), but the outward circumstances of a man's lot ; comp. xxvii. 11, 'Lead me on an even path ; ' xxxvii. 5, ' Roll (the care for) thy way upon Jehovah ;' and ii. 12, (literally) 'and (lest) ye perish in respect of way ' (or destiny). The parallelism in the two members of the distich is not complete ; we might fill it up thus : For Jehovah notices (and makes to prosper) the fortunes of the righteous, but (disregards and) sends ruin to the fortunes of the ungodly. Perishes (yobhedh). Hupfeld, ' shall go astray ' — as a path fades away into the desert ; comp. Job vi. 18, '(the caravans) go up into the desert and lose their way' (yobhedku). Here, as often, there may be a double sense ; an image of a fading path may have floated before the writer's mind ; but the derived sense of destruction is also present to him, and is obviously meant to be su preme, ' perishing ' being the ne cessary antithesis to ' making to prosper' (v. 3). Comp. Jer. xii. 1, ' Why doth the way of the ungodly prosper ? ' PSALM II. 1 his psalm falls into four nearly equal strophes. The first of these describes a rebellion of subject-kings against the Messianic king ; the second, Jehovah's destruction of the rebels. Then the poet turns back, 1 For another view, see on cii. 18. 4 THE PSALMS and introduces the Messianic king reporting a divine oracle in his favour ; after which, assuming the rebellion to be in progress, he warns the kings of the earth to return to their allegiance. (Consequently v. 5 is virtually a conditional prophecy.) Compare Orelli's translation and expo sition, Old Testament Prophecy, p. 158, &c. Many critics hold that the poem has a basis of contemporary fact. Without discussing their conflicting opinions, I may at least state my own, viz. that it refers not to any of the historical kings regarded as typically Messianic, but to the ideal or Messianic king himself.1 So thought the doctors of the Synagogue (see Talm. Bab., Berakhoth 7 6, Succa 52 a),. and the mediaeval Rabbis (see Rashi and Kimchi 2 ), and this view is im plied in the Judaising portion of the Apocalypse (Rev. ii. 7, xii. 5, xix. 15). Exegetical considerations point in the same direction. The psalm is a lyric echo and interpretation of the promises in 2 Sam. vii. 12, 14-16 (v. 13 is certainly a later insertion), and is in this respect parallel to part of Ps. lxxxix. Ps. ii. differs, however, from the latter psalm in its tone of joyous confidence. Neither psalmist sees as yet either an empire or a ' son of Jehovah ' worthy of the promise, but whereas the author of Ps. lxxxix. is content with laying Israel's low estate before his God, the other can forget the grey realities of the present in the glories which he anticipates by faith. How much is inevitably lost in translating (Dante would say ' trans muting ') such a psalm as this ! The first six verses especially afford a specimen of the utmost art of Hebrew poetry. The words seem to live and breathe, and the rhythm to paint the actions. But the ' musical band ' of which Dante spoke is broken, and he who would see how metre and rhyme and assonance may be skilfully though irregularly employed must read this psalm in the Hebrew. 1 Wherefore do the nations throng together, and the peoples meditate vanity ? 2 The kings of the earth stand forth, and the sovereigns take counsel together, against Jehovah and against his anointed : 3 ' Let us tear off their bonds ' (say they), ' and cast from us their cords.' 4 He who is seated in the heavens laughs, the Lord mocks at them. 5 Then speaks he unto them in his anger, and in his hot wrath confounds them : 6 ' . . . When / have established my king upon Zion my holy mountain.' Tlte King speaks. 7 ' I will relate Jehovah's decree : he said unto me, Thou art my son, I have this day begotten thee. 8 Ask of me, and I will grant thee 1 See :Eichhorn's vigorous summing up in his Allgemeine Bibliotkek, 1787, i. <:¦».-<¦ and on the Christian fulfilment of this psalm cf. The Prophecies of Isaiah , vol. ii. Essay 3 ; Maunce, Moral and Metaphysical Philosophy, i. 15. y ** - u uEzra ?ves ,a double interpretation, applying it either to David or to the Messiah, but prefers the strict Messianic interpretation as clearer. PSALM II. nations for thine inheritance, and the earth's utmost parts for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a mace of iron ; thou shalt shiver them like a potter's vessel.' Now therefore, ye kings, deal wisely ; be admonished, ye judges of the earth. Serve Jehovah with fear, be io trembling agony. * * * lest he be angry, and ye go to ruin ; for his anger kindleth easily : happy all those that take refuge in him ! 2 The kings of the earth. Both in the Old Testament and in the New this phrase has a very wide reference ; it cannot mean simply the kings of the nations roundabout Israel. See lxxvi. 13, lxxxix. 28, cii. 1 6, cxxxviii. 4, cxlviii. 1 1 , Lam. i v. 12, Rev. i. 5 (and elsewhere). The picture in this verse is like that in Joel iii. 2, Zech. xiv. 2, 3, except that the nations of the earth are here regarded as having previously been subject to Jehovah's Anointed One. (Ps. xlviii. 5, lxxxiii. 6 are not parallel.) 4 Xiang-hs. So xxxvii. 13, lix. 9. But here the mention of the heavens reminds us of the Thunder-god, whose ' wild raging ' is pictured in the myths as ' scornful laughter.' In the Hebrew of the next verse we seem to hear the thunder's roll, and see the lightning-flash. The Bibli cal writers had a fixed purpose of utilising all that they could of the ancient vocabulary of the myth- forming stage of thought. The thunder is God's voice ; the heaven is His impregnable fortress. 5 Then, i.e. when the crisis has arrived, and all bids fair for the success of the revolt. Comp. Isa. xviii. 5. 6 When I. Literally, ' And I.' Comp. 1. 16, 17, 'What right hast thou, &c, whereas thou (literally, and thou).' So here we must un derstand, 'What right have ye to independent action, when I — the King of kings — have established my royal deputy ? ' Zion, either Mount Zion properly so called (i.e. the eastern hill of old Jerusalem, on which the ' city of David ' stood, and — on the northern summit — the Temple), or, poetically, Jerusalem (comp. on xlviii. 2). The latter is the more probable view, if the psalm is post-Davidic. 7 The decree of Jehovah (see erit. note). The mention of the ' establishment ' of a king (v. 6) leads to the recital of the antecedent ' decree ' (or ' statute '). Strictly speaking, this ' decree ' is confined to v. 7 ; vv. 8, 9 have more the cha racter of an ' oracle ' (comp. Ps. ex. 1). Thou art my son. So, 'he shall call upon me, Thou art my father ' (lxxxix. 28 ; see note) ; both passages echo 2 Sam. vii. 14, and imply membership of a society or college of (in some sense) super human beings. This day. We may explain equally well with re ference to the day of the king's birth and to that of his enthrone ment. I incline to the former view. So Assurbanipal says at the begin ning of his Annals that the gods 'in the body of his mother have made him to rule Assyria ; ' and the god Ra says to Ramses II., 'I am thy father ; by me are begotten all thy members as divine.' So too Ameno- phis II. says, ' He made me lord of the living when I was yet a child in the nest.' Comp. also the Alexan drine translation of ex. 3. 8 The earth's utmost parts. THE PSALMS The king of Egypt claimed a de jure sovereignty over the world as son and heir of the sun (see Renouf, Hibbert Lectures, p. 162). The As syrian kings were more sober in their inscriptions (see, however, Sargon, Records of the Past, xi. 33). There is no evidence, nor proba bility, that the Israelitish kings put forward any such claims as the ' king ' puts forward here. If this were an accession-psalm we might compare Ixxii. 8, where among other idealistic anticipations occurs the hope that the young king may have dominion ' unto the ends of the earth.' But it is no anticipation that we have here, but a promise actually fulfilled. Observe that the promise outruns the revelation in 2 Sam. vii. (but comp. lxxxix. 26, 28). Are not all these psalm-pas sages (ii. 8, Ixxii. 8, lxxxix. 26, 28) dependent on the .Afe.jz«$-promise in Zech. ix. 10 ? 9 Thou shalt break them. Comp. ex. 5. Not to be explained as a description of the habitually severe rule of the Messiah, but as a prophecy of what must happen if the nations persist in revolting from the appointed king. With a mace of iron. Not with the sceptre of peace, but with the spiked iron mace used in war, which bears the same name (she'bhet), the o-ibr)pdr) Kopvvrj of II. vii. 140. Throughout Asia the history of this implement was doubtless the same ; the shepherd's oaken club (see on xxiii. 4) de veloped on the one hand into the sceptre [comp. Assyr. ri'u = (i) shepherd, (2) ruler], and on the other into the formidable weapon a picture of which is given by Raw- linson, Ancient Monarchies, i. 459. ' Mace ' would have been the best rendering of she'bhet in our version of Num. xxiv. 17, 2 Sam. xviii. 14, and of matteh in Hab. iii. 14. like a potter's vessel. So the Assyrian kings (e.g. Sargon) speak 1 This too is implied by the Talmudic interpretation, rabba, 10 ; cf. Sanhedrin, 92 a (Weber, System, p. 148). 2 See Drummond, Jewish Messiah, Bk. ii. chap. x. of crushing countries like earthen ware (kima hasbdti). See Norris, Assyrian Diet, ii. 413. II Be in trembling- agony. Or, 'exult with shuddering.' But these ideas are nowhere else found combined, and joy seems unsuitable here. See erit. note. 12 lest he be angry. This is preceded in the received text by ' Kiss the son ' (an Aramaic word for ' son ' is used). If these words be genuine, they must mean such a kissing as implies submission (some what as Luke vii. 37) ; ' kissed my feet ' means ' did homage ' in As syrian inscriptions. Insteadof ' Kiss the son,' the Targum and the Sep tuagint, which agree but rarely, have, ' Take hold of admonition,' or in better English, ' Learn well your lessons' (R. Stanihurst, 1583), which is adopted by the Peshitto (Ambro- sian Codex) and the Vulgate. This, however, is no equivalent of the traditional reading, but a marginal gloss upon ' be admonished ' (v. 10), which intruded (as glosses have often done) into the text, and which in course of time became corrupted into the present Hebrew reading. It is obvious ' that the subject of the verb in the clause ' lest he be angry' is Jehovah, who absorbs the attention in this part of the psalm. We must either emend, reading 'Seek ye his face' with Briill, or something similar, or else suppose that the two doubtful words are a post-Exile (Aramaising) insertion by one who wished to bring out the Messianic reference more distinctly. The former view seems the more probable. It is at any rate very doubtful whether the title ' son of God ' was applied to the Messiah in the time of Christ.2 And ye go to ruin. Hup- feld, 'and ye go astray as to the way.' The image of the treacherous path seems more prominent here than in i. 6 ; still Hupfeld's render ing is too weak. Some have thought 12 = rnin. Bammidbar PSALM II. 7 (see Rosenmiiller) that the way is astray ' means ' being ruined ' (see that which leads to the king, as if on i. 6). Kindleth easily. Or, the enforced homage came too late, ' will soon kindle,' i.e. ' little more wrath being already kindled. But is needed for his wrath to burn ' ' way ' means ' fortune,' and ' going (Orelli). PSALM III. I\ MORNING-PRAYER in time of danger, purporting to be spoken by a leader of the church-nation, but apparently meant for liturgical use (v. g). The enemies are evidently heathen (see on v. 8). There are four strophes, the first three tetrastichs, the fourth a pentastich. Read this and the next psalm together, and comp. xxvii. i-6. 2 Jehovah, how many are my foes become ! many are they that rise up against me. 3 Many are saying of my soul, ' There is no salvation for him in God.' 4 But thou, Jehovah, art a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter up of my head. 5 I cry aloud unto Jehovah, and he answers me from his holy mount. 6 I laid me down and slept, I have awaked, for Jehovah sustains me. 7 I am not afraid of the myriads of people that have arrayed themselves against me round about. 8 Arise, Jehovah ; save me, O my God ! for thou hast smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek-bone, the teeth of the ungodly hast thou broken. 9 Unto Jehovah belongeth salvation ; thy blessing be upon thy people ! 3 Of my soul, i.e. of myself as an earthly father is betokened by a living, conscious, personal being his good gifts to his wilful children. (see on xiii. 2). Salvation. A ' God ' and ' saviour ' or ' deliverer ' distinct word is desirable to express are in fact synonymous terms ; the wonderful deliverances which, see cvi. 21, Isa. xliii. 3, 11, xiv. 15, as the Israelites and their neigh- 21. This material sense of ' salva- bours x felt, God alone can give. tion ' is in accordance with the ' Salvation,' however, must not be physical meaning of the root of understood in a Christian, theo- y'shiiah, ' spaciousness ' (see on iv. logical sense. External deliver- 2). ' Deliverance ' (as an act) or ances — these were what pious ' liberty ' (as a state ; see 1. 23, xci. Israelites longed for (so even in 16) is the derived sense in Hebrew ; li. 14) as 'tokens for good,' in- riches, knowledge, and power in volving no doubt the forgiveness of Arabic (so in the Koran). sins, but only as the forgiveness of 4 My glory, i.e. in the fullest 1 Mesha (inscr. , /. 4) says of Kemdsh that he ' saved ' him. 8 THE PSALMS sense of the word, the source and death (xiii. 4). Danger converts the preserver of all that in me is the most natural processes into glorious, of my personal life (comp. proofs of God's ' passing great kmd- vii. 6), of which many foresee a ness ' (iv. 4). speedy termination (v. 3), and of my 8 Thou hast smitten. Such personal dignity (see iv. 2). has been my repeated experience. 5 z cry, &c. It is my constant Milton, 'hast smote ere now.'— experience that Jehovah answers The ungodly. Heathen enemies prayer. From his holy mount, are meant (see on Ixviii. 3) ; for no i.e. from Mount Zion, the equiva- psalmist ever describes his Jewish lent of heaven as a storehouse of enemies as ' ungodly ' (r'shdHm) in divine powers (see on Ixviii. 19). the mass, at any rate before the Possibly the psalmist is now far Maccabean period. Comp. ix. 5, from Jerusalem. where ' the nations ' and the ' un- 6 I might have slept unto godly ' are parallel. PSALM IV. 1 his and the preceding psalm are jewels on one string ; that was a morning, this is an evening prayer. Even in expression there are points of contact between them (cf. iii. 3, iv. 7 ; iii. 4, iv. 3 ; iii. 6, iv. 9). May we not supplement the one psalm from the other? The dangers to which the psalmist and his friends are exposed, are represented in Ps. iv. as mainly from within, but surely vv. 7-9 give vague hints of dangers from without upon which a bright light is reflected from Ps. iii. 2 Answer me when I call, God of my righteousness ; O my heart's ease in distress, pity me and hear my prayer. 3 O sons of men, how long shall my glory be insulted, in that ye love vanity, and seek after falsehood ? 4 But see how passing great kindness Jehovah hath shown me ; Jehovah hears when I call unto him. 5 Tremble, and sin no more : resolve in your heart upon your bed, and be still. 6 Offer the right sacrifices, and put your trust in Jehovah. 7 Many are saying, ' O for the sight of good fortune ! ' Jehovah, lift thou up the light of thy face upon us. 8 Thou hast put more joy into my heart than when others have their corn and new wine in abundance. 9 In peace will I at once lay me down and sleep, for thou, Jehovah, makest me dwell alone in safety. 2 O God of my righteousness, ences, the ground of present faith i.e. thou who declarest my righ- (see on iii. 8). For the phraseology, teousness (see on vii. 18) by re- comp. Isa. Ix. 4, 'Thy heart shall warding me openly. Success viewed throb and be enlarged.' It is more as the gift of a righteous judge is obvious, indeed, though not more itself called 'righteousness' (cf. admissible, to see in the Hebrew xxiv. 5, Isa. hv 17, &c.) My an image from a walker who, after heart's ease, &c. Past experi- being hemmed in by rocks, is sud- PSALM IV. denly introduced into a broad space (comp. xviii. 19, xxxi. 8, and see notes on iii. 3 b, xxvi. 11 b, 12). In my version I had an eye to the brevity of the Hebrew ; we have, in fact, only half a line to spare ! The literal rendering is, ' Thou (who) in a strait hast enlarged (a space) for me.' 3 O sons of men, Or, as De litzsch, ' ye men of high degree ' (comp. on lxii. 10) ; but the anti thesis is perhaps not between great men and mean men, but between man and Jehovah. Strengthened by the thought of God, the psalmist can beard these 'blasphemers of dignities' (2 Pet. ii. 10, lit. 'glories '). My glory. Twp meanings are open to us, (1) my personal dignity as a king or prophet (comp. on lxii. 5), (2) the God whose service is my glory (comp. on cvi. 20). The former accords with the best in terpretation of the next line. Ve love vanity and seek after falsehood. Taking these words in connexion with v. 6 a, as directed against worldly-mindedness, we might paraphrase with Milton, How long be thus forbom Still to love vanity, To love, to seek, to prize Things false and vain, and nothing else but lies ? Another view may be supported by comparing Isa. xxviii. 17 (where Delitzsch thinks 'lie' and 'false hood ' mean breach of faith towards Assyria). The psalmist, like Isaiah (xxx. 12), may perhaps reproach his opponents with relying on a crooked policy rather than on Jehovah, and with forming plans which, like those of 'the nations' in ii. 1, are 'un- realisable ' (riq is the word in both places). Such plans necessarily in volved contempt for the ' glory ' of prophets of the noble style, such as Isaiah and (perhaps) our psalmist. Or, taking ' my glory ' as a synonym for ' my God ' (see above), and re membering that 'to love' and to ' seek after ' are used elsewhere in a religious sense (see xl. 16, lxix. 33> 37)i and that 'lying vanities' (he'bhel, not as here riq) and ' false hoods ' (xxxi. 7, Am. ii. 4) are syno nyms for idol-gods, we might view the passage as a reproof to the heathenish section of the Jewish nation. We might then compare xvi. 4 ; it is certain that the persons addressed are not hearty worship pers of Jehovah. Still I think the psalmist would in this case have used sterner language ; and, on the whole, comparing that striking pas sage lxii. 5, I would rather explain ' vanity ' and ' falsehood ' of the calumnies uttered by the opponents of the psalmist (comp. xxxi. 14, Jer. xx. 10) ; or perhaps ' vanity ' may refer to the ' unrealisable ' plans which they loved to forge for his destruction. 4 But see (or, ' take notice '), as a contrast to your depreciation of my dignity ; or, ' then see,' since your passion so blinds you. How passing great kindness,1 &c. Vain is all this hostility, for my life exhibits a series of divine loving- kindnesses. No common phrase this. David, we are told, was anxious to find out members of Saul's family, ' that I may show the kindness of God unto him ' (2 Sam. ix. 3) ; the psalmist was now brought as low as the family of Saul in the hour of David's success. He needed a ' passing great ' or ' singular' (not ' marvellous ') exhibition of God's dearest quality — ' lovingkindness ; ' compare similar expressions in xvii. 7, xxxi. 22. To this manysided conception we shall have occasion to return. ' Lovingkindness ' (khe- sedh, usually eXeos in Sept.) means first of all the covenant-love of Jehovah to those who know and serve Him ; next, the covenant-love of a servant of Jehovah to his God ; next, the love of Jehovah's fellow- servants among themselves. We shall do well to begin with fixing in our minds this primal truth of the religion of the Psalms — that 1 The traditional reading is, ' That Jehovah hath set apart a loving (i.e. pious) one for himself. ' Against this see erit. note. IO THE PSALMS God is not merely man's Baal or lord, but the head of a community, bound together by mutual love. See further on xii. 2, xvi. 10, xviii. 26, xxxvi. 8-1 1, 1. 5, and my Hosea (1884), pp. 27-30. 5 Tremble, &c. (see v. 6 b, and comp. xl. 4, ' that many should see it, and fear, and put their trust in Jehovah'). He would have them shaken out of their proud security (comp. Isa. xxxii. 11, Heb.) by the sight of the favour which he enjoys ; for this favour implies Jehovah's disfavour for His servant's enemies. This view fol lows the Targum. The Septuagint has, for ' Tremble,' ' Be ye angry ; ' i.e. ' Be angry, if you will, but let it be in silence ; let your factious op position have an end.' But how unlike the religion of the psalmists, to allow a lower standard to others than to oneself, and to sanction the dumb brooding of unholy passion ! See v. 10. Resolve in your heart. Literally, ' say in your heart.' The heart is the seat, not only of the desires and emotions, but also of the conscience and the intel lect. The psalmist appeals, in these words, to the conscience and reason of his hearers. He would have them collect their thoughts, and ' say in their heart ' something like those words of Isaiah, ' Come ye, and let us walk in the light of Jehovah' (comp. v. 7). The un exampled omission of the words to be inwardly said constitutes the phrase one of those enigmas by which the psalmists from time to time love to stimulate the interest of their readers. ' Heart-speeches ' (if the word may be coined) are among the characteristics of the proud and self-confident (see x. 6, 11, 13, xiv. 1, xxxv. 25). But such ' communing ' is not ' for peace ; ' ' they frame deceitful plots against the quiet in the land' (xxxv. 20). Especially at night, when God 'giv eth his beloved sleep ' or thoughts still sweeter than sleep (cxxxix. 18, cxlix. 5), these men, we are told, are as busy as ever ' devising mis chief upon their beds' (xxxvi. 4). But now the psalmist hopes that his proud opponents will change their custom. There are heart- speeches of piety as well as of pride. They may be expressed in the form of prayer (see 1 Sam. i. 13), or in that of holy resolution (xxvii. 8). The latter seems the most ap propriate here as a preparation for v. 5. Observe the mildness of the psalmist's reproof ; other poets did not copy him in this. The calm of evening broods over his gentle thoughts. Be still. Or, 'be silent ;' this narrower sense is sug gested by the context. A fatal fluency of speech was one charac teristic of the 'ungodly' in Israel (v. 10, lix. 22).. 6 True piety is both inward and outward. Inwardly it is trust ; out wardly it is expressed in right sacrifices, those which are offered from right motives, as opposed to ' false (or, hypocritical) offerings ' (Isa. i. 13). So li. 19, Deut. xxxiii. 19- 7 lift thou up, &c. An image for the restoration of the divine favour, says one. A poet of the school of Dante saw deeper, — Tu sei, Signor, la luce chiara e pura. La qual, levando su senza dimora, Fara la rocca di Sion sicura. See further on xvii. 15, and comp. Num. vi. 25, 26 (of which some un necessarily consider our passage to be an echo). upon us. It is a national psalm, therefore, even though the speaker may not here be the personified Israel. 8 The prayer of faith has been answered (cf. xxxvi. 9, 10). From the contrast in this verse, we may assume that the persons spoken of had heathenish tendencies. The 'good fortune' they desired con sisted in mere material blessings, which followed as a matter of course on the due worship of the gods of the soil; To the prophets and psalmists, these same gifts were conditional on the moral obedience of the worshippers (comp. Deut. xxviii. 1-14), and the confirmed be liever could, if called upon, dispense PSALM IV. I I with them (Hab. iii. 17, 18). The 9 Colnp. xvi. gb. At once. exuberant joy of harvest and vintage No tossing before slumber comes. is alluded to in Isa. ix. 3, Hos. ix. I Alone, i.e. without friends or (comp. vii. 14). allies ; comp. Deut. xxxiii. 28, Num. xxiii. 9, Mie. vii. 14, Jer. xlix. 31. PSALM V. -ttlNOTHER morning-prayer (v. 4), designed, like Ps. iii., for the temple- service (v. 8). The central petition is in v. 9 ; the psalmist fears by any lapse into sin to ' give occasion to the enemy to blaspheme.' ¦ Comp. this psalm therefore with xxvi. and xxviii., the leading petitions of which are similar. 2 Give ear unto my words, Jehovah, understand my murmuring. 3 Listen to the sound of my crying, my King and my God, for unto thee do I make my prayer. 4 Jehovah, in the morning dost thou hear my voice ; in the morning do I order (my sacrifice) for thee, and look out. 5 For thou art not a God that has pleasure in wickedness, evil cannot be a guest of thine : 6 Boasters cannot stand up before thine eyes, thou hatest all them that work naughtiness : 7 Thou destroyest them that speak lies ; the man of blood and of deceit Jehovah abhors. 8 But I, because of thine abundant kindness, can enter thy house, worshipping toward thy holy palace in the fear of thee. 9 Jehovah, lead me in thy righteousness, because of my keen-eyed enemies ; make thy way even before my face. 10 For there is no sincerity in their mouth, their inward part is engulfing ruin ; an open grave is their throat, though they make smooth their tougue. 1 1 Declare them guilty, O God, let them fall by their own plots ; for their manifold transgressions thrust them down, for they have rebelled against thee : 12 So shall. all that take refuge in thee be glad, and ring out their joy for ever ; and if thou protect them, in thee shall they triumph who love thy name. 13 For thou, Jehovah, givest thy blessing to the righteous ; with favour, as with a buckler, surroundest thou him. 12 THE PSALMS am conscious of being a khdsidh (one who is duteously loving to God and man), can be assured of Jehovah's khesedh or covenant-love, and en compassed and enabled by that love, can enter His house.1 Comp., with Driver, Isa. xxvi. 13, 'only through thee can we celebrate thy name.' . can worship. ' To worship ' in Hebrew is properly 'to- prostrate oneself.' So in Arabic mesjid ' a mosque' (Dante's meschitd) is strict ly 'a place of bowing the head.' Toward thy holy palace, i.e., perhaps, towards the Holy of holies (comp. xxviii. 2), though in the de scription of the Solomonic temple 'palace' (hekal; see erit. note) is the word for the Holy place, the 1 nave,' one might say, as opposed to the ' chancel ' (1 Kings vi. 5, 17, vii. 50). See further on xxviii. 2. 9 Encouraged by the thought of his privilege, the psalmist now offers his prayer. Lead me in thy righteousness, i.e. either ' lead me in thy quality of a righteous God ' (vii. 10), or, in the path of right eousness (Prov. viii. 20, Heb.) The former explanation seems the safer. The second line explains the first. A fall, i.e. a misfortune, would cause my enemies to rejoice (xxxv. 15), and to imagine that I had been guilty of some great sin. Make thy way even, i.e. probably, free from misfortune ; see on xxvi. 12. The life of a saint is finely described as God's way (comp. xvii. 5), be cause God alone has the plan or ' counsel ' of it (lxxiii. 24, xvi. 7). 10 Engulfing ruin. The root- meaning (see erit. note) may here have been present to the writer's mind (comp. on 'perishes,' i. 6), though the secondary sense, ' de struction' (see xxxviii. 13, Iii. 4, lv. 12, lvii. 2, xci. 3, xciv. 20) is evi dently more prominent. The plural 1 ' House ' (bayith) might conceivably mean the so-called Tabernacle, just as bail in Arabic, according to the Arabic lexicons, may be used of a tent ; it does indeed mean this in Josh. vi. 24, 2 Sam. xii. 20. But I doubt if ' palace ' (hekal) could be so used. It would sound almost ironical to call the temporary tent in which (partly, perhaps, for want of space in the citadel of Jebus) David deposited the Ark a ' great house ' (see erit. note). Hengstenberg maintains that the Tabernacle is called hekal in 1 Sam. i. 9, iii. 3, but few will now deny that the hekal, or divine palace, referred to was the Temple of Shiloh, as to which see note on lxxviii. 60. 2 My murmuring, which none but God can interpret. 4 Order (my sacrifice). Prayer and praise, being ' mediative ' (see on xiii. 9 c), belong to the class of sacrifices (-rrvevp.aTtK.di dvaiai, I Pet. 11. 5). The same conception of prayer as in cxli. 2 ; cf. cvii. 22, Hos. xiv. 3. Milton, I' th' morning I to thee with choice Will rank my prayers. Others explain, 'will I set forth (my cause) ; ' cf. Job xiii. 18, xxiii. 4. look out, viz. unto Jehovah (Mie. vii. 7) for an answer, or, more poetically, for the angel of His lovingkindness (xiii. 9). ' Look up ' (A. V.) in Bishop Alexander's para phrase is fine, but 'look out' is truer to the feelings of the age ; Jehovah is not 'far above,' but waiting in his ' holy of holies ' (see on v. 7) to send help. 5 Cannot be a guest of thine, i.e. cannot enjoy thy hospitable and protecting care. See on xv. 1. 6 Boasters (holaltm). The root expresses a loud, noisy, self-import ant demeanour. What ideas are connected with this will be seen from lxxiii. 3, 8, 9. Kordn, lvii. 23, is also instructive. The line of thought there is, Be neither dis tressed at poverty, nor exultant at riches ; for God appoints this dif ference, and ' God loveth not the presumptuous, the boaster.' Naughtiness, that which is mo rally worthless. 7 A contrast to be explained thus. Since ' evil cannot be a guest of thine ' (v. 5), the only real con gregation is that of believers ; all others do but ' trample God's courts ' (Isa. i. 12). All others will sooner orlater perish ; but Jehovah's guests shall ' dwell in His house unto length of days ' (xxiii. 6). 8l... can enter, &c. I, who PSALM V. 13 (havvoth) indicates the manifoldness ment, such as an Eastern scruples and intensity of the ' ruin.' not to use in prayer ( 1 Kings viii. 28, II Declare them guilty. Sept. Jer. xiv. 12, Lam. ii. 19, Ps. xviii. I, Kplvov avrovs. Misfortune was re- &c), but which is also equally garded as declarative of God's anger adapted for rejoicing and for lamen- against sin (see xxxiv. 22) ; this tation (see my note on Isa. xliii. 14). idea was stamped as deeply on the More in erit. note. language (see on xxxi. 11) as on the 13 As with a buckler. It is theology of Israel. What 'search- the shield of largest size which is ings of heart' followed from it, the meant (1 Sam. xvii. 7). Naturally, Book of Job and the cognate psalms for ' the righteous ' is collective ; in testify. short, it is a term like Jeshurun for 12 Ring out their joy. This the ideal Israel. We may then is a peculiar word used with delicate compare Tasso's lines of liquid tact in Biblical Hebrew, and much harmony, more widely in the Targum on the „. . . . . ..... „, , ' ¦ .°\ T. Si vedea fiammegeiar fra gli altri arnesi Psalms (see cnt note). It pro- Scudo di lucidissimo diamante periy means a shrill, piercing cry, Grande che puo coprir genti e paesi. expressive of emotional excite- Gerusalemme Liberata, c. vii. St. 81. PSALM VI. -A. RECORD of still deeper depression (cf. Ps. xxxviii.) Mental produces bodily suffering. Persecution is at its height ; by the ' workers of wicked ness ' (v. 9) the psalmist means irreligious oppressors (xiv. 4). Faith re stores his wonted elasticity. The speaker is either the pious Israelite per sonified, or a representative righteous man who feels the sins and sufferings of his people as his own (see on v. 2). 2 Jehovah, do not in thine anger reprove me, neither in thy wrath correct me. 3 Have pity upon me, Jehovah, for I am languishing ; neal me, Jehovah, for my bones are confounded. 4 My soul also is confounded exceedingly ; but thou, Jehovah, how long ? 5 Return, Jehovah, dehver my soul, save me, for thy lovingkindness' sake. 6 For in Death there is no mention of thee, in Sheol who will give thee thanks ? 7 I am wearied with my groaning, every night make I my bed to swim, I melt away my couch with my tears. 8 Mine eye has fallen in from vexation, it has grown old with the insulting of my foes. 9 Away from me, all ye that work wickedness, for Jehovah has heard my loud weeping. 10 Jehovah has heard my supplication, Jehovah will receive my prayer. 14 THE PSALMS 1 1 Ashamed and sore confounded be all mine enemies, let them turn back with shame suddenly ! 2 The 'whispered prayer' (Isa. xxvi. 16) of penitent Israel under a sense of God's anger. Not in thine anger, ' but with mildness and with perfect love,' as the supposed Dante paraphrases. Cf. xxxviii. 2, and the original of both passages — Jer. x. 23, ' Jehovah, correct me, but ac cording to justice ; not in thine anger, lest thou make me small.' Here, as in the whole section (Jer. x. 17-25), the speaker is, not Jere miah as an individual, but as a pro phet who loses himself in the people which he represents. Hence he says, ' lest thou make me small,' i.e. 'lest I (Israel) survive as the mere shadow of my former self.' See above, and cf. on v. 6. 3 Heal me. The psalmist thinks partly of his own sufferings as a persecuted Israelite, but still more of those of the nation (see on xxx. 3) with which he identifies himself. ' Sickness ' is a figure of various application. As applied to the pious kernel of Israel, it means the danger in which it was of being extinguished by persecution. But this application is not to exclude a personal reference to the agonising anxiety of individuals, including the writer, for their own safety. My* bones. The Hebrew conceives of physical and spiritual life as exist ing in one undivided personality, while the Aryan nations are dualis- tic. Hence the bones sometimes (as here) represent the whole body, and sometimes even the whole nature of man. See, e.g., xxxi. 11, xxxii. 3, xxxv. 10, xxxviii. 4, li. 10, and compare the use of iecem, Gen. vii. 13, &c, for the essence or body of a thing (res ipsa). 6 Por in Death, &c. Observe the writer's strong fear of death. Though most of all anxious pro bably for the future of his nation (see on xxx. 4, 10, lxxxviii. 4-6), he retains his hopes and fears as an individual ; the psalm of Hezekiah shows (Isa. xxxviii. 18) how terrible to a believer was the cessation in Sheol of the life of prayer and praise. This terribleness was, however, one element in the training of the Jews for a final ' illumination ' of ' life and immortality' (2 Tim. i. 10). Death, not the process or state of death, but another name for Sheol (as ix. 13, xxii. 16, Ixviii. 20, lxxxix. 49, cvii. 18) ; comp. Rev. i. 18, vi. 8, xx. 13, 14. Sheol, i. 2, the under world, the land of the Refaim (lxxxviii. 11) or shades. In the Sept. and in the N.T. the Hebrew She61 is presented as Hades, a ren dering which was adopted in the Parchment Library Psalms, and in volves an anachronism far more in nocent than that of using the Teuto nic 'hell.' The Assyrian equivalent of Sheol is traced by some in su'dlu = ' place of decision : ' see Friedr. Delitzsch, Prolegomena, p. 109 ; Jeremias, Die bab.-ass. Vorstell- ungen (1887), pp. 62, 109. 7 The first clause is taken from Jer. xiv. 3. Comp. Ixix. 4. 8 The first clause recurs with the slightest variation in xxxi. 10 (where the speaker is the nation). With the insulting of. The re ceived text gives, weakly, ' because of all.' See erit. note. 9 A strange but noble transition ! Sudden spiritual changes, then, are possible. God has ' prepared a table before him in the presence of his enemies ' (xxiii. 5, A. V.) He has an oracle within his heart which tells him that his prayer has been heard, and he humbly adds his own infer ence (not the ' subjective tense ') that God will ' receive ' it graciously, i.e. grant his petition (comp. 1 John v. 15). When this is realised, his ene mies will be as much 'confounded' as he himself was (v. 4), labouring under the consciousness of God's wrath. PSALM VII. 15 PSALM VII. A STORM of the most varied thoughts, fears, and hopes, rightly called in the heading a dithyramb,' says Ewald ; and Ainsworth long before (1627) had spoken of its ' sundry variable and wandering verses.' ' Not only by the variety but by the energy of its style the psalm contrasts with the two which precede it. A national psalm it is, beyond doubt. Righteous Israel (Jeshurun) is the speaker. Who else can utter the solemn declara tion of innocence in v. 9 (see note) ? 2 Jehovah my God, in thee have I taken refuge ; save me from all my pursuers, and deliver me : 3 Lest he tear my soul as a lion, when there is none to rescue, and none to deliver. 4 Jehovah my God, if I have done this, if there be iniquity in my hands, 5 If I have wrought evil unto him that was at peace with me, or oppressed him that was my foe for nothing, 6 Let the enemy pursue my soul, and overtake it, yea, let him trample my life to the earth, and lay my glory in the dust. 7 Arise, Jehovah, in thine anger, lift thyself up at the fury of my foes, yea, arouse thyself to meet me — a judgment hast thou (already) appointed ; 8 Yea, let the assemblage of the peoples come about thee, and sit thou above them on the high mount. 9 Jehovah judges the peoples ; right me, Jehovah, according to mine innocence and according to mine inward integrity. 10 O that the wickedness of the ungodly might come to an end, and that thou wouldest establish the innocent, thou trier of the hearts and reins, thou righteous Elohim ! 1 1 My shield over me is Elohim, the saviour of the upright in heart, 12 Elohim, a righteous judge, and a God who is wrathful every day. 13 If any do not tum, he whets his sword ; he has bent his bow and made it ready, 14 And has aimed at the man the weapons of death, setting his arrows aflame. ' : This assumes a derivation from shdgdh ' to wander.' Zimmern (Babylonische Busspsalmen, p. 1) compares Bab. Sigu, the technical term for a class of penitential hymns, from the emotional excitement which characterises them. i6 THE PSALMS 15 Behold, he travails with wickedness ; he both conceives mischief and brings forth a lie. 16 A pit has he dug and hollowed it out, and he will tumble into the (very) pitfall he made. 1 7 His mischief shall return upon his own head, upon the crown of his own head shall his violence descend 18 I will thank Jehovah according to his righteousness, and make melody unto the name of Jehovah most high. 3 Tear my soul. Comp. ' his soul went into the iron' (cv. 18). 5 If I have wrought evil, &c. So (after Targ.) Ewald, Hupfeld, Riehm, Delitzsch. Less naturally, Dathe, Olshausen, Bottcher, ' If I have done evil to him that recom pensed evil to me,' taking gdtnal in a pregnant sense (see on xiii. 6). Against this see Rodiger in Gese- nius' Thesaurus, s.v. Q^{y. Or oppressed, &c. The text, as ren dered by Ewald and most critics, has 'and delivered, &c.,' which De Witt paraphrases into ' I, that would rescue my causeless foe.' But see erit. note. 6 Pursue my soul, as if a fugi tive bird (xi. 1). My glory not in the sense of iv. 3, but = 'my soul' (xvi. 9, xxx. 13, lvii. 9, cviii. 2, Gen. xlix. 6). In spite of its obscurity to the English reader, it is import ant to keep the literal rendering. The phrase illustrates and is illus trated by ' my only one ' ( = my dear life), even though it be only different in degree of excellence (not in kind) from the ' soul ' of any other kind of animals (see on xlix. 13, 21). How natural it would be to take one step in advance and infer the happy immortality of this ' soul,' like Macbeth in the phrase 'my eternal jewel' ! This step was not with full consciousness taken by the early psalmists, but there seems to have been an intuitional belief in the higher truth (see on xvi. 9-1 1, lxxiii. 25, 26), which was religiously as precious as the more developed creed of the Psalter of Solomon. 7 A judgment (in my favour) hast thou already appointed. We should have expected the im perative (cf. Ixviii. 29) ; the perfect is best explained (as xxii. 22) by a sudden burst of heaven-storming faith. ' Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right ? ' Ewald and Driver, however, take this line, not as a coordinate but as a circum stantial clause, 'having commanded judgment.' 8 The assemblage of the peo ples, viz. of the nations of the world whom Jehovah is about to judge, including Israel. Comp. Isa. iii. 13, 14, but not Ps. 1. 1 (where all nations are merely summoned to act as witnesses). And sit thou above them (lit. 'it'), &c. The received text was rendered in P. L. psalms, 'And return thou over it unto the high heaven.' The differ ence of readings is but small, and the traditional text is somewhat favoured by the consideration that ' the height ' is very frequently (see on xviii. 17) used as a synonym for 'heaven.' (Some say that when used absolutely it always means ' heaven ; ' but see on Ixviii. 19.) But how unlikely that in the first half of v. 7 the scene of the judg ment should be described only in order that in the second half the judge should return to his heavenly palace ! Observe too that in v. 9 the sentence is still waiting to be pronounced ; how can the psalmist pray to be righted if Jehovah has already returned to his holy habita tion ? Calvin, indeed, supposes that ' return ' is spoken with refer ence to Jehovah's previous in activity, and means ' Resume thy judicial functions.' So too Hup feld, but against the analogy of passages like xxi. 14. Hence the corrected reading and rendering given above (on which see erit. PSALM VII. 17 note). ' The height ' is, here, not ' the holy mount of Heav'n's high- seated toy' (Paradise Lost, vii. 584- 5), but Mount Zion (see on Ixviii. 1 8). This view alone suits the con text. The mention of the surround ing 'assemblage' of itself shows that the throne is an earthly one, just as the mention of judgment shows that not ' returning ' — a phrase suggestive of repose — but 'taking one's seat' is the appro priate verb in this clause. (Clericus explains, ' conscendere solium, juris dicendi causa '). 9 Observe the significant paral lelism, 'Jehovah judges the peo ples ; (therefore) right me (the peo ple of Israel).' But from what point of view does the speaker so confidently lay claim to innocence ? From the point of view of general obedience to the law, i.e. presum ably that of Deuteronomy (lately promulgated ?) Comp. 2 Kings xxiii. 25, 'And like unto him (Josiah) was there no king before him that turned to Jehovah, . . according to all the law of Moses.' At a somewhat later time a prophet, though almost bound to take a severe view of the people, says that the ungodly (Chaldaean) swallows up one who is more righteous than he (Hab. i. 13). The psalmist's view may seem too rose-coloured, but probably he fairly represents the feelings of most of the best men respecting Judah-Israel. It is easy to conceive that humility became a virtue of individuals before it cha racterised the nation. Comp. on xliv. 18-22. 10 Comp. Hab. i. 4, 'There fore law is benumbed, and judg ment doth never go forth ; for the ungodly compasseth the righteous,' &c. Thou trier, &c. A Jere- mian expression (see above) ; comp. xvii. 3, xxvi. 2. The implied antithe sis is brought out in 1 Sam. xvi. 7. Note the effective repetition of 'righteous' at the end (in Heb.) of lines 2 and 4, a mere trifle, but it shows how a passion for righteous ness dominates the author. 1 1 My shield over me is God. Comp. Ps. iii. 4. If, however, we keep the traditional text (' My shield is upon God'), we must give 'shield' the secondary meaning of 'de fence ; ' ' shade ' is thus used for 'protection' in cxxi. 5. 'Upon God ' will then mean ' resting (as an obligation) upon God ; ' comp. lxii. 8, 'On God (rests) my salva tion.' But the expression is doubly difficult, and the parallel line sug gests that ' God ' is the subject to v/hich ' the saviour,' &c, is in appo sition. The upright in heart. A plural in apposition to the singu lar in line 1, thus suggesting that the speaker is the nation (Yeshurun 'the Upright One'). 13 If any do not turn. Since there is no fresh subject to the verb, some (e.g. Ewald) think that ' God' must be understood, and render 'Surely he will again whet his sword.' But the poet had probably a rhythmical reason for not naming the subject. The context, he knew, would forbid the assignment of such fatal weapons to any but God. ' Turn ' = repent. God's threaten ings (v. 12) precede his judgments, and ought to lead men to repent ance. Julius Hammer paraphrases, Wer trotzig nicht auf seine Huld verzichtet, Hbrt taglich, wenn er droht, bevor er richtet. Whets . . . has bent. The arms of Jehovah, from Deut. xxxii. 41, 42. Notice the verbal forms in the Hebrew. The one suggests that the punishment is prepared gradu ally ; the other, that at any moment the preparation may be finished, so that then the punishment will issue forth as a shaft from the bow. 14-16 The punishment of the wicked man is described in two ways, first as ' the vengeance of (God's) eternal fire ' (hence the flam ing arrows of v. 14 ; cf. xviii. 15), sometimes as developing out of his own sin. So Isa. xxxiii. 11, 'your own blast is fire which shall devour you;' v. 14, 'who can tarry with (God's) perpetual burnings ? ' St. Augustine, Horn, ad loc, overlooks this double presentation. Comp. c i8 THE PSALMS also Isa. xxvi. 18, lix. 4, and espe cially Job xv. 35. 18 According to his right eousness. ' Righteousness ' has a peculiar sense in the Old Testa ment. Its root-meaning is firmness or tightness ; hence it is the quality which leads one to adhere to a fixed rule of conduct. God's rule is his covenant ; hence righteousness shows itself in all such acts as tend to the full realising of the covenant with Israel (comp. xi. 7). Jeho vah most high. Strictly, Yahve Elyon ; comp. Elohim Elyon, lvii. 3. In Gen. xiv. 19 we read of a Canaanitish king, named Melchize- dek, who was a priest of El Elyon or ' God Supreme' (a name belonging originally to the Sky-god); cf. Eliun in Philo of Byblus ap. Euseb. Prcep. Evang., i. 10, 11, &c. The psalmist, like Abram, claims for his uniquely great God Jehovah a right to this lofty title. But supreme- ness may have two meanings. In the stage of a qualified monotheism, the Most High or Supreme God will derive His title from His vast superiority to the other superhuman beings called Elohim (cf. lxxxii. 6). In the stage of a more nearly complete monotheism, the same title Elyon will express the infinite distance between the holy God and all created things, the univer sality and absoluteness of His rule (see on lxxxiii. 19, xci. 1). Being equally appropriate to both these stages (which may of course be re presented by different persons con temporaneously), and being at tested by traditions of probable antiquity, the name Elyon is not to be taken (as by Geiger1) as a sure sign wherever it occurs of post-Exile date. We cannot, e.g., say that our psalm must be post- Exile, because the name Elyon oc curs in it. And yet a subsidiary argument can be based upon the title, because it is certain that post- Exile writers were specially fond of using it (see especially Daniel and the Wisdom of Sirach) ; and it is more than probable that some at least of the 19 psalms in which it occurs are of post-Exile date. The name (El Elyon or Elyon) was in existence earlier, just as El Shaddai or Shaddai existed long before the Book of Job ; but probably from its Phoenician associations it was discountenanced by the pre-Exile prophets. Some reader may object here, But does not the Book of Isaiah contain the word Elyon as a divine title ? Yes ; in a passage known to be due to a later hand (Isa. xiv. 14). Elyon was not, in deed, freshly minted in Babylon, but it was the widening influence of their foreign sojourn which opened the eyes of the Jews to the useful ness of this ancient word-symbol. Comp. Plumptre, Biblical Studies, pp. 17-36. PSALM VIII. JCLwald forms a noble trilogy by grouping Pss. xxix., xix. 1-7, and viii. —a storm-piece, a day-piece, and a night-piece. (I should have liked to add Ps. xciii. for a sea-piece.) In this psalm the lessons of nature are specially prominent. The poet (who is scarcely either a shepherd-boy or a warrior-king) has a deep feeling for Earth's beauties, but he knows something more glorious even than the sky of an Oriental night. Some what as St. Paul in 1 Cor. xv. 41 the glories of the firmament do but suggest a ' glory which excelleth.' ' High above the heavens ' is Jehovah's ' majesty.' A modern might infer from this that God cared not for the populations of so small a planet as the earth ; the psalmist however re flects that, since He does care for earth, His glory is enhanced by earth's relative insignificance. And he cares for earth by appointing man as his ' ' Offenbar aus Babylonien mitgebracht, ' says Geiger in his latest volume (Lectures) Comp. his Urschnft (1857), p. 33. ' PSALM VIII. 19 viceroy. Man, in short, is idealised ; for (to apply the words of Heb. ii. 8) ' we see not yet all things made subject to him.' How natural it was, and (as Dr. Westcott has shown •) how natural it is, to apply this psalm to Christ, the ' Son of man' ! But there is an application still nearer to the letter of the text, viz. to regenerate humanity (which St. Paul would call ' the body of Christ '). The psalm is virtually a prophecy of the glorifica tion of the race (comp. 2 Pet. i. 4). Many as are the jealous and revenge ful enemies of the upward-striving portion of the race, there is a power ordained of God which shames their futile efforts, and those who wield it are simple-minded, childlike, praiseful believers. The psalmist knows nothing- of the watchwords of philosophic theology. He believes in a divine Creator and Governor, who lavishes his care even on the world of men. He believes too in man, and does not depress man by telling him that he is ' a worm ' compared with the ' armies ' of the sky (Bildad in Job xxv.), or, as Shelley puts it, ' the glory and the burden of the earth.' It is more unmixedly exhilarating even than Pss. ciii., civ. The divisions of the psalm are not perfectly clear, except indeed the first (after v. 3). Delitzsch brings v. 6 into connexion with v. 5, and divides after it. But (1) v. 7 is logically as closely connected with v. 6 as v. 6 is with v. 5, and (2) the tone of w. 6, 7 is different from that of v. 5 — humility has given place to pride in divinely given privileges. It is best to make four stanzas or strophes, the first and fourth of which have six lines, the second and third four. The refrain begins the first and ends the last strophe, ' enclosing as it were the whole psalm.' 2 2 Jehovah our Lord, how glorious is thy name in all the earth ! whose majesty is raised above the heavens. 3 With the mouth of little children and sucklings hast thou founded a stronghold because of thy foes, to still the enemy and the revengeful. 4 When I behold thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou didst establish, 5 What is mortal man, that thou art mindful of him, and the son of the earth-born, that thou visitest him ? 6 Yea, thou madest him scarce less than gods, and didst crown him with honour and with state ; 7 (And) madest him to rule over the works of thy hands,— all things hast thou put under his feet, 8 Sheep and oxen, all of them, moreover the beasts of the plain, 9 The fowl of the heaven, and the fish of the sea, that which traverses the paths of the seas. 10 Jehovah our Lord, how glorious is thy name in all the earth ! 1 Christus Consummator, ii. 2 Prof. Briggs (Presbyterian Rev., July 1885), who divides the psalm into two strophes of eight lines each. C 2 20 THE PSALMS 2 Our lord. The psalmist is here man's spokesman, not Israel's. Row glorious, or, how mag nificent (Jerome, ' quam grande '). Addir and kabod both express the idea of the divine glory, the one as swelling amplitude, the other as massiveness. The former is the word here ; there is no better com mentary on it than xciii. 4 (see note). Thy name, i.e. thyself in thy self-revealing aspect (see on xx. 1), without assuming a revela tion as full as in Ex. xxxiv. 5-7. Whose majesty, &c. The ' ma jesty' is that with which Jehovah is ' clothed ' (civ. 1, hod as here), i.e. the essential light which pre ceded the heavens (see Gen. i.) If (see erit. note) we adhere to the re ceived text, rendering this, ' whose majesty doth extend over the hea vens,' we may perhaps see an allu sion to xix. I ; comp. cxlviii. 13. If, however, we follow Sept. as above (see erit. note), this passage goes beyond xix. 1, cxlviii. 13 in its re cognition of the divine transcen dence (cf. lvii. S,n, cxiii. 4). At any rate, the thought in this third line is a subordinate one ; comp. v. 10. 3 With the mouth of chil dren, &c. One of the psalmist's riddles, and not to be interpreted prosaically (as by Hitzig) of some particular event, when the crying of children excited a feeling of hu manity in the foe. I suppose the Children's Crusade would be based on this text. The children and sucklings, however, are poor and humble believers (comp. Matt. xi. 25). Jehovah ' inhabits the praises of Israel,' whose ' soul is like a weaned child' (exxxi. 2). These praises are Israel's stronghold ; Nehemiah says the same thing of ' the joy which is in Jehovah,' Neh. viii. 10. And such bulwarks as these are powerful enough to still the fury of the fiercest enemy. ('To still' seems better than De Witt's ' to silence,' which implies that the fury was confined to threats.) The enemy and the revengeful, 1 Die Lehre der Bibel von Gott, iii. 2, i.e. the revengeful enemy. The only nationalistic touch in the psalm ; for xliv. 17 proves that the reference is to the enemies of Israel. 4 Why is not the sun men tioned ? Because ' the moon and the stars ' of an Eastern sky give a deeper notion of infinity. Ewald, however, thinks that a new-moon or full-moon festival suggested the poem, and consequently the form of expression here used.1 Thy heavens. So civ. 5 (with a different nuance). S Comp. cxliv. 3, and Job's despairing 'parody' in Job vii. 17, 18. What is mortal man . . . Man is too small to be cared for, and yet, wondrous goodness ! he is cared for ; ' so thou madest him,' &c. The renderings ' mortal man,' ' son of the earth-bom,' are to sug gest the meaning which a Hebrew reader would attach to 'enosh and ben 'adam. Such plays upon words seem almost instinctive with early writers. De Witt, for a similar reason, gives ' a mortal ' and ' a son of Adam.' But there is no more an allusion here to Adam than in Job's 'born of a woman' to Eve. Visitest him. See on xxxiii. 18. 'Visitation' is the Hebrew equi valent for ' special providence ' (Job x. 12). Cf. James i. 27, 'to visit (i.e. to relieve) the fatherless.' 6 (See introd.) Scarce to be less than gods. Milton's render ing. Comp. Gen. i. 27, ' in the image of Elohim (superhuman beings, gods) created he him.' The R.V.'s rendering, ' than God ' (Ewald in his Psalms, Hitzig, Delitzsch), seems to me less probable, because God to our psalmist is Jehovah, and be sides is directly addressed in this very clause. Ewald's later render ing,2 ' than (high) angels,' limits the sense too much. (So Sept.) To the Hebrew consciousness there was no unseemliness in calling the hea venly beings 'sons of Elohim' or even 'Elohim' (see on xxix. 1), not because they were the ' mere inter preters and executors of the divine °i "• !• 2 Ibid. n. 4. PSALM VIII. 21 will ' (Ewald), but because Jehovah and those who composed His court belonged to the same class of super human beings ('elohim). The ren dering ' than angels ' seems also to involve some disparagement of human nature. Dante, that great painter of angels, after quoting- this passage, makes bold to say that in virtue of its manifoldness the noble human character surpasses the an gelic nature (Convito, iv. 19). The Septuagint translators, however, did but satisfy a craving of their times. Hermann Schultz has shown in de tail how much the belief in angels increased in definiteness after the Return from Exile, especially in the period of the Apocrypha.1 [For Sept. rendering, comp. xcvi. 7, cxxxvii. 1, Isa. ix. 5, Job xx. 15. In the two latter passages ayyeXos = 'el.'] And didst crown him . . . The first part of this verse referred to man's creation ' in the image of 'elohim ' (Gen. i. 27) ; the second describes his participation, in virtue of his almost divine nature, in the glory of the divine sovereignty. ' Honour ' (kdbod) and ' state ' (hddar) — Milton's words — are both ascribed elsewhere to Jehovah (e.g. xxix. 1, 4, civ. 1, cxiv. 5). 7 Put under his feet. Comp. the ' have dominion over ' (rather, ' tread down ' or ' subdue ') of Gen. i. 26, 28. 8 Prof. Legge well expresses the antithesis — The sheep and oxen, creatures mild, Beasts of the field, untam'd and wild. 9 That which traverses, &c. Milton, with an added grace of Ho meric reminiscence, . . . fish that through the wet Sea-paths in shoals do slide . . . But he forgets that there are other sea-dwellers (cf. Gen. i. 21). The poem of creation is now complete, and we ought not to find the closing refrain too sudden. PSALM IX. ' Xhis and the next psalm originally formed but one, but such changes have been introduced that it is better to retain the division into two parts. The original psalm was alphabetic [see on Ps. xxv.], i.e. it con sisted of twenty-two pairs of verses, beginning with the letters of the alphabet in succession.' So the P. L. edition briefly summed up results with which most scholars would agree. These results indeed are the development of the conclusion arrived at long since by the Septuagint translator, who makes no division between ix. 21 and x. 1. But the development involved a correction. Ten verses of Ps. x. (vv. 2-1 1) differ so much from the surrounding context, partly in roughness of style, partly in peculiarity of contents, that we can hardly believe them to belong to the same psalm. On examining them closer, we find that they also differ from the context in that they offer no trace of acrostic or alphabetic arrangement ; x. 1 begins with Lamed, and x. 12 with Kof, but the six intermediate letters are unrepresented. Is it not probable, then, that the nine 2 verses which now fill up the interval between v. 2 and v. 12 are the substitutes for six pairs of distichs, each beginning with one of those six letters ? An object for the substitution can be traced, viz. to produce a second" psalm for a time of still more keenly felt oppression, in which Israelites and not foreigners were the guilty agents, leaving the first half of the original psalm, with a concluding quatrain due to the editor, to stand by itself as a monument of an earlier period. Two questions may fitly be asked and answered here. 1, Why may 1 Alttestamentliche Theologie, ed. 2, pp. 813-5. 2 Most of the critics who take the view here adopted make the inserted passage begin at -v 2 My reasons for thinking 5.2a part of the original psalm are given below on x *. Dogmatism on either side would be out of place. 2 2 THE PSALMS not the irregularity with which the alphabetic system is carried out be due to the author himself, who would not have his liberty of thought too much confined?' But is not this an improbable assumption ? ' In der Beschrankung zeigt sich erst der Meister,' and it was only every other distich which had to begin with a certain letter. There is no analogy for such a mixture of self-limitation and caprice, except indeed in one of the hymns of St. Ephrem edited by Bickell,1 which, as the editor assures us, betrays a deliberate imitation of Pss. ix., x. And 2, ' Is it certain that Ps. ix. and Ps. x. (putting aside later additions) proceeded from the same hand ? ' Yes ; the evidence from parallels of expression,2 combined with the fact of the continuation in Ps. x. of the acrostic system begun in Ps. ix., is decisive on this point. Parallels of expression indeed are not entirely wanting in the two parts of Ps. x. ; 3 these would decide the unity of authorship of Ps. x., but for the large amount of stylistic difference and of unlikeness of contents. [They do at any rate suggest that the inserted passage, x. 3-1 1, was superficially harmonised with the older part of Ps. x.] I unwillingly break off here ; the critical interest of these psalms (or this psalm) must not lead me into details best reserved for a more special work. And now let us read Ps. ix. by itself. It is a psalm of mingled import — thanksgiving, glowing anticipations, and supplication. Only once do we catch the note of despondency (vv. 14, 15), and there it is remarkable that the psalmist appears to speak as an individual. It is barely possible (see on vi. 6) that the appearance may here be trusted. But the analogy of xxx. 4, 10, lxxxviii. 4-6 would justify us in explaining even this passage of the pious Israel. At any rate we must hold fast to this — that the psalmist writes for the edification of believers in general. 2 I will thank Jehovah with my whole heart ; I will tell out all thy wonders. 3 I will be glad and triumph in thee, I will make melody to thy name, O Most High ! 4 Because mine enemies turn backward, stumble and perish at thine (angry) face : 5 For thou hast maintained my right and my cause, thou art seated on the throne, judging righteously. 6 Thou hast rebuked the nations, destroyed the ungodly, their name hast thou wiped out for ever and ever. 7 The enemies are consumed, they are perpetual ruins : and the cities which thou didst uproot— the memory of them has perished. 8 They may perish, but Jehovah shall be seated for ever ; he has prepared his throne for judgment : Ute^tzXltnXt™ "**°M (l866> = Cf" Confectm "»' SW™ wliNotiCe eusPe,c,ially the Peculiar expressions rendered ' the downtrodden,' ' times 01 hopeless trouble (,x 10 x. r, 18) ; the use of ¦ mortal men,' • the nations ' (ix 20, x \ *t 5'- ¦ l6) ; and the appeal, Arise, Jehovah ' (ix. 20, x. 12). Notice 'contemns' (Jehovah or Elohim), x. 3, iq • PSALM IX. 23 9 And he himself shall judge the world in righteousness, he shall give doom to the peoples in equity : 10 That Jehovah may be a sure retreat for the downtrodden, a sure retreat for times of hopeless trouble ; 1 1 And that they who know thy name may trust in thee, since thou, Jehovah, dost not forsake those that inquire after thee. 1 2 Make melody unto Jehovah, whose seat is in Zion, publish his exploits among the peoples, 13 How that he who punishes bloodshed has been mindful of them, he has not forgotten the cry of the afflicted, — 14 ' Have pity upon me, Jehovah ; behold my affliction from them that hate me, thou that liftest me up from the gates of Death : 15 That I may tell out all thy praise in the gates of the daughter of Zion, that I may exult in thy salvation.' 16 The nations are sunk in the pit that they made, in the net which they hid is their foot taken : 17 Jehovah has made himself known, he has executed judgment, snaring the ungodly in the work of his own hands. 18 The ungodly shall depart to Sheol, all the nations that are forgetful of God. 1 9 For not alway shall the needy be forgotten ; the hope of the afflicted shall not perish for ever. 20 Arise, Jehovah, let not mortal man be too strong ; let the nations be judged in thy presence. 2 1 Strike them with terror, Jehovah ; let the nations know that they are mortal men. 3 o Most High. Elyon, a word the same striking antithesis (which symbolic of God's worldwide sove- reminds us of II. Isaiah) in cii. 27. reignty (see on vii. 18). On the text see erit. note. 4 Face, here symbolically for 9 He himselt . . . See xcvi. 'manifestation of anger' (cf. on 1 3, xcviii. 9 (post-Exile psalms). xvii. 15). Cive doom. ' He gyueth doom to 6, 7 As the parallelism shows, pore men' (Job xxxvi. 6, in Purvey). ungodly = foreign nations (cf. lviii. 10 A sure retreat. Strictly 'a 11, Ixviii. 3, exxv. 3 ; see also on high fort' (cf. xviii. 3), but often Ixviii. 3). Can we help thinking of used in the sense of ' a place of Nineveh and Babylon ? See Nah. security.' So too the verb (' to set i. 14, Isa. xiv. 20 (end), 23. Per- on high ') ; see xx. 2, lix. 2, &c. petual ruins. Cf. ' I will make them Times of hopeless trouble. The .... lasting ruins' (Jer. xxv. 9). word suggests a comparison of Faith cannot be satisfied with weak such times to places where the pro- expressions or imperfect fulfilments. spect is entirely cut off. 8 They may perish. There is 12 Publish his exploits, &c. 24 THE PSALMS So xcvi. 3, io, cv. i (post-Exile psalms). It is implied that God's great deeds for Israel (v. 13) have a wider purpose affecting all man kind. Cf. Isa. xl.-\xvi. passim. 13 See Joel iii. 21 (iv. 21). We need not, for this more or less rhe torical passage, compare lxxiv. 19, lxxix. 10, which refer to very definite circumstances in the greatest of Israel's persecutions. The taking of life represents and symbolises all the violent conduct of Israel's persecutors (cf. on Isa. i. 15). Who punishes . . . Lit., ' who seeks (satisfaction for the wrong).' In v. 10 £ the same participle occurs, and in x. 4, 13, 15 the verb is used without any expressed object. Cf. Gen. ix. 5, ' I will seek (satisfaction for) the (taken) life of man.' The afflicted (Heb. text, 'aniyyim ; marg., 'andvim). A standing phrase, not for the Levites (as Graetz strangely supposes1), but for the pious kernel of the Jewish people (as Joseph Mede already saw two hundred years ago), reminding us of the name ' Ebionites,' which be yond question arose in the apostolic age, and was applied to the Chris tians in Jerusalem (Harnack, Dog- mengesch., 226). Both expressions had of course a derivative moral sense. The distinction between 'dni ' afflicted ' (with the secondary sense ' humble ') and 'andv = npavs is not ratified by the Sept., nor by the contexts of the passages where they occur (see on v. 19). Linguisti cally there is no doubt a formal dis tinction ; 'dm = 'one who is bowed down,' 'andv = ' one who bows him self ; ' but it is a distinction without a substantial difference. The 'andv 'bows himself in obedience to an outer as well as an inner call, and the 'dni may be ' bowed down ' with the perfect consent of his own will ( = ' lowly '). To say with Lagarde2 that the conception of 'anavdh was borrowed by the Hebrews from the Aramaeans, because the latter 'were always a trodden-down race,' is too great a paradox. Pride and humility were equally characteristic of the ' sons of Israel ; ' not pride alone, but pride and humility. 'Ebh- rdh, which Lagarde claims as alone Hebraic, belonged, no doubt, not only to Simeon and Levi (Gen. xlix. 7), but to the proud, self-con scious nature inherited from the nomad; but the chastened character commended by the prophets had its roots in the still, quiet temper (tam ' friendly,' Philo's ypepos, Gen. xxv. 27) proper to the agriculturist. Cf. on xiv. 5. 14, 15 Either a change in the writers mood supervenes, or this is the very prayer which God has answered. The speaker's troubles are not merely personal ; they are those of all pious Israelites. The gates of Death (i.e. of Sheol ; see on vi. 6). So cvii. 18, Isa. xxxviii. 10. The Assyrian Hades had seven walls and gates ; cf. Matt. xvi. 18. 18 Shall depart to Sheol. Lit., ' shall return.' ' Return is used in two senses, of departure from the point just reached to a point pre viously left, and of departure from the point reached to a point never previously seen. For the latter (which must be the sense intended here) comp. 2 Chr. xviii. 25, Job i. 21. That are forgetful of God, not as if they had heard of the name and nature of Jehovah, but ' as treading all law and righteous ness under foot ' (Venema). St. Paul, in Rom. i. 21, says the same and something more. The psalmist is not attacking idolatry, but im morality (comp. 1. 22). Note how the changes are rung on remember- 1 Krit. Comm. zu den Psalmen, i. 20, &c. 'Whence comes it,' he asks, 'that these pious, God-fearing, meek persons were at the same time poor and unfortunate? Their situation can only be explained by their belonging to the Levite body, as in fact the author of Ps. xxii., who was decidedly one of "the meek," describes himself as "poor," and must have been a Levite.' I do not see on what grounds this rests, though of course ' the afflicted' might conceivably be a class-name ; cf. ' Paterini' (sufferers), the name of the Italian Albigeois. 2 Mittheiltmgen , I. 80, 81. PSALM IX. 25 ing and forgetting ; also the con- had exegetical reasons (see Heng- tmuance of a shadow of national stenberg) ; but the changes were life even in She61. quite unnecessaiy. See on v. 13. J9 The afflicted. Heb. 'andvim. 20 Mortal man. The idea is The Massoretic marginal reading that Jehovah being Israel's king, (K n) here is 'aniyyim ; in v. 13, and the tyranny of cruel men is an ano- mx. 12, themargin corrects 'aniyyim maly. See on lxvi. 12, and cf. x. into 'andvim, assuming the latter to 18, lvi. 2, Isa. li. 12, and especially mean 'the meek.' Probably they 2 Chr. xiv. 11 (10). PSALM X. C v-Jee on Ps. ix. The Lamed quatrain in the original alphabetic psalm indicated a change in the psalmist's mood ; the later editor therefore bisected the psalm at this point. 1 Why, Jehovah, standest thou afar off, and hidest thee in times of hopeless trouble ? 2 The ungodly in his pride hotly pursues the afflicted ; let them be caught in the knaveries which they have devised. 3 For the ungodly praises for his soul's desire, and robbing he blesses (but contemns) Jehovah. 4 The ungodly in his arrogance . . . ' He will not punish,' ' there is no God,' is the sum of his thoughts. 5 His ways are stable at all times ; thy judgments are too high in heaven for him to see ; as for all his foes, he puffs at them. 6 He has said in his heart, ' I cannot be moved ; I shall be firm in my goings age after age.' 7 His mouth is full of cursing, deceits, and oppression ; under his tongue are mischief and trouble. 8 He sits in the lurking-places of the villages, in hiding-places he slays the innocent : his eyes are on the watch against the hapless. 9 He lurks in a hiding-place as a lion in his lair, he lurks to catch the poor ; he catches the poor, dragging him with his net. 10 * * and, being crushed, (the poor) sinks down, and the hapless fall by his strong ones. 1 1 He has said in his heart, ' God has forgotten, he has hidden his face, he can never see it.' 1 2 Arise, Jehovah ! O God, lift up thy hand, forget not the afflicted. 13 Wherefore does the ungodly contemn God, saying in his heart, ' Thou wilt not punish ' ? 26 THE PSALMS 14 Thou hast seen it ; for thou lookest on mischief and sorrow, to show forth [vengeance] with thy hand ; to thee the hapless commits [his way] — thou provest thyself the helper of the orphan. 15 Break thou the arm of the ungodly, yea, the evil man's ungodliness — punish it, till thou find none- 16 Jehovah is King for ever and ever : the nations are perished from his land. 1 7 Jehovah, thou hast heard the desire of the afflicted, thou establishedst their heart, thou madest attentive thine ear, 18 To right the orphan and the downtrodden, that mortals of the earth may overawe no more. 2 let them be caught, &c. So A.V. (R.V. marg., 'theyare taken'). This is certainly the most natural rendering, as Hupfeld admits ; it has also some ancient authority (Targ., Aquila, Symmachus, Je rome). I adopt it because I incline to think that v. 2 was not a part of the later insertion, but completed the Lamed quatrain from the first. Notice the parallelism between v. 2 b (as rendered above) and ix. 17 b ; also the use of the demonstrative zu as a relative in v. 2 b and ix. 16 ; and notice lastly that m'zimmoth (comp. xxxvii. 7, in a contemporary alphabetic psaim) is here used in a different sense from v. 4 (in the later portion). Most moderns, however, make ' the afflicted ' the subject of the verb, the singular ('dni in 2 a) and the plural ('aniyyim in 2 b) alternating as in Gen. xii. 3. This seems necessary, if vv. 2 and 3 are to run on consecutively. 3 For the ungodly praises, &c. Whom he praises is clear from v. 3 b ; it is Jehovah, but not the Jehovah of true believers. Like the mercenary shepherds in Zech. xi. 5, they say, ' Blessed be Jehovah that I become rich.' But such 'blessings' argue supreme con tempt (comp. v. 13) for the Governor of the world, ' the God of recom- pences' (Jer. li. 56). Blesses (but contemns). Or, ' renounces, yea, contemns' (so R.V.) See erit. note. 4 The ungodly, &c. We should expect a verb to follow, such as ' thinks.' But the construction is suddenly changed. There is no God, i.e. no divine government ; cf. Jer. v. 12, Zeph. i. 12, and see on xiv. 1. S His ways are stable, i.e. he has no vicissitudes of fortune. Thy judgments, &c. The judg ments of which ' the afflicted,' i.e. poor and pious Israelites, speak so much are to him as purely imagin ary as their idea of God. Jehovah's dwelling-place is far removed from the stirring scenes of human acti vity. 6 Age after age, &c. This re presents the oppressor's feeling ; he never thinks of death. Pride stifles reason. The language of the heart cannot be translated into spoken words without seeming ex aggeration. Comp. Hab. i. 11 (R.V.), ' he whose might is his god,' and Isa. xiv. 13, 14 (the self-deifica tion of the king of Babylon). 7 under his tongue, in readi ness for uttering, as lxvi. 17, cxl. 4. 8, 9 Comp. lvi. 7, Jer. v. 26. Here again (see on v. 6) the remark is justified, that the details of de scriptions are not to be pressed too far. To use this passage as an indica tion of early date, and explain it • of Canon F. C. Cook in Speakers Commentary, ad loc. PSALM X. 27 ' the wild, half-savage nobles who re tained habits formed or developed in the troubled period ' (of the J udges), is an example of such undue pressure. That there is a certain amount of imaginativeness in the details, seems certain from the imitation in xvii. 11, 12, and also from the change of figure at the end of 7'. 9. But I ad mit that all is not drawn from the fancy ; the mention of the ' villages' must surely be connected with some recent facts. It is possible the editor of this psalm, like the prophet Micah, felt a special interest in country people. The oppression of which he was a witness bore with its full weight upon the ' villages,' though in representing the typical oppressor as the meanest of robbers he simply expresses his horror at the base conduct of the greedy upper class of his time. Incident ally he contrasts these home-tyrants with the cruel but not ignoble foreign oppressors, referred to in Ps. ix. and in many a prophecy. If the Chaldasans may be compared to the eagle, and described as 'bearing themselves proudly,' 'scoffing at kings,' and ' deriding strongholds ' (Hab. i.), these unnatural Israelitish tyrants are like treacherous wild beasts,1 lurking in 'hiding-places' near the unwalled villages, where the too trustful poor folk dwell. Comp. Ecclus. xiii. 18, ' What peace between a hyaena and a dog ? and what peace between a rich and a poorman?' His eyes, ecc. 'Like those of a tiger in the dark.' See the weakened version of this in xvii. 12. 10 Hebrew poets have a strong sense of proportion, and one cannot believe that this verse has reached us in its integrity. -His strong ones, i.e. probably his claws (Ewald, Delitzsch). 14 This should be a symmetri cal quatrain, like the other alpha betic stanzas ; the present text must therefore be more or less in correct. The first line here given is too long ; the second too short. According to the text it would be still shorter ; but the text-reading yields no satisfactory sense. ' To give it into thy hand ' cannot be intended as the object of God's beholding wrong. Many explain as if 'to give ' (or ' to lay ') could mean ' to keep ; ' but is this justifiable ? IS Punish it, till thou find none, i.e. till the last atom of wick edness be removed. ' Punish ' (see on ix. 13) is literally ' seek,' viz. satisfaction. The psalmist, however, combines an allusion to the proverb ' to search for and not find ' (xxxvii. 36). 16 The psalmist's warrant for the foregoing prayer. A king by the very conception of kingship must ex ecute judgment. The nations, i.e. Israel's foreign oppressors (as in Ps. ix.) Are perished. The anticipated answer to prayer (see on ix. 6, 7). ' Prayer is possession ' (E. Irving). From his land. Not as if limiting the Divine sove reignty. Jehovah is the judge of the world (ix. 9), and yet his throne is in Zion, and Israel is 'his own pos session ' (cxxxv. 4). Cf. Joel iii. 2, ' my land,' and for the expulsion or excision of foreigners, Nah. i. 15, Isa. Iii. 1, Joel iii. 17. The inimitable alliteration is full of meaning ; see on xvii. 14. PSALM XI. A vivid little poem full of antitheses— Jehovah on high and the ' children of men,' the righteous and the ungodly, the reward of the one and the punish ment of the other. The ideas and expressions resemble those of Psalms v., vii., x., and xvii. A righteous man in trouble is the speaker in v. i,but, as the second line of v. 1 shows, it is the Church within the Jewish nation of which the poet thinks. The individualising is merely poetical. There are two seven-lined strophes, and a closing motto. 1 The figure of the lion in v. 9 is even more appropriate in this context than in some of the prophetic descriptions of Assyrian and Chaldean invaders. 28 THE PSALMS i In Jehovah have I taken refuge ; how say ye to my soul, ' Flee to your hills, ye birds ? 2 For lo ! the ungodly bend the bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, to shoot unseen at the upright in heart. 3 When the foundations are being torn down, what can the righteous do ? ' 4 Jehovah in his holy palace, Jehovah, whose throne is in heaven — his eyes behold, his eyelids try the children of men. 5 Jehovah approves the righteous, but the ungodly and him that loves violence his soul hates. 6 Upon the ungodly he shall rain fiery coals and brimstone, and a burning wind shall be the portion in their cup. 7 For Jehovah is righteous, he loves righteous acts ; whoso is upright shall behold his face. i b Well-meant advice of little faith. A whole picture is con densed in these few words, the ex planation of which is given in v. 2. The ' soul ' or personality is ima gined as a hunted bird (vii. 6, cxxiv. 7, Lam. iii. 52). How gladly would the weak in faith flee as birds (har and cippor are both collectives) to the ' rocks of the wild goats ' ! Cf. Iv. 7-9. 2 Similar expressions occur in lxiv. 3, 4, where they are explained as descriptive of cruel and calum nious language. Here persecution of any kind may be meant. 3 The foundations, viz. of the state regarded as a house (as Ixxxii. 5) ; less probably, the higher classes of society (as Isa. xix. 10). What can the righteous do t Or, ' what has the righteous done ? ' (i.e. effected hitherto), as Miiller (Hebrew Syn tax, § 3, 1). Delitzsch and Driver support the first rendering ; for the delicate Hebrew idiom, see Driver, Hebrew Tenses, § 19. The sense is, ' What could he conceivably ef fect?' Bickell forcibly, Wenn Saulen stiirzen, Hilft kein Gerechter. 4 In nis holy palace. Mil ton's ' palace of eternity ' is meant (xviii. 7, xxix., 9, Isa. vi. 1, Hab. ii. 20). ' Holy,' implying inviolable security (see on xciii. 5). His eyelids try, &c. A Jeremian phrase ; cf. vii. 10. 6 Lightning, thunderbolts, and simoom (comp. lviii. 10, cxl. 11, Ezek. xxxviii. 22, and especially Gen. xix. 24). One of those pic tures of judgment, less frequent in the Bible than in the Koran, which remind us that we are reading an Oriental book. But what lies be hind this Orientalism? An im portant theological conception, ex pressed thus by Jeremiah : ' Israel is holiness unto Jehovah ; all that devour him shall be counted guilty ; evil shall come upon them ' (Jer. ii. 3). And what if those who ' devour ' Israel and contemn his ideal are his own children ? (xiv. 4, Mie. iii. 3.) Then they must be treated like heathen enemies ; ' the Light of Israel shall be for a fire, and his Holy One for a flame ' (Isa. x. 17). For Jehovah is surrounded by a fire which guides and comforts His own people (Ex. xiii. 21, Isa. iv. 5), but descends in ' coals of fire ' (xviii. 13) on the ungodly. Comp. note on this circle of ideas in xiv. 3, and see erit. note. 7 Righteous acts, i.e. ' the righteous acts of his rule ' (Judg. v. PSALM XI. 29 11, R. V.) ; so 1 Sam. xii. 7, Mie. communion with God. In this life vi. 5, Isa. xiv. 24. See note on vii. or the next ? The psalmist is not 18. Shall behold his face. in a mood to answer. He is close The rendering of A. V. is against upon St. John's conception of 'eter- usage, it is opposed by the parallel nal life ' as a present possession. passage cxl. 13; comp. 10). We (See further on xvii. 15.) have here a promise of spiritual PSALM XII. L\. psalm in four stanzas or strophes of four lines each, which somewhat reminds us of Ps. v. (note the stress laid on sins of the tongue). The subject is the deep misery of the righteous, against which the psalmist can bring but one remedial agency — a divine promise, contrasting with the proud speeches of the enemies, and possibly taken from some pro phetic writing. 2 Save, Jehovah, for the man of love is no more, for the faithful have vanished from among the children of men. 3 They speak falsehood every one with his neighbour : flattering language do they speak with a double heart. 4 May Jehovah cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that talks grandly, 5 Those that say, ' With our tongue do we make a firm covenant, our lips are our allies ; who is Lord over us ? ' 6 For the oppression of the afflicted, for the groaning of the needy, now will I arise, saith Jehovah, I will set him in the safety after which he pants. 7 The sayings of Jehovah are pure from dross, silver well tried (and running) to the ground, seven times refined. 9 All around walk the ungodly, meanness being on high above the sons of men. 8 Mayest thou preserve us, Jehovah, and guard us from this generation for ever ! 2 See on xiv. 3, and Mie. vii. 2, has the ethical sense which we find Isa. lvii. 1 (reign of Manasseh ?) as early as Mie. vii. 2, and as late The man of love. Here for the as Sir. xxxix. 13, 24. There is no first time we meet with the fine, English word to express the full characteristic word khdsid, which meaning of the Hebrew ; I defend some scholars (represented in the my paraphrase by a reference to margin of R. V., Ps. iv. 3) render Prov. xi. 17, 'ish khesed, 'a man of 'one graced or favoured, viz. by love' (the love arising from the God,' but which, as I must think, sense of a covenant relation ; see certainly means rather one who on iv. 4). The ' godly ' and ' saint ' himself practises the virtue of khi- of King James's Bible fail to give sed. In 1. 5 the phrase is equiva- the emotional tinge of Hebrew lent to Israelite ; here, however, it piety. Jehovah requires that a 3Q THE PSALMS man should do his duty both to God and to his brother man with a certain warmth of feeling. Love and duty, then, are both implied : comp. 'love is dutiful in thought and deed.' Here, however, this duteous love finds its chief sphere among mankind; comp. on xliii. i. The faithful, i.e. the trustworthy in all the relations of life = ' the upright ' in the parallel passage, Mie. vii. 2. ' Faithfulness ' is here a department of that ' lovingkindness ' which is the bond of Israel's covenant ; so in xiv. 5, ' good faith ' or ' truth fulness ' is a department of ' right eousness.' 5 With our tongue . . . The tongue is more than their faithful servant ; it unweariedly suggests the most artful lies, the most terri fying threats, which are a strong hold to these wicked ones, as the praises of children are to God's people (viii. 3). The tongue is in fact their ally, better than any 'lord ' or ' god ' to them. They are in covenant, neither with Baal, nor with Jehovah, but with their tongue.1 This is Ewald's interpretation of the obscure passage. It is possible to regard one of the idioms as a sign of late date. See erit. note. 7 Pure from dross, with no admixture of falsehood ; purer than the purity of refined silver. Simi lar references to the ' promises ' or ' sayings ' (Heb. imrdh) of Je hovah occur in late psalms, cv. 20, cxix. 140 (and often), and a bold critic might include the striking parallel xviii. 31 (cf. Prov. xxx. 5). See also xix. 7-10. (And run ning) to the ground ; mentioned as the sign that the smelting pro cess has been effectual. See erit. note. 8 With Hupfeld, I transpose vv. 8 and 9 ; the gain is clear (cf. on xxxiv. 17, 16). All around, &c. Again the psalmist's courage sinks at the ubiquity and power of the irreligious faction. Israel has become ' like the grape-gleanings of the vintage,' which in point of fact amounts to nothing at all ; ' there is no cluster to eat ' (Mie. vii. 1). How could it be otherwise, meanness (or, vileness, abjectness) being on high for the sons of men ? ' For ' may be here put in stead of ' above ' (comp. xiii. 3), or it may be a case of the 'dativus in- commodi,' so that we might para phrase, ' the vilest men being pro moted to the pain and grief of the common people' (b'ne 'ddam, not b'ne 'ish). But though this render ing is perfectly possible, the oddness of the phraseology suggests that the text may be corrupt. See erit. note. 9 From this generation, i.e. from this class of men (as xiv. 5, xxiv. 6, lxxiii. 15, cxii. 2). PSALM XIII. -A. STORM-PIECE, but the storm is a spiritual one. Many pious Israelites may have found in this psalm a true reflection of their feelings in time of persecution. The opening words remind us of those of Ps. lxxiv. Ob serve that the tristich which forms v. 6 corresponds to that which forms v. 3. The irregularity is designed, and there was no occasion for Sept. to complete v. 6 by inserting vii. 18 b. 2 How long, Jehovah, wilt thou ' forget me for ever ' ? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me ? 3 How long shall I lay up sorrow in my soul, heaviness in my heart, day [and night] ? how long shall mine enemy be on high above me ? 1 A. V. : ¦ With our tongue will we prevail ' (lit. , show ourselves strong). Delitzsch ¦ ' To our tongue we will give strength ' (i.e. will give effect to our words). PSALM XIII. 31 4 Look hither and answer me, Jehovah my God, lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep unto death ; 5 Lest mine enemy say, ' I have prevailed against him,' and my foes exult because I am moved. 6 But as for me, in thy lovingkindness is my trust ; let my heart exult in thy salvation, let me sing unto Jehovah, for he has dealt bountifully with me. 2 How long . . . for ever 7 A difficult phrase, but only from its excess of meaning. The psalmist, we must suppose, has been ringing the changes on those gloomy words, ' My God has forgotten me, and that for ever ; I shall soon sleep the sleep of death.' Day after day and night after night (see v. 3) he has lain helpless in Doubt ing Castle, till at last he plucks out the key of Promise (see Isa. lvii. 16) and exclaims, 'The needy shall not be forgotten for ever' (ix. 19). But the battle is not yet won ; the weaker element — the ' soul ' — de clares, ' with strong crying and tears,' that God has really forgotten for ever. This conflict within the man is reflected in his language. ' How long shall I be in such a state that my lower self is forced to exclaim, God has forgotten me for ever ? ' Comp. the aposiopesis in vi. 4. Dr. De Witt prefers to re gard the second part of line 1 as an additional question, rendering (nearly as A. V.), 'How long, O Jehovah ? wilt Thou forget me for ever ? ' But this explanation does not suit Lam. v. 20. The render ing 'entirely' is plausible, but an unnecessary deviation from usage. Even in lxxiv. 3, Job xxxi v. 36, the ordinary rendering ' for ever ' is adequate, both passages being coloured by emotion. Sept. and Symm., els reXos, which Theodoret interprets navreXais ; Aquila, reXeov. 3 In both lines the text has lost something. In a it reads, ' How long shall I array plans,' &c. (Sept., (3ouXar); in b, 'heaviness ... by day' (Gesenius violently, 'the whole day'). See erit. note ; 'array' and ' lay up ' are equally justifiable ren derings of the same verb ; ' array ' corresponds best to ' plans,' ' lay up ' to ' sorrow.' 4 lest I sleep unto death. Now we see what God's 'forgetting for ever ' involved ; it meant death, 1 the eternal sleep,' Jer. li. 39, 57 ; for the dead are those whom ' thou rememberest no more,' lxxxviii. 6. Death of the nation ? or of the in dividual ? See on vi. 6. 6 A striking contrast to the pre ceding complaints. The psalmist is in mortal danger, but he trusts still, and this trust, through finding expression, deepens into a sure hope. In line 3 deliverance is even assumed as a fact. Dealt bountifully with me — a heavy rendering of gamal alai ; but how can we reproduce the pregnant sense of gamal (for which cf. Ass. gimil 'to do good,' Budge, Proceed ings of Soc. of Bibl. Arch., 1883, p. 7) ? Sept., rffl evepyeTTjO-avr!. p.e. In a different context, the same phrase might mean ' he hath done evil to me' (cf. vii. 5), the root meaning being probably to com plete or accomplish. PSALM XIV. ' Einer der schwungvollsten Psalmen,' Ewald. Its theme resembles that of Ps. xii. General depravity and practical atheism meet the psalmist at every turn. Illustrating this fact of experience by the truth of God's omniscience, he arrives at the conclusion that things are no better in the 32 THE PSALMS larger theatre of the world. Being a poet, however, and an earnest believer, he expresses this in a dramatic way, reminding us of Psalm ii. The Most High bends over His world (as xxxiii. 13), to see if there be not at least ' ten righteous ' (Gen. xviii. 32) in the crowd of evil-doers (comp. xi. 4) ; but his eyes rest upon a mere mass of moral corruption. Even in Israel, He can only find His own people among the poor and afflicted ones, who are eaten up by the exactions of irreligious oppres sors. Thereupon He reveals Himself, to the consternation of those who deny Him and to the joy of those who have fled to Him for refuge. The concluding verse, which is in a different rhythm, contains an aspiration after deliverance (fuller deliverance is probably meant) for Israel. This seems to have been added to give distinctness to the meaning of the psalm in liturgical use. The psalm evidently belongs to a period either of persecution of the higher religion within the nation, or of oppression exercised upon Israel from without. It was evidently popular, for it exists in a duplicate ver sion (see on Ps. liii.), as also do Pss. xviii. (see 2 Sam. xxii.), xl. 14-18 (see Ps. Ixx.), xcvi., and parts of cv., cvi. (see 1 Chron. xvi. 8-36). It is an interesting fact that the later editor of the Psalter respected the integrity of the minor collections which he took up. On Pss. xiv., xv., xvi., xix. cf. Delitzsch, Der Dekalog in Exodus und Deuteronomium, in Luthardt's Zeitschrift, 1882, p. 290; on the interpola tion in Rom. iii. 10-12, see Field, Hexapla (adloc.) 1 The fool says in his heart, ' There is no God.' Corrupt and abominable are their practices, there is none that does good. 2 Jehovah looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there be any that deals wisely, and inquires after God. 3 The whole race has turned aside, together they have become tainted ; there is none that does good, no, not one. 4 ' Shall they not rue it, all that work naughtiness, that eat up my people ? They have eaten up the bread [of the afflicted], they call not upon Jehovah.' 5 Thereupon do they shudder indeed, for Elohim is in the righteous generation. 6 Ye would frustrate the purpose of the afflicted ! yea, but Jehovah is his refuge. 7 Oh that from Zion were come the salvation of Israel ! when Jehovah turns the fortune of his people, let Jacob exult, let Israel be glad. PSALM XIV. 33 i The fool. One surely need not suppose that an individual is here stigmatised : ' fool ' (nabhal), like 'scoffer' (Ice), is a class- word ; bodr words denote that kind of ungodliness which not only acts irreligiously, but justifies its irreli- gion on theoretic grounds, which grounds may be derived either from an erroneous view of die nature of Israel's God or from an absolute negation of His existence. (For the contrast see cxi. io.) The 'fool' of Isaiah's time is thus defined by the prophet : ' The fool speaks folly, and his heart prepares wickedness, to practise profanity and utter error concerning Jehovah, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and to cause the drink of the thirsty to fail ' (Isa. xxxii. 6). The ' fool ' of the Maccabean age was one who (like Antiochus Epiphanes) ' insulted ' Jehovah and ' contemned (or, blasphemed) his name,' from the point of an alien religion (lxxiv. 1 8). It is possible that Prov. xxx. 1-4 are quoted from a poem by a post-Exile scoffer of a third, the intellectualistic type. Now, to which class does the ' fool ' of our passage belong ? There is nothing to sug gest an absolute negation of Jehovah (except it be -u. 4 b). The psalmist at once proceeds (v. 1 b) to com ment, not on the fool's theory, but on his practices. So in Ps. x., ' there is no God,' is the sum and substance of the fool's thoughts, but, as the same verse shows, this merely means, ' El will not punish,' i.e. the generally recognised God head, who has no special relation to Israel, has also no special rela tion to the speaker. So too in xxxvi. 3, which explains the ' oracle ' in v. 2. And so in Ps. xii., ' who is Lord over us,' means, in Ewald's words, that the speakers 'have transferred their homage to a new sensuous God.' The safest infer ence is that of Dr. Benisch — 'The utterance quoted is that of atheism characterising an over-refined age, and seeking to reason away the existence of an avenging Deity.' ¦ Comp. Jer. v. 1 2, 'They denied Jeho vah and said, He is not,2 neither shall evil come upon us ; ' one among a series of parallels in Jer. v. See also on xxxvi. 2, lxxiii. 11. With the last line compare Savonarola's fervid complaints in his early trea tise ' On Contempt of the World : ' ' Virtues are turned into vices and vices into virtues. There is none that doeth good, no not one.' 3 May not this suggest that the psalmist is a disciple of the prophets, and writes in the spirit of Elijah (1 Kings xix. 10, 14 ; comp. 18) and Jeremiah (Jer. v. 1, 23) ? 3 The whole race has, &c. Precisely as Jer. v. 23, ' This people has a heart that turns aside and rebels ; they have turned aside and gone away.' The prophet and the poet are agreed. Though the for mer only speaks of Israel, he would not have rejected the wider state ment ; the symbolic name Jacob, as he well knows, is as applicable to mankind as to the people of Israel.4 The expressions used by the psalmist here are still stronger than those in xii. 2. The idea in both passages is that while man, as man, is neces sarily sinful, there are times when his sinful impulses manifest them selves on a singularly large scale and in forms singularly displeasing to God. At such times men of heart- religion would not be surprised if the judgment upon Sodom and Go- morrha were to be repeated (xi. 6). Wo, not one. The same re sult of a divine scrutiny as in Jer. v. 1. 4 A divine speech, in spite of the inconsistency in /. 4. Shall they not rue it 1 Literally, ' Shall they not come to know [their folly] ?' 1 Miscellanies of Jewish Literature (by various writers), p. 119. 2 This cannot mean positive or theoretic atheism, for in Jer. v. 2 the same persons are described as swearing by Jehovah. 3 Creighton's History of the Popes, iii. 146. 4 An inference from the Hebrew of Jer. xvii. 9, ' The heart [of man] is treacherous ['dqobh].' D 34 THE PSALMS Comp. Isa. v. 19, ix. 9. It is best to take this view of the text in pre ference to that which found favour with the Massoretic critics. The surprise and anger which the speaker evidently feels receive thus a more vigorous expression, and the transition to v. 5 becomes more natural. The case would be dif ferent if we accepted the form given to the next verse in Ps. liii. (see note there). That eat up . . . upon Jehovah. This arrangement of the verse seems to me, as well as to De Dieu, Hupfeld, and Bickell, rhythmically preferable to the Mas soretic one adopted by A.V. The figure of ' eating ' a people is com mon in Hebrew ; sometimes it is applied to the destruction wrought by invaders (Num. xiv. 9, and espe cially Jer. x. 26, Ps. lxxix. 7), some times to the cruelties of native oppressors (Mie. iii. 3, Prov. xxx. 14). I have said above why I prefer the parallel from Micah to that from Jeremiah as illustrative of the meaning. The ' workers of naugh tiness ' and the ' eaters of my people ' are designations of unworthy Israel ites who do not own Jehovah with heart-homage, and whom Jehovah will not own as His people. ' My people,' spoken doubtless in pitying tones (comp. Isa. iii. 12, 15), means those who are so often called ' the afflicted' (see on ix. 13). So far all is plain. Then follows, accord ing to the text, ' they eat [or, they have eaten] bread ; they call not upon Jehovah.' How are these two clauses related to each other, and to the context ? The former clause seems to be incomplete ; the distich to which it belongs is not symme trical compared with its fellows. Whatever explanation of the pas sage we adopt, this has to be borne in mind, and the incompleteness must be conjecturally removed. Three views of the meaning may plausibly be taken. The Targum explains thus : ' Do not all the workers of a lie know that food is given by him? why then do not the devourers of my people, who eat bread, bless the name of the Lord?' Following this we might render, ' They eat bread, [and are full,] and call not upon Jehovah,' viz. to ' bless Him for the good land which He has given them' (Deut. viii. 10). But thus we get no con nexion with the context. De Dieu indeed provides one : by taking the ' eaters ' to be the Babylonian op pressors of the Jews, and the ' not calling upon Jehovah ' to be the omission of a proper 'grace after meat ' consequent on the profe'ssion of heathenism ! A second possible view may be mentioned — to render, ' They eat bread, [they drink wine ;] they do not call upon Jehovah,' and explain this of the absorption in sensuous enjoyment which God would soon interrupt by a frightful catastrophe (comp. Isa. xxi. 5). This is better than the first view, but we still miss a connexion with the first part of the verse. The third view seems to supply this want. I do not offer it as certain, but as plausible ; it is due to Bic kell, who has however since then changed his opinion, not (I feel sure) for the better. We should paraphrase thus : ' They have eaten up the bread that the afflicted should eat, they have robbed Jeho vah of his homage.' Who can help comparing Isa. iii. 14, ' So then ye have devoured the vineyard ; the spoil of the afflicted is in your houses' ? Precisely as in that pas sage the second clause explains the first, so here ' eating the bread of the afflicted' explains the sense in which the oppressors were called in the first distich ' those who eat up my people.' The latter phrase means more than dr;po06pos ftao-iXeis (II. i. 231 ; comp. 1 Sam. viii. 14-17); it implies that, instead of, or in addi tion to, the customary exactions of a royai master, the mass of poor Israelites had now to undergo the unmitigated oppression of a multi tude of despots who were void of that heart-religion characteristic of 1 Animadversiones in Vet. Test, libros omnes (1648), p. 315. PSALM XIV. 35 the 'poor' and 'afflicted.' Long ago, Amos had denounced the selfishness of the rich creditors who ' trode upon the helpless, and took from him presents of wheat ' (Am. y. ii). Kindred expressions of Isaiah have been quoted al ready; it is interesting to notice that one mark of 'folly' in Isa. xxxii. 6 is depriving the poor man of his livelihood. The concluding- words of the verse describe the injury done to Jehovah. The two middle lines of the verse refer to the afflicted ; the first line and the last refer to the afflicted one's God. ' Workers of naughtiness ' expresses the character of a class of men in the sight of Jehovah. He who judges men by their deeds can find no moral element in the works of these tyrants. The words, 'they call not upon Jehovah,' explain the secret of this ; such men have no communion of the heart with God. They are of those 'who say in wardly, Jehovah does neither good nor evil' (Zeph. i. 12), i.e. He is a non-moral deity, and leaves the world to itself. Those who carry the sheaves may be hungry (Job xxiv. 10), but He cares not ; bread is not ' the bread of the afflicted,' but of those who possess that might which is really their 'god' (Hab. i. 11 ; cf. Mie. ii. 1). Having no con science, the rich oppressors of course do not pray, at least with the heart. But in the very midst of their cankered prosperity, a great change comes (see next verse). Such appears to be the connexion. Note the stress laid in this passage upon prayer, which may possibly be an indication of date ; cf. Isa. xliii. 22 (with note) and Isa. xxvi. 16. 5 Thereupon, i.e. when Jeho vah has thus spoken. The perfect of prophetic certitude follows. In the righteous generation. There is, besides, another ' genera tion' (see xii. 10), but this one has an invisible ally in Jehovah. This limitation of the divine presence to a section of the natural community of Israel is very striking. Comp. Isaiah's doctrine of the righteous remnant. 6 Ye would frustrate, &C. Probably an allusion to some reli giously important object which the psalmist andhis friends werehoping to gain. 7 From Zion. This verse has the air of a liturgical addition. Both in the Exile and the post-Exile period, Zion and salvation are con nected ideas ; comp. exxi. 1, Isa. Iii. 7, 8, and especially lxvi. 6 (as I believe, a post-Exile passage). Turns the fortune. Against the rendering, ' brings back the cap tives,' see erit. note. PSALM XV. IS. xiv. gave an emphatic recognition to prayer (v. 14). Ps. xv. aptly follows with its description of the conditions upon which communion with God may be enjoyed. Add to it Ps. xxiv. 1-6 and Isa. xxxiii. 15-16, and you have a fine triad of poetic catechisms on the elements of moral religion. Ps. xv. reminds us somewhat of the declaration of innocence pro nounced by the soul before the tribunal of Osiris in the Book of the Dead (ch. exxv.) Only ten testing qualities, however, are mentioned in the psalm. 1 Jehovah, who can be a guest in thy pavilion ? who can dwell upon thy holy mountain ? 2 He that walks blamelessly, and works righteousness, and speaks truth with his heart : 3 He that has no slander upon his tongue, that does no ill to his companion, nor utters a reproach against his neighbour : 36 THE PSALMS Despicable is a reprobate in his eyes, but those that fear Jehovah doth he honour ; if he swear to (his) hurt, he changes not : He that gives not his money for usury, nor takes a bribe against the innocent : he that does these things can never be moved. i It is a plausible account which A.V. gives of this psalm in the heading, ' David describeth a citizen of Zion.' By ' Zion ' it means (see Ps. xxiv. A.V.) the Messianic or spiritual Zion spoken of in the prophecies of Isaiah (Isa. ii., iv., xi.) Plausible but superficial; for the ger (' foreign guest ' or ' so journer') was only a 'half-citizen' (Ewald 1), and required the protec tion of an Israelite. ' To be Jeho vah's guest ' means primarily ' to enjoy an inviolable security.' The phrase is connected on the one hand with the old customs of hos pitality, and on the other with the ancient Semitic right of sanctuary, which lingered on, though with limitations, in Israel (Ex. xxi. 14, 1 Kings i. 51, ii. 29). It is an ag gravation of the offences of the un godly that ' they slay the widow and the sojourner' (xciv. 6), and the readiness with which the duty of hospitality is still accepted among the Arabs is shown by the every day formula, ' I am the dakhil of such an one,' i.e. 'I claim his pro tection.' Social customs are one great source of religious imagery, and so it is not surprising that we find a Hebrew worshipper describ ing himself as the ' guest ' of Jeho vah, and Phoenician inscriptions 3 containing the names Gersacun (' guest of Sacun '), Germelkart (' guest of Melkart '), Gerastart (' guest of Astarte '), and even Ger- hecal (' guest of the temple '). The prominent idea in all these names is not so much participation in the sacrificial feasts, as Renan would have it,3 but the enjoyment of divine protection ; comp. the Arabic phrase for an inhabitant of Mecca, jdr-ullah, ' God's protected one.' 4 The faithful worshipper has, as it were, ' taken sanctuary,' whether he lives near his god's shrine or not. But what constitutes fidelity? Abundant material sacrifices, or ' walking blamelessly ' ? The psalm ists differ from their heathen neigh bours ; ' evil cannot be a guest of thine ' (v. 5). Jehovah's require ments are far greater than those of Astarte ; on the other hand, his gifts are proportionately valuable. His 'guest' is secure in a far deeper than the common sense of the phrase. See lxi. 5, where it is very clear that a deep spiritual meaning lies behind the words (see on xxvii. 4). Pavilion. Milton's syno nym for ' tent ' (see his version of iii. 18) is adopted for rhythm. 1 Tent ' or ' pavilion ' = ' house ' (comp. cxxxii. 3, 'the tent of my house,' 1 Kings viii. 66). More especially, as the context shows, the temple is meant ; nothing com pels us to think of the Davidic ' tabernacle.' upon thy holy mountain. ' Holy,' i.e. unap proachable by sinners (see xxiv. 3). 1 Antiquities, p. 236, note 9. Kuenen, however, has noted variations in the different legal systems overlooked by Ewald. See, e.g., Hibbert Lectures (1882), p. 183. 2 For the three former, see Euting, Punische Steine, pp. 13, 15, 16 ; for the latter, Corpus Inscr. Semit., torn. i. fasc. 2, pp. 132, 133. 3 Le Judaisme et le Christianisme (1883), p. 9. 4 The Arabic verb jdra in conj. iii. and iv. means ' to receive under protection ; ' in x. , ' to ask protection. ' Compare Hamdsa, p. 51, 'A mountain have we where dwells he whom we take under our protection ; ' and Kordn, ix. 6, ' And if any one of the idolaters ask thee for protection, then receive him under protection . . . then let him gain his place of safety.' PSALM XV. 37 On this sense see Baudissin, Stu- dien zur semit. Religionsgeschichte, ii. 91,92. 2 And speaks truth. The importance and the range of truth fulness was only recognised by de grees. The Decalogue, however, contains the germs of subsequent developments. Ex. xx. 16 refers to all kinds of false statements re specting a neighbour ; and a pre ceding law, Ex. xx. 7, contains a still more comprehensive prohibi tion of false asseverations, that is, if NIC? means 'for a falsehood.' (It implies that an Israelite, in af firming something, would naturally appeal to Jehovah, and requires that this appeal shall not be made ' with reference to vanity.') The Egyptians, however, were beyond the Israelites in emphasising the religious duty of truthfulness. This Elysium in ' Amenti ' was called ' the land of truth of speech,' and line 7 of the declaration of the soul (referred to above) ran, ' I have lied in no man's face.' With his heart. We should say, 'from the heart.' But the Hebrew regards the lips as merely the servants of the heart, i.e. of the mind and con science (comp. xii. 3). So too the hands ; hence Isa. xxxii. 6, ' his heart does iniquity.' 4 If he swear to (his) hurt. Literally, ' to do evil ; ' the context shows that he himself is the suf ferer in the case supposed. The allusion is to the law in Lev. v. 4, which supplements Ex. xx. 7, ' If any one swear in idle talk to do evil or to do good,' (he shall confess and make atonement for his sin) ; or at least to some current law in which the obligation of keeping one's word was expressed in similar phraseo logy. Followers of Wellhausen will grant that the technical phrases of Leviticus may in part be ancient. He changes not, i.e. he does not go from his word. Not, there fore, in the technical sense of Lev. xxvii. 10, 23- S He that gives not, &c. To the poor Israelite such a man lends gratuitously (xxxvii. 26, cxii. 5 ; comp. Prov. xxviii. 8). Here, too, there is an allusion to some current law, probably to Ex. xxii. 24 or Deut. xxiii. 19 ; comp Lev. xxv. 37. PSALM XVI. If this were the only psalm with the title Miktam, one could easily adopt the explanation ' a golden song,' this psalm being, as De Dieu says, like gold for preciousness. God, the one great good, is its theme, and it is written not only for the Jewish Church (Theodore of Mopsuestia) but for any pious Israelite. Alluding, perhaps, to the close of a neighbouring psalm (xii. 8), the psalmist opens with a short petition for preservation (v. 1) ; he then assumes the tone, successively, of profession, description, and prophecy. He professes his own utter faith in Jehovah, which makes all other joys pall, and his exclusive attachment to his spiritual leaders (2, 3). Why this mention of Jehovah and Jehovah's ' noble ones ' in the same breath ? Because, in times like the present, a man's society is the test of his religion. There are many recreant Israelites who have fallen into heathenism ; intercourse with these would too surely involve a share in their defilement. ' At every table was the altar, on every tongue the light oath, of idolatry.' But loneliness is no grief to the believer ; his mind is to him a kingdom. Jehovah is at his side, and knowing this, he would not change his lot (4-6). He blesses Him who guides him in ac cordance with his wise purpose (lxxiii. 24) and is jealous (like Bishop Ken) of the sleep which cuts short his Hallelujahs. He continually looks to Israel's invisible Guide ; this is his talisman (7, 8). And now from de scription he passes to prophecy. He is confident that Israel's work is not yet done, and that even for him (however his persecutors may rage, 38 THE PSALMS or may lately have raged) a share in this work is reserved. But he seeks something more — not 'in the world to come life everlasting' — but 'a path of life ' beginning here, though broadening in what later writers called the ' age to come' (9-12). Jehovah's guest begins his banquet on earth (xxiii. 5) ; the psalmist would not have pourtrayed the present age as only the vestibule leading to the triclinium or banquet-hall, i.e. the world to come.1 In fact, his antithesis is not this world and the next, but life with God and life without God (comp. xvii. 14). But more of this below. The prevalent misapprehension of the psalm seemed to call for the above analysis. What is wanted to understand such poems is, first, a feeling for literature, and secondly, a strong and deep theistic consciousness. To follow the leadings of these inward monitors obliges us to modify the sense of the words ' Davidic ' and ' Christian.' To us, the former becomes a symbolic term for vigour and originality of style, and the latter describes a peculiar spiritual intuition and tone of feeling. Ps. xvi. is in a high degree both Davidic and Chris tian. Comparing it with neighbouring psalms more or less parallel, we find little in it that is absolutely new, but the intensity with which all is felt and expressed makes it seem original. All earthly desires are stilled ; the psalmist is in the mood of the writer of lxxiii. 25, 26. For a special study of Ps. xvi., see Dr. Robertson Smith, Expositor, 1876, pp. 341-372. See also Delitzsch (see introd. to Ps. xiv., end), who remarks that Ps. xvi. is a development of the idea that all Israel is ' a kingdom of priests and an holy nation ' (Ex. xix. 6). On the linguistic relation of this and the next psalm, see erit. note. 1 Preserve me, O God ; for I seek refuge in thee. 2 I say unto Jehovah, ' Thou art my Lord, without thee my welfare is nought, 3 And in thy noble ones is all my delight.' 4 They multiply their own griefs who change for another : their drink-offerings of blood will I not pour out, nor take their names upon my lips. 5 Jehovah is mine appointed portion and cup, thou wilt be continually my lot. 6 My measuring-lines have fallen in pleasant places ; yea, I have a delightsome heritage. 7 I will bless ] ehovah, who has given me counsel : yea, in the night-seasons mine own reins admonish me. 8 I have set Jehovah before me continually : for with him at my right hand I cannot be moved. 9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory exults, my flesh also dwells in safety. 10 For thou wilt not give up my soul to Shedl, neither wilt thou suffer thy loving one to see the pit ; 1 1 Thou makest known to me the path of life ; near thy face is fulness of joys, all pleasant things are in thy right hand for ever. 1 Pirke Aboth, iv. 23 (Taylor). PSALM XVI. 39 2, 3 An emphatic confession of faith, supplemented by a declara tion of brotherly fellowship with Jehovah's 'noble ones.' The cor rection in v. 3 (see erit. note) re lieves the text from great awkward ness. 2 I say. An emphatic intro duction to the confession of faith which follows ; comp. xci. 2. My lord. So Adonai must be rendered in xxxv 23. There is thus a contrast to the ' Who is Lord over us' of xii. 5. Welfare have I none, &c, i.e. to Thee alone do I look for happiness. I would not lay, too much stress on the point, but the writer seems here (comp. v. 6) to imply that, though danger still threatens, a comparative degree of prosperity is enjoyed. The con text of lxxiii. 25, 26 is quite dif ferent. 3 Thy noble ones. The He brew addir expresses here ' ampli tude ' of rank and power, as Jer. xxv. 34-36, 2 Chron. xxiii. 20, Neh. x. 30 (see on xciii. 4). Jehovah's 'noble ones' are opposed to worldly grandees ; possibly the priests are meant, who in 1 Chron. xxiv. 5 are called ' hallowed princes.' The interpolated line in this verse comes from the margin ; it does not, in deed, make the verse senseless, if we approach it with a disposition to find a particular meaning. We have then a declaration that the ' noble ones ' in whose company the speaker delights are ' the holy ones that are in the land.' ' Holiness,' i.e., in this connexion, severance from the impurities of heathenism, is specially the mark of the Mac- cabean rising (see on 1. 5) ; but of course we are not shut up to the theory that this is a Maccabean psalm. Holiness is the predomin ant thought of the whole post- Exile period. ' Holy ones ' occurs again of individuals in xxxiv. 10 ; the expression says more than 'holy people' (Isa. lxiii. 18, Dan. xii. 7). In Num. xvi. 3 the two statements, that the people is holy, and that its members are holy, are virtually combined. ' In the land ' of course means in Canaan. The phrase suggests that many Jews were not ' holy ; ' cf. the phrases ' the quiet in the land ' (xxxv. 20), ' the faith ful of the land' (ci. 6). Cf. also 'his holy ones' (xxxiv. 10), where, however, the context does not re quire the same shade of meaning as here. 4 Their own griefs. Comp. Jer. ii. 19, Isa. 1. 11 (not exxxix. 24). Je hovah is a 'jealous God,' and will not ' give His glory to another' (Isa. xiii. 8). Who change for another. We do not often in these psalms meet with direct references to idolatry. This is the first, unless there be another in iv. 3. For the phraseo logy, see cvi. 20, Jer ii. 11. There may be a secondary meaning, ' pur chase,' mdharie alluding to mohar, the purchase-money for a wife ; comp. Isa. lvii. 9. That idolatry was a constant temptation to Israel needs no showing. It was not least so after the Return, as is clear, not indeed from Isa. lvii. 5, 6, but cer tainly from Isa. Ixv. 1-7, 11, and from I Mace. i. Their drink- offerings of blood. ' Of blood ' is best taken figuratively (so Kimchi) ; comp. Isa. lxvi. 3, ' He that slaughters an ox is a man-slayer.' The psalmist execrates the apostasy of these men so much that the choice wine of their libations (comp. Isa. Ixv. 11) is to him as offensive as the blood of a human sacrifice. (It is not the bloodshed of rapine — comp. Isa. i. 15 — which is referred to ; an error of Kimchi's.) On this view, the phrase ' their drink- offerings of blood ' is as comprehen sive as ' their idol-names ' in the next line. The figure involved may seem somewhat harsh, but remem ber the poetic expression ' the blood of grapes,' Gen. xlix. 1 1. Accepting the post-Exile origin of the psalm, I think this view the most probable. Otherwise we might hold that hea thenism in general is credited with the abominations of particular cults in which it found its climax. Hu man sacrifices were certainly offered to Moloch in Judah in the time of Ahaz and later (see 2 Kings xvi. 3, 40 THE PSALMS Isa. lvii. 5, 6). That literal blood- libations are meant is held by Ibn Ezra, and among the moderns by Calvin, Ewald, Baethgen, and Dr. Robertson Smith. Dr. Trumbull, specialising too much, sees an allu sion to a custom connected with the rite of blood-brotherhood, still re cognised in Syria as a primitive custom.1 It is worth remarking that libations appear to have been more prominent both in the heathen cults of Palestine and in the quasi-hea then worship of Jehovah (see Hos. ix. 4) than in the Levitical worship. Their names, viz. those of the idol-gods whom the renegades in voked ; cf. Ex. xxiii. 13, Hos. ii. 17 (Heb. 19). S Mine appointed portion and cup. Two figures are combined ; first that of the distribution of the communal land with which we meet again in v. 6 (comp. Cambridge Bible on Mich. 5), next that of a host filling up his guest's cup (comp. xxiii. 5). The first figure properly belongs to Israel (Jer. x. 16, li. 19), but, as lxxiii. 26 and the name Hilkiah show, it was appropriated by indi vidual believers. My lot, a sy nonym for ' my portion ; ' comp. Isa. lix. 7, ' they, they are thy lot.' ' Continually ' is added, because the believer feels one with a God who is eternal. Comp. lxxiii. 23, ' I am continually with thee,' and v. 26, ' God is for ever . . . my por tion.' The Massoretic reading is variously rendered, 'Thou holdest fast,' and ' Thou makest broad (my lot).' But there are strong objec tions to it. 6 My measuring-lines ... in pleasant places. This may of course be a materialising expression for the 'pleasantness' (i.e. tender friendship, xxvii. 4) of Israel's God. But it is clear from v. 2 b and v. 8 b that outward prosperity and secu rity are prominent in the writer's mind : in short, he is not merely conscious of Jehovah's favour in the heart, but sees it expressed in act. Was not Canaan, ' the lot of your inheritance' (cv. n), a 'pleasant place'? (see cvi. 24, Mai. iii. 12.) Does not the psalmist mean, not only his 'pleasant' or gracious God, but the land which Jehovah has ' chosen ' ? Spiritual and material blessings are not yet separated ; Jehovah and Jehovah's land are both the ' portion ' of Israel. Comp. 1 Mace. xiv. 8, &c, ' And [in the days of Simon] they tilled their ground in peace, and the earth gave her products, and the trees of the field their fruit. Elders sat in the streets ; all communed together of good things ; and the young men put on honours and warlike apparel. . . . He made peace in the land, and Israel rejoiced with great joy.' May not these be among the ' pleas ant things ' in Jehovah's right hand (v. 11)? Comp. Job. xxxvi. 11. 7, 8 See introd. Others explain the ' admonishing ' of the moral warnings of conscience. But the ' reins ' mean the feelings, which stimulate to the expression of joy or gratitude (comp. Prov. xxiii. 16), not the reason, nor the conscience. 9 The psalmist's joy in God is no mere physical sensation. A holy calm fills his body, and a rapturous joy his inner man, while the ' heart ' brings all this into the full light of the central consciousness. So in Prov. xiv. 10, 'The heart knows the grief of one's soul.' The same ap parent trichotomy occurs in lxxxiv. 3 ; remember, however, that the true Hebraic division of human nature is into soul andflesh (see, e.g., lxiii. 2). 10, 11 See introd. for the sense in which these verses may without any effort be called Christian. V. 1 1 is easier than v. 10. ' Life,' 'joys,' and ' pleasant things ' are all those good things, both material and spiritual, which the author of Prov. i.-ix. repeatedly holds out in pro spect to the God-fearing man. That beautiful didactic poem, and the psalms which resemble it (e.g. Ps. xxxiv.), treat of the ' beginning of wisdom,' but the ' secret of Jehovah' Blood-covenant, p. 251 (cf. p. 6) — a striking passage. PSALM XVI. 41 (xxv. 14) must be sought in psalms like this. He who has God for his ' portion ' cannot attach an extreme importance to what 'men of the world' (xvii. 14) call ' life.' He does, indeed, value it, highly value it, but more for Israel's sake than for his own. The sad complaints in vi. 4-7 express the despondency of one who fears deeply for Israel. The title, ' Thou that liftest me up from the gates of Death ' (ix. 14), refers to some past national trial little less bitter than death. The thanksgiving of one alive from the dead in xxx. 4 is spoken in the name of the true Israel. And so the psalmist in v. 10 is thinking of Israel when he says, in the jrXi/podiopia of faith, ' Thou wilt not give up my soul to Sheol.' But not of Israel only (so Theodore of Mopsuestia). Israel's work is not yet finished ; and Israel needs my help. Therefore ' I (like Israel) shall not die but live, and tell out the works of Jehovah' (cxviii. 17). Pleasant are God's earthly gifts, but not for selfish reasons do I seek them. ' Let the pleasantness of Jehovah our God be over us, and the ¦work of our hands prosper thou over us' (xc. 18). But the psalmist may have soliloquised still further. It is consistent with his view of things to imagine him speaking thus : When my own share in this work is over, and the hand of Sheol takes hold of me, then He who is my portion, and whose portion I am (see Deut. xxxii. 9, 2 Mace. xiv. 15), will ' set free my soul' (xlix. 16), will finish ' making known ' to me ' the path of life,' will give me 'joys' and 'pleasant things' which last for ever ; above all, will ' receive me with glory ' (lxxiii. 24), and bring me nearer to Thy face (v. n, xvii. An important question arises here, to which two very different answers have been given, the truth lying probably midway between them. How far can passages like this be employed in illustration of the belief of the average pious Israelite ? M. HaleVy thinks ' that, few and incidental as are the refer- encesto Sheol in the Old Testament, and careful as both narrators and poets are to spiritualise popular ex pressions and to transform them into poetical images, ' the form of the popular beliefs disengages itself in aluminous manner — beliefs which are evidently identical with those which the Assyrio-Babylonians pro fessed relatively to the fate of man after death.' Putting together the notices of Enoch and Elijah and the phraseology of Ps. xvi., xlix., lxxiii., and Prov. xii. 28,2 he con cludes that ' the pious Hebrew hoped to escape from Sheol, either by ascending alive into heaven, or by being received after a short so journ in Hades into the presence of Jehovah, seated at whose right hand he would enjoy everlasting delights.' Some Christian critics will strongly object to this, as confusing the distinction between the Old Testament and the New. Others, with whom I agree, will steer a middle course.3 They will draw that most important distinc tion between the spiritualising mo notheistic writers of the canonical books and the average believer in Sheol, but require as a preliminary to any inferential reconstruction of Jewish beliefs a critical examina tion of the date, origin, and object of each writing to which reference may be made. They will see in M. Halevy a predisposition to identify popular Jewish beliefs with those of the Assyrio-Babylonians, without allowing room for a somewhat dif ferent course of development among the different peoples, and to extract 1 Revue archiologique, juillet 1882, p. 53, &c ; cf. Milanges de critique, p. 368, &c. 2 On the psalm-passages my notes will show how far I agree with M. Halevy. Against his rendering of niD"?X. Prov. xii. 28, ' immortality,' see Job and Solomon, p. 123.5 At the last moment I can specify among these Dr. A. Jeremias (Die bab.-ass. Vorstellungen vom Leben nach dem Tode, 1887, the appendix of which is concerned with the O. T. 42 THE PSALMS a more definite form of belief from for I am duteous in love ' (khdsid), the Hebrew records than it is always Ixxxvi. 2. Have we not here a fore- quite safe to do. That traces of gleam of Christianity ? (The expo- mythic ideas of Sheol do exist in the sition of vv. 10, 1 1 may, I know, be Old Testament I have long since weakened, but only by a wholesale repeatedly admitted, also that both introduction of hyperbole both here in primitive times and in the Exile and elsewhere— see on Ps. xxi.) •period the Israelites came under the The pit (as vii. 16, ix. 16, xlix. 10). influence of Babylonian concep- That shakhath commonly means tions, but reserves and qualifications ' pit ' is undeniable ; and that there have to be made all along the course should be a second shakhath = ' cor- that M. Halevy has taken. Thy ruption ' is not at all probable (as loving one. The phrase implies Perowne has already pointed out). an argument. ' Thou wilt preserve Even in Job xvii. 14 the ordinary me because of the bond of loving- sense seems to me sufficient. But kindness (khesed; see on v. 8) which does not the rendering ' pit ' impair unites Thee to Israel.' So another the Messianic element in the psalm? psalmist, ' Preserve thou my soul, No (see Perowne, Psalms, i. 205). PSALM XVII. 1 he complaint of the nobler Israel personified, of a representative pious Israelite ; comp. v. 11. The assertions of innocence are to be explained as in vii. 9. The tone is in marked contrast to that of Ps. xvi. ; it more resembles that of Pss. vii., x. — psalms of painful and agitated feeling. The antithesis presupposed is within the sphere of the religion of Jehovah ; it is not that of Jehovism and heathenism, but that of morality and immorality. Pss. xvi. and xvii. agree indeed in one respect, viz. that in both the psalmist rises above the struggles of his day into the pure air of mystic devotion, where God is felt to be the all-sufficient ' portion ' (see on xvi. 5, xvii. 14). The points of contact between them (see Ewald and Delitzsch) have been pressed too far ; there is a more striking relation (see v. 14) to Ps. xlix. (where *i?n occurs in the sense of world, xlix. 2), to Job (see xx. 26 a), and to Ecclesiastes (where we find the phrase ' in life,' i.e. in the life of the senses, Eccles. vi. 12, ix. 9). For though these parallels are suggested by a single verse of one psalm, even Bickell does not regard this passage as an interpolation. We may add that the phrasing of the confession of faith in xlix. 15 illustrates that in xvii. 15. The style of Ps. xlix. may be smoother than that of Ps. xvii., but the Book of Job itself contains examples of the calmer and of the more excited style ; the moods of the wise men who discussed these deep problems would vary with their circumstances. Ps. xvi., again, differs in tone from each of these psalms, while Ps. lxxiii. reminds us in various degrees of all of them, though in the bright happiness of its conclusion it alone can be compared to Ps. xvi. 1 Hearken unto innocency, Jehovah ; attend unto my piercing cry ; give ear unto my prayer from guileless lips. 2 Let my sentence come forth from thy presence ; let thine eyes behold uprightly. 3 Thou triest my heart, thou visitest it by night, thou assayest me, but canst find no evil device ; my mouth transgresses not. PSALM XVII. 43 4 As for the doings of men, by the word of thy lips I have shunned the paths of the spoiler. 5 My steps have held fast to thy tracks, my feet have not trembled. 6 I (being such an one) call upon thee, for thou wilt answer me, O God ; incline thine ear unto me, hear my speech. 7 Make passing great thy kindnesses, O saviour of those that flee for refuge from them that assail, by thy right hand. 8 Watch over me as the apple of the eye, cover me with the shadow of thy wings, 9 From the wicked ones who treat me with violence, my greedy enemies, who compass me about. io Their unfeeling heart they have shut tight, with their mouth they speak haughtily. 1 1 No step of ours but they are already about us, with eyes fixed on our swerving in the path. 1 2 He is like a lion longing to tear in pieces, and as it were a young lion lurking in secret places. T3 Up, Jehovah, confront him, make him bow down, dehver my soul from the wicked by thy sword, 14 From men of the world, whose portion is in life, and whose belly thou fillest with thy treasure, who are full of sons, and leave their abundance to their children. 15 As for me, I shall behold thy face in righteousness ; may I be satisfied, when I awake, with thine image ! I My piercing cry. De Witt, from Deut. xxxii. 10, II; cf. on ' my wailing.' See on v. 11. xxxvi. 8, xci. 4. 3, 4 Comp. on vii. 9, 10. The 9-12 Comp. vii. 2, x. 8-12, xxii. divine searcher will find me free 13, 14, 17, 18, lvii. 5, lviii. 7. from sin in thought, in word, and in 10 Their unfeeling heart. deed, that is, sincerely faithful to Lit, ' their caul ' (the membrane the Law. Sins of thought are exa- surrounding the heart, Hos. xiii. 8, mined by night, when the thoughts A.V.) Comp. lxxiii. 7. and imaginations rove unchecked, 13 Confront him. Or, 'inter- and thus call for the divine Judge. cept him ' (when he is in act to — — Tlie spoiler ; or, ' the robber ' spring). ' Bow down ' of the lion, as — the type of lawlessness (Hos. vii. Gen. xlix. 9. 1). Cf. x. 3, 7. 14 On the text see erit. note, 7 Make passing great, &c. and on the points of contact with See on iv. 4. ' Surpassingness ' is Ps. xlix., Job, and Eccles., see introd. the mark of the divine (Judg. xiii. 1 8, Men of the world, &c. ' The Isa. ix. S, Heb.) world ' and ' life ' have here a special 8 The figures may be borrowed and deep signification. A true Is- 44 THE PSALMS raelite has a better home than ' the world,' and a greater prize than the ' life ' of the senses (lxiii. 4). He has ' laid hold on the life which is life indeed' (1 Tim. vi. 19, R.V.), or, in Old Testament language, he dwells in the ' house of Jehovah,' that ' living God ' who ' makes known to him the path of life ' (see introd.) With ' men of the world ' comp. the phrase ' the children of this son,' opposed to ' the children of light ' (Luke xvi. 8). Comp. also ' mortals of the earth' (x. 18); which reminds us of the phrase ' he that is of the earth '(John iii. 31). Note in passing the religious use of the term ' por tion ' as a synonym for ' protecting deity ' (see on xvi. 5). ' Life,' or pleasure, is in fact idolised. 'Whose belly, this part of the body being regarded as the seat of greed and avarice; comp. Job. xx. 11, ' nothing escaped his eating.' With thy treasure. A coinci dence with Job xx. 26a (see Heb. and R.V.) Who are full of sons. Job felt the same difficulty (Job xxi. 8, 11). 1 5 As for me, &c. Worldlings forget the Giver in the gifts (' thy treasure '), and practically say, ' There is no God but pleasure.' As for me, who am called upon to ' serve God for nought,' what is my ' portion ' ? It is to ' see thy face in righteousness ' (i.e. either ' recog nised by Thee, the great Judge, as righteous,' or ' in accordance with Thy promise,' Isa. xiii. 6, xiv. 13) — mystic communion with God, begun in this life, and to be perfected when I awake. A phrase of much- disputed import. Does it mean ' on the morning of the resurrection ' ? This is possible, if the psalm be a Maccabean one ; comp. Dan. xii. 1, Isa. xxvi. 19. But a vague allusion to so great and definite a hope is improbable ; and in the Book of Job, with which this psalm is partly parallel, the idea of waking from the sleep of Sheol is only mentioned to be dismissed (Job xiv. 12). ' On to-morrow's dawning ' ? Far too weak for a climax ! ' After weeping has tarried for the night and gone on her way ' ? But there is no parallel for this interpretation. ' Every morning, when I awake ' ? Hermann Schultz has adopted this view ; the ' image ' or ' form ' of God will then mean the apparition of the divine Champion of afflicted Israel.1 But this requires the pre sent instead of the cohortative ; Schultz boldly renders 'erwache ich, sattige ich mich.' Onlyone explana tion remains. ' When I awake ' may mean ' when life's short day is past' That life, when past, is a sleep, we find (perhaps) in another psalm (xc. 6) ; is it surprising that the correlative truth that death is an awaking out of sleep should meet us in a grand utterance like that before us? Is it not rather an image which mystics in all ages have claimed as their own ? Thy face . . . thy form. (Comp. xi. 7, xvi. 11.) On the latter expression, see below ; it is only a synonym for ' thy face,' which is the proper expression in the early religious systems of Palestine for that aspect of the Divine Being which was turned towards and capable of being apprehended by man.2 The Ca naanitish Deity was in fact, not a triad, but a duad. The phrase 'the face of God ' was retained by 'Moses and the prophets,' being a part of the received language of religious thought in those symbol-loving ages. ' The face of Jehovah ' was therefore not a metaphorical phrase for His favour, derived from earthly courts. His ' face ' was one aspect of Him self, was therefore personal (comp. xx. 1, Ex. xxxiii. 14, Isa. xxx. 27), and to ' see His face ' was to re ceive from Himself intuitive revela- But I regret the exegetical paradox 1 Alttestamentliche Theologie,ed. 2, pp. 600-2. on p. 601, n. 1. '' Prophecies of Isaiah, notes on Isa. i. 12, xxvi. 8 ; Ginsburg, Moabite Stone, p. 43. That the ' Face' of Jehovah was not a co-ordinate deity with Jehovah, entitles us perhaps to compare the worship of Assur, who ' stands by himself ' and ' has no ¦ ' face ' ' or reflection ' (Sayce, Hibbert Lectures, pp. 126, 127). PSALM XVII. 45 tions of His nature and character, so far as these concerned Israel and the individual Israelite ; it was, in short, to ' know ' Him. God as He is ' can no man see and live ' (Ex. xxxiii. 20), but with a ' faithful ser vant ' like Moses Jehovah ' will speak mouth to mouth] and ' the form of Jehovah shall he behold' (Num. xii. 8, R.V.) This softening of God's brightness in condescen sion to the weakness of Moses is a beautiful feature of the Yahvistic narrative,1 and helps to prepare the way for the devotional use of the expression ' seeing God's face ' in the Book of Psalms. Probably there was a parallel movement in Assyrian religion. In the Annals of Assurbanipal we read thus : ' Istar, who dwells in Arbela, entered, and right and left she was sur rounded with glory.' It is indeed only a vision that is granted ; but even in Israel the experience of Moses is said to be unique. The parallel is a real one, but stops short where we most want it. That ' God is love,' is a truth which, as Hosea and the psalmists preached it, is peculiar to Israel. And without this truth, ' seeing the face of God ' loses the tenderest part of its mean ing. The sterner part of course remains ; without God's love, His face is as a consuming fire (comp. on xi. 6). Nothing is gained by changing ' with thy form ' into ' and thou wilt appear' (De Witt). 'See ing thy form ' expresses the objec tive reality of communion with God. Indeed, I do not myself think that more than this is claimed for Moses in the passage quoted above (Num. xii. 8). The case is different in Ex. xxiv. 10, which appears to state expressly that the sight of the God of Israel vouchsafed to the ' nobles ' was such as under ordinary circum stances would have involved their destruction. The solemnity of the moment (we are probably intended to infer) was recognised by this unique privilege. PSALM XVIII. V^lovis'S psalm2 and John Wesley's (see on v. 2). A song of triumph, but with one or two touches of a milder sentiment. The critics agree in eulogising the skill of the poet, from Amyraut (the colleague of Louis Cappel), who calls it ' artis poeticae luculentissimum specimen,' to Ewald, who points out the symmetry of its divisions. It is true that the poem falls at first sight into two unequal parts, viz. vv. 2-28 and vv. 29-5 1. But remove the four distichs numbered 25-28, and the number of distichs and tristichs in either part becomes very nearly equal, and approximate symmetry is, so far as I can see, all that the Hebrew poets usually aimed at. The first part is ' Davidic ' in virtue of its style ; the second may be thought to be so, in spite of the falling off in the style, in virtue of its regal and triumphant tone. An ancient belief in the integrity of the poem is guaranteed by its occurrence, not only in the Psalter, but in our second Book of Samuel (chap, xxii.), where it forms part of an appendix to the history of David. Besides this, Micah, or some prophet in the reign of Manasseh, alludes to v. 46 of our psalm (Mie. vii. 17), and Habakkuk in Jehoiakim's reign (if the ode in Hab. iii. be really his) seems to copy v. 34 (Hab. iii. 19). The imitative psalm in Jon. ii. is partly based on vv. 5-7. A wise man of the post-Exile period copies v. 31 (Prov. xxx. 5), and a very late psalmist adopts features from both parts of the psalm (see introd. to Ps. cxliv.) I cannot stay to speak here on the relation of our psalm to Deut. xxxii., with which it has some points of contact ; but, without a long argument, I may safely assert that Ps. xviii. as a whole is not later than the reign of Hezekiah, whose reforms may be alluded to in vv. 31- 1 Kautzsch, art. Theophanie in Herzog-Plitt's Realencyclopddie. - Gibbon, Decline and Fall, chap, xxxviii. (ed. 1855, iv. 358). 46 THE PSALMS 25, and that it was found in a collection of sacred lyrics, which also con tained at any rate Ps. xxxvi. (compare the headings of the two psalms), by the second or final editor1 of the Books or rather Book of Samuel. There are some hard problems connected with the higher criticism and the exegesis of this psalm. For instance, is the poem the work of king David himself? Ewald thinks so, and the insertion of it in the closing part of 2 Samuel may seem to some to decide the point. Other critics (with whom I coincide) are content with affirming that the psalm was at least written with an eye to the life of David (comp. Perowne, Psalmis, i. 6). On this and other points I may hope to speak elsewhere ; on the question as to the relation of this recension of the psalm to that in 2 Sam. xxii. I must refer to the critical notes, though a condensed treat ment of it is all that will be possible. 2 I will exalt thee, Jehovah my strength, 3 Jehovah my high crag and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, whereon I take refuge, my shield, and my horn of salvation, my sure retreat. 4 I call upon him who is to be praised, upon Jehovah, and so am I saved from mine enemies. 5 The breakers of Death had come about me, the rushing streams of perdition had affrighted me, 6 The cords of Sheol had surrounded me, the snares of Death had surprised me. 7 In my strait I called upon Jehovah, and cried for help unto my God : he heard my voice out of his palace, and my cry came into his ears. 8 Then the earth shook and quaked, the foundations also of the hills trembled, and shook violently, because he was wroth. 9 There went up smoke at his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured, coals were set aflame therefrom : 10 And he bowed the heavens and came down with a mass of clouds under his feet. 1 1 And he rode upon a cherub, and did fly eagle-like upon the wings of the wind : 12 He made darkness his covert, round about him as his bower, cloud-masses, dark with water : 13 From the brightness before him there issued forth hail-stones and coals of fire. 1 See that useful book Kleinerfs Abriss der Einleitung zum A. T. in Tabellen form (1878), p. I4, and compare Bleek and Wellhausen's Einleitung, p. 229. PSALM XVIII. 47 14 And Jehovah thundered in the heavens, and the Most High uttered his voice ; 15 And sent out his arrows and scattered them, flashed forth lightnings in abundance and confounded them; 16 And the channels of the sea were seen, and the foundations of the world were laid bare, at thy rebuke, Jehovah, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils. 1 7 He reached out from high heaven and took me, he drew me out of many waters ; 18 He delivered me from my fierce enemy, and from my haters, for they were too mighty for me ; 19 They confronted me in the day of my calamity, but Jehovah became my stay ; 20 And he brought me forth into a broad place, he rescued me, because he delighted in me. 2 1 Jehovah dealt with me according to mine innocence, according to the purity of my hands he recompensed me, 22 Because I kept the ways of Jehovahj and did not sin myself away from my God ; 23 For all his ordinances were before me, and I did not put away his statutes from me ; 24 I was also without flaw towards him, and I kept myself from guiltiness. 25 So Jehovah recompensed me according to my innocence, according to the purity of my hands in his eyesight. 26 With the loving thou showest thyself loving, with the flawless man thou showest thyself flawless ; 27 With him that purifies himself thou showest thyself pure, and with the wayward thou showest thyself wayward. 28 For thou savest lowly people, but haughty eyes thou dost abase. 29 For thou lightest my lamp, Jehovah my God makes my darkness radiant. 30 For by thee I can break down a fence, and by my God I can leap over a wall. 31 As for God, his way is flawless, the promise of Jehovah is well-tried ; he is a shield unto all that take refuge in him. 32 For who is God save Jehovah? or who is a Rock save our God ? 48 THE PSALMS 33 The God who girt me with strength, and rendered my way flawless, 34 Who made my feet like hinds' feet, and set me upon my high places, 35 Who trained my hands to war, so that mine arms could bend a bow of bronze. 36 Yea, thou gavest me the shield of thy salvation ; thy right hand held me up, and thy lowliness made me great. 37 Thou madest for me a broad place to walk in, that mine ankles did not waver. 38 I pursued mine enemies, and overtook them, and turned not again till I had consumed them. 39 I dashed them to pieces that they could not rise, but fell under my feet. 40 For thou didst gird me with strength for war, thou didst bow down mine assailants under me. 41 Thou madest mine enemies turn their backs unto me, and them that hated me I extinguished. 42 They cried, but there was none to save ; unto Jehovah, but he answered them not. 43 I beat them small as the dust before the wind, I emptied them out as the mire of the streets. 44 Thou didst win for me escape out of the strifes of peoples, thou didst set me to be head of the nations ; people whom I knew not did serve me. 45 At the hearing of the ear they were obsequious unto me, aliens came cringing unto me. 46 The alien folk languished, and came trembling out of their holds. 47 Jehovah lives, and blessed be my Rock, and exalted be the God of my salvation ; 48 The God that gave me vengeances, and subdued peoples under me, 49 That won for me escape from mine enemies, yea, that set me on high above mine assailants, that delivered me from the violent man. 50 Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, Jehovah, among the nations, and make melody unto thy name : 5 1 Great salvations gives he unto his king, and shows lovingkindness unto his anointed, to David and to his seed for evermore. PSALM XVIII. 49 2 X will exalt thee. Comp. xxx. 2, cxiv. i, Isa. xxv. i. The received reading followed by A.V., and per haps alluded to in Ecclus. xlvii. 8 (' and loved him that made him '), is scarcely consistent with the con text. Wesley's fine hymn (based on the German) — Thee will I love, my strength, my tower, &c. shows what a lyric beginning ' I love thee ' ought to be. See erit. note. 3 My high crag, &c. ' Great rock (or, mountain)' — sadii rabil — is a common title of Assur and Bel in Assyrian. A truly Palestinian image (cf. on v. 32). S ' The waters of the under world had broken in upon me.' He means the great river whose waters bathe the foundations of the world, and which bounds the vast city of the dead on every side. Breakers of Death (so 2 Sam. xxii. 5) is evidently the true read ing ; ' cords (of) ' is a scribe's error (see opening of v. 6). ' Death ' is a synonym for Sheol (the city of the dead), which was placed under neath the sea (cf. Job xxvi. 5, 6, Jon. ii. 3, 5, 6). Another name is rushing streams of perdition (Heb. beliyya'al), i.e. such as endan gered my life. Sept., x«VaPP0' dvop.las. But x«'/iappoi is inappro priate in this connexion, and though ' Belial ' (beliyya'al) usually (e.g. ci. 3) means that degree of evil which is without any ' soul of good ness,' it may also mean deadly ruin (as xii. 9). The word being parallel to Death and Sheol, the latter sense is preferable. Observe that the road is open to the personification of deadly ruin or perdition (Mil ton's word for Abaddon in lxxxviii. 12) as a prince of the demons ; see 2 Cor. vi. 15, 16, where ' Christ' is parallel to ' light ' as ' Belial ' to ' darkness.' Compare Milton — . . . hurl'd headlong down To bottomless Perdition, there to dwell. (P. L., i. 45-47) ; also his phrase 1 See Steinthal, ' The Legend of Samson,' sect. 10 (Goldziher's Hebrew Mythology, p. 420, &c.) E 'baleful streams ' (ibid., ii. 576), a possible alternative rendering 6 Death or Sheol (i.e. the prince of the underworld) is imagined as a hunter with cords and snares (cf. on xci. 3). 7 Out of his palace, i.e. the heavenly dwelling of Jehovah (see on xi. 4). Came into his ears. So 2 Sam. xxii. 7. The additional words in the text are evidently a marginal explanation. 8 In 2 Sam. we read ' the foun dations of the heavens,' but this unique (Job xxvi. 11 has 'the pil lars of heaven ') phrase is impro bable in a description full of con ventional expressions. A proof of the importance of the twofold form of the text. 9-13 Comp. 1. 3, Isa. xxix. 6, Ixiv. 1, and especially Ex. xix. 16, xx. 18. Let us imitate the frank simplicity of the writers, and enjoy this imaginative description. Our own anthropomorphism differs from that of the psalmist, but it is none the less real. We are therefore equally well able to analyse and to sympathise with his anthropomor phic language, and the sympathy must never be disjoined from the analysis. The description now be fore us is clearly based on tradi tional mythic pictures of the Heaven- god (heaven is in fact in v. 7 called Jehovah's ' palace '). When com pared with parallel passages in the Old Testament and elsewhere, it shows that, in times still earlier than the psalmist's, the phenomena of the sky, now bright and cheerful, now dark and threatening, were ascribed to the action of mythic beings.1 In short, this whole pas sage is a reflexion of an older mythology, and it is to this re flexion that the epic tinge which has been noticed in our psalm (see above) is due. If Israel had not been destined to be the vehicle of a spiritual revelation, there is no reason why it should not have pro duced a genuine epic poem. upon a cherub. We meet else- 5o THE PSALMS where with ' cherubim ' (except indeed in Ezek. xxviii. 13-16), and Sept. gives eVl XepovBip- here. To the Hebrew poets they represent the more awful forces of nature, and the ' cherub ' in this passage may almost be taken as an equi valent for the storm-cloud. The psalmist remembers' the original meaning of the word just as the poet of the Odyssey (xx. 66, 77) still describes the mythic Harpies as dieXXai. The root-meaning of ' cherub ' seems to be, not ' cover ing' (as Goldziher thought), but ' greatness, power.' ' See on xxii. 4. And did fly eagle-like. The Heb. has two verbs, one of which is the simple word for ' flying,' the other describes the peculiar hover ing motion of birds of prey (Deut. xxviii. 49, Jer. xlviii. 40, xlix. 22). The 'cherub' was probably an eagle- winged animal, like the Assy rian steer-god, and imagined as the bearer as well as the attendant of the Deity. Comp. the 'throne- bearers' in the Assyrian Flood- story.2 But apart from this, the eagle's wings formed part of the constant religious symbolism of the poets (e.g. Deut. xxxii. 1 1, Ps. xci. 4). On the wings of the wind. (Cf. Isa. xix. 1, but not Ps. Ixviii. 34.) This may be a mythic phrase = ' on a cherub ; ' if so, the storm- wind will be meant. The Assyrian star-god is addressed (once) as ' begotten by the god Zu ' (the divine storm-bird) ; see Isaiah, ii. 296. Or perhaps the phrase be fore us may merely mean ' swiftly as the wind ; ' there is a second mythology of the imagination. Cloud-masses, &c. Awordforword rendering would fail to express the sense. See onlxxvii. 18. From the brightness before him, &c. The 'brightness' is that of Jeho vah's glory (as Ezek. x. 4), from which lightnings and hail ' issue forth' (with an impetus as of a flood or a hostile force, Isa. viii. 8, 1 Comp. Goldziher, Hebrew Mythology i. 118 ; Friedrich Delitzsch, Wo lag das 296-99. - Ass. guzald ; see Haupt in Schrader's K. A. T. Job xiii. n, &c.) On the much- disputed text of this and the next verse see erit. note. 14, 15 The thunder is, semi- mythically, God's voice ; hence Jehovah is said to ' roar.' ' After it (the lightning) a voice roars ' (Job xxxvii. 4). So Ps. xxix. The light nings are His arrows, as lxxvii. 18 and (in the parallel psalm of Habak- kuk) Hab. iii. 9, 11. The Most High. An ancient title suggesting at once God's exaltedness and His supremacy over the forces of the universe. See on vii. 18. 16 The effect of the earthquake (v. 8) on the seas is mentioned out of its place to smooth the transition to the figurative ' many waters.' Cf. civ. 7. The channels of the sea. A vigorous expression found in 2 Sam., and rightly preferred by Street (1790), Ewald, Hitzig, De litzsch, &c, to the Psalter-reading. 1 7 He reached out, &c. ; comp. lvii. 4. ' The height ' = heaven, as often, e.g. xciii. 4, Isa. xxxiii. S, and especially Mic. vi. 6 (' the God of the height '). He drew me, &c. Luther paraphrases strikingly, ' He made a Moses of me,' since the word rendered ' drew out ' (mdshd) only occurs again in Ex. ii. 10. For this we might compare a plausible rendering of Isa. lxiii. 11 a, and group this supposed allusion with other possible allusions in the con text to passages in Exodus. But my judgment does not go with it. Many waters. See introd., and comp. v. 5. The same image in lxix. 2, 3 and elsewhere. 21 Jehovah dealt with me, &c. Legal righteousness is meant ; see on vii. 9, xvii. 3, 4. If the view maintained in introd. be correct, the psalmist looks forward to a ' son (or, sons) of David,' in whom this description shall be verified. Yet he would hardly have written thus unless the actual king and people had made some visible progress towards ' righteousness.' , pp. 196, 197 ; Lenormant, Lesorigines, &c. Paradies f p. 115, and my own Isaiah, ii. P- 5°°- PSALM XVIII. 51 Hezekiah's reformation would be such a step in advance. It fell indeed ' far short of giving full ex pression to the spirituality of pro phetic teaching,' ' but, as the first great visible result of prophetic activity in Judah, a fervent disciple of Isaiah may well have overrated. But, while overrating it, by faith he dimly imagined an obedience far more complete and flawless (vv. 23, 24). Delitzsch considers vv. 21-25 to be quite in harmony with David's language in 1 Sam. xxvi. 23 a, and the prophetic utterance respecting David in 1 Kings xiv. 8 (comp. I Kings xv. 5, xi. 4). But though this prophetic utterance contains a kernel of truth, yet in form it is an exaggeration, such as was natural to one who lived and wrote not earlier than the ' finding ' of Deuteronomy. As to the ' lan guage of David,' who shall guaran tee that it was handed down at all by tradition ? 22 Sin myself away from my Cod. One ol those 'brief and suggestive phrases ' spoken of by Miiller in Hebrew Syntax, § 49, 1. I justify the English by ' drinking himself drunk' (1 Kings xvi. 9, A. V.), i.e. ' bringing himself by drinking into a state of drunken ness.' Or we might render, ' tear myself by sin from my God.' 23 Were before me ... I did not put. Delitzsch, ' are before me ... I do not put' But this is not in harmony with his and my view of the context. It involves carrying the present tense through out vv. 21-27 (so De Witt), and obscuring the whole picture. After the ' four central distichs,' however (see introd.), the present is natural. 24 From guiltiness. ' From mine iniquity ' is a misleading ren dering, as suggesting a reference to 'indwelling corruption' (so Hengst). Geier paraphrases well, ' ne peccatum aliquod fieret meum.' 26 With the loving, &c. An impressive statement of the eternal tragedy of history (cf. 1 Sam. ii. 30, Prow iii. 34). It implies the great idea of the covenant, which is in fact the main principle of Jeho vah's government, so that another psalmist can say that His loving kindness and truth are for such as keep His covenant (xxv. 10). The epithet ' loving ' or ' kindly ' (see on xii. 2) is only once again applied to Jehovah (cxiv. 17). 27 Showestthyselfpure. Job complains of God for being hostile to him in secret (x. 13) — in short, not being ' pure ' (in heart). With the wayward. So the Wycliffite version of 1388 (Lat. cum perverso). God's ' waywardness ' may be illus trated by Isa. xxviii. 21 ; it is his ' strange work.' His delight is to do good ; His 'righteousness' is to bless those who are 'upright' towards Him ; but ' if ye will walk contrary unto me, then will I also walk contrary unto you' (Lev. xxvi. 23 24). 28 lowly people. See on ix. 13, and comp. Zeph. iii. 12. 31 His way is flawless. So ' his work is flawless ' in the great historical psalm called the Song of Moses (Deut. xxxii. 4). -The promise, &c. This and the next line recur in Prov. xxx. 5 (see in trod.) ; comp. also xii. 7 (note). 32 Who is God ... For 'God' 2 Sam. has El ; the psalter, Eloah. The latter is the singular implied in the plural Elohim, and seems to have been revived,2 or virtually formed, by the poets of the eighth century (see Deut. xxxii. 15, 17) ; it is specially frequent in the litera ture of the Chaldsan and later periods ; see Hab. i. 11, Isa. xliv. 8 (the two isolated passages of pure prophecy), Hab. iii. 3,3 Prov. xxx. 5, Job (passim), Dan. xi. 37-39 (four times), Neh. ix. 17, Ps. 1. 22, cxiv. 7, cxxxix. 19. The question, 1 Robertson Smith, The Prophets of Israel, p. 364. 2 Comp. Ewald, Lehrbuch d. hebr. Sprache, § 178 b ; Jahrbucher der bibl. IViss. , x. 10, n. 3. 3 I separate this passage from Hab. i. n as occurring in a poetical passage, and in one moreover which may, like the ' song of Hezekiah,' have been inserted long after the time of the chief writer of the book. E 2 52 THE PSALMS ' Who is God,' &c, reminds us of i Sam. ii. 2, 2 Sam. vii. 22. With out denying the existence of the so- called gods (comp. Deut. xxxii. 17), it asserts that none is possessed of divine power. Comp. Baudissin, Studien zur semit. Religionsge- schichte, i. 72. A Rock. So v. 47. An old phrase for God, more poetical than El (the strong one) ; comp. Deut. xxxii. (six times), Isa. xvii. 10, xxx. 29, xliv. 8. It reminds the student of the poor natural sub stratum of the spiritual religion of Israel, which must have included a ' fetishistic ' stone-worship. 33 My way, i.e. my career. Flawless, i.e. unspoiled by sins or blunders. 34 This verse is found again, with two variations, in Hab. iii. 19. The latter part nearly agrees with Deut. xxxii. 13 a; but the phrase ology is familiar (see Am. iv. 13, Mic. i. 3, Isa. lviii. 14), so that there need not be indebtedness on either side. like hinds' feet. Swift ness was a heroic quality (2 Sam. i. 23, ii. 18, 1 Chron. xii. 8 ; comp. on xix. 6). -My high places, i.e. those which I claim as mine by right, and which are the bulwarks of my power. 36 Thy lowliness, i.e. thy fel low-feeling with the lowly. The phrase is remarkable as applied to God, but the idea is the same as in cxiii. 5, 6, Isa. lvii. 15. Comp. Zech. ix. 9, where the ideal or Mes sianic king is described as not only a great conqueror, but 'lowly' (is there an allusion to this in Matt. xi. 29 ?). In both passages there is an evident reference to the ' lowly ' people whom Jehovah or His anointed delivers (comp. v. 28). A.V. gives the fine paraphrase ' thy gentleness ; ' comp. Dante's use of ' umile ' in the sense of ' sweet ' or ' gentle ' ( Vita Nuova, xxviii. ; Can- zoniere, ii. 1, 2). But this makes an insufficient contrast with ' made me great.' 2 Sam. has another reading — 'thine answer' (viz. to prayer). 42 Unto Jehovah. Suggesting that the foes are Israelites. But this detail may be merely pictur esque. 43 E emptied them out. 2 Sam. has, ' I trode them fine.' As the mire of the streets. ' Dust ' and ' mire ' are again paral lel in Zech. ix. 3. The sun-dried bricks of Eastern houses 'make the streets dusty when there is wind, and dirty when there is rain.' 'Upon a violent rain at Damascus,' says Maundrell, ' the whole city be comes, by the washing of the houses, as it were a quagmire.' ' 44 Strifes of peoples. See erit note. The text has, ' strifes of the people ' (or, as 2 Sam., ' of my people '), which might refer to civil wars (comp. v. 49) ; but the paral lelism is against this. 5 1 The concluding tristich may well be a liturgical addition, al though it agrees in rhythm with the rest of the psalm. PSALM XIX. 1 wo of the distichs of part i. of this psalm are incomplete ; but the sense is unaffected. Vv. 2-7 consist of 26 (or, shall we say, 28) lines, each with four tones ; vv. 8-15 of fourteen five-toned lines. This variety of rhythm of itself suggests a diversity of origin for the two parts.' 2 Vv. 2-7 have probably been taken from a longer psalm, since v. 6 does not form a suit able close. It is only by an afterthought that the two parts of the psalm have been brought into relation, the sun being regarded as a type of the law of God. (Comp. Kant's deep saying on the two great themes of perennial wonder, the starry sky and the moral law.) The first part is 1 Harmer, Observations on Divers Passages of Scripture (1776), vol. i. p. 176. 2 We shall meet with this phenomenon repeatedly. So in Assyrio-Babylonian hymnology, poems originally separate were joined together by editors. PSALM XIX. 53 obviously the finer ; but the second shows a great development of the conscience ; as St. Paul says, Sia vd/xou iviyvao-is Apaprlas (Rom. iii. 20). Clearly the Scriptures are now the great source of spiritual life (comp. Ps. i., cxix., and see on xii. 7) ; notice the six different designations given to them. Regenerate Israel began to find in these books, or in this book, his truest home. Pressure from without contributed to this result, for (see v. 1 4) it was a time of great danger from heathenism. 2 The heavens recount the glory of God, and the firmament declares his handiwork. 3 Day unto day is a well-spring of speech, and night unto night shows forth knowledge ; 4 Their voice has gone out through the whole earth, and their words unto the end of the world ; for the sun has he set a pavilion in them ; 6 And he is like a bridegroom going forth from his chamber, and rejoices hero-like to speed on his path ; 7 From one end of the heavens is his going forth, and his circuit unto the ends thereof, ***** and there is nothing hidden from his heat. {Fragment of another Psalm. ) 8 The law of Jehovah is perfect, | restoring the soul, the testimony of Jehovah is faithful, |making wise the simple ; 9 The behests of Jehovah are right, |rejoicing the heart ; the commandment of Jehovah is pure, |enlightening the eyes ; 10 The fear of Jehovah is pure,|abiding for ever ; the ordinances of Jehovah are truthful, |and righteous altogether. n More to be desired are they than gold,|yea, than much fine gold, sweeter also than honey|or the droppings of the comb. 12 Moreover thy servant gets warning bythem;|in the observance of them is great reward. 13 Lapses — who discerns them?|from unknown (faults) absolve thou me. 14 Hold back thy servant also from the proud,] let them not rule over me : then shall I be blameless, |and absolved from great transgression. 15 Accepted be the words of my mouth|and the musing of my heart before thee, Jehovah, continually, |my rock and my redeemer. 2 The divine name here used is gaged the attention of the author El, i.e. God outside his relations to or authors of Job ; see the question Israel, God the Strong One. The in Job xxxvii. 18. Did our psalmist wonders of the sky especially en- live equally late ? 54 THE PSALMS 3 Day unto day, &c. Every day the heavens renew their testi mony to God's glory. This is the sense. The form, however, is semi- mythical. The days were regarded in primitive times as having an independent, quasi-personal exist ence (Job iii. i-io). • Comp. Emer son — Daughters of Time, the hypocritic Days. 3-5 A fourth verse is given in the Hebrew text, which is variously rendered, ' It is not a speech, neither are they words, the voice whereof cannot be heard ' (so Sept., Targ., Vulg., followed by Vitringa, Hitzig, and Delitzsch), and 'Without speech and without words ; not heard is their voice' (Hengst, Hupfeld, Ewald, Perowne, Kay, De Witt). The latter rendering is the more plausi ble,' but involves a direct contra diction of v. 2 (' speech without speech'). But no explanation re moves the prosaic character of the distich, which has this further peculiarity, that it is not composed of regular four-toned lines like the rest of the psalm. It must be a gloss, i.e. a marginal note for dull readers which has intruded into the text Of course, though poorly ex pressed, it is in substance correct Comp. Plutarch, On Isis and Osiris, c. lxxv., ' For the Divine Reason stands not in need of voice, but walking along a silent path and rule, guides mortal affairs accord ing to justice.' It also confirms the reading ' their voice ' in v. 5. How much the brilliant psalm-- fragment gains by its omission ! Their voice, i.e. either that of the heavens, or of day and night. Louis Cappel's sharp-sighted emen dation. The text-reading is gene rally rendered, ' Their line,' i.e. their dominion (Hengst., Hupfeld, De litzsch) ; but the older interpretation (Sept., Symm., Jerome) is ' their sound,' a paraphrase upon the (questionable) literal rendering ' their string : ' comp. ro'rar. So Ewald. Hitzig, on the other hand, ' They span the whole earth with a chain of praise.' This is better than the ' CEolian harp theory,' but lacks proof. On St. Paul's Haggadic use of this verse, see Briggs, Biblical Study, p. 316. In them, i.e in the heavens. Hitzig, less probably, ' where ' (i.e. at the end of the world ; the plural pronoun, as in Isa. xxx. 6, to express the neuter). If the psalmist were recording a myth, he would place the sun's tent, not in heaven, but in the underworld. Comp. introd. to Ps. xxiv. 6 Iiike a bridegroom. Aprimi- tive solar myth has died down into a metaphor (see on cxxxix. 9). Comp. Rig Veda, ix. 86, 32 (of the setting sun), ' The husband of the wives approaches the end.' ' A bride groom is the symbol of youthful vigour ; comp. Pirke Aboth, v. 21 (Strack, p. 45), ' He who is eighteen years old is (ripe) for the khuppah' The sun is masculine in Hebrew (generally), Aramaic, and Assyrian, feminine in Arabic. From his chamber. Strictly, ' from his al cove' (not ' canopy,' as De Witt, in accordance with the later Jewish custom). From Joel ii. 16 we may infer that the khuppah (rendered ' alcove,' and I say, not on etymo logical grounds) was a part of the nuptial chamber curtained off for the bride, and probably a survival of the wife's separate tent - (comp. Gen. xxiv. 67). Bero-like, &c. Another mythic corruption — that of the sun as a warrior (comp. again introd. to Ps. xxiv.) His ' swift ness ' reminds us of the picture of the ideal warrior in xviii. 34 ; 'horses of the sun ' (reminding us of Aryan mythologies) are mentioned in 2 Kings xxiii. 11. See Paradise Lost, vii. 372, where the myth is still further attenuated. 8 The law of Jehovah, i.e. probably the Pentateuch, and the prophetico-historical and strictly prophetic writings (see on i. 2). Observe that at this point Jehovah Max Muller, Lechti-es on the Science of Language Robertson Smith, Kinship in Arabia, p. 168. »• 513- PSALM XIX. 55 (Yahve) takes the place of El (v. i). Num. xv. 22). Note the «£X >'et distinguishes himself from the people to which he belongs (vv. 23, 24, 26), and the entire description is in the highest degree individual ised. More defensible is the view of Olshausen, who explains the psalm as a record of the religious differences of the Maccabean age (comp. v. 9 with lv. 23). And certainly that the religious differences of the Exile or post-Exile period (or both) have contributed ideas to the mental stock of the psalmist, must at any rate be acknowledged. The nobler spirits of the Jewish people did, from the Exile onwards, form a church within the nation, and did both strengthen and justify the belief in an ideal Israel of the future. But, as the Israel of the past, so the greater Israel of the future needed a Moses (comp. Isa. lxiii. 11). Here I must check my pen, not to repeat what I have said in Essays II. and V. of The Prophecies of Isaiah, vol. ii. (ed. 3). To be brief. Ps. xxii. is most probably a description, under the form of a dramatic monologue, of the ideal Israelite, called by a kindred writer ' the covenant of the people,' and ' the light of the nations' (Isa. xiii. 7), who shall rise out of the provisional church-nation, and, identifying him self with it, lead it on to spiritual victory. This view includes the essence at least of Olshausen's, but goes beyond it The speaker is an individual who might also be sumamed ' Israel,' for he is the flower of Israel. The foes who have reduced him to such straits are not merely ' those of his own household ' (comp. lxix. 9), but the heathen as well (see on vv. 7, 22). His victory will be the final reunion of the human race. Ewald is on the road to this view when he gives up the ' collective ' theory of the ' Servant of Yahve' in Isa. liii., and substitutes a view which, to be consistent, he should have extended to Ps. xxii.3 The ' Servant,' as explained by him, on the analogy of the ' Wisdom ' of Prov. viii., is a poetical impersonation (suggested, however, by the life and death of some martyr-prophet) of the nobler and spiritually more aspiring side of Israel's character. This seems too weak an explanation, whether of the ' Servant ' or of the speaker of Ps. xxii. The ancient Orientals were ideal-realists, and did not, with an English poet, seek in poetry 'an ever surer and surer stay ' than the facts 1 Kihn, Theodorvon Mopsuestia, p. 161 ; Calvin, Comm., on v. 2. 2 Hengstenberg, Commentary on the Psalms, E. T. , i. 363. ¦> In his work on the Psalms, Ewald describes our psalmist as ' presumably a very important person,' who lived at the very beginning of the Exile, before the destruction of the Temple, and whose fearless confession of his faith drew upon him the most bitter persecution. Though in danger of death he ' painfully rescues himself from despair;' and believes in spite of appearances that he will not only himself be delivered but that wondrous consequences will proceed from his deliverance. 60 THE PSALMS of religion. A Hebrew writer, not less (comp. Renouf s Hibbert Lectures) than an Egyptian, believed in the fact of the supersensible life of ideals like Wisdom and the national Genius. When, therefore, a psalmist or a prophet, in the circumstances of the Babylonian period, portrays this ' Genius ' in the colours of human life, is it not reasonable to go further than Ewald, and see a presentiment of an ' Israelite indeed,' in word and in act, in life and in death, rivalling and surpassing the Israel and Moses of antiquity ? This view enables us to combine the elements of truth in other solutions of the problem. I do not, however, attempt even an im perfect criticism of Christian and Jewish interpretations of this and similar psalms, because this would interfere with that immediateness of impres sion which it is my perhaps too bold hope to produce in the reader. But the presentiment of an ideal Israelite and second Moses is not the only spiritual acquisition of this unnamed writer. As the Jewish scholar Cas- telli has well pointed out, the psalmist's great idea of the denationalising of religion is justification enough for calling the psalm Messianic (77 Messia, p. 69). It is important to compare Ps. xxii. with other similar psalms, some of which may be adequately explained as utterances of pious Israel, while others (as xxxv., I hesitate to add lxix.) seem to have a fuller significance. In general, too, the parallel passages referred to should be carefully studied in reading this psalm. We are evidently in the midst of saintly and un ambitious writers, deeply exercised by the ways of God with their nation, and zealous and admiring students of Israel's best religious literature. The date I may at present leave open ; readers of vol. ii. of Isaiah will, how ever, divine my opinion and its grounds. The poem falls almost entirely into strophes of eight lines of trimeters. If the text were free from cor ruption (see erit. notes), we might be able to carry this division all through the psalm. 2 My God, my God, [hearken unto me ;] why hast thou forsaken me ? far off [art thou] from my salvation, from the words in which I roar, my God. 3 I cry by day, and thou answerest not, by night also, and get no respite : 4 But thou art the Holy One, enthroned upon the praises of Israel. 5 In thee did our fathers trust, they trusted, and thou didst deliver them ; 6 Unto thee they cried, and made their escape : in thee did they trust, and they were not shamed, 7 But I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men and despised of people. 8 All that see me make a mock at me, they open wide the lips, they shake the head. 9 ' He has rolled (his cares) upon Jehovah ; let him deliver him ; let him rescue him, since he delights in him.' 10 Yea, but thou art he that drew me out of the womb, thou didst make me to trust upon my mother's breasts. PSALM XXII. 6! 1 1 Upon thee was I cast from the birth, thou art my God from my mother's womb. 1 2 Be not far from me, for trouble is near, for there is none to help. 13 Many bulls have come about me, strong ones of Bashan have encompassed me. 14 They gape upon me with their mouths, (as) a ravening and roaring lion. 15 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint ; my heart hath become like wax, molten in the midst of my bowels. 16 My palate is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaves to my gums, and thou layest me in the dust of Death. 1 7 For dogs have come about me, the crew of evil-doers have closed me round ; they have digged into my hands and my feet. 1 8 I can number all my bones, while these — with delight they gaze upon me. 19 They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture : 20 But thou, Jehovah, be not thou far off ; O my strength, speed to my help. 2 1 Deliver my soul from the sword, my dear hfe from the power of the dog. 22 Save me from the lion's mouth, — yea, from the horns of the wild oxen — thou hast (already) answered me. 23 I would fain rehearse thy name unto my brethren, in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee. 24 ' Ye that fear Jehovah, praise him ; all ye seed of Jacob, glorify him ; and stand in awe of him, all ye seed of Israel : 25 For he has not despised norabhorred the affliction of the afflicted, neither has he hid his face from him, but when he cried, he hearkened unto him.' 26 From thee is my praise in the great congregation, my vows will I pay in the presence of them that fear him. 27 The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied ; they that inquire after Jehovah shall praise him ; let your heart revive for ever ! 62 THE PSALMS 28 All the ends of the earth shall remember and return unto Jehovah, and all the families of the nations shall bow down before him. 29 For the kingdom is Jehovah's, and he is ruler among the nations. 30 All the fat ones of the earth shall surely bow down unto him, all that have gone down into the dust shall bend the knee before him, 31 And as for him that kept not his soul alive, his seed shall be reckoned unto Jehovah ; 32 To the next generation they shall rehearse his righteousness, to a people that shall be born, that he hath done nobly. 2 Mrs. Browning has well caught the parallelism between this verse and Isa. xlix. 14. The two passages combined have inspired her touching poem, ' Cowper's Grave.' The second member of v. 2 in the Hebrew is very difficult in spite of the easiness of the con text. The stanza, moreover, is too short. Some such filling out as Bickell has suggested seems neces sary (see erit note). My Ood. Heb. Eli, not Elohai. The short est name for God (El) best suits the agonised speaker. So again v. 11. Comp. on xiii. 3. In which I roar. Lit., ' of my roaring.' The same figure as in xxxii. 3, xxxviii. 9. Theodore of Mopsues- tia's comment is too characteristic to be withheld (see introd.), ivravOa pevroi 6 Belos Aa/3to" /cal ttjv els avrbv yeyevrjpevrjv abiKlav diddo-Kei, Kal TrjV els tov Aeo-ffdrni/ eo-opevr/v 7rpobia- ypd(pei, rfj KOivwvia rav 7ra0rjpdra)V evafipvvopevos Kal povovov)(l Bowv pera a-mpari pov /Jacrrafa) (Migne, Synes. et Theod. col. 678). 3 And get no respite (lit, no silence, rest). Understand, from the griefs which find expression in my tears. Comp. Jer. xiv. 17. 4 The Holy One. Heb. Qdddsh, used in the manner of proper names, as xcix. 3, 5 (comp. on Isa. xl. 25). Why is ' holiness ' here referred to? Certainly not in the ethical sense of the word. But, as Vatke remarks, it would be a great mistake to find in the phrase or name 'the Holy One ' nothing but ' numen veneran- dum.' l The Holy One is recognised as such by His judgments, by the destruction of sinners and the deli verance of His faithful servants in righteous accordance with the plan summed up in the technical phrase ' the covenant.' Comp. Isa. v. 16, xxix. 23, Iii. 10. Jehovah, being 'holy,' i.e., primarily, separate from all creaturely weakness, and next sacrosanct, inviolable, has the power, and being ' Israel's Holy One,' has also the will, to interpose for His people. How is it then (comp. Isa. xlix. 14) that Jehovah has become deaf to the complaint of Israel's representative ? En throned upon, &c. The ' praises of Israel ' are like the wings of the cherubim on which Jehovah is en throned. Thus the phrase is an adaptation of the title ' who dwells upon the cherubim' (lxxx. 2, xcix. 1). The cherubim, as we have seen (on xviii. 11), are at once the bearers and the guards or attendants of the Deity ; an old mythic form of ex pression retained for its symbolic usefulness by the sacred poets. Jehovah's throne was a throne of clouds (xviii. 10, xcvii. 2), symbolised by the cherubim. The clouds themselves are, however, to the psalmists merely the representa tives of the obscure forces of nature. Another view of the expression, 'who dwells upon the cherubim,' brings it into connexion with the cherubim of the sanctuary. Riehm, 1 Die Religion des Allen Testamentes, i. (1835), p. 475, n. 2. PSALM XXII. 63 for instance, thinks it meant that Jehovah, as manifested in the tem ple, was altogether inclosed by the cherubs and their wings. He ren ders ' who inhabits the cherubim,' which equally well suits the account of the cherubim in 1 Kings vi. 23- 27 and that in Ex. xxv. 1S-22 (the priestly legislation). The phrase will then mean ' who dwells in the midst of His people, as their pro tector.' But the first explanation is preferable. The semi-mythic view of the cherubim pervades the Old Testament ; and wherever we find this phrase, in Isa. xxxvii. 16, as well as in Ps. lxxx. 2, xcix. 1, it clearly describes Jehovah, not as the God of Israel, but as the master of the forces of the universe. Now see how exquisitely the poet glorifies the old mythic phrase. The true cherubim are the praises of God's people for His wondrous works. He is not merely a God of force, but a God of praise-producing lovingkindness. It is another form of the same idea, when another psalmist calls Righteousness ' the base of His throne ' (xcvii. 2). S Our fathers. The phrase suggests the idea that the speaker is a personification of Israel (so Lagarde, 0rientalia,\\. 63). I pre fer to say that the speaker is the mouthpiece of the Church of which he is the leader. See introd. 7 A worm and no man. Comp. Isa. xii. 14 (of Israel, oppressed by the heathen), Iii. 14, liii. 2 (of Israel, or Israel's leader ?) Despised of people. Comp. Isa. liii. 3 and especially xlix. 7 (of the indivi dualised ' Servant '). The ' people ' referred to are all those with whom the speaker has to do, in so far as they obstruct his religious mission, whether Jews or Gentiles. 8 They shake the head. So xxxi. I2,xliv. 14, cix. 25, Lam. ii. 15. 9 He has rolled, &c. An un usual phrase, perhaps from the common speech. So in a more complete form in xxxvii. 5, Rev. xvi. 3. Others render in the im perative, ' Roll it ' (as if an ironical counsel), rather unnaturally in this context, and against the ancient versions, though the pointers understood thus, thinking of xxxvii. 5. 10 That drew me out of the womb. So lxxi. 6 (see erit note). If the speaker be the pious Israel personified, we may compare Isa. xlviii. 8, ' Rebellious from the womb.' 13, 14 Observe (1) how fre quently the Hebrew writers identify Israel's enemies with wild beasts (6r)pia dvdpair6pop($>a, Ignat ad Smyrn. 4 ; cf. 1 Cor. xv. 32). They could not see any great moral gap between the human and non-human races, and put the former too low and the latter too high(cf. Jon. iii. 7). Could they have judged otherwise in those early ages, when man still acted so much by impulse? See on xxxvi. 7, and comp. introd. to Ps. xlix. There are exceptions, however ; see viii. 6, cxlix. 14. And (2) the carefully varied imagery — a herd of Bashan bulls (comp. Ezek. xxxix. 1 8, Am. iv. 1 ), a single, stately lion (so v. 22 a ; comp. Isa. xv. 9, R.V.) Note, 'abbirim, ' strong ones' = bulls (as 1. 13, Ixviii. 31). In Jer. viii. 16, xlvii. 3, 1. 11 for horses ; in Ps. lxxviii. 25 for angels. 15 Cf. Isa. xiii. 7, 'Therefore shall all hands be slack, and every heart of man shall melt ; ' also Josh. vii. 5. 16-18 To understand this stro phe, comp. cii. 5, 6. Both passages mean the same thing, viz. that dis tress and anxiety have reduced the body of the persecuted man to skin and bones. All is clear, if for a moment we omit v. 17, which is partly, indeed chiefly, intended to explain why the speaker feels as God-forsaken as if he were in Shedl. It is not only because he is as ' strengthless ' as the shades (see lxxxviii. 5), but because, under the fascinating gaze of a hundred in solent eyes, he cannot realise the ' guidance ' of that Eye (xxxii. 9), without which all is like the shadow of death ('while these,' in v. 18 b, will still be intelligible from v. 14). Next restore v. 17, but with the provisional omission of the third 64 THE PSALMS line. What a gain arises to the sense from that omission ! These ' masterless hell-hounds ' (Bunyan) have clustered around him from all quarters (see on lix. 7), not to kill him (for death cannot be far off), but to gloat over his sufferings and to plunder him (vv. 18, 19). The third line of v. 1 7, is a subordinate detail (see below). A second tristich was needed to correspond to the first (v. 16) ; v. 18 is only a distich to make up the number of eight lines for the strophe. 16 My palate, &c. Something is evidently wrong in the text. ' My strength ' does not suit the paral lelism, and the image of the potsherd suggests rather ' my palate ' (see erit note). Thou layest me, &c. He considers everything as an instrument in the hands of God. His troubles are but the messengers who conduct him to ' dusty death,' not, however, in the Shakespearian sense of those words, for ' Death ' is here a synonym for She61 (as vi. 6, &c.) The Babylonian Hades is described as ' the place where much dust is their nourishment ' (Descent of Istar, 1. 8). Comp. v. 36 and xxx. 10. 17 They have digged into my hands and my feet, or, as an alter native reading (of inferior authority) is generally rendered, ' Like a lion at my hands and my feet ' (i.e. they have beset me as furiously as lions and so completely that I can stir neither hand nor foot). Few now maintain the latter reading and rendering (see erit. note), which is too short a phrase to be intelligible, interrupts the lifelike description of the ' dogs,' and seems at any rate to assume that the lion specially attacks the hands and the feet. (To which Aben Ezra replies that a man defends himself with his hands and runs away with his feet : hands against a lion !) The genuineness of the text, as represented by the former reading, seems beyond reasonable doubt. We have here a subordinate detail in the behaviour of this troop of half-wild dogs. It is a feature true to life, as Tristram and others have pointed out. The pariah dogs which prowl about in packs in Eastern cities are in general coward ly, but if provoked might rush at a man's hands or feet, and wound them. (One of two renderings given side by side in the Targum — I refer to Bamberg's Rabbinical Bible — is ' they bite my hands and my feet') 18 I may number, &c. This clause is not in sequence to the last clause of v. 17 ; it has to be explained on the analogy of v. 15. His ema ciation is due, not to bodily ill-treat ment, but to mental agony. 19 They part, &c. Here the figure of the dog is interrupted. According to Ewald, the sufferer is imagined as a prisoner condemned to death. But the inhumanity of the enemies will be more striking without supposing this (comp. Mic. ii. 8, Job xxiv. 7, 10). The psalmist is partly thinking of the plundering experienced by Israelites at the hands of their oppressors. The vesture is the large upper garment, which was only valuable as a whole. 21 Sword . . . dog. Strictly, these dogs would only indirectly cause death by their continued wor rying, the sufferer being half-dead already without them. But, as ' sword ' in line 1 shows, it is of a less ignoble but more bloodthirsty foe than the dog that the psalmist is now thinking — the lion. ' Dog,' though not strictly appropriate as a parallel to ' sword,' was put, either for the sake of the rhythm, or to wind up the passage on the dog-like enemies. Now it is once more (see v. 14) the turn of the 'lion-like.' The meaning is that Israel and Israel's great leader draw on them selves the hatred of both high and low, both noble and ignoble, among those who ' enquire not after God.' My dear life (so Geddes and the American Reviser's margin). Comp. xxxv. 17. Keble, 'mine orphan'd one ; ' Kay, ' my solitary one' (following Jerome). Calvin defends the latter rendering very forcibly, comparing xxv. 16, where, however, it is the ' ego ' which is yakhidh ; here it is something PSALM XXII. 65 belonging to the ' ego,' viz. the ' soul ' (see parallel line). De Witt has, ' my only life,' following Vulg.'s unicam meam (Purvey, ' myn oon aloone '), which of course means unici dilectam, as also does Sept's rr\v povoyevr) ixnv (comp. Sept. Gen. xxii. 2 and Prov. iv. 3). A.V. (' my darling ') appropriates a phrase much wanted for another Hebrew word (' a pleasant child ' in Jer xxxi. 20 is weak). The preciousness of life is at any rate the idea ; see on vii. 6, ' my glory.' 22 The lion's mouth (comp. v. 14). Comp. Esth. xiv. 13 (apocr.), 2 Tim. iv. 17. The lion, with his open jaws, is an image of the great world-empire (whether Assyria or Babylonia) which threatened to an nihilate Judah as it had virtually annihilated N. Israel. See Isa. v. 29, Nah. ii. 11-13, Jer. iv. 7, Dan. vii. 4. The wild oxen. Worse foes even than 'bulls of Bashan.' The rim (Assyrian for Heb. re' em) is re presented in the Assyrian sculptures with two long curving horns and a hump. See on Isa. xxxiv. 7. That some species of urus, or wild ox, is meant was first proposed by Arnold Boot. The unicorn of some Oriental sculptures has been amply discussed in Mr. R. Brown's monograph. Thou hast answered me. The poet has the imperative on the tip of his tongue, but changes his mind at the price of a break in the paral lelism. It is the ' perfect of con fidence ' = ' thou hast decreed to answer me ' (viz. by delivering me ; cf. cxviii. 5). See erit note. 23 ' Thou answerest not (v. 3) is the key-note of vv. 2-22 ; ' thou hast answered me,' of vv. 23-32. My brethren, i.e. my fellow- Israelites. In fact, vv. 23-26 specially relate to Israel. 24, 25 A song of praise in the ' great congregation ' (v. 26). All true believers are directly concerned in the wonderful deliverance of their representative. Hence 'ye that fear J ehovah ' (which includes proselytes ; see on cxv. 11) precedes ' all ye seed of Israel.' 26 From thee Is my praise. ' Thou art the Alpha (and Omega) of my song.' The parallel passage, lxxi. 6, weakens this into ' Of thee is my praise continually.' in the great congregation. Is the temple standing (Ewald), or does the poet anticipate (see introd.) ? My vows, i.e. my praises (comp. vv. 23, 27), as 1. 14, &c. 27 Comp. the parallel passage, Ixix. 32, which hardly favours the view that a legal feast is meant, such as the ze"bakh sh'ldmim, ' thank- offering ; ' at any rate, we must infer that the meal connected with the offering is all that is in the writer's mind (comp. on Isa. xxv. 6). It is simpler to recall the image of Jehovah as an entertainer, and His blessings as a feast (see xxiii. 5). The afflicted, of course, means the martyr-church of Israel (see on ix. 13)- 3tet your heart revive, not so much an appeal to ' be of good cheer,' but the most trenchant form of assertion ^ ye shall have a vivid feeling of happiness, and this for ever, because the ' latter days ' of changeless joy for Israel have begun. It is as if the afflicted ones could not believe in the duration of their happiness ; the poet, with fervent sympathy, calls on them not to be afraid to rejoice. Or, ' your heart ' might mean ' your per sonality ; ' but this seems incon sistent with the vagueness of the sequel. 27, 28 But he has also the ' en thusiasm of humanity.' He has learned to ' love his enemies.' The heathen have forgotten God(ix. 18); His wondrous works shall rouse them from their insensibility. He has now become their king and their God ; outward and inward lordship cannot be dissevered. This ' universalism ' of the psalmist marks him out as either a forerunner or a member of the later Jewish Church (comp. xlvii. 9, 10, xcvii. 1, xcix. 1). This, however, is not the most interesting point. We must ask how it is that ' the personal deliverance swells beyond all private proportions, and has for its sequence the setting up of God's kingdom 66 THE PSALMS over the whole world.' 1 See in- land where praise is silent ; but this trod. psalmist proffers as a viaticum to 30-32 (See erit. notes ; ' eating ' the dying the privilege of worship is quite out of place here.) Many after death. He goes beyond the see in v. 30 simply the antithesis author of Job, who can simply affirm of rich and poor, rendering in b, that ' (even) they that are deceased ' all that are on the point of going tremble (before Eloah),' Job xxvi. 5, down ' = in extreme poverty. But R. V. a parallel is wanting. The fat 31 'One generation goeth, and ones, i.e. those in the full vigour another cometh.' But there is of life (as xcii. 15), opposed to the comfort in the thought that we shall feeble shades in the underworld. have trained our successors to the The dust, i.e. Sheol (see on service of God. My strength may v. 15). Jehovah's covenant em- be brought down, and my days braces the living and (in some sort) shortened (sings Israel personified, the dead ; comp. Phil. ii. 10. The cii. 24 ; comp. 19), but a new genera- eschatologyoftheauthorispeculiar, tion shall fill up that which re but do we not find various escha- maineth. Suffer me to live on earth tologies and views of death else- till the tradition of God's might be where, e.g. in the Book of Isaiah, firmlyfixedin Israel (lxxi. 18 ; comp. xxv. 8, xxvi. 19, Ixv. 20 ? Earlier above, v. 23). Similarly xlviii. 14, psalmists thought of Hades as the lxxviii. 4. PSALM XXIII. 1 he resting pilgrim's song. The speaker is any pious Israelite in whose mind both national and personal hopes and fears rest side by side. A national element in the psalm cannot be denied. The language used in v. 1 reminds us, on the one hand, of the Asaphite references to Je hovah's flock, and on the other, of the lovely words referring to the nation in Deut ii. 7. The foes in v. 5 may well be national foes (comp. iii. 7). The dark valley ' may be parallel to the ' valley of Baca (?) ' in lxxxiv. 7, and the ' table ' to the feast of the afflicted in xxii. 26. Still the ' national ' and the ' personal ' elements cannot be dissevered by the most potent analysis. The Shepherd's tending is, no doubt, ' for the sake of His name' ('Jehovah, Israel's God'). But 'Israel's Shepherd' (lxxx. 2) does not neglect the individual ; from Jeremiah's time onwards this truth was realised with increasing vividness. It has found its classic expression in this psalm, which brightly contrasts with the pathetic confession of the noble Clifford, ' We have felt with utter loneliness that the Great Com panion is dead.' On the character described, see Ecce Ho?no, ed. 2, p. 8. The rhythm is perhaps not uniform throughout ; but there is a tendency to alternate trimeters (lines with three beats) and dimeters (those with two). By some happy instinct C. B. Cayley (the translator of Dante) approaches in his verse-rendering the form of the original. But from an aesthetic point of view Herder's version must be pronounced far superior. Crashaw's is a beautiful adaptation to the Christian sentiment 1 Jehovah is my shepherd ; I want for nothing. 2 In pastures of young grass he couches me : to reposeful waters he gently guides me ; my soul he doth restore. 1 Brownlow Maitland, The Argument from Prophecy, p. 96. This small work proves that it is possible to be an apologist and yet a candid student of exegesis. PSALM XXIII. 67 3 He leads me along in right tracks because of his name ; 4 Should I even walk in a ravine of Hades gloom, I will fear no evil. [No unseen foe shall hurt me,] for thou wilt be with me ; thy club and shepherd's staff, they will comfort me. 5 Thou furnishest a table before me in the presence of my foes ; thou hast anointed my head with oil, my cup is abundance. 6 Surely good fortune and lovingkindness shall pursue me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in Jehovah's house for length of days. I My shepherd. A title equally true of Jehovah's relation to the people and to the individual (re garded as drawing his moral and physical life from the nation). See on Ixxx. 2. 2 Reposeful (or rest-giving) waters. Lit, 'waters of rest,' or, perhaps, ' waters of resting-places ' (such as the oases in the desert). Comp. cxxxii. 8, and Ass. manakhtu 'resting-place.' Gently guides me. Friedrich Delitzsch would render, 'makes me to lie down,' na'dlu being a synonym of rabaqu. To me, this simply confirms the idea of restful guidance which A.V. found in fnahel in Isa. xl. 11. See, how ever, erit. note. Hengstenberg, ' he tendeth me,' following Sept., Vulg. (comp. Purvey, 'he nurschide me on the watir of refreisching '). Doth restore. Crashaw — When my wayward breath is flying, He calls home my soul from dying. The ' soul ' is the conscious, indivi dualised principle of life ; faintness indicates, in Hebrew phrase, that 1 Such, for instance, as the Wady el Haramiya ('the Robbers' Valley'), described by Renan in his Vie de Jisus, chap. iv. , and which he identifies with the ' valley of weeping' (i.e. of ' oozing waters ') in lxxxiv. 7 (but see note). National tastes differ ; Tristram gives a very different description (Land of Israel, p. 165). Socin seems to agree with Renan (Baedeker's Paldstina, p. 341). F 2 this ' soul ' has ' gone out ' (Cant. ii. 6, A. V., ' my soul failed '). Explain ing this line of the nation, it finely expresses the tenacity of Israel's self-consciousness under the stress of prolonged trial. 3 Still as applicable to each ' Israelite indeed' as to Israel. Right tracks, as opposed to delu sive tracks which lead nowhere. Calvin and even Clericus, with A. V., prefer ' paths of righteousness,' but this spoils the allegory by introduc ing an interpretation. ' Just paths ' would be better — i.e. paths traced out in accordance with the divine standard ; cf. 'just balances.' 4 The happy ' lamb of God ' holds fast to his confidence alike in prosperity and adversity, the one figured by ' the reposeful waters,' the other by one of those narrow mountain glens so common in cen tral Palestine, haunted by robbers and wild beasts, and dismal even at midday.1 Hades gloom (lit., shadow of Death, i.e. of Hades) may mean either ' gloom like that of Hades ' or ' the very gloom of 68 THE PSALMS Hades.' I now incline to the former view, but the latter is not at all im possible, and deserves to be ex plained. Accepting it, the ' ravine ' will be, not She61 or Hades itself (which is a city with gates, Job xxxviii. 17), but Virgil's 'fauces Orci,' Milton's ' rifted rocks whose entrance leads to Hell' (Comus): one remembers that the Baby lonian Hades was situated in the recesses of Mount Arilu. The psalmist may perhaps be allud ing to the dread moments preced ing the judgment of the soul (cf. Halevy's view, on xvi. 10, 1 1).1 The Egyptians figured to themselves the departed soul as going through narrow passes and defiles haunted by serpents and monsters (such as the Babylonians also imagined in their own underworld). The psalmist may hope to be escorted by his good shepherd along the awful road to the city of darkness,2 as the pious Egyptian king was escorted by Amen Ra, when approaching the tribunal of Osiris. On the alterna tive rendering ' black darkness ' see erit. note. Thou wilt be with me, in the darkness where unseen foes may attack me at an advantage. The words supplied may not be the right ones, but they complete the sense and restore symmetry. Thy club. Of this 'club' the weapon rendered in ii. 9 ' mace ' was a development. Osiris had such a 'mace' (Records of the Past, viii. 122; cf. x. 79). Thy staff. Moses the shepherd says in the Koran (xx. 19), ' It is the staff on which I lean, and with which I beat down leaves for my sheep, and I have other uses for it ' (e.g. guid ance). They will comfort me. Clericus well, ' ea sunt qua? me con solabuntur.' 5 We are now at one of the ' resting-places ' of the flock (cf. Cant. i. 7). Or better, like a true Semitic poet, our author leaps to a new figure, and says, ' Jehovah bids me to a feast ' (cf. on xvi. 5, xxii. 26). Is the table spread in this world or the next? The psalmist does not draw the distinction. Whilst life lasts, that feast shall last (see introduction to Ps. xvi.) The foes will look on, themselves excluded. Thou hast anointed, &c. See on xiv. 8, and cf. civ. 15, Cant i. 12. An Egyptian illustration may be added. Every rich man had in his house hold an anointer who had to place a cone of ointment on the head of his master, where it remained during the feast. Ointment to the Jews was a symbol of joy ; so too it was in Egypt. At the solemn entry of a king on a festival-day, everyone poured sweet oil on his head (Er- man, Aegypten, i. 316-7). is abundance. A large portion being a proof of hospitality (Gen. xliii 34). 6 This is not (like its seeming antithesis, cxl. 12 b) a naive asser tion of the retribution-doctrine of Job's friends, but a riddle for the believing heart to solve. So also is the following statement of the psalmist's assured dwelling-place. See note on xxvii. 4, and for the image of the guest in Jehovah's house, note on xv. 1, lxxxiv. 11. The alternative rendering of the second line (notice the points) is ' And I shall return (and dwell) in the house,' &c, implying that the psalmist is in exile Less naturally (cf. Perowne) PSALM XXIV. T he psalm as it stands is divisible into two parts, the connexion of which is at any rate not obvious. The God of vv. 1-6 is the God of the infinitely great and the infinitely small, the God who made the earth and all that is 1 The Monthly Interpreter, iii. 470-72. ' She^. is caued indifferently Death, and the Shadow of Death (' Hades gloom'), Job xxxviii. 17. The Babylonian Hades, 'the house from whose visitors the light is excluded' (Descent of Istar, I. 7, Sayce's transl.) PSALM XXIV. 69 in it, and yet does not disdain to be called 'my God;'1 the God of vv. 7-10 is- a victorious war-God. The religion of the first part is inward and moral ; the religion of the second, so far as it can be characterised at all, is not in harmony with that of the first. The first part speaks of a going up to meet Jehovah (to explain t». 3, ' Who may go up [with the ark] to the mountain of Jehovah,' '-' is surely as arbitrary as anything in German exege sis) ; the second, of Jehovah's entering an ancient fortress. It is much more natural (as in the case of xix., xxvii., lxxxi.) to suppose that two psalms have been joined together by a later editor for use in the temple- service. Not, however, out of mere wilfulness. The great God may be conceived of as coming either to His people collectively, or to each mem ber thereof individually. But as are the individuals, so is the nation ; the psalm begins therefore with a testing description of the worshipper whom the ' King of glory ' will own when He enters His citadel. This may have been the connexion which he would have us supply mentally, regardless of the distinctive peculiarities of the two parts. The second part is evidently taken from a song of victory (comp. xx., xxi., xlvii.) Its more precise object must be considered elsewhere. 1 The earth is Jehovah's, and the fulness thereof ; the world, and they that dwell therein, 2 For it was he that founded it upon the seas, and estabHshed it upon the floods. 3 Who may ascend the mountain of Jehovah, and who may rise up in his holy place ? 4 He that has clean hands and a pure heart, that has not set his desire upon treachery, nor sworn deceitfully. 5 He shall receive a blessing from Jehovah, even righteousness from the God of his salvation. 6 Such is the generation of those that enquire after him, of those that seek the face of Jacob's God. f Fragment of another Psalm.) 7 Lift up your heads, O ye gates, yea, lift yourselves up, ye ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. 8 ' Who, then, is the King of glory ? ' ' Jehovah the Strong and Valiant, Jehovah the Valiant in battle.' 9 Lift up your heads, O ye gates, yea, lift them up, ye ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. 10 ' Who, then, is the King of glory ? ' ' Jehovah Sabaoth, he is the King of glory. 1 See Ewald, Die Lehre der Bibel von Gott, &c, ii. i, p. 267. 2 Cornill, in Luthardt's Zeitschrift, 1881, p. 341. ?o THE PSALMS 1-6 On this moral compendium, see introduction to Ps. xv. 4 Heart = conscience (li. 12). Set his desire. Lit., 'lifted up his soul' Note same phrase in xxv. 1, whence Hitzig infers that the next phrase 'upon emptiness' (so literally) is the opposite of ' upon Jehovah,' i.e. ' upon idols ' (cf. xxxi. 7, Jer. xviii. 15). ' Upon wicked ness,' however (cf. Isa. v. 18), suits the context better ; or, which I pre fer, ' upon treachery ' (falsehood in action ; cf. xii. 3, xxvi. 4, xii. 7). 5, 6 Righteousness, i.e. right eous treatment from a faithful God. Such is the generation, i.e. the class of men (see on xii. 8). How well v. 6 concludes the psalm ! The face of Jacob's God. The text-readingis usually rendered 'thy face, even Jacob' (so Delitzsch, after Targ.) ; but we should have ex pected ' even Israel ' (comp. lxxiii. 1). See erit note. 7 lift up your heads. A feel ing hyperbole, similar to one in Sappho (Grotius). The gates seem too low for the majesty of the great king. Comp. the image in Prov. xvii. 19. Ve ancient doors. So Grotius, with true historical tact. ' Everlasting ' was suggested by the Messianic application ; Milton re tains it in his own poetic application of the passage, Par. Lost, vii. 565-9. Thatthe King, &c. Not only by the Philistines (1 Sam. iv. 7), but by Moses himself (Num. x. 35) we are told that the ark was in some sense identified with Jehovah, as the symbol of his mighty invi sible aid in Israel's wars. It is very probable (comp. 2 Sam. vii. 17) that Davidand any contemporary psalm ists had the same form of belief. But to suppose that the later psalm ists whose works have been thought worthy of preservation cherished this ' archaic religion ' (Ewald, Al- terthitmer, p. 169) would be to deny the progressiveness of the sacred writers. In xlvii. 6, Ixviii. 19, there fore, we seem bound to hold that Jehovah's ' going up ' is a poetical way of saying that His special in terposition for the armies of Israel is over. It seems to me that we obtain a worthier meaning by inter preting on the analogy of these two passages. It is slightly captious to object that to 'go in' is not to ' re turn.' The secondary sense of 're turning ' is as justifiable in Hebrew as in Arabic. 8 Valiant. Or, ' hero ; ' or, 'warrior.' Comp. lxxviii. 65, ciii. 20. So in Ex. xv. 3 (a post-Davidic hymn), ' Jehovah, the man of war.' 10 Jehovah Sabaoth. Yahve (the God of) CeMoth (i.e. hosts or legions) is the fullest title of ' Israel's God ' (lix. 5), and occurs first in 1 Sam. i. 3, 11, whence it has been thought to have arisen at the close of the period of the Judges. It is doubtful whether it referred in the first instance to the hosts of Israel (as Kautzsch among recent critics '), or, as I have argued elsewhere,2 to the stars — the ' host of heaven ' — in which case this title is a protest against star-worship. It is true that the earliest proof of star-wor ship in Israel is Am. v. 26 ;3 but mythologic researches show that Babylonian influences existed all round the Israelites in a degree which presupposes a long and con tinuous propagation. The date of Deuteronomy may be long after Moses, long after David ; and yet the tendencies referred to in Deut. iv. 19, xvii. 2, 3, may well have been more or less known long before that book was written. I look upon Jehovah Sabdoth as a kind of con densed creed, expressing (1) the superiority of Israel's God even to creations so great and so mysteri ously potent as the stars, (2) the manifoldness of the heavenly powers which Jehovah can employ in his people's behalf. Compare in this connexion two passages, the one much earlier than the other — 2 Sam. 1 Herzog-Plitt, Realencyclopadie, art. ' Sabaoth.' 2 The Prophecies of Isaiah, i. 11, &c. 5 See Schrader, The Cuneiform Inscriptions and the O. T. , on Am. , I.e. Herzog-Plitt's Realencyclopadie, xiv. 694. Lotz, in PSALM XXIV. 71 vi. 2, ' the ark of God, over which made. That Sabaoth also came is called the name of Jehovah Sa- to have a reference to the armies baoth that dwelleth upon the cheru- of Israel is suggested by 1 Sam. bim,'and Jer. x. 16, 'the Former of xvii. 45 ; comp. Josh. v. 14, but the all things, he is his inheritance, stars, with which the angels were whose name is Jehovah Sabaoth.' in general so closely connected ' That dwelleth upon the cherubim' (but see on ciii. 20, 21), have the (see on xxii. 4), and 'the Former first claim to be considered. Whether of all things,' both express the su- ' Sabdoth ' may be regarded as a premacy of the great God over the germinal proper name, is considered powers of nature whidi He has below on lix. 6. PSALM XXV. I\y appeal to the divine compassion, interrupted by a few verses (8-10, 12-14) in the didactic style, and proceeding, as the closing verse suggests, from pious Israel personified. Ps. xxxiv., a hymn of thanksgiving, is its counterpart. The two poems have the same structural peculiarities. Each is composed of 21 'alphabetic' distichs, and an additional closing distich. In each of the former, the first word begins with a fresh letter of the alpha bet, the 22 letters being taken in order, except that in v. 5 each line does duty for a distich, He beginning v. 5 a, and Vdv v. 5 b. This statement, however, will only be correct, if we may be allowed, following Bickell, to correct xxv. 1, 5, 7, which appear in the received text the first as a mono- stich, the second and third as tristichs, and also xxv. 18, which, on the ' alphabetic ' principle, wants an initial word beginning with Qof. Each psalm too closes with a second P^-distich, relative to the deliverance of Israel, from which, on the analogy of a later (post-Christian) Jewish cus tom, Lagarde ' too boldly concludes that the authors of the psalms were named respectively Pedael and Pedaiah (cf. Neh. viii. 4). For other alphabetic psalms, see ix. and x., xxxvii., cxi., cxii., cxix., cxiv. 1 Unto thee, Jehovah, do I lift up my soul ; for thee have I waited all the day long. 2 In thee do I trust, let me not be shamed ; let not mine enemies triumph over me. 3 Yea, let none that wait for thee be shamed : let those be shamed who vainly break their faith. 4 Make me to know thy ways, Jehovah ; teach me thy paths. 5 Direct me in thy truthfulness, and teach me, for thou art my saviour-God. 6 Remember thy compassions, Jehovah, and thy lovingkindnesses, for they have been from of old. 7 The sins of my youth and my transgressions remember not for thy goodness' sake, Jehovah. 8 Good and upright is Jehovah, therefore will he instruct such as miss their aim in the way. 1 Symmikta (1877), p. 107 ; Academy, Jan. 1, 1872. Hofmann compares Nos. 1, 2, 5 of the Reshuyoth which follow the Targum to the prophets in Lagarde's edition. 72 THE PSALMS 9 The afflicted will he direct in that which is right, yea, the afflicted will he teach his way. io All the paths of Jehovah are lovingkindness and truth unto such as keep his covenant and his testimonies. 1 1 For thy name's sake, Jehovah, forgive mine iniquity, for it is great. 12 Who, then, is the man that feareth Jehovah ? him will he instruct in the way that he should choose. 1 3 He himself shall abide in good fortune, and his seed shall inherit the land. 14 The secret of Jehovah is for them that fear him, and his covenant for their instruction. 15 Mine eyes are continually toward Jehovah, for he shall bring my feet out of the net. 16 Turn thou unto me, and have pity upon me, for desolate am I and afflicted. 1 7 Enlarge the straitness of my heart, and bring me out of my distresses. 18 [Arise,] behold mine affliction and my travail, and pardon all my sins. 19 Behold mine enemies, for they are many, and they hate me with cruel hatred. 20 Preserve my soul, and deliver me : let me not be shamed, for I have taken refuge in thee. 2 1 Let integrity and uprightness guard me, for I await thee still, Jehovah. 22 Set Israel free, O God, from all his straitenings. 1 The second line is restored by of incapacity or want of thought. Bickell from v. 5, where it does not The second line of v. 7 in the fit in well with lines 1 and 2, whereas received text supplies an unneces- here it is the counterpart of line 1. sary qualification of the first — ' ac- 3 Vainly, i.e. without any (good) cording to thy lovingkindness re- result ; cf. ii. 1, 2 Sam. i. 22. member them for me.' See intro- 7 Israel's ' youth ' is meant, as duction. in cxxix. I ; so that this passage 8 Such as miss their aim. supplies the key to li. 8. The dis- The text-reading is ' sinners,' but tinction between ' sins ' or ' failings ' this seems to say too much (see i. 1 ). and deliberate ' transgressions ' Bickell's correction of the points is seems clear. To 'sin' (khdtd) is beautiful. Comp. on xxxix. 2, and properly ' to miss the mark ' (see see Prov. viii. 36, xix. 2. next verse, and comp. Prov. viii. 36). 1 1 For it is great. Calvin, Generally, however, khatlath is used 'quia multa est' (comp. xl. 13). in a stronger sense, as Julius Miiller The plea is virtually that in xxxviii. (Doctrine of Sin, i. 93) rightly ob- 5 b. serves, without implying the excuse 14 The secret, viz. that of divine PSALM XXV. 73 truth, not necessarily as embodied 16 Desolate. Or 'friendless' in a written revelation (comp. cxix. (lit, solitary). The psalmist lacks 18), but that which suffering be- the full faith which inspired iii. 7, lievers found it so difficult to under- iv. 9, xxvii. 10. stand — the principle of God's pro- 17 Enlarge . . . Or, 'relieve vidential dealings. For the sense the troubles of my heart, and bring of ' secret ' or ' private communica- me out of my straits.' Comp. cxix. tion,' comp. Prov. xi. 13, Am. iii. 7. 32, 2 Cor. vi. 11, and see on iv. 2. We may also render, 'the intimacy' Ancient authorities are on the comparing lv. 18; notice, however, side of A.V. and R.V. ; but R.V.'s the difference of the contexts in marg. has the weight of scholarly the two psalms. V. 14 a is re- opinion on its side. peated in Prov. iii. 32 b (see Del. 22 Set free. The root-meaning ad loc.) And his covenant ... is to sever, to separate (cf. Ex. viii. Understand, 'is designed,' or ex- 19, A.V. 23, p'duth = division). This plain, ' his secret and his covenant verb is a favourite element in pro- are appointed for their instruction. per names ; see introduction (end), 15 Mine eyes, &c. Comp. the and refer to the Concordance; in proper name Elyoenai or Elye- Phcenician we have Baalpada hoenai, ' Unto Yahve are mine eyes,' (Euting). PSALM XXVI. 1 nnocenxe and especially love to Jehovah's house appeal confidently (see v. 12) for their natural reward. According to Ewald, v. 9 expresses the occasion of the psalm — a prevalent wasting sickness. But surely the petition which it contains is only incidental, though doubtless it suggests that the times were dangerous. The speaker represents the nation (see on v. 1 1). 1 Right me, Jehovah, for I walk still in mine integrity and trust in Jehovah without wavering. 2 Prove me, Jehovah, and try me ; assay my reins and my heart. 3 For thy lovingkindness is before mine eyes, and I walk still in thy truthfulness. 4 I have not sat with men of falsehood, neither have I converse with dissemblers. 5 I hate the congregation of evil-doers, and will not sit with the ungodly. 6 I wash my hands in innocency, and would fain compass thine altar, Jehovah ; 7 That I may proclaim with the voice of thanksgiving, and tell out all thy wonders. 8 Jehovah ! I love the precinct of thy house, and the place of thy glory's habitation. 9 Take not away my soul with sinners, nor my life with men of blood ; 10 In whose hands are outrages, and their right hand is full of bribes. 74 THE PSALMS 1 1 But as for me, I walk on in mine integrity O set me free, and have pity upon me. 1 2 My foot stands on even ground ; in full choirs will I bless Jehovah. 3 In thy truthfulness, i.e. ever conscious of it as my guide (xxv. 5, xliii. 3). God's will marks out the saint's path, and the truthful revela tion of this, whether in command or in promise, is his guide. So Ixxxvi. 11. 4, 5 See on i. 1. For dissem blers, the Heb. has, picturesquely, ' self-hiders.' Cf. the ' dyed ' or hypocritical class of Pharisees in the Talmud (Sota, 22 b). 6 I wash my hands, i.e. I keep them free from sin (as lxxiii. 13). The symbol is explained by Ex. xxx. 1 7-21; comp. Deutxxi. 6 Matt. xxvii. 4. Compass thine altar. Going round in procession was a characteristic form of Israelitish as as well as of Arabian and Roman religion. The special object of the rite in the present case was a sacri fice of thanksgiving (see v. 7). See further on cxviii. 27. 8 1 love, &c. To take part in the temple-services seems the high est conception of happiness to the ' Israelite indeed.' Comp. xxvii. 4. Thy glory's habitation. Comp. Ex. xvi. 10. To the psalm ists, however, the conception of God's glory is spiritualised, like that of the 'form' (xvii. 15) which the glory enveloped (Ex. xiii. 21). Hence in xxvii. 4 'glory' is para phrased into ' pleasantness ' (see note). 111 walk, i.e. I go on walking, in spite of these ' outrages.' Or, I will still do so (after my deliver ance). Set me free. Israel, then, is the speaker (see xxv. 22). 12 Faith anticipates the answer to prayer. On even ground (as xxvii. 11). The speaker has been like a man stumbling over a rugged path. Comp. iv. 2 ; the ideas of broadness and levelness are con nected, as in the Arabic salutation, ' God give thee breadth and level ness ' (Freytag, s.v. rahuba). In full choirs (Heb. b'maqhelim). Cf. xxii. 23, 26 (b'qdhdl). The same form (with fem. term.) occurs in Ixviii. 27, where (as here) the ' con gregation ' spoken of is vocal with praise, justifying the above version. PSALM XXVII. J. he rhythm of this psalm changes at v. 7, and both tone and contents of the remaining verses differ widely from those of part i. The obvious ex planation is that two psalms have been linked together, the one full of in ward calm delight, regular in form and gracefully simple in style, the other a psalm of anxious supplication, which, judging from the Massoretic text, is inferior in rhythm and of less carefully turned expressions. Both seem to be national psalms. 1 Jehovah is my light and my salvation ; whom have I to fear ? Jehovah is the fortress of my life, at whom have I to tremble ? 2 When evil-doers came near against me to eat my flesh, those my foemen and mine enemies stumbled and fell. PSALM XXVII. 75i 3 Though a host should encamp against me, my heart would not fear ; though war should rise against me, still would I be tranquil. 4 One thing have I asked of Jehovah — that is my desire ; that I may dwell in the house of Jehovah all the days of my life, to gaze upon the pleasantness of Jehovah, and to contemplate his temple. 5 For he treasures me in his bower in the day of trouble ; he covers me in the covert of his pavilion, upon a rock does he exalt me. 6 And now shall my head be exalted above mine enemies round about me : fain would I offer in his pavilion sacrifices of resounding mirth, I would sing and make melody unto Jehovah. (Probably another Psalm.) 7 Hear, Jehovah, when I cry with my voice, have pity upon me and answer me. 8 [Hast thou not said unto me,] ' Seek ye my face ' ? unto thee my heart hath said, ' Thy face, Jehovah, will I seek.' 9 Do not hide thy face from me, thrust not thy servant aside in anger : thou hast been my help, abandon me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation. io For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but Jehovah will take me up. 1 1 Show me thy way, Jehovah, and lead me on an even path because of my keen-eyed enemies. 1 2 Give me not over unto the greed of my foes : for against me there have risen up false witnesses and such as breathe out injurious words upon me. 1 3 I am confident of beholding the goodness of Jehovah in the land of the living. 76 THE PSALMS 14 Wait for Jehovah : be courageous, and let thine heart gather strength, wait, I say, for Jehovah. 2 To eat my flesh, like wild beasts (Jer. xii. 9, Isa. Ivi. 9). See xiv. 4. 4 That I may dwell, &c. How this can be, is an enigma for the faithful (cf. on xxiii. 6). The psalm ist thinks in the first instance of the house of Jehovah on Mount Zion. There he has learned what commu nion with God means, and he feels towards the temple like a child to wards its mother. But though, like another poet (lxxxiv. 5), he envies those who can always worship God in the one local sanctuary which the law permits, he reaches out towards a purely spiritual solution of faith's enigma. Those who are not mere formal worshippers, and whose sa crifices are symbols of heart-devo tion (see on v. 6), will find themselves in God's house at all times and in all places, and will enjoy a fuller and deeper security than that implied in the old phrase, ' Jehovah's so journer' (ger Yahve). Thus ex plained the words will seem to some to anticipate those lines of Brown ing— Why, where's the need of temple, when the walls O' the world are that? What use of swells and falls From Levites' choir, priests' cries, and trumpet calls ? But the three following lines do not represent the position of any psalm ist. Nor do even the three lines quoted fully represent our psalmist's mind. Caanan, which Hosea (viii. 1) calls 'the house of Jehovah,'1 is still the centre of his world, and the temple still holds a place of special honour (cf. on xxviii. 2), like the sacrament of the Eucharist to one who fully believes in extra-sacra mental spiritual influence. Hispoint of view is naturally a little different from that of a post- Christian writer who exclaims, ' O Israel, how great is the house of God, and how large the place of his possession' (Baruch iii. 24) ! To gaze upon the pleasantness of Jehovah. Sept. well, tov dewpelv pe ttjv TepirvoTjp-a Kvplov. We should have expected ' to gaze upon His glory (or His face) ;' but the conceptions of God's ' glory ' and of His ' face ' have be come spiritualised (xxvi. 8 b). ' To gaze upon,' therefore, means ' to experience.' God's ' pleasantness ' (so xc. 1 7) means His tender friend ship : ' softness ' is the root-mean ing ; the verb is used of a friend (2 Sam. i. 26), the adjective of a beloved one (Cant i. 16). So too, in Phcenician, the cognate is used of the divine favour (Yehawmelek's inscr., /. 8). To contemplate his temple (or, ' his palace '), like a stranger admitted to a sight of the king's ' great house ' (hekal). Spi ritually explained, this means 'to see traces of God's greatness and goodness wherever I may be.' 5 Treasures me, &c. So xxxi. 21. The righteous man 'lives 'at such times ' in virtue of his trust ' (Hab. ii. 4). To ' trust' is to hold fast by the ' Rock of ages ' (Isa. xxvi. 4). ' Treasures ; ' for this sense, see on lxxxiii. 4. In his bower, i.e. in the shelter which he has screened off, as by thick plants, from plotting enemies (symbolised in Isa. iv. 6 by heat, storm, and rain). So lxxvi. 3 (7|b), Lam. ii. 6 (ift), Ps. xxxi. 21, Isa. iv. 6 (nsp). 6 The psalmist does not under value sacrifices ; these, however, are made real by the spiritual qua lities of faith and love. Sacrifices of resounding mirth, i.e. such as are accompanied by songs of thanks giving (cf. cvii. 22 a). T'ril'ah, pro- 1 The expression is peculiar. If it stood alone it might mean the people of Yahve, hut see Hos. ix. 15, compared with v. 3 ; also Jer. xii. 7. The nearest parallel is Ass. bit Khumri = 'house of Omri,' i.e. N. Israel, but Omri is not the name of a god. PSALM XXVII. 77 periy, a loud sound ; the context decides whether that of a trumpet (Num. x. io), a voice singing (xxxiii. 3), or a voice shouting (lxxxix. 16). We might also render ' sacrifices with a trumpet sound ' (De Witt, after Gesenius) ; this requires us to assume that Israel is the speaker (Num. x. 10 does not apply to the thank-offerings of individuals). 8 The verse is formed of two distichs, the first of which is imper fectly preserved.. Clearly some thing must be supplied, and a small transposition effected. To avoid this conclusion, Hitzig ingeniously but impossibly gives us, ' Seek him, O my face,' continuing as in A.V. 9, 10 Does not the psalmist clearly speak in the name of Israel — ' thy servant ' (see on xix. 12), the ' friendless and afflicted' (xxv. 16) ? He seems to compare himself to a sobbing child, deserted by its pa rents (note the monotonous rhyming cadence in v. 9 b). We might render v. 10, ' Should my father and my mother have forsaken me, Jehovah would take me up.' Comp. with Calvin Isa. xlix. 15 (scarcely Isa. lxiii. 16). II Thy way ... an even path. See on v. 9. The ' path ' is ' even ' in a physical, and not (as in cxliii. 10) in a spiritual sense. That the good man is directed by God's Spirit is 'doctrina perutilis,' but ' pnesenti loco quadrare non vide tur ' (Calvin). For the figure of ' even ground,' see on xxvi. 12. 12 False witnesses. The phrase suggests more than it ex presses. The foes of the righteous psalmist were absolutely devoid of good faith (as v. 12, xii. 3, and else where). Persecution is represented again as mainly carried on by false witness in xxxv. 1 1, cix. 2 ; but false witness stands for a class of hostile actions, just as ' bloodshed ' stands for great crimes in general (see on li. 16). — —Breathe out; rather, 'puff out' Injury, i.e. false wit ness, one of the principal forms of injustice (see on xxxv. 11). 13 I am confident, &c. The received text implies an aposiopesis — ' Unless I had been confident, &c. (I should utterly have fainted).' But the first word is marked as spurious by the points placed above it, and evidently it makes the rhythm too heavy (see erit note). The author of Ps. cxvi. (see vv. 9 b, 10 a) may possibly allude to the verse in its correct form. In the land of the living. See Isa. xxxviii. 1 1 (comp. 18, 19). 14 Perhaps this verse belongs to the chorus ; comp. xxxi. 25, xxxii. 11. PSALM XXVIII. 1 he peril hinted at in Ps. xxvi. (comp. v. 3 with xxvi. 9, 10) has become more imminent, and deliverance now becomes the central thought of pious worshippers. It is a life and death struggle between the depositaries of pro gressive religion and a selfish, malignant enemy ; hence the imprecations, which deserve to be treated as leniently as ' the words of the desperate ' in Job and Jeremiah. At v. 6 (see note) the tone changes. The supposed Jeremian authorship must be considered elsewhere. Unto thee, Jehovah, do I cry, my rock, be not deaf unto me, lest if thou hold thy peace towards me I become like those that have gone down into the pit. Hear the voice of my beseeching when I cry unto thee for help, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy chancel. 78 THE PSALMS 3 0 drag me not away with the ungodly and with those that work naughtiness, who speak peace to their neighbours, while evil is in their hearts. 4 Give them according to their deeds, and according to the evil of their practices ; give them after the work of their hands, render to them their deserts. 5 For they give no heed unto the deeds of Jehovah, nor unto the work of his hands — he shall throw them down, and not build them up. 6 Blessed be Jehovah ! for he has heard the voice of my beseeching. 7 Jehovah is my stronghold and my shield, my heart trusted in him, and I was helped ; therefore my heart dances for joy, and with my song will I thank him. 8 Jehovah is a stronghold for his people, and an asylum ; he is a full salvation for his anointed. 9 Save thy people, and bless thine inheritance ; shepherd them, and carry them for evermore. 2 Toward thy holy chancel. mistake. The Sept. translators Comp. Kordn, Sur. ii. 139, 'Turn either render vaos (as here), or tran- thou thy face towards the sacred scribe 8a/3ip or Safielp (so Theodo- Mosque.' The psalmist too has tion). his kibla ; comp. v. 8 (note), 1 Kings 6 It is difficult to decide whether viii. 29, Dan. vi. 10. R.V. marg. the portion which begins here ante- renders, ' toward the innermost dates the answer to prayer (cf. vi. place of thy sanctuary.' This is 9-1 1, xxvi. 12), or was added by the correct (it is the 'holy of holies' same psalmist later (so Ewald, Hit- which is meant ; see 1 Kings vi. 16), zig). I incline to the former view, but lengthy. Analogous renderings regarding the tense as the perfect to ' chancel ' are sanctioned by the of certitude. ' Such sudden turns,' authority of A.V. ; and ' chancel ' remarks Driver (H. Tenses, ed. 2, p. in (Christian) Ethiopic literature is 44), 'are no less effective and empha- actually rendered by the cognate of tic than the abrupt introduction of a Heb. d'bhir. See also Ixviii. 30 new and dissimilar key in a piece (note), where, as in 1 Kings vi., of music. ' temple ' (hekal) is used somewhat 8 For his people. Sense, as our ' nave.' The root-meaning rhythm, and parallelism require of d'bhir is ' to be behind,' the holiest thi s rendering, instead of ' for them ' place, in the temple of Jehovah as (Mass. text.) So Sept., Pesh. ; cf. in that of Bel-Merodach,1 being at xxix. 11. Rhythm too favours the extreme end. The rendering bringing ' and an asylum,' or (the 'oracle' (Aquila, Symm., Jerome) is other ma'oz) ' and a fortress,' into based on a pardonable etymological the first line. For the close coup- 1 Sayce, Hibbert Lectures, p. 64 ; cf. Tiele, Bemerkungen fiber E-sagila in Babel, &c. (Separatauszug), p. 184. PSALM XXVIII. 79 ling cf 'da and ma'oz comp. Jer. xvi. may compare Isa. Ix. 18, ' thy walls, 19 ; for yshii'dth as applied to Je- Salvation.' hovah, xiii. 6, &c. Those, however, 9 Shepherd them. Cf. on who prefer R.V.'s rendering, 'and lxxx. 2. he is a stronghold of salvation,' &c, PSALM XXIX. -A. NOBLE specimen of parallelism and a poetical gem of purest ray. The storm-piece in vv. 3-9 may be compared to one of the fairest works of Arabian poetry (see Imra-al-Kais, as rendered by Lyall, Translations, p. 103). Prologue and epilogue, too, are worthy of their position. With remarkable tact, the psalmist recognises the poetical value of the concep tion of the b'ne clim. Milton with equal tact follows him in those numerous passages in which the phrase ' gods ' or ' sons of God ' is applied to super natural beings, less than ' God Supreme ' and more than man. Comp. ' O Sons, like one of us Man is become ' (Paradise Lost, xi. 84). The reader of Goethe will not forget to compare the songs of the Archangels in Faust ; Job and Ps. xxix. have both contributed ideas and motives. The tone of the last two lines of the song of Michael reminds us especially of the peaceful close of the psalm. Ps. xxix. is specially important with re ference to Israel's view of nature (see on Ps. civ.) Comp. Ewald, His tory, ii. 128. 1 Ascribe unto Jehovah, O ye sons of the gods, ascribe unto Jehovah glory and strength. 2 Ascribe unto Jehovah the glory of his name, worship Jehovah in hallowed pomp. 3 The voice of Jehovah is upon the waters, the God of glory thunders, Jehovah is upon the great waters. 4 The voice of Jehovah is with power ! the voice of Jehovah is with majesty. 5 The voice of Jehovah breaks the cedars ; yea, Jehovah breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon ; 6 And Lebanon he makes to skip like a calf, and Sirion like a young wild ox. 7 The voice of Jehovah hews [the rocks], [hews them with] flames of fire ; 8 The voice of Jehovah shakes the wilderness, Jehovah shakes the wilderness of Kadesh. 9 The voice of Jehovah pierces the oaks, yea, strips the forests bare ; [fearful is he from his high places,] whilst in his palace all are saying, Glory, 10 At the storm Jehovah sat enthroned, Jehovah is enthroned as King for ever 8o THE PSALMS 1 1 Jehovah will give strength unto his people, Jehovah will bless his people with peace. I Sons of the gods. Heb. b'ne 'elim, which means either ' sons of El (or, God) '—a double plural form ben 'el (so Gesenius, Gram. § 103, 8 ; Ewald, Gram. § 270 c), or ' sons of (the) Elim (or, gods).' Elim = Elohim; cf. Ex. xv. 11, Dan. xi. 36. ' Sons of El ' would emphasise the derived and dependent existence of the beings referred to ; ' sons of (the) Elim,' their membership in the class ' of superhuman, heavenly powers, and consequently their possession of a common nature with the head of this class, Jehovah. The latter explanation seems the more natural one, and brings our passage into closer relation to the narrative in Job, where, precisely as here, a special assembly of the court of heaven is described. (' The sons of God ' in Job i. 6, ii. 1 , A. V., should rather be ' sons of the Elohim ; ' cf. Gen. vi. 2, where the article is again expressed. Davidson.) B'ne 'elim occurs once again (lxxxix. 7) in a striking context relative to the celestial ' ecclesia ' (Sept.) Are we to identify these ' sons of the gods ' (we can hardly say, ' of the Elim ; ' see on lxxxii. I, 7) with the 'sera phim' (see Isa. vi. 1, and comp. y. 9 with Isa. vi. 3), or with the dis tinctly spiritual beings called an gels ?- Probably with the latter (as Targ.) The heavenly 'seraphim' are mentioned but once, and in Job (v. 1 ; cf. iv. 18) we find the same term ' holy ones ' used of the ' angels ' which in lxxxix. 6-8 is applied to the ' sons of the gods.' ' Sons of the gods ' is in fact a fragment of that naive, popular phraseology which had affinities with the common Semitic religion. The mythic sys tems of ' heathen ' nations knew of no messengers, who were not them selves gods. The broad distinction between God and the angels (comp. Rev. xix. 10) arose later. Twice at least in the Psalter (lviii. 2, lxxxii. 1, 6 ; see also on xcvii. 7) the 'angels' are even called Elim or Elohim, which reminds us of Gen. i. 27, xxviii. 17, xxxii. 2, where the title is given to the angels exclusively, not to mention Gen. xx. 13, &c. May we illustrate this by the variable and elastic application of ' god' even in Christian Greek ? 3 2 In hallowed pomp, i.e. in festival attire. The celestial wor shippers must not be behind those of earth (xcvi. 9). Sept has, ' in his holy court ' (rather, courts), as again in xcv. 9. A various reading (Del.) ; comp., however, Jennings and Lowe on xcvi. 9. 3 The voice of Jehovah refers no doubt primarily to the pealing thunder (see Isa. xxx. 30, Ex. ix. 28, A. V., marg., and comp. Koran, xiii. 14), but also, as the context shows, to the other awful sounds which accompany the storm. Ewald's ' Hark ! Jehovah,' &c, is therefore unsuitable. This ' voice ' is said to be upon the waters, i.e. possibly the Mediterranean Sea (Schroder), more probably the ' cloud-masses, dark with water' (xviii. 12 ; cf. Jer. x. 13); but if the phrase means the same thing in line 1 as in line 3, almost certainly the ' waters that are above the heavens ' (cxlviii. 4 ; cf. on civ. 3). Jehovah is upon, Ewald, ' (even) Jehovah upon,' ' Jehovah ' being in apposition to ' the God of glory.' But Jehovah himself and not merely his ' voice ' is ' upon the great waters ' (civ. 3). 5-8 The storm discharges itself in its full fury,passingfrom Lebanon in the north to Kadesh in the south. The cedars of lebanon, a grander image than even the traveller can 1 Cf. the phrase ' sons of the prophets,' and Robertson Smith's The Propliets of Israel, pp. 85, 388. See also erit. note. ' The ' angels ' or ' messengers ' of civ. 4, which forms a link between the ordinary idea of the ' angels ' and those Titanic forms the cherubim and seraphim. 3 Harnack, Dogmengeschichte, p. 8i, n. 2. PSALM XXIX. !l now realise, except from the descrip tion of Ezekiel (Ezek. xxxi. 3-9). On v. 6, see erit. note. 7 The text has simply, ' The voice of Jehovah cleaves (or, hews) flames of fire,' i.e. sends forked lightning, or, less plausibly, ' hews them out' from the storm-clouds. But this gives no parallelism and is a strange expression. The cleaving of rocks is a regular feature of theophanies. 9 Pierces the oaks. ' The common translations suppose this passage to relate to the hinds bringing forth young, which agrees very little with the rest of the ima gery either in nature or dignity : ' nor do I feel myself persuaded even by the reasonings of the learned Bochart on this subject, Hierozoicon, part i. bk. 3, ch.17".- Whereas the oak struck by lightning admirably agrees with the context' Bishop Lowth, Leet 27. See erit note. [Fearful is he, &c] Some thing has evidently dropped out, or the distich will be imperfect. The parallel line suggests the contrast of God's awful working upon earth, and the jubilation of the heavenly ones at this glorious revelation of Divine power. (The ideas of fear- fulness and glory combined, as in Deut xxviii. 58.) Comp. the transi tion at the opening of Faust — Doch ihr, die achten GSttersohne, Erfreuteuch derlebendigreichen Schone. For it is surely the temple of heaven which is meant (xi. 4, xviii. 7, Isa. vi. 1), not of heaven and earth to gether (as Cook). The participle are saying expresses that the cry of praise is heard while the storm rages. Glory reminds us of Isa. vi. 3. Those who cry are the ' sons of the gods ' (v. 1); the singular is used (' all of it '), to show that all cry in unison. ' Cry,' for we have not yet come to the ' harpers harp ing with their harps ' (Rev. xiv. 3). 10 The psalmist's healthy reli gious nature reacts against the de pressing physical effect of these awful sights and sounds. In justifi cation of storm see erit note. The common rendering is 'flood,' i.e. either Noah's flood or the inunda tion produced by a violent rain, such as that which Imra-al-Kais de scribes in its effects in the poem referred to above — ' ces ondees violentes, qui suivent les grands coups de tonnerre, et qui arrivent de preference a la fin des orages ' (Volney). But one can scarcely suppose an abrupt reference either to the Deluge or to a phenomenon which the description of the storm has ignored. What we expect in the epilogue is a final word con taining the poet's reflexions as he looks back on this fearful but glori ous manifestation of Israel's God. 1 1 Comp. xxviii. 8, 9. "With peace (or welfare). Perhaps im plying that storms are but good angels in disguise. Or this last verse may be a liturgical addition. PSALM XXX. L.LOSELY parallel to Ps. vi. ; comp. v. 3 b with vi. 3 b, v. 6 with vi. 2 a, v. 10 with vi. 6. Compare also Ps. xxviii. Here again we must ask, Is it the resurrection of Israel (see on v. 2), or the deliverance of any righteous man whose sorrows are not merely personal but national ? Or may both references be combined ? 2 I will extol thee, Jehovah, for thou hast drawn me up, and not made mine enemies to rejoice over me. 3 Jehovah my God ! I cried unto thee for help, and thou didst heal me. 1 It is inanimate nature which is elsewhere referred to by the poet. 2 For the premature ' calving ' of the hinds, Ewald refers to line 76 of the Arabic poem already mentioned (in introd.) ; cf. Mr. Lyall's translation, part 3. 82 THE PSALMS 4 Jehovah ! from Hades thou broughtest up my soul, from those sunk in the pit thou recalledst me to life. 5 Sing unto Jehovah, O ye his loving ones, and give thanks to his holy memorial. 6 For a moment passes in his anger, a life in his favour ; weeping may come to lodge at eventide, but (hark !) a glad cry in the morning. 7 But I — I said in my security, I shall never be moved. 8 Jehovah, in thy favour thou hadst set me on strong mountains : thou didst hide thy face, and I was confounded. 9 Unto thee, Jehovah, did I cry, and unto the Lord made I supplication. io 'What profit is there in my blood, in my going down to the pit ? can the dust give thee thanks ? can it declare thy truthfulness ? 1 1 Hear, Jehovah, and have pity upon me : Jehovah, be a helper unto me.' 12 Thou didst turn for me my mourning into dancing, thou didst loose my sackcloth, and gird me with joy, 13 To the end that my glory might make melody unto thee without ceasing : Jehovah my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever. 2 Drawn me up, viz. from 5 His loving ones = those who Sheol (v. 4; cf. lxxxviii. 5, Jon. ii. 3) ; are in covenant with God (1. 5). or from a ' sea of troubles ' (cf. xviii. Khesed, like the Christian dyaTrt/, is i7,lxix. 2, 3). The former view gives born of duty and not of impulse greater force. Ephraim ' died,' says (see on xii. 1). His holy memo- Hosea (xiii. 1), when he 'became rial. So xcvii. 12. Jehovah is guilty through the Baal,' and the holy, i.e. separate and different from same prophet speaks of the future all that is earthly, and in the sphere resurrection of Israel and Judah of morals inconceivably just and (Hos.vi.2). The idea was taken up by kind (Isa. Iv. 9). Holy too must later prophets and psalmists (Ezek. be His memorial (z/>ker),x i.e. His xxxvii. 1-10, Isa. xxvi. 19, and notes name (Ex. iii. 15), that by which on vi. 6, lxxxviii. 4-10). He reveals Himself and would be 3 Tiiou healedst me. A phrase rememb .'red. From v. 6 it appears usedof Israel (Ex. xv. 26, Isa. vi.'io, that in the writer's present mood xxx. 26, lvii. 18, 19, Hos. vii. 1, the leading feature in God's self- xi. 3, and elsewhere). revelation is forgiving love (xxxiii. 1 The Assyrian cognate sikru = name; cf. Haupt in Hebraica, vol. iii (188O p. 23°- ' PSALM XXX. 33 21 is slightly different). We may compare Hos. xi. 9, where ' the Holy One ' is almost a synonym for ' the Forgiving One,' just as in Ex. xxxiv. 6, 7, 'Jehovah' is para phrased as ' compassionate and pitiful.' 6 A ' moment ' is opposed to ' a life,' as the shades of ' evening ' to the brightness of morning.' Grief is but a moment in a lifetime of God's favour. Comp. Isa. xxvi. 20, liv. 8, Ps. xlvi. 6, xlix. 15, xc. 14, cxliii. 8. 7-12 The speaker had to learn this truth (v. 6) by experience. He had never thought that he might lose God's favour. • Hence suddenly trouble came ; he fancied that God' had forsaken him. Then he tried the effect of prayer, and soon a ' glad cry ' followed. 8 On strong mountains. (See erit note.) A figure of security. Hitherto the psalmist had been walking ' in slippery places.' Comp. xxvii. 5, Isa. xxxiii. 16 (note here the same use of the plural of cate gory), and this fine passage of the Mu'allaqa of al-Harith— As though the Fates, beating against us, met A black mountain, cleaving the topmost clouds. (Lyall, Translations, p. 22.) 9-1 1 Note the repetition of the name Jehovah. Trouble gave the speaker an intuition of its meaning In my blood. As if Jehovah were the slayer. Cf. xxii. 15, Job xiii. 15, xvi. 18. The dust, i.e. ' the grave ' (xxii. 30), not ' my dead body ' (as Gesenius after Theodoret and Kimchi) ; see vi. 6. 13 My glory. The text has simply ' glory,' which Kimchi ex plains of the immortal soul in anti thesis to the dead body (see last note), while Ewald, Hitzig, and Olshausen give it the sense of ' praise.' Even great scholars neg lect the Septuagint. PSALM XXXI. J\ BEAUTIFUL psalm in which all the keys of the soul's music are touched ; see Savonarola's touching application of it to his own case in his unfinished Meditatio. The speaker may be either a prophet or the pious kernel of Israel regarded as having a prophetic calling (cf. on v. 17); but the parallelism between vv. 10-13 and some at least of the so-called typically Messianic psalms (see Isaiah, ii. 200) suggests that the latter is the truer view. The elegiac tone and the variableness of mood suggest a comparison with Jeremiah ; and, true enough, we find verbal points of contact both with Jeremiah and with Lamentations. Comp. v. 1 1 with Jer. xx. 18 ; v. 13 b with Jer. xxii. 28 ; v. 14 (especially) with Jer. xx. 10 ; v. 18 with Jer. xvii. 18 ; v. 23 with Lam. iii. 54. The phrase ' a dread (is) on every side' occurs six times in Jeremiah (see also below, on v. 17). In thee, Jehovah, have I sought refuge, let me never be put to shame : in thy righteousness rescue thou me. Incline thine ear unto me, deliver me speedily, be unto me an asylum-rock, a fortified house, that thou mayest save me. For thou art my high crag, and my fortress, and for thy name's sake thou wilt guide and gently lead me. Bring me out of the net that they have hidden for me, for thou art my stronghold. 84 THE PSALMS 6 Into thy hand I commend my breath ; thou settest me free, Jehovah, thou God of truth. 7 Thou hatest those that give heed to lying vanities, but as for me, in Jehovah do I trust. 8 Let me exult and be joyful in thy lovingkindness, who sawest mine affliction, and tookest notice of the troubles of my soul, g And didst not enthrall me under the hand of the enemy, but didst plant my feet in a broad place. 10 Have pity upon me, Jehovah, for I am in trouble ; mine eye is fallen in for sorrow, my soul and my body [are confounded]. 1 1 For my life is consumed with heaviness, and my years with sighing ; my strength breaks down because of my guilt, and my bones are fallen away. 1 2 I am the butt of insult to all my foes, and to my neighbours a shaking of the head, and a terror unto all my familiar friends ; they that see me without flee away from me. 13 I am cut off, like a dead man, from remembrance, I am become like a vessel left to perish. 14 For I hear the backbiting of many, cause for terror is on all sides ; now that they conspire together against me their devising is how to take away my life. 15 And I — on thee, Jehovah, have I trusted ; I have said, Thou art my God. 16 My times are in thy hand ; rid me out of the hand of mine enemies and from my pursuers 1 7 Make thy face to shine upon thy servant ; save me for thy lovingkindness. 18 Let me not be shamed, O Jehovah, for I have called upon thee ; let the ungodly be shamed, and put to silence in Shedl. 19 Let the lying lips become mute, which speak arrogantly against the righteous in haughtiness and scorn. 20 How plenteous is thy goodness, Jehovah, which thou hast treasured up for those that fear thee, which thou dost practise unto them that take refuge in thee before the sons of men ! PSALM XXXI. 85 2 1 Thou coverest them in the covert of thy face from slanderers among men : thou treasurest them in a bower against the accusing of tongues. 22 Blessed be Jehovah ! for he hath made passing great his lovingkindness unto me in a fenced city. 23 And I — I had said in mine alarm, I am cut away from before thine eyes : but surely thou heardest the voice of my beseeching when I cried for help unto thee. 24 O love Jehovah, all ye his devout ones : Jehovah keeps faithfulness, and abundantly recompenses him that deals haughtily. 2 5 Be courageous and let your heart gather strength, all ye that wait for Jehovah. 2-4 These verses are copied, with some variations, in lxxi. 1-3. Strange enough, as they are full of the conventional phraseology of the psalms of supplication. 6 Theodoret sees here a reference to past deliverances as the ground of present confidence (and so in vv. 8, 9). But the perfect of con fidence is here more natural and forcible than that of history. Into thy hand, i.e. into thy provi dential care. A more tender ex pression than 'thy hands' (Sept., Luke). My breath. Heb. rukhi. Comp. Job x. 12, ' and thy care (or, providence) hath preserved my breath.' ' My spirit ' facilitates a confusion with ' my soul ' (as in Theodoret) ; the poet means ' the breath (ruakh) of life ' (Gen. vi. 17 ; cf. Lam. iv. 20, Gen. ii. 7). C-od of truth. Almost equivalent to ' God of faithfulness ' (Deut. xxxii. 4). God's 'faithfulness' is the revelation of His essential ' truth.' 7 Imitated in Jon. ii. 9. lying vanities, the opposite of ' God of truth.' Hitzig, ' der wesenlos [un real] nichtigen.' But the qualifying word may mean 'useless/ and so ' disappointing.' 10-13 See introd. Have pity, &c. Faith grounded on past ex periences revived the psalmist's courage for a moment. But his sensitive nature cannot long resist the trials without and within to which it is subjected. 1 1 My guilt (or, mine iniquity). ' My punishment ' is also possible ; cf. xl. 13, Ezek. iv. 5, Gen. iv. 13 (?), xix. 15. This combination of senses of 'avon reminds of the twofold sense of Assyr. annu ( = Heb. aven) — 1, sin, guilt (Deluge-story, iv. 15, v.l.) ; 2, penalty (Annals of Assur- banipal, viii. 10). 12a Lit, ' I am (the subject of) insult (proceeding) from all myfoes.' I2i A shaking of the head (as xliv. 15). The text has ' exceed ingly,' though Delitzsch and De Witt (after Michaelis and Dathe) assume a right to render ' a burden.' Comp. the descriptions in xxxviii. 12, lv. 14, lxxxviii. 9, 19, Job xix. 13, Isa. liii. 3 b. 14 Lines 1 and 2 come from Jer. xx. 21, and being at once un rhythmical and but ill adapted to the context, are possibly a later in sertion and substituted for some thing else. It is of course hopeless to restore the original words, which were probably already illegible in the time of the editor. See on lxxix. 5. The backbiting of many (comp. v. 21). Or, perhaps, ' a stealthily spreading evil report.' In Jer. xx. 10, some understand the word here rendered ' backbiting ' of the hostile talk,others of the injurious reflections upon character, of which 86 THE PSALMS the prophet was the subject. In the former case, the ' hostile talk ' is explained by the ' Let us inform against him' which follows. But usage is in favour of the latter view. Etymologically dibba seems to mean that which ' creeps ' from mouth to mouth (comp'. Prov. xxv. io), though Hitzig explains the 'creeping' or rather ' soft treading ' as an ana logical metaphor for ' whispering.' The limitation to ' evil report ' comes from Old Testament usage ; yet from Gen. xxxvii. 2, where ra'ah is added epexegetically to dibba- thdm, we see that the original meaning of dibbdh (like that of Syriac teb& ; see Matt. iv. 24, ix. 26 Pesh.) is simply ' report.' Cause for fear, &c. Heb. magor missd- bib. A favourite expression of Jere miah, reflecting his timid and re tiring character. 16 My times, i.e. the crises, the ' changes and chances ' of my life. Browningglorifies this passage by intertwining with it the idea of development (Rabbi Ben Ezra, st 1). The psalmist merely thinks of life as a series of hairbreadth escapes. 1 7 Thy servant. This modest though glorious title is never applied to himself by Jeremiah, but only to Israel (Jer. xxx. 10, xlvi. 27, 28 ; comp. Ezek. xxxvii. 25). May not this be at least a faint sign of date ? The psalmist is hardly influenced by the great prophecy in II. Isaiah. Comp. on xix. 12. 21 The covert of thy face. A lovely variation upon the phrase in xxvii.. 5. The shining of God's face (like brooding wings, Ixi. 5) shelters believers from the storms of human passion. From slan derers among men. An exact parallel, at least in idea, to 'against the accusing of tongues ' (comp. v. 14 a), gained, it is true, at the ex pense of an emendation. But He brew text must surely be wrong, though R.V., giving it a gentle twist, renders, not quite as unsuit ably as most, ' from the plottings of man.' [So too Dathe, and Gesenius as an alternative.] A.V.'s render ing, however, 'from the pride of men ' (derived from Kimchi) is also a plausible guess ; see Isa. xl. 4, Heb., where ' the ridges ' — seem ingly a cognate word — might be a figurative expression for pride ; cf. Hab. ii. 4 (Heb.), Ps. cxxxi. 2 (Heb.) But a figurative phrase like this is improbable here. See erit. note. From the accusing of tongues. Sept. excellently, d-rrb dvrikoylas ykwo-o-wv ; ' strife ' of A.V. and R.V. is too vague. 22 In a fenced city (see erit. note); i.e. (if the words are to be taken literally) either by protect ing me in it when besieged, or by bringing me safely into it (comp. Iv. 19, line 1). We may also render ' like (in the manner of) a fenced city' (comp. Isa. xxxiii. 21, or Jer. i. 18). In any case, the expression 1 hath made passing great,' &c, favours a reference to some excep tional event in the speaker's history (see on iv. 4) ; similarly the next verse. 23 Borrowed by the author of Jon. ii. 5. Comp. xxx. 7 a.- In mine alarm. Or, ' in my trepida tion, scare, anxiety.' ' In my haste ' (A.V. ; Kay) substitutes a weak secondary for the strong primary meaning. Better Keble, ' in my wild hurrying heart.' 25 A verse forthe chorus ; comp. xxxii. 11. A seldom noticed quo tation occurs in 1 Cor. xvi. 13 (see Sept.) PSALM XXXII. 1 he prologue (vv. 1, 2 ; comp. v. n) strikes the keynote of the poem— the happiness of the truly righteous, that is, of the forgiven man. The strain then becomes first lyric and afterwards didactic. The lyric portion, which describes a fact of personal experience, is naturally the finer. As PSALM XXXII. 87 in the two partly parallel psalms (vi., xxxviii.), the speaker is a pious Israelite who represents his people (Israel as it should be, and to a reasonable extent actually is) : in short, we have here, principally though not exclusively, a national psalm. The way to obtain forgiveness is to confess the sin which has displeased God ; this is certainly the second of the leading ideas of the psalm. It is, however, not merely an idea, but a fact. One great ' time of distress ' — of distress occasioned by national sin — is over ; God has visibly forgiven His penitent people (comp. lxxxv. 2, 3), and every ' devout man ' feels the more assured in view of the possible recurrence of great national dangers (v. 6). It was not all at once that the singer and his brethren connected the ideas of sin and punishment, or rather of definite sins with definite punishment. At first they were like Job in the early period of his sufferings ; they denied that God could have aught against them. Afterwards they came to recognise the existence of sins which no human eye could detect (xix. 1 3), and then what had been felt an unmerited punishment became a humbly accepted chastening. This is the second of the three Beatitude-psalms in Book I. 1 Happy he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 2 Happy the man to whom Jehovah reckons not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. 3 When I kept silence, my bones wasted away through my roaring all the day long : 4 For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me, my sap was turned as in the droughts of summer. 5 My sin I made known unto thee, and mine iniquity I covered not ; I said, I will confess my transgressions unto Jehovah, and thou — thou tookest away the guilt of my sin. 6 For this let all men of love pray unto thee in time of distress, when the flood of the great waters is heard ; unto such an one they shall not reach. 7 Thou art a covert for me ; thou wilt guard me from trouble : * * wilt thou surround me. 8 I will instruct thee, and teach thee in the way thou art to go ; I will counsel thee, keeping mine eye upon thee. 9 Be ye not like unto horse or mule, without understanding, who must be curbed with bit and bridle, till he can be brought unto thee. 10 Many pains hath the ungodly, but he that trusts in Jehovah — with lovingkindness will he surround him. 1 1 Be joyful in Jehovah, and exult, ye righteous ; and ring out your gladness, all ye upright in heart. 88 THE PSALMS 1,2 Observe the three terms for sin (compare v. 5 and li. 3-7, Ex. xxxiv. 7), which describe it (1) as a breaking loose from God, (2) as a missing of the right aim, (3) as per version or distortion. To each of these a special term for forgiveness corresponds, (1) the taking away (of sin), ndsd, like alpeiv, having a double sense, (2) its covering, or, less pro bably (on kipper, see Isaiah, vol. ii. index), its obliteration, (3) its non- imputation in the great account. The last of these three terms for forgiveness struck home to St Paul (see Rom. iv. 6-9), who quotes vv. 1 , 2 a to show that human right eousness in the sight of God is not legal but imputed. He might also have quoted xix. 13, where it is clear that the ' absolution ' or ' ac quittal ' is based upon the non-im putation of ' unknown ' faults. In one sense, the sins cannot but exist ; in another sense, they are non-existent, because God does not call them to mind (evidently a popular mode of conceiving of for giveness ; see 2 Sam. xix. 19, 20). ¦ No guile ; that is, according to most, no attempt to make oneself out to be better than one is. This is, perhaps, a little too special. Sincerity is with the psalmists a criterion of goodness ; a ' guileless spirit' is equivalent to an upright character. If the set of the will is towards God and his moral law, a man is ' guileless ; ' if away from God, he is ' treacherous ' or ' faith less.' It took the psalmist some time to find out that he was really ' treacherous.' His sin was not a mean one, like David's in 2 Sam. xi. 3 The psalmist kept silence, but only so far as concerns confes sion of sin. To expunge ' my roar ing ' (cf. xxii. 2) with Ley only sim plifies the passage by weakening it. 4 Turned ; cf. ' dried up like a potsherd' (xxii. 16). 6 In time of distress. The received text has, ' at a time of finding,' or ' of hitting the mark ' (comp. Prov. viii. 35, 36, where ' wisdom ' is represented as an aim which may be 'found' or 'missed'), so that Sept's, iv evdtTio Katpa (simi larly Pesh. renders) would seem a good paraphrase. The mark is surely God himself — no mere gift of God ; l whatever we think of Lagarde's derivation of El, God to the psalmists is their mark and their prize. To me, however, the implied possibility of missing the goal of life seems out of place in this connexion. If it were ' let all ungodly men,' or ' let all that are backsliders,' &c., it might pass, but for a khdsid, i.e. one who responds to God's covenant-love, can there be a time which is not a 'finding time'? This consideration, joined to the strangeness of the form of expression in the Hebrew, leads me to accept Lagarde's very natural correction. See erit. note. When ... is heard. The cor rection involved hangs together with the preceding one ; the re ceived reading is best rendered, ' surely, when great waters over flow,' &c. The ' overflow ' of the ' great waters ' may be simply a figure for any sore trouble, but the analogy of Isa. viii. 7, 8, xxviii. 15, Jer. xlvii. 2 (cf. Dan. ix. 26) suggests that the danger to Israel's national existence from her foreign foes (Assyria and Chaldaea) is meant, as perhaps also in exxiv. 4, 5. The exemption promised to the khdsid corresponds to that of the ' believer ' in Isa. xxviii. 17 (comp. the false boast in z>. 15). Those who like may transpose the (,) and (;) at the end of lines 1 and 2 of this verse. 7 b ' With shouts of deliver ance ' begins the line in the received text The Hebrew phrase, how ever, though plausibly defended by Delitzsch, is difficult, and so too is the meaning — to be ' surrounded ' by one's own ' shouts,' is an expres sion which has no parallel. Instead of ' shouts ' we should rather expect 1 De Wette and Hupfeld understand ' forgiveness ' or the like. The ancient Rabbis thought of • a wife,' ' the Tora,' or ' death.' See Wiinsche, Derbab. Talmud, i. 23. PSALM XXXII. 89 something from the heavenly world, such as God's ' lovingkindness ' (v. 10) or His 'favour' (v. 13). To answer this by referring to such phrases as ' girding with joy ' (see xxx. 12, Ixv. 13) does not hit the mark. But though the received reading is impossible, a poet like Keble, with gentle violence, can transmute though not translate it — Thou fill'st with songs of liberty The glad air as I go. 8 I will instruct thee, &c. A promise, first, of moral teaching, and next, of protection in the path of duty. It is disputed whether Jehovah (so Tholuck, Olshausen, Ewald, Hitzig ; cf. xvi. 7 a, xxv. 8, 1 2) or the psalmist (Calvin, Hupfeld, Delitzsch; cf. xxxiv. 12, li. 15) be the speaker. The figure of the ' horse or mule' in the next verse, and the reference in the present to a vigilant and powerful Eye (comp. Jer. xxiv. 6, and on xxxiii. 18), seem to favour the first view. Would a ' wise man,' like him who speaks here in the tone of Prov. i.— vii., have asserted such an absolute su premacy over his pupil as this verse describes ? Whichever view be adopted, the transition, it must be owned, is extremely harsh. One almost regrets the insertion of vv. 8-10. 1 will counsel thee, &c. A. V.'s rendering is appropriate (the soft guidance of the eye being con trasted with the harsh constraint of the rein), but too bold. See erit. note. 9 Horse or mule. Israel is likened to domestic animals in Hos. x. 11, xi. 4, Deut xxxii. 15, &c, and contrasted with them, somewhat in the manner of our psalmist, in Isa. i. 3. Who must be curbed, &c. A beautiful anti thesis. The horse or mule, at first so wild, is curbed with bit and bridle, and can then be led along, as quiet as a lamb (Isa. liii. 7), to its master. The received text is admittedly very difficult Hupfeld renders, ' whose trappings consist in bit and bridle for curbing it, (be cause) it comes not near unto thee : ' Delitzsch, ' with bit and bridle, its trappings, must it be curbed, else it comes not near unto thee.' But ' trappings ' puts force upon the He brew ; there is also a difficulty in the construction of the last clause, which Olshausen even gives up as unintelligible. One way out of the maze might yet be suggested ; ' ornament ' (so the Hebrew word, 'edyo, rendered ' trappings ' above, strictly means) might refer to the ' soul,' i.e. the feelings and longings of the animal or non-human ' soul ' being described by a term also ap plicable (see on ciii. 5) to the human, to throw contempt on the splendour of human pride (comp. xlix. 21). In this case we should render, 'Whose spirit (or, wildness) must be curbed,' &c. But the awkward word 'edyo is certainly not what the poet wrote. Bickell boldly omits it, on the plea of metrical necessity, but the Hebrew still remains diffi cult. In justification of my own reading, see erit. note. 10 Pains, viz. physical ones (as Ex. iii. 7, and partly Isa. liii. 3, 4). Here in the sense of 'plagues' (Sept pdoTiyes). 1 1 A verse for the chorus, like xxxi. 25. Note how the O.T. reli gion is throughout one of joy (of ' ringing joy ') ; even in Nehemiah (viii. 10) we read, 'The joy of Jeho vah is your bulwark.' The final ruin of the outward forms of Judaism alone destroyed this joyousness. PSALM XXXIII. J\ COLLECTION of twenty-two distichs ; the number dictated by that of the Hebrew letters. (So Pss. xxxviii., xxxix., cxlvi., Lam. v.) The distichs known are grouped in pairs, except at the beginning and the end, where we meet with triplets ; and there is a clearly marked division at v. 12. 90 THE PSALMS i Ring out, ye righteous, your gladness in Jehovah ; for the upright praise is seemly. 2 Give thanks unto Jehovah with the lyre ; with a ten-stringed harp make melody unto him. 3 Sing unto him a new song ; play cunningly with sonorous tone. 4 For the word of Jehovah is straight, and all his doing is in faithfulness. 5 He loves righteousness and justice : the earth is full of the lovingkindness of Jehovah. 6 By the word of Jehovah were the heavens made, and all their host by the breath of his mouth, 7 Who gathered the waters of the sea as in a bottle, who laid up the floods in store-chambers. 8 Let all the earth fear Jehovah ; of him let all the world's inhabitants be in awe. 9 For he spake, and it came into being ; he commanded, and there it stood. io Jehovah has brought the purpose of the nations to nought, he has made the designs of the peoples of none effect. 1 1 The purpose of Jehovah shall stand for ever, the designs of his heart unto all generations. 1 2 Happy the nation whose God is Jehovah, the people he has chosen for a heritage unto him. 13 Out of heaven looks down Jehovah, he beholds all the sons of men : 14 From the place of his habitation he gazes on all the inhabitants of the earth — 5 He who forms all their hearts together, who gives heed to all their works. 16 A king is not saved by a great army, a hero does not deliver himself by great power : 1 7 A horse is vain for saving help, neither causeth he any to escape by his great strength. 18 Behold, the eye of Jehovah is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope for his lovingkindness ; 19 To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine. 20 Our soul waits for Jehovah : he is our help and our shield. 21 For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name. 22 Let thy lovingkindness, Jehovah, brood over us, according as we have hoped for thee. PSALM XXXIII. 91 1 Comp. xcvii. 12, cxlvii. 1, and see on cxi. 1. 2 b So cxliv. 9. Comp. xcii. 4, where the ten-stringed ndbhel (Sept. generally raflAa or ^oArijpioi', but twice opyavov) seems distinguished from the less perfect instrument in common use, which perhaps had fewer strings (comp. the Greek tetrachord). Against Josephus, who states that the vd&\a had twelve <£6\>yyoi, see Gratz's Commentary, pp. 67-71, which gives the Jewish traditions. The best description of the nc'bhel and the kinncr, bring ing them into connexion with the Assyrian and Egyptian delineations, will however be found in Delitzsch's note on the subject, as rewritten in his 4th edit (now translated). See also Wilkinson (Manners and Cus toms of the Ancient Egyptians, ii. 296), who complains of the confused accounts of Israehtish music, and compare Rowbotham's Hist, of Music, i. 221. 3 A new song. So in five other places ; see especially xcvi. 1, xcviii. 1, evidently based on Isa. xiii. 10. The deliverance from Babylon seemed to dim the splen dour of all previous divine inter positions (Isa. xliii. 18). 5 b What a noble expansion of the range of the divine quality of covenant-lovingkindness (see on iv. 4)! Comp. cxix. 64, which is decisive against Hitzig's rendering ' the land ' (i.e. Judah). 6 Comp. v. 9, cxlviii. 5, Isa. xlviii. 13. By the word of Jeho vah, &c. Alluding probably to Gen. i. 6, &c. The creatorship of Jehovah is a favourite subject with II. Isaiah (e.g. Isa. xiii. 5, xiv. 12, 18, xlviii. 13), but without the con ception of the agency of the divine word. The 'word' of prophetic revelation meets us often in pre- Exile writings ; the creative ' word ' in this passage only, which is there fore (as also cxlviii. 5, which pre supposes this use of ' word ') pre sumably a reflexion of the IDX'1 Dt6k of Gen. i. Sirach took up the expression and extended its reference : 'by His word,' he says, ' all things consist ' (Ecclus. xliii. 26). Ewald,1 from whom I take this reference, adds one to Wisd. xviii. 15, 16, but this splendid per sonification of the judicial ' word ' of God has its antecedents in Isa. ix. 8 [7], Hos. vi. 5. The expres sion is anthropomorphic, and is based on the inseparable connex ion of language and thought ; it might mean simply God's plan (comp. ' he said in his heart ' = he thought), but the context and the usage of the original phrase in Gen. i. show that it rather describes symbolically the effectual working out of God's plans and purposes, a mystic power being attributed to sacred words in the primitive stage of thought. Need it be added that the psalm-passage is not to be used as a proof-text for ' creation out of nothing ' (2 Mace. vii. 28) ? Poetic feeling and not later theology must be the guide of the interpreter. Cf. H. Schultz, Alttestamentliche Theologie, ed. 2, p. 527. 7 As in a bottle (or, wine-skin, doKos ; see on cxix. 83). This is the rendering of the oldest authorities (see erit. note). Most, however, pronouncing differently, ' like a harvest-heap.' So the Massoretic critics, supposing a reference to the passage of the Red Sea (Ex. xv. 8) ; but the context and the parallel line support the rival view. With Ewald we may compare Job xxxviii. 8, 'Or who shut up the sea with doors ? ' That the sea means the ' waters above the heavens' (Hitzig) is less likely, in spite of Job ix. 8, ' and treadeth upon the high places of the sea ' (parallel to ' the hea vens '), and Job xxxviii. y], where ' the pitchers of heaven ' = the clouds. In store-chambers. So in Job xxxviii. 22, ' the store-cham bers of the snow,' and ' of the hail ; ' and in Jer. x. 13 of the wind (cf. exxxv. 7). 10 Has brought. Or, 'bring eth' (comp. vv. 13, 14); less pro- 1 Geschichte Christus , p. 98 ; comp. Die Lehre der Bibel von Gott, iii. u, 83-4, 92 THE PSALMS bably, as the 'new song' (v. 3) requires a justification. The purpose of the nations, i.e. the Chaldaeans, the Edomites, and all other enemies of the nationality of Israel ; or perhaps those referred to in lxxxiii. 4-9. The designs of his heart, as in Jer. xxix. 11, Isa. Iv. 8, 9, are God's plans of mercy for Israel, and through Israel for the world. 12 Comp. cxliv. 15 and (see also v. 20) Deut xxxiii. 29. 13 Comp. xi. 4, xiv. 2, cii. 20. 15 He who forms, &c. So Zech. xii. 1 ; comp. cxxxix. 13. Not merely the human body is the work of the Creator, but the mind and conscience, the intellectual, moral, and emotional nature of man, and not only of man, but of individual men (' together ' virtually — xara p.6vas, as Sept. and Symm. render). Individual life has now fully realised its existence ; the man has fully emerged from the family and the tribe. Were the psalmist a philosopher, we should say that he inclines to Creationism rather than to Traducianism, but he is far removed from scholastic theories (see Schultz, referred to on v. 6). 16, 17 Note the parallelism be tween lines 1 and 3, 2 and 4. is not saved ¦ ¦ . for saving help (as xcviii. 2). Comp., besides Deut. xxxiii. 29, Zech. ix. 9, 'he is just and saved,' i.e. victorious ; victory being a gift from on high (xxi. 6). These verses give a generalisation from facts of recent experience. Cf. cxlvii. 10 (xx. 8). 18, 19 The eye of Jehovah. A lovely symbol of ' providence.' Comp. xxxii. 8, Ezra v. 5. So pdqad ' to visit ' = care for (so often used of God ; comp. on viii. 5) is etymologically 'to open the eyes wide (upon).' Vpon them that hope, &c. Comp. cxlvii. 11 b. From death, i.e. probably from pestilence (Jer. xv. 2). War, fa mine, and pestilence, the three great outward dangers of ancient Israel (2 Sam. xxiv. 3). War has been mentioned in the last distich. 20 Waits. A different word from that in xxvii. 14, and only found again in cvi. 13. But the proper name read by the Masso retic critics Hakaliah (Neh. i. 1, x. 2) should probably be pronounced Hakke-le-yah (i.e. Wait for Jeho vah) ; comp. Eiyoenai (see on xxv. 15). Our help, &c. Comp. cxv. 9, 10, 11 (and on v. 12, above). 21 In his holy name. 'Holy' = divine (see on xxx. 5). The con text must decide which of the ele ments of God's ' holy ' nature is in the writer's mind. In xxx. 5 it is His forgivingness ; elsewhere (e.g. Isa. x. 20, xxxi. 1) it is His almighti- ness. Here it seems to be pri marily His power which excites trust (v. 20 b), but a power which is wielded by love (v. 22 a). PSALM XXXIV. An alphabetic psalm, the first ten verses of which (2-1 1) have the cha racter of a hymn, the last twelve (12-23) of a sermon. On the structure, see introd. to Ps. xxv., of which this psalm is the counterpart, as well in contents as in form (except in the relative order of the 3 and the J? verse). Columba, the apostle of the Picts, had transcribed the Psalter as far as v. 10 when the hand of death touched him. 2 I will bless Jehovah at all times : his praise shall be continually in my mouth. 3 My soul shall make her boast in Jehovah ; the afflicted shall hear, and rejoice. 4 Magnify Jehovah with me, and let us exalt his name together. PSALM XXXIV. 93 5 I enquired of Jehovah, and he answered me, and delivered me from all my terrors. 6 0 look unto him, and ye shall beam with joy, and your face cannot be abashed. 7 This afflicted one cried, and Jehovah heard, and saved him out of all his troubles. 8 The angel of Jehovah encamps round about them that fear him, and sets them at liberty. 9 Taste ye and see that Jehovah is good : happy the man that takes refuge in him, io Fear Jehovah, ye his holy ones ; For they that fear him want nothing. 1 1 Young lions pine and suffer hunger, but they that enquire after Jehovah cannot want anything good. 1 2 Come, (my) sons, hearken unto me, I will teach you the fear of Jehovah. 13 Who is the man that delights in life, that loves many days, to see good fortune ? 14 Guard thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. 1 5 Depart from evil, and do good ; seek peace, and pursue it. 1 7 The face of Jehovah is against them that do evil, to cut off their memorial from the earth. 16 The eyes of Jehovah are towards the righteous, and his ears are towards their cry. 18 They cry, and Jehovah hearkens, and delivers them out of all their troubles. 19 Jehovah is nigh unto the broken in heart, and saves them that are crushed in spirit. 20 Many are the misfortunes of the righteous, but Jehovah delivers him out of all : 2 1 He keeps all his bones, not one of them is broken. 22 Misfortune shall slay the ungodly, and the haters of the righteous shall be dealt with as guilty. 23 Jehovah sets free the soul of his servants and none shall be dealt with as guilty that take refuge in him. 5 From all my terrors. Comp. thy light do we see light' (xxxvi. xxxi. 14, ' Cause for terror is on all 10). sides.' 7 This afflicted one. Does 6 O look unto him, &c. Fol- the psalmist point to some particu- owing Sept and Pesh. The text lar poor man whose history was nas, ' They looked . . . and were . . . well known (cf. Eccles. ix. 14, 15), and their faces,' &c. Comp. ' By or (less probably) to himself (evTeXrj 94 THE PSALMS 6'i/ra pe Kal irpofiaTea, Theodoret) ? Does he not rather mean any and every member of the jubilant church ? 8 The angel of Jehovah. This may be the ' angel of Yahve,' who in parts of Genesis, Exodus, and Judges, which represent a naive and strongly anthropomorphic theology, is a personal revelation of Yahve (cf. on cxxxix. 7-10). It is safer, however, both here and in xxxv. 5, 6, to explain the phrase of any one of the angelic host whom God may send for the protection of a believer (or, believers). Comp. the use of Tangel di Dio' in Dante and the Fioretti. We might also render ' an angel of Jehovah,' but this would suggest that the angels were individuals. No doubt in the visions of the Book of Daniel the angels are individualised ; but our psalmist is still at the earlier stage of thought in angelology. (May we infer from ' my God hath sent his angel,' in Dan. vi. 22, that the stories in Daniel are of earlier origin than the visions ?) Encamps round about. Comp. Mark v. 9, ' What is thy name ? ' ' Legion ; for we are many.' It is the leader of an angelic host who is meant. 9 Taste ye. So Prov. xxxi. 18, ' She tastes (A.V. perceiveth) that her gain is good.' A popular idiom ; there is no reference to that higher food ' che non gustata non s'intende mai ' (Dante, Par. iii. 38). 10 His holy ones, viz. as mem bers of the holy people ' (Deut. vii. 6, Isa. lxii. 12, Dan. viii. 24, xii. 7, and elsewhere in Daniel), and there fore standing in the closest relation to Jehovah. Moral perfection is of course no part of the idea. Comp. on xvi. 3. 12 (My) sons. The affectionate style of the ' wise men ' towards their disciples ; comp. Prov. i. 8, ii. 1, &c. 17, 16 These verses are trans posed, i.e. the verse beginning with q should precede that with ]} (as in Lam. ii., iv., and in the alphabetic poem at the end of Prov. xxxi. ac cording to the Septuagint). The common arrangement produces an absurdity in v. 17. Such transpo sitions are (need it be said?) not unfrequently necessary in ancient texts (see on xii. 9, 8, Isa. viii. 22, 21), and we sometimes feel certain of them (see Nowack on Prov. iv. 16-19). The study of the Septuagint will confirm this statement. It may seem strange that the ZV-stanza should precede that beginning with Ayin, but remember that Pe = mouth, and Ayin = eye, so that the order of these was a matter of in difference. The same phenomenon occurs in Lam. ii.-iv. 17 To cut off their memorial, i.e. their name (xxx. 5) — a terrible threat to those who identified the continuance of existence with the perpetuation of the family. See Job xviii. 17. 19 The broken in heart . . . crushed in spirit,]. e. the despond ent ; comp. the same or similar phrases in li. 19 (where penitence is also implied), cix. 16, 22, Prov. xv. 13, Isa. lvii. 15 (note), lxvi. 2. PSALM XXXV. 1 he psalm falls into three parts, closing at v. 10, v. 18, and v. 28, but it is only the first two in which some logical development can be traced — the last repeats with some variation expressions in the earlier portion. It is a prayer for deliverance from base and cruel persecutors, who partly consist of Israelites, partly of foreigners (see on v. 15) ; cf. introd. to Ps. xxii. The psalmist himself may be a leading Israelite, who suffered more than others, and draws some of his details from personal experience, if it is not safer to regard the individualising features as poetical ornament. At any rate this is in some sense undoubtedly a national psalm, and we can on PSALM XXXV. 95 this ground more easily excuse its imprecations. Israel was the vessel to which was committed the precious treasure of the true religion. If at any point of history imprecation was justified, it was justified in times when the fate of pure religion seemed trembling in the balance. Note, however, with Bishop Alexander ' the ' gentle undertones, breathings of beneficent love,' which relieve the fierceness of the imprecatory passages. This is one of a group of psalms which have numerous points of con tact, both among themselves and with Jeremiah and Lamentations. Comp. with Hitzig v. 6 with Jer. xxiii. 12 ; v. 12 with Jer. xviii. 20 ; vv. 21 b, 25 with Lam. ii. 16; and the expressions rendered 'my fall' (v. 15) and 'them that implead me' (v. 1) with Jer. xx. 10, xviii. 19. Besides which cf. vv. 4, 26 with xl. 15 ; v. 17 with xxii. 21 ; vv. 17, 18 with xxii. 23, 26, xl. 10, 11 ; vv. 21, 27 with xl. 16, 17 ; v. 12 with xxxviii. 21 ; vv. 14, 15 with xxxviii. 7, 18 ; vv. 21, 27 with xl. 16, 17 ; v. 13 with lxix. II, 12 ; v. 2S with lxxi. 24. 1 Plead my cause, Jehovah, with them that implead me ; fight against them that fight against me. 2 Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up as my helper : 3 Draw spear and dirk to meet my pursuers ; say unto my soul, I am thy salvation. 4 Put to shame and dishonoured be they that seek my soul, turned backward and abashed be they that devise my hurt ; 5 Be they as chaff before the wind, and the angel of Jehovah pursuing them ; 6 Be their way dark and slippery, and the angel of Jehovah thrusting them : — 7 Since without cause have they hid for me their net, without cause have they dug a pit for my soul : — 8 Ruin beset him unawares, and his net which he hath hidden, let it catch himself ! 9 And my soul shall exult in Jehovah : full joyous shall it be at his salvation ; 10 All my bones shall say, Jehovah, who is like unto thee, who deliverest the afflicted from a stronger than he, yea, the afflicted and needy from him that spoils him ! 1 1 There arise unjust witnesses ; of things that I know not do they question me. 1 2 They reward me evil for good ; bereavement is come to my soul. 1 3 But I — when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth, I afflicted my soul with fasting, and my prayer — mayest thou recompense it into mine own bosom. 1 Bampton Lectures on the Psalms, p. 53. 96 THE PSALMS 14 I went about as though it had been my friend or my brother, I bowed down in mourning weeds, as one that lamented for his mother. 15 But at my fall they rejoice, and gather together : aliens whom I know not gather together against me, and cry out unceasingly ; 16 Among profane mockers they gnash upon me with their teeth. 1 7 Lord, how long wilt thou look on ? recover my soul from their roaring, my dear life from the young lions. 18 I will give thanks unto thee in the great congregation, I will praise thee among much people. 19 Let not them rejoice over me that are for a lie mine enemies, they that for no cause hate me — let them not wink with the eye. 20 For it is not peace that they speak ; but they frame deceitful plots against the quiet in the land ; 2 1 And they open their mouth wide upon me, they say, Aha, aha, our eye has seen it. 22 Thou seest it, Jehovah; keep not silence, Lord, be not far from me. 23 Rouse thee and awake for my just right, my God and my Lord, for my cause. 24 Right me, according to thy righteousness, Jehovah my God, and let them not rejoice over me. 25 Let them not say in their heart, Aha, our lust (is given us); let them not say, We have swallowed him up. 26 Put to shame and abashed together be they that rejoice at my misfortune : clothed with shame and dishonour be they that show me insolence. 27 Let them ring out a glad cry that have pleasure in my righteous cause : and continually, Jehovah be magnified, who delights in the welfare of his servant ; 28 And my tongue shall speak musingly of thy righteousness, all the day long of thy praise. 1 Plead my cause. A favourite mine help,' as A.V. and R. V. The legal figure explained by the poet shade of meaning is not too delicate in the next line. War was regarded even for an English reader. God's as an appeal to the divine justice, nature is to help ; ' stand up ' then and conversely divine judgments ' in their essential character.' This were a kind of ' fighting from is the first example of the so-called heaven.' Comp. Isa. xxxiv. 5. Beth essentia— the ' in ' which is 2 As my helper. Not 'for prefixed to an essential quality ; see PSALM XXXV. 97 xxxvii. 20, xxxix. 6, Ixviii. 5 (?), liv. 6, cxviii. 7, and consult Miiller, Hebrew Syntax, § 52 ; Ewald, Lehrbuch derhebr. Sprache, § 217 b, 299 b, Gram. Arab., § 583. 3 And dirk (so Horsley). The ordinary rendering is ' and stop (the way), which is doubtless intended by the vowel-points but which does not suit the following preposition, and is decidedly less natural than the rendering adopted. The view that s-g-r is a ' weapon of war ' is already mentioned by Kimchi, and in fact has the authority of Parchon, and among the moderns of Drusius, Grotius, Vitringa, Michaelis, Ewald, Bickell, and our own Kennicott, who remarks, ' "13D or "rlJD is the a-dyapis or scimitar ; pi-in influences the word as well as JVJn " the lance." ' I adopt this view, pointing 13D with Bickell. The o-dyapis was the usual weapon of the Scythians (Herod, i. 214), and Sayce compares it to the short dagger worn by the warriors on the ' Hittite ' sculptures. It was also used by the Persians and other races of the interior of Asia (Xeno- -phon, Anab. iv. 4 ; Cyrop. i. 2, 9, &c.) The objection of course is that the Jews are not known to have em ployed it. It is hardly sufficient to answer that the Hebrew literature is most incompletely preserved ; we have such frequent references to weapons that a &r. Aey. in the pre- Exile literature is improbable. It is not likely that the Jews picked up the word (and the object ?) during the Scythian incursions, for the strong probability is that the Scy thians spared the territory of Judah. I can only suppose either that this is an archaic word, used long ago in the times of the Hittite empire (?) in Palestine, and revived by a writer fond of archaisms, or that it was picked up in the early part of the cosmopolitan period of the Jews during or after the Exile. 5 b The angel of Jehovah. No common angel, but the leader of a host is meant (see on xxxiv. 8). Pursuing them. A bolder statement than in 5 a (cf. Isa. xvii. 13) ; but from the winds to the angels there is but a step (civ. 4). The Koran (lxxix. 1) has the same conception in a more advanced stage- — ' By those (angels) who tear out (souls) violently.' The Mas. text makes ' pursuing ' and ' thrust ing ' (see next verse) change places to the detriment of the imagery. The correction is suggested by the parallel passage, Jer. xxxiii. 12. Comp. also the displacement in v. 7 (erit note). 6 Dark and slippery. Imitating Jer., I.e. 8 Here the foes are regarded collectively. Comp. line I with Isa. xlvii. 1 1, and line 2 with vii. 16, ix. 16. The text gives a very feeble third line — ' with ruin let him fall into it ' — probably a marginal gloss explaining in what the ' ruin ' spoken of in line 1 consisted. Segond's rendering, ' qu'ils y tombent et perissent,' is arbitrary. I need not chronicle the various desperate re sources of ancient and modern in terpreters. 10 All my bones, &c, i.e. my entire being, body and soul. Comp. li. 10, and see on vi. 3. Who is like unto thee.? viz. among the gods or supernatural beings (see on Ixxxvi. 8, and cf. lxxi. 19, lxxxix. 9, also Ex. xv. 11, and the proper names Micaiah, Michael). The question expresses a believer's strong conviction that his God, if not the only supernatural Power, is yet supreme, and beyond compari son great 1 1 Unjust witnesses (pdprvpes &8lkoi, Sept.), equivalent to the 'false witnesses' of xxvii. 12 (see note). The same phrase occurs in Ex. xxiii. 1, Deut xix. 16. Perse cution is compared to bringing a false accusation against the right eous, in accordance with the figure in v. 1. 13 Cf. lxix. 11,12. My clothing was sackcloth, the ' sackcloth of my prayer,' in Baruch's fuller phra seology (Bar. iv. 20). 1 afflicted my soul (i.e. as a means of atone ment). This characteristic ritual phrase seems already on the road to supplanting the simpler expres- H 98 THE PSALMS sion ' to fast.' I say ' on the road,' for the poet at once explains it by the words ' with fasting.' Comp. my note on Isa. lviii. 3. And my prayer, &c. ' My prayer was so full of unselfish brotherly love that it deserved a recompense, or at least a recognition. That which man denies, do thou, O God, vouch safe to grant ! ' This involves an easy correction. ' Into my bosom ' (i.e. into the folds of the garment used as a pocket) reminds us of lxxix. 12, Jer. xxxii. 18, Isa. Ixv. 6, 7. The verse most probably consists of two distichs ; it is the taking it for a tristich of parallel lines which has wrought confusion in the exe gesis, and led even Delitzsch to think that ' my prayer returned into my bosom ' (so he renders the re ceived text) can possibly mean ' I prayed with my head bent on my breast.' If, however, we cling to the text, it seems best to render (comparing the dVoo-rpai^a-erat of Sept.), 'and my prayer — let it re turn into mine own bosom,' i.e. let it be recompensed by the great Judge. Less probably Riehm, 'and my prayer returned (empty) into my own bosom (possession),' comparing Matt. x. 13, Luke x. 6. 14 In mourning. Lit., ' in black.' Black was the mourning colour with Jews and Arabs, being significant of the infernal regions (Ewald, Antiquities, p. 60, n. 5). (it is noted as an exception when certain Caliphs chose white as the mourning hue.) 15 At my fall. Literally, ' at my bending to one side;' as xxxviii. 18, Job xviii. 12 (cf. xii. 5), Jer. xx. 10. Aliens. The text has the strange form nekim, which might mean 'afflicted ones.' In 2 Sam. v. 6, the taunting Jebusites represent the blind and the lame as a match for David ; and Jeremiah might, with some want of simplicity, speak of 'afflicted ones' as thinking them selves strong enough to overthrow him. But, unless the text be infal lible, Olshausen's correction is ob vious (cf. xviii. 45, 46). 1 6 Profane mockers. ' Pro fane,' because, in mocking at a be liever, they do despite to Jehovah. There is one untranslatable word in the received text which is ob viously corrupt. Perowne renders, ' With them that are profane in their outlandish mouthings ' (repre senting strange Hebrew by unusual English). De Witt, ' They were like vile babblers for a dainty morsel ' (parasites). But 'profane' should certainly not have been weakened into ' vile.' The reason, of course, was that 'profane para sites ' is an impossible phrase. 17, 18 See on xxii. 21, 23, 26. 20 The quiet in the land. The sense is clear, though the ad jective occurs only here. Those who have found ' rest ' or ' quiet ' (see Isa. xxviii. 12, Heb.) in Jeho vah will also have rest from evil devices. The Peshitto has 'the lowly of the land.' The antithesis is ' the ungodly of the land,' ci. 8. 25 Our lust (rendering as lxxviii. 18) Literally, 'our soul.' The 'soul' or 'life 'of the oppressed was a dainty morsel for their ' soul.' We have swallowed him up. So Lam. ii. 16 ; cf. Iii. 6 ; and for the figure, note in Cambridge Bible on Mic. ii. 2. 28 Shall speak musingly, in the low murmur of one entranced by a sweet thought. Strictly, either ' shall murmur,' or ' shall meditate ' (meditation being regarded as some thing nearer to speech than to silence), but poetically = ' shall speak,' but implying that medita tion accompanies the speech. So xxxvii. 30, lxxi. 20 ; cf. on Iii. 2. PSALM XXXVI. r ROBABLY we have here parts of two psalms, for the connexion suggested between v. 4 and v. 5 is artificial. Comp. on Pss. xix., xxiv., xxvii. The appended psalm consists of three stanzas of three distichs each. PSALM XXXVI. 99 2 [That ' God is not,'] is Sin's own oracle to the ungodly man within his heart ; no dread of Elohim is before his eyes. 3 For He treats him gently, so he imagines, touching the finding of his guilt. 4 The words of his mouth are mischief and guile ; he has left off to act wisely and well. 5 He devises mischief upon his bed ; he sets himself in no good way ; he does not abhor evil. (Another Psalm.) 6 Jehovah, thy lovingkindness touches the heavens ; thy faithfulness reaches unto the skies. 7 Thy righteousness is like the mountains of God ; thy judgments are (like) the great abyss. Man and beast savest thou, Jehovah : 8 How precious is thy lovingkindness, Elohim ! [in thee] do the children of men [put their trust], in the shadow of thy wings they find refuge ; 9 They feast upon the fatness of thy house ; and of the river of thy pleasures thou givest them their drink. io For with thee is the fountain of life ; by thy light do we see light. 1 1 O continue thy lovingkindness unto them that know thee, and thy righteousness to the upright in heart. 1 2 Let not the foot of pride come upon me, and let not the hand of the wicked make me a wanderer. 13 There are the workers of mischief fallen : they are thrust down, and are not able to rise. 2 That ' God is not ' . . . The mented passage is clear, so soon as opening words are very happily we omit the corrupt and intrusive supplied by Olshausen from xiv. 1 word in the Heb. of line 2 (see (comp. on xci. 1). Sin (or rather, crit. note). 'In his eyes' (end of Apostasy) is boldly personified as a /. 1) can only mean 'in the man's quasi-divine power within the man eyes.' There would be no sense in who has ' fallen away ' from the saying that God was either the sub- true God (comp. Zech. v. 8, Gen. jectortheobjectofanyactionmerely iv. 7). Practical atheism is meant, ' in His eyes ' (i.e. in his imagina- which from one point of view is tion). Finding, viz. with a view folly (xiv. 1), and from another is the to punish (Gen. xliv. 16). God, if suggestion, if we may say so, of an there be a God, is an inert, apathetic evil power, an Ahriman. Comp. Being, according to the ungodly lviii. 12 b. man (comp. on x. 4, 11). 3 For He treats him gently, 6 Here begins a very fine hymn &c. The sense of this much-tor- on the divine attributes (or let us IOO THE PSALMS 13), and so too the mild domesti cated animals to whom the psalmist here refers under the name b'hemdh (see on lxxiv. 19). The latter are in fact regarded as a part of the human community (Jer. xxi. 6 ; comp. Jon. iv. 11); the 'desert- beasts' form a 'folk' by themselves (lxxiv. 14). 8 The stanza which opens here mentions the peculiar privilege of the ' sons of men ' — conscious com munion with Jehovah. The text reads (after ' Elohim '), ' and the children of men take refuge,' &c, an extremely awkward explanatory clause (' and ' = in fact). But the waw before b'ne ddham is probably to be explained as a fragment of a verb (3rd plur. perf.) ; experience shows that such fragments of read ings are often preserved (see, e.g., Cornill's edition of Ezekiel). In the shadow of thy -wings, &c. See the exquisite parallel, Ruth ii. 12. The figure is that of the eagle (see on xci. 4). So lvii. 2, Ixi. 5 ; cf. xvii. 8. 9 The fatness of thy house. See on xxiii. 5, 6, xxvii. 4, Ixv. 5. Gesenius strangely, ' semel de uni- verso mundo.' River. Nakhal, an everflowing stream (see v. 10 a), as Am. v. 24. IO The fountain of life. Cf. Jer. xvii. 13. No doubt psalmist and prophet have spiritualised an ex pression of common speech (see Prov. xiv. 22). But whither shall we look for the origin of the phrase — to outward nature or to mytho logy? Surely to the latter. In Prov., I.e., 'a fountain of life' is exactly synonymous with ' a tree of life,' and we know that this phrase belongs to Hebrew mythology (cf. Ewald, Hist, i. yj, 40). Moreover, in the latest Biblical recast of mythic material we actually find, not only the tree (or, trees) of life, but a ' river of water of life ' (Rev. 1 Herder has by anticipation vindicated the Israelites from the charge of want of sympathy towards animals brought against them by Schopenhauer. Putting aside the Levitical Law, the evidence is all in the direction opposed to this biassed thinker's view. The Hebrew writers will seem to some to have hit the right mean between inhumanity and sentimentalism. We nowhere in the O. T. meet with those touching extravagances reported to us in chaps, xxi. , xxii. of the Fioretti di San Francesco. rather say, ' name '), which gains greatly by being viewed separately from vv. 2- 5. Possibly those who combined the two passages (vv. 2-5 and 6-13) intended to suggest to us a contrast between the serene atmosphere of God's 'philanthropy ' (Tit. iii. 4) and the stormy passions of ungodly men, also between the low conception of a purely trans cendent and therefore practically non-existent God formed by the wicked man (vv. 2, 3), and the high truth of a God who by His own will is immanent in the world of humanity. Comp. lvii. 10, ciii. 11. 7 The mention of the heavens suggests the ' sky-pointing peaks ' (Coleridge), to which the great abyss (aBvo-cros TroXXrj, Sept.) of the ocean — see on lxxi. 20 — forms an antithesis. The mountains of God (so 1. 10) ; the mountains being above all other objects (except the finest specimens of tree-life, lxxx. 11 ; comp. civ. 16) monuments of the greatness of the Creator (see note on xc. 2). To explain with Calvin, ' scimus divinum vocari quidquam excellit,' exaggerates the fact without in the least accounting for it. Thy judgments — in their various effects of destruction and salvation. There is no need to suppose a reference to the Flood, though the first line of our v. 7 has suggested this to some ; the saviour- ship of God is not limited to a single extraordinary crisis. Man and beast, &c. On this fine pas sage see Keble (Pr&lectiones, ii. 458), who compares vEsch. Suppl. In his delicate criticism, however, he does not notice that the psalmist shares the feeling of St. Francis L that there is, morally speaking, no complete break of continuity in the scale of sentient life (all degrees being gifted with a 'soul,' Gen. i.) Lions and dogs have their moral relatives among men (see on xxii. PSALM XXXVI. lOI xxii. i, 2). Our only description of the Hebrew Paradise, it is true, says nothing of the ' waters of life ; ' but the description is not intended to be complete, and Chaldean mythology (see the Descent of I star) knows of waters as well as of a tree of life. (Comp. also Ralston's Rus sian Folk-tales.) By thy light (comp. xliii. 3). Orientals still have an intense fondness for light, and this is equally true of the Jews, as the Biblical imagery shows. The lower light is essential to the lower life ('the light of life,' lvi. 13 ; cf. xlix. 20), and the higher light to the higher life (comp. John i. 4). The link between the two is repre sented mythically by the essential light in which God dwells (civ. 2 ; comp. 1 Tim. vi. 16, and the As syrian hymn in which the Creator is called 'lord of light'). The ' light ' which the psalmist sees, and hopes still to see, is the ' light' of that joy and peace which spring from the sense of God's favour, and which are better even than those visible mercies of which they give the assurance (see on iv. 7). Sept. renders, i^fopeda (pais, implying the hope of immortality. Comp. Psalm. Sol. iii. 16, Kal f) £a>rj avTaiv iv dxarl KVplov ko\ ovk eKhetyei en. 11, 12 The psalmist appropri ates his personal share in God's covenanted lovingkindness (khe'sed implies a covenant ; see on iv. 4). Make me a wanderer. The word certainly refers to exile, as an imminent danger to the community (see 2 Kings xxi. 8, and comp. Gen. iv. 12, 14). 13 The psalmist dramatically represents the overthrow of the wicked as having just taken place (' there ' is demonstrative, so that xiv. 5 is hardly parallel). PSALM XXXVII. In respect of warmth of contents and inner connexion, this is one of the best of the alphabetic psalms ' (Ewald). It should be read together with Pss. xxxix., lxxiii. Observe (1) the respect for poverty, so unknown to the Vedic hymn-writers, and (2) the insistence on the doctrine (the half-truth, as we should call it) of earthly retribution ; note also the points of contact between this psalm and the Book of Job. The awful mystery of divine Providence is more superficially treated here than in that great poem, and also than in Ps. lxxiii. The psalm is for the most part in quatrains or double verses, begin ning with the successive letters of the alphabet. A glance will show, however, that here and there a stanza is too short or too long. In one case this want of symmetry can be corrected with certainty (see on v. 28). 1 Be not thou incensed at the evildoers, neither be thou envious against them that work injustice ; 2 For they shall quickly fade away as the grass, and wither even as the green herb. 3 Trust thou in Jehovah, doing that which is good ; dwell in the land, cherishing faithfulness ; 4 Then shalt thou have sweet pleasure in Jehovah, and he shall grant thee thy heart's petitions. 5 Roll (the care of thy way) upon Jehovah, trust in him, and he shall do nobly, 6 And shall bring forth thine innocence as the light, and thy just right as the noonday. 102 THE PSALMS 7 Be at rest towards Jehovah, and wait on for him ; be not incensed at one whose career prospers, at the man who brings to pass knaveries. 8 Cease from anger, and forsake wrath, be not incensed — it would lead only to evildoing ; 9 For evildoers shall be cut off, but they that await Jehovah — those shall inherit the land. io Yet a little while, and the ungodly will be gone ; thou shalt look after his place, but he will be away ; 1 1 But the afflicted shall inherit the land, and have sweet pleasure in the abundance of peace. 12 The ungodly plots against the righteous, and gnashes upon him with his teeth : 13 The Lord laughs at him, for he sees that his day is coming. 14 The ungodly draw the sword and bend their bow to slay the afflicted and needy, to murder such as are upright in way. 1 5 Their sword shall enter into their own heart, and their bows shall be broken. 16 Better is the righteous man's little than the opulence of many ungodly ; 1 7 For the arms of the ungodly shall be broken, but Jehovah upholds the righteous. 18 Jehovah takes notice of the days of the blameless, and their inheritance shall be for ever. 19 They shall not be shamed in the evil time, and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied. 20 For the ungodly shall perish, and Jehovah's enemies shall be as the splendour of the meadows : they shall vanish as smoke, they shall vanish. 2 1 The ungodly borrows, and cannot pay it back, but the righteous shows pity and gives. 2 2 For his blessed ones shall inherit the land, but his cursed ones shall be cut off. 23 It comes of Jehovah that a man's steps are established, and he takes delight in his way. 24 Though he fall, he shall not remain prostrate, for Jehovah upholds his hand. PSALM XXXVII. IO3 25 I have been young, and now am old, and I have never seen a righteous man forsaken, or his seed begging their bread. 26 He is ever showing pity, and lending, and his seed is blessed. 27 Depart from evil, and do good, and thou shalt dwell for evermore. 28 For Jehovah is the friend of justice, and forsakes not his loving ones. The unrighteous shall be destroyed for ever, and the seed of the ungodly shall be cut off ; 29 The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein for ever. 30 The mouth of the righteous speaks musingly of wisdom, and his tongue utters just things. 31 The law of his God is in his heart, his steps shall not be unsteady. 32 The ungodly watches the righteous, and seeks to slay him. ^^ Jehovah will not leave him in his hand, nor condemn him when he is accused. 34 Wait for Jehovah, and observe his way, and he shall exalt thee, that thou inherit the land : when the ungodly are cut off, thou shalt see it. 35 I have seen the ungodly inspiring awe, and spreading himself like a cedar of Lebanon. 36 I passed by, and lo, he was gone : I searched for him, but he could not be found. 37 Observe the blameless man, and behold the upright, how there is a posterity to the man of peace. 38 But transgressors shall be destroyed together : the posterity of the ungodly shall be cut off. 39 The salvation of the righteous is of Jehovah : he is their asylum in the time of trouble ; 40 And Jehovah helps and delivers them, he delivers them from the ungodly, and saves them, because they take refuge in him. 1 Be not thou incensed. The disciples (comp. the context of the wise man feels like a parent to his parallel passage, Prov. xxiv. 19). 104 THE PSALMS He deprecates, not righteous anger, but a murmuring discontent, of which Job has given the typical expression. Of course few pious Israelites would adopt Job's style ; but the unspoken thought here re proved is virtually that of Job in his agony. Not to ' trust in Jeho vah ' as a moral governor (v. 3) is virtually to say ' there is no God' (x. 4). Envious. See on lxxiii. 3- 3 Swell in the land, i.e. do not seek to make thy fortune in other lands. Schultens and Ewald explain v. 3 b as a promise, ' thou shalt dwell (undisturbed ; comp. v. 29, and Jer. xxv. 5, xxxv. 15, Heb.), and have safe pasture.' This seems forced. 4 Then shalt thou have . . . Delitzsch, 'and have thy (pleasure),' making the apodosis begin in the next line. This is opposed by Job xxii. 26, xxvii. 10, Isa. lviii. 14. 5 Roll (the care of) ; see on xxii. 9. ' Way ' = life's journey. 7 Be at rest, &c. Or, look in stillness towards (see on lxii. 2). 9 Shall inherit the land. So vv. 11, 22, 29, 34. See on xxv. 13. V. \\ seems to be spiritualised in Matt. v. 5 (tt)v yrjv = the new earth ; see on v. 29). 1 1 The afflicted ; or, ' the lowly.' ' Who seeth not,' says Mede, ' that by meek is here meant the opposite party to the wicked ? ' (Works, p. 161.) Hitzig, not amiss, ' die Frommen.' Better, ' die from- men Dulder.' See on ix. 13. 13 His day, i.e. the day of the man's death ; comp. 1 Sam. xxvi. 10, 'or his day come that he die.' 19 Note the parallelism with Job v. 19, 20. 20 As the splendour of the meadows. As the gay and per fumed but shortlived blossoms of Sharon or Esdraelon. A charming and suggestive phrase ; the play upon sound, however, is lost in the English. Comp. 'plants of Naa- man,' Isa. xvii. io (note). 21 Comp. cxii. 5 a ; Deut xv. 6, xxviii. 12, 44. 22 Understand, Jehovah will reward them to the uttermost. 23, 24 Comp. Prov. xx. 24, xvi. 9, xxiv. 16, Jer. x. 23. 25 Comp. Prov. x. 3, xiii. 25. Such passages illustrate I Tim. iv. 8. 28 Auth. Vers, follows the re ceived text ; the correction sug gested to Lowth by the Sept is certain. As the text stands, there is no stanza beginning with Ayin, and the Samech stanza is too long. 29 The righteous, &c. The only Biblical passage quoted in the Koran (Sur. xxi. 105), but Moham med interprets of the new earth (see on v. 11). 33 Nor condemn him. The world may do so, but Jehovah will pass a different judgment. Comp. on cix. 7 b. 35, 36 Comp. Iii. 7, Job v. 3. Like a cedar of Lebanon. Comp. Hos. xiv. 5, ' and shall cast out his roots like (the cedars of) Lebanon' (note parallel line). The received text (with which Targ. agrees) has, ' like a native, fresh-green (tree).' A unique expression, for 'ezrakh ('native') is elsewhere only used of men, but if allowable, at any rate only in poetic style. The psalmist, however, has not himself a poetic style, though he may con ceivably have borrowed from some unknown and more poetical writer. But why should the attributes of indigenous birth and sappiness or fresh green be combined? Are not 'native-bom' trees struck by lightning or cut down, as well as others ? Or are such trees more spreading than others ? (We have no right, with Del., to make 'ezrakh = primeval). 2,7 Blameless. One might al most render ' quiet,' remembering Gen. xxv. 27 (if Dillmann be right). In parallel line, ' man of peace ' occurs. A posterity. Or, ' se quel ' (comp. ' make our beginning and our sequell truth,' T. Middle- ton, 1 597) : a good man's ' sequel ' or ' after-life ' being in his children. 38 b Comp. Job xviii. 13-20. PSALM XXXVIII. 105 PSALM XXXVIII. J\ lphabetic so far as the number of the distichs goes (see crit. note on v. 12). The speaker represents suffering Israel (comp. Lam. iii.), who, though 'following after good' (v. 21), cannot be sinless before God. 2 Jehovah, reprove me not in thine indignation, neither correct me in thy hot displeasure. 3 For thine arrows have sunk into me, and upon me has sunk thy hand. 4 There is no soundness in my flesh for thy fervent ire, no health in my bones because of my sin : 5 For mine iniquities are gone over my head, as a heavy burden they are too heavy for me. 6 My weals are become noisome and fester, because of my foolishness ; 7 I am bent double, I am bowed down greatly, I go about in mourning weeds all the day long. 8 For my loins are filled with burning ; and there is no soundness in my flesh. 9 I am benumbed and crushed exceedingly ; I roar for the disquiet of my heart. 10 Lord, before thee is all my desire, and my sighing is not hid from thee : 1 1 My heart throbs quickly, my strength has forsaken me, even the light of mine eyes is gone from me. 1 2 My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my plague, and my kinsmen stand afar off, 13 And they that seek my soul lay snares ; and they that are zealous for my harm speak of utter destruction, and brood upon deceits all the day long. 14 But I am as a deaf man and hear not, and as a dumb man that opens not his mouth. 1 5 Yea, I am become as a man that hears not, and in whose mouth are no rejoinders. 16 Yea, for thee, Jehovah, do I wait ; Thou wilt answer, O Lord my God. 1 7 For I said, (I fear) lest they should rejoice over me ; when my foot wavers they become insolent toward me. 18 For I indeed am ready to fall, and my pain is continually before me ; 106 THE PSALMS 19 (For I have to confess my guilt ; I am distressed because of my sin :) 20 Whilst they that without a cause are mine enemies are strong, and they that hate me lyingly are many in number ; 21 They also that render evil for good are adverse to me because I follow after good. 22 Forsake me not, Jehovah ; O my God, be not far from me. 23 Speed to my help, O Lord my salvation. 2 See on vi. 2 (one word only ' He that misseth Wisdom (i.e. true different). religion) wrongeth his own self 3 Thine arrows. It is an (Prov. viii. 37). Cf. cvii. 17 (?). image for bodily sickness ; vii. 14 9 Crushed. In xliv. 19 the is therefore not so strictly parallel pious Israelites, individually, are as Job vi. 4, xvi. 13. Thy hand. said to have been ' crushed.' Hence Comp. xxxii. 4. the phrase may well be used of a 4 wo soundness, &c. Comp. representative Israelite (so li. 10). the description of Israel in Isa. i. 12 See on xxxi. 12. Lovers, 5, 6. i.e., perhaps, Israel's friendly neigh- 5 The figure is taken first of bours ; comp. Jer. xxx. 14, Lam. i. all from overflowing waters (comp. 2, 19. lxix. 3, 16), then from a crushing 14, 15 Comp. the description of load such as even an Eastern the suffering Servant in Isa. liii. 7. hammal cannot carry (cf. Gen. iv. 19 I have to confess (see on 13). Mine iniquities, or, the next psalm). The idiom as in Job punishment of my sins (see on xxxi. ix. 29, ' I am to be guilty ; ' Jer. 11). xxxvi. 16. 6 My foolishness, i.e. my sin. PSALM XXXIX. 1 HIS psalm has been called ' the most beautiful of all the elegies in the Psalter.' With all its exquisite individualising touches, it is an admirable church-hymn, as it mirrors the experiences of all faithful Israelites. This view is confirmed by the parallels in Ps. xxxviii. ; comp. vv. 3, 10 with xxxviii. 14, 15 ; v. 8 with xxxviii. 16 ; v. 11 with xxxviii. 3. There are also points of contact with Ps. lxii. — the idea of the nothingness of human life, and the fondness for the particle which expresses triumphant faith (y$). A refrain marks out the two divisions of the psalm. 2 I said, ' Let me take heed to my ways, that I mistake not with my tongue ; let me put a bridle on my mouth while the ungodly is still before me.' 3 I became mutely resigned, I kept silence afar from happiness, but my pain was stirred up PSALM XXXIX. 107 4 My heart was hot within me ; as I mused, the fire kindled ; (at last) I spake with my tongue. 5 ' Make me, O Jehovah, to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is ; let me know how short my time is. 6 Behold, thou hast made my days (a few) hand-breadths long, and my lifetime is as nothing before thee : surely every man is vanity. 7 Surely in mere semblance man walks to and fro ; surely for mere vanity are they so boisterous : he piles up, and cannot tell who will gather it. 8 And now, Lord, what wait I for ? my hope is in thee. 9 Deliver me from all my transgressions : make me not the reproach of the fool. 10 I am become mute, and open not my mouth, for thou hast done it. 1 1 O remove thy plague from off me ; I am wasted away with the onset of thy hand. 1 2 With rebukes for iniquity when thou dost chasten a man, thou destroyest, Uke the moth, his desirable things ; surely every man is vanity. 13 Hear my prayer, Jehovah, and give ear unto my cry, hold not thy peace at my tears : for I am a guest with thee, and a sojourner like all my fathers. 14 Avert thy frown, that I may smile again, before I go hence, and be no more.' 2 That 1 mistake not. The anger against himself. True, he is power of saying the right word at already ' wasted away ' with ' re- the right time is essential to a bukes for iniquity' (vv. 10, 11); worthy character, according to but whereas the ' iniquity ' as yet Prov. xv. 23, xxv. 1 1. To fail in is a ' hidden one ' (see introd. to this, was to 'miss one's aim,' or, as Ps. xxxii.), the cause for a further I have rendered, to ' mistake.' The punishment would be only too same word is used in xxv. 8 (see patent. note), also in Judg. xx. 16 (Hifil) of 31 became mutely resigned. archers missing their mark. Lit., ' I became mute in stillness,' While the ungodly, &c. Partly i.e. either the stillness of the grave because the sufferer would not wil- (so Hitzig ; comp. xciv. 17), or that lingly give occasion to the enemy of pious resignation (as Delitzsch) ; to blaspheme, and so injure the comp. xxxvii. 7, lxii. 2). At any cause of his God, partly because by rate, Bickell is venturesome in 'envying the evildoers' (xxxvii. 1) omitting dumiyyah as otiose. he will still further excite the divine 5 Make me ... to know, &c. io8 THE PSALMS This may well have been the lan guage of an individual, but, from the point of view of the Psalter (see on cii. 12), it is equally applicable to a nation. Even a plain reader, like the late Lord Shaftesbury, saw this when he remarked at Antwerp, quoting this verse, ' Let us English men take warning.' But why does the speaker, whether an individual or Israel personified, or even both, pray for this ? That he may not set his affection on earthly great ness and prosperity, but on Him 'whose lovingkindness is better than life itself.' Oppressed as he is by the rich and prosperous ungodly, he may too easily be tempted to envy their wealth. Vv. 5-7 directly meet this temptation (see on lxii. 10). How short my time is. Comp. lxxxix. 48. The text-read ing is rendered, ' how frail I am ; ' but see crit. note. 6 Comp. this verse and v. 7 with lxii. 10. Surely. Or, 'only' (see on lxxiii. 1). Vanity ; lit, ' a breath.' 7 In mere semblance. (Not, ' in a shadow ; ' see crit. note.) Strictly, ' in the character, or man ner, of an image (xxxv. 2) ; i.e. not ' imaginis (instar) Quam reddit aequor vitreum' (G. Buchanan), nor yet ' like a sculptured image,' a meaning which is neither suitable here nor in lxxiii. 20. In the latter passage, 'image' is parallel to ' dream.' This suggests that client, like eidaXov and imago, and like the Egyptian ka,1 has two senses — (1) an image formed by art, (2) a ' phantom seen in a vision or dream. Piscator (1646), 'Vita hominis non est vere vita, sed tantum imago et inanis larva vitae.' Comp. Woolner, ' All is but coloured show ' (A Beau tiful Lady), and the well-known passage in Soph. Ajax, 126. 9 From all my transgres sions. He means, from their punishment. So 1 Chron. xxix. 15 ; see on v. 5, xv. 1. 13 Hold not thy peace. Cf. xxviii. 1, xxxv. 22. A change of fortune is a word of God (Ixv. 6). The poet finely adds ' at my tears,' . . . the saddest, sweetest, lowest sound, Nearest akin to perfect silence. 2 A guest . . . -a, sojourner, i.e. only a short time here and de pendent on Jehovah's protection. So 1 Chron. xxix. 15 ; see on v. 5, xv. 1. The words are the techni cal expressions for the foreign ' half- citizens ' of Israel (Ewald, Antiqui ties, p. 236, note 9). It is not merely a figure which the psalmist employs, but a representation ot fact The Israelites were Jehovah's feudatories. ' The land is mine ; for ye are guests and sojourners with me ' (Lev. xxv. 23). 14 Avert thy frown. Lit, ' look away from me ' (cf. Job vii. 19, xiv. 6). That X may smile; lit, that I may gleam (like the sky when the clouds are dispelled), i.e. recover my cheerfulness (as Job ix. 27, x. 20). PSALM XL. J wo if not three poets seem to have been concerned in this psalm as it has come down to us. The first of these regards Israel's great deliverance (from Babylon ?) upon the bright side as the reward of its fidelity to its God ; the other two (if we admit three poets) as only a first stage in the divine interposition, Israel being in their time as much afflicted as ever before. To the first belong vv. 2-12 ; to the second, vv. 14-18 ; while a third, perhaps, unites the two by inserting v. 13. Space forbids me to continue this subject here. There is certainly a strong Christian element in this psalm (vv. 2-12), as there is in its companion — Ps. 1. 1 Renouf, Transactions of the Soc. of 'BiU. Archaeology, vi. 494-508 ; cf. Maspero, Academy, xv. 456, and Renouf's letter, ibid. p. 480. 2 Bishop Alexander, St. Augustine's Holiday, and other Poems, p. 233. PSALM XL. 109 There are important phraseological parallelisms with other psalms. Comp. v. 3 with' lxix. 3, 15, 16 ; v. 4 with xxxiii. 3 (see note) ; v. 6 with cxxxix. 17, 18 ; v. 7 with 1. 8-13, li. 18 ; v. 10 with xxii. 23, 26 ; v. 13 c with lxix. 5 a ; v. 15 with xxxv. 4,26 ; v. 16 with xxxv. 21 ; vv. 15-18 with lxix. 23-29. The speaker in both parts of the psalm is either pious Israel personified, or (virtually the same thing) a representative. pious Israelite (see on v. 7). Observe that there is still great danger from idolatry (v. 5). 2 I had waited, waited for Jehovah, and he inclined (his ear) unto me, and heard my cry. 3 He brought me up also out of the pit of destruction, out of the miry swamp, and set my feet on a rock, made firm my stepping ; 4 And he put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God ; that many should see it, and fear, and put their trust in Jehovah. 5 Happy the man that hath made Jehovah his trust, and hath not turned to the proud and them that have lyingly fallen away. 6 In full measure hast thou accomplished, O Jehovah my God thy marvels and thy designs concerning us ; there is nothing comparable unto thee : were I to declare and discourse of them, they would be too vast for numbering. 7 In sacrifice and offering thou hadst no delight, (but) open ears didst thou make me ; bumt-offering and sin-offering thou didst not require ; 8 Then said I, ' Lo, I am come ; in the roll of the book is my duty written ; 9 To do thy will, O my God, is my delight, and thy law is within my heart.' 10 I told the glad news of (thy) righteousness in the great congrega tion ; behold, I did not restrain my lips, thou, Jehovah, knowest it. 1 1 Thy righteousness I hid not within my heart ; thy faithfulness I declared, and thy salvation ; I concealed not thy lovingkindness nor thy truth from the great congregation. 1 2 Thou, too, Jehovah, canst not restrain thy compassions from me : thy lovingkindness and thy truth — let them guard me continually. IIO THE PSALMS (Fragment of another Psalm.) 13 For evils past numbering have encompassed me, mine iniquities have overtaken me, so that I cannot see ; they are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart hath forsaken me. 14 Be pleased, Jehovah, to deliver me : Jehovah, speed to my help. 15 Let them be shamed and abashed together that seek my soul to take it away ; let them be turned back with dishonour that delight in my misfortune. 16 Let them be palsied with shame that say unto me, Aha, Aha. 17 Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee ; let such as love thy salvation say continually, Jehovah be magnified. 18 And I — the afflicted and needy — Jehovah will care for me : thou art my help and my deliverer ; make no tarrying, O my God. 2 I had waited . . . Israel calls to mind his mercies in the past, and so strengthens his faith. 3 Hitzig compares Jer. xxxviii. 6, interpreting the psalmist realisti cally (so too lxix. 3, 15, 16). 4 A new song. See on xxxiii. 3. That many should see it, &c. A characteristic idea of II. Isaiah — that the restoration of Israel will spread the knowledge of Jehovah to the most distant nations. 5 Happy the man . . . This and the next verse are not indeed the ' new song,' but at any rate an echo of it. Wot turned to the proud, &c. As in Ps. xvi., xxxi., cxix., there is a large party of pagan ising Jews, with whom the psal mist absolutely disavows com plicity. Comp. Ps. cxix. 21, 'the proud [another word], the accursed, who wander from thy command ments.' 6 Thy marvels, &c. ' Marvels,' the favourite word of the psalmists for the exceptional mercies of God's leadership ; ' designs,' a less com mon but equally distinctive expres sion for the complicated plan of Israel's divine -human history (xxxiii. n,xcii. 5 ; comp. Isa. Iv. 8, 9). ' Concerning us.' The psalm, then, is a national psalm. There is nothing, &c. An exclamation of joyful surprise ; comp. lxxi. 19. 7 Israel of old ' made a covenant with Jehovah with sacrifice ' (1. 6) ; but it was not the ' sacrifice ' which was important to Jehovah, but Israel's obedience. Thus viewed, our passage is precisely parallel to Jer. vii. 22, 23. The sacrificial system had been continually grow ing in elaborateness ; the 'dsham or ' guilt-offering ' is the only Levitical sacrifice which is wanting, and this being a national psalm, we cannot be surprised at the omission. Our psalmist, however, differs, it would seem, from the friends of the Levi tical legislation in not referring the sacrificial system to the institution of Jehovah. All that God, when forming Israel into a nation, ex pressly required was obedience (see on 1. 7-15, li. 18, and comp. 1 Sam. xv. 22, 23, Hos. vi. 6) ; and this was all that God still required of PSALM XL. I I I each individual Israelite (comp. Mic. vi. 8). Sacrifice, including especially the shJlem or thank-offer ing ; offering, i.e. the so-called meal-offering (R. V.) and the accom panying libation ; sin-offering,Heb. khataah (not khattdth, the word used in Leviticus and elsewhere). Open ears, &c. Lit, ' ears didst thou dig for me,' i.e. 'thou gavest me the faculty of hearing and obeying thy will.' Comp. Assurbanipal's language, ' The great gods ... [to me] attentive ears have given ' (Records of the Past, ix. 39). 8 Then, i.e. as soon as my ears were opened. 1 am come, i.e. in obedience to thy call. To have come is equivalent to having en tered on a course of obedience. In the roll of the book is my duty written (lit, it is prescribed unto me). At first sight it may seem more plausible to render ' with the roll of the book' (cf. Ixvi. 13), and explain, ' I am come before thee, not with sacrifices, but with the book in which I am exonerated from sacrifice, or in which at any rate the relative value of sacrifice and obedience is clearly set forth.' But then how are we to continue the line ? We cannot say, ' with the roll of the book which is pre scribed unto me.' We must there fore take the line as explaining the nature of the obedience which the speaker has undertaken to render. ' What " the roll of the book " pre scribes as my duty, that will I per form.' But what is this ' roll ' ? Just afterwards we find the tora of Jehovah spoken of. This suggests that the laws and exhortations em bodied in Deuteronomy (so often called tora) may be meant ; Moses actually says, ' These words which I command thee this day, shall be in thy heart' (Delitzsch, who re gards David as the speaker, and makes Deuteronomy pre-Davidic, finds an allusion to the king's duty as prescribed in Deut. xvii. 14-20.) Certainly the closing" words seem like an echo of those given to Moses. But may we not take tora in a wider sense, to include the prophets as well as the law (see on i. 2) ? This will help us to under stand the outspoken preference of what St. Paul would call personal sacrifice to ritual. To the psal mist, there was a Bible within the Bible, and the books of Deutero nomy and Jeremiah formed prin cipal elements in its composition. ' Thy law within my heart ' reminds us at once of Deut. vi. 6 and Jer. xv. 16, xxxi. 33. 10 I told the glad news of (thy) righteousness. ' Righteous ness ' is the later ' Isaiah's ' favourite word for ' salvation ' under one of its aspects (comp. v. 1 1 b) ; hence Hitzig renders here, ' Ich verkiin- dete Heil.' The verb is well ren dered eviqyye\iadpr)v (Sept.) The psalmist is such a ' herald of glad news ' as is spoken of in Isa. xii. 27, li. 7. 12 Thou too . . . restrain not, &c. Corresponding to ' I have not restrained ' (v. 10). The same idea as in Isa. Ixiii. 15. Thy lovingkindness and thy truth, &c. Comp. xiii. 9, Ixi. 8. 13 Mine iniquities, or, the punishment of mine iniquities (see on xxxi. 11). 18 'Will care for me, or, has designs (comp. v. 6) which even I can help to further. See crit. note. PSALM XLI. 1 HE people of Israel is likened to a man who is dangerously sick, and whose sore disease is taken by malicious neighbours as a proof that he is forsaken by God. The sufferer makes his plaint to God, before whom he may no doubt be guilty (see introd. to Ps. xxxii.), but who will assuredly recognise before the world that he is innocent so far as man is concerned : like Job the 'speaker will by no means ' give up his integrity ' (Job xxvii. 5). 112 THE PSALMS That this psalm (with which compare vi. and xxxviii.) has a contemporary historical basis, can hardly be doubted. Vv. 2-4, which suggest an edifying lesson to the individual as such, are not really fatal to this con clusion. 2 Happy he that considers the helpless and poor ! in the day of misfortune Jehovah will rescue him. 3 Jehovah will preserve him and keep him alive, and he shall be called happy in the land ; and do not thou deliver him unto the greed of his enemies. 4 Jehovah will support him upon the bed of languishing : as oft as he lies low, thou recoverest him in his sickness. 5 As for me, I say, ' Jehovah, have pity on me : heal my soul, for I have sinned against thee.' 6 But mine enemies wish me evil, ' When will he die, and his name perish ? ' 7 And if one come to see me, he speaks falsehood, his heart gathers malice to itself ; he goes abroad and speaks. 8 All that hate me whisper together against me, against me do they imagine evil, 9 ' That which will be his perdition is fixed upon him, and now that he lies, he will rise up no more : ' 10 Even the man of my peace, in whom I trusted, he who did eat of my bread, has become insolent towards me. 1 1 But thou, Jehovah, have pity on me, and raise me up, that I may requite them. 12 By this I am sure thou hast pleasure in me, that mine enemy shouts not in triumph over me. 13 And as for me, thou upholdest me in my blamelessness, and settest me before thy face for ever. Subscription io Book I. 14 Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Israel, from aeon to aeon ! Amen and Amen. 2 considers. The word in A.V. 3 in the land, i.e. in the land is happily chosen so as to include of Canaan (as xxxvii. 3). Comp not merely the relief of material xxxvi. 12 b. Do not thou. Or wants, but ' the fairness of those ' thou canst not ' (comp xxxiv 6)' who judge prudently and with The construction is changed to moderation of the afflicted.' Calvin express a more intense decree of even limits the reference to this. feeling. The Sept., Symm and An instance of such friendly con- Pesh. read ' let him not.' siderateness occurs in a parallel 4 As oft as, &c Lit ' all his psalm (xxxv. 13, 14). lying down thou turnest (i.e. chan*- PSALM XLI. H3 est into health) in his sickness.' The tense is the perfect of experi ence. 5 Heal my soul. For soul and body alike suffer from the sense of God's anger (vi. 3, 4, xxxi. 10). 7 Falsehood, i.e. hypocritical sympathy. Gathers malice, viz. by observing the symptoms which justify the malicious conjec ture that the case is desperate. 8 Whisper together . . . ima gine evil. Either the poet falls out of the metaphor of a divinely sent sickness, and represents the enemy as plotting Israel's final ruin, or we must suppose that the whispered imagination consists in the malicious hope which they form, and would willingly, if they could, convert straightway into fact. 9 That which 17111 be his perdition. Lit, 'a matter of per dition,' i.e. something which must sink him in perdition or the world of the dead (see on xviii. 5). The alternative rendering, ' a base deed' (comp. ci. 3), does not suit the context Is fixed upon him. Lit, ' is molten upon him,' like one of Dante's ' mantles of lead.' Comp. Job xii. 15, Heb. He will rise up no more. Sept. sugges tively (reading lu), ' if he were to go on to recover ; ' see Driver, H. Tenses, § 142, n. 1. 10 The cruellest pang of all came from a treacherous friend, called the man of my peace, i.e. not merely ' mine own familiar friend' (A.V.), but one who was specially attached to me by a cove nant, and one who did eat of my bread, i.e. who was my frequent guest at table. The parallelism with lv. 13-15 cannot escape notice. In both passages the question arises whether we have an episode of personal history (comp. Jer. xx. 10), or whether ' the man ' is a per sonification of treacherous neigh bours of the Jews. For the latter view, comp. the similar phraseology of Obad. 7, ' The men that were at peace with thee [viz. with Edom] have deceived thee and prevailed against thee ; [they that ate] thy bread have laid a snare under thee.' If the speaker in vv. 5-13 is either Israel or a typical pious Israelite (see introd.), we obviously must accept this view for v. 10, and may then compare xxxviii. 12, but are not perhaps tied to its acceptance for lv. 13-15 (see notes). 1 3 Settest me before thy face. See on xi. 7, xvi. 11, xvii. 15. 14 (Subscription.) A doxology such as was probably uttered in the name of the people at the close of every psalm used in the liturgy (comp. Neh. ix. 5). ' From aeon to aeon ' (Tennyson and Browning having enriched our language by the word) l means ' both in this aeon and in the next.' The doxology thus becomes a creed ; no one who disbelieved in a future life could repeat it (Talm. Jerus., Berakhoth ix. 5> 9)- Amen and Amen. ' So is it ' (rather than ' So be it '). Comp. the fuller form of the doxo logy in cvi. 48. Cf. also Goethe's Faust. ' Es kann die Spur von meinen Erdentagen Nicht in Aeonen untergehen.' 114 THE PSALMS BOOK II. PSALMS XLII. and XLIII. 1 he sigh of an exile. These two psalms really form but one, as appears from the identity of subject and of refrain, and from the interlacing repeti tions. They can only have been separated at a comparatively recent date, as the so-called Ps. xliii. is the only psalm in this Korahite group (xiii.— xlix.) unprovided in the Hebrew with a superscription. The author writes at a distance from the sanctuary, and is a prey to the taunts of an impious people. In the first strophe, he longs for his God ; in the second, he utters his plaint, and describes his need ; in the third, he passes into definite supplication, and anticipates the joy and gratitude of deliverance. It is a perfect lyric poem. Compare Ps. lxxxiv., also a Korahite psalm. The preference for' Elohim ' (instead of Jehovah ') which distinguishes Book II. is visible in this psalm. It was characteristic, not merely of the editor, but of the original author. Here and there, however, there is reason to believe that the writer allowed himself to use ' Jehovah,' which the editor changed into ' Elohim,' except in v. 9. 2 As a hind which pants after running streams, so pants my soul after thee, O God. 3 My soul thirsts for Elohim, for the living God ; when shall I come in and appear before God ? 4 My tears have been food to me day and night, whilst all day long they say unto me, Where is thy God ? 5 This must I remember, pouring out my soul upon me, how I went along with the throng, conducting them to the house of God, with ringing cries and giving of thanks — a festive multitude. 6 Why art thou bowed down, O my soul, and why moaning upon me ? wait thou for Jehovah, for unto him I shall yet give thanks as the saviour of my countenance and my God. 7 My soul upon me is bowed down ; therefore will I think upon thee from the land of Jordan and of Hermonim, from the little mountain. 8 Flood calls unto flood at the sound of thy cataracts, all thy breakers and billows have gone over me : PSALMS XLII. AND XLIII. 115 9 (Yet) will Jehovah by day give charge to his lovingkindness, and in the night will his song be with me, even a prayer unto the God of my life. 10 Let me say unto God my rock, 'Why hast thou forgotten me ? why go I as a mourner amidst the oppression of the enemy ? ' 1 1 Like rottenness in my bones, my foes reproach me, whilst all day long they say unto me, Where is thy God ? 1 2 Why art thou bowed down, my soul, and why moaning upon me ? wait thou for Jehovah, for unto him I shall yet give thanks as the saviour of my countenance and my God. 1 Right me, Elohim, and plead my cause against a loveless nation ; from the deceitful and unjust man mayest thou deliver me. 2 For thou art God my stronghold : why hast thou cast me off? why go I as a mourner amidst the oppression of the enemy ? 3 Send forth thy light and thy truthfulness ; let them lead me, let them bring me unto thy holy hill and to thy habitation. 4 Then will I go in unto the altar of Elohim, even unto God my exceeding joy : and give thanks to thee upon the lyre, O Jehovah my God. 5 Why art thou bowed down, O my soul, and why moaning upon me? wait for Jehovah, for unto him I shall yet give thanks as the saviour of my countenance and my God. 2 As a hind. Under any cir- appeared the most characteristic of cumstances, the comparison of the personality — the emotional and ' soul ' of the believer (observe that volitional, the centre of which is the nefesh is feminine) to a hind would heart. Naturally enough, it was of be appropriate, this sensitive crea- the feminine gender (hence com- ture being a type of affectionateness pared to the 'hind'). It 'is apt to (Rev. v. 19; cf. Jer. xiv. 5). But sink and droop under affliction ; and the psalmist, who is debarred from to lie as a burden upon the spirit of the services of the temple, has now the believer' (Kay). See v. 6, and in his mind's eye a deer who has comp. cxxxi. 2. A merry heart is been long unable, from fear of the also said to lie (lightly) ' upon ' a huntsman, to descend from its rocks man (1 Sam. xxv. 36). to slake its thirst He may even 3 Por the living God. The be writing within sight of panting word for ' God ' ('el) is chosen for hinds gathered by the fresh moun- its shortness (comp. on xxii. 2) ; it tain streams which flow into the lent itself better than 'elohim to Jordan. But there is no absolute the formation of quasi-compounds necessity for this hypothesis ; the (comp. v. 9). ' The living God ' (so image is natural enough to a He- lxxiv. 3), in contrast to the ' dead ' brew poet. So Jeremiah calls his gods of the heathen (cvi. 28). God the ' fountain of living waters,' Comp. ' fountain of life,' xxxvi. 10. Jer. ii. 13, xvii. 13. Running -Come in, viz. into the temple, streams. Comp. Job vi. 15-17. as xliii. 4 ; comp. lxiii. 3. My soul, i.e. that part of human 4 A fresh pang arises from the nature which to the Hebrew writers blasphemy of the heathen, who n6 THE PSALMS assure him that he has lost his God. My tears, &c. Comp. lxxx. 6, and see on cii. io. Where is thy God? Heathen conquerors arguing from Israel's calamities to the impotence ( = non existence) of Israel's God, lxxix. io, cxv. 2 (see note), Joel ii. 17. 5 let me bethink me, &C. Let me indulge the sad pleasure of retrospect. ' Pouring out my soul ' is parallel to the phrase ' pour out your heart ' (lxii. 19). The soul is elsewhere identified as it were with the blood ; but here this ele giac poet represents it as passing away in a flood of tears (comp. Lam. ii. 18, 19). So Job xxx. 16. How 1 went, &c. The tense is a frequentative. The ' throng ' consisted of the pilgrims who went up (cf. Isa. xxx. 29) at the great festi vals. I.ed them in procession, as a Korahite skilled in song (2 Chron. xx. 19). The word is expres sive and pictorial ; see on Isa. xxxviii. 15 (where R.V. marg. is alone correct). 6 The retrospect has been one of mingled sorrow and joy. The singer has not admitted the blas phemy that he has lost his God. He expostulates with his too femi nine ' soul,' and calls upon ' her ' to hope still in God. Moanest upon me (see on v. 2). Similarly Keble. Comp. ' my heart moaneth unto me,' Jer. iv. 19. As the saviour, &c. We should have ex pected ' the lifter up of my counte nance,' i.e. ' him who causes me to see prosperity ' (iv. 7) ; so Keble, ' th' Enlightener of mine eye.' But the face (as the noblest visible part of the body (comp. Isa. iii. 15) re presents here the person (i.e. body and soul together, but with more emphasis on the body) ; rhythm was better served by yeshuath pdnai than by the shorter yeshuathi (just as Dante had to put le nostre persone for noi, Purg. xii. 108). The received text has ' thank him (for) the salvation (or, saving health) of his countenance ; ' the Hebrew construction in this case becomes extremely harsh. 7 With a pleasing variation the poet repeats his sad complaint, but at once betakes himself to a sure source of encouragement. In inter preting this passage, I follow the imitative writer of Jonah's psalm (see Jon. ii. 7). Even in the be ginning of his elegy, the retrospect of the past was not altogether depressing. In another equally plaintive psalm, too, though at first the poet ' can but moan ' when he ' thinks upon God ' — that God who seems to have ' cast off for ever' — yet soon afterwards a wider retro spect restores elasticity to his spirit (lxxvii. 4, 6-13). So here. Prayer has no obstacle but sin (Isa. lviii. 4) ; it can cross streams and pierce through mountain-walls. In the first strophe the poet was not as yet fully conscious of the benefits of memory ; but now he deliberately has recourse to it as a source of encouragement ; he has reached a higher spiritual level. This inter pretation, however, stands or falls with that of v. 9. If that verse (see note) relates to the past, it will seriously affect our rendering of v. 7. It is a fair inference from v. 6 that the poet as it were doubles his consciousness (comp. Isa. xxi. 6, 7), and regards his mental state as an outsider. Why sittest thou on that sea-girt rock, With downward look and sadly dreaming eye? he seems to say, like ' New Self in the Lyra Apostolica (No. lxxix.), and it may be that v. 7 contains the result of his enquiry, viz. that ' Old Self is sadly thinking of that God from whom locally he seems to be parted. The Hebrew has, ' therefore do I think upon thee ; ' but this means ' therefore it is clear that I am, or have been, thinking upon thee' (a thought which is a depressing one to a like-minded psalmist; see lxxvii. 4). Comp. xiv. 3, ' therefore ( = this can only be because) God hath blessed thee for ever;' and Isa. xxvi. 14, ' The dead live not . . . therefore thou hast visited and destroyed them,' PSALMS XLII. AND XLIII. 117 i.e. ' The " other lords " have passed into Sheol ; it is clear, then, that a divine punishment has overtaken them.' If we adopt this view, we shall, in deference to Western idiom, substitute ' because ' for 'therefore' (Hitzig, ' dieweil'). [Prof. Briggs would omit the open ing words, ' My soul,' &c. ; the distich thus becomes more symme trical. Prof. Bickell obtains the same result by omitting ' upon me ' and ' from the litde hill ' as inter polations.] From the land of Jordan, &c. He will not minimise his privations ; he counts the cost of his venture of faith. He is not indeed 'at the end of the earth,' and could easily be brought back to his heart's true home (see on xliii. 3). But this only aggravates his vexation. ' By the rivers of Babylon ' he would find it easier to be patient than in the neighbour hood of his own majestic mountains and swiftly flowing stream. We might also render ' since (I left) the land of Jordan and Hermonim ; ' or ' far from the land,' &c. In this case the writer may be supposed to be in a more distant place of exile (so Olshausen and Smend). But this is not the most obvious meaning of the Hebrew, and in a lyric composition we should prefer the easiest interpretation. The preposition ' from ' is chosen (rather than ' in ') with a subtle purpose. It suggests that the psalmist's faith will bridge over the interval be tween himself and the sanctuary : ' I can send my thoughts to thee from the distant frontier, even as thou canst send thy light and thy truth to me.' The phrase, the land of Jordan, &c, seems most natur ally explained of the north-eastern corner of Palestine near the lower slopes of Hermon, or, as it is here called, with an allusion to its three summits, Hermonim. There the writer is against his will detained, far from Jehovah's temple and sur rounded (it can scarcely be an anachronism to suppose) by the signs of fervent heathenism. ' There must be something,' observes Thom son, 'about this Upper Jordan and its surroundings particularly calcu lated to call out and foster the religious or the superstitious pro pensities of our nature.' The temples which crowd the region of Anti-Libanus with Hermon may be far more recent than our psalm, but they doubtless stand on holy sites of immemorial antiquity. But what is the meaning of the additional words, from the little mountain ? According to an old view, the ex pression is a disparaging one ; as Musculus puts it, ' Vocat ea mon- tana montem modicum respectu regni ac populi Dei ' (comp. Ixviii. 16, 17). But I do not believe any poet would have hinted disparage ment in this way at the end of a verse. One of the more recent theories 1 discovers in the words a covert reference to the physical insignificance of Mount Zion : Olshausen, to make the reference more distinct, proposes to read conjecturally ' mountain of (the solemn) assembly ' (comp. Isa. xiv. 13). In this case the entire land of Canaan is described by enume rating three of its most remarkable localities, the river Jordan, the Hermon range, and the temple mount. If either Tabor (lxxxix. 13) or Lebanon (Zech. x. 10) had been included, this view would be plau sible ; but as the passage stands, I can only regard it as a description of the extreme north of the trans- Jordanic region, admirably repro duced in Herder's version : — Und dennoch gramt sich rneine Seele noch ! So will ich denn auch hier an dich gedenken, Hier zwischen Berg und Strom, Am Jordan und den Hiigeln Libanus.2 The German poet, however, not only changes Hermon into Lebanon, 1 See Smend, Theol. Stud. u. Krit, 1884, p. 733 ; Halevy, Melanges de critique, p. 19. 2 Geist der ebraisclien Poesie, sect. a. n8 THE PSALMS but omits the 'little mountain.' The views already mentioned are no doubt inadequate to account for this phrase ; can any other be sug gested ? Can it mean one of the lower hills of the Hermon range, such, for instance, as the hill above Paneas, from which one of the finest prospects in Syria can be enjoyed,1 and near which the Jordan bursts forth from its two sources at Paneas and Tell el-Kadi ? Or some hill farther south, which would equally command a view of the snow-fields of Hermon ? Some may think this more probable than I do. To me this appendage to ' Hermonim ' seems a poetic loss. Unless the ' little mountain ' has a symbolic meaning, I wish it away. Can it have this symbolic meaning? Bottcher, Riehm, and Grill think so,2 ' Hermonim ' being, according to them, a poetic name for the ' mountains whence cometh my help' (cxxi. i), or, as it might be expressed, Hermon being the ad vanced guard of the ' mountains of Zion ' (comp. cxxxiii. 3), and ' the little mountain ' a symbol of the humiliation of the psalmist (the antithesis of the phrase in xxx. 8). In this case we should render, ' and (I think of) Hermonim from the little mountain.' But how can 'Jordan' be taken literally, and the following topographical features symbolically? On the whole, I cannot help suspecting a corrup tion, which, however, I have not the means of healing. 8 Flood calls unto flood, &C. A striking figurative description of a succession of calamities. ' Mis fortunes never come singly.' Each billow as it roars seems to call its fellow, and all alike to have come from no earthly fountain-head, but from ' the cataracts of heav'n set open ' (Paradise Lost, xi. 824-5). The climax is added by the state ment that all these heaven-sent ' breakers and billows ' have gone over the sufferer (a detail copied in Jon. ii. 4). These images might no doubt have occurred to any Hebrew poet (comp. xxxii. 6, lxix. 2, 3, lxxxviii. 8). They might be suggested by the sea, but also by the chief river of Israel — the Jor dan. Hengstenberg is perverse in denying this ; the mention of Jor dan in v. 7 renders the conjecture a natural one. The deafening mur mur with which this river dashes over the rocks in its meandering course amply justifies the descrip tive title tehom (see on lxxi. 20), and the expression 'breakers and billows' is surely applicable, not only to the sea, but to any stream which struck the poets as in any respect resembling the sea. 9 This verse is the happy re sult of calling Jehovah to mind ; the thought of that God who has before now revealed Himself in love has lifted the singer out of his despondency. V. 9, then, corre sponds to the second clause of v. 7, as v. 8 to the first. (' Yet ' is jus tified by ' therefore,' &c.) Unto his lovingkindness, personified as an angel (comp. xci. 11, and Farad. Lost, iii. 329). By day give charge, &c. 'Weeping may en dure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning ' (xxx. 6). A day of lovingkindness (shown in God's outward favours) will dawn again, and the night which follows on such a day will be vocal with praise. We thus obtain a parallel to the fine epithet of God in Job xxxv. 10, ' who giveth songs in the night.' The prayer spoken of in the last line will be that of praiseful recognition of God's lovingkind- nesses, which are ' new every morn ing' (Lam. iii. 22). It is tempting, no doubt, to emend tefillah ('prayer') into tehillah (' song ') ; comp. on Ixxii. 20. Tempting ; but unne cessary. Here, as in Hab. iii. 1, J Socin, Palastina und Syrien (Baedeker), p. 401 ; comp. Stanley, Sinai and Palestine, p. 398 (on Paneas). P- "5 '¦ See Riehm in Hupfeld s Psalmen, ii. 392 ; Grill, Der achtundsechzigste Psalm, PSALMS XLII. AND XLIII. 119 prayer is the name of a class of me- diative agencies pertaining to the in dividual, of which praise is one sub division, and supplication another (comp. on Ixv. 2, 3). This is in perfect accordance both with Bibli cal usage and with the primary idea of the Heb. tefillah. The songs of Hannah and of Jonah are intro duced by, ' And Hannah prayed,' ' And Jonah prayed' (1 Sam. ii. 1, Jon. ii. 1). And why not? The essential idea of tefillah is me diation or interpretation ; l prayer is in fact a provision of human nature for mediating between the individual and his God, and inter preting his religious feelings and longings. The objection to this view of the meaning of the verse is that the next verse seems like a specimen of the prayer referred to at the end of v. 9. But we may be deceived by appearances ; prayer means, as we have seen, not neces sarily supplication, but sometimes praise. We may, however, if we reject this sense of prayer, at least for this passage, render the second and third lines 'and in the night his song is with me, even a prayer unto the God of my life ; ' i.e. even now, in this night of affliction (comp. Isa. xxvi. 9). I can solace myself by singing my prayers or supplications (such as that which follows in v. 10) to my own per sonal God. This is less natural : ' by day ' and ' by night ' seem correlative, and together to mean 'continually' (cf. xcii. 3). We hardly ought to refer lines 1 and 2 to different points of time. A third view, not without some plausibility, is to refer the whole verse to time present ; this makes it a good match for v. 8, which describes the psalmist's present circumstances. We shall in this case render, ' By day doth Jehovah give charge,' &c, i.e. God still sends messages of love, though they have not yet been felt in the return of outward prosperity, and I therefore still send up songs of praiseful and ex pectant faith. Another lyric poet, in still more depressing times, ex claims, 'The lovingkindnesses of Jehovah, surely they are not con sumed '- (Lam. iii. 22). May not our psalmist, then, express the same confidence in his own more vivid style ? He might ; but not in the middle of his spiritual crisis. He still feels, in spite of his better self, as if God had forgotten him, and looks forward to praising God in the future (see the refrain vv. 6, 12, xliii. 6). According to a fourth view, the tenses in the translation should be in the past, — ' By day did Jehovah give charge,' &c. (viz. in the former happy times), and in the night was his song with me ! This is possible ; we thus obtain a parallel to the imperfects in v. 5. But the transition thus produced from v. 8 to v. 9 and from v. 9 to v. 10 is singularly abrupt. His song, i.e. a song of which He is the subject. The God of my life. A beautiful variation upon 'the living God' (v. 4). Comp. Sirach xxiii. 4, ' Father and God of my life.' 10 let me say. This is not one of those prayers which are also ' songs ' (v. 9) ; but an expostula tion broken by sobs, like xxii. 2. 1 1 As though they broke, &c. The expression is peculiar. Either the hurling of hostile re proaches is compared to the slash ing of a warrior with his sword (comp. Heb. iv. 12), or the mental pain which they cause to the pier cing sensation (Job xxx. 17) of a physical pain in the bones. (The two senses of rdcakh are ' dashing in pieces,' see lxii. 4 ; and ' killing,' Deut. xxii. 26 and elsewhere.) The latter view is recommended by the preposition ' in ; ' but may not this ' in ' be due to an accidental repetition on the part of the scribe (b're'cakh b'acmothai stands in the text)? The Sept., against Aquila and Symmachus, has no preposition. 1 See Delitzsch on Isa. i. 15. 2 Following the Sept., Targum, and Peshitto. 120 THE PSALMS 12 For Jehovah. So v. 6. The text has ' for Elohim ; ' can this be right — ' for Elohim ... as my Elo him'? Cf. xliii. 4, 5, and on lxxxii. i. XLIII. — I A loveless nation. Or, 'an impious nation,' but less suit ably to the parallelism. Probably the heathen oppressors of Israel are meant, whose ideal did not in clude humanity or the love of man as man. True, Israel's ideal had not always included this. Benevolence and mercifulness were features of the later Jewish character. See Pirke Abhoth v. 19, 'A good eye, &c, belong to the disciples of Abraham our father ; ' Be§ a (Talm. Bab.), 32 b, ' Everyone who is merciful towards his fellow-crea tures is certainly of the seed of Abraham our father, and every one who is not so is certainly not of his seed.' In short, duXaSeXdiia had widened into ikav6pamia. Comp. note on xii. 1. 3 Send forth, &c. God's light and truthfulness are personified ; comp. ' Frau Treue ' and ' Frau Wahrheit ' in old German poetry. One would take them for angels (see on xiii. 9). In fact, the angels are in course of becoming pure symbols. God is now more pre cious than any mere messenger of his. He is a God, however, who does not sit aloof, but is ever radiating 'light;' that is, loving kindness (see on lvii. 4) and 'truth ;' that is, all those blessings which He has promised, especially return from exile and the enjoyment of the temple services. 4 Upon the lyre. For in this land of exile we have hung up our lyres on the willows (cxxxvii. 1, 2). Theodoret's comment, who sup poses the psalmist to assume pro phetically the standpoint of the Babylonian exile. PSALM XLIV. 1 he prayer of the martyr-nation — oppressed, scattered, and insulted Israel, which feels itself, like Job its type, to be suffering innocently. A Maccabean date has most recent authority in its favour (cf. Ps. Ix., also in Book III., lxxiv., lxxix., Ixxx., and others) ; but at this point I can only glance here. 2 We have heard with our ears, Elohim, our fathers have rehearsed unto us, the work thou didst in their days, in the days of old. 3 With thy hand thou didst root up nations and plant them in, didst hew down peoples, and spread them abroad. 4 For they conquered not the land by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them : but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst pleasure in them. 5 Thou thyself art my King, O God ; command salvation for Jacob. 6 Through thee can we push down our foes, in thy name can we tread down our assailants. 7 For not in my bow do I trust, neither can my sword save me PSALM XLIV. 12 1 8 But thou hast saved us from our foes, and hast put them to shame that hated us. 9 We make our boast of Elohim all day long, and give thanks unto thy name for ever. io Yet thou hast cast off and hast disgraced us, and goest not forth with our hosts. 1 1 Thou causest us to turn back from the foe, and they that hate us plunder at their will. 12 Thou makest us like sheep for eating, and hast scattered us among the nations. 13 Thou sellest thy people cheaply, and hast not set their prices high. 14 Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbours, a mocking and a derision to those around us. 15 Thou makest us a byword among the nations, a shaking of the head among the peoples. 16 All the day long is my disgrace before me, and the shame of my face hath covered me. 1 7 At the voice of him that reproaches and reviles, at the mien of the enemy and the revengeful. 18 All this is come upon us ; yet have we not forgotten thee, nor become disloyal to thy covenant ; 19 Our heart hath not turned back, neither have our steps swerved from thy way, 20 That thou shouldest (therefore) have crushed us down into the place of jackals, and covered us with Hades gloom. 21 If we had forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to any strange god, 22 Would not Elohim search this out ? for he knows the secrets of the heart. 23 But nay ; for thy sake are we killed all the day long, we are accounted as sheep for slaughter. 24 Rouse thee, why sleepest thou, Jehovah ? awake, cast not off for ever. 25 Wherefore hidest thou thy face, forgetting our affliction and oppression ? 26 For our soul is bowed down to the dust, our body cleaves to the earth. 27 Arise to be our help, and set us free for thy lovingkindness' sake. 122 THE PSALMS 3 Spread them abroad. First, Israel is 'planted in;' next, its branches are ' spread abroad.' So Ixxx. 9, 12. 5 Sept. has, 2v el avrbs 6 Bao-iXeis pov Kal 6 Qeos pov, 6 ivTeXXopevos Tas o-aynjpias 'laKaff. Certainly a peti tion for deliverance seems to come too early ; but the order of thought in lyric poems is not always the logically natural one. Bickell, how ever, follows Sept. My King. The nation is involuntarily personi fied, as so often (cf. v. 7). Com mand, or, ' give a charge to.' ' Sal vation ' or ' full salvation ' (plur., a divine interposition being referred to, as xviii. 51 and lxxiv. 12, Isa. xxxiii. 6, but not Isa. xxvi. 18) is per sonified (cf. Ixviii. 29). 6 Push down, a metaphor from bulls (see Deut. xxxiii. 17, 1 Kings xxii. 11, Dan. xi. 40, and cf. Virg. ASn. xii. 720, &c.) 7 Save me, i.e. give me the victory (xx. 6, 10). 9 We make our boast, &c. So another plaintive psalm speaks of Jehovah as ' enthroned on the praises of Israel ' (xxii. 4). 10 Goest not forth, &c. So Ix. 12 ; cf. Ixviii. 8, Judg. iv. 14. 13 Thou sellest, &c. 'Thou dissolvest thy relation to thy people' (Deut. xxxii. 30, Isa. Iii. 3). There is probably no allusion here to the slavery into which many Jewish captives were sold (cf. Joel iii. 6). 17 At the mien, &c. This rendering is required to obtain a parallel to ' at the voice.' 18-23. This consciousness of (legal) righteousness seems to most to indicate the Maccabean period. The expressions remind us of lxix. 8 (see, however, on lxix. 6, 7). 20 (Therefore) ; i.e. as a punish ment for infidelity. We must supply this word. Into the place of jackals. This is scarcely a topo graphical reference, as Hitzig takes it, reminding us that jackals are still common in the region men tioned in 1 Mace. v. 56-61. ' The psalmist nowhere gets beyond a general description of the misery of himself and his people. He knew the prophets, and may have remembered the close of Jer. x. 22. 24 Why sleepest thou 7 Faith cannot dispense with symbols, and weak faith naturally falls into the worn-out symbols of a lower stage of religion (cf. 1 Kings xviii. 27). A ' full assurance of faith ' would have rejected the idea of Jehovah's sleeping (exxi. 4, note). The Phoe nicians represented El ("iXos) with eyes before and behind, ineiSrj koi- paipevos efiXe-ire, Kal iyprjyopa>s iKoi- paro (Philo Bybl., ap. Euseb. Prap. Ev. i. id). Similarly two late Biblical writers (Zech. iv. 10, 2 Chron. xvi. 9). But the Psalter was meant to be the record of all moods (cf. vii. 7, xxxv. 23, lix. 5, 6, Ixxviii. 65). PSALM XLV. VJOD's best gift to a fortunate king. A poem of lofty and yet elegant art, but wanting (the remark is Ewald's) in the fire and energy which mark the Davidic and Solomonic age. It may be called a mixture of the encomion proper and the epithalamion. But to what king is it addressed ? One translator, who, being no mean poet, has a special right to speak (Julius Hammer), evades this question as not affecting the enjoyment of the reader. But surely we cannot appreciate the poem without at least knowing how the historical allusions have been explained. The question is one with which exegesis is deeply concerned, and the data are entirely exegetical. Obviously the subject of the poem is the marriage of a great and warlike king to his principal wife, and if we explain ' daughter of 1 Hitzig thinks that the psalm was occasioned by the defeat of Joseph and Azarias, described in this passage. PSALM XLV. 123 Tyre' (v. 13) as a vocative, it determines the queen to be a Tyrian prin cess. Let us first of all accept this view of v. 13 a. Among all the kings of Israel and Judah, the only one whom we know to have been married to a Phcenician princess is Ahab (1 Kings xvi. 31). This is pointed out by Hitzig. Like the hero of our psalm, Ahab was a lover of luxury, and built himself an ivory palace (1 Kings xxii. 39) ; he was also not unsuccess ful in war (1 Kings xx.), and showed great courage in the battle in which he died (1 Kings xxii. 35). It is true that his weak, unsteady character led him into acts which the leading prophets could not condone (1 Kings xvi. 30, but comp. xxi. 27-29) ; but these acts were yet future, nor can we assume without proof that the psalmist would have expressed himself like the writer of 1 Kings xvi. 30. True, moreover, that v. 1 7 rather suggests a long line of royal ancestors ; but a poet would readily declare and believe that the ' fathers ' of the youthful Ahab were mighty and valiant men. Of course, no editor of temple-songs would have admitted such a poem into his collection, had he supposed that it referred to Ahab, or indeed to any king of (northern) Israel. But if he mistook the psalm for a hymn to some typi cally Messianic king of Judah, or why not say at once, to the Messiah of the future, he might well have admitted it, especially if he read v. 13 a in its present most probably corrupt form, misinterpreted by him. We know that the psalm was expounded of the Messiah by the Targum and many Jewish scholars (e.g. Kimchi). Would it surprise us to find a king of Israel described as the favourite of Jehovah, and in language elsewhere applied to kings of the Davidic house (cf. Isa. xvi. 5, Ps. lxxxix. 28) ? But ought it so to do ? Did not a prophet expressly sanction the kingdom of Jeroboam (1 Kings xi. 29-39 > cf. Hosea in the Cambridge Bible, p. 26) ? And why should we be reluc tant to admit that a pure marriage-song could have proceeded from the heretical north? Many regard the Song of Songs as describing the simple manners of the rural districts of the north, and we have no right to assume that moral decay was general as early as Ahab. The fact that such a prophet as Hosea was born in the north, proves the contrary. Nor may we ignorantly depreciate the youthful Ahab. This poem may have been an inspired appeal to him to walk worthily of his high calling. Still I confess that Jeroboam II. would please me better as a hero, partly because he was the greatest of the northern kings, and ' by his hand Jehovah saved Israel ' (2 Kings xiv. 27), and partly because Ps. xiv. and the Song of Songs may then, as it seems, be used for the purpose of mutual illustration. So Ewald, who finds the same king referred to in Ps. xxi. But Ewald cannot tell me who was Jeroboam II.'s wife ! But now suppose that (with Ewald himself) we accept a different view of v. 13 a. Then it becomes possible to refer the psalm to some king of Judah. Delitzsch thinks of Joram, the son of Jehoshaphat ; Gratz, para phrasing 'thy people' in v. 11 b by ' thy family' (cf. 2 Kings iv. 13), of Hezekiah.1 Delitzsch's view is certainly the more plausible. To whom would the warning in v. 1 1 b be more suitable than to Athaliah ? And if Tyre is mentioned as sending presents to Jerusalem, the Tyrian descent of Athaliah may perhaps account for this. The word ?J£> too in v. 10 a, if specially north- Palestinian, would be very appropriate to the daughter of Ahab. I confess that this latter argument seems to me to overshoot the mark. There are other words besides, or meanings of words (BTP, TTID, D'JD), which might plausibly be regarded as north-Palestinian (because possibly Aramaising), and which a bolder critic might even treat as indications of a post-Exile date (the king being some heathen king — some Ptolemy or 1 But would the favour of a Jewess (Hezekiah's wife) have been courted by foreigners ? 124 THE PSALMS Persian king, for instance — who was friendly to the Jews). To me, the most conservative view which is probable is either Hitzig's or Ewald's. But the question must be treated again under a more comprehensive heading. For my own part, I have no doubt that the psalm was preserved in the Psalter on the theory of its original Messianic reference — a theory which few will maintain now. Wetzstein's theory that the songs in the Shir ha- Shirim were admitted into the Canon as models of worthy marriage-songs may at least suggest a reason for the retention both of Canticles and of Ps. xiv. in our Bible. It is in fact most instructive to see how loftily even a Hebrew court-poet thinks of the institution of marriage. ' Und wer das Alte Testament von einem freiern Gesichtspunkt auffasst, sei er Theolog oder bloss Literator, um keinen Preis ein so seltenes Stiick des hebra- ischen Alterthums missen wollen ; denn unstreitig wirft das Niedere ein Licht zuriick auf das Hohere.' These are the words of Ewald, full of youthful fire, in ed. I of his work on the Psalms. The traditional Chris tian application, whether of single verses or of the whole psalm, cannot here be examined (see Calvin and Delitzsch) ; I am here confined to the historical meaning. But how striking, in the light of the history of the retribution-doctrine, is Gregory VII.'s application of v. 8 to himself. The sense does not seem to me to favour Bickell's division of the psalm into five strophes of eight lines each. How, for instance, can we break up vv. 4-8 ? 2 My heart bubbles with goodly words ; I address my work unto the king : be my tongue the pen of a ready scribe ! 3 Beauteous art thou, beauteous, above the sons of men ; grace is shed over thy lips : therefore God has blessed thee for ever. 4 Gird thy sword upon thy thigh, thou hero, even thy glory and thy grandeur. 5 * * ride on, press through, in behalf of good faith, righteousness, and humbleness, and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things. 6 Let thine arrows be sharp, [thou hero,] in the heart of the king's enemies ; let the peoples fall under thee. 7 As for thy throne, [firm is its foundation,] God [has established it] for ever and ever : a sceptre of equity is the sceptre of thy kingdom. 8 Thou lovest righteousness and hatest iniquity, therefore Jehovah, thy God, has anointed thee with the oil of joy above thy fellows. 9 Myrrh and aloes (and) cassia are all thy garments, out of the ivory palace stringed instruments make thee glad. 10 Kings' daughters are among thy favourites : upon thy right hand stands the consort in gold of Ophir. PSALM XLV. 125 13 Hearken, O daughter, and behold, and incline thine ear ; forget also thine own people, and thy father's house ; And when the king longs after thy beauty (for he is thy lord), bow down unto him. [And unto thee] shall they [come], O daughter of Tyre, with gifts, the richest of people shall sue for thy favour. 14 All glorious is the king's daughter ; of pearls in ouches of gold is her clothing. In broidered apparel is she led along unto the king : a train of virgins her companions is brought unto thee ; Led along with all joy and exultation, they enter into the king's palace. 15 16 1 7 Instead of thy fathers shall be thy children, whom thou mayest make princes in all the earth. 18 I will celebrate thy name throughout all generations, therefore shall the peoples give thanks unto thee for ever and ever. 2 Thepoetfeels himself inspired, but as yet feeling is in excess of judgment. Words crowd in upon his mind, but require to be artfully arranged, for he bethinks himself that he is to celebrate a king. A ready scribe (cf. Ezra vii. 6, A.V. ) De Witt (with Sept), 'a swift writer ; ' i.e. the poet says he can improvise the beautiful lines which follow as fast as the nimblest pen can write. Hitzig thinks the allu sion is to calligraphy. If so, the singer compares the choice form of his poem to the elegant characters of a master-scribe. But would not this better suit an Arabic writer ? 3 Beauteous art thou . . . Comeliness being one important attribute of a king (comp. Isa. xxxiii. 17, 'the king in his beauty') ; still more of a royal bridegroom. Above the sons of men. Comp. I Sam. ix. 2, x. 23. Grace is shed, &c. ' Words of grace ' (Luke iv. 22) proceed from lips about which a smile plays. Therefore, expressing the poet's inference from the noble appearance of the king. For ever. See introduction to Ps. xxi. 4-6 The mention of the king's graciousness suggests that of his chivalrous prowess. He smiles on the righteous, but frowns on the oppressor. The poet imagines him taking the field, and calls upon him to exhibit himself in the truly royal light of a defender of the innocent. Comp. Milton's noble application of the passage, Paradise Lost, vi. 710-4. 4 Thou hero. As xxiv. 8. Or, ' thou valiant one ' (as xix. 6). Thy glory and thy grandeur. These are divine attributes (see on xxi. 6), and communicate a divine force to the king's weapons. In short, they are his true panoply. Nothing is said of the king's men of war. He is filled with the spirit of Rameses,as described by another ' skilful scribe ' (Pentaur) ; ' I am with thee, I, thy father Ra : my hand is with thee. I am worth to thee a hundred thousand joined in one ' (Records of the Past, ii. 70). 5 The received text repeats ' And thy grandeur.' We could understand this, if the king's gran deur or splendour (taking this in a weakened sense of the king's splen did weapons) stood in any real re lation to the following verbs — if, for 126 THE PSALMS instance, we could render, with Ewald, 'and clad with thy gran deur' (an anadiplosis like that in xciii. i). De Witt's ' In thy splen dour ride on to victory ' requires the insertion of a preposition. In behalf of good faith, &c. The king is to take the field against all oppression both within and without Israel's boundaries. He is to pro tect the faithful as opposed to liars and deceivers, the righteous as op posed to breakers of the law, and the humble as opposed to the proud. ' Good faith ' or ' truthfulness ' is, strictly speaking, a department of ' righteousness,' just as ' humbleness (of mind) ' is a condition of that ' righteousness ' which Jehovah loves x (so that a prophet can say, ' seek righteousness, seek humble ness,' Zeph. ii. 3). On the concep tion of 'andvdh (idealised poverty) in passages like this, see on ix. 13. Others suppose the three qualities named to belong to the king — ' be cause of (thy) faithfulness, justice, and condescension' (cf. for this last xviii. 37, Zech. ix. 9) ; this view, like the former, assumes a transposition. The received text, however, gives one simple and one compound virtue — ' faithfulness and humbleness-innocence ' (or, ' con descension-justice,' if the king be referred to). There being no com plete parallel in Hebrew for an ap position of this kind, one might follow out the hint given in the points, and read 'anvath ; this, how ever, gives an unsuitable sense, ' righteous humbleness ' or ' just condescension,' and it is much sim pler to assume a transposition as above.2 Terrible. The word is poor ; we might paraphrase ' fear ful-glorious ' (see on Ixv. 6). 6 let the peoples, &c. Cer tainly an idealistic but not a self ishly patriotic hope. The poet longs for an universal empire of truth and goodness, and by a bold anticipation awards this empire to the king whose prowess he cele brates. 7 Thy throne, &c. If we ac cept the text, ' Elohim ' may (1) here be a title of the king. In defence of this, observe that the title Elohim is applied to the judicial authority (Ex. xxi. 6, xxii. 8), to Moses (Ex. vii. 1), and to the apparition of Samuel (1 Sam. xxviii. 13), and that a prophet, looking into the future, declares the Davidic family to be ' as Elohim, as the (or, an) angel of Jehovah ' (Zech. xii. 8). Again, in a Temanite inscription, discovered by Dr. Euting, we find ]nha used for 'princes,' and HTVti in a Palmy- rene (Neubauer, Studia Biblica, p. 212). This use of the word was therefore a Semitic idiom. The one conclusive objection to this view is, that in the very next verse ' Elohim ' is used with distinct and sole reference to Jehovah (unless indeed with St. Jerome and Bishop Pearson we take ' Elohim ' there too as a vocative3) — a use which corresponds to the pervading ten dency of the Korahite psalms. It would be unnatural to interpret the word differently here. Or (2), 'Elohim' may be the predicate, the noun, however, which is the subject forming an unexpressed ele ment in the predicate ; comp. 'thine eyes are doves' (Cant i. 15), for ' eyes of doves.' Thus, ' thy throne is God ' will be equivalent to ' thy throne is God's throne,' i.e. as per manent as God's throne. But this 1 Cf. A. Ritschl, Die Lehre der Rechtfertigung, &c. , ii. 564. 2 Some will ask, Why not adopt A.V.'s rendering (cf. Sept.), ' and meekness (and) righteousness,' the construction being as in v. 9 al Because this spoils the rhythm of the verse, as the authors of the points appear to have felt. 3 Pearson, ' Being those words are spoken unto God as well as of God ' (An Exposition of the Creed, 1676, p. 98). Of course we might equally well say, ' unto the king as well as of the king,' and Pearson himself admits that there may be a reference to the anointing of a king of Israel (Solomon). St. Jerome, • Satis miror cur Aquila non, ut cceperat in primo versiculo [6 Spoi/ot a>m]o-e Qebs pampeo-o-iv avdo-o-av. And called the earth. Not to be judged, but to witness the judgment of the covenant-people (v. 5). 2 The perfection of beauty. As Lam. ii. 15 (comp. 1 Mace. ii. 12). For the idea, see on xlviii. 3. 3 "Will come, as a judge. This is the object of the bright radiance (v. 2). May not . . . because the occasion is so great. Literally, ' let him not . . .' It is the vehe ment protest of the emotional na ture against a grievous evil. See xxxiv. 6, xii. 3, exxi. 3, Isa. ii. 9. Comp. also the phrase common in Arabic elegies, la tab'ad, ' die not,' and the beginning of the 37th elegy in the Ha?ndsa (Freytag, p. 405), ' Let not God cause to die (la yub'id) our brothers who are de ceased.' 5 The ministers of justice are to gather God's duteous loving ones (see on xii. 2), i.e. not, as in xii. 2, Israelites worthy of the name, but all those who are outwardly at least servants of Jehovah. (See further on vv. 16, 23.) There being no special indication of a Macca- bean date, I abstain from comparing 1 Mace. ii. 42, vii. 13, 2 Mace. xiv. 6 (where the Asidasans — ' every one who offered himself freely for the law '—are the strict Jehovists who rallied round Judas the Maccabee). A mutual relation of 'lovingkind ness' (khe'sed) between Jehovah and His servants, arising out of the ' cove nant ' between them, entitles us to call either party by the title khdsidh, khasidhirn. Jehovah is khdsidh (cxiv. 17, Jer. iii. 12). Levi is khasidh (in connexion with a reli gious ' covenant,' Deut. xxxiii. 9) ; the whole people, and each of its righteous members, is khdsidh (xvi. 10, 1. 5, and nineteen other psalm- passages). The second half of v. 3 emphasises the connexion of the 1 On this point, see Noldeke, ' Ueber den Gottesnamen ^,'in Monatsberichte der Akademie d. W. zu Berlin, 1880, p. 760, &c. ; Friedrich Delitzsch, Wo lag das Parodies ? 1881, p. 165 ; D. H. Miiller's paper on ^x and n^N among the Sabeans in the Proceedings of the 6th International Congress of Orientalists ; Lagarde, Mitthei- lungen, 1884, p. 94, &c. 2 The Ethiopic amldk ' God' is a pure collective form. 142 THE PSALMS ideas of covenant ' and lovingkind ness, with the addition — somewhat strange in the light of vv. 14, 23 — of the words with sacrifice. It is not enough to explain these words by a reference to Ex. xxiv. 5. Clearly they are ironical (comp. Isa. xiii. 19). Jehovah, who at the out set permitted the great covenant of blood, still tolerates the sacrifices by which the covenant is continu ally renewed.1 Sacrifice is a form of devotional expression, but how childish a form ! ' Ye have been very zealous,' He seems to say, ' about something which I enjoined not (Jer. vii. 22, Isa. xliii. 23 ; cf. lxvi. 3) ; but ye have not been equally careful about that which I did enjoin.' 6 The heavens declare His righteousness. Why ? Because Jehovah stands in a quasi-legal re lation to Israel, and before He can judge, a witness must guarantee His perfect righteousness. 7-15 The continuation of this dramatic scene scarcely answers to the commencement. The judgment seems to be adjourned, or it is left to the conscience of the defendants (Jehovah is both plaintiff and judge). The speech which follows is an ex position of the claims of Jehovah, which is substantially equivalent to the first table of the Decalogue, and which, like the Decalogue (Ex. xx. 2), begins with the solemn assertion, Jehovah thy God am I. Comp. lxxxi. n, and (for the reading) see on xiv. 8. The greater part of this passage is strongly ironical. In stead of bringing definite charges against the people, Jehovah states what the subject of reproof is not, viz. the due performance of sacrifi cial rites. Much has been said by commentators on this and similar passages (e.g. Hos. vi. 6, Isa. i. 11- 13, Mic. vi. 6, 7, Jer. vii. 22) on the relation of the higher teachers of Israel to animal sacrifices. It seems to me certain that neither the prophets nor the wise men (see Prov. xxi. 3) regarded these as ideally good. The spiritual mean ing of the sacrificial system cannot have been recognised by them. Probably they considered it a means of keeping up the religious sentiment adapted only to less noble spirits. The psalmist, at any rate, as it seems to me, not only with the greatest emphasis denies that God (as some undeveloped minds imagine2) requires nourish ment, but reveals a sympathetic interest in the animal creation (cf. Ps. ciii.), which is hardly consistent with a cordial endorsement of the principle of animal sacrifice. I speak with hesitation, but my phrase 'hardly consistent' may be defended by the obvious indifference of the wise men as a class (except Sirach) to the sacrificial system. The speech concludes with a restate ment of Jehovah's ancient promise of protection together with its con ditions. Thus far the divine speaker has confined Himself to these for mal but not openly ungodly wor shippers who formed (perhaps) the larger part of Israel. 10 Upon the mountains of Cod (xxxvi. 7). Although God Himself is speaking, the phrase is not from a Hebrew point of view objectionable (see vv. 14, 23). The received text is perplexing. The easiest rendering is, perhaps, ' upon the mountains where thousands are' (so Hupfeld) ; or, by altering one point, we might render the text, ' upon my mountains by thousands ' (Bredenkamp). The Sept may seem to have read differently ; it renders the line, kttjvtj iv vols opeo-i koX fides (comp. viii. 8, Heb.) But every view both of text and of 1 So Jeremiah (in spite of the strong words in Jer. vii. 22) concedes the practice ot sacrifice in Jer. xvii. 26, xxxi. 14, xxxiii. n, though not its divine origin (see the exposition of Jer. vii. 22 in the Pulpit Commentary). 2 This gross theory, repudiated by our psalmist, survives in the phraseology of Leviticus (iii. n, xxi. 8, 17, 21). Expressions like the 'food of Jehovah' can only have been derived from consecrated traditional formulas. The compiler or compilers of Leviticus had a different view of sacrifice from our psalmist (see end of note on vv. 16-21), but are not to be held responsible for the invention of such phrases. PSALM L. 143 construction seems awkward but that suggested by Olshausen and adopted above. 1 1 The roamers of the plain (viz. either ' that which moves to and fro,' or ' that which comes forth abundantly '). So in another Asaph- psalm (Ixxx. 14). 14 Thanksgiving and the per formance of vows, the (only) true sacrifice (so xl. 7, 10, li. 17, iS, and perhaps lxix. 31, 32). The expres sions are synonymous ; see xxii. 26, Ixi. 9. ' Vowing ' has become spiri tualised ; comp. Hos. xiv. 2.1 16-21 Israel's judge, who has (it would seem) severed the imper- fectiy good from the bad, now ad dresses Himself to the latter. This time the subject of reproof is speci fied — viz. the neglect of the simplest moral duties. In short, the second table of the Decalogue is virtually expounded. Observe that the class now addressed is not composed of paganisers ; it is as familiar with the ' covenant ' as the former class. I mean that the reference to the covenant links the ' ungodly ' who are addressed here to the formal but (as it would seem) not ungodly worshippers who are indirectly and with gentie irony reproved in vv. 7-13. But besides the ' covenant ' we find that in this verse the ' sta tutes ' of Jehovah are spoken of. Bredenkamp thinks that from the whole tenor of the psalm these ' statutes ' must include ordinances respecting ritual, and consequently denies that the first part of Jeho vah's address can possibly mean to disparage sacrifice in itself. The answer is that the psalmist, like Jeremiah, draws a distinction be tween more and less important ' sta tutes.' There is much in Deutero nomy (which substantially, I sup pose, represents the ' covenant ' here referred to) which is simply adopted from current sacerdotal tradition ; there is much also which proceeded from a direct revelation, whether to ' Moses ' of old or to his late prophetic successor. The two tables, called the 'tables of the covenant,' are what the psalmist is especially thinking of. These, and the prophetic enforcements of these in Deuteronomy and Jeremiah, are the ' words ' which the ' ungodly ' is accused of 'casting behind him,' instead of keeping them in his heart (xl. 9, Deut. vi. 6). According to this compendium of the covenant, there is but one indispensable re ligious form, the observance of the Sabbath ; sacrifices are omitted, as belonging to purely natural religion and supremely unimportant from the point of view of the searcher of hearts (Jer. xvii. 10). Of course, the formalists, both the moderately good and the openly bad, gave a different interpretation to the ' sta tutes ' and the 'covenant.' This seems to be ironically alluded to by the divine speaker, who is however far from endorsing it. By the phrases, my statutes and my covenant, then, I understand that part of the Law which the ungodly man regarded as in a special sense divine appointments, and by my words those ' weightier matters ' which he spoke of but little and practised still less. The expressions are not synonymous, but antithe tical. This is confirmed by the use of the term correction (v. 17 a), which clearly expresses the aim and object of the divine words (v. 17 b). The true ' statutes ' of Jeho vah are those upon which both public and private morality depend ; they of course include the fear of God, but prescribe no fixed form of worship. The authors of the Levi tical legislation of course thought otherwise ; they must have written subsequently to our psalmist in a different set of providential circum stances. 18-20 Transgressions of the seventh, sixth, and eighth com mandments. The ' brother ' in v. 20 is any fellow-Israelite (for 'mother,' comp. Isa. 1. 1). To ' push ' or ' overthrow ' is to oppress in the forms of justice. 1 Against this view, however, see Bredenkamp, Gesetz und Propheten (1881), p. 64. 144 THE PSALMS 23 b For the received text, see xx. 7), but rather (note the Hebrew R.V. (text and margin ; the latter idiom, more fully rendered at xci. follows Del.) It may be rendered 16) some grand interposition of Je- literally, ' whoso lays down a way,' hovah, placing His people in a state but does this fit the context ? See of perfect happiness (comp. on Isa. crit. note. The ' salvation ' spoken xii. 2). It is a greater promise than of is no small temporary victory (as v. 15. PSALM LI. Devotion has its own canons of exegesis. But reverence for historical truth, which is equivalent to reverence for the ways of God, bids us en quire into the original meaning of this most sacred lyric. First of all, however, we must ask, Do the two closing verses belong strictly to the psalm, or are they a later addition ? Upon the answer depends in no slight degree our view of the meaning of the psalm. Assuming the former alternative, the psalmist holds a different theory of sacrifice from the writer of Ps. 1. Sacrifices fell through during the Exile, but as soon as Jerusalem was rebuilt, legally correct offerings would again be brought to the temple. I cannot help referring to the beautiful Jewish service for the Day of Atonement. This liturgy expresses the feelings of pious Jews during their second great Exile, and it does so in language borrowed from Ps. li. — ' O rebuild (the temple) speedily, and then will we prepare the offerings en joined upon us.' Meantime, how is God to be propitiated ? The answer is that repentance (t'shiibdh) is tantamount to burnt-offerings. ' There would be no end,' it adds, to the burnt offerings for our debts, and no number to the sweet savours for our guilt.' In the same spirit the Unity Hymn quotes Ps. 1. 8 and Jer. vii. 22, and adds these lovely lines : ' I will build thee an altar with my broken heart, and will also break my spirit within me. The shreds (lit, breakings) of my spirit are thy sacrifices ; may they come up acceptably on thine altar.' The interpretation of the psalm adopted in this liturgy is precisely that advocated by Dr. Robertson Smith in his first volume of lectures.1 It is at first sight commended by the connexion of thought which early readers must surely have found between vv. 18, 19 and vv. 20, 21. That con nexion is subtle and beautiful ; too subtle as I think for the author of this psalm, who would have expressed his idea more plainly, but not too subtle nor too beautiful, for those editors of the religious classics of Israel who as I have said before, had some at least of the qualities and the gifts of their more inspired predecessors.2 Assuming the latter alternative, we find a beautiful progress in the three kindred psalms — xl., 1., and li. The first merely says, Obedience is better than sacrifice ; the second adds that prayer and thanksgiving are essential to true worship ; the third, that, since Israel and each Israelite are sinners, they must be forgiven before they can obey or praise, and that God will forgive them, not for sacrifices, but for heartfelt repentance. Perfect obedience is impossible ; but, as a Jewish doctor expresses it, ' that which God declares to be a defect in an animal sacrifice, He accounts an advantage in the heart-sacrifice of a man.' s The view which has been indicated above seems to have been antici pated by Theodore of Mopsuestia, who is thus epitomised by Bar Hebraeus :4 ' (This psalm was) spoken with reference to the people in Babylon, which 1 The Old Testament in tlie Jewish Church, p. 416. - The Prophecies of Isaiah, ed. 3, pp. 228, 229. 5 So Holdheim (Predigten, i. 86) paraphrases a sentence in Wayikra rabba, c. 7 4 See Baethgen in Stade's Zeitschrifl, 1885, p. 95. PSALM LI. 145 confesses its sins, and prays forgiveness and the cessation of its exile.' He weakens the sense of v. 6 a, however, by explaining, ' against thee alone, and not against the Babylonians.' The affinity of the poem to the Second Isaiah cannot be overlooked. 3 Have pity upon me, Elohim, according to thy lovingkindness : according to thy plenteous compassions wipe out mine offences. 4 'Wash me throughly and oft from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. 5 For I myself acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is continually before me. 6 Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done that which is evil in thine eyes, that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear what time thou judgest. 7 Behold, in iniquity was I brought forth, and in sin did my mother conceive me. 8 Behold, thou desirest truth in the dark places, therefore in the secret place make me to know wisdom. 9 Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean ; wash me throughly, and I shall be whiter than snow. 10 Fill me with mirth and gladness, that the bones thou hast crushed may thrill with joy. 1 1 Hide thy face from my sins, and wipe out all mine iniquities. 12 Create me a clean heart, O God, and renew within me a stedfast spirit. 13 Cast me not away from thy presence, and take not thy holy spirit from me. 14 Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with a willing spirit. 15 Then will I teach transgressors thy ways, and sinners shall turn back unto thee. 16 Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, Jehovah, my saviour-God, and my tongue shall ring out thy righteousness. 1 7 O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall publish thy praise. 18 For thou hast no pleasure in sacrifices, that I should present them, burnt offerings [and whole burnt offerings] thou favourest not. 1 9 The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a crushed heart, O God, thou canst not despise. 20 Do good in thy favour unto Zion ; build thou the walls of Jerusalem. 146 THE PSALMS 2 1 Then wilt thou be pleased with the right sacrifices, burnt offering and whole burnt offering ; then will they offer bullocks upon thine altar. 3 The first plea for pardon — God's lovingkindness (implying the ex'stence of a 'covenant') ; comp. xxv. 6. 4 Wash me throughly (so v. 9), like a fuller, irXivov (Sept), not viyjrov (Duport). 5 The second — the sinner's sin cere confession. Comp. xxxii. 5, and, for the form of expression in b, xxxviii. 18, xliv. 16. 6 The third — God permitted, or even caused transgressions. ' Against thee, thee only ' is not said to enhance the gravity of the sin, but to enforce a humble appeal for mercy. God made that holy law which Israel has broken ; He placed Israel in circumstances too difficult forhim. Therefore, against thee, thee only, have I sinned, that thou mightest be justified, &c. (Not, in this context, to be weakened into ' so that thou art,' &c.) Clearly Israel is suffering under God's judgment, and in his physical and mental agony he can not choose his words. Another spokesman of the Jewish Church used equal freedom of speech — 1 Why hast thou hardened our heart so as not to fear thee?' (Isa. Ixiii. 17). But this free language involves a plea for pardon with both speakers. ' It is thine own doing at least in part. Our freedom has been im perfect ; we have been tethered by divine predestination.1 We have not been able to resist the stream of circumstance. We have done wrong ; thou art sure to be just in thy sentence. But since thou art partly the cause of our wrong-doing, deal gently with us.' The speaker is clearly Israel personified, or one who feels himself entirely united to his people in guilt and punishment. No other speaker could say, ' Against thee, thee only.' [Comp. Rom. iii. 5. The supposed objector there assumes that God is unjust in punishing. The psalmist would urge, not that God has been unjust in punishing, but that He would be not just, i.e. not Jehovah, if He did not ' in the midst of wrath remem ber mercy.'] Be clear, viz. in the eyes of the world. Sept., viktjojjs (iv r<5 Kplveo-6al ere), giving the verb an Aramaising sense. The radical idea of a clear bright light may in fact equally well develope into that of glory or of victory (comp. n/cakh, 1 Sam. xv. 29) 7 The fourth — man's natural liability to sin. Yes ; it is again a plea for pardon that we have before us, and Calvin errs in declaring that this view of the passage makes the psalmist into a hypocrite, who seeks to evade a just judgment by mini mising his guilt. Nowhere does the speaker extenuate his faults ; but nowhere does he think of his God as other than a kindly and considerate judge ('judge' indeed is a poor makeshift word to describe the relation of the covenant-God to his offending but repentant people). In his horror at the idea of 'extenuation,' Calvin rushes to the other extreme, and speaks of ' amplification ' — ' quin potius ad amplificandam malorum suorum gravitatem a peccato or ginali ducit exordium . . . illustre testimoni um de peccato originali, quo Adam totum humanum genus implicuit' Not so ; the O.T. contains no theory whatever on the origin of sin. Gen. iii. simply relates a fact ; at any rate, it stands by itself, and is no where referred to again in the O.T. (Hos. vi. 7, Isa. xliii. 27, Job xxxi. 33 are not proofs to the contrary). All that the speaker means (and is not that a sad confession enough ?) is that he belongs to an erring race and drew his first breath in sin. So far as he is an individual, he re- 1 Later Jewish theology recognises the coexistence of predestination and free-will. R. Akiba said, ' Everything is foreseen, and free-will is granted ' (Pirke Aboth, iii. 15). PSALM LI. 147 calls the fact that his own mother, and that mother's mother, sinned ; ' so far as he represents the nation, that Israel from the first was prone to infidelity (see Isa. xlviii. 8). Upon the latter view, the 'mother' is an altogether ideal person (as we speak of our ' mother-country '), and to be explained as in xxii. 10, 11, 1. 20, lxxi. 6, Isa. 1. 1 ; this indeed is chiefly in the speaker's mind, so that the passage is virtually equiva lent to xxv. 7. I say, ' virtually,' because what is there ascribed to Israel, is here predicated of the contemporary Israel's ' mother,' i.e. of the nationality. [There is a note worthy discussion of this passage in J. Mutter's classic work, The Ch?is- tian Doctrine of Sin, ii. 274-5. He says that it may he understood either ' as affirming that the mother, in conceiving and bearing children, is tainted with iniquity and sin ; or that man, from the beginning of his existence, from conception onwards, is in a state of sin and iniquity.' The former view, he says, contra dicts the moral teaching of the O.T., especially the divine ordinance of marriage in Gen. i. 28. He thinks that it weakens the passage to assi milate it to xxii. 10, 11, lviii. 3, lxxi. 6 ; but it is rather he who weakens these passages by his inadequate explanation of them as ' proverbial or figurative.' Comp. also Ewald (Die Lehre der Bibel von Gott, iii. 147, note 4), who however misses the national reference of the psalm, though the ' Second Isaiah ' repeat edly speaks of the persistent sinful ness of Israel from the first, Isa. xliii. 27, xlviii. 8, lvii. 3.] 8 The fifth — God's own pleasure in true inward religion. This verse is in antithesis to the foregoing. Two things are too obvious to be contradicted — that human nature is deeply ingrained with sin, and that God would have it as deeply pene trated with 'truth 'or 'stability.' This comprehensive word means here not merely a true recognition of our sinfulness (Tholuck), but a stable, truthful character, one rooted in the fear of God and moulded by His in dwelling law (xl. 9), which is 'truth' (cxix. 142), in contrast to that of the ungodly, who are ' like the troubled sea,' and false to the only standard of right The controlling principle of such a character is called ' wis dom,' i.e. the fear of God (cxi. 10 ; comp. xc. 11, 12). In the latter part of the verse the psalmist passes again into the language of prayer (the imperfect is an optative), but he expressly bases his petition on God's known desire for true inward religion. 9, 10 First, purification ; then a joy with no undertone of sadness. V. 10 reflects its sweetness on v. 9 : ' Asperges tne si dolcemente udissi,' &c. (Dante, Purg. xxxi. 98). With hyssop. Which plant, or plants, may be designated by 'ezobh (which, received from the Phoeni cians, became vo-oanos) need not here be decided. The allusion is, not to the plant as such, but to the legal rite of purification (Lev. xiv., Num. xix.) Wash me, &c. Sin is too deeply ingrained for the sin ner himself to efface it ; God Him self must do this wonder (see also on v. 4). For the phraseology comp. Job ix. 30, and still more Isa. i. 18, where there is also a certain incomplete parallelism of sense (see my note, ad loc.) Observe, the psalmist presupposes the deepened intuitions of Jeremiah (see Jer. ii. 22, xiii. 23). Pill me with mirth. The text has, ' Make me to hear of mirth,' i.e. ' send me a message of glad tidings.' But the form of expression is too strange ; Pesh. has preserved the original reading (see crit. note). The bones which thou hast crushed. The ' bones ' represent the whole nature of man (see on vi. 2) ; ' crushed ' points on to v. 19, and reminds us also of xxxviii. 9, xliv. 20. 1 1 It is not enough that to earthly eyes he may be whiter than the driven snow. His sins must be as though they had not been for God Himself. Hide thy face, &c. , viz. that Thou mayest not see my 1 He does not make any such abstract statement as that in Job xiv. 4. L 2 148 THE PSALMS sins (comp. xc. 8). Riehm, on the ground of Hebrew usage, explains differently — that my sins personified may not see Thee and accuse me before Thee.1 In either case, for giveness is referred to a free act of divine grace ; but the former seems the more natural interpretation. 12 ' Thou art a God that doest wonders. Therefore do more than forgive, do more than cleanse ; make me a new as well as a clean heart, as the central organ of my moral and religious life' (see on cii. 19 and comp. Ezek. xi. 19, xxxvi. 26, Jer. xxiv. 7). Observe that ' heart ' and ' spirit' are parallel, both here and in ». 19 ; so too lxxviii. 8 (comp. 37), where, by the way, the equivalence of the ideas of the words rendered respectively 'truth' (v. 8) and ' stedfast ' (in this verse) is apparent. ' Heart,' like ' soul,' emphasises the individual side of a man's life ; ' spirit,' its divine or at least preternatural side. ' Stedfast- ness ' is a quality which is equally manifested in obedience (lxxviii. 37 b ; comp. 1. 16 b) and in trustful ness towards God (cxii. 7 b). 13 He asked in v. 12 for purity of heart ; he now completes the pe tition (xi. 7, Matt. v. 8). That gift would be precious, as bringing him near to God, whereas exclusion from God's presence would prove that the gift was denied. But how could such a gift and such a station be preserved ? Only by the spirit of Jehovah's holiness. The ' spirit ' is here evidently more than a mere influence ; it is an undefinable something which represents or makes effectual the presence of God. So in Isa. lxiii. 9, 10 the 'angel of God's face ' (or, presence) is paral lel to ' the spirit of his holiness.' But why is the special epithet 'holy' added to ' spirit ' ? Jehovah is holy in two senses, as separate from creaturely weakness and impurity, and as devotedly attached to Israel. This double meaning explains Hos. xi. 9, ' the Holy One in the midst of thee,' which says more than ' Israel's Holy One.' But the latter sense predominates in the phrase ' holy spirit ' in Isa. lxiii. 10, II (see my notes), and this determines the primary meaning here. The psalm ist's petition relates in the first in stance to the confirmation to Israel of the gift of Jehovah's felt presence. And yet the context shows that it includes a prayer for the assimila tion of Israel and of each good Israelite to Jehovah. Observe that v. 12 refers more prominently to the individual Israelite ; v. 13 to the Israelites collectively. In the for mer we hear of a (divinely renewed) human spirit ; in the latter, of the (humanly tabernacled) divine spirit. In the former, the psalmist asks for a new gift ; in the latter for the confirmation of an old one. 14 Salvation (yesha') has not quite the same full significance as in 1. 23 ; but here too outward blessings are at any rate included. Sin is attended by chastisement ; forgiveness by an equally visible deliverance. So it is with the indi vidual ; so also with the nation. The psalmist, even if referring to his own sins and chastisements, re gards them as shared by every other Israelite. The burden of guilt removed, he (and such as he) can obey the divinely given impulse, walking in the ways of God. ¦ A willing spirit, or, a spirit of willingness, of spontaneous motion towards goodness — ' the princely heart of innocence' (Keble). 1 5 Personal experience, the text of a sermon addressed not to be lievers (as xxii. 23, xxxii. 6, 8), but to sinners. The speaker is one of those who ' turn many to righteous ness ' (Dan. xii. 3), and is not ne cessarily a prophet. 16 The Hebrew writers are wont to specify some typical sin or sins, where we should rather employ a generic term. Thus, ' your hands are full of bloodshed ; ' ' they build up Zion with bloodshed ; ' ' for his unjust gain I smote him' (Isa. i. 15, Mic. iii. 10, Isa. lvii. 17 ; see notes). Another peculiarity of theirs is to speak of sins, when they mean 1 Der Begriff der SUhne im ,A T., p. 8, n. 2. PSALM LI. 149 rather the punishments of sins (see, xxxiv. 19, Isa. lvii. 15 b, where, e.g., xxxviii. 5). So that the petition, however, there is no clear reference 'Deliver me from bloodshed' (so to sorrow for sin. a crushed literally), means, ' Deliver me from heart points back to v. 10. the punishment of those heinous 20, 21 The theme changes. sins (such as murder) which led Spiritual duties and blessings give Israel captive in the past' (comp. place to Jerusalem and the temple, cxxx. 8). This accounts for the re- the disciple of the Second Isaiah to ference which follows to God's the earnest fellow-worker of Ezra ' righteousness.' Jehovah is equally and Nehemiah. The community 'righteous' when he sends and has to be built up; it needs walls when he removes chastisements. and a systematised ritual. Without 18, 19 Why express thanks in these Jerusalem is but a wailing- words ? Because God cares for no place. As a historical fact, the re- other sacrifice but a broken spirit, stored exiles obtained both together. i.e. the expression of sincere peni- The right sacrifices ; see on tence (see introduction). Comp. iv. 6. PSALM LI I. Addressed to some high official who misused his power, and is threa tened somewhat as Isaiah threatened Shebna (see on vv. 7, 9). Note the wonderful change of key in vv. 10, 11. The speaker is probably Israel (see on v. 10). 3 Why gloriest thou in mischief, thou tyrant ? the divine lovingkindness endures perpetually. 4 Thy tongue devises engulfing ruin, like a whetted razor, O thou that workest guile. 5 Thou lovest evil more than good ; lying rather than to speak righteousness. 6 Thou lovest all devouring words, [the devices of] a deceitful tongue. 7 God in return shall pull thee down for ever, grasp thee, and pluck thee out of thy tent, and uproot thee from the land of the living. 8 The righteous shall see it, and fear, and shall laugh at him : 9 ' Lo, there is the man that made not God his asylum, but trusted in his great wealth, and felt strong in his substance.' 10 But I am like a flourishing olive-tree in the house of God ; I trust in the lovingkindness of God for ever and ever. ni will give thanks unto thee for ever, for thou hast done nobly, and declare before thy loving ones that thy name is good. 3 Thou tyrant. Lit, 'thou scription of the antediluvian nefilim mighty man ; ' but the word gibbor (' destructive ones ' ?) in Gen. vi. 4, connotes the idea of tyranny (or, and gibbor in the notice respecting more widely still, as Schultens says, Nimrod in Gen. x. 8. As Dillmann arrogance towards both God and says (note on Gen. vi. 4), 'Wo man). Gibborim occurs in the de- Kraftmenschen ihr Wesen treibei-y 15° THE PSALMS kann es ohne Verletzung von Recht und Ordnung nicht abgehen.' The Arabic jabbdr has the same full meaning ; comp. Kordn, Sur. xi. 62, where Palmer renders '(the Adites) followed the bidding of every headstrong tyrant.' Gratz quite unnecessarily emends haggib bor into hagge'bher (see v. 9). 4 Note how violent words are taken as specimens of malignant hostility. Thy tongue devises (comp. on xxxv. 28, &c), the speech of the ' tyrant ' being the embodi ment of the imaginations of the heart. Engulfing ruin (comp. lv. 12). ' Plans of destruction ' (De Witt) is not strong enough ; the utterances of this evil tongue are ' words of swallowing up ' (v. 6, literally rendered ; cf. on xxxv. 25), which of itself suggests a lingering consciousness of the root-meaning of havvoth (see on v. 10). 6 A deceitful tongue. Or, ' O deceitful tongue ' (comp. note on the parallel phrase, cxx. 3). This is certainly better than to make ' a deceitful tongue ' the se cond obj ect of the verb ' thou lovest ' (as Sept.) ; the phrase is not strong enough to stand thus. But prefix a noun in the construct state, and the case is altered. The parallel ism gains. 7 Comp. Isaiah's threat, Isa. xxii. 17,18. Out of thy tent. So Job xviii. 14. Tent = dwelling (see on cxxxii. 3) ; but there may be an allusion to the nomadic character (may we say?) of human life in general. In Isa. xxxviii. 12 the image of the ' tent ' is applied dif ferently. Uproot thee from, &c. Comp. the picture of the wicked tyrant in xxxvii. 35, 36, and note the fine contrast below, v. 10. See also xxvii. 13. 8 Shall see it, &c. The key note is in the second verb, which ex presses reverence for the law of the Divine government (comp. lviii. 12). 9 There is the man. Heb. hagge'bher, not haggibbor ; the for mer is a word descriptive of age, the latter of an exceptional gift. The speech quoted seems to have a touch of sarcasm. The ' right eous ' cannot use the word haggib bor, for this would be to recognise the position usurped by the bad man ; in preference to 'ish or 'ddam, they select gtbher (properly ' a grown-up man,' ' a man in his full strength '), because it suggests the claim which they contemptuously disallow. Comp. ' Gird up thy loins like a man ' (k'ghSher, ' like a man who thinks himself strong'), in Jehovah's address to Job (Job xxxviii. 3), and ' Jehovah will hurl thee, O man ' (ge'bher, ' thou who thinkest thyself strong '), in the prophecy against Shebna (Isa. xxii. 18). But trusted, &c. Comp. xlix. 7. In his substance (see crit. note). The text-reading, how ever interpreted, does not suit the parallelism. The word (havvdh) having but two actual meanings, (1) passionate desire (Prov. x. 3, xi. 6, Mic. vii. 3), (2) ruin, calamity (Job vi. 2, xxx. 13); comp. the usage of the plural havvoth (see above on v. 4). 10, 1 1 Who is the speaker — an individual, or the nation ? Com paring xcii. 13 (which forms part of a strikingly parallel passage) we might say, Any and every righteous member of the nation. But in xcii. 10 the speaker must be Israel, and here too this is not improbably the case. See the other parallel passage, Jer. xi. 16, where Israel is compared to ' a flourishing olive- tree,fair, and of goodly fruit' (comp. Rom. xi. 24). Iiike a flourish ing olive-tree. The epithet is often rendered ' fresh-green.' ' Green ' is no doubt a vague word in ancient languages (comp. Pliny's coelum viride, 'H.N.' xvii. 10, 14). But ra'anan is not properly a word of colour (see on xcii. 14) ; 'fresh green ' would be scarcely accurate. Tristram speaks of the 'pale-blue foliage ' of the olive (Nat. Hist, of the Bible, p. 374). In the house of God. In the parallel line we have 'in the lovingkindness of God.' Now, as another psalmist reminds us, ' the earth is full of the lovingkindness of Jehovah ' (xxxiii. 5). Clearly the tie ot a mutual PSALM LII. I51 love based on the covenant ' musf Haram. But to infer from lxxxiv. make, not merely the temple of 4, Zech. i. 8, and 2 Mace. xiv. 4 Jerusalem and the land of Israel, that such trees existed in the sacred but the whole earth ' the house of precincts in ancient times seems God and the gate of heaven ' (see hazardous. On the first of these on xxiii. 6). I cannot persuade passages see below, and cf. Wright, myself then that the psalmist al- Zechariah (1879), pp. 8, 530, and ludes here to olive-trees actually Grimm's note on 2 Mace. I.e. planted in the precincts of the II Thou hast done nobly. temple (comp. xcii. 14). It is true Strictly, a future-perfect (cf. liv. 9, that magnificent cypresses and a lvi. 14). Declare. A necessary few olive and lemon trees may be correction, for the senseless text- seen at this day in the area of the reading ' wait.' PSALM LIII. Another recension of Ps. xiv., with ' Elohim ' for ' Yahveh ' (Jehovah), and certain various readings which in vv. 2-5 are obviously wrong, but which Hitzig and Merx accept as correct in v. 6. This is the form in which this verse (cf. xiv. 5, 6) appears : Thereupon did they shudder indeed, where no cause was, for God scattered the bones of him that encamped against thee ; thou didst put (them) to shame, for God had rejected them. As Street long since remarked, the variations may be intentional, the psalm having been retouched to adapt it to a second great deliverance. But they may also be simply due to the ordinary causes of corruption. PSALM LIV. 1 he expressions in this psalm of supplication need illustration from the more definite ones in the psalms which follow. 3 Save me by thy name, Elohim, and right me by thy strength. 4 O God, hear my prayer, give ear to the words of my mouth. 5 For strangers are risen up against me, and the violent seek my soul, not setting God before their eyes. 6 Behold, God is my helper ; the Lord is the great upholder of my soul. 7 Their evil shall return unto my foes : do thou exterminate them in thy truthfulness. 8 I will sacrifice unto thee with a free will, and give thanks unto thy name, Jehovah, because it is good. 9 For out of all trouble has he delivered me, and mine eye has looked its fill upon my spying enemies. 5 Here, as in Isa. i. 7, critics zarim is used of foreigners (e.g. are divided as to the meaning of Isa. xxv. 3, xxix. 5, Ezek. xxviii. 7), strangers. Generally no doubt but so also is the parallel word 152 THE PSALMS 'dricim. If there were an Israelite so deaf to the voice of the law (Lev. xix. 1 8) and of nature as to be an 'dric, for instances of which see perhaps xxxvii. 35, Jer. xv. 21, there was no reason why he should not also be called zdr. There is a various reading here (MSS. and Targ.) — zedim 'proud ones,' but this is caused by Ixxxvi. 14. Not setting Croa, &c. Cf. xvi. 8. 6 The great upholder of my soul. Sept., dvriXr)7rTa>p rrjs \|njxi}f pov. To render, ' among them that uphold my soul,' would mislead. The sense is not that God is the support of the psalmist among many others, but that He is so in a supreme degree — that He sums up in Himself the qualities of a class, viz. the class of helpers (so cxviii. 7). Comp. Judg. xi. 35, 'Alas, my daughter, thou hast bowed me down ; even thou art my greatest troubler' (A.V. 'thou art one of them that trouble me '). The con struction is the Beth essentia; (see on xxxv. 2). 7 Their evil shall return, &c. So the text, but the margin, ' He shall requite their evil,' &c. With this reading the preposition is a little more natural. But need we for this desert the text ? 8 With a free will. Or, as De Witt, 'with a gift of free-will' (similarly R.V., after Hengstenberg and Hupfeld). But the sacrificial reference of the context does not necessitate this rendering. In con firmation of this, see Num. xv. 3, where render, with Hupfeld himself, ' willingly,' not (as R. V., forcing a Beth essentia) ' as a freewill offer ing.' It is good, viz. thy name (cf. on cxxxv. 3). 9 The poet looks forward, and treats the future as past (see on Iii. 1 1 a). Has he delivered me, viz. either Jehovah or (what is virtually the same) the Name of Jehovah ; see on Isa. xxx. 27, &c. Mine eye has looked, &c. Comp. lix. 11, xcii. 12. The word rendered ' spying enemies ' has a special force here. The psalmist had suf fered from the piercing gaze of the scoffers, oveidio-pols re Kal QXtyeo-i 6earpl£6pevos (Heb. x. 33). Cf. xxii. 18. PSALM LV. .A. prayer against ungodly enemies, especially against a treacherous friend. The psalm must be taken in connexion with Ps. lix., from which it would seem that the enemies spoken of are partly heathen (see below, on v. 11). See also Ps. lvi., and comp. some phenomena of Pss. ix., x. 2 Give ear to my prayer, Elohim ; And hide not thyself from my beseeching : 3 Attend unto me and answer me ; I am distraught in my musing, and can but moan, 4 For the sound of [the revilings of] the enemy, because of the cries of the ungodly : for they are ever hurling wickedness at me, and in wrath they persecute me. 5 My heart is sore pained within me, and deadly terrors have fallen upon me. 6 Fearfulness and trembling penetrate into me, and a horrible dread enfolds me. 7 Then I said, ' Oh that I had wings like a dove ! I would fly away and abide : PSALM LV. 153 8 Truly, I would flit far away, and lodge in the wilderness, 9 Would wait for him that is my deliverer from storm-blast and from tempest' 10 Confound, Jehovah ; divide their speech : for I behold violence and strife in the city. 1 1 Day and night they make their rounds on the walls thereof ; trouble and mischief are in the midst of it. 1 2 Engulfing ruin is in the midst thereof : oppression and deceit depart not from its forum. 13 (For it is not an enemy who insults me — that I might well bear ; nor is it my hater who hath been insolent towards me — from him I might well hide myself. 14 But it is thou, a man mine equal, mine associate and my familiar friend ; 1 5 Together we had sweet intimacy, and walked to the house of God in the throng.) 16 Let Death guilefully swallow them up ; let them go down alive into Sheol ; for wickedness is in their dwelling, [abominable outrages are] in their midst. 1 7 As for me, I will call upon Elohim ; and Jehovah shall save me. 18 Evening, and morning, and at noon will I muse and make my moan : so shall he hear my voice. 19 He hath set free my soul in peace that they might not come nigh me, for in great numbers have they been against me. 20 God heareth [the cry of the afflicted], yea, he that is enthroned of old answereth them. ( Here follows a misplaced portion of this or of another Psalm.) ***** To whom there are no changes, and who fear not Elohim. 2 1 He has laid his hands upon those at peace with him, he has desecrated his covenant. 22 His mouth is smoother than butter, but his heart is all war ; his words are softer than oil, and yet are they drawn swords. 154 THE PSALMS 23 Cast thy care upon Jehovah, and he will support thee ; he will not always appoint tottering for the righteous. 24 And thou, Elohim, shalt cast them down into the pit of the grave : bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days, But I — will trust in thee. 3 I am distraught (Heb. 'arid). The psalmist feels inwardly as if driven hither and thither by a like violent impulse to that of an animal which has broken loose (comp. the cognate Arabic word, rdda). 4 The ungodly in this con nexion are heathen men ; or, at least, these are primarily thought of (comp. on lix. 6). 7 At last his anguish condenses itself in words. He wishes, like Jeremiah, that he could leave his people, and lodge in the wilderness (Jer. xi. 2). This is not, as Petrarch and many others have taken it, an aspiration after heaven. It is rest upon earth which the persecuted psalmist longs for. He craves to live his life to God without let or hindrance, even though it be in the desert. But the writer of xi. 1 takes a higher position, remembering that he is ' continually with ' Jehovah (lxxiii. 23). Wings like a dove. The psalmist speaks for Israel, who is sometimes symbolised by the dove, Heb. yondh (see Ixviii. 14). But he also alludes to the habits of the wild doves (comp. Cant. ii. 14, Jer. xlviii. 28, Ezek. vii. 16), which abound in rocky districts, especially in Lebanon. The Arab poet Abu Katifa makes a singularly con trasted use of the image of the dove. He represents himself among the pillared palaces of Damascus, ' on whose parapets the tame dove coos.' Like the psalmist, he longs for freedom, and the tame dove is the symbol of the too artificial life at which he chafes. (Ruckert, Hamdsa, ii. 230, ' Anhang.') The Ethiopic version renders yondh by regeb (proprie 'avis pavida,' Dill- mann). 7 b-g We seem to trace the fluctuating feelings of the speaker (see v. 30) in his language. The verbal forms in v. 7 b express eager readiness ; the tone sinks in v. 8 (note the imperfects), and in v. 9 ardour revives in voluntatives. On text of v. 9, see crit. note. 8 Plit. Comp. 'He that oft- times flitteth,' ' Thou tellest my flit- tings,' Prov. xxvii. 8, Ps. lvi. 8 in the Bible of 155 1. 10 Comforted by prayer, the psalmist can endure the sad sights and sounds which beset him ; he no longer craves to be taken away. He thinks of the builders of the Tower of Babel, and imprecates the fate of those builders on his enemies. This reference confirms the view (see introd.) that the most danger ous of the psalmist's enemies are foreigners. Confound, Jeho vah; dividetbeir speech (lit, their tongue). Note the allusion to the Jehovistic passages, Gen. x. 25, xi. 1-9. The meaning is, Pro duce dissension among mine adver saries. But the ground immedi ately afterwards given is not veiy clear. The violence and strife which the psalmist beholds are not characteristics of a design of heaven- storming arrogance like the Tower of Babel. It would be unsafe to dogmatise ; but possibly the descrip tion of the precarious situation of the psalmist and all good men in vv. 10 5-i 5 may stand in some such connexion as this with v. \oa. The enemies of Jehovah's cause are partly foreigners (see on v. 19), partly Israelites. Wisdom to plan and strength to execute belong to the former, but these are materially aided by the violent and factious conduct of the latter. The former, being the most dangerous, are the first objects of the psalmist's impre cation. ' Confound ' (their counsel), PSALM LV. 155 he prays, ' for they will otherwise get the complete mastery of our ill- governed city.' 1 1 Day and night, &c. Comp. lix. 7 b, i^b. It is not a siege or blockade which is described^ and the persons spoken of are not foreign but native enemies — the men of ' violence and strife.' These are compared to watchmen on the walls ; only, instead of keeping watch against the enemy, they 'watch for iniquity' (Isa. xxix. 20). This line is parallel to v. 12 b ; the next line, to v. 12 a. Trouble and mischief. The terms used here and in v. 12 £ remind us of x. 7 ; the two psalms are partly parallel. 12 Engulfing ruin. Perhaps the city was still under the tyranny of the gibbor, who is said to have planned such a sore evil (Iii. 2, 3). From its forum. The r'khob (broad place), the dyopd or ' forum ' of the East, devoted alternately to gossip, traffic, and judicial business, was the courtyard adjoining the vaulted passage of the city-gate (cf. v. 10 a). Hence Isa. lix. 14, 'for truth hath stumbled in the broad place, and rectitude cannot enter(the city).' See Perrot-Chipiez, History of Art in Chaldcea and Assyria, ii. 66-72. 13-15 Public grief has had the precedence, but cannot expel the thought of a cruel personal injury. Some may think indeed that there is a personal accent in v. 4, but probably the psalmist speaks there in the name of his people. Here, however, one's sympathies seem to be drawn out towards a suffering individual. I can believe that the language used in xii. 10 is that of personification, and am far from denying that in u 22 of this very psalm the subject of the verb may be the ungodly regarded collectively (I would rather say, each ungodly person). But the description in vv. 13-15 is individualising to such a singular extent that I cannot bring myself to suppose any poetic fiction in the case. We know what Jeremiah suffered at the hands of his townsmen (Jer. xi. 21) and other ' men of his peace ' (Jer. xx. 10), one of whom perhaps was Pashhur the priest, who might certainly have been called ' a man of [Jeremiah's] rank' (Ps. lv. 14). Without identi fying the psalmist with Jeremiah, we may at least argue that at various times of religious dissension and persecution the prophet's expe riences may have been renewed. So a prophet in Manasseh's reign says, ' Trust ye not in a companion, put ye not confidence in a fami liar friend' (Mic. vii. 5 ; cf. Jer. ix. 4). 13 That I might well bear — as the inevitable lot of God's poor. Calvin, with fine insight, objects that this is not in character with David, who would not have patiently suffered reproach from an open enemy ; ndsd, he thinks, must mean here to parry the blow (' quod Gallice dicimus, Jeusse receu le coup'). But if the psalmist is neither David nor any other war rior r Evidently Segond's ' je le supporterais ' is more accurate than Calvin's version. 14 A man mine equal. Lit, ' a man ('enosh) according to my valuing; 'i.e. not a true man, one who seemed to come up to my standard (this would require 'ish) — comp. Jer. v. 1 — nor yet a man whom once I valued at the same rate as myself (Sept avQpame lo-dxjfvxe ; comp. Phil. ii. 20), but, one of my own social rank (comp. the verb in lxxxix. 7), with whom therefore I was on easy and natural terms, and who had no claim to lord it over me. 15 Together we had, &c. Symm., e'KotvoXoyovpeda yXvKelav opiXiav. The psalmist's complaint assumes the form of a melancholy retrospect. 'At home and in society,' he says, ' we were never far apart ' (comp. Ixiv. 3, Heb.) K 15a reminds us of Job xix. 19, 'All the men of my intimacy (A.V., my inward friends) abhor me ; and those whom I loved are turned against me.' The word sodh also has the sense of 'secret' (xxv. 14) and ' council ' (lxxxiii. 4) ; nor can 156 THE PSALMS we venture to exclude these senses altogether here. With the second line comp. xiii. 5. May we infer that the false friend was also false to his religion ? 16 Death (here = She61 ; see vi. 6, xviii. 6, xlix. 15) is summoned, that he may guilefully swallow them up (lit., ' deceive — swallow them up '). Briill's correction seems inevitable. The phraseology of line 2 is from Num. xvi. 30 ; is it not reasonable to expect an allusion to the same passage in line 1 , so completing the parallelism ? The text-reading is admittedly difficult, and puts a strain on the resources of the interpreter (see crit. note). The idea oi v. 16 a (corrected text) is that of xxxv. 8 a. In their dwelling. Strictly, ' in their settlement,' with the idea of temporariness (cf. Job xviii. 19, Heb.) In their midst. The words supplied before b'qirbdm (with Bickell) remove one more thorn from this verse. 17-20 A renewal of spiritual strength is needed after this long outburst of feeling. The speaker knows where to seek it. He will call upon Elohim (the Manifold One, the strong God of the world), and Jehovah (the Self-revealing God of Israel) will hear him. Jehovah, then, is clothed with the might of Elohim. The psalmist will pray without ceasing (first, in silent musing, and then in an inarticulate but not inexpressive moan). The result is as certain as any fact in history ; the Hebrew of v. 18 b suggests this — we might accurately render, 'and he heard my voice.' In v. 19 the psalmist still dwells on the thought that prayer is linked to its answer (as sin to punishment ; see on lxiv. 8), and expresses this by the ' perfect of prophetic certitude.' In v. 20 a, with calmed feelings, he states the general truth. 18 Remember that the Hebrew like the Assyrian day began with sunset. The Talmud finds a refer ence to the three customary times of prayer (Dan. vi. 11, 12, 14) ; on this point, R. Joshua ben Chananya was the first Protestant. 19 For in great numbers, &C. The clause gives the reason, not why Jehovah will surely deliver him, but why his feelings have been so deeply moved, and his prayer so earnest . The foreign enemies, whose are the greater might and skill (see on v. 10), far outnumber the servants of Jehovah (lvi. 3 ; comp. iii. 2). 20 Enthroned of old. Comp. lxxiv. 12, and the Second Isaiah's repeated references to Jehovah's eternity as a pledge of the continu ance of His people. The sense of the epithet is clear enough, but how is it fitted into the structure of the verse ? If we follow the text (with the one exception admitted even by Delitzsch), we should render, ' [God] will hear and answer them — He that sitteth King from of old — these that are changeless and that fear not God.' So De Witt. ' Answer them ' means ' give a judicial sen tence against' (the ungodly). But surely ' hear and answer ' must — especially so near to vv. 17, 18 — signify ' hear and answer prayer.' Yet how can we connect this with the following words ? We cannot. Therest of thepsalm has no obvious appropriateness where it stands ; at any rate, the next four distichs, which are certainly misplaced, if they are not a later insertion. It is worth noticing that the Hebrew text interposes a ' Selah ' between the two distichs of v. 20. To whom, &c. Ewald, following the great Dutch scholar Albert Schul- tens, renders, ' who have no good faith ; ' but the philological basis of this is unsound. I wish it were otherwise, for the rendering makes the connexion perfect. But what if in the text to which .this whole passage (vv. 20 £-23) must once have belonged, and which doubtless described the character and doings of the ungodly, v. 20 b stood at the close of a section? In this case, there need not be a parallelism of contents between v. 20 b and the fol lowing distichs. ' Changes ' (khali- PSALM LV. 157 foth) may then mean (a), vicissitudes of fortune' (Calvin), comp. x. 6 ; or (b) 'changes from evil actions to good' (Hupfeld), comp. Jer. ii. 30, v. 3 ; or (c), ' relief-troops ' or ' dis charges ' (Hengstenberg), comp. Job x. 17, xiv. 14. The last of these three meanings is the most ingenious. In v. 1 1 the ungodly are said figuratively to patrol the city-walls like soldiers on the watch. May not a similar figure have occu pied the distich to which v. 20 b must have been attached ? In this case v. 20 b means ' those who are never relieved in, nor discharged from, their godless function of "watching for iniquity"' (see on v. 11). The second meaning will to most appear safer ; the distich will then signify ' those who are unceasing in their disregard for religion ' — to me a rather weak idea, unnaturally expressed. The first meaning requires too much to be supplied. The text, however, may well be unsound, especially as it gives us an incomplete sentence. May not khalifoth be a corruption of kharcubboth, and the line be a quotation from lxxiii. 3, 'for tor ments have they none ' ? 21 What is the subject of the verb? The faithless friend (Hup feld, supposing the passage to have stood originally after v. 15), or the ungodly collectively (comp. xxxv. 8) ? Ps. xii. 10 may seem to favour the former view ; note however that the persecution is (apparently) directed in that passage against an individual, but here against a num ber of persons. The covenant spoken of in v. 2 1 b may be, not that between friend and friend (as 1 Sam. xviii. 3, xxiii. 8), but that between members of the same nation, worshipping the same God. 22 The mouth is described as smooth (cf. v. 10), because deceit ful words are produced by it with such fatal facility. Sept. has ' face ' instead of ' mouth ' (see crit. note). 23, 24 A liturgical appendix (comp. xxvii. 14, xxxi. 25). Cast thy care. So Sept. and Pesh., in harmony with the context (comp. xxxvii. 5, xxii. 9). ' Cast thine appointed (lot)' is unnatural ; 'cast thy burden,' ill supported from Arabic, is inconsistent with 'he will support thee.' The precise sense of the noun is uncertain. Into the pit of the grave. Two syno nyms joined as cxxxii. 3, Prov. viii. 31, Ezek. xxxvi. 3. Half their days. So Jer. xvii. 1 1. PSALM LVI. 1 HIS and the next psalm are twins ; Ewald considers them among the most beautiful in the Psalter. Both begin in the same way ; both have refrains ; both have the strong expression ' to crush ' (lvi. 2, lvii. 4), in dicating the heartless cruelty of the enemy. They are, however, not without points of contact with Pss. liv., lv., lix. 2 Have pity upon me, Elohim, for man crusheth me ; fighting all day he oppresseth me. 3 All day they crush me that are my keen-eyed enemies, yea, many with high looks do fight against me. 4 The day when I might fear I will trust in thee. 5 Through God can I praise his word, in God do I trust without fear : what can flesh do unto me ? 6 All day they torture me with words : all their thoughts are against me for evil. 158 THE PSALMS 7 They attack, they set an ambush ; they, even they, mark my footsteps, even as they have long waited for my soul. Q * # # * * In anger do thou cast the peoples down, O God. 9 My wandering life have I recounted unto thee ; put thou my tears into thy bottle. o Straightway shall mine enemies turn back, the day that I call upon thee : this I know, that God is for me. i Through God can I praise his word : 2 In God will I trust without fear : what can man do unto me ? 13 Vows made unto thee are upon me, O God : I will render thank-offerings unto thee. 14 For thou hast delivered my soul from death ; surely [thou hast saved] my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of life. 2 Man crusheth me. ' Man,' or 'weak, mortal man' (as a Hebrew writer might naturally explain 'enosh), is opposed to God (as ix. 20, x. 1 8). ' Crusheth ' (note the paral lelism), so substantially the versions (comp. Baur on Am. ii. 7). Most moderns, since Gesenius, ' panteth after ; ' better perhaps, ' would eat me up.' 4 When I might fear.i.e. when I have good excuse for fearing. I will trust. ' I' is emphatic — I, the poor, the weak one. 5 Through God, &c. Sow. 10; comp. Ix. 12 and especially Isa. xxvi. 13, 'only through thee (i.e. through thy interposition) can we celebrate thy name.' His word, i.e. his fulfilled word of promise (cxxx. 5). 6 They torture me with words. The text has either, ' they torture my words' (but this verb always has a personal object), or ' they hurt my interests ' (this is prosaic). Would it not be strange if sins of speech were here alone not imputed to the enemy ? 7 Comp. x. 8, 9. Even they. The expression of the pronoun seems at first sight unnecessary. But it may refer to the men of the ambush, or, more probably, it em phasises the unnaturally cruel con duct of men who have been in covenant with the psalmist (comp, lv. 21). Even as, &c. Their malignant watchfulness is in cha racter with their conduct from the first (comp. lix. 4). 8 In the text, the first line of this verse runs thus : ' In spite of iniquity, an escape unto them,' a short line and of difficult construc tion, containing, moreover, a word which only occurs elsewhere in a pro bably corrupt passage (xxxii. 7). See crit. note. The peoples. As in Pss. lv., lix., the chief enemies of the Israelites are at this time heathen, and the psalmist regards their overthrow as a part of the divine judgment upon ' the peoples.' Comp. vii. 7-10. 9 My wandering life, &c The text of this difficult verse is evidently incorrect, but needs gentle treatment (see crit. note). We must not touch the significant word nodi, and so cut out a characteristic play upon words (nodi 'my wan dering,' b'nod'ka ' in thy bottle '). We need not of course try to repro- PSALM LVI. 159 duce this play in English, as the my tears as precious wine for that idea of the verse is beautiful enough table which thou wilt yet prepare in itself. The psalmist is no lover for me in the presence of my foes.' of vagueness in prayer ; he ' makes Comp., 'They that sow in tears known his requests ' with the utmost shall reap in joy' (cxxvi. 5), and particularity. He is a wanderer George Herbert's line — (the lot deprecated in xxxvi. 12), T, , . , and his eyes are 'a fountain of I have not lost one s.ngle tear. tears' (Jer. ix. 1). Shall this stream 11 The second line in the re- of sorrow flow in vain ? No ; put ceived text is a feeble Jehovistic thou my tears in a bottle (a skin- interpolation, which interrupts the bottle of large capacity ; see on refrain. cxix. 83). To some early readers 14 Comp. the parallel in cxvi. this may have appeared grotesque, 8. Before Cod, i.e. under His and so a scribe ventured to substi- protection (Gen. xvii. 18). in tute 'in thy book' (cf. Mai. iii. 17). the light of life (or, of the living, Probably his view of the meaning as Sept.) The phrase is a deep was correct ; probably the psalmist's one (see John viii. 12 and note on thought was, ' Store them up in thy xxxvi. 10), and the psalmist may memory.' And yet, if this psalm have had a latent consciousness of were the work of a great lyric poet, its fuller meaning. I admit, how- who, like Dante, bent the forms of ever, that the context does not poetry to his own ends, we should force this view upon us, as does be justified in seeking a further that of xvi. 11. meaning, such as this — ' Store up PSALM LVII. V ERSES 8-12 are repeated in cviii. 2-6 (an inferior form of the text). 2 Have pity upon me, Elohim, have pity upon me, for in thee my soul takes refuge, yea, in the shadow of thy wings shall be my refuge, till the storm of ruin hath passed by. 3 I call unto God most High, unto the Strong One that deals bountifully with me. 4 He shall reach out from heaven and save me, giving to dishonour him that would crush me ; God shall send forth his lovingkindness and his truthfulness. 5 My soul has dwelt among lions, fire-breathers, (but) sons of men, — their teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword. 6 Exalt thyself, O God, above the heavens ; let thy glory be above all the earth. 7 They have prepared a net for my feet ; they have bowed down my soul — they have digged before me a pit into whose midst they have fallen ! 8 Stedfast is my heart, O God, stedfast is my heart ; I would sing and make melody. i6o THE PSALMS 9 Awake, my glory ; awake, harp and lyre ; fain would I awaken the dawn. io I will give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the peoples, I will make melody unto thee among the nations : ii For thy lovingkindness is great unto the heavens, and thy truth unto the skies. 12 Exalt thyself, O God, above the heavens ; let thy glory be above all the earth. 2 The storm of ruin. Heb. havvoth. Etymologically, the figure is that of a yawning gulf (see on v. io), but the choice of the verb sug gests that a storm is more present to the writer's imagination. 3 God most High. Heb. 'elohim 'elyon, which occurs again only in lxxviii. 56 ; we have, how ever, 'el 'elyon in lxxviii. 35 (and virtually lxxiii. 11), and Yahveh 'elyon in vii. 18 (see note). The word is here equivalent to ' al mighty ' (see v. 6). 4 Line 1 reminds us of xviii. 1 7 ; line 3 of xliii. 3, where ' light ' (more suitable to the figure of a guide) takes the place of ' loving kindness ' in the divine o-oppayla. Line 2 in the Hebrew interrupts the description of God's gracious activity with the short and abrupt statement, ' he that would crush me hath insulted.' We can no doubt treat this as a ' circumstantial clause ' (see Driver, Hebrew Tenses, § 163), and render 'my enemy having insulted me,' but at the cost of simplicity, the two parts of the sentence thus produced being (as Hitzig remarks) not in any close relation to each other. See crit. note. 5 This verse explains the second line of v. 2. ' In thee my soul takes refuge, because it dwells and has long dwelt among "beasts in human form " ' (Ignatius ; comp. on xxii. 13). How common the lion once was in Palestine, is shown by the numerous words for it in Hebrew ; that here used (I'bhi, in plur. I'baim) seems to mean ' the voracious ' (comp. Hos. xiii. 8). Presumably the enemies described are foreigners (comp. on xxii. 13). My soul has dwelt. The same phrase as in cxx. 6. The text has, ' (With) my soul let me (since I must) lie down,' a very improbable sentence ; a slight cor rection suffices to restore natural ness. Fire-breathers. Or, ' fiery-eyed.' 6 God is by right 'Elyon ' most High ; ' may He now show Himself in fact supreme over and superior to all created things. There is no occasion to render 'al ' above ' in line 1, and ' over ' = throughout in line 2. See end of note on viii. 2. 8 Stedfast, i.e. 'rooted and grounded ' in the fear of Jehovah (see on li. 12), and therefore fear less. Comp. cxii. 7. 9 My glory ; see on vii. 6. Awaken the dawn. Milton's ' cheerly rouse the slumbering morn.' See on cxxxix. 9. PSALM LVIII. V erses 2, 3 must be explained by Ps. lxxxii. (see introd.) The situation may be described thus : Ungodliness and wrong have made such pro gress, that the psalmist can only ascribe it to supernatural agency. The ' gods ' or ' sons of the Most High ' (lxxxii. 6), to whom the actual ad ministration of the world's government has been entrusted (Deut xxxii. 8), have neglected their duties, and in the persons of their subordinates have actually helped forward the cause of wickedness. From the wicked PSALM LVIII. l6l tyranny practised, even in the land of Israel (see on v. 4), the psalmist seems to have inferred that Jehovah had withdrawn from the government of that ' inheritance ' which, according to the Song of Moses (Deut. xxxii. 9), He had reserved for Himself.1 Observe that from v. 4 onwards we hear no more of the 'elim. What their fate is to be, the psalmist saith not, and there is an analogy for this silence in Isa. xxiv. 22, where the imprisonment referred to is that of the ' kings of the earth,' not that of their heavenly patrons. It is otherwise in lxxxii. 7. 2 Do ye indeed speak righteousness, O ye gods ? do ye judge in equity the sons of men ? 3 (Nay,) surely ye all prepare unjust acts ; ye weigh out in the earth the violence of your hands. 4 The ungodly have been estranged since the womb : they have gone astray from their birth, speakers of lies, 5 They have poison as the poison of a serpent : yea, as that of a deaf adder which stops her ear ; 6 Which will not hearken to the voice of charmers, nor of the most cunning binder of spells. 7 Elohim ! shatter their teeth in their mouth : tear out the jawbones of the young lions, Jehovah. 8 Let them melt as water that runs away ; as grass, let them be quickly cut off : 9 [Let them be] as a snail melting as it goes along, as an untimely birth which never saw the sun. 10 Before your pots can feel the thorns, [and] while your [flesh] is [still] raw, the hot wrath (of Jehovah) shall sweep it away. 1 1 The righteous shall rejoice that he has seen vengeance, he shall wash his feet in the blood of the ungodly ; 12 And men shall say, Surely there is a fruit for the righteous, surely there are divine powers that judge in the earth. 2 Do ye indeed, &c. Com- direct negative is unnecessary ; the paring this passage with lxxxii. 2, particle used implies a strong anti- &c, it seems most probable that thesis (see on v. 12). 'Ye all; 'the the speaker is the most High. The world must be at its darkest before 'elim (see on xxix. 1) or 'elohim the bright light of Jehovah will (lxxxii. 1) have presented them- dawn (Isa. Ix. 2). See crit. note. selves before Jehovah, and reported Ye weigh out. A severe sar- that they have exercised a righteous casm. ' Ye are as accurate in in- sway in the world of men. Jehovah justice as ye ought to be in adminis- first expresses a sarcastic doubt of tering justice.' An example of that this, and then, as He who seeth and Semitic o^vpapov which in Arabic knoweth all, declares the contrary. literature exceeds the bounds of See crit. note. discretion (see, e.g., Hariri, pa ssim). 3 (Nay,) surely ye all. A 4 Here the psalmist drops the 1 In this remarkable passage 'Elyon (' the most High ') means Him who is supreme both over the ' Sons of El ' or ' Elohim ' and over the nations which he assigns to those inferior supernatural beings. See Job and Solomon, pp. 81, 291. M l62 THE PSALMS 'elim (see above), and passes into a description of the wicked men, who prosper through the neglect of the heavenly powers and their human instruments. It is not ex pressly said, but from the position of the psalm and from the ideas of vv. i, 2, it is most probable that these ' ungodly ' men are, at any rate chiefly, foreigners (see on ix. 5). -Have been estranged, &c. Calvin finds it difficult to reconcile this with the doctrine of original sin ; but the psalmists are no theo logians, and simply record in poetic language here and elsewhere the facts of an experience, which Calvin throughout his noble commentary admits to agree with his own, and which shows ' quosdam esse vere- cundos et honestis moribus : alios mediocri tan tum corruptela imbutos : alios vero naturae adeo perversa, ut sint prorsus intolerabiles.' The words of v. 4 simply mean that evil habits have to these men be come a second nature ; they are del rto kqkw xaipovres (Theod. Mops.) 5, 6 Comp. Sir. xxv. 15, ' There is no poison (KetfrdXr) — K>K"|) above the poison of a serpent, and no wrath above the wrath of an enemy.' On serpent-charming, comp. Jer. viii. 17, Eccles. x. 11, Sir. xii. 10, and an Arabic proverb for obstinate resistance, 'Answer not, serpent' (Meidani). 7 Description passes into im precation, with an ' Elohim ' empha tically placed first, and the figure changes to that of a lion (comp. lvii. 5). ' Charming ' being impos sible, violent means must be adopted for curbing such foes. 8, 9 Four terribly strong figures for the utter destruction of the wicked. V. 8 b runs, in the received text, ' when he aims his arrows, let them be as if they were headless, which Segond polishes into, ' qu'ils ne lancent que des traits e'mousse's,' without making the image itself a better parallel to that in line 1. See crit. note. As a snail, &c. Alluding to the slimy trail which the snail leaves behind it, for surely we need not think of the ' myriads of snail shells ' still found adhering to the surface of rocks in Palestine (Tristram, Nat. Hist, of Bible, p. 295). The untimely birth. Comp. Job iii. 16, Eccles. vi. 3-5. 10 From the time of the ancient versions this verse has challenged interpreters by its obscurity. I can but offer a rendering of the text as corrected. The key to lines 1 and 2 is the description of the perse cuted people of Jehovah, in Mic. iii. 2, 3, as with skin plucked off and broken bones, and made ready for the caldron. The wicked op pressors of Israel have done the like in the time of the psalmist. In figurative language, pots full of flesh have been placed on a fire of thorns (comp. Eccles. vii. 6), or, more strictly, of 'dtad or buck thorn, which, as jotham hints (Judg. ix. 15), readily takes fire, though the flame may not last (cxviii. 12). The cook stands by, watching to see on the pots the effect of the burning thorns. But One above ' quenches the violence of the fire ' (Heb. xi. 34), or rather, before the sparks of flame can affect the still raw flesh, a tempest sweeps the man away. It is, how ever, no common whirlwind, but the divine wrath which falls, like a burning simoom (xi. 6), upon Jeho vah's enemy; comp. lxxxiii. 15, Job xxvii. 21. Meantime, what of the tormented righteous ? The key to line 3 is a passage in Ezekiel (xi. 7), where the Jews in Jerusalem are warned that they are not safe even in the 'caldron' of misery (be sieged Jerusalem), but shall be fetched out thence to suffer the punishment of their bloody deeds. So, by a different application of the figure, the psalmist declares (taking v. 10 with v. 1 1) that the righteous, released from their ' caldron ' of persecution, shall look with satis faction on the divine vengeance. The various attempts to explain the received text are failures. How can the sweeping away of pot, flesh, and fuel be a figure for the sudden ruin of the plans of the wicked? And how too can the PSALM LVHI. 163 psalmist leave the fate of the wicked man himself out of his de scription ? Hengstenberg sees the force of the latter objection, and therefore renders ' shall sweep him away.' But the text as it stands will not allow this. Y\'e might of course emend ' your pots ' and ' your flesh ' into ' his pots ' and ' his flesh ; ' but it is really less arbitrary to admit at once the muti lation and corruption of the text, and adopt Bickell's very natural way of remedying these (see crit. note). For the figure of the boiling caldron, comp. 1 Pet iv. 12, rf/ iv vplv Trvpwoei. 1 1 The righteous probably are the Israelites as a nation (cf. on v. 4) ; the antithesis reminds us of Ixviii. 3,4 (see note). Other nations 'walk in the name of their (un righteous) gods' (Mic. iv. 5), but Israel, walking in the name of Jehovah, 'follows after a law of righteousness '(Rom. ix. 31). Power, knowledge, art, may be their ideals ; but Israel's is righteousness ; hence his family name is Jeshurun 'the upright' We must perhaps admit that the use of such a phrase im plies a consciousness of innocence such as the Israelites did not possess in the Babylonian, but did possess in the Maccabean period. That he has seen vengeance. Dante may comment on this — O Signor mio, quando sari io lieto A veder la vendetta, che nascosa Fa dolce l'ira tua nel tuo segreto ? Purg. xx. 94-96. He shall wash his feet. Cf. Ixviii. 24. 12 The confession of the rest of mankind that, in spite of the doubts which have so long harassed them (TJX ' but surely ; ' see on lxxiii. 1, 18), ' it is well with the righteous, for the fruit of their doings do they eat' (Isa. iii. 10) ; or perhaps, more precisely, ' it is well with the righteous nation, Israel ' (Isa. xxvi. 2 ; comp. the congratulatory song of mankind, Isa. xxiv. 16) : and further, that the ' divine powers do really trouble themselves about men, and 'judge in the earth.' The poet doubtless intends a contrast between the 'elim (v. 2) and the 'elohim (v. 12); so too 'judge, 'men' ('dddm) in v. 2, and 'in the earth' (v. 3) correspond to the same expressions in v. 12. 'Elohim with the plural (contrast Gen. i. 1), because the speakers are, not merely in expression but in feeling,1 polytheists : an explanation which may not suit all the passages in which this construction is found, but which is required by some, e.g. by 1 Sam. iv. 7, 8 (in v. 7 read •1N3 with Sept.) PSALM LIX. nr_ 1 hese companion-psalms resemble each other, but the most important parallels to Ps. lix. are in Ps. lv. The situation of the psalmist is obscure ; but who the most dreaded foes are, is clear enough from vv. 6, 9, 12, 14. Notice the refrains in vv. 7, 15 and 10, 18 ; the two former are initial refrains (see on Pss. lxii., lxvii., and cf. Am. i. 3, 6, &c). 2 Deliver me from mine enemies, O my God, set me secure from them that assail me : 3 Deliver me from the workers of wickedness, and save me from the men of blood. 4 For lo they have long lain in wait for my soul ; 1 This is said to forestall a criticism. In expression, the authors of Pss. lviii. and lxxxii. are polytheists, but in feeling they are monotheists. Some rags of polytheism may still cling to them, but they are working their way to a monotheism like that of the author of Pss. ciii. , civ. M 2 164 THE PSALMS fierce (invaders) attack me without any transgression or sin of mine, Jehovah. 5 Without my fault they run and take their place ; awake thou to meet me, and behold. 6 But thou, Jehovah Sabaoth, Israel's God, rouse thee to visit all the nations ; have no pity on all these wicked traitors. 7 They come evening after evening, they snarl like dogs, and go round about the city. 8 Behold, they belch out with their mouth, swords are in their lips, for ' Who hears ? ' 9 But thou, Jehovah, laughest at them, thou mockest at all the nations. 10 My strength, unto thee will I make melody, for God is my sure retreat. 1 1 My God shall meet me with his lovingkindness, God shall make me look my fill upon my spying enemies. 12 Slay them not, lest my people forget ; by thine army make them to wander, and cast them down, O Lord our shield. 13 Their mouth sins by each word of their lips, therefore let them be taken in their pride, and for the cursing and lying which they talk. 14 Make an end in wrath, make an end, that they be no more, and let them know that Elohim is ruler in Jacob, unto the ends of the earth. 15 And they come evening after evening, they snarl like a dog, and go round about the city. 16 They indeed wander about to devour, they murmur if they be not satisfied ; 1 7 But I will sing of thy strength, and will ring out thy lovingkindness in the morning, for thou hast been unto me a sure retreat and a refuge in the day of my trouble. 18 My strength, unto thee will I make melody, for God is my sure retreat, the God of my lovingkindness. 4-6 Observe the stress laid on was contrary to the primary law in the unprovoked aggression and on Lev. xix. 18. V. 4 a, b reminds us the treachery of the foe (comp. Isa. of lvi. 7 ; comp. liv. 5. xxxiii. 1) ; also on his 'fierceness,' 6 'But thou, being what thou a quality which in fellow- Israelites art, Jehovah, Israel's God, and yet PSALM LIX. ™5 also the disposer of hosts of super natural and natural 1 powers, be not like one in a deep sleep (Jer. xiv. 9, Sept.) ; succour us once for all by a general judgment upon all the nations ' (see on 7'. 9, and comp. on lvi. 8). This latter phrase decides the question as to the foes spoken of; they are, primarily at least, foreigners (comp. liv. 5), and therefore enemies of Jehovah's people. The war is a religious war, and as long as these naturally hostile peoples remain there is no peace for Israel. This is why the psalmist says, ' all the nations,' and not, as some by their paraphrase show that they would rather he had said, 'all these heathenish' men.' Jehovah Sabaoth. The text has ' Yahveh 'Elohim Cebdoth,' which Olshausen explains as a triple name of Israel's God. This latter statement goes too far; Sa* baoth may be in process of becom ing a personal name, but it is not altogether so ; we cannot say with Spenser (Mutability), ' May I that Sabaoth see.' The case is different from that of Astar-Kemos, a com pound divine name of two independ ent personal names (cf. also Hadad- Rimmon). Most probably, how ever, 'Elohim in our passage is an editorial correction which was in tended to supersede the name Je hovah. In Ixxx. 8, 15 the received text actually gives us the 'impos sible form' (Bickell) 'Elohim Ce bdoth ; the equally impossible form quoted above recurs in Ixxx. 5, 20, lxxxiv. 9. The latter is specially surprising here, since directly after we rtad'Eldhe Yisrdel. Comp. on xxiv. 10. 7 Here, with a description of the recreant Israehtish enemies, a new stanza begins. They come, &c. Lit., ' they keep returning at evening.' like dogs. The half- wild dogs of an Eastern city, re ferred to in xxii. 17 (note) ; comp. Matt. vii. 6, xix. 24, Mark x. 25. Go round about. Some infer from this expression that the psalmist's city was being besieged or blockaded. But there is no more occasion for this inference here' than in lv. 11. They seek out opportunities for disquieting and robbing the righteous (v. 16) — that is the meaning of the phrase. 8 They belch out, viz. ' arro gant things,' as xciv. 4. The same verb in a good sense in xix. 3, cxix. 171. Swords, &c. Cf. lv. 22, lvii. 5. "Who hears? Cf. A. II, 13, lxiv. 6, lxxiii. 11, xciv. 7. 9 Iiaughest at them, for they have become ' aliens from the com monwealth of Israel,' and are in fected with the folly of 'all the nations.' Comp. xxxvii. 13, and still more ii. 4, the context of which refers to a similar madness on the part of 'the nations.' Does the psalmist, regard the present cala mities of Israel as the first stage in that great uprising of the heathen world so vividly described in Joel iii.? 12 Slay them not, &c. We need not attempt to reconcile this with v. 14 ; the inconsistency is due to the psalmist's mental agita tion (comp. on lxxxiii. 16). His first thought is that by lingering on in life for awhile the wicked may be more edifying monuments of the divine anger. For a parallel see Ex. ix. 16, 'But in very deed for this cause have I kept thee alive, to show in thee my power, and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth.' By thine army. So Hitzig, and Riehm, Delitzsch more than half assenting. The ' army ' is the heavenly host, the 'heroes' (gib- borim ; see on ciii. 20) whom Jeho vah Sabdoth will summon to the valley of Jehoshaphat(Joel iv. 11). The ungodly heathen nations are to become vagabonds, and beg. their bread (see cix. 10, Heb.), chased, like the Wandering Jew, by invisi ble angels (comp. xxxv. 5, 6). 13 Cursing. Ewald, as also in x. 7, ' perjury ; ' but this is more allowable as exegesis than as trans lation. 1 The reader will pardon this anachronism ; such logical distinctions are no part of the psalmist's intellectual world. But see on Ps. ciii. 20, 21. 1 66 THE PSALMS 14 See on v. 12. The ungodly, 16, 17 An antithesis between in perishing, are to acknowledge theinsatiablegreedof the traitorous that Jehovah, Israel's God, is the Israelites (?) and the praiseful ruler of the world. religious trust of the psalmist. PSALM LX. 1 SRAEL has but now sustained a grievous defeat in an expedition against Edom, and in Israel's name the psalmist implores deliverance and an answer of peace. The answer comes ; but the psalmist's joy is not un troubled by doubt, and the contrast between the third stanza and the second is so great that one is tempted to suppose vv. 8-10 to be a quota tion subsequently added from an older psalm. In truth, if these verses really contain a special revelation to the psalmist, how can we account for his relapse into despondency (vv. 7-14 are repeated in Ps. cviii.) ? 3 Elohim, thou hast cast us off and scattered us, thou hast been angry, O vouchsafe to restore us ! 4 Thou hast made the land to quake ; thou hast cleft it ; heal the breaches thereof, for it totters. 5 Thou hast caused thy people to see hard things ; thou hast made us to drink the wine of reeling. 6 Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee, (only) that they may flee before the bow. 7 That thy beloved ones may be delivered, save with thy right hand, and answer us. 8 God has promised by his holiness ; let me triumph (therein) ; I shall divide Shechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth. 9 Mine shall be Gilead and mine Manasseh, Ephraim also the defence of my head ; Judah my staff of command : 10 Moab shall be my washpot, over Edom shall I cast out my shoe : over Philistia shall I break into shouting. 1 1 Who will bring me into the entrenched city ? who can lead me into Edom ? 12 Surely thou, O God, hast cast us off, and goest not forth, O God, with our armies. 13 0 give us help from trouble, for vain is man's deliverance. 14 Through God we shall do valiantly, and it is he that shall tread down our foes. 4, 5 To express the severity of a people and its land (see on Hos the blow, the poet says that land ii. 3). Torn from its native soil' and people have both suffered. and therefore (as it seemed) from This is one among many evidences its god, aprimitive nation ' collapsed ' in the O.T. of the primitive senti- entirely ; a crushing defeat like the ment of the intimate union between present seemed the prelude of such PSALM LX. 167 a wreck, the effects of which the poet naturally extended to the land for which he had some of the feel ings of a lover. Comp. 4 b with Isa. iii. 6, 7, xxx. 13. 5 Wine of reeling. Another psalmist has finely developed this figure (lxxv. 9), which indeed be came a commonplace of the pro phets (see Isa. li. 17, Jer. xxv. 15-17, xlix. 12, Ezek. xxiii. 32-34, and comp. Jer. li. 7, Zech. xii. 2). 6 We have no right to convert this verse into a suggestion of com fort, ' Thou hast given a banner for the fugitives to rally round and re new the fight' (this requires too much to be supplied). The only natural view is that which sees in v. 6 a continuation of the de scription of calamity in v. 5. Un fortunately v. 6 b in the received text obstinately refuses to harmonise with this view. Hence Delitzsch (somewhat as Calvin) connects v. 6 with v. 7, and explains, ' Since thou hast given thy people a banner, that we may lift ourselves up banner- wise because of the truth, therefore help, in order that thy beloved ones may be delivered.' This connexion might be accepted, in spite of the fact that v. 7 begins the extract in Ps. cviii., if it pointed the way to even a plausible interpretation of v. 5 b ; but can it be said to have done so ? Can a poet have ex pressed himself as Del. supposes the psalmist to have done ? Be sides, even if ' to lift oneself up ' be an admissible rendering of Fhithno- ses (see Zech. ix. 16), 'because of (i.e. to further the interests of) the truth' is not a possible rendering of the complementary words. In short, the only satisfactory view is that of Ewald, who sees in the Hebrew oi v. 6 b a characteristic wordplay (comp. lvi. 9). ' Thou gavest us indeed a banner, when we took the field for the true reli gion ; but what a banner ! Far from being a rallying-point for God's warriors, it seemed as if only in tended to scatter us in flight.' There is one deficiency, however, in Ewald's comment, viz. that he does not propose to insert ^N at the beginning of line 3, though the in sertion improves the rhythm and is indispensable for the sense. 7 Answer us, viz. by ' terrible acts of righteousness' (Ixv. 6), at least if vv. 8-10 were a later addi tion. If, however, these verses were placed where they now stand by the psalmist himself, they may be taken as the desired ' answer ' to prayer. That they contain the substance of a prophecy, is no objection ; pro phetic revelation is in Jer. xxxiii. re presented as an answer to prayer. 8-10 Does this strophe contain the very words of a divine oracle, or is it merely a picturesque elabo ration of its substance? In the for mer case, it is Jehovah who says, ' Let me triumph, dividing She- chem,' &c. ; 1 in the latter, some Is raehtish general encourages himself by this divine word of promise. A passage like Isa. xiii. 13 (where 'he shall shout ' — the same verb as in v. 10, only Hifil — is said of Jehovah, who is compared to a ' man of war ') may make us hesitate to pronounce the former view impossible. Still, the extremely realistic details in cline one to prefer the latter. De litzsch thinks that the substratum is the promise of Nathan (2 Sam. vii. 9, &c), which is similarly recast or adapted as the case may be in Pss. ii., lxxxix. God has promised (comp. the use of the verb in lxxxvii. 3, Deut vi. 3, xii. 20, xix. 8). Or (if God be the speaker in the follow ing verses), 'God has sworn' (lit, 'hath spoken'). By his holi ness (comp. lxxxix. 36, Am. iv. 2). The oath or promise is inviolable like Jehovah's majesty. Comp. cv. 42, ' his holy promise (lit, ' word '). Divide . . . mete out. Al luding to the original distribution of Canaan (see Joshua). She- chem . . . Succoth. The former represents the west, the latter the 1 So Ewald, who however makes ' let me triumph ' a parenthetic exclamation of the psalmist. 1 68 THE PSALMS east side of the Jordan. There were, it seems, other Succoths, but the ' valley ' in which this Succoth lay was, we may infer, specially populous (Josh. xiii. 27) and fruitful (see on Ixv. 14). So too in a high degree was the district of Shechem. Both places are mentioned together in a narrative known perhaps to the psalmist (Gen. xxxiii. 17, 18, R.V.), according to which Jacob-Israei sojourned at Succoth (' Deir Ula') on his way to ' the city of Shechem.' 9 Gilead and Manasseh, E- phraim and Judah are again geo graphically representative. My staff of command. Alluding to the royal dignity of Judah (see Gen. xlix. 10). 10 Ewald (see Salomoyiische Sch? iften, p. 427,' Zusatze ') strangely enough sees here a description of the successive preparations of the royal warrior for repose. But the language does but represent figura tively the subjugation of Israel's most troublesome neighbours — that of Moab is described with a con tumely reminding us of Isa. xxv. 10. Cast out my shoe, on the other hand, is probably a legal symbol for taking ' seisin ' of a piece of land. In Ruth iv. 7 (cf. Deut xxv. 9) the drawing off the shoe is a form which expresses giving up a right ; a similar Arabic phrase sig nifies divorce (see Delitzsch). That there is no example of a phrase like the psalmist's elsewhere in the O.T., may be ascribed to accident. But, even without this supposition, a poet might easily coin such a figure on the analogy of a familiar legal form. I do not venture to seek further light from Mr. McLennan's theories. Philistia is mentioned last as most westerly ; she loved to taunt Israel of old (comp. 2 Sam. i. 20), now she is to be taunted her self. Shall I break into, &c. So cviii. 9 reads. The text (which I only mean to paraphrase) reads, when rightly pointed, ' is my shout ing.' The received text, however, gives a different colour to the line, ' Philistia, triumph thou because of me' (as a new subject), or, ironically, ' triumph, if thou canst ; ' or, per haps, ' ciy aloud for pain because of me' (cf. Isa. xv. 4, Heb.) 11-14 'But who, oh ! who, will conduct my champion-warriors through the strong entrenchments of the Edomitish city?' (v. 11), i.e. probably, the rock-city Sela ; cf. 2 Kings xiv. 7. The psalmist (who speaks, as in vv. 3-7, for Israel) longs for a divine guide. But, alas ! Jehovah has ' surely cast us off and goeth not forth,' &c. (v. 12). Surely thou, &c. Hitzig plausibly, ' Who but thou, O God, who hast (hitherto) cast us off?' &c. This facilitates the defence of the unity of feeling and of composition, but is not the most natural construction of the Hebrews. In v. 3 the com plaint ' thou hast cast off' refers to time present, and so in the parallel passage xliv. 10. The speaker yearns for reconciliation with God, and through prayer rises out of his depression into triumphant faith (vv. 13, 14). PSALM LXI. r RAYERS of a pious Israelite afar (as it seems) from the Holy Land. Mus he be a king because of v. 9 ? At any rate, the petition for the king (v. 7) connects this psalm with lxiii. ° 2 Hear my cry, Elohim, attend unto my prayer. 3 From the utmost part of the earth I call unto thee with fainting heart ; lead me upon the rock that is too high for me. PSALM LXI. 169 4 For thou hast been a refuge to me, a strong tower against the enemy. 5 Let me be a guest in thy pavilion perpetually, let me take refuge in the hiding-place of thy wings. 6 For thou, O God, hast hearkened to my vows, thou hast granted the request of those that fear thy name. 7 Mayest thou prolong the king's life, may his years be for generations on generations. 8 May he sit before God for ever ; appoint (thy) lovingkindness and truthfulness to guard him. 9 So will I make melody unto thy name for ever, that I may perform my vows day by day. 2 My cry. Heb. rinndthi, 'my piercing cry' (see xvii. 1, and note on v. 11). 3 From the utmost part of the earth. The natural exaggeration of one parted from all that his soul counts most dear. Whether we are to explain the phrase of the land beyond Jordan, whither David for instance betook himself at a great moment of his life, or of some more distant region (the speaker being supposed to belong to the great Diaspora), is disputed. The ana logy of Ps. xiii. (if interpreted rightly above) seems, however, to point to the former view (the con nexion with David being of course left uncertain). To one who mourns such spiritual privations as the psalmist, the ' end of the land ' is virtually the ' end of the earth ; ' such is the power of feeling some times to exaggerate, sometimes to extenuate difficulties. Comp. on lxiii. 2 c. Lead me upon the rock, &c. All safe retreats seem to be on eminences too far off for him to reach and too high for him to climb. 4 For thou hast been, &c. ' Thou hast been true to thy cove nant-purpose of love, true to thy sacred name, ' I am ' — or ' I will be ' (viz. whatever Israel my people needs), Ex. iii. 14.1 5 The psalmist shares the long ing of his fellow-believer in xv. 1, but piles another big word on the phrase — perpetually (more lite rally, ' for eeons ' ('oldmim 2). 6 According to Ewald, a verse has dropped out after v. 5, express ing the psalmist's desire to praise God in His temple, upon which would follow, ' that thou, O God hast,' &c. ; comp. liv. 8, 9. This however, seems unnecessary. V. 6 is a preface to vv. 7, 8 ; v. 9 is their supplement. The tenses are prophetic perfects (cf. xx. 7) ; the psalmist confidently anticipates the fulfilment of his prayers. Vows and prayers go together in v. 6 ; praise, as the fulfilment of the vows, is the theme of v. 9. Midway come specimens of the ' requests ' or ' petitions ' of ' those that fear Thy name' (comp. xxi. 4, note). The re ceived text has, not ' request,' but ' heritage ' — i.e. perhaps the land of Israel, which may have been re cently delivered from a dreaded foe. 7, Sa See on xxi. 5. The prayer in 8 b reminds us of xl. 12. The verb rendered ' appoint ' is used of God's providential appointments in Jon. ii. 1 (i. 17), iv. 6, 7, 8. 1 Comp. Dr. Robertson Smith, British and Foreign Evangelical Review, Jan. 1876, p. 161. 2 The plural of 'oldm is rare in the Psalter. In lxxvii. 6 it signifies ancient times, in cxliii. 13 the whole course of the world's existence. 170 THE PSALMS PSALM LXII. OOME pious Israelite of high rank (see v. 5) is in imminent danger from malignant opponents, and encourages himself and his companions to hold fast to their faith. The last four distichs are in a different key, and seem to claim prophetic inspiration (see on v. 12). Observe two peculiarities of this psalm, the six times repeated particle ^8 (see on v. 2), and the refrains at the beginning of the first and second strophes (comp. on Pss. lix., lxvii.) There are some resemblances to Pss. iv. and xxxix. 2 Be all at rest, my soul, toward Elohim ; from him comes my salvation. 3 He alone is my rock and my salvation, my sure retreat — I cannot be shaken. 4 How long will ye be frantic against a man ? will ye be dashing in pieces all of you — as it were a toppling wall, a fence pushed in ? 5 They only consult how to thrust him from his dignity ; they delight in lies ; they each of them bless with the mouth, but inwardly they curse. 6 Be all at rest, my soul, toward Elohim, for my expectation is from him. 7 He alone is my rock and my salvation, my sure retreat — I cannot be shaken. 8 Upon God rests my salvation and my honour ; the rock of my stronghold and my refuge are — God. 9 Trust ye in him, O assembly of the people ; pour out your heart before him ; God is a refuge for us. 10 Simply vanity are men of low degree, the lordly are (simply) a lie ; being weighed in the balances, they are altogether as a breath. 1 1 Trust not in perverseness, neither become vain by crookedness : if riches shoot up (as a plant), give no heed thereto. 12 God hath spoken once ; twice have I heard this ; that strength belongs unto God : 13 Thine, too, Jehovah, is lovingkindness, for thou renderest unto every man according to his work. 2 Be all at rest, &c. Hitzig's (comp. on lxxiii. 1), by no means al- ' Nur auf Gott still hoffet meine ways affects the words most closely Seele ' preserves the order of the which it immediately precedes. To Hebrew, but, as this critic points render this fine phrase briefly is outinhis note, the particle ^S, which difficult. The sense is, 'Do no- some render 'only,' others ' surely,' thing but look trustfully to Jeho- and others even ' nevertheless ' vah ; ' ' stillness ' is the root-idea of PSALM LXII. 171 the verb, a ' stillness ' which implies not merely the cessation of that moaning of which another psalmist speaks (xiii. 6, &c), but also of use less endeavours to bring one's own feet out of the net (xxv. 15). For the idea, comp. Lam. iii. 26 ; for the corrected reading, see crit. note. 4 Against a man. Observe that here, as in Psalm iv., it is on the ground of humanity, not of a common citizenship in Israel, that the speaker appeals to his enemies. 5 They only consult, &c. There is a fine though subtle con nexion with vv. 3, 7. Only God can be my helper, for my enemies are only considering how to destroy me. A single humane thought on their part would have been to me a secret ally ; but I am quite alone, or in the midst of friends who are paralysed by despair (see on v. 9). The mention of the psalmist's en dangered ' dignity,' and of the de lighting of his foes in falsehood, reminds us of iv. 3. For the de scription which follows comp. xii. 3, xxviii. 3, lv. 22. 9 This verse forms a transition to the last strophe. The speaker forgets his ' dignity,' and speaks to his fellow-believers, whose dangers, and whose high hopes, he shares. Or rather, he puts more value on the permanent functions of a wise man and a teacher than on the accidental dignity of leadership thrust upon him by the exigencies of the times. In rendering O as sembly of the people I follow Sept (see crit. note). 10, 11 Here the psalmist be comes didactic. The connexion, however, is not at first sight clear. Does this verse contain the encou raging thought that the numerous band of the enemies of Israel has but an apparent existence, all men being naturally but ' vanity ' (or, ' a breath ') and 'a lie ' (both names given to the idol-gods, Jer. ii. 5, Am. ii. 5) ? A comparison of xxxix. 6, 7 suggests a safer view. There the connexion is, that pious Israel ites are tempted by the oppression which they suffer from the rich and prosperous ungodly to covet the ' mammon of unrighteousness.' To meet this temptation, the psalmist is led through a fierce conflict to the conviction that piling up trea sure is irrational, because man has but a short and, as it were, phantom existence. We see from iv. 7, 8 that in very similar circumstances a psalmist had to warn his friends against thinking too much of ma terial blessings. 1 1 For perverseness and crookedness the text has ' oppres sion ' and ' robbery ' (which in fact are parallel terms in Ezek. xxii. 29). But what sense does this give ? Why should the psalmist's com panions in misfortune be exhorted not to centre their trust on such objects ? On the other hand we cannot suppose a sudden transition to the hostile party, because of the evident connexion of this verse with v. 10. Besides, how little would the enemy have minded a gentle caution not to trust in their high handed policy of injustice ! The correction of the text adopted is in harmony with the didactic tinge of this part of the psalm. The wise man whose work introduces the ' proverbs of Solomon ' describes those who are the enemies of true wisdom as men who ' are perverse in their paths and crooked in their ways' (Prov. ii. 22) — a passage which seems to me more completely parallel than Isa. xxx. 12 (following the Sept. with Bishop Lowth), where ' perverseness ' and ' crook edness' have perhaps a more special reference to false statecraft. In our psalm it is not worldly poli ticians but average Israelites who are addressed — those to whom an other psalmist addresses the warn ing, ' O lovers of Jehovah, hate ye that which is evil ' (xcvii. 10). 'Trust in Jehovah' means, not merely belonging to the ' assembly of the people ' (v. 9), but ' doing that which is good ' (xxxvii. 3), and to ' be at rest towards Jehovah ' is incompatible with ' being incensed ' at the prosperity of the unjust, an irritation which ' would only lead 172 THE PSALMS to evil-doing ' (xxxvii. 7, 8). The great teacher, therefore, who speaks here, warns the ' assembly ' against practically transferring their ' trust ' from Jehovah to a course of action which may be lucrative but which He abhors. Neither become vain. He said before that men of high and low degree were equally vanity ; but now he warns his hearers not to ' become vain.' Why is this ? Because to the believer. Jehovah ' makes known the path of (true) life' (xvi. 12) ; ' vanity of vanities ' was not said of life in God, which is the only real life to the psalmists. Comp. Jer. ii. 5, ' (your fathers) walked after that which is vanity and became vain' (so 2 Kings xvii. 15). If riches shoot up. Obviously he means the riches of the ungodly, which the faithful are warned not to gaze at, lest, like wine (Prov. xxiii. 31), the glittering heaps should fascinate them. The figure in the verb is peculiar ; Sept. substitutes a more common one, 7rXoCros iav per; (cf. Milton's ' flow ing wealth '). ' Shoot up ' perhaps involves an allusion to usury, two of the names for which mean pro perly multiplication (marbith, tar- bith). Comp, the somewhat differ ent meaning in xlix.. 17. 12, 13 God hath spoken once. ' Once ' and 'twice ' in parallel clauses mean ' again and again ' (Job xxxiii. 14, xl. 5). Others ren der, ' One thing has God spoken ; these two have I heard.' The writer claims for himself an assured know ledge of certain fundamental truths, produced by the divine Spirit. A siinilar claim is made by another psalmist (lxxxv. 9). Both writers do but follow the example of the 'wise men' (see Job iv. 16, and comp. Job and Solomon, pp. 43, 186), one of whom even maintains that divine revelations are vouch safed to all who are willing to re ceive them (Job xxxiii. 14-16; comp. Joel ii. 28, 29). On the ground ot this claim the writer once more pro claims the old and ever-precious truth that absolute power belongs only to God, but supplements it directly by a less generally re cognised truth that the God who reveals Himself in Israel is also essentially kind, that instead of crushing frail man for his 'lapses' (xix. 12) He will reward him ac cording to his work, i.e. in propor tion to his honest endeavours to serve God. ' Lovingkindness ' is that gracious quality which knits together the members of a commu nity and the parties to a covenant ; it is therefore not inconsistent with 'justice ;' indeed, it is one form oi justice. Such a quality in its high est degree alone can unravel the tangled skein of human responsi bility, and determine how much in each human life is the ' work' of the man, and how much that of other members of the community. There fore it is that we read in v. 13, ' Thine, Jehovah, is lovingkindness.' The psalmists tend, to resolve mo rality into love, as Plato into justice. 'Hi PSALM LXIII. L EIMWEH nach. dem Dienst Gottes' (Julius Hammer). The circum stances described remind uspartly of Ps. Ixi.; comp. also Pss. xiii., xliii. 2 Jehovah, thou, art my God ; earnestly do I seek thee ; my soul thirsts for thee, my flesh pines for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is ; 3 In such wise do I long for thee, in the sanctuary to behold thy power and glory. 4 For thy lovingkindness is better than life itself j (therefore) my lips shall praise thee. PSALM LXIII. *73 5 So will I bless thee while I live, and lift up my hands in thy name. 6 My soul is satisfied as with marrow and fatness, and with mirthful lips doth my mouth sing praise. 7 When I call thee to mind upon my bed, in the night watches do I meditate upon thee. 8 For thou hast been my help, and in the shadow of thy wings can I shout for joy. 9 My soul clings fast after thee : thy right hand upholds me. 10 As for them, they seek my soul to destroy it : they shall enter into the nether world. 1 1 They shall be given up into the grasp of the sword ; they shall be the portion of jackals. 1 2 But the king shall rejoice in Elohim ; everyone that swears by him shall glory : for the mouth of them that speak lies shall be stopped. 2 The psalmist's whole nature (see on xvi. 9) longs for the sanc tuary ; comp. Ixxxiv. 3, and for the figure of thirsting, xiii. 2. The word rendered ' pines ' occurs here only (Symm., Ipelperai). In a dry and thirsty land, &c. It is tempt ing to render (with Pesh.) ' as a dry and thirsty land ' (properly ' in the the manner of . . . ; ' comp. xxxvii. 20). The image produced is a fine one, and this view has the support of cxliii. 6 b, which is clearly an imi tation of our passage. But th e later psalmist was not bound to copy the exact phrase of his original, and indeed began the line in a way which necessitated continuing ' like a thirsty land.' On the other hand, the ordinary rendering in lxiii. 2 seems favoured by a somewhat parallel passage in a cognate psalm (see Ixi. 3). The region in which the psalmist is seems to him at the very end of the world, seems to him dry and barren, because of his spiritual privations. It is just the opposite of Ixxxiv. 7, where the psalmist probably means that hot, parched valleys appear full of deli cious fountains to those who have a joyous trust in Jehovah. 3 In such wise, i.e. with such eager longing. Do I long for thee. Or, ' have I longed for thee,' viz. in former times when I had the privilege of worship in the sanc tuary. But there is no reason for explaining the time-reference otherwise than in v. 2, and the analogy of xiii. 3 pleads strongly for the view that the poet here ex presses bitter regret at his absence from the temple. The text-reading is rendered, ' So have I gazed at thee ; ' against which, see crit. note. In the sanctuary. Because there, in happier days, ' service high and anthem clear ' could ' bring all heav'n before mine eyes.' To behold, i.e. to realise (xxvii. 4). The temple being the citadel and throne of the Most High. 4 Thus far we are reminded of Pss. xiii., xliii. But here the resem blance ceases. In that psalm it is only by a painful effort that the hope is formed of praising God at some future day ; but here the lips of the psalmist are opened at once for praise. How is this ? Evidently this poet has had a deeper experi ence than the other. Severed though he is from the material 174 THE PSALMS sanctuary, his heart has become a temple of praise. Much as he loves the temple, he knows that God's name is not confined to the ' holy mount,' and that He can be wor shipped even in a dry land ; he has solved the enigma of xxvii. 4. He knows that God's lovingkindness is not of fitful operation, but follows him wherever he goes (xxiii. 7), and in this knowledge his heart becomes a temple of praise. He forgets all that is painful in his situation, and remembers only what God is per manently and essentially. Hence he continues, For thy lovingkind ness, &c. God's ' power and glory ' are at the disposal of His ' loving kindness.' It is only or chiefly to intensify the sense of God's loving kindness, which is ' better than life itself (see on xvii. 14), that the psalmist longs so much to see His power and glory in the sanctuary. But he already has in no slight degree that happy consciousness, and so v. 4 a becomes the justifica tion of v. 4 b, and the psalm takes a new turn. We can now under stand the transition from the me lancholy of the first to the ecstatic joy of the second stanza. 5 So will I bless thee, i.e. in thankful recognition of Thy love. (' So ' = accordingly, as Ixi. 9.) 'While I live. Lit, ' in my life time.' Lagarde would emend this into ' in a dry land.' It is true that in v. 4 a the psalmist seems to be speaking in the spirit of R. Baxter : Lord, it belongs not to my care Whether I die or live There is an inconsistency in con tinuing ' in njiy lifetime ; ' but such inconsistenci es are frequent in the psalms, anc show the sincerity of the authoi 3. 6 As wi h marrow and fat ness. TherK*'"as perhaps a strong sensualism in the idea of being a ' guest of God ' (at Sacrificial feasts) formed by the Phoenicians (comp. on v. 5) ; 'marrow an id rich altar- steam' (Keble) was /something to be desired for its own sake. But to the psalmists, as^wtsll as to the author of Isa. xxv/ 6, tliie most ex quisite delights wfere riot those of the lower man, tliougra described in sensuous language. 10 Like Savonarola, 'and like the Scotch Covenanters, the psalm ist has^nb sense of any incongruity between deeply spiritual musings aryd vehement denunciations of his eflemies. His enemies are those jtvho would frustrate God's purposes Ifor Israel. The nether world. See Ixxxvi. 13 (note), lxxxviii. 7. 12 a This one line devoted to the king is strange (contrast Ixi. 7, 8). In b, by him certainly means ' by Jehovah ' (lxiv. 1 1). PSALM LXIV. V RESH complaints and anticipations of a great turn of events these latter expressed in the tone of prophecy (see on vv. 8-10). 2 Hear my voice, Elohim, in my complaint : guard my life from fear of the enemy. 3 Hide me from the conspiracy of the ungodly, from the throng of them that work wickedness ; 4 Who have whet their tongue like a sword, and stretched their arrow — a bitter speech, 5 That they may shoot in their hiding-places at the blameless, suddenly shoot at him, and not be afraid. 6 They fix their choice upon an evil purpose, PSALM LXIV. 175 they discourse of hiding snares, they ask who looks at them. 7 They think out acts of injustice, [and say,] ' We have accomplished a well thought out thing,' and the inward part of each one [is unsearchable], and the heart [of every one] is deep. 8 But God shall shoot at them with an arrow ; suddenly shall they be wounded. so that all that look upon them shall shake the head ; 10 And all men shall fear and shall declare God's work, and shall understand his operation. 1 1 The righteous shall rejoice in Jehovah, and take refuge in him, and all the upright in heart shall glory. 4, 5 Comp. lv. 22, lvii. 5, lix. 8, Punishment, the effect, is already and(fort/. 5)x. 8,lv. 2o(end). At latent in sin, the cause. Comp. the blameless. (Heb. tam.) An- xciv. 22, 23. other rendering is possible. Jacob 9 a Can the text be correct ? the tent-dweller is called tatn, in The easiest rendering is, ' So shall distinction from Esau the roving they against whom their tongue hunter (Gen. xxv. 27). ' Blameless ' was make them to stumble,' but the in the sense of ' honest ' this cannot mention of human instruments of mean (see Ewald, History, i. 352) ; punishment is not in harmony with ' friendly ' is not unsuitable, and the the context. The only alternative same rendering is admissible here. is, ' So they shall be made to On the possible Arabic affinities of stumble, their own tongue [i.e. the tam, see Delitzsch on Job i. 1. fate which they imprecated upon 7 The words supplied in others] coming upon them ;' but brackets are required either for this is harsh in the extreme. The sense or to produce symmetry. middle word in the Hebrew may With 7 c, */comp. Jer. xvii. 9, 10. be corrupt ; we might correct, ' So 8-10 But God shall shoot, &c. shall the mischief of their own Lit, 'And (or, so) God hath shot at tongue bring them to ruin ' (comp. them,' and so on. That which is cxl. 10 b), but this is not quite satis- here described is historically future, factory. Comp. 9 b with Iii. 8. but past in the language of faith. 11 Comp. lviii. 11, lxiii. 12. PSALM LXV. 1\ SONG of praise, composed in the spring, when the 'pastures were already green, the ' meadows ' clothed with flocks, and the 'valleys' covered with swelling corn. Not long before, a great national deliverance had probably occurred, but this is not directly mentioned. The most pro minent blessings in the psalmist's mind are the early and the latter rain. 2 Meet for thee, Elohim, is praise in Zion, and unto thee let the vow be performed. 3 O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee may all flesh come. 176 THE PSALMS 4 Manifold guilt is too strong for me : our transgressions — vouchsafe to cancel them ! 5 Happy is he whom thou choosest and causest to approach, that he may abide in thy courts : fain would we have our fill of the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple. 6 In terrible acts of righteousness dost thou answer us, O God of our salvation ; thou confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of the regions afar off : 7 Who establishes the mountains by his force, being girded with might : 8 Who hushes the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their billows, and the tumult of the peoples ; 9 So that upon those who dwell at the ends comes fear at thy signs, the sources of morning and evening thou fillest with ringing cries. 10 Thou hast visited the land and given her abundance, greatly enriching her ; with God's full river thou didst prepare their corn. 1 1 For right well dost thou prepare her, drenching her furrows, smoothing down her ridges, softening her with showers, blessing all that springs of her 2 Thou hast crowned the year of thy goodness, and thy chariot-tracks drop with richness, 13 The pastures of the wilderness drop (therewith), and the hills are girt with dancing joy. T4 The meadows are clothed with flocks, and the valleys are covered with corn ; they shout for joy ; yea, they sing. 2, 3 Observe how closely prayer tion) is praise ;' or, ' . . is resignation and praise are connected. Men (and) praise.' The former render- are coming to see that these are the ing gives a fine but an unbiblical truest sacrifices (see on 1. 14, 15), sense; in the latter, 'resignation' and since 'prayer' includes 'praise' seemsout of place (dumiyydh should (see on xiii. 9, Acts xvi. 25) the precede not accompany praise ; see temple may be called by a kindred Ps. lxii.) in zion. See note on writer ' a house of prayer for all next verse (end). peoples' (Isa. lvi. 7). Comp. on 3 May all flesh come. An Ixxxiv. 5. meet for thee. So aspiration after the time of which Ewald, Hitzig (formerly), Gratz, Isaiah prophesied in ii. 2, 3 ; comp. and Bickell (with Sept); comp. Jer. xvi. 19, Isa. lxvi. 23, Ps. xxii. xxxiii. 1, and see crit note. The 28, Ixxxvi. 9. The answers to text has, ' Unto thee (or, towards prayer (i.e. supplication) of which thee) silence (or, expectant resigna- Israel is abundantly conscious fill PSALM LXV. 177 the psalmist with a longing that all mankind may have recourse to the same divine Friend. That such a longing is in his mind we can see from the second part of v. 6 (comp. also v. 9). We have therefore no occasion to limit the reference of ' all flesh ' to the people of Israel (with Ewald and Hitzig). We might, however, with most critics, render 'doth all flesh come,' or inter pret ' may come ' in this sense. The most illuminated minds of Israel were in fact so absorbed in the pro phetic ideas that they now and then treat spiritual germs as if full-grown plants, and idealize the religious con dition of the world (see especially Mai. i. 11, 'my name is great among the nations, and in every place incense is offered unto my name and a pure offering"). In this case, what is the connexion of this verse with v. 2 ? Surely this — that though God is the general Father, yet in a special sense he is the Father of Israel (c. 3 ; comp. v. 1), and that though ' all flesh ' can everywhere approach God, yet there are some whom He takes by the hand and causes to draw specially near to Him in Zion. As Tholuck boldly expounds, ' All prayers, even those which men direct to fictitious deities, are known to the true God ;' and yet truly spiritual sacrifices ' the Lord receives in Zion as no where else upon earth.' 4 Manifold guilt. Lit, ' mat ters of guilts.' The colourless word ' matters ' seems chosen designedly. There is an emphasis on the plural form — the two plural nouns to gether strongly mark the variety of the sins spoken of; comp. the solemn repetition of ' all ' in Lev. xvi. 21. The same idiom occurs in cv. 27, cxiv. 5. The psalmist is op pressed by his representative cha racter. He speaks for the nation, and the national sins in their mani foldness and separate individuality weigh down his spirit : he knows that neither he nor the nation nor (really) the high priest can atone for them. But though this is the sad truth (v. 4 is virtually a hypo thetical sentence), he can ask the God who answers prayer to cancel them, and with simple faith he passes into another strain. 5 To whom does this paKapiopos refer ? To the ' house of Levi,' or to the whole 'house of Israel' (cxxxv. 19, 20)? The expressions in the first line may seem to suggest the former (comp. Num. xvi. 5, xviii. 22, Deut. xxi. 5). But the un- priestly tone of v. 2 and v. 4 favours the view that the church-nation of Israel is meant, which is described in Ex. xix. 6 as ideally a ' kingdom of priests and a holy nation ' (comp. lxxiii. 1). By the 'temple' and its 1 courts ' the psalmist means (see on xxvii. 4), not merely the temple ' in Zion ' (v. 2), but also that spiritual temple of which the psalmist has conceived the idea while using to the full the means of grace provided for him in the visible sanctuary. On the other hand, by ' the good ness ' (i.e. the good things) of God's house he cannot mean in any de gree the meats of the sacrificial feasts ; he refers to the blessings common to all the true Israel, as well those of the material as those of the spiritual order. Comp. xxxvi. 9, lxiii. 6. 6 Here the special thanksgiving begins. Again and again, when Israel 'cries unto Jehovah in his distress' (cvii. 13), He answers him in acts not less terrible than right eous (note the double accusative). For terrible, we might substitute ' fearful-glorious ;' for, as Dathe re marks, the phrase describes those deeds at which the ungodly are affrighted, but for which the godly, whose good they promote, give praise to God. See on cxxxix. 14. Of (lit, in = in accordance with) righteousness. God must be faithful to his acknowledged principles, which include interposi tion for his covenant-people (comp. 1 See Kuenen, Hibbert Lectures for 1882, p. r8i, and cf. my art. ' The Invisible Church in Hebrew Prophecy,' in Monthly Interpreter, May 1885, pp. 77-79. N i;8 THE PSALMS Isa. xiii. 6, xiv. 13). — —Thou confi dence, &c. The wonderful history of Israel (such is the faith of the psalmist) has impressed, or is sure to impress, the nations outside first with fear (v. 9) and then with con fidence (cf. xl. 5). The regions afar off. The phrase occurs in Isa. Ixv. 19; cf. also Isa. xxxiii. 13. The text-reading is, ' and (of) the sea of those who are afar off.' 7, 8 The God of nature and the God of history are one. There may be also a secondary symbolic reference, the mountains suggesting the colossal power (cf. Isa. xii. 15), and the seas the restless character of the world-empires which so often troubled Israel (xlvi. 4, 7, Isa. xvii. 12-14). 9 The reverent awe and enthu siastic delight of spectators at the downfall of tyrannical powers. ¦ The ends, viz. of the earth (v. 6) ; in other words, east and west, the sources (lit, places of outgoing) of morning and evening (a zeugma which is illustrated by ' the two orients,' Koran, xliii. 37). Morning and evening are here synonyms for the rising and the setting sun (cf. introduction to Ps. xxiv.) 10, 11 Again a change of key. God also ' answers ' his people by the gifts of the soil. Lovingly the poet describes the ' early rain ' or first showers of autumn, without which the operations of husbandry cannot begin. Visited means ' taken notice of (see on viii. 5, xxxiii. 18, and cf. Ruth i. 6). With God's full river, i.e. with water from heaven ; cf. the Tal- mudic but doubtless also primitive Hebrew expression ' field of Baal,' i.e. 'a field nourished, not by springs, but by rain' (Isaiah, ii. 295). Schultens quotes a passage from the (Arabic) history of Tamerlane (p. 82), ' When the river of God comes, the river Isa ceases.' A mythic conception lies at the root of the Hebrew phrase, as the Targum already suggests by para phrasing, 'from the cask (or cis tern) of God which is in heaven ' (cf. Job xxxviii. 37, ' the bottles of heaven ' = the clouds). The rain was naively regarded in the earliest times as coming from the heavenly ocean (see on civ. 3), which was behind the ' doors ' and ' lattices ' of heaven (lxxviii. 23, Gen. vii. 11). The word for ' river ' (pdleg) is re markable ; generally it means ' con duit ' or ' canal,' but here, as in xlvi. 5, ' river' is evidently the sense required. A divine stream, though not of the same character, being referred to, a peculiarword is chosen in both passages (see crit. note). And truly the contrast between the state of the soil before and after the early rain, might well suggest the expression, ' a stream of Elohim.' 1 1 For right well, &c. In the text these words close the preced ing verse, but how awkwardly ! There is a play upon the word ken, which may signify either ' so ' or 'right' (the latter meaning sug gested here by the word ' prepare ' or ' righten '). ' So ' would mean ' so generously.' All that springs of her. The Heb. qdmakh being almost always used collec tively (see on Isa. iv. 2). 12-14 If the ' early rain ' might be called a ' river of Elohim,' the 'latter rain' and its consequent blessings well deserved to be called 'the crowning of the year.' The development of the grain stands almost still in January and Febru ary ; in the months of March and April, when the ' latter rain ' falls, it has to become fully ripe. How eagerly the Israelites looked out for this precious gift, may be seen from Job xxix. 23, Prov. xvi. 15, Jer. iii. 3, Zech. x. 1, as well as from the landscape-picture in vv. 12-14, which is suffused with emotion, though, remarkably enough, the emotions of grateful Man are transferred to the hills and valleys which he cultivates. The only figure indeed besides the quiet sheep is that of One who drives through the land in His chariot, not as a man of war (as Hab. iii. 12), but to scatter richness (lit, fatness) on the waiting earth (Hos. ii. 21). Poets make their own myths when PSALM LXV. 179 they do not find them. No doubt passages in II. Isaiah (e.g. xliv. 23, the meaning is that the 'latter rain' xlix. 13; cf. also Ps. xcvi. 11, 12, had fallen in abundance when the xcviii. 7, 8). Some indeed would corn was coming into ear (Deut. supply 'men' as the subject; but xxxiii. 26, quoted by Del., is parallel Virgil at least would not have been rather to Ixviii. 33). The valleys shocked at making nature ' sing ' (v. 14) are ' the long broad sweeps (see Eel. v. 62). There are surely sometimes found between parallel scenes in which it is not enough to ranges of hills ' ('emeq). They speak of ' smiling fields.' shout for joy reminds us of lyric PSALM LXVI. f\ LITURGICAL psalm. It is uncertain, however, whether the sacrifices spoken of are offered in the name of the people by the high priest or some other leader, or by an individual in his own name (see v. 16). In the latter case, as there is no historic setting to vv. 13-20, we must suppose the psalm to be intended for any individual who might bring the offering which he had vowed to the temple. The exordium echoes (we might say, popularises) the prophetic idea of the worldwide significance of Israel's history. Passages parallel to it, in form and contents, will at once suggest themselves (e.g. xcviii. 4 for v. 1 ; Prov. xv. 3 for v. 11 b ; Isa. xlviii. 10, Jer. ix. 7, Zech. xiii. 9, Mai. iii. 3 for v. 10). 1 Shout ye merrily to Elohim, all ye upon earth, 2 Make melody unto the glory of his name, ascribe glory to praise him. 3 Say unto God, ' How terrible are thy works ! so great is thy strength that thine enemies cringe unto thee. 4 All upon the earth shall worship thee, and make melody unto thee, make melody unto thy name.' 5 Come ye and see the works of God, how terrible he is in his doing toward the sons of men. 6 He turned the sea into dry land ; they went on foot through the river — there let us rejoice in him. 7 He rules by his might for ever ; his eyes survey the nations : let not the rebellious deal so proudly. 8 O bless our God, ye peoples, and make the sound of his praise to be heard, 9 Who hast set our soul in life, and hast not suffered our foot to waver. 10 For thou, O God, hast proved us : thou hast refined us, as silver is refined. 1 r Thou broughtest us into the dungeon ; thou laidest upon our loins a crushing weight. 12 Thou didst cause mortal men to ride over our heads ; i8o THE PSALMS we went through fire and through water, but thou broughtest us out into a place of liberty. 13 I will go into thy house with burnt offerings, I will render unto thee my vows, 14 Such as escaped from my lips, and my mouth did utter, when I was in straits. 15 Burnt offerings of fatlings will I offer unto thee, with the sweet savour of rams ; I will sacrifice bullocks with goats. 16 Come ye, hearken, and let me rehearse, all ye that fear God, that which he did for myself. 1 7 I cried unto him with my mouth, and a lofty hymn was (already) under my tongue. 18 If I have intended iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear ; 19 But verily God has heard, and been attentive to the sound of my prayer. 20 Blessed be Elohim, who has not driven [from him] my prayer, [nor withdrawn his kindness] from me. 3 How terrible. Cf. cxiv. 6. The paraphrase ' fearful-glorious ' (see on Ixv. 6) is very suitable here, and in v. 5 (cf. 6). 5 Toward the sons of men. And yet the example given in v. 6 is a deliverance of Israel. But Israel is beginning to feel himself the elder brother of ' the nations ; ' indeed, it is ' the nations ' who are now addressed in sympathetic lan guage. 6 If the text is correct, this seems the only intelligible render ing. The poet implies the soli darity of his people in all genera tions (cf. cxxxii. 6, 7, Josh. v. 1, Hos. xii. 5 ; in the two last passages, however, the pronoun is uncertain). That the rendering adopted is grammatically possible, there is no reasonable doubt ; see Delitzsch, andcf. Driver,//". Tenses, § 54. A.V. requires us to suppose that the speaker as it were ecstatically trans ports himself and his fellow-Isra elites to the period of the Exodus, and speaks with the lips of the earlier generation. In such a con text I fail to realise this as possible ; xxxvi. 13, cited by Perowne, is a very questionable analogy. 7 His eyes survey (as Prov. xv. 3), as from a watch-tower ; cf. on xliv. 24. The rebeUious. See on Ixviii. 7. 1 1 Into the dungeon. A figure for the depressed conscious ness of a conquered people. Cf. Isa. xiii. 23, ' hidden in houses of restraint.' 12 Mortal men. That the poet is, if not etymologising, yet playing upon the word 'enosh, can hardly be doubted (see on viii. 5). Elsewhere Israel is encouraged by the thought of the mortal nature of its tyrants (Isa. li. 12) ; here, however, it is the ignominy of servitude to be tyrannised over by the creatures of a day. Israel's true king is divine. Comp. ' Arise, Jehovah ; let not mortal man be too strong ' (ix. 20 ; see note). rire and water are images for the varieties of deadly peril (cf. Isa. xliii. 2). Into a PSALM LXVI. 181 place of liberty (cf. xviii. 20). The text-reading is, 'into abund ance' (same word in xxiii. 5). 14 Such as escaped . . . Ex torted by the necessity of the moment, like the vow of Jephthah (Judg. xi. 35, 36, same word). 15 Sweet savour. Whether this rendering favours radical Pen tateuch criticism or not, it is the only natural one. See my note on Isa. i. 13, and comp. Wellhausen, Prolegomena, p. 67, and Dillmann's obscure and, I fear, prejudiced note on Deut xxxiii. 10. 16 Is this the address of an in dividual to the Jewish church at large ? or that of a representative Israelite to those who fear God in all lands ? If in any sense this part of the psalm has a national refer ence, ^.19 with its declaration of innocence suggests that it was written at the same time as Ps. xliv. 17 Such was the speaker's faith that a lofty hymn (cf. cxlix 6) to a prayer-hearing God had all but risen to his lips (see on x. 7). But the text may be in disorder. Would not such a striking idea have re quired a couplet for itself? 18 If I have .... will not hear. Not, 'If I had .... would not have heard.' It is a general proposition, ' My prayers will be in effectual, unless my heart is pure.' Then in the next verse the speaker applies this theory to the case of his own recent prayer. God has heard me ; therefore I am free from ' great transgression.' He is con tent with hinting this inference, which puzzled the quaint Fuller. Contrast Job's complaint, ' My prayer is pure ; yet God treats me as an enemy' (Job xvi. 17 ; cf. 9). 20 The text has only, ' who has not withdrawn my prayer and his lovingkindness from me.' But see crit. note. PSALM LXVII. f\ harvest-home hymn in the widest sense. Looking upon the corn, now ready to be reaped, the poet thinks of the spiritual harvest, when Jehovah shall be king over all the earth. It is no compulsory empire which he has in his mind ; the sight of Israel's blessedness will gently bring the other nations to the true religion. Will Israel's blessedness one day really attain such potency ? Yes ; each fruitful season is a guarantee of this. Comp. the lovely picture of the ' Messianic ' period, when spiritual and material blessings shall be poured out in equal abundance, in lxxxv. 11-13. The psalm consists of three strophes, the second and third of which have an initial refrain (see on Pss. lix., lxii.) In v. 2 a and b there is an echo of the first two parts of the priestly blessing (Num. vi. 24, 25). 2 Elohim be gracious unto us and bless us, and cause his face to shine upon us, 3 That thy way may be known upon earth, even thy salvation among all nations. 4 Let the peoples give thanks unto thee, O God ; let the peoples all of them give thanks unto thee. 5 Let the nations rejoice with ringing cries, for thou wilt judge the peoples in equity, and lead the nations upon earth. 6 Let the peoples give thanks unto thee, O God, let the peoples all of them give thanks unto thee. 1 82 THE PSALMS 7 The earth has yielded her increase ; may Jehovah, our own God, bless us. 8 May God bless us ; and let all the ends of the earth fear him. PSALM LXVIII. A. patriotic and religious ode of wondrous range and compass and in the grandest style. So full is it of reminiscences of other psalms (not to claim allusions to Habakkuk and II. Isaiah), that we cannot help referring it to the post-Exile period. But to which part of that period of periods ? It were hopeless to justify a single view here ; much less to examine the many theories which have been proposed, and which make Ps. Ixviii., in Reuss' words, ' ein Denkmal exegetischer Noth und Kunst' Elaborately artistic as the poem may be, how strong is the lyric emotion which pervades the whole, and makes it live ! All the feelings, recollections, hopes, and anticipations of the age have found in it an adequate expression. Bishop Alexander has given a fine rendering of this psalm, in the variable measure of an English 'ode,' in his Poems (1886) ; which, however, I was unable to consult. Marot's version, beginning, ' Que Dieu se montre seulement,' was known among the Huguenots as the ' song of battles,' and the Ex- surgat Deus was chanted by Savonarola and his brother-monks as they marched to the trial of fire in the Piazza of Florence. 2 Let God arise, let his enemies be scattered, and let them that hate him flee before him. 3 Like a drift of smoke, so mayest thou drive them : as wax melts before the fire, so perish the ungodly at the presence of Elohim ! 4 But let the righteous rejoice and triumph before Jehovah, let them be merry and joyful. 5 Sing unto God, make melody unto his name, cast up a way for him who rides through the deserts, bless his name, and triumph before him — 6 Who is a father of the orphans, and an advocate of the widows, even God in his holy mansion, — 7 God, who makes the desolate to return home, who brings forth the prisoners into prosperity, the rebellious notwithstanding dwell in a parched land. 8 O God, when thou wentest forth before thy people, when thou marchedst through the wilderness, 9 The earth did quake, the heavens also dropped, at God's presence yonder Sinai [shook], at the presence of Jehovah, Israel's God. io A liberal rain didst thou shed, O God, upon thine inheritance [so weary] and fainting, thou didst restore [the dry land]. IX PSALM LXVIII. 183 1 1 Thine army dwelt therein : in thy goodness, O God, thou preparedst for the poor. 12 The Lord gives the word : the heraldesses of victory are a great host. 13 Kings of hosts flee— they flee, and she that has tarried at home divides the spoil. 14 Will ye lie among the sheepfolds ? The wings of a dove that is covered with silver, and her feathers with green-shimmering gold. 15 [For full is our land of spoil,] when Shaddai scatters kings therein, [as the snow, when] it snows on Salmon. 16 A mountain of Elohim is the mountain of Bashan, a mountain with peaks is the mountain of Bashan. 1 7 Why look ye askance, ye mountains with peaks, on the mount which God has desired to dwell in ? yea, Jehovah will abide there for ever. 18 The chariots of God are myriads twice-told, thousands upon thousands ; the Lord hath come from Sinai into the sanctuary. 1 9 Thou hast gone up to the high mount to abide ; O Jah, thou hast carried away captives, thou hast received gifts among men, yea, even among the rebellious. 20 Blessed be the Lord ! day by day he bears us — even the God who is our salvation. 2 1 God is unto us divine in saving acts ; yea, unto Jehovah belong escapes from Death. 2 2 Surely Elohim will shatter the head of his enemies, the longhaired crown of the head of him who goes on in his sins. 23 The Lord said, I will bring (them) back from Bashan, I will bring (them) back from the ocean-gulfs, 24 That thou mayest wash thy foot in blood, that the tongue of thy dogs may have its portion from the enemies. 25 They have seen thy progress, O God, the progress of my God, my King, into the sanctuary. 26 Singers went before, minstrels followed after, in the midst of damsels playing on timbrels. 27 'In full choirs bless ye Elohim, even the Lord from the fountain of Israel.' 28 Then went little Benjamin before, 184 THE PSALMS the chiefs of Judah in its bands, the chiefs of Zebulun, the chiefs of Naphtali. 29 Command thy strength, O God ; show thyself strong, O God, thou who (before) hast wrought for us. 30 From thy temple above Jerusalem kings shall (then) bring presents unto thee. 31 Rebuke thou the wild beast of the reeds, the troop of bulls, of lords of peoples, that rolls itself in mire for gain of money ; scatter thou the peoples that delight in wars. 32 (Then) shall they come in haste out of Egypt, quickly shall Ethiopia stretch out her hands unto God. 33 O kingdoms of the earth, sing ye unto God, make ye melody unto the Lord, 34 (Sing) unto him that rideth through the ancient heavens of heavens ; behold, he uttereth his voice, and that a mighty voice. 35 Ascribe unto Jehovah strength which sheltereth Israel, (unto him) whose majesty and strength are in the skies. 36 Terrible is Jehovah ruling from his sanctuary, — he is the God of Israel : Strength and mightiness he giveth to his people, — blessed be God. 2-7 A prayer for deliverance, tioned ; here it is ' deserts.' No which almost rises into prophecy, single ' desert ' is referred to ; it is a so fervent is its emotion. Then, in characteristic of Jehovah to make calmer tones, a summons to Israel royal progresses alike in the vast to prepare joyously for the Deli- expanse above (v. 34), and in those verer. great desert regions in which His 2 let Cod arise, &c. The people twice learned a lesson of chant with which the ark set forward faith in Him. When Israel is in in the wilderness (Num. x. 35). affliction, it seems as if Jehovah 3 They shall be scattered, when had retired to the desert. He hears God arises, like smoke-wreaths ; His people's cry, and then, as Ha- they shall melt like wax ; nay more bakkuk says, ' Eloah cometh from (for these figures might merely Teman, and the Holy One from signify flight, 1 Sam. xi. 11, xiv. 16), mount Paran' (Hab. iii. 3). they shall perish. The ungodly Bless his name. The text has, are opposed to the righteous (v. 4) ; 'In Jah is his name.' i.e. foreigners to Israelites ; see on 6 But dare the Israelites rejoice? ix. 5, lviii. 11, and cf. Hab. i. 13, True, theyare 'righteous' (v. 4); ii. 4, iii. 13 (see above). but as yet they share the fate of 5 Cast up a way, as pioneers ' orphans' and ' widows' (x. 14 ; cf. for a royal progress — an allusion to xciv. 6). Still let them rejoice ; for Isa. xl. 3. There, however, the God is a righteous though long- ' desert ' in the singular is men- suffering judge (Luke xviii. 7, R.V.), PSALM LXVIII. l85 and, like the importunate widow in the parable, orphaned and widowed Israel shall come to her 'rights.' Jehovah 'prepared' for the ' poor' in former troubles ; is he not already ' preparing ' now ? Is he not safe from attack himself in his holy mansion, and able as willing to fight for Israel (these ideas are suggested by tire phrase ; see on xxii. 4, xciii. 4, 5) ? The heavenly and not the earthly temple is meant (Hitzig, Hupfeld, and Delitzsch) ; see Deut. xxvi. 15, Jer. xxv. 30, Zech. ii. 13. He looks down thence upon the children of men, and is about to speak ; ' hush before him ' (Hab. ii. 20, Zeph. i. 7). 7 Here type is exchanged for allegory. The psalmist looks back on the two great Returns, that from Egypt and that from Babylon. (I suppose there is no doubt that he would have regarded Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as the founders of the 'home ' in Canaan ; cf. Ps. cv.) A parched land is not the desert (?) of Sinai, where so many Israelites perished, but a figurative expression for a land without the spiritual and material blessings showered by Jehovah upon His faithful ones ; cf. lxiii. 2 c, Isa. Ixv. 11-14. 'Imprisonment' (prisoners) is an allegory for the manifold afflictions of ' captivity ' (cf. cii. 20, and see on lxvi. 11) ; hence its opposite is ' prosperity.' ' Isolation ' (desolate) expresses the want of friendly sympathy and aid so painfully felt by the Jewish exiles and by the Maccabean patriots (see, for the expression, xxv. 16, and for the idea cii. 7, 8, xliv. 14, 17). The text-reading of line 1 is rendered, ' God setteth the solitary in families' (A.V. and R.V.; cf. cxiii. 9). This gives an excellent antithesis, but is not in perfect harmony with the context, which requires an allegorical description of the change which a divine deli verance produces in the circum stances of Israel. The ' family ' of Israel did not cease to exist when expatriated ; the sentence in A.V., however fine, is not in point here. We might of course take the parti ciple in a pregnant sense, ' brings the solitary ones home and causes them to dwell there;' but this is arbitrary. Isa. lviii. 7 (compared by Hupfeld and others) gives no help. See crit. note. The re bellious, i.e. those Israelites who 'take another (god) in exchange' (xvi. 4), and shut themselves out from the 'covenant of promise' (Isa. Ixv., lxvi.) For another use of the phrase, see v. igc. 8-19 Is this confidence pre sumptuous ? No ; Jehovah has already given an example of his willingness and ability to save. The deliverance from Egypt is a foreshadowing of deliverances to come. The poet sketches succes sively the journey through the wilderness, the conquest of Canaan, and the occupation of Mount Zion by the great King. 8, 9 Amidst signs and wonders, Jehovah leads forth his people from Sinai, not (according to this picture) from Egypt, as Grill and Bertheau would have it. Comp. Deut. xxxiii. 2, Hab. iii. 3, and especially Judg. v. 4, 5, from which passage in fact these verses are freely quoted, and which also enables us to supply the indispensable word ' shook.' I have also ventured to emend ' Elo him ' into Jehovah in v. 8 c, as in xliii. 4, for the sake of sense (so Judg. v. 5). 10, 11 A poetic view of the origin of Canaan's extraordinary fertility. The storm which marked the appearance of Jehovah was not confined to Mount Sinai, and the heavy rain, endued with super natural power,1 transformed the parched land of Canaan into a 'garden of Jehovah.' It had not been so in the times of the patri archs ; such at least was the poet's fancy. Perhaps he even thought of Gen. xlvii. 13, where the land of 1 Delitzsch, however, explains ' a liberal rain ' of ' the abundance of gifts which God rained down upon Canaan after Israel's entrance.' 1 86 THE PSALMS Canaan (as well as that of Egypt) is said to have ' fainted ' by reason of famine. Thus a gracious God 'prepared' (cf. Ixv. n) for His people. This seems to me the wor thiest explanation, though the difficulties of the passage must be frankly confessed. Thine army, in particular, is a doubtful rendering ; njn only occurs once ' in this sense, 2 Sam. xxiii. 13, and the chronicler substitutes for it the better known word mnD (1 Chr. xi. 15). Still it is a genuine old Hebrew word, and the Karaite Arabic translator Yepheth has set a good example by rendering 'askarka 'thine army.' Rashi and Ibn Ezra give a slightly different version (Rashi, "|mi> ; Ibn Ezra, "|n?np), and from them comes A.V.'s rendering, ' thy congrega tion.' I should prefer ' thy family ; ' cf. ^n, 1 Sam. xviii. 18 ; 'congre gation ' says too much. But ' family' is less supported than ' army,' and is less suitable as a designation of Israel. The alternative is to render ' thy living creatures ' (taking the singular as a collective, or pointing as a plural). The Heb. khayyah (strictly, ' something alive ') gene rally means ' a wild beast ' (or ' wild beasts '), and Israel is only com pared, from the point of view of its religious position, to tame animals (see on cxi. 5) ; in Lev. xi. 10, how ever, it is used in a wide sense of animals of all kinds except man, and why should it not once be used of man ? To be Nature's ' dearest living creatures ' is a title of honour according to Dante (Purg. xxix. I37, 138) ; why not according to the psalmist ? The early Israelites looked to Jehovah for life and food and protection, and without Him ' the powers of the world would have crushed them. This course is at any rate not more violent than explaining khayyah of the quails referred to in lxxviii. 27, 28, Ex. xvi. 13. It commends itself to most of those commentators who take v. 11 to refer, not to Canaan, but to the wilderness, interpreting ' thine inheritance ' of the people of Israel (as xxviii. 9, lxxviii. 71, and often), and ' a liberal rain ' (or, ' a rain of gifts ') of the manna (cf. lxxviii. 24, Ex. xvi. 4, but see the Hebrew). Of course the words supplied in. v. 10 c will have to be dropped, with this result, that n3 ' therein ' is without a feminine noun to refer to (' therein ' surely cannot mean ' in the midst of Israel, thine inheritance ' — Hupfeld's view). As I have said, the first view set forth above, which is substantially that of the foremost commentators, com mends itself most to me, on the supposition that the text is free from material corruption. That view is not dependent on the accu racy of the words supplied (after Bickell) in v. 10 b, c. We may (if we think the construction a natural one) grammatically render, after ' thine inheritance,' ' and when it was fainting, thou hast restored it ' (i.e. we may take v. 10 b to refer to Canaan, and v. 10 c to refer to Israel), and continue 'thine army (or, thy living creatures) dwelt in the desert' (taking rQ to be the first and last letters of rp¥3 — the middle letters having become ob literated ; cf. Merx, Hiob, pp. liv.- lvi.) Didst restore. Or, if this sense be confined to persons, ' didst set in order,' ' didst prepare.' 12 Here begins a scene, de scribed in vivid historical presents, from the early wars of Israel with the kings of Canaan. But what is this word t Is it a creative ' fiat ' issuing in victory (cf. lxxvii. 9, where "ttj'K = the self-fulfilling word of divine promise, but not Hab. iii. 9, which is too corrupt) ? Or is it the song of victory (cf. Gen. xlix. 10 in the pointed text) ? Or is it either the summons to the fray — the battle-note — or (the view to which I lean myself) the watchword (cf. Judg. vii. 18, 20)? The 1 In 2 Sam. xxiii. n we should certainly read rVn? 'to Eehi;' see Vaii Bible. PSALM LXVIII. I87 heraldesses proclaim the news of victory in all parts of the land ; or (if ' word ' = song) chant an iirivUwv like Miriam (Ex. xv. 20, 21 ; cf. Judg. v., 1 Sam. xviii. 6, 7), of which vv. 14, 15 are, as Ewald thinks, a fragment (why not also v. 13 ?) 13 Flee — they flee. So Judg. v. 22, 'the pransings — the pran- sings.' Divides the spoil, viz. such as had fallen to the husband as his portion (cf. Judg. v. 30). 14 The two images in this verse are dear enough ; the difficulty lies in the connexion. ' Lying among the sheepfolds ' is a current phrase for a quiet country life (Gen. xlix. 14, Judg. v. 16) ; the brilliant hues of the dove's wings are an emblem of the rich clothing of some un determined person or persons. The latter image is noteworthy from the keen appreciation which it dis plays of the effects of light. Seen in the bright glow of the sun's slanting rays, the outspread wings of a dove might fitly be described. as ' yellow gold ; ' then, when the bird has wheeled round, and is seen against the light, they might as fitly be called ' molten silver.' ' But what can be made of the connexion of the images ? Some regard the verse as an address of the women to the men, depicting the happiness which Israel will so soon enjoy again in pastoral life (taking the initial particle DX in a temporal sense, 'when ye lie . . (Israel shall be) as the wings of a dove,' &c.) The objection is twofold : 1, that this particle (properly 'put the case that ') never quite loses a hypothetical tinge ; and 2, that if vv. 8, 9 are a free quotation from Judg. v. 4, 5, it is probable that this verse contains more than an allusion to Judg. v. 16. (That there is at least an allusion, will be admitted ; but if there is any con nexion between the two passages it is probably a closer one than is implied in this slender admission.) Grant that it is more than allusion, and the initial particle becomes, not a conjunction, but an interro gative (corresponding to ' why ' in Judg. v. 16), and the whole line is an exhortation to the men of those more distant parts to which the ' heraldesses ' have gone (see above) to be up and doing, and join in the pursuit of the fugitives. But how, upon this view of line 1, shall we connect it with lines 2 and 3 ? Various answers have been given. Herder, for instance, takes lines 2 and 3 as an exclamation ; one shep herd admiringly points out to another the lovely wings of the dove for want of anything better to do. How idyllic! But why did not the poet continue his quotation, adding from Judg. v. ' to hear the bleatings of the flocks ' ? Grill thinks that ' the wings of a dove,' &c. = ' see how they fly — the doves with gorgeous wings' (i.e. the richly clothed enemies), comparing for the construction Nah. i. 15 (Heb. ii. 1). But would this remark inspire the sluggish with zeal to join in the pursuit? Is not the dove elsewhere an emblem of swiftness in flight (lv. 7) ? All such theories attempt too much. Why should there be so close a connexion between line 1 and lines 2 and 3 ? If line 1 is taken from one old poem why should not lines 2 and 3 (which are not a complete clause in them selves) be quoted from another, en tirely unconnected with the first ? For instance, they might be ex tracted from a song in praise of some Hebrew lady. In the Song of Songs, a bride's eyes are com pared to doves' eyes (Cant i. 15, iv. I ; comp. v. 12) ; why should not her dress be compared to a dove's wings transfigured by the eastern sun, according to Miss Whately's description ? Of course it is possi ble that the song also explained how the bride got this rich dress, viz. from her heroic bridegroom (comp. Judg. v. 30, 2 Sam. i. 24). But what sense does the fragment 1 I borrow from Miss Whately's Ragged Life in Egypt. Thomson's explanation (The Land and the Book, p. 271) shows no poetic feeling. i88 THE PSALMS bear in its new position ? May not the dove, to the psalmist as well as to the later poets (D'JO'B), symbolise the people of Israel ' (see lvi. I, title, in Heb. ; lxxiv. 19, 'thy turtle dove ;' Hos. vii. 11, xi. 11 ; and cf. Dr. C. H. H. Wright, Biblical Essays, p. 45) ? Through cloud and storm that ' dove ' has passed, and now suns itself in the light of prosperity. There may also be an allusion to the rich garments and jewellery in the spoil, which of course were not coveted by women alone (cf. Josh. vii. 21, Judg. viii. 24, 26). 1 5 Still a heavy stress upon the interpreter. First of all, is therein correct ? Is the view implied in the punctuation of n3 to be en dorsed? A mere glance at the second line shows that it is too short. Something must have dropped out, and of this ' some thing ' r\2 may be a surviving frag ment (see crit note). To me, however, line 1 seems to read better if the received view be re tained. Possibly this couplet too is more or less a quotation from an old song in which ' the land ' (viz. Canaan) had just before been re ferred to (or else a line or two has dropped out of our psalm, just before v. 15). Next, what are we to make of the second line in the received text, which runs, 'it snowed on Sal mon ' ? What is Salmon ? There was a small mountain of this name near Shechem (Judg. ix. 48). In the Talmuds too the name occurs frequently, but, as Neubauer says,2 without topographical data. May there not have been several moun tains called Salmon ('dark'), either from their dark forest covering (cf. Schwarzwald) or the black rocks of their geological formation? The mountain-range of Haur&n is called in Ptolemy's Geography Asalma- nos (v.l. Alsalamos, and Alsada- mos). It is at least possible that this has arisen out of the name qalmdn = calmon, and in this case v. 1 5 leads on naturally to the next verse. Hermon, at any rate, is not to be thought of ; the name would be inappropriate, and Hermon was not really on Israehtish territory.3 But why should it be said that ' it snowed on Salmon ' ? The usual reply is that it is a condensed phrase meaning ' it was like a snow fall on Mount Salmon,' alluding either to the bleached bones of the slain (cf. Virg. AZn. v. 865, xii. 36) or to the glistening armour which has been dropped by the fugitives (cf. Horn. //. xix. 357-361). But (1) there is no parallel for such a condensed phrase in the psalm, and (2) we want some distinct reference to bones or to armour in the con text. Olshausen would emend ' it snowed ' into ' as the snow.' Bickell with good reason prefers to lengthen the line, so as to render ' as the snow when there is a snow fall on Salmon.' If we may follow him in supposing a line relative to booty to have dropped out before v. 15, or to have existed in the original from which our poet quotes (see above), no further objection can be raised. Certainty is unattain able, but the probability of an ap proximate restoration is great. Shaddai. A primitive name of God (see on xci. 1). 16 Perhaps another quotation from an old song, expressing the popular veneration for the Bashan- mountains. The original context may well have referred to Israel's victories over Og. The mountain- god was unable to protect his wor shippers from Jehovah's army. A. mountain of Elohim may mean (like 'mountains of El,' xxxvi. 7) one which seemed in a special de- 1 See the old poem, founded on the Midrashic interpretation of the Song of Songs, in the Jewish Passover Service (De Sola's ed. , p. 97, &c.), and cf. M. Sachs' lines, 'Du wirst, mein Volk, der Taube gleich genannt,' Stimmen vo-m Jordan und Euphrat, i. 91. 2 Neubauer, La giographie du Talmud, p. 275. 3 Hermon is called in Arabic ' the Old Man's Mountain,' and ' the Snow Mountain. ' The suggestion of the Hauran is Wetzstein's in an Anhang to Delitzsch's Psalmen. PSALM LXVIII. 189 gree to show forth creative power ; or possibly one which possessed divine sanctuaries (so Baudissin, Studien, ii. 255), like Carmel and Hermon. Grill, in fact, finds a reference to Hermon, which has at any rate three summits, and is therefore called ' Hermonim ' in xiii. 7. The objection is that Her mon was not a ' mountain of Ba shan' (see Deut iii. 8, iv. 48). The only ' mountain of Bashan ' to which the title ' many-peaked ' can be ap plied, is the range of the Hauran. One of its highest summits is called Guwelin, which by an ingenious linguistic argument Wetzstein brings into connexion with the gabhnon ('peaked') of the psalm, and explains as meaning ' gabled ; ' har gabhnunnim he renders, not ' das kuppenreiche,' but ' das giebel- reiche Gebirge ' — a picturesque description of the crater formations of this highly volcanic region (cf. Baedeker- Socin, Paldstina, p. 431). Cf. Aquila, oprj wqbpvapeva (like oippvoeis, Herod, v. 92) ; Duport, Bao-dvoio opos -iroXvSeipdSos. 17 Much might seem to plead for the selection of a site for the sanctuary in Bashan, whose grand mountain range had as it were been consecrated through having wit nessed the early victories of Israel. But from the first Jehovah ' chose the weak things of the world to con found the mighty.' 18 By a poetic license the be ginning and the end of Jehovah's 'march' (v. 8) are combined. At tended, we are told, by a vast army, He transfers his throne from Sinai to the true sanctuary. The cha riots are those of the heavenly host (see 2 Kings ii. 11, vi. 17, and cf. Deut. xxxii. 2). Comp. Milton's chariots wing'd From th' armoury of God, where stand of old Myriads, &c. The latter part of both lines is uncertain ; ' thousands of repeti tion ' seems a forced expression, and ' into the sanctuary ' makes the second line very bald. But if Ps. Ixviii. is a late poem, a deviation from naturalness need not surprise us, and the baldness of line 2 is caused by the introduction of a quotation (from Deut. xxxiii. 2) which left but little space to fill up. The text, however, has, ' the Lord is among them, Sinai is in the sanctu ary ;' i.e. the presence of Jehovah and His angels makes Sion a se cond Sinai, or, as Merrick (1766) puts it — And Israel views within her shrine (Blest seat of majesty divine) The scene that erst his tribes beheld On Sinai's mystic top reveal'd. l 19 A fuller description of Jeho vah's victory. The high mount, lit. the height, is, not heaven (against this, see on vii. 8), but Mount Zion (as vii. 8 ; cf. Jer. xxxi. 12, Ezek. xvii. 23, xx. 40). This favoured mount Jehovah ascends to abide (a word constantly used of Jeho vah's earthly habitations), and carries with him the captives of his resistless arm, and the tribute which he received among men, i.e. on the field of battle. (Less pro bable is Ewald's view that ' cap tives ' and ' gifts ' both refer to persons, viz. to enemies who have surrendered of themselves ; cf. Isa. xiv. 14. This view requires us to render 'of men,' i.e. consisting of men.) The rebellious are the neighbouring peoples who have heard of Jehovah's terrible prowess. The received text has one great difficulty ; it places the words ' to abide, Jehovah' at the end of the verse (adding ' Elohim,' which is most probably due to the Elohistic reviser). The last line thus be comes either, ' and even the rebel lious shall abide (see Gesenius, Grammar, § 132, n. 1) with Jah Elohim' (i.e. as his guests ; see on v. 5), or, ' and even of the rebellious, that Jah Elohim may abide there.' 1 Unimportant modifications of the exegesis will be caused if, with Hitzig, Ewald, and Kay, we render bakkddesh ' in holiness.' Hitzig, rendering ' vom Sinai unnahbar,' compares lxxvii. 14. 190 THE PSALMS The first rendering is supported by tradition (see Targ. and Theodoret' s comment on the Greek), but is against the line of thought ; the second entirely breaks both rhythm and logical connexion. 20-24 Here, with a benediction, a fresh strain begins. Strengthened in his faith by the foregoing pic tures of the past, the poet throws himself into the interests and pro spects of the present. Jehovah is not poorer in resources than of old ; he will again prove his might. In deed, he has himself promised to bring the scattered Israelites home, and show them his awful revenge on their foes. 20 Day by day, i.e. now as of old. Bears us, as a shepherd (cf. xxviii. 9, Isa. xl. 11). So Hup feld, with Aq., Symm., and St. Je rome. Or, ' bears our burdens ' (lit. for us), as Ewald, Delitzsch, and Grill. 21 From Death. Buchanan finely — Irremeabilis Orci Unus claustra tenes (cf. 1 Sam. ii. 6, Rev. i. 18), imply ing (1) that Death = Sheol, (2) that 'of Death' is the right rendering. The position of the words in the Hebrew is against (2), but (1) cer tainly adds force to the passage (see on vi. 5). 22 A reminiscence of Num. xxiv. 17 in its original form (see Variorum Bible). Cf. Judg. v. 26, Hab. iii. 13, 14. Hair, the symbol of strength and pride (cf. Deut. xxxii. 42, R.V. marg.) 23 A divine oracle either freshly granted to the psalmist (see on lxii. 12), or, more probably, quoted from some earlier work. The mountains of Bashan, with their lofty peaks, and secluded woodland glens, shall not be too high, nor the ocean-gulfs too deep, for Jehovah to bring back from them — whom ? The scattered Israelites, or the fugitive enemies? Either alternative will suit the context ; but the former compels us to limit the oracle to v. 23. In favour of the latter, Am. ix. 3 has been quoted. It must be remem bered, however, that the shep herd-prophet is not speaking of heathen enemies, but of Israelites who had fallen away, and might poetically be described as hiding themselves in the top of Carmel or the bottom of the sea. Looking at v. 23 by itself, one must incline to prefer the former view. ' I will bring (them) back,' if interpreted in the light of Hebrew usage, can only mean, ' I will bring my scat tered people back.' (Possibly ' Bashan ' may allude to some cir cumstances of the time of which we are ignorant.) 24 One of the grounds for the restoration of Israel announced in the foregoing oracle, according to the psalmist Cf. lviii. 11, and see crit. note. 25-28 With an access of strong church feeling, the psalmist de scribes a recent religious procession, which was accompanied, as he be lieves, like the hosts of Israel under Moses, by Jehovah himself. There must have been something speci ally striking about this procession, but our ignorance of the circum stances of the psalmist's time pre vents us from saying what it was. At any rate the psalmist has no doubt that it has been well-pleasing to Jehovah, and that it may rightly be called ' the progress of my God, my King, into the sanctuary.' Some think a triumphal procession is referred to ; but seeing that the psalmist repeatedly supplicates a divine interposition, this can hardly be right. Nor can we evade this objection by interpreting the pas sage either of some ancient triumph, such as the conquest of Canaan, or of the great act of redemption for which the poet longs. Israel's part is exhaustively treated in the first part of the psalm ; only four of the tribes take part in the procession ; and nothing indicates that the poet has passed in prophetic ecstasy into future times. 25 They have seen. Who ? The answer depends on what is meant by ' thy goings,' or ' pro- PSALM LXVIII. 191 gresses' (so literally). This phrase is doubtless unclear, and it is use less to explain ' obscurum per ob- scurius' (Hab. iii. 6). Probably, however, the plural is that of ma jesty, and if so, the meaning must, I think, be, not ' the progress,' or ' procession, in honour of thee' (cf. ' his song,' xiii. 9), but ' the royal pro gress which thou makest' Either the ark is referred to, as carried at the head of the procession, or poetic- all)', Jehovah is supposed to be present in some visible form — in short, there is a theophany. The spectators are of course those who are mentioned in the following verses. 26, 27 The procession is led by singers and players upon instru ments (these in the post-Exile period were distinct ; cf. Ezra ii. 41, 65, Neh. vii. 67), who are, as it were, set in a flower-border of damsels playing on timbrels ; cf. Ex. xv. 20, Judg. xi. 34. The refrain of the song is given in v. 27 (like that of Miriam's, Ex. xv. 21). In full choirs (b'maqheloth). Did the writer forget himself, since the phrase, strictly taken, means 'in the congregations,' and the poet has been describing a procession, not a temple-assembly? So thinks Prof. Land. But observe that the procession is going into the temple (v. 25), and when the Israelites present have followed the singers and minstrels into the sanctuary they will doubtless respond to the invitation. The words of the re frain themselves hint this, for they call for praise not only in full choirs (see on xxvi. 12), but from the fountain of Israel, which, comparing cxviii. 26, cxxxv. 21, surely means ' from the temple ' (as Dr. Kay). But why was this par ticular phrase chosen? Because the precious water-supply con nected with the temple (cf. King's handy R.T.S. monograph) had be come a type of the temple itself, from which streams of living water were in the latter days to fertilise the earth (Joel iii. iS and parallel pas sages). Hence another poet makes the sacred singers chant, ' All my fresh springs are in thee' (lxxxvii. 7). Against alterations of the read ing, see crit. note. 28 The general procession fol lows. Four tribes only take part ; why only four, and why these in particular? The favourite answer is that the two former represent the south and the two latter the north. The tribe of Benjamin (' little ' with reference to its size ; cf. 1 Sam. ix. 21) furnished Israel's first king, and according to Deut. xxxiii. 12 and the boundaries in Josh, xviii. 16, 17, xv. 7, 8, the sanctuary lay within its limits.1 Judah was since David the royal tribe. Zebulun and Naph- tali were renowned in the psalmist's favourite national song (Judg. v. 18). This is possible ; but a much more cogent explanation can be given if we may place the psalm in the post-Exile period, when Judaea and Galilee formed the two ortho dox provinces. Cf. Isa. ix. 1, Sept. The chiefs (or, princes) are the ' elders' (Isa. iii. 14), a dignity which lingered on during and after the Exile (see on Isa. iii. 2). Each town would furnish its contingent to the procession, led by one of the ' el ders.' 29-32 Sure of the unbroken connexion between Israel and its God, the psalmist is now in the right mood for prayer. Jehovah long since began his ' work ; ' may He but crown it with a fresh revela tion of his power ! May the foe be defeated and scattered (as vv. 2, 3) ! Then will kings and distant lands do homage to Jehovah. 29 Command, i.e. give a charge or commission to (as xiii. 9, xliv. 5, cxxxiii. 3) ; see crit. note. God's ' strength ' is personified, like the 'spirit of might' in Isa. xi. 2. ' Strength ' is one of the leading words in vv. 29-36. Hast wrought, used absolutely, as Isa. xliii. 13. 30 Line 1 is so inelegant that ' In Ps. Ixxx., however, Benjamin appears attached to two of the northern tribes. 192 THE PSALMS one might be tempted to omit it, taking ' from thy temple ' as a gloss upon ' thou who hast wrought for us' (cf. on v. 36 a), 'unto Jeru salem' (as we might render) as an explanatory note on line 2. It would make line 1 easier if ' from ' might be emended into ' unto ' (cf. the Ethiopic version). I prefer to keep the text, as this psalm is else where not one of the smoothest, and to explain with Hitzig and (now, but not formerly) Delitzsch. ' Temple ' (hekal) is used here (as in I Kings vi. 5, 17, vii. 50) of the so-called 'holy place' as distin guished from the ' holy of holies,' where Jehovah, strictly speaking, dwelt. The kings are supposed to have reached the ' holy place,' and there, like a psalmist, to ' lift up their hands towards God's holy chancel' (d'bhir, xxviii. 2 ; see note), and offer their gifts. The descrip tion above Jerusalem may seem at first sight weak ; but if the cita del is so honoured by distant na tions, a reflected brightness falls on the city below. ' Because of thy temple ' (as A.V., Ewald, &c, after Symm.) is not natural in this con nexion (see Zeph. ii. 11, iii. 10). 3 1 This verse is parallel to v. 29, as v. 32 to v. 30 ; /. 1 is parallel to /. 4, and /. 2 to /. 3. The wild beast of the reeds is clearly a symbol (cf. ' leviathan,' lxxiv. 14) of the warlike empire of the Nile- valley ; Job. xl. 21 suggests the hippopotamus. The troop of bulls, i.e. of fierce kings (as the poet him self explains ; see crit. note), is further described as rolling- itself in mire, &c, i.e. condescending to the base conditions of mercenary soldiers. The view here taken of the general sense of the passage is unaffected by the uncertainty of one or two words in it. The allu sion may be, as Street thinks, to the Syrians, who were ' hired ' as auxiliaries by the Ammonites in David's time (2 Sam. x. 6), or, as Reuss, to the mercenaries of various 1 Stade thinks that ' Bashan' in v. 23 refers to the Syrian (Seleucid) empire iZeit- schr. f. d. alttest. Wissenschaft, 1882, p. 293). 2 Mentioned by Sayce, Hibbert Lectures, p. 190. nations of the extensive empire of the Seleucids. The latter view is more natural ; the image might be suggested by the ' bulls of Bashan.' l Gain of money, if correct, will be another allusion to the Song of Deborah (Judg. v. 19). See crit. note. 32 Then shall the predictions of the Second Isaiah at length be fulfilled ; Egypt and Ethiopia shall lavish their treasures on the con quering God (cf. Isa. xliii. 3, xiv. 14), and both shall hasten (see crit. note) to do this, lest a second ' rough word ' of ' rebuke ' (cf. Wisd. xii. 9) should prove their ruin. Quickly stretch out ; lit, ' make to run.' The reference is probably not so much to prayer as to the offering of gifts (cf. Isa. xviii. 7). 33-36 Full of this happy pro spect, the poet calls upon all nations to join him in praiseful song, and closes with a grand thanksgiving. With vv. 34, 35 comp. Deut. xxxiii. 26. 34 Unto him that rides, &c. Jehovah's earliest 'progress' (see on v. 5) was through the 'heaven of heavens' (Deut. x. 14, 1 Kings viii. 27), i.e. the invisible or upper heavens, emphatically called 'an cient' like the mountains (Deut xxxiii. 15), and indeed like Jehovah himself (Deut. xxxiii. 27 ; cf. Ps. lv. 20). In Gen. xix. 24 we find the very primitive phrase wapd Kvplov e'| oipavoii (Sept.), with which comp. the Babylonian phrase ' the heaven of Anu ' 2 (cf. on civ. 3). 35 Strength which shelters Israel. So nearly the Targum ('unto Jehovah who is over Israel'). Comp. the construction in xc. 17 a and b, also Judg. iii. 10, vi. 2. A trichotomy of the verse. 36 Terrible, as xlvii. 3, and often ; see on Ixv. 7. From his sanctuary. The Heb. has ' sanc tuaries,' as lxxiii. 17, Ezek. vii. 24 (not xxi. 7), taking in the various buildings belonging to the temple, or perhaps as the 'plural of ma- PSALM LXVIII. 193 jesty.' The Targum, the Peshitto, his people. Cf. xxix. 11. Strength Symmachus, and St. Jerome all and the sanctuary connected, as render ' sanctuary.' On pronoun, xcvi. 6 b. see crit. note. Gives ... to PSALM LXIX. A ** .A. plaintive psalm in the style of Jeremiah (cf. especially Jer. xv. 1 5-1 8), though probably much later, and reminding us also of Pss. xxii., xxxv., xl. Iris composed mainly of distichs (see on v. 5, end), but there is no trace of any quasi-strophic divisions. 2 Save me, O God ; for the waters are come in even to the soul. 3 I am sunk in the mire of a gulf where there is no standing ; I am come into watery depths, where the tide overwhelms me. 4 I am wearied with my crying, my throat is burnt up, mine eyes fail while I wait for my God. 5 They that hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head, they that are lyingly mine enemies are more in number than my bones ; * * * # that which I had not robbed, I had to restore. 6 O God, thou knowest my foolishness, and my guiltinesses are not hid from thee. 7 Let not them that wait for thee be shamed in me, O Lord, Jehovah Sabaoth ; let not those that seek thee be dishonoured in me, O God of Israel. 8 For it was for thee that I bore insult, dishonour covered my face ; 9 I became a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother's children : 10 Because zeal for thy house consumed me, and the insults of them that insulted thee fell upon me. ni afflicted my soul with fasting, and it turned to insults for me. 12 I made sackcloth also my vesture, and became a proverb unto them ; 13 They that sit in the gate take me for their theme, and (of me are) the ditties of the revellers. 14 But as for me, my prayer do I direct unto thee, Jehovah ; o 194 THE PSALMS at the favourable time, O God, through thy plenteous loving kindness, answer me in the stedfastness of thy salvation. 15 Deliver me out of the mire, that I sink not, let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the watery depths. 16 Let not the swelling tide overwhelm me, neither let the gulf swallow me up, and let not the pit shut her mouth upon me. 1 7 Answer me, Jehovah, for thy lovingkindness is good ; according to thy plenteous compassions turn towards me. 18 And hide not thy face from thy servant ; for I am in straits : answer me speedily. 1 9 Draw nigh unto my soul and release it : O set me free, because of mine enemies. 20 Thou knowest mine insult, my shame, and my dishonour : before thee are all my foes. 21 Insult has broken my heart, and very grievous [is the wound of my soul] ; I looked for sympathy, but there was none and for comforters, but I found none. 22 For they gave me gall as my food. and in my thirst they would have me drink vinegar. 23 Let their table before them become a snare and to the tranquil let it become a trap. 24 Let their eyes be darkened, that they see not ; and make their loins continually to shake. 25 Pour out thy fervent ire upon them, and let thy hot anger overtake them. 26 Let their encampment be desolate, let there be none to dwell in their tents. 2 7 For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten, and they add to the pain of thy mortally wounded. 28 Put on iniquity to their iniquity, and let them not come into thy righteousness. 29 Let them be wiped out of the book of life, and not be written with the righteous. 30 And as for me, I am afflicted and sore pained ; let thy salvation, 0 God, set me secure. 31 I will praise the name of God with a song, and magnify him with thanksgiving ; 32 And it shall please Jehovah better than an ox, better than a bullock with horns and hoofs. PSALM LXIX. 195 33 The afflicted, seeing it, shall rejoice ; ye that enquire after God, let your heart revive : 34 For Jehovah hearkens to the needy, and despises not his prisoners. 35 Let heaven and earth praise him, the seas, and all that moves therein. 36 For God will save Zion, and build the cities of Judah ; and men shall dwell there and have it in possession. 37 The seed also of his servants shall inherit it, and they that love his name shall abide therein. 2, 3 Cf. xl. 3, lxxxviii. 6, 7, Lam. iii. 54. The imagery becomes in tensely vivid in the light of travel. Dry and rocky as Palestine is, its numerous swamps, and the muddy bottoms of its rivers, must always have exacted some tribute of lives. Dr. Tristram was nearly sucked into the vast and impenetrable swamp three miles north of the lake of Huleh (The Land of Israel, p. 593). The tide, &c. Milton's ' whelming tide ' (Lycidas). 5 Cf. the phraseology of xl. 13 ; also of xxxv. 19, xxxviii. 20. Than my bones. The text has 'they that would destroy me (are many).' The parallelism is im proved by the correction (so Pe- shitto) ; a play upon words also comes into view in the Hebrew, which ex cuses the unusual figure, if excuse be needed (cf. Job iv. 14, Heb.) That which I had not robbed, &c. This clause seems to explain ' lyingly mine enemies ; ' it is very obscure, however, and, as the aste risks above indicate, a parallel and explanatory line has probably fallen out. It is true that we do find tri- stichs three times besides in this psalm as handed down to us, but the case in v. 35 is probably due to the later insertion of a line, and that in v. 14 is compensated by the cor responding tristich in close proxi mity to it (v. 16). 6, 7 Thou knowest my fool ishness, &c. Scarcely = ' thou knowest that I have no foolishness ' (i.e. no sin ; see on xxxviii. 6). Dif ferent views of suffering are taken in the Psalter. One psalmist, who thought himself (i.e. Israel) inno cent at first, came at length to take a very dark view of himself (see introd. to Ps. xxxii.) ; another (see xliv. 18-23) entirely denies that the suffering's of his people are a proof of their guilt. Our psalmist stands midway between them ; he admits that he must have ' hidden sins ' (xix. 13, so literally), but these can he but 'lapses' known only to God, and would be perfectly venial in the eyes of men ; they neither ac count for nor justify the behaviour of his enemies. Nor is it only his own fortunes that are at stake ; the general religious standard will be lowered if he is given over to his enemies ; for who will ' wait for ' God or ' seek' Him, if in so notable an instance trust in God be disap pointed ? Note the same appeal to God's omniscience in v. 20 ; and cf. Jer. xv. 15, xvii. 16, xviii. 23- 8-13 Cf. xliv. 14-23 ; also v. 8 with Jer. xv. 15, vv. 11,12 with Ps. xxxv. 13, v. 13 with Lam. iii. 14, Job xxx. 9. 10 Thy house, not here quite equivalent to ' thy land and people ' (cf. Hos. viii. 1), but = ' the ordering of thy household' (cf. Num. xii. 7), though no doubt the household is composed of the church-nation of Israel. Ill humbled my soul, &c. So Sept., Pesh. The text has, ' I wept in (or, with) fasting my soul,' in which ' my soul ' is usually ex plained as a 'second subject' (iii. 196 THE PSALMS 5, xliv. 3, lxxxiii. 19 are compared). But the Hebrew is awkward. 14 At the favourable time. Lit, 'at the time of favour,' i.e. when thou wilt show favour (cf. Isa. xlix. 8, lviii. 5, Ixi. 2). The accents con nect line 2 with line I ; but see v. 17, and especially cvi. 4, Isa. xlix. 8. How has it been revealed to the psalmist that this is a ' favour able time ' ? 21 Very grievous, &c. Cf. Jer. xv. 18, ' Why is . . . my wound very grievous, refusing to be healed ? ' See crit note. 22 Gall . . . vineg-ar. Figures alone seemed strong enough to ex press the opposite- of ' sympathy ' and 'comfort' 23-28 Passionate imprecations on the foes of Jehovah (cf. vv. 8-10) — less startling, indeed, than those in Ps. cii., but still requiring, for Christian readers, to be qualified by ' Father, forgive them.' 26 let their encampment, &c. It is the circular encampment of a nomad tribe which is meant (see on Gen. xxv. 16) — a specimen of those persistent references to nomad life which show how early this stage began and how long it lasted with Israel. See Jer. iv. 20, x. 20. 27 They add to. So Sept. The text has, ' they talk (mockingly) of.' Thy mortally wounded, i.e. those whom thou, for some 'un known sin (see on v. 6), hast chas tened.' For the form of the phrase cf. Isa. lxvi. 16, Jer. xxv. 33. 28 Put on iniquity, &c, i.e. let them fall from one iniquity into another, and so have ' double guilt ' and ' double destruction ' (Jer. xvi. 18, xvii. 18). Not come into thy righteousness, i.e. not share in the (outward) blessings which flow from Jehovah's 'righteousness' — from His will to carry out His covenant-engagements to His people. 29 For the book of life, or 'book of Jehovah,' which involves the idea of predestination, cf. lvi. 8 (in received text), Ex. xxxii. 32, Mai. iii. 16, Dan. xii. I, Phil. iv. 3, Rev. iii. 5, xiii. 8, xxi. 27. The image is derived from the civic lists of the ancient Jews; see Jer. xxii. 30, - Ezek. xiii. 9. On St. Augustine's violent dealing with this passage, cf. Trench, Seven Churches of Asia, p. 177. 32 Praise, the acceptable sacri fice (cf. on Pss. 1., li.) 33 Line 2 is perhaps taken from xxii. 27. Comp. v. 34 with xxii. 25. 37 His servants. Here, as probably in xxxiv. 23, in the nar rower sense = Israelites (see on cxxxv. 1). Line 2 may possibly be an interpolation. The feminine suffix in line 3, and in v. 37 a and b, is most easily explained on this hypothesis ; and an isolated tristich is improbable. If an interpolation, however, it is a happy one (cf. Jer. xxxii. 34, xxxiii. 10-13), and the fern, suffix can be explained on the analogy either of Isa. Ixv. 9 b (so Olshausen) or of Jer. xxxvi. 23, Job xxxix. 15 (so Hitzig). PSALM LXX. J\ fragment, accidentally (as it seems from the omission of the indis pensable word ' Be pleased ') detached from Ps. xl. (see xl. 14-18). It contains some various readings, such as ' Elohim ' twice for ' Yahve,' and once for ' Adonai,' also ' Yahve ' once for ' Elohim.' Slightly more im portant is ' speed to me ' (v. 6) for ' will care for me ' (see crit. note on xl. 18). L PSALM LXXI. argelv made up of reminiscences of other plaintive psalms, especially xxii., xxxi., xxxv., xl. Hence a want of natural transitions, both logical PSALM LXXI. I97 and emotional ; e.g. strong appeal in v. 5, supported by forcibly expressed petitions based on xxii. 10, 1 1, is greatly weakened by the preceding verses taken from xxxi. 2-4. The psalmist speaks in the name of the nation (see on vv. 17, 18, 20, and cf. on v. 21). 1 In thee, Jehovah, have I sought refuge, let me never be put to shame : 2 In thy righteousness deliver me and rescue me, incline thine ear unto me and save me. 3 Be thou unto me an asylum-rock, a fortified house, that thou mayest save me : for thou art my high crag and my fortress. 4 My God, deliver me from the hand of the ungodly from the grasp of the unjust and violent man'. 5 For thou art my hope, O Lord Jehovah, my confidence from my youth. 6 On thee have I been stayed from the birth ; thou art he that loosed me from my mother's womb ; of thee is my praise continually. 7 I am as a prodigy unto many, but thou art my strong refuge. 8 Let my mouth be filled with thy praise, even with thy glory all the day long. 9 Cast me not away in the time of old age ; forsake me not when my strength fails me. 10 For mine enemies speak concerning me, and they that watch my soul take counsel together, 1 1 Saying, ' God has forsaken him, set on, and seize him, for there is none to deliver.' 1 2 O God, be not far from me, my God, speed to my help. 1 3 Put to shame and dishonour be the adversaries of my soul, let them be covered with insult and dishonour that seek my hurt. 14 But as for me, I will wait on continually, and will add to all thy praise. 15 My mouth shall rehearse thy righteousness, yea, thy salvation all the day long, for I know not the numbers thereof. 16 I will show the valiant acts of the Lord Jehovah ; I will celebrate thy righteousness, even thine only. 1 7 O God, thou hast taught me from my youth up, and hitherto have I made known thy wondrous works : 198 THE PSALMS 18 And even unto old age and grey hairs, O God, forsake me not ; until I have made known thine arm to the next generation, thy might unto all that are to come. and thy righteousness, O God, unto high heaven ; O thou who hast done great things, God, who is like unto thee ? 20 Thou, who hast made us see troubles great and sore, wilt revive us again, and bring us up again from the abysses of the earth. 2 1 O multiply my greatness, and turn to comfort me. 22 I also will give thanks unto thee with the harp, even unto thy truthfulness, O my God ; I will make melody unto thee with the lyre, O thou Holy One of Israel. 23 My lips shall ring out their joy unto thee, and my soul which thou hast redeemed. 24 My tongue also shall speak musingly of thy righteousness all the day long, because they are ashamed, because they are abashed, that sought my hurt. 3 I follow Sept., wffch agrees with xxxi. 3, and represents the original text.1 7 As a prodigy, or, portent (a strong synonym for ' sign '). The word is used in Deut. xxviii. 46 with reference to Jehovah's penal justice, but here of His protecting care. 13 Cf. xl. 14, xxxv. 4, 26. 1 5 The numbers thereof. Cf. xl. 5, cxxxix. 17, 18. 17 Taught me, i.e. given me themes for praise ( = ' put a new song in my mouth,' xl. 3). ' Trained me' (Keble) accords well with the speaker (Israel), but does not suit the immediate context so well. From my youth up. Cf. lxxxix. 46, cxxix. 1, Jer. ii. 2, Hos. xi. 1. 18 Unto old age, &c. Cf. Isa. xlvi. 4, Hos. vii. 9 (' old age whitens his hair, and he knows it not '). 19 A line appears to have dropped out, for 'thy righteousness' can hardly be ' closely attached ' to ' thy might ' in v. 18 (as Delitzsch). Who is like unto thee I See on xxxv. 10, Ixxxvi. 8. 20 Who hast made us see, &c. The Hebrew margin substi tutes ' made me see,' &c. The Jewish critics, it appears, stumbled at the interchange of the singular and the plural pronoun, as in Jer. li. 34. The plural, however, is the key to the meaning of the surround ing singulars ; it shows that the speaker represents a plurality of persons. From the abysses of the earth. He does not say, nor mean, 'from the abysses of the sea' (as Hupfeld), but, virtually, from the deep places of the underworld (Sheol) ; see on Ixxxvi. 13. T'hom is best rendered, with Sept., 'abyss.' No ordinary ' deep ' is meant, nor is it well to emphasise the secondary 1 See Schrader, Theolog. Studien und Kritiken, 1868, p. 645, &c. To correct xxxi. 3 in accordance with lxxi, 3 (Burgess) is clearly wrong. PSALM LXXI. 199 meaning ' deepness.' A great mass and the reference to water has of rushing waters is the primary vanished. On the third meaning, meaning ('roaring' being the root- cf. the restricted sense of yam idea). From the primeval sea (' sea '), which runs parallel with which was the source of all things the restricted sense of the Ass. aps:i (in the Hebrew as in Chaldaeo-As- ocean (Sayce, Hibbert Lectures, p. Syrian cosmogony) it was applied 63 ; cf. p. 166, note). (2) to the ocean-stream together 21 My greatness. Or 'my with the subterranean waters (e.g. majesty.' Elsewhere 'greatness' xxxiii. 7, Isa. li. 10, Gen. vii. 11, is ascribed either to God (e.g. cxiv. xlix. 25^ ; then (3), as in St. Ephrem 3, 6) or to a king or grandee (Esth. (see Gesenius, Thes.^. to any mass i. 4, vi. 3, x. 2). So too Deut. iii. of waters, acquiring from its origi- 24, Ezek. xxxi. 2, 18 (same word in nal reference to the ocean the se- masc. form). condary idea of depth ^so xiii. 8 ; cf. 24 iWy tongue, &c. See on on cvii. 26) ; at last, as here (4), the xxxv. 28. secondary idea becomes primary, PSALM LXXII. 1 x highly figurative language, Israel prays that his king and (through his king) himself and all other nations may receive God's best temporal (Messianic) blessings. One may suppose that here, as in Ps. xiv., the reigning king (Solomon, Uzziah, Josiah, or some other) is idealised. Did the poet long maintain this fervour of enthusiasm ? We know this at least — that even if the ' vision tarried,' the kingdom of Israel was the ' heir of hopes too fair to turn out false' (Browning, Paracelsus). The political side of the Messianic ideal is forcibly presented to us here ; we may compare in imagery as well as in ideas the first part of the fine poem preserved in 2 Sam. xxiii. The psalm ends with a distich partly perhaps modelled on the Abrahamic promise (see on v. 17), which more or less favours the view of Prof. Briggs that the psalm presents Israel's aspirations for the ideal Messianic king, typified by but distinct from the reigning monarch (Messianic Prophecy, pp. 137, 138). 1 Give the king thy judgments, O God, and thy righteousness unto the king's son. 2 May he give doom to thy people in righteousness, and to thine afflicted ones according to right. 3 May the mountains bear the fruit of peace to the people, and the hills through righteousness. 4 May he judge the afflicted of the people, save the children of the needy, and crush the oppressor. g * * and live as long as shines the sun, and the moon, generation after generation. 6 May he come down like rain upon the meadow ; like showers may he water the earth. 7 In his days may the righteous flourish, and abundance of peace, until the moon be no more. 200 THE PSALMS 8 Let him have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. 9 Befpre him let foemen bow, and let his enemies lick the dust. io Let the kings of Tarshish and the far countries bring presents, let the kings of Sheba and Seba offer gifts. 1 1 Let all kings fall down before him, let all nations do him service. 12 Because he delivers the needy when he cries, the afflicted also who has no helper ; 13 He feels for the helpless and needy, and the souls of the needy he saves ; 14 From injury and violence he releases their soul, and costly is their blood in his sight. 15 May he live, and there be given him of Sheba's gold ; and let prayer be made for him continually, all day long let them bless him. 16 May abundance of corn be in the land, upon the top of the mountains may it wave ; [and the people] — like Lebanon be its fruit, and may they blossom out of the city like the herb of the earth. 1 7 Be his name [blessed] for ever ; while shines the sun, may his name have increase ; may [all tribes of the earth] bless themselves by him, may [all] nations call him happy. (Subscription to Book II. ) 1 8 Blessed be Yahveh Elohim, the God of Israel, who alone doeth wondrous things ; 19 And blessed be his glorious name for ever, and let the whole earth be filled with his glory ! Amen and Amen. I Thy judgments, i.e. judg- 2 Thine afflicted ones. Israel ments as righteous as thine ; the as a whole is thus styled (cf. ix. 13, ' spirit of judgment' being a gift of Ixviii. 11). God (Isa. xi. 3, xxviii. 6 ; cf. I Kings 3 May the mountains, &c. iii. 28). Unto the king's son. Cf. lxxxv. 11, Isa. xiv. 8 (the Oriental An antique respect for hereditary conception ofthe 'bridal ofthe earth royalty breathes in this phrase, and sky'). with which comp. Mesha's words, 5 In the text, this verse begins, ' My father was king over Moab ' Let them fear thee,' viz. God (as thirty years, and I became king Calvin, Olshausen, Delitzsch) or after my father,' and Ptolemy V.'s the king (as Hupfeld, Hitzig, description of himself as ' imme- Orelli). The words interrupt the diate successor of his father' (Re- flow of speech, and the Sept favours cords of the Past, iv. 71). the idiomatic reading adopted. PSALM LXXII. 201 Cf. v. 17, lxxxix. 37, 38, and see crit note. A literal rendering would be, ' And let him prolong (his days).' The Hebrew continues, with the sun and before the moon, words which appear to claim eternal life for the king (see introd. to Ps. xxi., and cf. xiv 3). 6 May he come down. &C. ' May he be gentle, beneficent, con descending as the rain,' &c. (cf. Hos. vi. 3). 7 Comp. the prayer for peace (or, welfare) with Isa. ix. 7 a. 8 From sea to sea, &c. Ap parently an allusion to Zech. ix. 10. 9 lick the dust. A more extravagant way of testifying sub mission than ' kissing the feet ' (see on ii. 12). 10 Tarshish, i.e. strictly Tar- tessus in Spain. But here ' Tar shish ' only indiridualises the dimly known regions of the West. • Sheba, i.e. southern Arabia. Sela, i.e. the Ethiopian island and city of Meroe. 12-14 Such blessings are the rewards of the character and pre vious conduct of the king, who is specially sympathetic towards the ' afflicted ' (in the narrower sense ?). Comp. z>. 12 with Job xxix. 12. Costly is their blood, i.e. some thing to be rescued at all costs. An important part of the royal duties was to 'judge the poor and needy,' and if necessary to avenge their blood. Cf. on cxvi. 1 5 (parallel passage). 1 5 May he live, &c. This line is obscure. The subject of the first verb (granting the correctness of the rendering) is the king, for whom in the sequel prayers are offered up by the grateful ' afflicted ones.' If so, the reference to Sheba's gold seems strangely out of place, at least assuming the 'afflicted' to be the donors, unless of course with Hitzig we regard the psalm as the work of an age when many of the Jews had enriched themselves by commerce. May we then with De Dieu and Delitzsch suppose the ' afflicted one ' to be, not the giver, but the receiver of the treasure ? This would be an unique statement, and would surely be followed by a distich developing this idea. It would be slightly more natural if 'the afflicted' were the subject of the first verb (Delitzsch, but not De Dieu) ; but the word ' may he live ' reminds us too forcibly of the for mula 'May the king live' to allow of this supposition. ' May he live' surely means, as Keble expresses it, ' O King, for ever live.' But how abruptly the exclamation comes in here ! It is possible that the line is a quotation from some inter cessory prayer for the king which was written by one scribe in the margin, and mistakenly incorpo rated into the text by another. 17 Have increase; a man's name being ' propagated ' by his offspring. May all tribes, &c. See Gen. xxii. 18, xxvi. 4, and cf. Briggs, Messianic Prophecy, p. 89. Observe that Sirach, like our psalmist, combines a reference to these passages and to Zech. ix. 10 (see on v. 8) in Ecclus. xliv. 21. At the end of the doxology the Heb. text has, ' The prayers of David, son of Jesse, are ended' (v. 20), where Sept. renders t'filloth by ol vp.voi (we need scarcely suppose the translator to have read t'hilloth ; see on xlii. 9). Of course the note is misplaced ; it should have stood at the end of a collection of ' Da vidic' psalms. 202 THE PSALMS BOOK III. PSALM LXXIII. VV E are no strangers (see Pss. xxxvii., xlix.) to the problem which disturbs the psalmist, but nowhere, even in Job, have we found a more striking treatment of it. In his spiritual intuitions, he reminds us of Pss. xvi., xvii. (see introds.) Twenty-five sermons (the only ones published by himself) were preached by Savonarola on this congenial psalm, which so well expresses his own continual mental conflict. On its intrinsic and historical importance, cf. a fine passage in Wellhausen's Prolegomena, E.T., p. 506. Except at the beginning and end, Ps. lxxiii. consists of octastichs, of which there are six groups or strophes. 1 Surely Elohim is gracious unto Israel, Even to the pure in heart ; 2 But as for me, my feet had almost swerved, my steps had well nigh slipped. 3 For I was envious at the boasters, when I saw the welfare of the ungodly : 4 For torments have they none ; sound and plump is their body. 5 They partake not of the travail of mortals, neither are they plagued like other men : 6 Therefore pride is about their neck ; violence covers them as a garment. 7 From an unfeeling heart their iniquity comes forth : the imaginings of their mind overflow : 8 They mock, and speak maliciously ; of oppression do they speak from on high. 9 They have set their mouth in the heavens, and their tongue goes about in the earth. 10 Therefore he satisfies them with bread, and water in abundance they drink up at their ease ; 1 1 And they say, ' How should God know ? and is there knowledge in the most High ? ' PSALM LXXIII. 203 12 Behold, these men are ungodly, and secure for ever, they have won great substance. 13 ' Surely in vain have I cleansed my heart, and washed my hands in innocency. 14 And yet I was plagued all the day, and my rebuke came every morning.' 15 If I had said, 'Let such be my discourse,' I should have been a traitor to the generation of thy children. 16 But when I considered this, to comprehend it, it was wearisome trouble in mine eyes ; 1 7 Until I went into the sanctuary of God, and gave heed unto their latter end, — 18 Surely thou settest them in slippery places, thou castest them down into ruins. 19 How are they made desolate in a moment, swept off, undone by calamities ! 20 As a dream when one has awaked, so, Lord, when thou art aroused, thou wilt despise their semblance. 21 For my heart was becoming embittered, and I had a stinging pain in my reins. 22 I indeed was brutish and ignorant, I was (like) the beasts toward thee. 23 And yet I am continually with thee ; thou hast taken hold of my right hand. 24 According to thy purpose wilt thou lead me, and afterward receive me with glory. 25 "WTiom have I (to care for) in heaven ? and possessing thee I have pleasure in nothing upon earth. 26 Though my flesh and my heart should have wasted away, God would for ever be the rock of my heart and my portion. 27 For behold, they that go afar from thee shall perish ; everyone that wantonly deserts thee, dost thou clean put out. 28 But as for me, to be near to God is my happiness ; I have put my trust in the Lord Jehovah that I may rehearse all thy works. 1 Surely Elohim, &c. 'Siestce zig, Hengstenberg, Delitzsch, and que Dieu est tres doux,' in Marot's Kay prefer ' nichts als giitig,' ' only fine old version. The recurrence of good ' — good in spite of appear- theopenmgparticle(^K)ischaracte- ances ; while (adopting the derived ristic of this psalm. As in xxxix. 6, adversative sense) Jerome gives lxii. 2, &c, renderings vary. I have ' attamen ' (cf. xxxviu. 7, Vulg.), followed Hupfeld, but Ewald, Hit- Symmachus trX^v owns, Calvin 204 THE PSALMS 'atqui.' On the latter view, we must suppose that the poet has had a sore inward struggle (cf. on lviii. 12), or interpolate mentally ' Let the air lighten and the con stellations mingle,' or the like, following George Buchanan (see his fine rendering). One might also combine two senses, rendering 'But surely.' Even unto, &c. A definition of the true Israel (cf. the same construction in Lam. iii. 25). The same idea of a spiritual Israel has met us in xxiv. 4-6 ; it points the way to the conception of ' the Servant' in II. Isaiah. 2 My feet, &c. There are sins ofthe intellect, as well as of outward practice ; hence the figure of stum bling can be applied to theoretical doubts as to God's righteousness as well as to open violations of His law. In fact, there is no clear severance in the Scriptures between the moral and the intellectual life. The ' heart ' is the central organ of both. 3 I was envious, &c. Or, ' I was incensed ;' envy, jealousy, zeal, indignation, are equally well ex pressed by this word (root-meaning, to be deep red). The ' boasters ' are noisy, self-important men (see on v. 6) ; comp. vv. 8, 9. 4 See crit. note. The text- reading mentions the happy deaths of the wicked too soon. 7 From an unfeeling heart, &c. The character of the heart deter mines that of the actions (Matt xii. 35). Picturesque as the received reading may be (see A.V.),itmustbe rejected as against the parallelism. See on xvii. 10. 8 From on high, as if they were gods (Isa. xiv. 13) ; lit., 'from the (heavenly) height.' The ex pression is paraphrased in v. 9 a. 10 Therefore, &c. In a pre vious quatrain, the poet ascribed the pride of these men to their immunity from trouble. Here he reverses the relation ; the pride of these ' loud boasters ' is represented as the cause why the Governor ofthe world gives them all material good things. His confusion of mind ex presses itself in his phraseology. [The received text runs, ' Therefore he turns his people hitherward, and water in abundance is greedily drunk up by them,' or, as the Hebrew margin, ' Therefore his people turns,' &c. ' His people ' may mean those who are disposed to follow such a one as has been described ; ' water ' may be a figure for pernicious teaching ; comp. Pirke Abhoth i. 1 1. But the phraseology, especially in the first line, is unnatural.] 11, 12 V. 11 contains the lan guage not of more or less unwilling sceptics, but of obstinate sinners (see x. 4, 11, 13). 'El (rendered Cod) and 'Elyon (the most High) are both very primitive divine names (see on lxxviii. 35, and cf. on vii. 18). The next error is the emphatic close of the previous de scription, summing up its main facts. In form it reminds us of the Book of Job (see Job v. 27, viii. 19, 20, xiii. 1). 13, 14 A speech such as might have escaped the lips of the poet himself, and expressing at any rate the inference which he had been tempted to draw from the contrast between the prosperity of the un godly and his own successive misfortunes. The characteristic 'surely' (see vv. 1, 18) of itself suggests this. V. 15, however, clearly proves that it was only a temptation. Surely in vain. Or, as Kay, ' All in vain ' (or simply, ' To no purpose ; ' comp. lxii. 2, 6, 10) ; Hitzig, ' Eitel fur nichts.' Washed mine hands, &c. See on xxvi. 6. Plagued. To be ' plagued ' (lit. ' smitten ') by God's chastening hand is the com mon lot of man (v. 5 b), and is quite consistent with the consciousness of innocence ; Ps. xxxii. is one specimen of the perplexed medita tions of some who could not ac count for their troubles by any known sin ; the present passage is another. Hence my rebuke (i.e. my punishment ; see xxxix. 12) means the penalty of some ' secret sin' (xix. 13). 15 The generation of thy PSALM LXXIII. 205 children, i.e. the true Israel (v. 1), whose members are called collec tively God's ' sons,' Deut xiv. 1 and elsewhere. Comp. ' the generation of those that enquire afterhim' (xxiv.6), and see on xii. 8. Observe too the form of the phrase, not ' I should have been a traitor to my father,' or ' to my rank as a son ; ' the rela tion of an Israelite to his God is dependent on his membership in the community. See on Isa. lxiii. 16. 16 It was wearisome trouble. &c. The word rendered ' weari some trouble ' ('dmdl) is character istic of Ecclesiastes. Like the author of that book, the psalmist thinks that no one by searching can find out God (comp. Eccles. viii. 17). But we might also render, ' It was a misery in mine eyes,' i.e. this phenomenon ofthe undeserved prosperity of the wicked. 17 The sanctuary of God. The Hebrew has, ' the sanctuaries of El ' (cf. lxxiv. 8), which means either the temple (see on Ixviii. 36) or the ' holy,' i.e. (to profane human reason) inviolable plans of provi dence ( = ' mysteries of God,' Wisd. ii. 22). The latter view is that of Hitzig ; the clue to ' God's secrets ' (Hitzig's rendering) is furnished by the awful end ofthe wicked. But the former is the simpler. The temple, being at once the ' house of prayer ' (Isa. lvi. 7) and the seat of God's earthly government (Ixviii. 36), is the appropriate place for seeking enlightenment on the subject which exercised the psalmist There devout men were accustomed to ' see Jehovah's power and His glory ' (lxiii. 3) ; our much-tried thinker as naturally went there ' to see' His providential wisdom. 18 Surely. Or, 'But surely' (see on v. 1), i.e. in spite of my doubts. Others, ' only ' (as in v. 1), which Kay explains, ' My view was wrong after all ; the only true ac count is,' &c. In slippery places, i.e. in circumstances of danger (xxxv. 6, Jer. xxiii. 12). 19 The psalmist's solution agrees with that in Pss. xxxvi., xlix., and in some of the speeches in Job. He had certainly read. Job, as the word rendered calamities itself suggests (cf. Job xviii. 11, 14, &c.) 20 A man is half angry with his dreams on awaking (cf. Job xx. 8). So the Lord, when He reas- sumes PI is judicial functions (see xxxv. 23), will despise, i.e. pro nounce unworthy of life, their semblance, i.e. their unsubstantial phantom-life (simulacrum vita? ; see crit. note on xxxix. 7). Thus ' dream ' and ' shadow ' are not figures for the soul, in spite of Odyss. xi. 221, t^uxi; 8', rjiir' bveipos, but for human life apart from God, which, as Sadi says of the world, is ' like the dream a sleeping man has seen, which, when the night is gone, has vanished.' (The pas sage also gives a parallel to an admired figure in Wisd. v. 14 ; see Dr. Lee on Job viii. 9.) 21-24 Breathless (to apply Dante, Inf. i. 21) he looks back on the perilous passage. He does not justify his conduct, but explains it. Unbelieving thoughts had fer mented -in his mind, and a pang of passionate discontent had pierced his inmost being. But the higher self blames the lower for such folly. ' Be ye not like to horse and mule (xxxii. 9), is God's counsel to the believer ; and yet I on my side have been like an untamed horse or mule towards God (cf. xcii. 7, Prov. xxx. 2). I have thus for a moment lost the pledge of '' con tinuance" — the sweet, faint hope of immortality (see on xlix. 13). Meantime God on his side has generously kept hold of my struggling right hand.' Note the parallelism of vv. 22, 23 in the Hebrew ; both verses begin with 'and I.' The sense would have been clearer, however, if the psalm ist had made v. 23 begin with ' and (yet) thou art continually beside me ;' there is an evident contrast between the folly of the tempted believer and the uninterrupted love of his divine Guide. -(like) the beasts. Sept., KTi]vh-ns. Or, 'a behemoth' (Job xl. 15) ; so Hitzig and Delitzsch. Tastes differ. 206 THE PSALMS 24 Wilt thou lead me. In 26 See on xvi. 9-1 1. The poet his recovered sense of the divine speaks of a heart, or personality, love the poet ceases to enquire into which will survive even when the things too high for him. He is old ' heart,' or personality, shall absorbed in the blissful thought of have wasted away. It is the God's assured purpose and plan mysticism of faith ; we are on the for his life (comp. on xvi. 7). verge of St. Paul's conception of Receive me with glory (or, to the irvevpa — the organ of life in glory). The ' path of life ' (xvi. 11) God. 'Non omnis moriar,' in a is not limited to this phantom-world new sense. The believer ' cleaves ' (xxxix. 7). The story of Enoch, (so v. 28, Sept.) to his ' rock' spiritualised, is that of each devout 27 God and Israel were the two believer.1 'Walking with God' is absorbing objects of the psalmist's followed by a reception ' with glory ' love, and a passionate love for (or ' into glory '). Comp. Gen. v. Israel did not involve (it did not 24, and above on xlix. 16. even with Jeremiah) a similarly 25 One of those exalted mo- strong charitable affection for ments in which ' heaven's morning single ' lost sheep.' breaks.' Having God, earth has 28 To be near to God is to become a heaven. What more trust Him (see Zeph. iii. 2), and so could heaven itself give him? to be truly wise ; to ' desert God' Society ? But ' to which of the is to be unbelieving, and so to be holy ones should he turn ? ' (Job comparable in folly to the beasts v. 1 ; cf. on lxxxix. 6, 7.) (cf. vv. 22, 27). PSALM LXXIV. I HE contents of Pss. lxxiv., lxxix. seem to carry us down not only to the Chaldaean, but even the Maccabaean period.' So Delitzsch, who hesitates, however, to come to a conclusion, on the ground that the exe- getical phenomena point in different directions. I do not feel the same hesitation, but readily grant that the psalmist may remember descriptions of the Chaldasan trouble, and therefore not give a thoroughly accurate account of the later calamity. For such a fusion of kindred historical scenes there are analogies in the prophets. Comp., however, 1 Mace. iii. 45, and especially the prayer of Judas Maccabaeus, 2 Mace. viii. 2-4. (See also introd. to Ps. lxxix.) 1 Why, Elohim, hast thou ' cast off for ever ' ? why doth thine anger smoke against the flock of thy shepherd ing? 2 Remember thy congregation which thou gottest long since, which thou didst redeem as the tribe of thine inheritance ; Mount Zion, whereon thou hast dwelt. 3 Lift up thy feet unto the ' everlasting ruins ; ' the enemy hath marred all in the sanctuary. 4 Thy foes roared amid thy trysting-place ; they set up their signs for (true) signs. 5 They seemed like those who wield on high hatchets in a thicket of wood ; 1 I see that Prof. Sayce recognises a similar course of thought in Babylonian theology (Hibbert Lectures, p. 365). Cf. my article in Expositor, Jan, 1888. ' PSALM LXXIV. 207 6 At last — the carved work thereof altogether with axes and hammers they struck off. 7 They set on fire thy sanctuary ; they profaned the habitation of thy name, (bringing it) to the ground. 8 They have said in their hearts, ' Let us suppress them alto gether ! ' they have burned up all sacred meeting-places in the land. 9 We see not our signs, there is no prophet any more ; neither is there with us any that knows how long. 10 How long, O God, shall the foe insult? (how long) shall the enemy ' contemn thy name for ever ' ? 1 1 Why drawest thou back thy hand, and thy right hand (why) keepest thou within thy bosom ? 1 2 For God is my King from of old, who works salvation in the midst of the earth. 1 3 Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength ; tlwu breakest the heads of the dragons on the waters. 14 Then didst crush the heads of leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be food for a people of wild beasts. 1 5 Thou didst cause fountain and torrent to break forth ; thou didst dry up ever-flowing streams. 16 Thine is the day, thine also is the night ; thou didst establish luminary and sun. 1 7 Thou didst set all the bounds of the earth ; summer and winter — thou didst form them. 18 Think how the enemy insults Jehovah, and how a foolish people contemn thy name. 1 9 Deliver not unto the sword the soul of thy turtle-dove ; forget not the hfe of thine afflicted for ever. 20 Look upon the covenant, for full are now become the dark places of the land of haughtiness and violence. 21 0 let not the down-trodden turn back ashamed ; let the afflicted and the needy praise thy name 2 2 Arise, O God, plead thy cause ; think how the fool insults thee all day long. 23 Forget not the voice of thy foes, the uproar of thine assailants which ascends continually. I cast off for ever. The like a shepherd concerned for his psalmist quotes from himself ; why, flock when a black thunder-cloud he asks am I to go on repeating hangs overhead. (The true shep- this sad phrase (see on xiii. 2)? herd of Israel, Jehovah, leads his Doth thine anger smoke. He is flock no more ; see on Ixxx. 2.) 208 THE PSALMS 2 The tribe, &c. The con ventional phrase, ' the tribes of Israel,' was not always used after the fall of the northern kingdom. See Jer. x. 16 (li. 19), but cf. Isa. lxiii. 17. 3 Iiift up thy feet, &c, i.e. proceed in long swift steps to the ruined sanctuary. Sept., however, has ' thy hands.' Everlasting ruins. The psalmist again quotes from himself. In his moments of agonised doubt it seemed as if this desolation must last for ever. Isa. lviii. 12, Ixi. 4 are not parallel. 4-9 A retrospect of the cruel work of destruction. Roared. A common expression for the battle-cry (Isa. v. 29, Jer. ii. 15). So of the Chaldseans, ' They have uttered their voice in the house of Jehovah as on a festival-day ' (Lam. ii. 7). Thy trysting-plaee. Or, ' thy place for meeting (us).' The same phrase occurs in Lam. ii. 6 ; it resembles the well-known title of the tabernacle — 'tent of meeting' — in Ex. xxvii. 21, &c. The Var. reading, ' thy places of meeting ' (supported by many MSS. and editions, and by the Targum), seems due to the spirit of harmo nising (see v. 8). Their signs. These are to be taken as military standards (Jerome, ' posuerunt signa sua in tropaeum ; ' Athanasius, to. KaXov^ieva napa Tois OTpaTevpaoi o-lyva), but, more suitably to the context, as the images and other symbols of a heathen religion. Comp. 1 Mace. i. 54. 6 At last. There is a pause, the attention of singer and listener being strained to the utmost. The costly carved work, with its sacred even if little understood symbols, is wantonly destroyed. Comp. 1 Kings vi. 29. For ' carved work,' Sept. has ' gates,' which supplies a strik ing correspondence to I Mace. iv. 38, 2 Mace. viii. 33, i. 18. 7 Comp. 2 Kings xxv. 9, and the passages last referred to in Maccabees. 8 (See crit. note.) Radical measures were more than once proposed in dealing with this ' un social nation' (see on Ixxxiii. 4). But ' to kill the body ' was a tedious undertaking ; to 'kill the soul'— or at least the nerve of the spiritual life — seemed a shorter and not less effectual way of quenching the light of Israel. Hence the syna gogues and ' places of prayer ' (first mentioned after the Exile ; cf. 1 Mace. iii. 46) are given to the flames. Sacred meeting- places. Lit., ' meeting-places of God (El),' i.e. those which are concerned with religion (cf. ' God's comforts,' i.e. religious consola tions, Job xv. 11). Gesenius thinks of the ancient sanctuaries of the land, ' excelsis prophetarumque coloniis insignia' (similarly De Wette and even Vitringa) ; but even if the bamoth had in some form survived, how could the psalm ist regret their final extinction? Besides the bamoth were in some degree ' habitations of God's name ' (cf. v. 7) ; something fresh must be spoken of here. Those who meet in a mo'ed are not necessarily God and His people (as in v. 4), but possibly those who, though far from any venerated shrme, wish to pray or to be instructed together. Leopold Low thinks that ' town- halls ' existed before the Exile, and that religious instruction was given in them, and finds them alluded to in Job xxx. 23. The sole advan tage of this hypothesis is that it removes what Delitzsch calls a weighty argument for the Macca- baean dateof the psalm — viz. a direct reference to synagogues, which, as most are agreed, did not become a national institution till the second century B.C.1 But why hold out against Maccabsean psalms ? fTO ~IV) in the Mishna (Sota ix. 15) appears to be used synonymously with riDJDn rP3 for 'synagogue;' ¦jrdcras ras o-vvayayds is actually the rendering of Aquila and Symmachus 1 Strack thinks an earlier date more probable (Herzog-Plitt, Realencyclopadie, art. Synagogen) ; but in any case we can hardly carry the date above the reformation of Ezra. PSALM LXXIV. 209 here, though, it is true, they give ev ue'o-u Trjs o-vvayaiyrjs gov in V. 4. (Sept. V. 8, eoprds ; V. 4, eoprrjs). 9 Our signs. Possibly (comp. v. 4) he thus designates the entire body of Jewish religious forms, including not only such comparatively trifling things as symbolic figures (e.g. the cherubim in the temple), but those distinctive ' signs ' of the covenant (Gen. xvii. 11, Ex. xxxi. 13, 17) the rite of circumcision and the Sab bath (comp. Lam. ii. 6, and espe cially 1 Mace. i. 45, 46, 60, 61). It is equally possible, however, that the phrase ' our signs ' means the facts or events which students of Scripture would regard as betoken ing the near fulfilment of prophecy — 'so likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors' (Matt. xxiv. 33). This view harmonises well with the mention of the pro phets and the concluding 'how long.' ' Signs ' in this sense of the word were of course not neces sarily what we call supernatural ; we need not, therefore, accept G. Buchanan's paraphrase, ' signa nusquam, nulla jam miracula,' though it has the support probably of Theodore of Mopsuestia and certainly of the prayer of the son of Sirach, ' Renew the signs, and repeat the wonders ; glorify (thy) hand and (thy) right arm ' (Ecclus. xxxvi. 6). No prophet . . . how long. So, then, prophecy has become mainly an unveiling of the immediate future. Complaints of the extinction or of the non-fulfil ment of prophecy are characteristic ofthe Maccabsean and the following period. For the former, see 1 Mace. xiv. 41, ' until there should arise a faithful prophet' (comp. 1 Mace. iv. 46, ix. 27) ; for the latter, Ecclus. xxxvi. 15 b, ' ratify the pro phecies in thy name.' [Those, however, who assign our psalm to the Chaldasan period suppose the psalmist to complain, not that there are no prophets alive, but that there are none who foretell what shall come to pass, ' quia licet tunc viverent Jeremias, Ezechiel et Daniel, scimus tamen quasi voca- tionis sua? cursu perfunctos tacuisse ad tempus ' (Calvin). Comp. Lam. ii. 9, Ezek. vii. 26.] 10 Contemn thy name for ever. A phrase which we may sup pose the psalmist often used, and now quotes, as it were, from himself (cf. xiii. 2, lxxix. 5, lxxxix. 47). Otherwise 'how long' is inconsist ent with 'for ever,' and we are compelled to give nSJ^ a strained meaning. 1 1 Srawest thou back thy hand, viz. from repulsing the enemy (Lam. ii. 3). So the son of Sirach, ' Renew the signs and re peat the wonders ; glorify (thy) hand and (thy) right arm ' (Ecclus. xxxvi. 6). It is the universal reli gious anthropomorphism ; 'gracious are thy hands, O Indra,' says a Vedic poet, ' beneficent thy palms ; . . . why, then, dost thou sit still ? ' (Rig Veda, iv. 21, 9). And thy right hand, &c. The text-read ing is, ' and thy right hand from within thy bosom (pluck out and) make an end' (comp. lix. 15). Bickell's correction is simple and gives a more natural sense. The context of ' make an end ' in lix. 1 5 is entirely different. 12 Comfort springs from the thought that Israel's King (comp. xliv. 5) has long since showed His saving power in the midst of the earth, i.e. not in the land of Canaan as the centre of the earth ' (comp. Ezek. v. 5, xxxviii. 10), but quite broadly, in various parts of the earth. The same phrase is used of Egypt in Ex. viii. 18 (A.V. 22), and of Egypt the psalmist is especially thinking. 13, 14 The dragons . . . levi athan. The ' dragon ' and ' levi athan ' (or the ' wreathed ' serpent) are symbolical expressions for 1 The idea of the central position of Jerusalem, so congenial to Talmudic Judaism, lingered on in Christendom through the middle ages (see Moore, The Time-references ofthe Divina Commedia, 1887, p. 68). Cf. General Gordon's Reflexions in Palestine. P 2IO THE PSALMS Egypt (comp. on Ixviii. 31). See for the former Isa. li. 9, Ezek. xxix. 3, xxxii. 2. Gavest him to be food, &c, i.e. gavest the unburied corpses of the Egyptians to be a prey to the tribes of wild beasts. For the Talmudic fable based on this passage, see references on civ. 26. A people of wild beasts. A favourite primitive conception. See Prov. xxx. 25, 26, and comp. Walther von der Vogelweide, speak ing of the communities of animals : Sie wahlen Konige, ordnen Recht, Und unterscheiden Herm und Knecht. (Simrock's version, p. 5.) 15 An allusion to the miracles of the water from the rock, and the passage of the Jordan. 16 luminary and sun. The exact sense is doubtful. ' Lumi nary ' may be a class-name for the heavenly lights (o-Tr)pes) ; the poet has used other class-names in v. 1 5 a. ' Sun ' may be added, because no class-name suggested itself as a companion to ' lumi nary.' On the whole, this is the easiest view. I admit that it pro duces an imperfect parallelism ; but for this compare Eccles. xii. 1, where ' the sun and the light ' are parallel to ' the moon and the stars.' Another opinion is that ' (the) luminary ' stands for the moon, just as ' (the) light ' (lux) stands for the sun in Job xxxi. 26. The objection is that the moon would thus be too vaguely indi cated, ' luminary ' being also used of the sun (see Gen. i. 14, 16). A third, that the phrase means the sun ; comp. ' thy hand and thy right hand,' v. 1 1 (received text), and ' thy right hand and thine arm,' xliv. 4 ; Buchanan's soils jubar may express this view. But what of ' the day ' and ' the night ' in the parallel line ? Comp. the dispute over la stella, Dante, I?tf. ii. 55. 18 Insults Jehovah. An abrupt transition to the third per son, bespeaking the writer's mental agitation. The foolish people (so v. 22). Comp. Deut xxxii. 21, and see on xiv. 1. 19 The difficulty felt in line 1 arises from a corruption (see crit. note). Thy turtle-dove. Israel is here finely symbolised (comp. on Ixviii. 14) by the turtle-dove,1 whose ' low, sad plaint may be heard all day long at certain seasons in the olive-groves, and in the solitary and shady valleys among these mountains ' (Thomson). It is tempt ing to find in this line a contrast between the ' wild beast ' and the 'turtle-dove,' the Israelites being accustomed to classify sentient beings, not on scientific zoological, but on the most primitive moral principles (see on xxii. 13). But in my opinion this can only be done if we omit khayyath in the second line, as proposed by Bickell. The course adopted is certainly less arbitrary (see crit. note). ¦ Thine afflicted. The poet falls naturally into individualism. Not merely Israel, but the individual members of the nation, are, at this stage of religious progress, re garded as the objects of the divine love. St. Francis is therefore right when he speaks (Fioretti, cap. xxii.) of ' uccelli cosi mansueti, a' quali nella Scrittura sono assomigliate le anime caste e umili e fedeli.' 20 look upon the covenant, i.e. give heed to the straits of thy worshippers. So in Dan. xi. 28, 30 ' covenant ' means the faithful Israelites, and in Isa. lvi. 4 the true religion (or, we might say, the Church). The dark places of the land, i.e. (if the text is sound) either the region darkened by mis fortune (cf. Isa. ix. 2), or the obscure hiding-places ofthe Jewish fugitives. For the latter view, cf. 1 Mace. i. 52, 53, 'And many of the people were gathered unto them, every one that forsook the law ; and they committed evils in the land, and drove the Israelites into hiding- places (Kpvcjioi), wherever they could 1 From Isa. xxxviii. 14 compared with Jer. viii. 7 it is clear that tor and yondh were used indiscriminately, according to the exigencies of rhythm. PSALM LXXIV. 2 I I find a refuge.' Comp. 2 Mace. vi. of violence ; ' why ? For Bickell's 1 1. Of haughtiness and vio- easy correction, cf. lxxiii. 6. lence. The text has, ' of the homes PSALM LXXV. 1 he psalm opens with praise, but continues in a different tone. The promised rehearsal of God's wonders will take place elsewhere. Here we listen to two divine oracles, separated by a lyric comment God utters them as a Judge — a representation familiar to us in the Asaphite psalms. 2 We give thanks unto thee, Elohim, we give thanks unto thee ; and they that call upon thy name rehearse thy wonders. (God speaketh.) 3 ' For I seize the appointed time ; I myself judge in equity. 4 When the earth and all its inhabitants melt with fear, I myself adjust the pillars of it. 5 I say unto the boasters, Be not so boastful, and to the ungodly, Do not exalt your horn < 6 Do not exalt your horn toward heaven, nor speak arrogantly ofthe Rock.' 7 For not from the east, nor from the west, nor yet from the mountainous desert * * * 8 Nav, but Elohim is judge ; this one he puts down, and that one he raises up. 9 For in the hand of Jehovah there is a cup with wine — foaming wine that is full of mixture ; and he pours out to this one and to that one : surely the dregs thereof shall all the ungodly of the earth sup up and drink. 10 And as for me, I will declare it for ever ; I will make melody unto the God of Jacob. 11 'All the horns of the ungodly also will I cut off ; exalted shall be the horns of the righteous.' 2 They that call, &c. Or, ment of His protecting care (cf. 1 they that called.' In any case, the xxxiv. 19, xlvi. 2). psalmist connects deliverance with 3 ' For I seize,' &c. The in- the offering of public supplications. spiration of the writer, at first The text, however, has ' and near merely poetic, becomes prophetic. is thy name ; they have rehearsed To the believer he offers comfort, thy wonders ;' or, less in the Hebrew to the ungodly warnings and threats. spirit 'and "near is thy name," He speaks in the name of Jehovah, (this)' have thy wonders rehearsed.' the principles of whose government The nearness of God's 'name' he proceeds to declare. As soon would mean the conscious enjoy- as the ' appointed time ' (Hab. ii. 3) p 2 212 THE PSALMS has fully come, Jehovah will seize upon it for executing just judgment Through violence and injustice the moral bases of the earth (not only of Palestine) are shaken (lxxxii. 5), and its oppressed inhabitants melt with fear ; at such times Jehovah interposes visibly, and ' adjusts,' or reendows with their old efficacy, ' the pillars' or standards of right and wrong. Comp. Luther, ' The world seems to me like a decayed house. David and the prophets are the spars ; Christ is the main pillar in the midst that supporteth all' (Table Talk). 5,6 It is doubted whether these distichs belong to Jehovah or to the poet himself. But as the first per son continues, the former view is more natural, unless, with Bickell, we suppose ' Therefore ' to have fallen out at the beginning of the verse. ' Exalting the horn' is a new figure ; we shall meet with it again. It symbolises here overweening self-importance, but in v. 11 the attainment of power and dignity. Jehovah being the speaker, it is likely that the ' arrogance ' is that of heathen invaders (as in xciv. 4 ; comp. 7 ; not as in xxxi. 19). Of the Rock, i.e. Israel's Rock, Isa. xxx. 29, Deut. xxxii. 37, Hab. i. 12 (see crit note). 7-9 The psalmist's comment. Help to believers and retributive justice come from God, who alone disposes of the destinies of the nations. Three only of the four quarters ofthe globe are mentioned ; the north is excepted, because dan ger menaces Judah from this quar ter. The third quarter is described with reference to Judah, as the mountainous desert, i.e. the region bounded by the hilly wilderness of Judah. There may be an allusion here to some fact of contemporary history of which we are ignorant. To take the phrase as an equivalent for the Arabian border of Egypt seems to me less natural. But how is the sentence to be completed ? The analogy of cxxi. I suggests the supplement ' cometh our help.' The rendering, ' nor yet from the desert cometh exaltation,' imputes to the poet a want of feeling for language. There is no parallel for such a phrase. The coming of a redeemer and of redemption is familiar to us, but not the coming of an exalter and of exaltation. The singularity of the Hebrew is due to the desire for a rhyme ; v. 7 ends with harim, v. 8 ends with yarim. 9 A cup witli wine. See on ' wine of reeling,' lx. 5. The cor responding figure is the ' cup which is satisfaction' (xxiii. 5; cf. Sept) We are reminded of the two vessels by the throne of Zeus, //. xxiv. 527, &c. Mixture alludes to ingre dients such as spices and pome granate-juice (Cant. viii. 2), which would make the ' strong drink ' (shekdr) more seductive to those who drank it (comp. Isa. v. 22, Prov. ix. 2). To this one and to that one. (See crit note.) So Jer. xxv. 17 ; cf. an-Nabigha's verse on the giving and taking of the 'wine of Doom' (Lyall, Arabian Poetry, p. 96). PSALM LXXVI. 1 he shortest and most vigorous of the Asaphite psalms, referred in the Septuagint to the catastrophe of the Assyrian army. 2 In Judah is Elohim renowned ; his name is great in Israel. 3 For in Salem his bower was set, and his mansion in Zion : 4 There brake he the lightnings of the bow, shield and sword, and equipment of war. PSALM LXXVI. 213 S Terrible art thou and glorious (in thy ruling) from the everlasting mountains. 6 Spoiled are the stout of heart, they sleep their sleep, and all the men of might have lost their hands. 7 At thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, deep sleep hath fallen both upon chariot and upon horse. 8 Thou ! terrible art thou, and who can stand before thee when once thou art angry ? 9 Out of heaven didst thou sound forth judgment ; earth feared and became still, 10 At God's rising up for judgment, to save all the afflicted of the earth. 1 1 For the wrath of man shall give thanks unto thee ; with the residue of (thy) great wrath thou wilt gird thyself. 1 2 Vow and pay unto Jehovah your God, let all around him bring presents, 13 Unto the Terrible One, who lops off the passion of princes, and is terrible to the kings of the earth. 3 Salem, or, more strictly, Sha- lem. The name may be taken from Gen. xiv. 11. According to Josephus (Ant.' i. 10, 2) it is the original form of Jerusalem (SoXvpa — 'lepoooXvpa). More probably it is a shortened form of that name ; the tendency to abbreviate names was and is strong amongthe Semitic races (comp. Peor for Baal Peor, Num. xxv. 18, &c. ; el Chalil for ' Mosque of the Ftiend of Allah,' i.e. Hebron ; el Kuds for Beit el kuds, i.e. Jerusalem). The poet in stinctively feels that ' Salem ' is the really important element in the compound. May it not be, as Grill suggests,1 an old name of Israel's God ? We find Yahveh-Shalom (Yahve-Peace) as a title of Yahveh (Jehovah) in Judg. vi. 24, and Salmanu is the name of an Assyrian god (a god of peace), Schrader, K.A.T., ed. 2, p. 266. 2 His bower (or, pavilion). This is surely a better rendering than 'his covert,' as if Jehovah were compared to a lion issuing from its ' covert ' or ' lair ' to attack its prey (comp. Jer. xxv. 38). The temple is meant, which is a ' bower ' of peace (Shdlem sug gests the idea of shdlom) to the believer. See the fine passage on Zion, Isa. iv. 6. This is in har mony with the view adopted on xxvii. 5. His mansion. Others, ' his lair ' (same word of the lion, civ. 22). The masculine form of this word is used of God's heavenly dwelling-place, Ixviii. 6. 4 The lightnings ofthe bow, i.e. the swift-flying arrows. See on lxxviii. 48. 5 Terrible art thou, &c. The idiom as in Ixviii. 36. ' The ever lasting mountains,' as Hab. iii. 6, Gen. xlix. 26. Jehovah is supposed to be enthroned on the mountains of Jerusalem (comp. lxxxvii. 1, cxxxiii. 3). This view perhaps suits the context best ; but it is also ad missible to render, ' Fearful art thou and more glorious than,' &c. If Jehovah's glory may be compared to that of the ocean, why not also to that of the ' everlasting moun- 1 Zeitschrift filr die alttest. Wissenschaft, 1884, p. 145. 2 The above may now be compared with Sayce, Hibbert Lectures, pp. (tfttovavTa crvveToitTLv). 57. 58 214 THE PSALMS tains ' (the text-reading ' mountains of prey ' must be discarded) ? 6, 7 A vivid description of the catastrophe. They sleep their sleep. The Hebrew, more finely, gives ' they have slumbered into their (last sleep.' Have lost their hands. Their hands, or vital forces, are paralysed (by death). Comp. the idiom in Josh. viii. 20, 2 Sam. vii. 27, Dukes, Rabbin. Blumenlese, p. 191. ¦ Both upon chariot and upon horse. The poet means of course the warriors who use chariot and horse. Comp. Ex. xv. 19, Isa. xliii. 17. 9 Out of heaven, &c. Jehovah may be said interchangeably to judge the world from heaven and from his throne on Mount Zion (comp. Ixviii. 34-36). ' Sounding forth judgment ' implies the image of thunder as God's voice ; comp. xlvi. 7. 1 1 For the wrath of man, &c. The whole verse is dark, but the first part admits of a plausible ex planation. ' Jehovah,' says a pro verb (Prov. xvi. 4), ' hath made everything for its end, and the wicked also for the day of evil.' Man's passionate rebellion does but provide a fresh theatre for God's mighty power. But how can God 'gird himself ' with the 'residue of (his) great wrath' ? Does it mean that after each fresh display of anger there is still wherewith to gird Himself for a fresh battle — in short, that His capacity of wrath is as in exhaustible as man's sin ? Or is the ' great wrath ' that of Jehovah's foes ? In this case ' girding ' must have the sense of ' putting on as an ornament ' — a sense not favoured by the context, and therefore less probable. The view provisionally adopted is that of Delitzsch and Hitzig ; the latter well compares Rev. xi. 18, Kal to. edvr/ apy'io-Brjoav, koX rj\9ev 17 opyfj o-ov. ' Great wrath,' literally, 'wraths;' just as ' salva tions ' means ' (God's) abundant salvation.' I confess my mind re mains unsatisfied. The least pos sible correction of the text would be Ewald's, ' shall hold festival unto thee' (from Sept.) ; but the expres sion seems strained. It is just pos sible that the error lies principally in ' wrath ' and ' wraths.' Might we cor rect this so as to render, ' For the tumult of Aram shall praise thee ; the remnant of Hamath shall come trembling unto thee?' See crit. note. 13 Unto the Terrible One. So Isa. viii. 13 (see Heb.) Who lops off, &c. When the fruit of human passion is ripe, Jehovah ' cuts it off with pruning-knives ' (Isa. xviii. 5.) PSALM LXXVII. 1 HE psalmist recalls some dark moments he has lately had ; perhaps even quotes the psalm in which he expressed his struggle against despair. He describes how he recovered his balance by remembering God's mercies in ancient times (so that national mercies are meant, and therefore national troubles). The connexion is as difficult as in Ps. cxvi. Notice in advance the use of ' Joseph' for the northern kingdom in this and the neighbour ing psalms (lxxvii. 15, lxxviii. 67, Ixxx. 2, lxxxi. 6); also the favourite Asaphite comparison of Israel to a flock (lxxvii. 15, lxxviii. 52, lxxix. 13, Ixxx. 2 ; cf. Mic. vii. 14). ' With my voice unto Jehovah fain would I cry, with my voice unto Elohim, that he may hearken unto me.' In the day of my trouble (thus) did I seek the Lord ; in the night was my hand stretched forth incessantly, my soul refused to be comforted. PSALM LXXVII. 215 4 ' Thinking upon God, I can but moan ; musing thereupon, my spirit faints away.' 5 Thou didst hold open the guards of mine eyes ; I was so stricken that I could not speak. 6 I considered the days of old, the years of ancient times : 7 ' Let me call to mind ' (said I) ' my song in the night, let me muse in my heart ; ' and I (thus) searched out my spirit : 8 ' Will the Lord cast off for ever, and be favourable no more ? 9 Is his lovingkindness come utterly to an end ? has his promise failed for all generations ? 10 Has God forgotten to pity? or has he drawn in his compassion angrily ? ' 1 1 And I said, ' It is my sickness : the years of the right hand of the most High I 12 I will celebrate the exploits of Jehovah, yea, remember thy wonders of old ; 13 I will also meditate upon all thy work, and muse upon thy exploits.' 14 Elohim, in holiness is thy way ; who is so great a God as Jehovah ? 15 Thou art the God that doeth wonders ; thou hast made known among the peoples thy strength. 16 Thou hast guided thy people like a flock, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. (Fragment of another Psalm. ) 1 7 The waters saw thee, Elohim, the waters saw thee, and were horror-struck ; the abysses also trembled. 18 Cloud-masses gushed out in water ; yea, they uttered a voice ; thine arrows also went hither and thither. 19 The voice of thy thunder was in a whirlwind, flashes lightened the world, the earth trembled and quaked. 20 Through the sea went thy way, and thy path through great waters, and thy footprints could not be known. 3 Was my hand stretched cxliii. 3-5. V. 4 is parallel to v. I ; forth, viz. in supplication (xxviii. 2). these verses together represent the 4-6 Comp. the parallel passage, sad complaint of the psalmist ' in 2l6 THE PSALMS the day of his trouble.' 1 can but moan. The thought of God is no source of comfort as yet ; because the poet is still absorbed in the gloomy present. He is below the spiritual level of the author of Pss. xlii., xliii., who can look, however unsteadily, at the mercies of the past, and who thus admits a sunbeam of hope. 7 IVXy song in the night, i.e. my former grateful thanksgivings. Comp. xlii. 9 (note), xcii. 3. 1 (thus) searched out my spirit. The higher expostulates with the lower self (cf. Pss. xlii., xliii.) ' Do I really mean to say that the Lord has cast me off ; or is there not in the recesses of my spirit, when I have searched these out, a con sciousness that Jehovah is' un changeably the same ? ' 8-10 At first sight these lines seem inconsistent with the plan of a retrospect, hinted at in v. 7 a. But all depends on the tone in which the questions are uttered. The tone (as vv. 11-13 show) is that which expects a negative answer. The poet ' searches out ' his unbelieving suspicions, and ex poses his own unreasonableness. 11 It is my sickness, i.e. this trouble of mine is a chastening from God (comp. Jer. x. 19). Understand, 'but let me not de spair ; he hath not given me over unto death' (cxviii. 18). Then follows an elevating thought ex pressed in its simplest form like an exclamation, the years, &c, i.e. I will remember (comp. v. 6) the time when ' the right hand of Jehovah had the pre-eminence' (cxviii. 16). The image presents itself to his mind in its simplest form. He is too 'stricken' to build an argument upon it in words. There are of course other explana tions, owing to the ambiguity of the words rendered ' my sickness ' and ' the years (of).' For instance, De Witt renders, ' This is my misery, that the right hand of the Most High is changed ' (i.e. become inactive, lxxiv. 11). So Lowth (Prcelect. xxvi.), Hitzig, Hupfeld, following the versions. But see the Hebrew of v. 6, and consider whether this rendering is suitable at the opening of an expostulation. 14 In holiness. 'Holiness' has at any rate here no ethical tinge ; it is the correlative of greatness, and is displayed in wonderful works. Practically it means uniqueness, with the secondary idea of unapproachableness (comp. 1 Sam. vi. 20). 16 There is a double reading of each half of this verse. Rhythm and poetry are equally the gainers by combining 21a and idb (pro posed by Bickell). The sons of Jacob and Joseph. Does this mean 'the children of Israel,' es pecially those of the leading tribe or tribes of Joseph ('a prince among his brethren,' Gen. xlix. 26) ? Or does Jacob mean southern and Joseph northern Israel (also called Isaac in Am. vii. 9)? The latter alternative is the easier one ; see Ixxx. 2, lxxxi. 6, Am. v. 6, 15, vi. 6, Hos. xii. 2, and Obad. 18 (where Jacob and Joseph make up the whole nation ; comp. Am. vi. 6, 8). At any rate, these two names had taken root in Canaan as early as Thothmes III. (about 1600 B.C.) -,1 it would always be natural to use them when a fuller phrase than 'the sons of Israel' was required. 17-20 These verses are on a different model from that of the rest of the psalm, being tristichs. They do not cohere well either with vv. 14-16 or with v. 21. Theyare lyric, not reflective, in tone and style, and have the appearance of having been taken from some other poem. It is idle to say that they are a poetical account of the pas sage of the Red Sea. They are simply a description of a theophany, without any special reference to 1 Whether they belonged to tribes or to cities, or to both, is uncertain. They occur in the Karnak list of Palestinian towns, which includes names restored in Hebrew form, as Ja'kob-el, Josep(?)-el. See Meyer, ' Der Stamm Jakob,' in Stade's Zeitschrift, 1886, p. i, &c. , comparing letters in the Academy, Sept. 1887. PSALM LXXVII. 217 any personal intervention of Jeho- rendering ' cloud,' or ' clouds,' is re- vah in the past. Of course the quired here and in xviii. 12, lxxviii. poet believed in such interventions ; 23 (cf. Job. xxxvi. 28, xxxviii. 37, so did the author of Hab. iii. 10-15, Prov. iii. 20, Isa. xiv. 8). The old but neither writer is to be tied down exegetical tradition is in favour of to any definite point in history. the rendering ' clouds ' even where Both writers belong to the period (Pss. lxxxix. 7, Ixviii. 35) ' skies' is of imitative, artificial poetry. absolutely required. The root- Whether one imitated the other, meaning is probably to be thinly or whether both copied some older stretched out (Gesenius; Fleischer). and more creative poet, is impos- 19 In a whirlwind. The sible to decide, and superfluous to thunder, that is, pealed to the discuss here. accompaniment of a whirlwind. 18 Cloud-masses. ' Clouds' = See crit note. sKkhdqim ; ' masses ' = 'abhoth. A 20 Thy footprints. The twofold liberty will strike the He- marks of Jehovah's passage over braist ; sense is the gainer. The the bed of the Red Sea. PSALM LXXVIII. .A. 'historical psalm' (see on cv.), the facts of which are supplied by the Jehovistic narrative (jE). 1 Give ear, O my people, to my teaching, incline your ear to the words of my mouth ; 2 I would open my mouth in a parable, I would utter riddles of ancient date. 3 That which we have heard and known, and our fathers have rehearsed to us — 4 We will not hide from their children, rehearsing it to the generation to come, even the praises of Jehovah and his great force, and his wonderful works that he has done. 5 For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a rule in Israel, whereby he commanded our fathers to make it known to their children, 6 That the generation to come might know it, the children who should be born, who, rising up, might rehearse it to their children ; 7 That they might place their confidence in Elohim, and not forget the exploits of God, but keep his commandments, 8 And might not be as their fathers, an unruly and rebellious generation, a generation that had not established their heart, and whose spirit was not faithful towards God. 2l8 THE PSALMS 9 The children of Ephraim, armed with the bow, turned back in the day of battle : io They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law, 1 1 And forgot his exploits, and his wonders that he had showed them. 12 Before their fathers he had done wonders, in the land of Egypt, the country of Zoan ; 13 He clave the sea, and let them pass over, and piled up the waters as a harvest-heap ; 14 And he guided them with a cloud by day, and all the night through with a light of fire. 15 He clave rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as from the ocean-floods abundantly ; 16 And brought forth streams from the crag, and made the waters run down like rivers. 1 7 But they sinned yet more against him, defying the most High in the desert. 18 And they tempted God in their heart, requiring food for their lust ; 19 And spake against Elohim, and said, ' Can God furnish a table in the wilderness ? 20 Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and torrents overflowed ; can he give bread also, or provide flesh for his people ? ' 21 When he heard it, therefore, Jehovah was furious, and a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel ; 22 Because they believed not in Elohim, and trusted not in his salvation. 23 And he commanded the clouds above, and opened the doors of heaven, 24 And rained upon them manna to eat, and gave them the corn of heaven. 25 Men did eat the food of the Mighty : he sent them provisions to the full. 26 He caused the east wind to set forth in heaven, and by his power he led on the south wind : 27 He rained flesh also upon them as dust, and winged birds as the sand of the sea ; PSALM LXXVIII. 219 28 And let it fall within their camp, round about their habitations. 29 So they did eat and were well filled, for that which they fancied he had brought unto them. 30 (But) not yet were they cloyed with their fancy, still was their food in their mouths, 3 1 When the anger of Elohim came up against them, and slew the stoutest of them, and laid low the ripened youths of Israel. 32 For all this they sinned yet more, and believed not in his wondrous works. 33 So he made their days to vanish like a breath, and their years by a sudden end. 34 When he slew them, they enquired after him, and turned back, and sought God earnestly. 35 And they remembered that Elohim was their Rock, and God most High their redeemer, 36 But they only enticed him with their mouth, and lied unto him with their tongue ; 37 Their heart was not stedfast towards him, neither were they faithful unto his covenant. 38 But he is full of compassion, forgives iniquity and destroys not ; yea, many a time takes he back his anger, and arouses not all his wrath ; 39 So he bethought him that they were but flesh, and wind that passes away, and comes not again. 40 How oft did they defy him in the wilderness, and pain him in the desert ! 41 Yea, time after time they tempted God,, and grieved the Holy One of Israel. 42 They remembered not his hand, the day when he set them free from the foe ; 43 How he had set forth his signs in Egypt, and his wonders in the country of Zoan. 44 For he turned their Nile-canals into blood, and they could not drink their streams ; 45 He sent among them dogflies, which devoured them, and frogs, which destroyed them. 46 He gave also their produce unto the caterpillar, and their labour unto the locust. 2 20 THE PSALMS 47 He killed their vines with hail, and their fig-trees with stones of ice, 48 And gave their cattle over to the hail, and their flocks to the (sky-sent) flames ; 49 He sent against them his hot anger, fury, fervent ire, and trouble, as commissioned angels of woe. 50 He made a smooth road for his anger ; he held not back their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence. 51 And he smote every firstborn in Egypt, the firstlings of strength in the tents of Ham : 52 But he made his own people to go stage by stage like sheep, and led them on like a flock in the wilderness, 53 And guided them safely, that they were not affrighted, but the sea covered their enemies. 54 And he brought them unto his holy borders, to yon mount, which his own right hand had gotten ; 55 And he drove out the nations before them, and those he allotted as a measured inheritance, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents. 56 But they tempted and defied God most High, and observed not his ordinances ; 57 But swerved and were faithless like their fathers — ¦ turned aside like a deceitful bow, 58 For they vexed him with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images. 59 When God heard this, he was furious, and greatly abhorred Israel, 60 So that he cast off the habitation of Shiloh, his pavilion where he had dwelt among men, 61 And delivered his own strength to captivity, and his splendour into the hand of the foe. 62 He abandoned his people to the sword, and was furious against his inheritance. 63 The fire devoured their young men, and their virgins were not praised in the song. 64 Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows could make no lamentation. 65 Then the Lord awaked as one that had slept, and like a warrior who shouts from wine. PSALM LXXVIII. 221 66 He beat his foemen backward ; he put upon them a lasting insult. 67 And he rejected the pavilion of Joseph and chose not the tribe of Ephraim, 68 But chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which he loved ; 69 And he built his sanctuary like the heavenly heights, like the earth which he has founded for ever. 7° 7i 7- He chose David also his servant, and took him away from the sheepfolds ; From following the ewes he brought him, to feed Jacob his people and Israel his inheritance. So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart, and with the skilfulness of his hands he guided them. 1-8 Introduction. The opening lines remind us of xlix. 2-5. There the teaching of the psalmist is ex pressly referred to divine revelation, whereas here the author bespeaks attention for 'his teaching' (tora) on the lower ground that it is based upon a divinely sanctioned tradi tion. He is more a 'wise man' than a poet. The 'parable' (md shdl) and the ' riddles ' (khidoth) — comp. xlix. 4 — are not the psalm itself, but the lessons inherent in Jewish history. The object is, not so much to glorify Jehovah (' praises ' in v. 4 means ' glorious works '), as to promote edification. The ' testi mony' and 'rule' (v. 5) relate to the instruction of the young in those wonderful works by which Jehovah in old time rewarded those who trusted Him. 9 The disobedience of N. Israel is at once singled out as one of the special subjects of the psalm. This is described allegorically (comp. v. 57). The historical details begin at v. 12. 12-25 How wondrously did Jehovah guide the ancestors of these rebellious Ephraimites ! Strict chronological accuracy indeed is not preserved. ' Massa' and' Meri- bah' occur in Exodus subsequently to the sending of the manna. The allusion in v. 21 is to Num. xi. ; another violation of strict order. Corn of heaven ; comp. cv. 40, Ex. xvi. 4. The food of the Mighty, i.e. of the angels (Sept.), elsewhere called ' heroic in power ' (ciii. 20). 26 The east and the south belong together ; it was a khamasin or sirocco wind of the desert, which blows from south and south-east with the force of a gale. Hence in line I it is compared (as Num. xi. 31) to a general breaking up his encampment (cf. i?DJ in 2 Kings xix. 8). 35 God most High, Heb. El Elyon, a combination only found here and in Gen. xiv. 18, 20, 22. (See, however, lxxiii. 11.) 40 How oft did they defy him, &c. An allusion to Isa. lxiii. 10, where the same combination of verbs occurs. ' Defied,' of the Spirit of Jehovah, occurs in cvi. 33. 43 For the phraseology, comp. Ex. x. 2. So cv. 27. 48 To the hail ... to the flames. So Sept., Targ., in accord ance with Ex. ix. 23, 24. Another psalmist thinks the union of light ning and hail too poetic a feature to be omitted. Otherwise it would be plausible to transpose two letters, and render (in a) ' to the pestilence,' in which case 'the flames' (in b) mean 'fiery sickness' (comp. Hab. iii. 4, Deut xxxii. 24, where, how ever, it is ' the flame,' in the singu- 222 THE PSALMS lar form). In lxxvi. 4 we found the same word rendered here ' flames ' in the phrase ' the lightnings of the bow' (i.e. swift arrows) ; the sing. (re'shef) occurs in Job v. 7 b, 'the sons of flame ' (i.e. ' the sparks ' ?). ' Flame ' (r/shef) is also a name of the Phcenician Fire-god,1 and in Cant. viii. 6 the same word is used (in the plural) of flames which issue forth from Jehovah. 49 As commissioned angels of woe. Lit, 'a mission of mes sengers of (the class of) hurtful ones.' Comp. Job xxxiii. 22, ' and his life (draw near) to the Slayers.' Sept wrongly, d7roo-roAi)i/ SY dyye'Xav ¦n-ovrjpmv (cf. Isa. xxx. 5, art elolv iv Tdvei dpxyyol ayyeXoi irovTjpot). 5 1 In the tents of Ham. Here, as in cv. 23, cvi. 22, Ham is a syno nym for Mizraim ; in Gen. 10, how ever, it denotes not only Mizraim, but other southern nations. Hence some have thought that the author of the Table of Nations gave the name a wider significance than properly belonged to it, Ham (Kham) being a freely Hebraised form of the native name of Egypt, Kem-t (' the black ') ; in favour of this view, see Ebers, Aegypte?i, i. 55 ; Budde, Urgeschichte, p. 323. The initial letter of Kem-t, however, does not correspond to that of Ham (Kham), and the radical meaning of the latter, viewed as a Hebrew word, suggests rather a comparison with the name of the Egyptian god Khem (radical sense, warmth), who was said to have come from foreign countries, and more precisely from Punt, from the shores of the Red Sea (cf. Gen. x. 6, ' Mizraim and Put'). So Lefobure (Transactions of Soc. of Bibl. Arch.,ix. 170) ; and Lepsius is at least on the way to this conclusion, when he remarks that Ham (Kham) is radically con nected with the Egyptian Khem ' to be warm,' and means ' the land ofthe warm south' (Herzog,Realen- cyclop., art. 'Aegypten'). 54 To yon mount, &C, i.e. either to Mount Zion, by an ana chronism ; or, to the land of Canaan as a ' land of hills and valleys ' (Deut. xi. 11). There is the same uncertainty in Ex. xv. 17, Isa. xi. 9, lvii. 13. 57 like a deceitful bow, which does not respond to the archer's aim ; so Hos. vii. 16. 60 The habitation of Shiloh, &c. Absorbed in love to the temple at Jerusalem, the psalmist hesitates to call this sanctuary a temple. An earlier writer had felt very dif ferently (see 1 Sam. i. 9, and cf. Stanley, Jewish Church, i. 321). The scantiness of our information respecting it (due in all probability to the religious scruples of the later Biblical writers and editors) is much to be regretted. Note, how ever, that Jeremiah, as well as the psalmist, places the sanctuary of Shiloh in parallelism to the temple at Jerusalem (Jer. vii. 12). On this subject see references in my Jere miah . his Life and Times ( 1 888). His pavilion, &c. So Sept ; the text has 'the pavilion (tent) which he had pitched among men.' Targ. and Pesh. agree with Sept. as to the verbs. 61 His own strength, i.e. the ark ; cf. cxxxii. 8, 1 Sam. iv. 21, 22. 63 Were not praised in the song. A poetic expression for ' were not given in marriage.' The noun derived from this verb (hil l/lid) means 'marriage' (properly 'marriage-song') in Talmudic." 65 On this ' boldness of speech,' cf. Binnie, The Psalms, their His tory, &c, pp. 218-20 like a warrior, or, ' like a valiant one ' (gibbor) ; cf. xxiv. 8. Who shouts from wine, whose consciousness of power is heightened by wine. So Zech. x. 7. 1 Corpus Inscr. Scmil., i. 1, p. 36, no. 10. It is doubtful, however, whether the title ft! Ef«JH ' Arrow-flame ' is correctly read. See Ganneau, Revue critique, 16 mai 1887, p. 395. 2 So in Arabic taklil is used with a secular (Hamdsa, p. 612, foot) as well as a religious reference (ibid. p. 315, v. 2) ; Wellhausen, Skizzen, Heft 3, pp. 108-9. PSALM LXXVIII. 223 67 The pavilion of Joseph, 9 c). We have scarcely a right to i.e. the Ephraimitish temple of spiritualise with Delitzsch in order Shiloh (v. 60). to harmonise the psalmist with 69 Xiike the heavenly heights. Jeremiah (chap, vii.) On text, see Coasval, then, with the present crit note. world (lxxxix. 3, 30, 3S ; cf. xlviii. PSALM LXXIX. J\. psalm of complaint, closely, parallel to Ps. lxxiv., except that here the destruction of the temple is referred to as an accomplished fact. Among phraseological points of contact, cf. lxxix. 5 with lxxiv. 1,10; lxxix. 13 with lxxiv. 1 ; and perhaps (5H-V) lxxix. 10 with lxxiv. 5. Both psalms stand in the same relation to the Jeremian literature, Ps. lxxiv. (see on vv. 4, 7, 9) containing reminiscences of Lam. ii. 6, 9, and Ps. lxxix. 6, 7 being a verbal quotation from Jer. x. 25. Both poems evidently belong to the same period. The Huguenots often had this psalm upon their lips. At an earlier age, Dante had been charmed by its dolce salmodia (Purg. xxiii. 1), and interpreted its language of the low spiritual state of the Church ; and long afterwards it expressed the feelings of sons and daughters of our own land during the Indian Mutiny. Nor must we forget that in the massacre of Alcimus (B.C. 162) the writer of 1 Mace. vii. 16, 17 finds a fulfilment of the second verse of our psalm. These varied applications prove the power of simply but nobly expressed feeling. As a specimen of ' undesigned coincidence,' a few lines may be quoted from a penitential psalm (date at least 2300 B.C.) entitled by Mr. Pinches ' The Erechite's Lament over the Desolation of his Fatherland,' — How long, my lady, shall the strong enemy hold thy sanctuary? There is want in Erech, thy glorious city ; Blood is flowing like water in E-ulbar, the house of thy oracle. — I mourn day and night like the wide fields. I, thy servant, pray to thee, Let thy heart take rest ; let this anger be softened. l 1 Elohim ! heathen are come into thine inheritance ; they have defiled thy holy temple, they have laid Jerusalem in heaps. 2 They have given the dead bodies of thy servants as food unto the birds of the heaven, the flesh of thy loving ones unto the beasts of the land. 3 They have shed their blood like water round about Jerusalem j and there was none to bury them. 4 We are become a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and derision to them that are round about us. 5 How long, Jehovah, wilt thou be ' angry for ever ' ? (how long) shall thy jealousy burn like fire ? 6 Pour out thy wrath upon the nations that know thee not, and upon the kingdoms that call not upon thy name. 1 Babylonian and Oriental Record, Dec. 1886, pp. 22, 23 (also translated by Sayce). 2 24 THE PSALMS 7 For they have devoured Jacob, and laid his homestead waste. 8 Remember not against us the iniquities of (our) ancestors ; let thy compassions quickly come to meet us, for we are brought very low. 9 Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name ; deliver us, and cancel our sins, for thy name's sake. io Wherefore do the heathen say, Where is their God? let vengeance for the spilt blood of thy servants be showed among the heathen in our sight. 1 1 Let the groaning of the captive come before thee ; according to the greatness of thine arm preserve thou the son of death : 12 And pay back unto our neighbours sevenfold into their bosom their insults wherewith they have insulted thee, O Lord. 13 So we that are thy people and the flock of thy shepherding will give thee thanks for ever, to many generations will we tell out thy praise. 1 Heathen. Goyim evidently them entirely by their own sins. In has here a religious connotation fact, like the other Asaphite psalm- (see vv. 10, 12, and cf. Lam. i. 10). ists, the writer feels that his people 4 This verse is based on xliv. is, upon the whole, righteous. 13 ; cf. Ixxx. 7. 10 a A favourite plea in liturgical 5 On line 1 see notes on xiii. 2, poetry ; see cxv. 2, Joel ii. 17, and lxxiv. 10 ; and on line 2 cf. Cant. cf. xlii. 4. viii. 6. 11 Imitated in cii. 20 ; comp. 6,7 Quoted from Jer. x. 25, and Isa. xlii. 22, Zech. ix. 11. I take very possibly, as Bickell holds, sub- this to be a figurative description of stituted by a late editor for a line the depressed state of the Jewish which had become illegible. For people. a similar case, see xxxi. 14. Cer- 12 Into their bosom; comp. tainly the words quoted are un- xxxv. 14, lxxxix. 50 (with note). rhythmical. 13 Prayer and praise, the only 8 The iniquities of (our) an- perfect sacrifices 'befitting' Jeho- cestors. The misery of the people vah's perfect protection (Ixv. 2) is too great to be brought upon See on 1. 14. PSALM LXXX. J\ prayer for the restoration of God's favour to innocent but oppressed Israel, whose history is suggestively set forth under the allegory of a vine. Notice the brotherly love of Judah for Israel (cf. lxxvii. 16, lxxxi. 6), which is a reflexion (if we may expand the thought of the Asaphite psalmists in accordance with Jer. xxxi. 9, 20) of the fatherly love of Jehovah for his 'firstborn.' Man's self-wili (Hos. v. 11) cannot permanently make void the divine idea of All-Israel. The psalm is in five strophes of eight lines each, the first and fifth of which have a refrain. PSALM LXXX. 2 25 2 Shepherd of Israel, give ear, thou that leddest Joseph like a flock, Thou that art enthroned on the cherubim, shine forth before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh ; 3 Stir up thy heroic might, and come to our help ! 4 Do thou, Elohim, restore us, cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved. 5 Jehovah Sabaoth, how long wilt thou smoke against the prayer of thy people ? 6 Thou hast fed them with the bread of tears, and given them a copious draught of tears to drink. 7 Thou makest us a strife unto our neighbours, and our enemies make their game of us. 8 Jehovah Sabaoth, do thou restore us, cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved. 9 Thou didst bring a vine out of Egypt ; thou didst cast out the nations, and plant her in. 10 Thou didst clear a place before her ; and when she had taken root she filled the land. 1 1 The mountains were covered with the shadow thereof, and the cedars of God with her branches. 12 She spread out her boughs even unto the sea, and her shoots unto the river. 1 5 Jehovah Sabaoth, do but look again from heaven, behold and give heed to this vine, 16 Even to the stock which thy right hand did plant, and to the leaves of the bough that thou didst choose thee. 13 Why hast thou broken down the fences thereof, so that all they that go by pluck off her grapes ? 14 The boar out ofthe wood doth rend it, and the roamers of the plain feed off it. 1 7 Burned with fire is it, and cut down ! at the rebuke of thy face let them perish ! 1 8 Let thy hand be upon the man of thy right hand, upon the son of man whom thou didst choose thee. 19 [Deliver us] and we will not go back from thee ; revive us, and we will call upon thy name. 20 Jehovah Sabaoth, do thou restore us ; cause thy face to shine, and we shall be saved. 2 Shepherd of Israel. See xlviii. 15, xlix. 24. Similar expres- lxxviii. 52 (and cf. xxiii. 1), Gen. sions occur in lxxix. 7 b, Ixxxiii. 13 b, Q 2 26 THE PSALMS and Prof. Sayce has indicated Baby lonian parallels (Hibbert Lectures, p. 198). Line 2 is equivalent to ' Shepherd of Joseph ; ' how is this combination to be accounted for ? Are the tribes of Joseph, or (see v. 3) the tribes which claim a common descent from Rachel, at present the true representatives and cham pions of the name of Israel ? Or does not the psalmist rather pray that these tribes (or the remnant which claims to belong to them) may regain their ancient import ance — or, more distinctly, that they may be brought back to colonise the north and strengthen Judah against the Samaritans? Thou that leddest. The psalmist complains that the glorious Shepherd and Leader (cf. John x. 4) is no longer visible. Enthroned upon the cherubim. Is there an allusion to the old custom of carrying the ark into battle ? But the use of the same phrase in xcix. 1, 2 Kings xix. 15, shows that much more than this is intended (cf. on xxii. 4). It is not merely the national God who is to precede the three important Rachel-tribes like one 'valiant in battle' (xxiv. 8). He whom the psalmists ask to ' shine forth ' as a sun is ' high over all the peoples ' (xcix. 2) ; cf. ' from heaven,' v. 1 5. Before Ephraim, &C.1 E- phraim and Manasseh may well represent the northern kingdom, but why is Benjamin added, which both in extent and in population was so ' small ' a tribe (Ixviii. 28) ? For two reasons: (1) because it had a hereditary attachment to Ephraim and Manasseh, which it proved as far as it could at the separation of the kingdoms ; (2) because by right it contained the sanctuary, and hence claimed the proud title ' Je hovah's beloved' (Deut. xxxiii. 12).2 4 Restore us, i.e. restore pro sperity to us. Or, ' bring us back (from exile).' So Targ. Such a prayer could of course only refer to 1 Clericus rightly attaches these words to v. 2 ; and so Bickell. 2 On the history of Benjamin, see Ewald, History, iv. 2 ; Geiger, Judische Zeil- schrift, vii. 288, &c. the Israelites who were still in exile, for the psalm is clearly written in Palestine. Cause thy face to shine. See on iv. 7. 5 Jehovah Sabaoth. Strictly, ' Yahveh Cebaoth.' See on lix. 6. How 'long, &c. Lit, 'how long hast thou smoked ' (see on lxxiv. 1 ). The idiom means, ' How long shall I have to look back on this strange experience that thou hast been angry ? ' Against the prayer. Or, ' in spite of the prayer.' Usage favours the view adopted (see lxxiv. 1, Heb.) ; and is the conception of God's being angry with a prayer unbiblical ? See Isa. i. 15, Jer. xiv. 11, 12, and especially Lam. iii. 44, Isa. lviii. 4, lix. 2, Ecclus. xxv. 17. Lagarde would correct, ' against the remnant (of thy people).' 6 The bread of tears, i.e. either the bread which is eaten with tears, or, better, that which consists in tears (xlii. 4 ; comp. cii. 10). And given them, &c. Or, 'and made them to drink (their) cup with tears.' The word rendered ' a copious draught ' — it probably means a large cup or goblet — occurs again only in Isa. xl. 12, where it is clearly the third part of some larger measure such as the ephah, a very small measure for the dust of the earth, remarks Delitzsch, but a large one for tears. Here probably it means something like our 'quart' (cf. triental), or a cup holding this quantity. If sound allowed, we might render ' and given them a tierce of tears to drink.' Comp. Herrick, Hesperides (p. 227, Mor- ley)- Contemn to recommend a cruse, But send to her a tierce. 9-12 A fine allegorical picture of Israel as a vine (comp. especially Isa. iii. 14, v. 1-7, Hos. x. 1, Gen. xlix. 22). The vine, the most pre cious of Israel's three royal plants (see Judg. ix. 8-13), seemed an apt emblem of God's people in its best PSALM LXXX. 227 days (see Jer. ii. 21). Among the God' (cf. 'the cedars in the garden many suggestive peculiarities of the of Elohim,' Ezek. xxxi. 8, and see on vine, our psalmist was struck by its Ps. xxxvi. 7) the northern frontier ; capacity of bearing transplantation. the ' sea ' is of course the Mediter- For, like Hosea (xi. 1), he considers ranean, and the 'river' the Eu- the history of Israel to begin in phrates, i.e. the western and eastern Egypt; where, as we know (in spite boundaries. Comp. the ideal de- of Herod, ii. 76), the vine was scription in Deut xi. 24. Lebanon largely cultivated (comp. Gen. xl. was famous for its wine (see on Hos. 9-1 1 ). The vine-emblem is com- xiv. 7). mon on Jewish coins, 'and was nobly 15, 16, 13, 14 Internal evidence expressed in the colossal golden strongly favours this transposition. vine which hung, for the reception The ' bough ' (v. 16 b) is perhaps of golden gifts, in the porch of an allusion to Gen. xlix. 22 (see Herod's temple, spreading its crit. note). The mention of the branches under the cornices (Jose- wild boar (v. 14) stands alone (but phus, Ant. xv. 11, 3; comp. Mishna, by a mere accident) in the O.T. Middoth, iii. 8). On the vine in Doth rend it. Sept. iXvprjvaro. the Bible, comp. Delitzsch's charm- So Callimachus, Hymn to Diana, ing essay (transl. Expositor, 1886, 156 ; cf. Acts viii. 3. I, p. 58, &c.) 18 The man of thy right 11, 12 The ' mountains ' repre- hand (alluding to v. 16 a), i.e. the sent the southern, the 'cedars of people of Israel. PSALM LXXXI. A COMBINATION of two distinct lyric passages (comp. xix., lxxvii., and especially xcv.) 2 Ring out your mirth unto Elohim our strength ; shout for joy unto the God of Jacob. 3 Swell the melody, and sound the timbrel, the pleasant lyre with the harp, 4 Blow the trumpet on the new moon, at the full moon, for our festal day. 5 For this is a statute for Israel, and an ordinance from the God of Jacob. 6 This he appointed in Joseph for a testimony, when he went forth over the land of Egypt. ****** (Fragment of another Psalm.) [In a dream, in a vision of the night,J the discourse of one I had not known did I hear. 7 ' I removed his shoulder from the burden, his hands escaped from the basket. 8 Thou calledst in trouble, and I rescued thee, I answered thee in (my) thunder-covert, I proved thee at Meribah's waters. 1 Levy, Gesch. derjud. Munzen, pp. 133, 134 ; Madden, Coins of the Jews, pp. 116, 117, &c. Q2 228 THE PSALMS 9 (I said), Hear, 0 my people, and I will protest unto thee, 0 Israel, if thou wouldst but hearken unto me ! io There shall no strange god be in thee, neither shalt thou worship any foreign god. nl am Jehovah thy God, who brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it. 12 But my people hearkened not unto my voice, and Israel was not compliant unto me. 13 So I let them go in the obstinacy of their heart, that they might walk in their own counsels. 14 O that my people were hearkening unto me ; that Israel would walk in my ways ! 15 Easily would I subdue their enemies, and turn my hand against their foes. 16 The haters of Jehovah should cringe unto them, that so their time might endure for ever ; 17 And I would feed them with the fat of wheat, and with honey out of the rock would I satisfy thee.' 2-6 a A summons to keep ' our festal day.' But which festival ? Either the Passover, or the Feast of Booths, both of which had reference to the Exodus, and began on the day of the full moon. The feast of ingathering, however, as the autumn festival is called in the older legislation (Ex. xxiii. 16, xxxiv. 22), had originally no re ference to the Exodus ; it only receives this historical significance in Leviticus (xxiii. 39-43), whereas it is perfectly possible to hold that in the case of the feast of un leavened bread the reference to the Exodus was original.1 The second line of v. 6 (see note) also favours the view that the latter is the festival intended. It is quite true that the Feast of Booths was always the favourite one, and that throughout the Old Testament (but not the New) it is distinguished by the title 'the feast' (see on Isa. xxx. 29). But one object of the promulgators of the Law and those who continued this work certainly was to enhance the importance of the Passover. Observe that there is no allusion to any contemporary event ; the observance of ' our feast ' with all the pomp and cir cumstance of ritual is urged, simply on the ground of Mosaic institu tion. The summons is addressed in v. 2 to the people, in v. 3 to the Levites (comp. Ezra iii. 10, 2 Chr. v. 12, 13), and in v. 4 to the priests (comp. Num. x. 10, 2 Chr. vii. 6). On the musical celebration of the Passover in post-Exile times, see 2 Chr. xxx. 2 1, and comp. Delitzsch's essay on the ritual of the Passover in the time of the second temple, Zeitschr. f. luthe?ische Theologie, 1S55. 4 The new moon was (probably from the earliest times ; comp. 1 Sam. xx. 5) festally celebrated. Here, however (assuming the above view to be correct), it is mentioned in connection with the full moon of the month Abib or Nisan, at which the Passover was celebrated. The new moon at any rate of this month, as well as the full moon, was marked 1 Comp. Prof. W. H. Green, The Hebrew Feasts (New York, 1885), p. 239. PSALM LXXXI. 229 apparently by the blowing of trum pets. 6 in Joseph, i.e. to be valid in northern as well as southern Israel (the restored tribes miss their fellow-tribes in exile ; see on Ixxx. 2). The text has, ' in Jehoseph ' (see crit. note). When (at the Exodus) he (viz. Israel and Joseph) went forth from, &c. The text has 'over' (or, 'against'); the Targum combines this with the reading which is presupposed by Sept. («) and required by the facts of history. The text-reading seemed smoother to the scribe, who may perhaps also have recollected Gen. xii. 25. 6 b- 1 7 The psalmist (who claims prophetic inspiration ; cf. lxii. 12) communicates a revelation concern ing Israel. 6 The discourse . . . did I hear. Hitzig and most recent critics (except Ewald) are on the right track when they find here a paral lel to Job iv. 16. It is a mysterious way of expressing the superhuman nature of the speaker which we have in this clause ; but then how can this half of the verse form a sequel to the first half? Olshausen wisely observes that something must have dropped out ; the intro duction to the oracle which follows cannot possibly be contained in these few dark words. One is forced to conjecture that two frag mentary passages have been com bined in Ps. lxxxi. which did not originally belong together. So too Bickell. 7 The basket. The basket in which the Israelites conveyed clay or baked bricks. 8 In (my) thunder-covert. This might be simply a poetical detail, like xviii. 12 ; comp. Hab. iii. 4. But the context rather sug gests a reference to the pillar of cloud and fire (Ex. xiii. 21), from out of which Jehovah answered the crying of the Israelites (Ex. xiv. 15). 1 proved thee, viz. whether thou wouldest trust me after such a great mercy. There is a confusion of two narratives ; comp. Ex. xvii. 6, 7, Num. xx. 13. 9 Jehovah reminds His people of addresses such as Deut v. 1, vi. 3, iv. 26, xxx. 19, xxxi. 28. 10, 11 An abbreviation of Ex. xx. 2-6 = Deut. v. 6-1 1. Comp. Delitzsch in Luthardt's Zeitschrift, 1882, p. 289. 12, 13 Imitated apparently from Jer. vii. 24 ; comp. Deut xxix. 19. In Jer. the obstinacy of the people is represented as self-caused, but here as the beginning of the divine judgment 14-17 At this point the divine speaker turns more directly to the Israel of the psalmist's own time (comp. Driver, Hebrew Tenses, § 145). The foes of Israel were as powerful as ever, and the prospect of a permanent happiness seemed receding into the distance. Yet faith declares that this formed no part of Jehovah's plan for His people. That so their time, &c. That they might be a ' never- exhausted people ' (Jer. v. 15). To emend, 'their strength' (comp. Targum), does not on the whole make the text easier. 17 The imagery is selected from Deut. xxxii. 13, 14. It is, therefore, not ordinary wild honey, but a Utopian product (comp. Job xxix. 6) that the poet describes in v. 16 b. ' The ' fat of wheat,' as cxlvii. 14. (On the tenses, see crit note.) PSALM LXXXII. JN o psalm makes a stronger demand than this on the historic imagina tion of the interpreter. The ideas may be perennial, but their outward forms are no longer understood. This is what the poet seems to say (comp. on Ps. lviii.) A crisis in the world's history has arrived, one of those 'days of Jehovah' of which the prophets tell — perhaps even that which will introduce the ' Messianic' age. The 'sons of the gods' 23O THE PSALMS (strictly, of the Elohim) have come, as of yore, ' to present themselves before' the most High. In the midst of this assembly stands (cf. Isa. iii. 13) He who alone, by inherent right, is Elohim, and summons the divine but inferior beings to hear an expostulation and a warning of the grayest import The charge brought against these patron-angels of the nations (see Dan. x.-xii.) is that they have (in the persons of their human subor dinates) permitted such gross violence and injustice, that the moral bases of the earth are shaken. They cannot refute the charge, and therefore, although of divine nature, are threatened with the one great evil common to princes and peasants alike among their human subjects. The poem closes with an appeal to the true Elohim to convert this happy vision into a reality. ' Take thy great power and reign.' Several points in the description seem at first sight inconsistent with the view that the Elohim are the angels. E.g., 1. The injustice and vio lence which men are said to suffer at their hands in judgment. But it is not 'judgment ' in the narrower and ordinary sense which is meant, but rather the unjust oppression of one people by another. This oppression is attributed to the inferior Elohim, or angels, who are, according to the popular view (see on Ps. lviii.), the agents by whom God governs the world. The psalmist's reasoning is this. God ultimately governs the world. Yet there is injustice and oppression. Therefore this must be clue to the negligence of the inferior Elohim through whom God acts. (Another poet has told us that ' He putteth no trust in His holy ones, and the heavens are not pure in His sight,' Job xv. 15.) 2. The threatened punishment of death. But, from a Biblical point of view,, it is only the most High who is inherently immortal (comp. Hab. i. 12, according to the best reading). In Isa. xxiv. 21, 22 the celestial patrons ofthe earthly kings are represented as ' visited ' (i.e. punished) for their offences ; it is only a step further to say that this gross negligence has rendered them liable to deprivation of their supernatural character and consequently to death. The idea that the Elohim are earthly potentates would, in my opinion, be admissible (see on xiv. 7) but for the context ; they are expressly dis tinguished from mortal men in v. 7 (comp. lviii. 2) ; until the sentence had been pronounced, they were by God's favour non-mortal. Baudissin,1 however, still maintains foreign potentates are meant, who called them selves gods or the sons of gods, and proposes thus to account for the language of v. 6. But does he thus account for it ? The words of v. 6 are, ' 7 have said, Ye are gods.' In Ezek. xxviii. 2 (cf. Isa. xiv. 13, 14), which accurately expresses the ideas of heathen rulers, we find it written, ' Because . . thou hast said, I am a god.' To some extent this psalm and Ps. lviii. 2, 3 are parallel to Ps. xiv., where Jehovah is finely said to ' look down from heaven ' upon the oppres sion of his people, but without any reference to celestial deputies. There is a more complete and very curious parallel in Cowley's ' Discourse by way of Vision ' on Oliver Cromwell, where a strange and terrible angel claims to be the Almighty's deputy in the government of the three king doms, to which the poet replies, ' If it be so, Sir, it seems to me that for almost these twenty years past your highness has been absent from your charge' (Essays, ed. Lumby, pp. 24, 25). With Cowley this is a poetic fiction ; not entirely so with the two psalmists, nor yet with the author of the Old Testament Apocalypse. ' Michael your prince,' however, in Dan. x. 21 (comp. xii. 1) is a good angel, but the psalmists too evidently indicate their dissatisfaction with the degenerate deputies of the most High. 1 Sludien zur semitiscnen Religionsgeschichte, i. 68. PSALM LXXXII. 231 1 Jehovah stands in a divine assembly ; He judges amidst the gods. 2 ' How long will ye judge unjustly, and accept the person of wicked men ? 3 Redress the helpless and the orphan, justify the afflicted and the poor. 4 Deliver the helpless and needy ; rid them out ofthe hand of the wicked.' 5 ' They are void of knowledge and understanding ; they walk along in darkness ; all the foundations of the earth are tottering. 6 I have said, Ye are gods, and ye are all the sons of the most High ; 7 Nevertheless ye shall die like common men, and fall like any of the princes.' 8 Arise, Elohim, judge the earth, for thou shalt possess thyself of all the nations. I Jehovah. It would be too great reverence for a mere collector and editor of psalms to retain 'elohim. Can such a word have been used in two senses in two successive lines ? A divine assembly. Lit, 'an assembly of God' (Heb. 'el), i.e. one summoned and presided over by the most high God ('el 'elyon). In lxxiv. 2 the Israelites are called ' Jehovah's assembly (or, congregation) ;' here, however, the angels are meant (Pesh. actually gives maldke ' angels' in both lines of v. 1). Amidst the gods (as v. 6). It would be confusing to adopt, here and in lxxxix. 7, xcvii. 7, the He brew term Elohim, or, in xxix. 1, lviii. 2, Elim, the former being sometimes used as a virtual syno nym for Jehovah, and the latter unfamiliar to the English reader. Otherwise I would gladly imitate those Indianists who adopt the word Deva in speaking of a god who is not eternal. Comp. ol de avppaxoi "TAou, tov Kpdvov, '~EXa)elp iireKXr)8T)o-av (Philo Bybl. ap. Euseb. Prcep. Ei/. i. 10). 2 How long, &c. The cry of the impatient Jehovah (cf. Ex. x. 3, xvi. 28, Num. xiv. 1 1, 27). 5 An indignant aside from the Judge, scarcely (as Ewald and Hitzig) from the poet. 6 Who is the speaker here ? Is it the poet who sarcastically quotes the grand title claimed by the kings of the earth only to deny its justice and predict its falsifica tion ? Or is it the Most High who refers to his previous gift of a real though inferior divinity, and can cels it ? I prefer, of course, the latter view. Sons of the most High. N6t in the sense in which the Phcenician Eliun has children (Philo Byblius, as above). ' Sons' here = members of a college or guild(comp. 'sons of the prophets'). Jehovah and the inferior, dependent Elohim form together a company or college of superhuman beings (comp. Gen. i. 26, ii. 22) ; Jehovah, as the supreme head, is fitly called Elyon ' the most High' (see on vii. 18), just as the king of Israel is ideally described as 'most High (in reference) to the kings of the earth ' (see on lxxxix. 28). 7 Ye shall die. Why not indeed ? For the final cause of an angel's existence is to be an inter preter and instrument of the divine will. The idea of an independent 232 THE PSALMS angelic personality is strictly speak- things which by faith he anticipates. ing inconsistent with the religion Cf. Psalm. Sol. xi. 9. He appeals of Jehovah. To disobey is to die to the essential Elohim (Jehovah) (comp. Gen. ii. 17 ; Adam too has to put down injustice and its instru- at first no independent personality). ments, and to take the government 8 The poet sees not as yet those of the world into his own hands. PSALM LXXXIII. A passionate cry towards heaven in response to the foe in v. 5. See Julius Hammer's noble version. 2 Elohim, be not silent, hush thee not, neither be still, O God. 3 For, lo, thine enemies make a roaring, and they that hate thee have lifted up the head : 4 They make a wily plot against thy people, and conspire against thy treasured ones : 5 They have said, ' Come, and let us extinguish them as a people and let the name of Israel be mentioned no more.' 6 For they have conspired with one accord, and are confederate against thee : 7 The tents of Edom and of the Ishmaelites, Moab and the Hagarenes ; 8 Gebal, and Amnion, and Amalek, Philistia, with them that dwell at Tyre ; 9 Asshur also has joined himself to them ; they have been an arm to the children of Lot. 10 Deal with them as with Midian, as with Sisera, as with Jabin at the torrent of Kishon. 1 1 They were destroyed at Endor, they became as dung for the ground. 1 2 Make their nobles like Oreb and like Zeeb, and like Zebah and Zalmunna all their princes, 1 3 Who have said, ' Let us take to ourselves The homesteads of God in possession.' 14 My God, make them like unto whirling dust, and as the stubble before the wind ; 15 As the fire that burns the forest, and as the flame that licks bare the mountains ; 16 So pursue them with thy storm, and with thy hurricane confound them ; 1 7 Fill their face with dishonour, that they may seek thy name, Jehovah. PSALM LXXXIII. 18 Let them be put to shame and confounded for ever, yea, let them be abashed and perish, 19 And let them know that thou, even thou only, art the most High over all the earth. 4 Thy treasured ones (as xxvii. 5, xxxi. 21). The verb cdfan (prop. ' to hide ') seems to have the special sense of treasuring up as something precious and inviolable in religious phraseology. So xxvii. 5, xxxi. 21 ; comp. Ezek. vii. 22, cfiini ' my treasure,' i.e. the temple ; also the proper name Cefanya (Zephaniah) 'Yahve treasures,' and in Phcenician Cefunbaal ' Baal's treasure ' (Euting, Punische Steine, p. 10). 5 It was an attempt to destroy the Jewish nationality (comp. lxxiv. 8). Can we help thinking of 1 Mace. i. 50, ' And whosoever would not do according to the king's commandment, he should die ' ? 7-9 Six of the ten ethnic names in this passage occur in the remark able fifth chapter of 1 Maccabees. There remain the Hagarenes, Ge bal, Amalek, and Asshur. The first of these occurs in Tiglath Pileser II.'s list of Aramaean tribes,1 and in the Chronicler's account of early Israehtish history (1 Chr. v. 10, 19, 20, xi. 38, xxvii. 31). The second is found nowhere else in the Bible, except indeed as the name of a Phcenician city (Ezek. xxvii. 9;, but is the equi valent of Seir in the Targums, and was known to Josephus as, in an cient times, the designation of a part of Idumaaa (Ant. ii. I, 2, ix. 9, 1). There is no reason why both names and tribes should not have lasted on till the Maccabaean times. It is otherwise, however, with the third name Amalek, the Amalek- itish race, so greatly weakened by David, having been finally de stroyed (as it would seem) in the time of Hezekiah (1 Chron. iv. 42, 43). The case of the fourth name is peculiar. Asshur, it is true, had no longer an independent exist ence, but the name survived, and was by a natural licence applied to the successors to the position of Assyria ; Babylon is called Asshur in 2 Kings xxiii. 29, Jer. ii. 18, Lam. v. 6, Persia in Ezra vi. 22 ; and the square Hebrew character now in use was anciently styled 'Assyrian (that is, Syrian2) writing.' ' Asshur ' might therefore (as ac cording to some in Isa. xix. 23-25, xxvii. 13, Zech. x. 11) mean Syria, but that the name occurs so late in the list. The admissible alterna tives are to emend 'Asshur' into ' Geshur ' (on the analogy of 2 Sam. ii. 9 ; see Var. Bible), or to suppose that the poet introduces the name of Israel's long-fallen foe for effect. Something may be said for either view. In 1 Mace. v. 44 Judas is said to have driven his defeated enemies to Karnaim, which would be in the Geshurite country. To me, however, this does not prove that Geshur was a member of the hostile confederacy, and on the other hand a striving after effect is plainly visible in the violent imagery and as startling impreca tions which conclude the psalm. The children of Lot (cf. Deut. ii. 9), i.e. the Moabites and Ammonites. This is the only refer ence to Lot outside the Pentateuch (comp. Ewald, History, ii. 312). 17 That they may seek thy name. How do this statement and that in v. 19 agree with the imprecations of everlasting ruin ? Evidently the latter are exagge- 1 Friedr. Delitzsch, Wo lag das Parodies f 'p. 238. 2 Captain Conder has denied the derivation of Syria from Assyria (Expositor, 1886, 1. P- 323)- But see Herod, vii. 63, Justin, i. 2, 13, and comp. Hitzig's article 'Assyrien' in Schenkel's Bibel-Lexicon (i. 267), Stade, Zeitschr. f. d. alttest. Wissenschaft, 1882, p. 292, Ryssel, art. ' Syrien ' in Herzog-Plitt's Realencyclopadie, xv. 168, 169, and espe cially Ndldeke's arguments in Hermes, 1. 443-468. 2 34 THE PSALMS rated expressions. The poet's real ing His name. Failing this, let desire is that of Hezekiah in Isa. their lot be destruction ! For xxxvii. 20, ' that all the kingdoms similar inconsistencies, see xviii. of the earth may know that thou 42, 43, 45, lix. 12, 14. art Jehovah, even thou only.' He 19 That thou, even thou does not wish Israel's enemies to only, &c. The nature of the one die before the logic of facts has true God seemed to the Second compelled them to own Jehovah Isaiah to be adequately expressed as their God. Or shall we say by 'Jehovah.' To other writers that the conflicting phraseology the archaic name Elyon seemed a corresponds to conflicting feelings useful synonym, as conveying a within the poet's breast ? He self-evident reference to the divine would gladly see these men recog- transcendence and universal sove- nising Jehovah's power and seek- reignty (see on vii. 18, xci. 1). PSALM LXXXIV. 1 HE notes of the singer of Pss. xlii., xliii. (cf. lxiii.) are here transposed into a different key. It is still ' Te saluto, te suspiro,' but no longer ' De longinquo te saluto ' (to quote Hildebert). Who can be surprised that Columba delighted in it (comp. on Ps. xxxiv.) ? 2 Flow lovely is thy habitation, Jehovah Sabaoth ! 3 My soul longs, yea, even pines for the courts of Jehovah ; My heart and my flesh ring out their joy unto the living God. 4 Even as the sparrow finds a house, and the swallow a nest, Where she lays her callow brood, [so have I found, even I, A home] by thine altars, O my King and my God. 5 Happy are they that dwell in thy house ! they can be alway praising thee. 6 Happy the man who has thee for a stronghold, [such as are pilgrims on] the highways [with gladness] in their heart ! 7 Passing through the balsam-vale, they make it a source of fountains ; yea, the early rain mantles it with blessings : 8 They go from strength to strength, and shall appear before God in Zion. 9 Jehovah Sabaoth, hear thou my prayer ; give ear, O God of Jacob. 10 Behold, Elohim, our shield, and regard the face of thine anointed. PSALM LXXXIV. 235 1 1 For better is a day in thy courts than a thousand [spent abroad] ; I would rather be at the threshold in the house of my God, than dwell in the tents of ungodliness. 12 For Jehovah Elohim is a sun and shield, Jehovah gives grace and glory ; no good thing will he withhold from them that walk blamelessly. 13 Jehovah Sabaoth, happy is the man who trusts in thee ! 3 My soul long-s. Or, ' my soul hath longed.' But the second verse half proves that the state in which the psalmist's past longings resulted continues in the present. Presumably he is a pilgrim whose ' feet stand at last within the gates of Jerusalem ' (cxxii. 2). Observe, 'the courts' =the temple, as Ixv. 5, xcii. 14. Even if the author be a priest, he writes for the laity. My heart and my flesh, i.e. my whole nature ; comp. lxiii. 2. Ring: out their joy ; for the pilgrim can now expect to have his ' thirst for the living God ' (xlii. 3) satisfied. It is the 'clamor mentis intimae' of the h}Tnn of St. Bernard. 4 ' Birds seek out a quiet place for their nests ; a like sense of security is mine in the neighbour hood of God's altars.' The figure is analogous to that in xlii. 2. Observe that when the lower ani mals are referred to in the Old Testament for their own sakes, no bler thoughts respecting them are suggested than when they merely supply a figure to a hymn-writer. Comp., for instance, xlii. 2 with Joel i. 20, Ps. civ. 21, 27; and comp. our present passage with the oath of the Arab poet an- N&bigha,1 'By Him who gives security to the birds which take refuge with Him, against which brush without harming them the riders of Mekkah as they pass 1 Quoted by Lyall, Ancient Arabian Poetry, p. xxviii. 2 Schultens, Monumenta Vetustiora Arabia, 1740, pp. 1-9 ; comp. crit. note. The . context, however, suggests that the poet may be thinking of the entire sacred territory (of Mecca), in which case we may compare an-Nabigha as quoted above. Mohammed himself reaffirmed the sacredness of Mecca (see Wellhausen s Vakidi, p. 338). through the coverts where they dwell ! ' Writers desirous of edi fication feel that they would weaken the point of their comparisons if they represented the humbler 'folk' as in direct relation to God. But we must now pass onto the received text, which is not that translated above (see crit note). It is fami liar to all, and suggests a different view of the figure of the bird. This is taken to be its meaning : ' If even birds love to build their nests in the sacred precincts, how much more reason has the believ ing heart to find its home in the house of its God ! ' Plausible enough, I admit, at first sight, es pecially if we may illustrate by Iii. 10, xcii. 14 (where some critics find an allusion to a custom of planting trees in the outer court of the temple). For the sacredness of life within the Haram or riixevos was as much a Semitic as a Helle nic idea, and we find an Arab poet ('Amr ibn al-H4rith) saying, at the close of a bitter lamentation on his exile from Mecca — And we weep for the House whose pigeon is unhurt, Taking the shade therein securely, where too are the sparrows,2 a passage which reminds us of a striking anecdote in Herodotus (i. 159). Many critics since Bochart have supposed the psalmist to al- THE PSALMS lude to a similar belief on the part ofthe Israelites. So too Mr. Hol- man Hunt, as we may infer from his great picture of ' The Finding in the Temple,' and Dr. Tristram, who remarked many kinds of birds on the trees and in chinks of the walls of the Haram area (The Land of Israel, pp. 185-187). Still I hesitate to follow, chiefly because the exegetical view which Bochart's decision presupposes is not ade quate to the requirements of the passage. Surely a direct appeal to God by His personal name im plies the direct personal reference of the context to the poet, without which, it may be added, the object of the image of the bird is obscure, and the transition of thought in the next verse abrupt. An ancient Jewish scholar (see Ibn Ezra's note) long ago noticed that the clause was incomplete ; but the parallels adduced by Glassius for an ellipsis l are inadequate. Not only the sense but the rhythm require us to sup pose a lacuna in the text. Can we venture to fill this up ? Glassius understands (from vv. 3, 4 a), ' My soul longeth to find ;' but surely we want something beyond the longing expressed in v. 3. The poet is not worse off than the birds ; he has found, and now hopes to enjoy, that which he has so longed for. 5 The pilgrim who has just reached the goal of his wishes con gratulates those who are still better off than himself (contrast Isa. xxxiii. 14). 'Dwelling in Jehovah's house' is evidently not to be explained as in xxiii. 6, if this is a pilgrim-song. The speaker envies those who can be always praising God — the minis ters of the temple, which he regards as predominantly the house of praise (comp. xxii. 4, Isa. lxiv. 11). 6-8 Perhaps a reply from those who ' dwell in God's house.' The pilgrim limits the conditions of hap piness too much. All who trust in God, and more especially such as (in Bunyan's language) ' love to go on pilgrimage ' is equally fortunate. Who have thee for a fortress. For the phrase comp. Isa. xxvi. 4, and for a link between this part of the verse and the next, comp. xxviii. 7. [They go as pilgrims on] the highways, &c. The received text must be rendered, ' (even) they in whose heart are highways.' What is the key-idea to this obscure phrase ? Is it to be sought in Prov. xvi. 17? If so the meaning is, ' those who love to think on God's commandments.' Or in Jer. xxxi. 21 ? If so, we may paraphrase with Ewald, ' who are fain to think on pilgrimages.' Or in the imme diate context which refers to the subjective miracles of faith ? If so, Segond is right in rendering, ' lis trouvent dans leur coeur des che- mins tout trace's.' The Sept. favours the second view (dnaftdo-eis iv rrj KapSla avrov), which is perhaps the easiest. But even this view requires so much to be understood that, considering the fulness and lucidity of style which characterises the poem, it is safest to question the soundness of the text. The alter natives therefore are either to emend one word (m'silloth), render ing ' in whose heart is confidence,' or (since kisloth ' confidence ' does not occur in the Hebrew texts, and the psalmist says ' their heart,' not ' his heart ') to supply somewhat as proposed above, in accordance with Bickell.- I prefer the latter. The context shows that pilgrimage, real and not imagined, is in the writer's mind ; v. 6 must be so expressed as to prepare the way for vv. 7, 8. Observe the parallel, not without its contrasts in Isa. xxxv. 8-10 (I venture to assume my own view). 7 The balsam-vale. The Sept. (Aquila, Jerome, Peshitto) has 'the valley of weeping,' and is followed by Hengstenberg and Hupfeld. The bitter waters of Marah are sweetened once more, becomes the meaning. This is either a guess or 1 Philologia Sacra, col. 1224. 2 Unfortunately Bickell has since gone over to the first alternative. PSALM LXXXIV. 237 a various reading ; it is more natu ral to compare 2 Sam. v. 24, 1 Chr. xiv. 14, 15, where b'kdim or ' baka- trees' are mentioned. These are generally identified with the balsam- trees, which abound in the arid valley of Mecca, and which receive their name (Ar. b'kd) from the rosin which ' weeps ' or drops from their bark. In Judg. ii. 1 we find a place called Bochim, which the Sept. renders by the same word ' given here for bdkd and in 2 Sam. I.e. for b'kdim. It is probable therefore that various places in Palestine were named from the baka-trees which grew there, and though the balsam-tree of Mecca may not now be found in Palestine, yet either it or some tree resembling it may once have grown there in arid dis tricts. A hot, dried up valley in which only baka-trees would grow is an apt emblem of the drawbacks of literal pilgrimage. There may be also a half-conscious reference to the trials of that 'sojourning' which pilgrimage symbolises (Gen. xlvii. 9). They make it, &c. Reminding us of Isa. xxxv. 7, xii. 18 ; only those passages (if my ex position is correct) belong to pro phecies of the blissful outward con dition of the restored Jews, whereas this describes the inward subjective miracles wrought by faith. Each pilgrim has a staff of Moses to draw water from the rock. The early rain is equally metaphorical. The blessings in the figure are a luxu riant vegetation (Isa. xxxv. 1, 7) ; in the application, the flowers of the inner landscape, faith, hope, and love. 8 Fatigue is banished by the prospect of ' appearing before God in Zion.' So the prophet of the Return assures us that believers shall renew their youth (Isa. xl. 30, 31). The form of the phrase re minds us of Jer. ix. 2, John i. 16. 9, 10 Is this the prayer of the pilgrim-band on its arrival? Or, the first gush of the writer's enthu siasm having been exhausted, does he complete his work by some rhythmical but ill-connected verses ? The latter will be more probable, if we grant that the psalms have often been enlarged and adapted to litur gical use. Several thoughts are in the writer's mind, and he embodies them in successive quatrains. One is religious loyalty to the king or high priest. Another, suggested by the original lyric, is the incom parable delights of God's house. A third is the completeness of the believer in his God. The first of these thoughts to arise in the psalm ist's mind is that of loyalty to Is rael's earthly head, and he clothes this thought in the language of prayer. But who, more precisely, is Jehovah's anointed ? Is it the king, the high priest, or the nation as a whole ? If the psalm (or the passage) be of post-Exile date, either ofthe two latter is admissible. The transference of the Messianic promises from the king to the church-people of Israel is expressly announced by the great prophet of the Return (Isa. lv. 3) ; and there are some plausible grounds of in ternal evidence for Hitzig's view that in lxxxix. 39 (comp. Hab. iii. 13 and perhaps Ps. xxviii. 3.) ' Jeho vah's anointed one ' is the people of Israel. But a reference to the high priest is here certainly more probable. In Lev. iv. 3, 5 the phrases ' the priest ' and ' the an ointed ' are in apposition, and in Zech. vi. 1 1 crowns are set upon the head of Joshua the high priest 10 Our shield, in apposition to Elohim, as the position of the words and the accents suggest (comp. lix. 12, xxxiii. 20), not the object to ' behold ' as a synonym for 'king' (in spite of lxxxix. 19). 11 The first line of this verse cannot without some artificial hypo thesis be connected with v. 10. Either then we must place v. 1 1 elsewhere, and most naturally after v. 3 (as Bickell, following out a 1 In Tudg. ii. K, Sept. (Cod. Vat.) gives KAcH/fyiiKes, not KAeraflniojy, as in v. 1 (comp. Bleek's Einleitung, ed. Wellhausen, p. 183). The plural is of course a more exact equivalent of the Hebrew. 238 THE PSALMS suggestion of Ibn Ezra), or we must explain as in the preceding note. The idea is that of vv. 2-8 ; only it is expressed in more prosaic lan guage. (Observe that the plural form of ivn in v. 11 is different from that in v. 3, which scarcely favours the view that these verses once stood consecutively.) Be at the threshold. The poet would rather be the humblest of the guests of Jehovah than dwell at ease among the heathen. He has the spirit of the publican (Luke xviii. 13), and the Sept. has happily caught the meaning of the phrase with its i^eXe^dfir)v TVapapiTTTelo-Oai. There is hardly an allusion to the Korahite office of ' keepers of the thresholds ' (1 Chron. ix. 19; cf. Jer. Iii. 24); the poet is too humble-minded to covet such an honourable office,1 nor indeed is it of the actual temple that he is thinking at the moment, but of an imagined house of which Jehovah is the hospitable master (comp. xxiii. 5, 6). Del. infers from the parallelism of 'Jehovah's house ' and ' tents of ungodliness ' that the temple itsel was not yet built. Others may think that the tone of the psalm implies a long-estab lished temple-ritual, and that ' tents ' is only a poetical expression for 'habitations' (cf. cxviii. 15, cxxxii. 3). 12 A sun and shield. Here only is Jehovah directly said to be a shield. Indirectly He is oftener so styled ; see especially Isa. Ix. 19, 20, and notice that all the lovely things said by Babylonian psalmists of Samas the Sun-god (Sayce, Hib bert Lectures, p. 100) are claimed by Hebrew psalmists for Jeho vah. By the figure of the shield this verse seems connected with v. 9. Divine grace is here viewed, however, not in relation to the people of Israel (as v. 9), but to in dividual believers ; comp. xxviii. 7, v. 12. The Sept. appears to read differently — ' For the Lord loveth mercy and truth; God will give grace and glory ; ' but this is really a paraphrase suggested by xci. 4 b, lxxxv. 11. Observe: Jehovah is not merely a ' shield,' but a ' sun ' (cf. Ecclus. xlii. 16) ; He not merely gives gracious, condescending pro tection, but a reflexion of His own 'glory' (see on lxxxv. 10). PSALM LXXXV. J OYOUS praise passing abruptly into unsatisfied longing (cf. cxxvi. 1-3, 4-6). It seemed at first as if God's anger were removed, but there is still too much need to pray, ' Return to us ' (comp. on cxviii. 25). Jehovah answers with words of peace (comp. on lxii. 12). 2 Jehovah, thou hadst become favourable unto thy land, thou hadst turned the fortune of Jacob : 3 Thou hadst forgiven the iniquity of thy people, thou hadst covered all their sin : 4 Thou hadst gathered in all thy fury, thou hadst turned from thy hot anger. 5 Restore us, God of our salvation, and withdraw thine indignation toward us. 6 Wilt thou be angry with us for ever ? wilt thou stretch out thine anger unto all generations ? 1 One need not raise the question as to the position of the door-keepers before the Exile. This is undoubtedly a post-Exile psalm. PSALM LXXXV. 239 M 7 Wilt thou not revive us again, that thy people may rejoice in thee ? 8 Make us to see thy lovingkindness, Jehovah, and vouchsafe to grant us thy salvation. 9 Let me hear what God, Jehovah, will speak ; surely he will speak peace to his people and to his loving ones, to those that have turned their hearts toward him. o Yea, near is his salvation to them that fear him, that glory may dwell in our land : 1 Lovingkindness and truth are met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other : 2 Truth springs out of the earth, and righteousness looks down from heaven : 3 Jehovah shall give all that is good, and our land shall yield her increase. Righteousness shall walk before him, and shall make his footsteps a way. See 2 Turned the fortune. crit. note on xiv. 7. 5 Restore us, i.e., restore good fortune to us (see v. 2, and cf. Ixxx. 4). Or, ' return to us,' as if Jehovah had departed in anger (Isa. Lxiii. 17). Withdraw. The text has ' break ; ' see on lxxxix. 34. 9-14 In v. 9 the psalmist intro duces himself as a prophet (cf. lxii. 12, Hab. ii. 1), and in y. 10, &c, gives a free reproduction of the revelation which he has received (comp. lxii. 12, lxxxi. 6, &c.) It is a lovely allegory. 9 To his people, &c. The khasidim and the people are iden tified here as in 1. 4, 5. It is the church-nation, therefore, which is meant (cf. Ixxxvi. 2), excluding mockers and unbelievers. To those, &c. The text runs, ' and let them not turn again to self- confidence ' (see on xlix. 14). This requires us to prefix in thought, ' to his word of peace let them hold fast,' or the like ; the juxtaposition of the two lines, as they stand, is far from probable. But we cannot prefix all this in thought, and the Sept seems to have read differently. See crit. note. 10 That glory may dwell, &c. What glory ? The true Shechinah ; the manifested presence of Israel's God. Comp. the prophet's song to glorified Zion, Isa. Ix. 1, 2. This illustrates Ixxxiv. 12. 1 1 Xiovingkindness and truth, &c. A. V.'s ' mercy and truth ' (so Sept.) effaces the connexion be tween v. 11 and v. 9. God's ' lovingkindness ' is once more re vealed to his ' duteously loving ones.' Comp. this passage with Jer. ix. 24 (note), not forgetting also Milton's fine application of vv. 11, 12 in stanza xv. of the poem on the Nativity — Yea, Truth and Justice then, &c. It is not, however, only God's ' lovingkindness and truth ' which are meant, but the fundamental virtues of a divinely sanctioned human morality. These virtues are finely represented as angels in human form (comp. on Ixi. 8, lxxxix. 14), which wander delightedly about the places of concourse (con trast Isa. lix. 14, 15). 'Truth,' by a change of metaphor, is also de scribed as a plant (comp. Isa. xiv. 8). 13 Next to these spiritual gifts, the greatest blessing to be hoped for is that of fruitful seasons. The same transition is made in Hos. ii. 21, 22 (Heb. 23, 24), and the fer- 24O THE PSALMS tility of the land is a constant xii. 2, lviii. 8, both which passages feature of Messianic descriptions. resemble this verse in phraseology. 14 Righteousness may here The last line is also rendered, ' and have the meaning of prosperity shall give heed to the way of his (regarded as a righteous gift of the steps.' The pronoun in any case covenant-God). So, e.g., in Isa. refers to Jehovah. PSALM LXXXVI. A. prayer in time of persecution, expressing the tender and spiritual aspirations, not of one great original mind, but of the average members of the Church, whose memories were stored with the touching phrases of earlier psalms. In v. 9 we find a singularly distinct prophecy of the con version ofthe nations (cf. xxii. 27, Ixv. 3, and especially Ixxxvii.), based on the fact that all alike (not Israel alone) are Jehovah's creation. What a sweet humility, moreover, breathes in v. 16, and what an earnest belief in Providence in v. 17 I 1 Incline thine ear, Jehovah, and answer me, for I am afflicted and needy. 2 Preserve my soul, for I am duteous in love ; save thy servant, O thou my God, who trusts in thee. 3 Have pity on me, O Lord, for unto thee do I cry all the day. 4 Gladden the soul of thy servant, for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. 5 For thou, Lord, art good and forgiving, and rich in lovingkindness to all that call upon thee. 6 Give ear, Jehovah, unto my prayer, and attend to the voice of my supplications. 7 In the day of my trouble I call upon thee, for thou wilt answer me. 8 There is none like thee among the gods, O Lord, and no works are like thine. 9 All nations whom thou hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord, and shall glorify thy name. 10 For thou art great and doest wondrous things, thou art God alone. 1 1 Teach me thy way, Jehovah, and I will walk in thy truthfulness : so shall my heart rejoice to fear thy name. 12 I will thank thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and glorify thy name for ever ; 1 3 For great is thy lovingkindness towards me, and thou hast rescued my soul from the nether Hades. PSALM LXXXVI. 24I 14 O God, the proud have risen up against me, and a crew of violent ones have sought my soul, and have not set thee before them. 15 But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion and pity, longsuffering, and rich in lovingkindness and truth : 16 Turn thee unto me, and have pity upon me ; give thy strength unto thy servant, and save the son of thy handmaid. Work in my behalf some token for good, that they who hate me may see it and be ashamed, because thou, Jehovah, hast helped me and comforted me. 17 2 Duteous in love (Heb. khdsid; see on v. 8, xvi. 10). The psalmist is one of those who have renewed ' the kindness (khesed) of Israel's youth, the love of her espousals,' Jer. ii. 2. The phrase has lost its colouring in A.V. and R.V. Comp. on Lxxxv. 9. Thy servant. Comp. v. 16 and see on xix. 12. 5 Forgiving. Sept iTrieiKrjs. The adj. (Heb. sallakh) is an an-. Xey., but the verb is common. Cf. the Heb. of cxxx. 4 a. The forgiv- ingness of Jehovah impressed itself strongly on the church-nation. A similar stage was reached by Babylonian religion in Nebuchad nezzar's time, when riminu ' com passionate ' (cf. rakhiim, v. 1 5) be came a standing epithet of Mero- dach (cf. Sayce, Hibbert Lectures, p. 98). 8-10 These verses must be taken together. At first sight they seem to go beyond xxxv. 10, inas much as sole divinity is claimed for Jehovah. But the other psalm ist, if a student of Jeremiah, would have granted that Jehovah was supreme among the super natural powers also called Elohim, whom lie had it in His power to ' punish ' (Jer. xlvi. 25). II So shall my heart rejoice, &C Sept. ev4>pav8i)Tu> f) KapSia (followed by Pesh., Vulg.) ; so rightly Gratz and Bickell. A fine expression clothing as fine an idea. The nations which knew not Jeho vah shall be driven to fear Him (xviii. 45, 46, lxxxiii. 16, 17) ; but sa for His own people, whom He leads like sheep, they rejoice to fear His name. The printed text has, ' Unite my heart,' which is usually taken to mean ' Concen trate my powers and affections on thy service' (cf. St. Augustine, Conf. i. 3, 1, ii. 1, 1, and Ken's Morning Hymn). So Calvin, and among the moderns Hupfeld, who compares Jer. xxxii.- 39, where, however, the petition for the gift of ' one heart ' is expressly offered in the name of a collective body, whereas the petitioner in the pre sent psalm is in a secondary sense the people of Israel, but primarily a representative pious Israelite. It is simpler and gives not less worthy sense to read and render with the Septuagint. 13 The nether Hades (Sheol). So Deut. xxxii. 22. Not as if there were several divisions of Hades (see on lxxviii. 12) ; the phrase simply means ' Hades which is below the earth ' (see on lxiii. 10, and comp. Phil. ii. 10, R.V. marg., 'things of the world below'). See my note on Isa. v. 14. 15 Full of compassion and pity, &c. An echo of Ex. xxxiv. 6 ; cf. ciii. 8, cxi. 4, cxii. 4 (?), cxvi. 5, cxiv. 8, lxxviii. 38. Vulg. has, ' Et tu, Domine Deus, mise- rator et misericors, patiens, et multae misericordiae, et verax.' Mark the singular poverty of this phraseology (only in part due to Sept.), which is reflected in our Wycliffite version of 1388 (notice, however, Purvey's fine word ' sothe- R 242 THE PSALMS fast'). The Vulgate rendering of He asks not necessarily for a the parallel passage, Ex. xxxiv. 6, miracle, but for a providential sign is but slightly richer. No wonder of God's favour towards him. Com- that the Manichaans turned 'miser- pare Nehemiah's phrase, ' the good um cor' to account in their war- hand of my God upon me' (Neh. fare against the Old Testament (see ii. 8, 18). 'For good' (i.e. in my Trench's Synonyms of the New interest) is a favourite phrase in Testament, p. 197). Ezra and Nehemiah (Ezra viii. 22, 17 Work in my behalf, &c. Neh. v. 19, xiii. 31). PSALM LXXXVII. 1 HE Church of Israel expanding into the Church Universal. But for its obscurity, this would surely be among the most inspiring lyrics in the Psalter. And yet, when read in the light of xxii. 28-32, Isa. xix. 18-25, Zeph. iii. 9, 10, Isa. xliv. 3-5, xiv. 14, what a noble monument of the in fluence of prophetic hopes it becomes ! Calvin among the interpreters seems to have been fascinated by it. It is very possible that the psalm ist's faith may have been stimulated by the accession of proselytes which seems to have taken place after the Restoration (see Isa. Ivi. 1-8, a post- Exile passage ?). On the psalm as a whole, comp. Briggs, Messia?iic Prophecy, pp. 226-228. 1 His foundation upon the holy mountains, 2 Yea, the gates of Zion Jehovah loves more than all the dwellings of Jacob. 3 Honourable things are spoken of thee, thou city of God. 4 ' Rahab and Babylon I proclaim my votaries ; behold Philistia and Tyre with Ethiopia — this one was born there.' 5 And concerning Zion it shall be said, ' Each and every one was born in her ; ' and he, the most High, shall stablish her. 6 Jehovah shall reckon, when he writes down the peoples, 'This one was bom there.' 7 And singers as well as dancers, (swelling the anthem,) ' All my fountains are in thee.' I Ris foundation. Cf. Isa. xiv. 'among the sons' (Jer. iii. 19), or 32. The opening seems abrupt (which is the same thing) their en- (hence some suppose a lacuna in rolment in the civic register of Zion the text) ; but this may be designed (cf. lxix. 29). Rahab (i.e. ' arro- for effect. Mountains, as cxxxiii. gance ;' or, comparing Ass. rahdbu 3, Jerusalem being situated in the ' sea-monster ') is a symbolic name centre of a mountainous region. for Egypt (lxxxix. 11, Isa. li. 9, xxx. 3 Are spoken (or, promised), 7) ; Babylon may mean either viz. by the prophets, whose mantle Chaldtea, or less naturally some one the poet here assumes. See refer- of the imperial nations which suc- ences above. ceeded it (see Ezra v. 13, Neh. xiii. 4-6 The adoption of the nations 6). lay votaries. Lit. such as PSALM LXXX.YII. 243 know me (i.e. have entered into covenant with me, xxxvi. 11). This one was born there. Pusey comments, ' Not as a mass only, but individually .... and since they were already Egyptians, &c, yet were born in Zion, what is this but that re-birth, at whose mystery Nicodemus marvelled ? ' ' Ewald too takes 'this one' in Pusey's sense, but contrary to v. 6, which speaks of ' peoples.' It is in v. 6 that the claims of the individual are parenthetically recognised. ' Born there ' is of course to be explained by the familiar Jewish saying that a proselyte is like a new-born child (Jebamoth, 62 a). Thus, in v. 4 the nations are regarded as unities ; but in z'. 5 we catch a whisper of Xew Testament individualism. There is neither Egypt nor Baby lon nor even Israel in the Church Universal ; consequently of each Egyptian and Babylonian can it be said that he was born into a new life in Zion. Shall stabllsh her, i.e. shall continue to protect her (xlviii. 9). Shall reckon. For Jehovah's lovingkindness is not limited to the nations mentioned in v. 4. 7 A fragment, as it seems to me, of a description of a joyous proces sion (cf. Ixviii. 26, cxviii. 27). 'Young men and maidens shall be there, aged men beside boys, singers too as well as dancers, (swelling the anthem,) All my fountains are in thee.' The object ofthe procession will at once be seen ; it is to express the joy of the old and new ' children of Zion ' (cxlix. 2). The choice of the anthem is most appropriate ; see Ixxxiv. 7, Isa. xii. 3 (cf. Ex. xv.) For the mention of ' dancing,' see xxx. 11, cxlix. 3, cl. 4, and cf. 2 Sam. vi. 16. (There is no occasion there fore for Schnurrer's emendations; ' And princes like the sand of the sea shall all those be that dwell in thee.') PSALM LXXXVIII. 1 he bitter cry of one who feels himself excluded from God's presence. It stands alone in the Psalter, for the other elegiac psalms are fringed with hope. Compare the complaints of Job. 2 Jehovah my God, I have cried for help by day, and complained by night before thee ; 3 O let my prayer come before thee, incline thine ear unto my piercing cry ; 4 For my soul is sated with troubles, and my life has drawn near unto Hades. 5 I am counted with them that have gone down into the pit, I am become as a man that has no strength. 6 I am a ffeedman among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more ; yea, they are severed from thy hand. 7 Thou hast laid me in the nether pit, in dark places and in gulfs ; 8 Thy wrath rests upon me, and with all thy billows am I pressed down. 1 Prophecy of Jesus, &c, a Sermon (Oxf. 1879), p. 36. 244 THE PSALMS 9 Thou hast removed my familiar friends far from me ; thou hast made me an abomination unto them ; I am shut in, so that I cannot come forth. io Mine eye pines away with affliction ; Jehovah, I have called daily upon thee, I have spread open my hands unto thee. 1 1 Wilt thou perform wonders for the dead, or shall the shades arise and praise thee ? 12 Shall thy lovingkindness be rehearsed in the grave, and thy faithfulness in Abaddon ? 1 3 Shall thy wonders be made known in darkness, and thy righteousness in the land of oblivion ? 14 But I — unto thee, Jehovah, do I cry, and at morn doth my prayer go to meet thee. 15 Why, Jehovah, castest thou off my soul, and hidest thy countenance from me ? 16 I am wretched and a dying man from (my) youth ; I bear thy terrors, my senses must fail : 17 Over me have passed thy fires of wrath, and thine alarms have extinguished me. 1 8 They have surrounded me, like water, all the day, they have hemmed me in together. 1 9 Thou hast put far from me lover and friend ; my familiar friends are darkness [and the grave] ! 2 See crit note. Targ. and Job, he regards such freedom as Sept. give the key to the passage. the reverse of a benefit. The slave 4-10 The psalmist, speaking in in Sheol is free from human caprice the name of the church-nation, be- and cruelty ; but the Israelites moans his bitter affliction and traces whom the psalmist represents groan it to God's anger. This is not the in their isolation from sympathy first time that he has spread his both human and divine. God case before Jehovah. He will once seems even more unfriendly than more complain in the familiar style. man ; ' familiar friends ' have only Israel is all but dead — both in- left the psalmist because God has wardly and outwardly (see on xxx. ' removed ' them, and God Himself 2). follows him with his enmity even in 5 A man that has no strength ; this earthly Sheol. In one sense as it were, the ghost of a man He ' remembers him no more,' but (comp. v. 11). in another He never ceases to re- 6 A freedman among the member him. The guiding hand dead. The psalmist alludes to the lies inactive in the bosom ; the grim eulogy of death in his favourite avenging hand is heavy upon the poem, ' Small and great are there sufferer. Like the slain. . Like [in Sheol], and the slave is free from the slain in battle who lie shame- his lord' (Job iii. 19). But he gives fully in the grave one upon an- a new turn to the phrase. Unlike other (Isa. xiv. 19, Ezek. xxxii. 24, PSALM LXXXVIII. 245 25). Severed from thy hand. Comp. xxxi. 23, Lam. iii. 54, Isa. liii. 8. 7 In the nether pit. Comp. on Ixxxvi. 13, and see Lam. iii. 55 (which passage is the original ?) In dark places. So cxliii. 3, Lam. iii. 6. The land of darkness is the grave, Job x. 21, 22, Isa. xiv. 19. So the Babylonians call the underworld ' the land where one sees nothing.' — — In gulfs. Does the psalmist change the figure (cf. Lam. iii. 54) by a natural transition to the subterranean waters encir cling Sheol (see on xviii. 5) ? Or, precisely as t'homoth in lxxi. 20, is nicoloth here used of the deep places of Sheol itself? 9 One of the many sad titles of the Babylonian Hades was ' house of solitude.' 11-13 The psalmist once more repeats his daily prayer. He has conceived the idea of resurrection, but no more presumes to cherish it than the speaker of Job xiv. 14. See above, on vi. 6. 1 1 The shades, ei'SoAa Kap6vra>v (see on xiv. 9). Symmachus, Qeopaxoi, i.e. the Giants (more inap propriately here than in Job xxvi. 5). 12 Abaddon, i.e. Destruction, used like Death as a synonym for Sheol (see Job xxvi. 6, xxviii. 22). One of the seven names for Gehin- nom (Erubin 19 a) ; Milton well renders, ' in perdition.' 13 In the land of oblivion. I would gladly, but for the termina tion, have personified forgetfulness (with Gray). Sept., ' in the for gotten land.' 14 A faint gleam of hope visits the psalmist, though this is merely hinted by the antithesis. But I — unlike the shades — can and do still cry unto Jehovah. 16 From (my) youth. So Is rael in cxxix. 1 ; cf. also xcii. 11, cii. 12, Isa. xlvi. 4. My senses must fail. Lit, 'let me become torpid, or, paralysed.' The idea is, that the will ceases to resist the pressure of calamity (see Isa. xxxiii. 19, and cf. Driver, Hebrew Tenses, §52). 19 Thou hast put far .... darkness [and the grave]. See Job xvii. 14, xix. 13, and comp. the oppressive description of the Egyp tian Amenti, ' The country of heavy sleep and of darkness. . . . They wake not to see their brothers, they recognise no more father and mother,' &c. (Maspero), Histoire ancienne, chap. i. prem. e"d. (See also on v. 7.) The completion of the phrase in line 2 is due to Ols hausen. The text-reading is per haps best explained by Hitzig, ' mine acquaintances are invisible.' But how unnatural ! The Peshitto has, 'mine acquaintances thou hast withheld from me ' (similarly Je rome). PSALM LXXXIX. Everywhere Jehovah's kindness and faithfulness proclaim themselves ; only the Davidic house looks in vain for the fulfilment of the promises. The psalmist, speaking in the assumed character of David's heir (see on v. 39), accumulates images descriptive of distress and abasement. The full-toned harmony of the commencement gives place at v. 39 to harsh, discordant notes. But the psalmist has not lost his faith ; he does but act as Jehovah's 'remembrancer' (Isa. lxii. 7, A.V. marg.) See Nathan's promises in 2 Sam. vii., and cf. my note on Isa. lv. 3 ; see also on Pss. ii., cxxxii. 2 Jehovah's lovingkindness would I sing for ever ; with my mouth will I make known thy faithfulness to many generations. 246 THE PSALMS 3 For lovingkindness shall be built for ever, in the heaven (itself) wilt thou stablish thy faithfulness. 4 Thou hast said, ' I have made a covenant with my chosen one, I have sworn unto David my servant, 5 Thy seed will I stablish for ever. and build up thy throne unto many generations.' 6 And the heavens shall celebrate thy wonders, Jehovah, thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the holy ones. 7 For who in the sky can rank with Jehovah, or compare with Jehovah among the sons of the gods ? 8 A God deeply to be revered in the council of the holy ones, and to be feared above all that are round about him. 9 Jehovah, God of hosts, who is strong, Jehovah, like thee ? * # * and thy faithfulness round about thee. 10 It is thou that rulest the insolence of the sea ; when its billows roar, it is thou that stillest them : 1 1 Thou that didst crush proud Egypt as one that is slain, with thy strong arm thou didst scatter thine enemies : 12 Thine are the heavens, thine also is the earth ; the world and its fulness — thou didst found them. 13 The north and the south — thou didst create them, Tabor and Hermon ring out their joy at thy name. 14 Thine is an arm with heroic might ; strong is thy hand, high is thy right hand. 15 Righteousness and justice are the base of thy throne, lovingkindness and truth go to meet thy presence. 16 Happy the people familiar with mirthful shouts, that walk, O Jehovah, in the light of thy countenance ! 1 7 In thy name do they exult all the day long, and through thy righteousness are they exalted. 18 For thou art the glory of their strength, and in thy favour thou exaltest our horn. 19 For to Jehovah belongs our shield, yea, our king to the Holy One of Israel. 20 Then spakest thou in a vision unto thy loving one, and saidst, ' I have laid strength upon a hero, I have exalted one chosen out of the people. PSALM LXXXIX. 247 2 1 I have found David my servant, with my holy oil have I anointed him ; 22 By whose side shall be my hand unmoveably, mine arm also shall strengthen him. 23 No enemy shall steal upon him, nor any son of injustice afflict him ; 24 But I will shatter his foes before him, and smite them that hate him ; 25 And my faithfulness and lovingkindness shall be with him, and through my name shall his horn be exalted ; 26 I will make his hand reach to the sea, and his right hand to the rivers. 2 7 He shall call upon me, Thou art my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation ; 28 I also will appoint him to be firstborn, the most High to the kings of the earth. 29 I will keep for him for ever my lovingkindness, and my covenant shall be unfailing towards him ', 30 And I will make his seed imperishable, and his throne as the days of heaven. 31 If his children forsake my law, and walk not in mine ordinances, 32 If they profane my statutes, and keep not my commandments ; 33 I will visit their transgression with the rod, and their iniquity with scourges : 34 But my lovingkindness I will not withdraw from him,. neither will I belie my faithfulness ; 35 My covenant I will not profane, nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips ; 36 I have sworn once by my holiness, Verily I will not be false to David ; 37 His seed shall endure for ever, and his throne as the sun before me : 38 As the moon, it shall be stedfast for ever ; (the witness in the sky is faithful).' 39 But thou — thou hast cast off and spurned, and hast become furious against thine anointed. 40 Thou hast abhorred the covenant of thy servant, thou hast profaned his crown to the ground. 248 THE PSALMS 41 Thou hast broken down all his fences, thou hast made his citadels a ruin ; 42 All that pass by the way spoil him, he is become a reproach to his neighbours. 43 Thou hast exalted the right hand of his foes, thou hast made all his enemies to rejoice ; 44 Thou didst also turn back the edge of his sword, and didst not cause him to stand in the battle. 45 Thou hast put an end to his lustre, and hast hurled his throne to the ground ; 46 Thou hast shortened the days of his youth, thou hast wrapped him with shame. 47 How long, Jehovah, wilt thou ' hide thyself for ever ' ? (how long) shall thy wrath burn like fire ? 48 Bethink thee how short my time is, for what vanity thou hast created all the children of men ! 49 Who is the man that shall live on and not see death, or win escape for his soul from the hand of Hades ? 50 Lord, where are thy old lovingkindnesses which thou swarest unto David in thy faithfulness ? 51 Bethink thee, O Lord, ofthe insulting of thy servant, how I bear in my bosom the dishonouring of peoples ; 52 Wherewith thine enemies, Jehovah, have insulted, wherewith they have insulted the footsteps of thine anointed. (Subscription to Book III. ) 53 Blessed be Jehovah for evermore ! Amen and Amen. 3 On the text, see crit. note. and the angels, are in accord. The Shall be built, i.e. not built up angels are called holy ones, not with continual accessions of mercies as morally perfect (see Job iv. 18, (as Delitzsch), but built once for xv. 15), but as in a certain sense all when Jehovah pledged His divine beings (see on viii. 6). word, like the throne of David 'Holy' and 'divine' are inter- (v. 5). changeable terms, because holiness 4, 5 This early reference to means originally freedom from David injures the artistic effect. earthly infirmity ; k'doshim and Is it an involuntary expression of elohim are therefore synonymous. intense feeling, or are the verses Of course, such terms are applic- misplaced ? able to the angels only in a relative 6 If the psalmist himself ar- sense ; otherwise Jehovah's unique ranged the text as we find it, this divinity would be contradicted (see verse is best connected with vv. 2, v. 7). K'doshim (' holy ones ') 3. As to praiseful gratitude, the occurs again in Job v. 1, xv. 15, earth and the heavens, the psalmist Deut. xxxiii. 2, 3, Zech. xiv. 5 ; TSALM LXXXIX. 249 'council of Eloah' (or, Jehovah), Job xv. 8, Jer. xxiii. 18. 7 Comp. xcvii. 19, Ex. xv. 11. Rig Veda iv. 30, 1, ' There is none, Indra, higher than thou, or superior to thee, thou slayer of Vritra ; neither is there any one like thee ' (Muir). 'Slayer of Vritra' illus trates the language of v. 10, which has mythic affinities (see my note on Isa. li. 10). Sons of the gods. See on xxix. I. 9 As the text stands, this verse is a tristich, and the last stichos is obscure. The analogy of v. 6 suggests that a line has dropped out, such as 'therefore do they praise thy mighty acts ' (or, ' thy lovingkindness '). 10, 11 See on v. 7, and, for 'Rahab' (vn-eprjobavov, Sept.), on Ixxxvii. 5. 13 Tabor and Hermon. The picture is not that of two mountains in close perspective proximity, as both Tristram and Porter have supposed.1 We are to think of Tabor and Hermon separately, the one as representing the west, the other the east. This symbolic view is manifestly required by the parallel line. The poet writes as a southerner, not in the vicinity of Xain. Approaching Tabor from the south — say, from Endor — the mountain seems to ' swell up, like a vast dome,' and to justify both our poet and the prophet Jeremiah (xlvi. 18). Thus I am far from denying the beauty of the psalmist's line, because I regard it as present ing two pictures instead of one. A true catholic sense of beauty dic tated the choice of these finely contrasted separate images. For the personification, cf. Ixv. 13 (note). It is noteworthy that these two mountains both claim to be the scene of the Transfiguration. 15 See on Ixi. 8, lxxxv. 11. 16-19 An ideal picture of Israel's happiness ; perhaps a quo tation — comp. the case of Isa. ii. 2-4 (certainly not Isaiah's work). The Godward aspect of the people is described in /. 2 of v. 16 ; its earthward aspect in the second half of /. 1. ' Happy those who look up to the divine light, and who are consequently familiar with mirthful shouts.' Hitzig, '. . . the trumpet sound' (see on xxvii. 6) ; see, however, xcv. 1, 2, Job xxxiii. 26 (A.V. weakly, ' with joy '). 18 b Our horn (lxxv. 5). Israel then is the people. 19 Israel's shield (or, defender, xlvii. 10), or, in simpler style, his king, belongs to Jehovah, and is therefore sacrosanct, inviolable. Contrast vv. 38, 39. 20-38 The promises of 2 Sam. vii. are reproduced more in detail, and here and there with even heightened colours. A prosaic introduction supplies the place of the first distich. ' Vision ' comes from 2 Sam. vii. 4, 17. 'Then' suggests that v. 20 once stood not far from v. 4. Otherwise we must render, ' There was a time when,' &c. Unto thy loving one. Another reading, very strongly supported (see the versions), gives the plural, which Del. explains of Samuel and Nathan. 1 have laid strength; comp. xxi. 6. The text has 'help,' unsuitably. One chosen. Or, ' a youth ' (Ewald, Hitz., Del.) But a reference to David's youth seems irrelevant 23 Steal upon him. The construction is unusual, but the sense is secure (see lv. 16). The alternative rendering, ' oppress him as a creditor,' is unpoetical. 26 Comp. Ixxii. 8. The 'rivers' will be the Euphrates and its canals (as cxxxvii. 1). 28 My firstborn. So of Israel (Ex. iv. 22), and of Ephraim (Jer. xxxi. 9). The most High, &c. Israel too is called elyon, Deut. xxvi. 19, xxviii. I, but with a differ ent preposition (comp. lxxxiii. 18). ' To the kings ' means in reference to the kings. The king of Israel is, as it were, an image of Jehovah (' the Elohim of elohim,' cxxxvi. 2) and the other kings are reflexions of the inferior elohim (see on lxxxii. 1 Comp. a fourth-century notice in Hieron. Opp. iv. 2, col. 552, ed. Bened. 250 THE PSALMS 6). Comp. the boast of the king of Babylon, ' I will make myself like the most High' (Isa. xiv. 14). 30 As the days of heaven. So Deut. xi. 21 (of the people of Israel). 34 Withdraw from him. The text has, ' break (and take) from him ' (cf. on lxxxv. 5), which might be an allusion to v. 3, but for the fact that the passage is a quotation from Nathan's oracle (comp. 2 Sam. vii. 15 with I Chron. xvii. 13). Keble's version anticipates the emendation. 36 Once, i.e. once for all. Or, ' one thing.' See on lxii. 12. By my holiness, i.e. inviolably (lx. 8). 38 By the faithful witness some understand the moon, others the rainbow, but who could witness (or, declare) that such great things were true but Jehovah ? Del. com pares Job xvi. 19, which is parallel in outward form, though ' my wit ness ' there means he who attests the truth of my words — a more special sense of ' witness ' than is required here. Isa. lv. 4, however, sufficiently justifies the sense of ' declaring,' not to quote passages in which the verb occurs in this sense. The words enclosed in a parenthesis are, I suppose, the ap pendix of the poet ; they resemble the introduction to one of the letters to the Seven Churches, ' These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness ' (Rev. iii. 14), with which comp. Jer. xlii. 5, 'Jehovah be a true and faithful witness against us.' 39 Against thine anointed (so again v. 52). I have no doubt that the Davidic king (or rather, the Davidic royalty) is meant (see next verse). It is true, however, that the following verses contain some expressions which excuse Hitzig's view that the 'anointed' means the Jewish people (see on Ixxxiv. 10). Thus in v. 51 we have 'thy servants ' (so text ; but see crit. note) ; and in v. 46, the ' shorten ing of the days of his youth,' which is hardly an isolated biographical reference, but is said of the people (see on lxxi. 6) ; while vv. 41, 42 are clearly based on Ixxx. 13, and refer to the Jewish nation. The origin of this phenomenon is that the Davidic house has long been overthrown, and the fate of the nation has a more practical interest for the writer, whose description therefore partly fits the king, partly the people, now become the heir of the old Davidic promises. That inheritorship the psalmist but im perfectly realised ; the Deutero- Isaiah formulated it in clear terms (Isa. lv. 3). 46 Thou hast shortened, &c. To whose ' youth' does the psalmist refer ? Hengstenberg replies, To the Davidic family, which (see v. 19) should have been eternally young ; Olshausen, To the last Davidic king (see 2 Kings xxiv. 18). Neither answer is satisfactory (see on vv. 19, 39). The analogy of similar language in other psalms (e.g. lxxi. 6, 9, 1 8) suggests that Israel is personified. Indeed, we find the very same phrase used of Israel in cii. 24. Is it not clear that the psalmist, throughout this section, is thinking of Israel quite as much as ofthe Davidic royalty? The period of national independence seemed to one languishing in exile a time of youthful vigour which might have lasted indefinitely had it not been cut short. 47 Comp. lxxix. 5, and see on xiii. 2. 48-52 This section contains two interesting personal references. First, the psalmist speaks as a man ; next, as an Israelite. In v. 48 he says in effect, ' Consider, O Lord, how short my time is ; O spare me a little, before I depart hence ' (see xxxix. 5, 14, to which the psalmist alludes) ; in v. 52, ' Consider how I live and move and . have my being in Thy people, whose burden of reproach I, by experience and by sympathy, share.' A point of contact between them is sug gested by lxxviii. 39, where mercy for the people is implored on the general ground of the shortness of life. PSALM LXXXIX. 251 Strictly speaking, these references are not consistent with the primary theme of the psalm, but in them we seem to catch, however faintly, the true lyric note. They are separated in the received text by a verse which Bickell rejects as prosaic and un rhythmical, but which I do not venture to expunge, considering' the unrhytiimical introduction of v. 20. On v. 48 a and v. 51, see crit. note. In my bosom, in large mea sure therefore ; cf. Luke vi. 38. A parallel phrase occurs in lxxix. \z. The ' bosom ' means the folds of the loose upper garment (cf. Isa. xl. 1 1). They have Insulted, &c. The phrasing is peculiar and has led to singular interpretations (see Poole's Synopsis, and Rashi and GxaXzadloc.) But is not this the poet's meaning? ' Anointed1 though he is in the sight of God, he is hunted from place to place — driven into corners and hiding-places, and as he moves (cf. xvii. 11, lvi. 7) his enemies ' call aloud after him ' (Jer. xii. 6). 252 THE PSALMS BOOK IV. PSALM XC. A meditation on the lot of humanity and of Israel, distinguished by a rough but impressive energy. The two or three points of contact with Deut. xxxii. (see on vv. 2, 13, 15) should be noted. The psalmist was evidently an admirer of that fine prophetic poem. He also sympathises profoundly with II. Isaiah, especially with regard to the eternity and sole creatorship of Jehovah. He is presumably indebted to these works ; but for all that, he was himself a religious genius and an artist (cf. Murray, Origin and Growth of the Psalms, p. 271). Observe (1) that he speaks in the name not merely of Israel as a visible community, but ofthe ' elders ' who ' obtained a good report as to faith' in all ages (Heb. xi. 2). Israel as a nation may date back only to the Exodus, but as a succession of men of faith it is as old as the patriarchs. And (2) that awful reverence predominates at the beginning (hence 'Adonai,' v. 1), clinging love at the close of his strain (hence 'Jehovah,' vv. 13, 17). 1 Lord, we have found thee an asylum age upon age. 2 Before the mountains were born, or the earth and the world were brought forth, yea, from aeon to aeon thou art God. 3 Thou turnest mortals back to dust, and sayest, ' Return, ye sons of the earth-born.' 4 For a thousand years are in thine eyes as yesterday when it was passing, and a watch in the night. 5 Thou stormest upon them ; they fall into sleep ; in the morning they are as grass which sprouts again ; 6 In the morning it blossoms and sprouts again, in the evening it is cut down and withers. 7 For we are consumed through thine anger, and through thy wrath have we been confounded. 8 Thou hast set our iniquities before thee, those that none can discern in the shining of thy countenance. 9 For our days vanish as a murmur, in thy fury our years are consumed. 10 Our lifetime — therein are (but) threescore years and ten, and if we are of full strength, then (but) fourscore ; PSALM XC. 253 and their proud boasting is travail and vanity, so quickly is it gone by, and we take our flight. 1 1 (But) who hath learned the strength of thine anger, and, according to the fear of thee, thy fury ? 12 O learn us to number our days, and we shall take home wisdom to our heart. 1 3 Return, Jehovah, how long ? and relent over thy servants. 14 Fill us with thy lovingkindness in the morning, and we will give ringing shouts of joy all our days : 15 Make us to rejoice according to the days thou hast afflicted us, the years wherein we have seen adversity. 16 Let thy doing be shown unto thy servants, and thy majesty unto their children ; 1 7 And let the pleasantness of Jehovah our God brood over us, and the work of our hands O prosper thou over us, yea, prosper thou our handiwork. I An asylum. The text has, ' a habitation,' through an easy cor ruption found again in lxxi. 3 (cf. xxxi. 3), xci. 9, Deut. xxxiii. 27. To this last passage (which needs cor rection) our poet is often supposed to allude. I would rather hold that the two writers lived upon the same high truths. To both Jehovah was the God who had revealed Himself long since — the ' God of antiquity ' (Deut. xxxiii. 27), though the Deu- teronomic poet seems not to have formed as wide a conception of ' Israel' as our psalmist, and not to lay the same stress on the eternity of God. 2 Were born .... were brought forth (on reading,1 see crit. note). The phrase is a survival of primitive mythic conceptions (see Encyclop. Britann., ed. 9, art. ' Cos mogony '). The ' earth' or ' world ' (synonyms, as Prov. viii. 31, Job xxxvii. 12), as well as its ruling race, has its nnbin or 'birth-register' (Gen. ii. 4), and the mountains are its ' enduring foundations' (Mic. vi. 2). The ' everlasting mountains ' (Gen. xlix. 26, Hab. iii. 6) is a favourite poetic phrase. Another psalmist calls them ' the mountains of God ' (see on xxxvi. 7), because they stand out from the rest of creation, Wisdom alone being more ancient (Prov. viii. 25). Prom aeon to aeon, one aeon (see xii. 14, note) extending indefinitely in the past, and the other in the future. Jehovah, then, is the ' Rock of ages (aeons) ' Isa. xxvi. 4 ; or, as we should say, the Timeless One (see on vv. 3, 4). Thou art God — strictly. Thou wast and art God. 'God, Heb. El, the Strong One (comp. on cxviii. 27). Who but the Strong and the Eternal could have been, could still be our asylum, weak, unhappy, and short-lived as we are ? Israel is the ' everlasting people' (Isa. xliv. 7, Ewald ; comp. Mai. iii. 6), only because Jehovah is 'an everlasting God' (Isa. xl. 28). 3 This verse is a partial explana tion of the phrases ' from age to age ' (v. i)and 'from aeon to aeon' (v. 2). What is time ? A succession of ' If in v. 2 we adopt the pointing wattekholel, and render, ' And thou gavest birth to,' &c, we may compare Deut. xxxii. 18, 'thou forgattest El that gave thee birth.' This, however, is said of Israel, whereas the psalmist has risen above the limited nationalism of the poet of Deut. xxxii. 254 THE PSALMS ever fresh lives. Destruction is the condition of renovation (comp. civ. 29i 3°) ; this alternation of processes makes history. But God is above time and above history. The gene rations do not fill up the ' aeons ' of ' the Rock of ages.' V. 4 explains the unconditioned absoluteness of God's Being. Thou turnest mor tals, &c. Alluding to Gen. iii. 19, though the word for ' dust ' is differ ent. And sayest, Return. To which of the generations is this call addressed — to the old or to the new ? Does it mean, Return unto me, the Creator and the Judge of human spirits ; or, Be reduced to lifeless matter ; or, Appear once more in fresh individual forms on the stage of history ? The first of these three views is satisfying to a devout mind at a first glance ; but it is against the whole connexion of thought. The vision of the psalmist is limited to this life. He is not preoccupied by the thought of a future judgment. That saying of Mohammed (Kordn, Sur. xxx. 10, Palmer), ' God produces a creation, then He makes it go back again, then unto Him shall ye return,' belongs to a later age of religious thought, and is not really parallel to our passage. Our choice lies between the second and the third view. To me, an antithesis makes the verse more effective, especially in a context which dwells on the succession of generations. Comp. civ. 30. 4 Time future seems long to us ; time past, short. Standing on an imaginary bridge between the old day and the new, what a ' span long ' seems the old day as it vanishes ; what an ample space stretches before us in what we can hardly yet call ' to-day.' The second figure forms a climax. A watch in the night has no duration at all to the unconscious sleeper ; so time is neither short nor long to the Absolute. 5 The introductory verses were grave but cheerful in tone. With v. 5 a perceptible change occurs. The thought of the absoluteness of the Divine Being has its depressing as well as its encouraging side. For the race and for the nation, it is a comfort to recall to mind the divine eternity ; but for the indivi duals of whom each successive gene ration is formed it is the reverse. The deluge which ' wiped off' every living creature (Gen. vii. 4) is con tinually being repeated. Thou stormest upon them ; lit, thou sendest a rain-storm upon them. They fall into sleep, i.e. the sleep of death or of She61 ; comp. lxxvi. 6. Luther's explanation (in Hengstenberg) is tempting, ' Truly our life is nothing else than a sleep and a dream, for before we are rightly conscious of being alive, we cease to live ; ' but will it suit the Hebrew, which has, literally, ' they become a sleep ' ? Can this mean, ' they look back upon their ended life as upon a dream ' ? Though Riehm seems to think this possible, I doubt it. As grass, -which sprouts again (after it has been mown). Man is ever being renewed, like the grass, but also, like the grass, ever being cut down (ciii. 1 5, 16). Comp. Kordn, Sur. x. 25, ' we make it (this world's life) as it were mown down.' 7-10 The psalmist, like the poet of Job, speaks primarily in the name of humanity, but has a second ary reference to the affliction of Israel. This may be true even of v. 10 (see on the parallel passage, xxxix. 6). The consciousness of sin and the implied view of death in vv. 7-9 are peculiarly Jewish. Those that none can discern. Comp. on xix. 12, xxxii. 5. As a murmur. Or, ' as a sigh ; ' or, ' as a thought ;' but usage hardly favours ' thought.' A sound too can more easily be materialised (so a ' word ' often). In correcting the text, for reasons partly aesthetic, partly rhythmical, I follow Bickell. The poetic expression ' vanisheth ' re quires a figure to give it pre cision, and the two members of the verse become good tetrameters through Bickell's changes (see crit. note). In thy fury. ' Fury ' PSALM XC. 255 is never predicated of Jehovah in the prose writings of the O T. ; lyric and prophetic emotion expresses it self in this strong word. There is no O.T. passage which approaches so nearly to the statement that ' death is the wages of sin.' True, the close of the psalm suggests a different estimate of life and death (see on vv. 13-17). 10 Comp. v. 4. Our noisvvears seem moments in the being Of the eternal Silence. — Wordsworth. Their proud boasting, i.e. all those earthly possessions which conduce todXaf(Wa(i John ii. 16), and all that vehement self-assertion by which they are obtained. Comp. the antithe sis in Isa. xxx. 7 (end). Travail and vanity. The mood of Eccle siastes (see on lxxiii. 16), and of Goethe at 75. 'Man hat mich immer als einen vom Gliick beson- ders begunstigten gepriesen .... Allein im Grande ist es nichts als Miih' und Arbeit gewesen' (Ge- sprdche mit Eckermann, 27 Jan. 1824). We take our flight, like a dream (Job xx. 8, same verb). II Who hath learned, &c. ' Who has realised the intensity of God's displeasure against sin in the degree which the "fear of God" (i.e. true religion) requires ?' 12 O learn us, &c. The text runs literally, 'To number our days — so (i.e. such knowledge) teach us and we shall bring (i.e. into our storehouse) a heart (i.e. mind) of wisdom.' (See crit. note.) Contrast this passage with Wisd. xv. 3. To the psalmist, the due recognition of God's awful power results in a wholesome sense of the transitori- ness of life. To the wise man, ' to know thy power is the root of im mortality.' What an interval be tween the two stages of belief ! 13-17 A prayer for the restora tion of the favour of Jehovah. Here the psalmist speaks entirely in the name of Israel. The church- nation has appeared to be almost dead (see on xxx. 4), and life in consequence has been scarcely ' worth living.' But when the prayers of the psalmist shall have been heard, death will lose its sting. Having his share in that great national 'work' which corre sponds to Jehovah's ' doing,' he will rejoice and be glad all his days. He will lose himself in the double thought of God's loving kindness towards each of His ser vants and the assured continuance of his people, in whose case those words of Deut. xxxii. 39 have been verified, ' I kill and I make alive.' 13 The first half of this verse reminds us of vi. 4, 5 ; the latter, of Deut. xxxii. 36. Some compare also Ex. xxxii. 12. 14 In the morning. After the night of trouble (see on xxx. 6). 15 Observe that the forms niDS rTOK> occur again in Deut. xxxii. 7, and there only. 16 Thy doing, i.e. Thy provi dential care renewed from genera tion to generation (so xcii. 5, Deut. xxxii. 4). More commonly the phrase denotes some special divine interposition (xliv. 2, lxxvii. 13, xcv. 9). 17 And let the pleasantness, &c. ' May we be encompassed with sensible tokens of the divine favour' (see on xxvii. 4). Does Sept. mean more than this by its Kal eario r} XapirpoTTjs . . . itft rjpds ? ¦ The work of our hands. No special enterprise is meant, but the manifold work of exhibiting right eousness in daily life. A common Deuteronomic phrase. Yea, prosper thou, &c. Possibly this repetition is an error of the scribe, or, as Bickell supposes, the second verse-half should run, ' The loving kindness of our God be upon us, and prosper thou,' &c. (transposing ' our God' from the first distich). PSALM XCI. Xhe most vivid of the liturgical psalms. The theme (the security of the believer) is developed dramatically by an antiphonal arrangement. 256 THE PSALMS As soon as by speech and reply the idea has been thoroughly set forth, a third voice, speaking in the name of Jehovah, confirms and rewards the believer's loving trust. We may call this psalm, The oracle of the believer's, as opposed to that of the ungodly man's heart (xxxvi. 2). Comp. on Ps. cxxi. \ First Voice.'] 1 [Happy] he that sits in the covert of the most High, that abides in the shadow of the Almighty, 2 That says unto Jehovah, My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust. [Second Voice.] 3 For he shall rescue thee from the snare of the fowler, from the destroying pestilence. 4 With his pinions shall he screen thee, and under his wings shalt thou find refuge ; shield and targe shall be his truth. [First Voice.] 5 Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror of the night, for the arrow that flies by day ; 6 For the pestilence that darkling roams, for the deadly sting that wastes at noonday . 7 A thousand may fall beside thee, and ten thousand at thy right hand ; it shall not approach thee. 8 Only with thine eyes thou shalt look on, and see the recompence of the wicked. [Second Voice.] 9 Because [thou hast said,] 'Jehovah is my refuge,' and hast made the most High thine asylum, 10 No evil shall be sent to meet thee, no plague shall come nigh thy tent. 1 1 For he shall give his angels charge concerning thee to keep thee in all thy ways. 12 Upon their hands shall they bear thee, lest thou strike thy foot against a stone. 13 Thou shalt tread upon lion and adder, upon young lion and dragon shalt thou trample. [ Third Voice ; a Priest's f] 14 Because he has clung to me with love, I will rescue him • I will set him secure, because he knows my name. 15 When he calls upon me, I will answer him ; I will be with him in trouble ; I will deliver him, and bring him to honour. PSALM XCI. 257 16 With length of days will I satisfy him, and feast his eyes with my salvation. 1 As in the case of xxxvi. 2, the loss ofa word has spoiled the mean ing of the verse. The received text actually makes this warm, devo tional lyric begin with a tautologi cal maxim. After z>v. 1, 2 have been corrected, the psalm becomes parallel to Ps. cxxviii. (already compared by Lowth), in so far as it begins with a beatitude, and then sets forth the particulars of the believer's happiness. The most High . . . the Almighty. Two archaic names of God — Elyon and Shaddai, which the Sept. translator regards as completely parallel and renders tov vi^Io-tov, tov Of oO roO oipavov. In his rendering of Shaddai (cf. lxvii. 14, where he gives tov iirovpdvwv), he may seem to confirm an Assyriological ex planation of this title as ' high ' or ' high as a rock.' ' This, however, can be no more than a coincidence. He lived at a time when the trans cendence of the Divine Being was overpoweringly felt. He must also have noticed that El Elyon and El Shaddai occur in neighbouring sections of the life of Abraham (Gen. xiv. 22, xvii. 1), and may reasonably have conjectured that they had similar meanings. The phrase ' God of heaven ' was also familiar to the later (Hebrew) writers (see on cxxxvi. 26). The conventional interpretation ' the Almighty' (more strictly, 'the All- sufficient ') may be based on a false etymology (from the relative c> and H), but at any rate suggests a per fectly true idea, viz. that Shaddai describes the Divinity in His more awful aspect (cf. especially Isa. xiii. 6, Joel i. 15, Ezek. i. 24, x. 5). In mediaeval times Shaddai (in the sense of ' mighty ' ?) was an ele ment of Jewish charm-formulae. In the shadow, &c. In Isa. xxv. 4 Jehovah is called ' a shadow from the heat,' suggesting the image of a rock. Probably, how ever, the figure here is rather that of a bird (as v. 4 ; cf. xxxvi. 8). Comp. the proper name Bezaleel (' in the shadow of El '), Ex. xxxi. 2, xxxv. 30, Ezra x. 30. 2 That says . . . The Peshitto and Septuagint approach this view of the text. The former has, ' He that sitteth, &c, hath said,' &c. ; the latter, 'He that dwelleth . shall abide . . . He shall say unto the Lord.' The vowel-points, how ever, give, ' I say,' &c. ; one error brings another in its train (see on v. 1). 3-13 Who is addressed ? Each disciple of the psalmist (cf. xxxvii. I -9), or, virtually, each true believer ; or, when sung, the higher self of him who sings the poem. The paradoxes remind us of Matt xvii. 20. By a bold accumulation of extreme statements, the poet would stir us up to seek for their spiritual meaning. 3 The snare, &c. The figure aptly describes the unexpectedness of death ; comp. xviii. 6, Eccles. ix. 12. In Isa. xxv. 7 (see note) it is rather the inevitableness of man's doom which is similarly described. 4 'With his pinions. Like an eagle 2 (a reminiscence of Deut. xxxii. 11). There is no allusion to the winged disk, which in ancient Oriental mythologies symbolises the beneficent progress of the sun- god in the heavens, and which explains the mixed imagery of Mai. iv. 2 (cf. on Pss. xix. 5, cxxxix. 9). 5 The terror of the night. So Cant. iii. 8 ; comp. Isa. xv. 1, ' For in the night Ar-Moab was stormed, was destroyed.' But see below, on v. 6. The arrow, &c. Comp. II. iv. 146, which, however, breathes p. 96 ; cf. Prophecies of Isaiah, ed. 3, 1 Friedr. Delitzsch, Prolegomena (1886), p. ii. 148. 2 Smend (Theol. Stud. u. Ktit., 1884, p. 720) prefers the figure of the hen (cf. Matt, xxiii. 37). But this is surely not grand enough for this context. 258 THE PSALMS a tenderness unknown to the psalmist. It is somewhat less pro bable that ' shaft ' = ' painful sick ness ; ' cf. ' the arrows of the Almighty,' Job vi. 4. 6 The pestilence . . . the deadly sting. The first of these two forms of plague (Heb. dSher) is personified, like the Babylonian Plague-demon Dibbara. For the other (Heb. qe'teb), Sept's rendering oiqofeb in Hos. xiii. 14 (Kevrpov) sug gested the only poetic substitute which I could find for the pale and hackneyed ' destruction.' The root-meaning is obviously ' to cut' ' Sting ' furnishes a good parallel to ' arrow' in v. 5 b ; in Deut. xxxii. 24 the word has the epithet 'bitter,' i.e. poisonous. The Targum gives this singular rendering of line 2, ' from the crowd of shidim (or, demons) which destroy at noonday' (cf. Targ. 2 Chron. xi. 15) ; the Sept, dnb ovpTTTOipaTos Kal baipov'tov peo-qpfipivov (cf. Keble). Did these translators derive the notion that the inferior spirits L were dangerous at noontide from foreigners ? and may we at all follow them in our exegesis ? Certainly Mai. iv. 2 alludes to the good influence of the sun upon sicknesses (see on v. 4). I do not know why the other half of the widespread belief respecting the sun may not have been shared by our psalmist, whatever be his date. If so, the ' terror by night,' equally with that of noonday, may be caused by the sun's supposed inability to ward off destructive influences. The scholar-poet Leo- pardi quotes the Sept. as above in illustration of similar beliefs in Greek and Latin literature (e.g. Theocritus, Idyll, i. 15, 16). See notes to his 7th canzone.—- — That darkling roams. Similar phrases are used of the Babylonian Plague- god and his messenger (Bab. and Or. Record, i. 12 ; cf. Sayce, Hibbert Lectures, p. 310, &c.) 1 See on cvi. 37. We must not, with Reinke in his discussion of these versions (Beitrage, viii. 194), intrude the notion ofthe evil spirit of Christendom. 2 Taanith, u a (Wilnsche, Der bab. Talmud, i. 433). 8 Only with thine eyes, &c, i.e. thou shalt only see, without thyself sharing, the punishment of the wicked. 9 The correction in the text, simple as it seems, is the result of the combined thought of critics of different periods — from Theodoret to Hupfeld and Riehm. The psalmist must surely be alluding to v. 2. This is the second time that a word has probably dropped out of the text (see on v. 1 ). Some may prefer to divide the distich between two speakers, or to transpose in thought the verb and its object from the end to the beginning of the verse, rendering, ' Because thou hast made, &c, (saying,) Jehovah is my refuge.' But for the former course I know no parallel (see on Ps. cxxi.), and the latter, in spite of Isa. xii. 27 (see my note), seems to me too artificial. Thine asylum. See onxc. I. 1 1 His angels. Jewish doctors found an allusion to a man's ' two ministering angels.' 2 But the ' an- gelus custos' belongs to nations, not to individuals in the O.T. The poet delightedly refers the care of him to the ' angels ' in general — not to the ' sons of Elohim ' — a phrase with a mythic tinge which became uncongenial to later writers. See on ciii. 20, civ. 4. 13 The adder and the dragon symbolise deadly malignity (Deut. xxxii. 33). Cf. Luke x. 19 (where, however, malignity takes a personal form). 14 By a sudden and effective transition, Jehovah becomes the speaker (cf. xlvi. 11, lxxv. 3). Clung to me with love. So Jeho vah ' clung to you with love' (Deut vii. 7). 15, 16 Comp. 1. 15, 23, xxiii. 6 b (a finer form of the promise). ' Salvation ' is both an act and a state (as 1. 23). PSALM XCII. 259 PSALM XCII. A HYMN to the faithful God who has dealt so wondrously with his righteous people. Thus the 'enemies' (v. 10) are not personal but national, and — need one add? — the 'works' of Jehovah (v. 5) are not those of creation (as the Hebrew title may suggest,1 and as the learned Dante may have thought, Purg. xxviii. 80), but those of God's righteous government ofthe world (cf. cxliii. 5). 2 Good is it to give thanks unto Jehovah, and to make melody unto thy name, O most High, 3 To publish thy lovingkindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness in the night seasons, 4 With a ten-stringed instrument, yea, with the harp, with sounding music upon the lyre. 5 For thou hast gladdened me, Jehovah, with thine operation ; I will ring out my joy in the work of thy hands. 6 How great are thy works, Jehovah ! very deep are thy designs. 7 A brutish man discerns it not, neither can a fool understand this. 8 When the ungodly did spring as the herbage, and all the workers of naughtiness blossomed, it was that they might be destroyed for ever ; 9 But thou, Jehovah, art in the high heaven for evermore. 10 For lo, thine enemies shall perish ; all the workers of naughtiness shall be scattered abroad 1 1 And mine horn thou didst exalt as that of a wild ox, my wasting strength with rich oil : 12 Mine eye also looked its full upon mine adversaries, upon them that rose up against me, doers of evil. 13 The righteous shall spring up like a palm-tree, he shall wax tall as a cedar in Lebanon. 14 Planted in the house of Jehovah, they shall spring up in the courts of our God. 15 They shall still shoot forth in old age, full of sap shall they be and flourishing, 1 Comp. Rosh hashdndh, 31 a (Wiinsche, i. 336). Gratz, however, explains the selection of psalms for the Levites to sing on the seven days of the week with reference to the circumstances of the Herodian period. He remarks that the seven psalms (xxiv. , xlviii., lxxxii., xciv., Ixxxi., xciii., xcii.) give an alternation of elevating and depressing themes. The psalms of rebuke occupy the middle of the week, those of a more en couraging tendency being allotted to the remaining days (Monatsschrift, 1878, pp. 217-222). That in later times Ps. xcii. was variously ascribed to Adam and to Moses ;s of course not against this view. S 2 260 THE PSALMS 1 6 To declare that Jehovah is upright, that in my Rock there is no unrighteousness. 2 Most High. Jehovah is not only Israel's God, but Lord of all nations (see on lxxxiii. 19). The psalmist strikes his keynote. 4 With the harp (see on xxxiii. 2). Josephus, who states that the Kivipa had ten strings (Ant. vii. 12, 3), is not a safe guide for early music. With, i.e. to the accompaniment of. Sounding music, i.e., probably, prolonged instrumental music (higgdyon, as ix. 17, Mas. text). 6 Thy designs, i.e. God's plans for training His people (cf. xl. 6, Isa. lv. 8, 9). 7 A brutish man. A designed paradox in expression (cf. lxxiii. 22). Man, unlike the brutes, has 'emii- ndh, i.e. leans on the invisible God whose might is directed by right eousness. 8 The poet recognises a certain relative truth in the old retribution- doctrine. From time to time God does interpose to put down the wicked and exalt the righteous. To such events (especially to some recent one) the poet refers. 9 In thy high heaven. The Hebrew is very condensed — mdrom ' height.' The object of the recent attacks of the ' ungodly ; ' but the God of Israel is enthroned, not upon Mount Zion alone, but in the 'height of heaven' (see xviii. 17). So ' Jehovah is secure, for He dwelleth in the height,' Isa. xxxiii. 5 ; and such is the connexion of ideas in Ps. xciii. 3, 4 ; comp. xlvii. 9 (note). Por evermore. Hea ven and eternity are related ideas (Isa. lvii. 15) ; earth and liability to decay (cii. 26). 10 The received text of 10 a contains a faulty repetition. Shall perish, however successful for a time, or frequentatively = are wont to perish. Then he reverts to the descriptive tone (comp. v. 8). See, however, for another view Driver, Hebrew Tenses, § 80, Obs. 11 The overthrow of the un godly is contrasted with the reno vated youth of the righteous. A single great national mercy may be intended ; or possibly a series of experiences. The figurative language oi v. 11 a reminds us of lxxxix. 18. My wasting strength (see crit. note). Israel is imagined as an old man 1 (cf. lxxxviii. 16, vi. 3), whose strength is restored through the use of oil (cf. James v. 14). So in v. 15 righteous Israelites are said to ' shoot forth in old age.' The zeugma need cause no difficulty. Most render the pointed text, ' I am anointed,' &c, but there is no parallel passage for this. 13—15 Trees are symbols both of long life (Isa. Ixv. 22) and fruit fulness (see on i. 3). The palm- tree and cedar are selected to contrast with the lowly herbage (v. 8). The Arabic poet Labid (cf. on cxviii. 27) has a similar com parison of God's blessed ones to fruit-laden palm-trees. The psal mist, however, can only have seen clusters of ripe dates in the Jordan- valley). In the house of Jeho vah. Cf. on Iii. 10 (parallel pas sage). Flourishing. Used of men (as here ; cf. Dan. iv. 1), Jjjn may be rendered thus ; used of foliage (as Iii. 10 and perhaps xxxvii. 35), ' fresh, soft, sappy ; ' of oil, ' rich ' (made from sappy olives). PSALM XCIII. IN OTICE first of all the fine word-painting in vv. 3, 4 (cf. on xlii. 8), which has led some one to describe this psalm as an echo of Niagara ( = ' thun dering water '). But is it not rather a sea-piece ? And next, the psalmist's 1 'IIPB is the word used by Sarah of her ' waxing old,' Gen. xviii. 12. PSALM XCIII. 26l love for the name Jehovah, and his view of the previous history of Israel as a veiling of God's strength and majesty. Only now, after a wondrous self-revelation, can Hebe said to have visibly assumed the royal dignity. Faith and hope make light of temporary drawbacks and are already a true ' theocracy.' These ideas, however, receive but a fragmentary expression. May we regard this psalm as a poet's preliminary trial of strength ; or may we, as Griitz and Prof. Briggs suggest, regard this and some other psalms as broken off from one great hymn to King Jehovah {Messianic Prophecy, p. 449) ? At any rate, we must study all the ' accession-psalms' together, viz. xlvii., xciii., xcv.-c. 1 Jehovah is become king, he has robed himself in majesty, robed himself, yea, girt himself with strength ; stablished therefore is the world, tottering not. 2 Stablished is thy throne from of old ; thou art from everlasting. 3 The streams have lifted up, Jehovah, the streams have lifted up their voice ; the streams lift up their din. 4 Than the voices of many waters, swelling gloriously, breakers of ocean, in high heaven Jehovah is more glorious. 5 Thy testimonies are very faithful ; holiness is seemly for thy house O Jehovah, unto length of days. I Jehovah is become king. His glory, righteousness and good- The motto of several psalms (see ness are seen to be deeper even xcvi. 10, xcvii. 1, xcix. 1, xlvii. 9, than almighty power (comp. xcvii. and comp. Isa. xxiv. 23, Iii. 7). It 2 b). indicates an expansion of the idea 3 Comp. xlvi. 4, lxxxix. 10. of Jehovah's sovereignty such as The angry nations are as ocean- characterised especially the Baby- waves (' streams ' = ocean as in Ionian period. Notice in this con- xxiv. 2) dashing against the throne nexion the frequency of the name of a king ; but — ' hitherto shalt Malchijah in post-Exile times. It thou come and no farther' (Job is singular that in II. Isaiah we xxxviii. 11): cf. xcii. 8,9. In the still find such a phrase as this — first line the poet (if the text be ' Jehovah . . . the Creator of Israel, right) deserts simplicity of expres- your King' (Isa. xliii. 15). ¦ sion. ' Din ' is, literally, ' collision,' Stablished therefore, &c. Comp. i.e. the noise of wave dashing xcvi. 10. Jehovah's world, like against wave (cf. xcviii. 8). His throne (v. 2), was long since 4 Why voices rather than founded securely, but the appear- ' voice ' (v. 3) ? To suggest a ance of security was not complete. parallel with the ' voices thundrous ' Once and again 'nations roared, (Keats), which seemed to the early kingdoms tottered' (xlvi. 7); yea, men to come from Jehovah (see 'all the foundations of the earth Ex. ix. 23, &c.) The psalmist's were tottering' (lxxxii. 5). But full idea is, that when Jehovah now that Jehovah has made known thunders the din of the waters (i.e. 202 THE PSALMS the tumultuous nations) is silenced. monies in which He has set forth Swelling gloriously. Even His commands and promises (cf. Delitzsch scarcely resists the temp- the use of Ti/n in 1. 7, Ixxxi. 9, tation to correct the text, so as to Deut. viii. 19, and of miyri in Isa. render line 2, 'than breakers of viii. 16) deserve implicit credence ocean more glorious.' But 'addirim (as xix. 7) and are superior to change is a learned poet's reminiscence of (cf. Isa. vii. 9 Heb.) They are Ex. xv. 10. ' Glorious ' with us ex- Irsael's 'solace' in persecution presses the capacity of exciting (cxix. 24) ; but the psalmist humbly sesthetic pleasure in the beholder; 'reminds' Jehovah (Isa. lxii. 6 b) hence Keble paraphrases 'addir, that His earthly ' house ' (at once 'glorious, beauteous without ending.' Jehovah's temple and, as Hos. viii. 'Might' is certainly implied, how- 1, Jer. xii. 7, His land) is equally ever, as well as magnificence (see guarded by divine sanctions, and on viii. 2, xvi. 3, cxxxvi. 18, and cf. is in idea at least sacrosanct, in- 1 Sam. iv. 8, where 'addirim is an violable. (For this thoroughly epithet of 'elohim. authentic sense of ' holiness,' see 5 From Jehovah the psalmist 1 Sam. vi. 20, Isa. vi. 13.) He reverts to the two great pledges of doubtless has in his mind the con- His favour to Israel. The testi- eluding petition of Ps. xxiii. PSALM XCIV. A CRY for vengeance on Israel's oppressors passing into an appeal for more faith to God's own people. At the close, the psalmist ' builds him self up' in his own comforting faith. Herder and Leibnitz have both noticed the importance of vv. 8-10 for the history of the philosophy of religion. In fact, the psalmist is in his own way a philosopher, like the author or authors oi Job. 1 O God of vengeances, Jehovah, O God of vengeances, shine forth : 2 Lift up thyself, O Judge of the earth, render their deserts to the proud. 3 Jehovah, how long shall the ungodly, how long shall the ungodly triumph ? 4 They belch out, they utter arrogant things, they carry themselves proudly — all the workers of naughtiness. 5 They crush thy people, Jehovah, and afflict thy heritage ; 6 The widow and the sojourner they slay, and the orphans they murder ; 7 And they say, 'Jah will not see, neither will the God of Jacob regard it' 8 Give heed, ye brutish among the people, and O ye fools, when will ye deal wisely ? 9 He that plants the ear, can he not hear ? or he that forms the eye, can he not look ? PSALM XCIV. 263 10 He that admonishes the nations, can he not punish ? he that teaches man knowledge ? 1 1 Jehovah sees through the schemes of men, for they are but a breath. 1 2 Happy die man whom thou admonishest, Jah, and teachest out of thy law, 13 To give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the ungodly ! 14 For Jehovah will not abandon his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance, 15 For judgment must turn again to righteousness, and all the upright in heart follow it. 16 Who will rise up for me against the evil-doers? who will set himself on my side against the workers of naughti ness ? 17 Unless Jehovah had been my help, my soul had soon dwelt in Silence. 18 If I say, 'My foot fails,' thy lovingkindness, Jehovah, holds me up. 1 9 When my mazy thoughts crowd within me, thy consolations delight my soul. 20 Can such be allied with thee — the tribunal of destruction, which frames mischief according to law ? 2 1 They attack the soul of the righteous, and condemn the innocent blood. 22 Therefore Jehovah shall be unto me a sure retreat, and my God the rock of my refuge. 23 He shall bring back upon them their own wickedness, and exterminate them for their malice, Jehovah our God shall exterminate them. I O God of vengeances. Simi- a ixitoikos) to death was against the larly Jer. li. 56 (g'miil = ndqdm ; see Levitical legislation (Lev. xxiv. 21, Isa. xxxv. 4). Shine forth. The 22). Comp. on v. 5. language of theophanies (see 1. 2). 7 The God of Jacob. The 4 Carry themselves proudly. speakers only know of Jehovah as Is there a reminiscence of this in one among many tribal or national Isa. Ixi. 6 (see note) ? deities. 6 The widow .... they 8, 9 From the foreign oppressors murder. The case described is an the psalmist turns to tried and extreme one (comp. 1 Sam. xxvii. tempted Israelites. They are called 9), and implies the callous indiffer- ' brutish ' and ' fools,' as having for- ence of foreign tyrants. To put feited, for a time at least, the high- even a ger (a guest or sojourner, est privilege of men — viz. sympathy 264 THE PSALMS with the ways of Him in whose image they were made (see lxxiii. 22, xcii. 7). To meet their difficul ties, the writer appeals first to the argument from analogy. Far from despising anthropomorphism, he accepts and draws comfort from it. ' God (you admit) planned and made the curious mechanism of hearing and vision ; is it possible that He is Himself without the faculties which He gave you? Must He not hear those cries and see those outrages which ye His creatures see and hear? Can He be an unobservant and apathetic God ? ' It is a less probable view that the tyrants them selves are referred to in v. 8, and that they are native Israelites. Does not ' in the people ' seem added to distinguish the persons now addressed from the tyrants ? It is going far afield to refer to Ezek. xxi. 36 (A.V. 31), where DHI73 = 'wild, or inhuman,' and to Isa. xl. 7, xlii. 5, where ' the people ' = human people. (Notice 'thy people' in v. 5, and 'nations ' in v. 10.) 10 This, as Dr. Binnie remarks (The Psalms, Their History, &c, p. 22i),isnot amere iteration ofthe in ference in v. 9, but carries the argu ment forward. Or rather, a second argument is suggested — that of the divine education of the human race. He that admonishes. That God ' admonishes ' Israel was long ago seen (see the Hebrew of Deut. iv. 36, viii. 5) ; but Israel's spirit-led thinkers are now taking a wider view. A true faith may underlie objectionable forms, and God may recognise this faith (see on Ixv. 2). Such a faith must of course be filled with a comparatively pure moral spirit, and these foreign tyrants show by their acts that this spirit is not theirs. But not only through the forms of worship but through the conscience1 does God speak to man. He speaks therefore to these bad men — He educates or at least disciplines them. The divine edu- 1 The idea of conscience loomed before the Biblical writers long before philosophical Greek supplied the word D"1jV13) is different. It is natural there to connect 13 with PI? v, but when DE* has twice gone before, it is not natural to connect 13 with the distant word DTI- 3 I need not quote the whole stanza from Blake. Comp. also Kingsley's letter (Life, abridged ed. , ii. 64) on divine humour. Certainly the poet of Job admitted a sense of humour in the Creator (see Job i., ii.) PSALM CIV. 285 own recreations ' ( Tetrachordon, alluding to Prov. viii. 30). It is in this spirit that Mr. Rae, author of The White Sea Peninsula, speaks of ' the lonely Arctic plants and fruits in which the Creator alone can take pleasure.' [Griin- baum has given a full description of the Talmudic stories (see, e.g., Baba bathra, 25 a) based on the Biblical references to Leviathan.1 He regards the Sept reading of Job xl. 19 as ' Haggadic,' and blames Ewald and Hitzig for im posing a ' Haggadic ' fable upon the Bible. But the legendary develop ments of the Talmud ought not to prejudice us against the simple and poetic statements of the Bible. Or does the Talmudic fable respecting God's study of the Tora justify a censure of the conception in Prov. viii. that God delights in the objec tive Khokma ? ] 27 All wait upon thee. How fine is that feature in a prophetic description of a drought, ' The beasts of the plain pant unto thee ' (Joel i. 20) ! 28 They gather ; more strictly, ' they gather up ' (comp. the usage in Gen. xxxi. 46, Ex. xvi. 4, Ruth ii. 3). It is almost like a spiritualisa- tion of the phrase in one of these passages, ' I will rain bread from heaven for you ' (Ex. xvi. 4 ; comp. Ps. Lxxviii. 24). 29 Withdrawest their breath. See on cxlvi. 4, and comp. Job xxxiv. 14, ' If He withdraw to Him self his spirit and breath,' &c. 30 Life, not death, is the master- principle of the universe ; comp. xc. 3. 31-35 A conclusion of loosely connected vows and prayers, not suggested (except that in v. 31 b) by the preceding descriptions ; vv. 32 and 35 seem in fact inconsistent with the body of the poem. The language for the former verse, how ever, simply expresses the thought that Jehovah's self-manifestations (comp. xviii. 8, &c, xcvii. 4) are full of awe for sinners. The psalmist himself rejoices in this thought. The verse is not interpolated (as Hitzig would have it), but leads on to the solemn prayer in v. 35. A discordant note or two befits one who is grieved and wearied with that ' disproportioned sin,' which Jarr'd against nature's chime, and with harsh din Broke the fair music that all creatures made To their great Lord. (Milton, Al a Solemn Musick.) 31 The glory. Heb. Pbhodh (in v. 1 ' glory ' = hodh). Re joice, i.e. continue to rejoice (cf. Prov. viii. 30, 31, and the epithet paKapios, ' blissful,' ' happy,' applied to God, 1 Tim. i. 11, vi. 15). PSALM CV. A ' historical PSALM,' like Pss. lxxviii., cvi., which, however, are in a more severe tone. In Ps. cv. Jehovah's fidelity to the covenant is shown from the past with a view to quickening Israel's gratitude and sense of duty. Vv. 1-15 form part of the psalm given in 1 Chron. xvi. 8-36 (see introd. to Ps. xcvi.) 1 O give thanks unto Jehovah, celebrate his name, spread abroad his exploits among the peoples. 2 Sing unto him, make melody unto him, discourse ye of all his wondrous works. 3 Let your glorying be in his holy name ; let the heart of them rejoice that seek Jehovah, 1 Zeitschr. d. deutsch. morgenl. Gesellschaft, xxxi. 274, &c. ; comp. Weber, Altsynag. Pal. Theologie, pp. 156, 195, 370, 384. 2 86 THE PSALMS 4 Enquire after Jehovah and his strength, be seeking his face continually. 5 Remember his wonders that he has done, his prodigies and the judgments of his mouth, 6 O ye seed of Abraham his servant, ye children of Jacob his chosen ones. 7 He, Jehovah, is our God, his judgments are in all the earth : 8 He remembers his covenant for ever, the word which he appointed for a thousand generations, 9 That which he contracted with Abraham, his oath also unto Isaac, io And which he confirmed unto Jacob for a statute, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant, 1 1 Saying, ' Unto thee will I give the land of Canaan, to be your measured inheritance.' 1 2 While they were still easily numbered, very few, and sojourners in the land, 13 And went about from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another people, 14 He suffered no man to oppress them, and punished kings for their sakes, 15 (Saying,) Touch not mine anointed ones, and do my prophets no harm. 16 And he summoned a famine on the land, he brake the whole staff of bread : 17 He sent a man before them, Joseph was sold to be a bondservant : 18 They galled his feet with fetters, his soul felt iron chains : 19 Until the time that his word came to pass, when the promise of Jehovah had assayed him. 20 The king sent and loosed him, the ruler of peoples, and let him go free. 2 1 He made him lord over his house, and ruler of all his possessions, 22 To bind his princes at pleasure, and to make his elders wise. 23 So Israel came into Egypt, and Jacob was a sojourner in the land of Ham ; 24 And he increased his people exceedingly, and made them stronger than their foes. PSALM CV. 287 25 He turned their heart to hate his people, to deal craftily with his servants. 26 He sent Moses his servant, and Aaron whom he had chosen. 27 He set forth among them his varied signs, and prodigies in the land of Ham. 28 He sent darkness, and it grew dark, and yet they rebelled against his words 29 He turned their waters into blood, and slew their fish. 30 Their land swarmed with frogs, they came up into their kings' chambers. 31 He spake and the beetles came, and gnats in all their borders. 32 For rains he gave them hail, fiery flames in their land. 33 He smote their vines also and their fig-trees, and brake in pieces the trees of their borders. 34 He spake, and the locusts came, and caterpillars without number, 35 And ate up every herb in their land, and ate up the fruit of their ground. 36 He smote also every first-born in their land, the firstlings of all their strength ; 37 But those he brought out with silver and gold, not a man that stumbled among his tribes. 38 Egypt rejoiced at their departing, for their terror had fallen upon them. 39 He spread out clouds for a covering, and fire to illumine the night. 40 They asked, and he brought quails, and satisfied them with the bread of heaven. 41 He opened the rock and the waters gushed out, they coursed through the desert as a river. 42 For he remembered his holy promise, and Abraham his servant ; 43 And brought forth his people with joy, his chosen ones with ringing cries ; 44 And gave them the lands of the nations, and they inherited the toil of the peoples, 45 In order that they might keep his statutes, and observe his laws. 288 THE PSALMS 6 For his servant Sept. has ' his servants.' This may possibly give the sense correctly ; ' servant ' may be a collective, and refer to ' seed.' i Chron. xvi. 13 reads ' seed of Israel,' which perhaps implies this view (comp. Isa. xii. 8, xiv. 4, &c.) In the parallel line, 'his chosen' (A.V.) refers to the ' children of Jacob.' See, however, vv. 42, 43, and comp. Gen. xxvi. 24. 8 Comp. cxi. 5, 9. Clearly this is not a psalm of the Exile. The peculiar phrase ' to a generation- thousand' comes from Deut. vii. 9; comp. Ex. xx. 6, Deut. v. 10. 1 5 Touch not, &c. The words are addressed to the kings of Egypt and the Philistines (comp. Gen. xii., xx., xxvi.) Abimelech threa tens death to 'him that toucheth this man or his wife,' implying that these persons were sacred. Reve rent students of Scripture idealised the patriarchs into kings, priests, or prophets (comp. on xcix. 6) : traces of such a conception may indeed be found even in Genesis (see Gen. xx. 7). ' Anointed,' of course, need not mean more than ' consecrated to my service ' (see on Isa. Ixi. 1). 18 His soul felt iron chains. Lit., ' his soul went into the iron ; ' i.e. his inner being sympathised ' with the pain of his fettered limbs.' Comp. 'lest he tear my soul' (vii. 3), and similar passages. See crit. note. 19 His word, i.e. Joseph's pro phetic word, which, at any rate at first, was combined with the ' pro mise of Jehovah ' to himself. The delay in the fulfilment of the pro mise assayed or purified his spiri tual character. 23, 27 In the land of Ham. Suggested by lxxviii. 51 (comp. also v. 27 with lxxviii. 43 ; cf. Ex. x. 2, which justifies us in correcting the plural into the singular). 28 And yet they rebelled. (So Sept., Pesh.) Why does this not stand at the close of the plagues ? Because a reason is required for the continuance of the judgments. This answer, it may be said, implies that the psalmist was ill informed as to the order of the plagues. Not so ; he began his list with that which first occurred to his mind, and which was one of the most important. The text has, 'and they rebelled not,' i.e. pre sumably Moses and Aaron, who at another time did ' rebel' (Num. xx. 24, xxvii. 14). 37 Wot a man stumbled, i.e. from weariness ; comp. Isa. v. 27, 2 Chron. xxviii. 15 (where A. V.'s ' feeble' should be 'exhausted'). 40 The bread of heaven. See on lxxviii. 24, ' the corn of heaven.' 41 Comp. the expressions with lxxviii. 20, 15, 16. 42 His holy promise. 'Holy' either in the wide sense of ' divine,' or in that of inviolable. I prefer the latter (see on Ix. 8, and comp. I Sam. vi. 20, which also illustrates the phrase ' his words of holiness,' Jer. xxiii. 9). PSALM CVI. A retrospect of the sins of the past (recent transgressions are too bitter to be treated in poetry), introduced by praise, prayer, and penitent confession, and strongly reminding us of Neh. ix. Reminiscences of the Pentateuch and of Exile and post-Exile writings abound. Some verses (1, 47, 48) of this psalm are incorporated into the psalm in 1 Chron. xvi. — one of the features which Ps. cvi. has in common with Ps. cv. 1 O give thanks unto Jehovah, for he is good, for his lovingkindness endures for ever. 2 Who can tell out the valiant deeds of Jehovah, or publish all his praise ? PSALM CVI. 289 3 Happy are they that observe right, and do righteousness at all times. 4 Think of me, O Jehovah, when thou favourest thy people visit me with thy salvation ; 5 That I may look on the good fortune of thy chosen, may rejoice in the joy of thy nation, may glory with thine inheritance. 6 We have sinned with our fathers, we have done perversely, wickedly. 7 Our fathers considered not thy wonders in Egypt, remembered not thine abundant lovingkindnesses, but were defiant at the sea, even by the Red Sea. 8 Yet he saved them for his name's sake to make his might to be known. 9 For he rebuked the Red Sea, and it became dry, and he led them through the floods as through the wilderness ; 10 And saved them from the hand of the malicious, and released them from the hand of the enemy. 1 1 The waters covered their foes ; not one of them remained. 12 Then believed they his words ; they sang his praise. 1 3 Soon they forgot his works : they did not wait for his purpose ; 14 But lusted a lust in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert ; 15 And he gave them their petition, but sent wasting sickness against their soul. 16 They envied Moses also in the camp, and Aaron the holy one of Jehovah. 17 The earth opened, and swallowed up Dathan, and covered the company of Abiram ; 18 And fire kindled on their company, the flame licked up the ungodly. 19 They made a calf at Horeb, and worshipped a molten image. 20 Thus they exchanged his glory for the image of an ox that eateth herbage. 2 1 They forgot God their saviour, who had done great things in Egypt, 22 Wondrous things in the land of Ham, terrible things by the Red Sea ; 23 And he said he would exterminate them. 290 THE PSALMS but Moses his chosen one [arose], and stood in the breach before him, to turn away his wrath, that he might not destroy. 24 They held the delightsome land for nought, they believed not his word, 25 And murmured in their tents, hearkening not unto the voice of Jehovah. 26 So he sware to them with uplifted hand to cause them to fall in the wilderness ; 27 To scatter their seed among the nations, and to winnow them in the lands. 28 They yoked themselves also unto Baal-peor, and ate the sacrifices of the dead, 29 And vexed (Jehovah) by their doings, and a plague broke in upon them. 30 Phinehas stood forth and interposed, and so the plague was stayed ; 31 And that was counted unto him for righteousness unto all generations for evermore. 32 And they stirred up indignation at the wafers of Meribah, and it went ill with Moses on their account ; 33 For they had been defiant towards God's spirit, and he spoke at random with his lips. 34 They exterminated not the nations, concerning whom Jehovah had commanded them, 35 But mingled themselves among the nations, and learned their works ; 36 And they served their idols, and these became a snare unto them, 37 For they sacrificed their sons, their daughters also, to the demons, 38 And shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and of their daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, so that the land was profaned with bloodshed ; 39 And they became unclean through their works, and committed whoredom by their misdeeds. 40 Then did the anger of Jehovah burn against his people, insomuch that he abhorred his inheritance ; 41 And he gave them into the hand of the nations, and they that hated them ruled over them. 42 Their enemies oppressed them, and they were made subject to their hand. PSALM CVI. 291 43 Many times did he deliver them, but they clung defiantly to their own purpose, and pined away for their iniquity. 44 But he looked on their adversity, when he heard their cry, 45 And remembered for them his covenant, and relented according to his plenteous kindness, 46 And caused them to get compassion from all those that carried them captives. 47 Save us, Jehovah our God, and gather us from among the nations to give thanks unto thy holy name, to make our boast of thy praises. (Subscription to Book IV.) 48 Blessed be Jehovah, Israel's God, from seon to a?on ; and let all the people say, Amen. Hallelujah. 4, 5 The reference to the person of the psalmist (as most, perhaps rightly, view it) is surprising, when compared with vv. 6, 47 (' We have sinned ; ' ' Save us '). An unusual effect is also produced by the re currence of the same suffix (-ka) at the end of each of the five lines of these verses. Considering that many marginal glosses have in truded into the Hebrew texts, and that scribes are prone to insert petitions for themselves (generally at the end of MSS.), it is plausible to regard vv. 4, 5 with Bickell as an interpolated marginal note. Otherwise we may compare the parenthetical prayers for the writer in Nehemiah's chronicle. Social was not designed to overpower individual religion. 9 Through the floods. Comp. the fuller passage, Isa. lxiii. 13. 12 Believed . . . sang. Al luding to Ex. xiv. 31 and the songs in Ex. xv. 1 5 Sent wasting sickness, &c. For the expression, comp. Isa. x. 16. George Sandys gives a noble rendering of this line, ' Sent meager Death into their hungry Soules.' 16 The holy one, &c. Comp. 2 Kings iv. 9, ' a man of God, a holy one' (i.e. devoted to God's service) — the only parallel passage. 17 Why is not Korah men tioned? For the same reason as in Deut. xi. 6, because he was a Levite, and his name was dear to temple-poets.1 Similar considera tions must have led to the insertion ofthe notice in Num. xxvi. 11, 'but the sons of Korah perished not' 20 ' They exchanged the spiri tual revelation of Jehovah in His manifold glorious attributes 2 (comp. Ex. xxxiv. 5-7, the proclamation of Jehovah's Name) for a material emblem which could at best sym bolise only one of them (His power), and which might at worst suggest unseemly thoughts of God and be misapprehended and misused.' So the whole verse as rendered above may be ex plained. The reading 'their glory' 1 See Geiger, Urschrift, p. 83 ; and on Num. xxvi. n, Kuenen, The Hexateuch, p. 335. a See H. Schultz, Alttestamentliche Theologie, ed. 2, p. 519. 292 THE PSALMS is represented in early Jewish sources (e.g. Ochla we-Ochla, no. 68) as a correction introduced by ' the Scribes ' (one of the Tiqqune Soferim). Is the old reading cor rect ? I agree with Noldeke that this is 'doubtful, but perfectly possible.' I would even go further and say that it is rather probable. Proclivi lectioni prastat ardua, is a canon applicable here, if any where. There was an obvious reason for altering ' his glory ' into ' their glory ' (the received reading), the reverence of Jewish students being easily alarmed at phrases such as ' exchanging God's glory (the Shechinah, as they would in terpret it) for an idol.' 1 A similar diversity of reading occurs in Hos. iv. 7, Jer. ii. 11. The versions as generally printed agree in each case with the received text (proving the antiquity of the alteration of the pronoun), except that Codd. Alex, and Sin. (as corrected) give in the Sept. of Ps. cvi. 20 ttjv ho^av avrov, and that the Targum of this passage has ' the glory of their Lord.' St. Paul too agrees with these authorities, if we may argue from the words in Rom. i. 23, Kal rjXXatjav (Sept., r]XXd£avTo) T7)v d6£av tov d(J>6dpTov 0eov iv opoiwpaTi k.t.X.3 The received reading is, however, not in itself bad. ' Their glory' will mean 'him whom to serve is Israel'sboast ; ' comp. Deut. x. 21, iv. 6-8. So in Am. viii. 7 Jehovah is called 'the Excellency of Jacob' (Reuss's la gloire de Jacob confounds two synonyms). See also above, on iv. 3. 21 Cod their saviour. See on iii. 3. Idols are 'things that do not profit ' (Jer. ii. 8). 23 Said, i.e. resolved (as iv. 5). The phrase comes from Deut. ix. 25. 24-27 The phrasing is partly derived from Pentateuch-passages — Num. xiv. 31 ; Deut. i. 27 ; Ex. vi 8, Deut. xxxii. 40 ; Num. xiv. 29, 32. 24 Tbe delightsome land. 1 See Geiger, op. cit. , p. 316. 2 Delitzsch (on Romans) compares Sifri 53 a, ~\2i WHS '"33 fltf IT'D' Lit, 'the land of desire.' So Jer. iii. 19, Zech. vii. 14. 27 To scatter their seed, &c. Based upon Ezek. xx. 23, which enables us to correct with certainty the erroneous repetition at the beginning of the verse. 28 They yoked themselves. A phrase taken from Num. xxv. 3, and sometimes thought to be sug gestive of some licentious rite ; against which view see my note on Hos. ix. 10. 'Yoking' is an ex pression for the mystic, quasi-phy sical union supposed to exist between a god and his worshippers, and to be kept up by sacrificial meals (see on Isa. xliv. 11, and cf. Judg. vi. 34 R.V. marg.) The sacrifices of the dead. See Num. xxv. 2. The ' dead ' are opposed to the 'living God.' Nothing sug gests a reference to funeral offer ings, like those of Egypt. 29 A plague. The Hebrew (as in Num. xxv. 8) indicates the slaughter wrought by judicial au thority upon the offenders. So in 1 Sam. iv. 17, 2 Sam. xvii. 9 it means the slaughter accompanying a defeat. 30 Interposed, viz. as a me diator. Another possible meaning is, 'judged' (comp. 1 Sam. ii. 25). But the impalement of the guilty Israelites was an act of judgment (Num. xxv. 3). Mediation now became requisite, Jehovah and the people being regarded as two con tending parties. Sept therefore renders well, though freely, i{-iXd- o-aro. 32 The 'object' is omitted, as in v. 29. But that the divine ' in dignation ' is' meant, is clear from the usage of the word (Deut. ix. 7. 8, 22). 33 This verse gives the cause ofthe adversity which befell Moses (comp. Deut i 37), viz. that Moses (see Num. xx. 10) spoke words, which being unbelieving (ibid. v. 12), were mere babbling or fia-rro- Xoyia (note the Hebrew). The PSALM CVI. 293 cause of this 'babbling' is also explained, viz. that the people (hardly Moses and Aaron, as Kimchi) had ' defied his (i.e. Jeho vah's) spirit ' (a condensed refer ence to Isa. lxiii. 10 ; comp. Ps. lxxviii. 40). Thus the lines of vv. 32, 33 are alternately parallel. 34 The subjugation of the Canaanites was not, according to the psalmist, complete. He infers this from the assimilation by the Israelites of much that was pro perly Canaanitish. Here we are on the confines of a great historical problem. 37 To the demons. Need it be said that the word ' demons ' (Saipoves) does not here imply that the objects of worship were ' evil spirits ' ? ' The psalmist simply takes a current name for one class of divinities (or superhuman powers), and extends its reference to any and every deity to whose worship the Israelites fell away. Shcdim, here rendered ' demons,' is the plural of shed, and connected with Ass. h'dii, which, like lamassit, stands for the genii or (may we say?) demigods, who were sub ordinate to the gods strictly so- called, and were represented by the symbolic winged bulls placed at the entrance of Assyrian palaces. The shedim, who are so prominent in later Jewish theology, are only mentioned again in the Bible in Deut. xxxii. 17 (a work of the As syrian or Babylonian period), where they are defined as 'not god.' Comp. the discussion in Baudissin, Studieti zur semit. Religionsgeschichte, i. 130-136. 38 Was profaned. Cf. Num. xxxv. 33, and see on Isa. xxiv. 5. 1 Sept., however, renders Sat/ion'ots both here and in Deut. xxxii. 17, and the Peshitto gives shedo as the rendering of Sal/xiav and Smimviov in the N. T. (similarly Delitzsch gives shed). 294 THE PSALMS BOOK V. PSALM CVII. J/'erses 1-32 consist ofa series of picturesque descriptions each closed by a refrain, and exhibiting the contrast between present peace and past tribulation. It is therefore virtually another hymn to Providence. At first, indeed, the psalmist simply intended a thanksgiving for Israel's restoration, but to fill out his poem he included some scenes not con nected with that great turning-point. He seems to have been a special admirer of Job and II. Isaiah. At v. 33 the treatment becomes more meagre, the connexion less cared for, and the thought less original. The refrains too are dropped. 1 O give thanks unto Jehovah, for he is good, for his lovingkindness endures for ever. 2 Thus let the released of Jehovah say, whom he hath released from the hand of the foe, 3 And gathered out of the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south. 4 They wandered in the wilderness, yea, in the desert, they found no road to a city of habitation : 5 Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. 6 So they cried unto Jehovah in their strait, and he delivered them out of their distresses, 7 He directed them also by a straight way, that they might go to a city of habitation. 8 O let these give thanks unto Jehovah for his kindness, and for his wondrous works to the children of men ! 9 For he has satisfied the longing soul, and filled the hungry soul with good. 10 Those that sat in darkness and in death-shadow, bondsmen of affliction and iron — 1 1 Because they had defied the commands of God, and reviled the purpose of the most High, 12 So that he bowed their heart down with travail, they stumbled, and there was none to help ; PSALM CVII. 295 13 But they cried unto Jehovah in their strait, and he saved them out of their distresses, 14 Brought them out of darkness and death-shadow, and tore away their bonds — 15 O let these give thanks unto Jehovah for his kindness, and for his wondrous works to the children of men ! 16 For he has broken the gates of brass, and hewed the bars of iron in sunder. 1 7 Sick men, who for the way of their transgression and for their iniquities suffered affliction — 18 Their soul abhorred all manner of food, and they drew nigh unto the gates of Death, 19 But they cried unto Jehovah in their strait, and he saved them out of their distresses, 20 He sent his word to heal them, and caused them to escape from their pitfalls — 21 O let these give thanks unto Jehovah for his kindness, and for his wondrous works to the children of men, 22 And offer the sacrifices of thanksgiving, and recount his works amid cries that ring. 23 They that go down upon the sea in ships, that do business on the great waters, 24 These men see the works of Jehovah, and his wonders in the ocean-gulf. 25 For he spake, and caused a stormy wind to appear which lifted up the waves thereof ; 26 They went up to the sky, they came down to the abysses, their soul melted away in the trouble ; 27 They reeled and staggered like a drunken man, and all their wisdom was swallowed up. 28 But they cried unto Jehovah in their strait, and he brought them out of their distresses. 29 He turned the storm into a soft air, and the waves thereof were hushed. 30 Then were they glad, because they were laid to rest, and he guided them to their wished-for haven. 31 O let these give thanks to Jehovah for his kindness, and for his wondrous works to the children of men ; 32 Let them exalt him also in the congregation of the people, and praise him in the company of the elders. 33 He turned rivers into a wilderness, and watercourses into thirsty ground ; 296 THE PSALMS 34 A fruitful land into a salt waste, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein 35 He turned the wilderness into a standing water, and dry ground into watercourses ; 36 And there he made the hungry to dwell, and they founded a city of habitation. 37 They sowed fields and planted vineyards, and obtained fruits of increase. 38 He blessed them, and they multiplied exceedingly, and their cattle he diminished not. 39 And when they were minished and brought low through oppression of trouble and heaviness, 41 He set the needy secure from affliction, and made him families like a flock ; 42 The upright see it, and rejoice, and all unrighteousness stops its mouth. 43 Whoso is wise, let him observe these things, and let them understand the kindnesses of Jehovah. 1-3 Cf. cxviii. 2-4, and also Isa. lxii. 12 ; xliii. 5, 6 ; xlix. 12. In the last-named passage, as here, the text unsuitably has ' from the sea,' which in this context could only, I think, in accordance with Hebrew usage, mean ' from the west.' The connexion, from the south, is an easy one (see Isaiah, ii. 16, 165). Out of the lands, i.e. out of foreign lands (comp. cv. 44, cvi. 27), just as ' the nations ' means ' foreign nations.' 10 Comp. cxliii. 3b, Isa. ix. 1, Job xxxvi. 8 ; and for the sense of 'iron,' Ps. cv. 18. 16 That great word of faith, Isa. xiv. 2, has been fulfilled — in the spirit, if not in the letter (see Isaiah, i. 293). 17 At this point the tableaux cease to have a special reference to the surmounted trials of the Exiles ; comp. the following one with that in Elihu's speech (Job xxxiii. 19-26). Sick men. The text has 'foolish ones.' Can this be right? Does not the context require a word significant of the physical condition of the sufferers ? One remembers indeed that sin and sickness are closely connected in the O. T. Among the many proofs of this, see Isa. xxxiii. 24, Ps. xxxi. 11, and especially Ps. xxxviii. 6, where a sick man accounts for his ' wounds ' by his ' foolishness ' (the cognate substantive to the adjective here used). It would therefore be perfectly intelligible if our psalmist had written ' their foolishness ' for 'their transgression.' But the poet must be credited with sound judg ment, the laws of which are the same in the East and in the West. Can we conceive him introducing a fresh tableau by an ethical term such as 'fools' (Prov. i. 7 and often) ? Let us consider v. 10 and v. 23, and in this very stanza v. 18 a and v. 20 a, before answering. 18 A reminiscence of Job xxxiii. 20, 22. The gates of Death. See on ix. 14. 20 He sent his word. Such a phrase prepares the way for the Targumic use of JH fcOIpip 'the Word of the Lord ' for m nv Comp. cxlvii. 15, 1 8, and see on xxxiii. 6, Isa. ix. 8. 23-32 Mohammed, too, full of the thought of God's liberality PSALM CVII. 297 points to the ships and their de liverances, for which men are so ungrateful (Kordn, Sur. xvii. 68-72). 23 That go down, &C. Or, ' that have gone down.' ' Upon the sea ; ' the surface of the sea being below the level of the land. Comp. Isa. xlii. 10. 26 They went up to the sky, viz. the shipmen, not the waves, in spite of the seductive parallel in Ovid's Tristia (i. 2, 27-32). The abysses. Not ' the abyss ' (as Street ; cf. xxxvi.7) ; the ocean-deep is made up of deeps below deeps. Cf. cxxxv. 6, cxlviii. 7. 29 The waves thereof. Lit. 'their waves.' Had rhythm allowed, the poet would have quoted ' his waves ' from v. 25. But the plural suffix can be justified (awkwardly, no doubt) by 'great waters' in v. 23. 30 Totheirwished-forhaven. ' Haven' (or ' mart ') is near enough to the sense. The word mdkhoz is doubtless of Babylonian origin, and its Assyrio-Babylonian equivalent means 'city.' So also does mdkhozd in the Babylonian Talmud (see Levy's Lexicon), though this is also the proper name of a city on the Tigris, chiefly inhabited by Jews (see Yoma 1 1 a). Our psalmist evidently limits the sense of the word ; he thinks of cities of com mercial rather than of political importance. See crit. note. 33 The hymn of praise for God's manifold deliverances is suc ceeded by specimens of His equally manifold providential dealings with countries and nations. The refer ence is in no case to be confined to any single historical event. The details are given in familiar language reminding one of earlier writings, such as Job and II. Isaiah. Comp. v. 33 with Isa 1. 2, xxxv. 7. 34 Into a salt waste. The poet generalises from events like the destruction of Sodom (cf. Tris tram, Land of Israel, p. 367). Cf. Jer. xvii. 6, Job. xxxix. 6, also Ecclus. xxxix. 6 (where dXp-n sug gests that Sirach knew the Sept. of our psalm). 35 Imitated from Isa. xii. 18. 38 b A poetic understatement for effect39 The transition is abrupt ; we have just heard that at any rate ' their cattle ' had not diminished. Hitzig supposes that by an awkward retrogression (cf. Driver, Hebrew Tenses, § 76, Obs.) the time preced ing God's gracious gifts (vv. 35-38) is referred to ; Delitzsch, that a subsequent change in the fortunes of the persons so blessed is indi cated. To me it seems as if the author of the appendix (vv. 33-43) strung sentences together without much reflexion. Still more evident is this, if he really inserted v. 40, which is taken from Job xii. 21a, 24 b. This verse, however, so seri ously disturbs the logical sequence and obscures the sense that I follow Bickell in rejecting it as an inter polation. In the best editions of the Massoretic text, an inverted Nun stands before this verse, and also before vv. 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28. Did the ancient critics regard all these verses as spurious ? So think Geiger and Bdttcher ; but this is uncertain (cf. Strack, Pro legomena Critica, p. 91). 43 Comp. Hos. xiv. 9 (there too a closing formula). PSALM CVIII. See Psalm LVII. 7-11, LX. 5-12. PSALM CIX. 1 HE speaker, representing the pious kernel of the nation, complains of persecuting enemies, particularly of one who is high in office and fore most in malignity. More fearful anathemas than this psalm contains can hardly be conceived. The misuse made of them in Calvin's time 298 THE PSALMS (see his note on v. 6, and below on Ps. cxlix.) is a warning to us not to idolise even so precious a gift as the Psalter. We cannot (see Luke ix. 55) justify such expressions ; can we excuse them ? 1 An enquiry into the circumstances of the psalmist will, I think, give the only solid grounds for doing so. Would that I had space for this here. At any rate, he is not eminent as a poet Contrast his ineffective elaboration of the idea that a ' curse causeless' falls back on the speaker with the measured ex pressions of a Vedic poet (Rig Veda, i. 147, 4, Grassmann). 2 O God of my praise, hold not thy peace, for the mouth of ungodliness and deceit have they opened upon me, they have spoken against me with lying tongue ; 3 And with words of hatred have they surrounded me, and fought against me without a cause. 4 In return for love, they behaved as mine adversaries, whilst I was all prayer ; 5 Yea, they rendered me evil for good, and hatred for my love. 6 Set thou an ungodly man over him, and let an adversary stand at his right hand. 7 When he is accused, let him go forth condemned, and let his prayer pass for a sin. 8 Let his days be few ; his store let another take. 9 Let his children be orphans, and his wife a widow. 10 Let his children be vagabonds, and beg, yea, let them be driven from their desolate home. 1 1 Let the creditor ensnare all that he has, and let foreigners take his labour for a prey. 12 Let him have none that continues kindness to him, neither any that has pity on his orphans. 13 Let his posterity be cut off as their doom, in the next generation let their name be blotted out. 14 Let the iniquity of his fathers be mentioned before Jehovah, and the sin of his mother — let it not be blotted out. 1 5 Let them be over against Jehovah continually, and let him cut off their memory from the earth. 16 And that because he thought not to show lovingkindness, but persecuted the afflicted and needy, and the desponding in mind, to murder him, 1 The theory of Kennicott, Mendelssohn, Dr. C. Taylor, and, as it seems, Canon Westcott (Cathedral Psalter), which puts the curses into the mouth of the psalmist's enemy, however plausible it may seem, labours under insuperable difficulties (see Perowne, and Jennings and Lowe). PSALM CIX. 299 1 7 And he loved cursing (so it will come to him), and delighted not in blessing (so it will be far from him) ; iS And clothed himself with cursing even as with his robe (so it will come into his inward parts like water, and like oil into his bones). 1 9 Let it be unto him as a vesture wherein he wraps himself, and as a girdle wherewith he binds himself continually. 20 Be these the wages of mine adversaries from Jehovah, and of them that speak evil against my soul. 2 1 And thou, Jehovah Lord, do nobly for me for thy name's sake ; because thy lovingkindness is so good, deliver thou me. 22 For afflicted am I, and needy, and my heart is wounded within me : 23 Like a shadow when it stretches out, I disappear ; I am shaken off as the locust : 24 My knees totter from fasting, and my flesh falls away into leanness : 25 And I — I am become a reproach unto them, when they see me they shake their head. 26 Help me, Jehovah my God, save me, according to thy lovingkindness : 2 7 That they may know that this is thy hand, and that thou, Jehovah, hast done it. 28 They may curse, but thou dost bless ; when they arise, they will be confounded, but thy servant will rejoice. 29 Mine adversaries will be clothed with disgrace, and wrap themselves in their shame as in a mantle. 30 I will give great thanks unto Jehovah with my mouth, and praise him in the midst of many, 31 Because he stands at the right hand of the needy, to save him from those that judge his soul. 2 False witness was always one prayer,' and suppose the writer to great means of persecution (as mean that he seeks refuge and xxvii. 12, xxxv. 11) ; but in all such comfort in prayer. But what sort passages it represents a class of of prayer is that which follows, the hostile actions (see on xxvii. 12). effect of which is only to let loose ¦ Ungodliness here means ' un- a flood of unpurified passion ? righteousness ' (comp. v. 7, and see (Compare introd.) The immediate on v. 6). context, however, compared with 4 In return for love. Comp. xxxv. 13, suggests a different ex- xxxv. 13, lxix. 11, 12 ; Jer. xviii. 20. planation, ' I was all prayer for 1 was all prayer. For the them.' So the Peshitto and Ibn construction see ex. 3, cxx. 7. Most Ezra. There must, I fear, be some commentators render ' I am all error in the text. 3°° THE PSALMS 6 Set thou . . . over him, viz. with the authority of a judge. The Peshitto has 'over them,' and keeps the plural reference throughout, probably because he applied the imprecations to the enemies of Jesus Christ. But evidently some great personage is referred to ; and hence the special mention of some greater (heathen) personage by whom he is displaced. The term ungodly (rdshd') in this passage probably means ' heathen ' (comp. Ixviii. 3), in spite of the purely ethi cal reference of the noun in v. 2, and the forensic use of the adjective in v. 7. For it is surely implied that there is some profound differ ence between the judge and the accused. An adversary, or, as the context seems to some to suggest, a false accuser. The word (sdtdn) having no article, we might take it as a proper name, as in I Chron. xxi. 1, 'And Satan stood up against Israel.' If we so explain it, we must, however, with Hitzig, go further, and say that God is the judge. This view may no doubt be confirmed by v. 7 b, and by a seemingly parallel passage (Zech. iii. 1), but is opposed by v. 6a (which Hitzig boldly renders, ' Erkenne gegen ihn : schuldig ! '). But are we bound to take sdtdn as a proper name ? Surely not. On v. 7 b I will speak presently ; with regard to Zech. iii. 1, does the parallelism go further than the use of a legal phrase ? For the right hand as the place of the accuser, comp. also Job xxx. 12, ' Upon my right hand rise the rabble ' (R.V.) 7 Condemned. A third and more technical meaning of rdshd' (see on vv. 2, 6). The context implies that a sentence of capital punishment is meant. let his prayer pass for a sin. This clause has been felt difficult, both on account of the seeming limita tion of God's mercy and because of the context (see on v. 6). But unlimited mercy is not a doctrine of the Old Testament. ' The sacri fice of the ungodly is an abomina tion to Jehovah ; but the prayer of the upright is his delight,' is a proverb in which ' sacrifice ' and ' prayer ' are virtually synonymous (Prov. xv. 8 ; comp. xxviii. 9). As to the context, this is not really inconsistent with the view adopted above. The idea of the earthly suggests that of the heavenly judge, as in xxxvii. 33. The ungodly man, when he falls into the hands of a tyrant, and, like many an innocent man in his own day of power (Prov. xxiv. 11), is being 'dragged away to death,' prays despairingly to the national God, Jehovah. But Jehovah is not a mere national God. 8 His store. Following the sense of the word in Isa. xv. 7. For the idea of the clause, see xlix. 11. Others render 'his office;' but the whole picture, after v. 7, is one of poverty and misery. 10 let them be driven, &c. This line explains the first. The ruined home precedes the begging family. In order of time, however, the events of v. 11 precede that of v. 10 b. The text-reading, 'let them seek [bread, fleeing] from their desolate home,' is both unnatural and weak in sense. 14, 15 The curse opens out backward in accordance with Ex. xx. 5. Be mentioned. Comp. I Kings xvii. 18. let them be, viz. the sins of his forefathers. 16 Because he thought not, &c. The ' law of kindness ' (if we may so apply a fine phrase in Prov. xxxi. 26) is in the first rank of Jehovah's commandments (Hos. vi. 6, Mic. vi. 8). The ungodly man neglected this, and, instead of cherishing the poor, carried on his persecution to the bitter end. The desponding in mind. ' De sponding,' not merely because ' over awed' by bad men (x. 18), but because of the delay of God's promised lovingkindness. Comp. Isa. Ixi. 3, lxvi. 2 (striking parallels). 17, 18 So it will come, &c. Lit, ' so it came,' &c. The paren thetical clauses represent future events as ideally past. ' Crime and punishment,' according to an Indian PSALM CIX. 301 proverb, 'grow out of one stem ;' the softening of another psalmist's ' when Ephraim offended by Baal,' mood in lxix. 30, 'And as for me, I says Hosea (xiii. 1), 'he died.' am afflicted and sore pained.' Notice the climax of the imagery 23 like a shadow, &c. The in v. 18. figure seems borrowed from cii. 12. 20 Be these the wages, &c. As the locust, a helpless, un- Surely this verse is inconsistent steady creature ; comp. Job xxxix. with Kennicott's view (see introd.) 20. If the preceding imprecations were 25 Comp. lxix. 11-13, xxii. 8. a quotation from the ' ungodly man,' 26-31 Lamentation gives way would not the psalmist have said, to assured hope, as in xxii., lxix. ' Not upon me, Jehovah, not upon 31 How finely Jehovah is said me, but upon mine adversaries let to place Himself at the right hand this curse come ' ? (comp. xvi. 8, cxxi. 5), ready to 22 For afflicted, &c. Comp. repel any false accuser (comp. v. 6). PSALM CX. i_JlviXE oracles and lyric anticipations addressed to the king. The poem is so abrupt and rugged in style that one can well believe it to have lost some distichs. Its historical interpretation is correspondingly difficult ; nor have I space to discuss rival hypotheses. To me, it appears like an imitation of Ps. ii. ; but I am not positive that we can follow the analogy of that psalm in our interpretation. Ps. ex. may perhaps refer to the ideal or Messianic king himself (cf. The Prophecies of Isaiah, ii. 200) ; but it is equally possible to explain it of some historical ruler regarded as typically Messianic. Ewald assigns the authorship to some prophet like Gad or Nathan. But even simple psalmists are found elsewhere to claim prophetic inspiration (cf. on lxii. 12), and we must not be too sure that we know what sort of poetry Gad or Nathan would write. 1 Jehovah's oracle touching my lord, 'Be enthroned at my right hand, till I make thine enemies a footstool for thee.' 2 Thine overpowering sceptre doth Jehovah stretch forth from Zion ; ' Have sway in thine enemies' midst.' 3 All alacrity are thy people in the day of thy muster upon the holy mountains ; from the womb of the morning-sky comes to thee the dew of thy youth. 4 Jehovah swears irrevocably, ' Thou art priest for ever, after the manner of Melchizedek.' 5 The Lord is at thy right hand ; he shatters kings in his angry day, giving doom amidst nations. 6 Full is the wide field of corpses ; he shatters heads thereon. 7 Of the brook doth he drink in the way ; therefore can he lift up his head. 1 The first oracle, either freshly into a new form (cf. ii. 7-9). It is received by the psalmist, or taken an irregularity (not unparalleled, bv him from some book and put however— see on Isa. Ivi. 8) for the 3°2 THE PSALMS phrase Jehovah's oracle to intro duce a divine utterance. Touch ing my lord. 'My lord' is the customary title of respect in ad dressing a king, or indeed any supe rior (see i Sam. xxii. 12, xxiv. 8, Gen. xxiii. 6). Hence the second person in vv. 2, 3. Be enthroned, &c. Mount Zion is the earthly sym bol of the invisible ' mountain of Elohim.' Jehovah upon his throne summons Israel's king to become his irdpeSpos (Pind. Ol. viii. 22) ; comp. ii. 5. Nor is this an empty honour (cf. 1 Kings ii. 19) ; it in volves a share in the world's govern ment. The king of Israel is as much the deputy of Jehovah as the Assyrian king is the vicegerent of Assur (see, e.g., Records of the Past, xi. 3) ; his rule is the ' royalty of Jehovah by the hand of the sons of David' (2 Chron. xiii. 8 ; cf. 1 Chron. xxviii. 5, xxix. 23). Hence in Zech. xiii. 7 Jehovah calls the king ' my fellow ' ('JTOff p). 2 Have sway, &c. Again the words of Jehovah, which have a self-fulfilling power (see on Isa. ix. 8). 3 Martial Israelites stream to the royal banner (comp. Judg. v. 2, 9, Heb.) It is an early morning muster ; and suddenly (cf. 2 Sam. xvii. II, 12) as the dewdrops which the sun Impearls on every leaf and every flow'r (Milton's figure for the angel-hosts), and not less past counting than these, there seems to start up on all sides a youthful army, brimming over with that freshness and vigour ofwhich 'dew' in the prophets (Hos. xiv. 5, Isa. xxvi. 19) is the symbol. Such is the imaginative picture. The expressions are partly borrowed from myth. The sky was conceived of by the early men as shedding an impregnating influence on the earth (see on Isa. xiv. 8), and so the dewdrops which ' the skies drop down' (Prov. iii. 20)1 could poetic ally be described as ' children of the dawn' (or, to give the force of ~\WQ, 'ofthe morning-sky2). This is at least a not unworthy view of the meaning ; it assumes, however, that there is such a word as "IDt^p, and it may seem to some too poeti cal for our psalmist. Another pos sible rendering (point ID^D) of line 2 is, ' from the womb, from the very dawn, (devoted) to thee is thy youthful band' (Geiger, Urschrift, p. 29). Youth is here taken to be compared to the dawn, just as Job calls his mature age his ' autumn,' Job xxix. 4 (nnntyin Eccles. xi. 10 can scarcely be quoted) ; the same figure is not unknown to the Tal mud.3 But does not ' dew ' hang in the air, so to speak, without the support of some elucidating words ? Hence Bickell's suggestion that ?Q may have been miswritten 4 for yi in inn?' seems a necessary supple ment to Geiger's view. Line 2 thus becomes a statement that the young warriors have been devoted to Israel's king since their infancy — have drunk in loyalty to ' God and the king ' at their mothers' breasts (cf. xxii. 10, 11). But I prefer to adhere to the text ; "inK'O may be a rare word brought out by the 1 So Lane (Arabic Lexicon, s.v. (alia) quotes the phrase, 'The sky rained small rain (tallat) upon the earth,' which suggests the question whether Heb. tal, like Ar. tall11", may not often mean the fine shower or night-mist which is more than the equi valent of ' dew ' in Palestine in the hot months of late summer. See Neil, Palestine Explored, p. 129, &c. 2 Mr. Neil interprets "inK>D |!32 of the ' fleecy, enfolding clouds ' of night-mist from out of which an autumn morning appears to emerge, and which after glistening awhile in the brilliant light are sucked up by the sun, leaving behind them a delightful moisture (Pal. Expl., p. 138). This helps us to realise the possibility of a Semitic dew-myth such as seems to be alluded to in Job xxxviii. 28. 5 See Jebamoth, 62 b (Wiinsch, Der bab. Talmud, ii. 1, p. 17), where ' morning ' and ' evening' in Eccles. xi. 6 are explained of youth and age. 4 Bickell appeals to the Septuagint, which, however, omits to translate not only ? D but -p, suggesting that the Hebrew text used had both words or neither. PSALM CX. 303 poet ; or the whole phrase may be borrowed from some old poem now lost. Upon the holy moun tains, i.e. at Jerusalem (see Ixxxvii. 1, exxxiii. 3), whence the army set forth. The text has, ' in hallowed splendours ;' cf. 2 Chron. xx. 21 ; but see crit. note. 4 A fresh revelation, affecting not merely the king, but his family. Note the solemnity of the introduc tion (Heb. vii. 21). The person ad dressed is already a king (the Mac cabees were to all intents and pur poses as much kings as David was, even before Aristobulus assumed the regal title) ; he may or may not be also a subordinate priest ; but he is now to be inducted into the office of priest par excellence, with the promise that the office shall descend to his posterity (cf. 1 Sam. ii. 35) and a confirmation of his royal dignity. In a word, he is to be a priest-king. If a Davidic prince is meant, comp. 2 Sam. vi. 14, &c, 1 Chron. xxix. 10, 1 Kings viii. 14, 55 ; if a Maccabee, 1 Mace. x. 21, xiv. 41 ; if the Messiah, Zech. iii. 8, vi. 11-13 (Delitzsch regards the parallel as complete, Messianic Prophecy, pp. 97, 98 ; see, however, Riehm, Die messia- nische Weissagung, ed. 2, pp. 146, 147). After the manner (or, in accordance with the relation or state) of Melchizedek (Gen. xiv. 18), and not merely of Aaron and of Zadok. The allusion is a happy one, Salem being shortened from Jerusalem (see on lxxvi. 3) and Melchizedek suggesting some of the chief attributes of the idealised or Messianic king — righteousness before God, prosperity (i.e. righte ousness before man, Isa. liv. 17), and legitimacy. 5 The description in vv. 2, 3 is resumed. The Lord is Jehovah (surely not the king), who is invisibly standing at His viceroy's right hand (see xvi. 8, exxi. 5, and cf. Rameses in battle, Records ojthe Past, ii. 70). Shatters kings ; so v. 6 (al luding to Ixviii. 22, Hab. iii. 13, 14) ; cf. ii. 9. Giving doom, &c. A Messianic feature (vii. 9, ix. 9, xcvi. 10). 6 The expression is awkward ; but the sense is clear (cf. last note). Perowne, however, has ' heads over wide lands.' 7 Cf. Judg. vii. 5, 2 Sam. xxiii. 1 5, and Shakespeare's lines — Three times they breath'd, and three times did they drink, Upon agreement, of swift Severn's flood. (King Henry IV., Act 1, Scene 3,) Has not something dropped out of the text ? Perowne's admirable paraphrase certainly suggests this, ' Then with renewed ardour, with head erect and kindling eye, [the king] continues the pursuit. Thus shall victory be crowned, and not a foe remain.' PSALM CXI. X SS. cxi. and cxii. are twin psalms. They are both 'alphabetical' in the full sense, each of the three-toned lines beginning with one of the twenty- two Hebrew letters taken in order ; and in both psalms the last two verses are tristichs. In contents they are still more closely akin. Ps. cxii. is a 'heilige Parodie' (Hengstenberg phrases it) of Ps. cxi., designed to suggest the lesson of Matt. v. 48. Probably enough they are both by the same author, who is equally at home in the law, the history, and the wisdom of Israel. 1 I will thank Jehovah with my whole heart, in the council and assembly of the upright. 2 Great are the works of Jehovah to be studied of all that delight therein. 3Q4 THE PSALMS 3 Glorious and grand is his doing, and his righteousness abides eternally. 4 A memorial has he made for his wonders : Jehovah is full of pity and compassion. 5 Food has he given unto them that fear him, he is ever mindful of his covenant. 6 The might of his works has he declared to his people, giving them the heritage of the nations. 7 The works of his hands are truth and justice, all his behests are faithful ; 8 They are established eternally and for ever, wrought out in truth and uprightness. 9 He has sent deliverance unto his people, he has appointed his covenant for ever ; holy and reverend is his name. io The fear of Jehovah is the beginning of wisdom, good discernment have all such as practise them ; his praise abides eternally. I The upright. Comp. (in a semi-alphabetical psalm) xxxiii. I, where 'upright' alternates with ' righteous.' Righteousness was in truth the aspiration of the post- Exile community. A pre-Exile poet may have coined the word Jeshurun (~El8vs, Aq., Symm., Theod.), but Ezra and his fellows made the name in some measure a reality, and the psalmist would fain confirm and deepen their work by insisting on the moral and spiritual character of true Israelites (comp. cxii. i, 2). 2 To be studied, &c. Might we with Sept. adopt another read ing,1 ' studied (lit. sought out) with regard to all his purposes ' (i&T-n- peva els ndvTa Ta deXrpjiaTa ovtov) ? This word gives an excellent sense ; the works of God are not to be studied as mere external facts, but as the monuments of His gracious purposes (for the rendering 'pur pose,' comp. Isa. liii. io, 'the plea sure (or, purpose) of Jehovah '). If it seems not worth while to desert the text, might we render, ' studied with regard to all their precious things'? 'All precious things,' says the wise man, ' do not equal wisdom' (Prov. viii. ' II, iii. 15) ; but the saying is perhaps too uncommon for such a plain writer. I therefore retain the common ren dering, though to my feeling as well as to Hitzig's it is tautological (comp. Mai. iii. 1). Delitzsch, in eds. 1-3, rendered 'according to all their objects ; ' but the sense intended would perhaps have been expressed otherwise (comp. Prov. xvi. 4 a:). He has now returned to the usual rendering. 3 His righteousness. Comp. cxii. 3, where man's righteousness has the same permanency predicted of it. ' Righteousness ' and ' lov ingkindness ' are closely connected ideas, both have relation to the twofold covenant ; '' yet we must not render with Dathe, ' Benignitas ejus sibi semper constat,' for the divine ' righteousness ' has its stern side (Ex. xxxiv. 7 a). 4 A memorial, viz. a constant tradition (comp. lxxviii. 3), con- 1 In Sept.'s interesting version of xvi. 3 we again meet with t« OsA^ara avroO. 2 Viz. that which unites Jehovah to Israel and the members of Israel to one an other. See Hosea (Cambridge Bible), pp. 29, 30. PSALM CXI. 305 firmed by observances like the Passover (Ex. xii. 14). Jehovah, &c. So ciii. 8. 5 rood. Marg. A.V. and R.V., ' prey.' Fresh green food is, how ever, the primary meaning of tercf (Ar. ratba). God's people are likened, not to wild but to tame beasts ; comp. Isa. lxiii. 14, and the comparison of Israel to a flock in the Asaphite psalms. Note too that both in Prov. xxxi. 15 and in Mai. iii. io, where the same word is used of man's sustenance, vege table food is meant (Of course the choice of the word here was prompted by the necessary initial letter : see introd.) Does the psalmist allude (as Del. thinks) to the manna ? An exclusive reference must be denied (comp. xxxvii. 25). 9 He sent deliverance. Not merely at the Exodus, but again and again. ' Thy God ' is a per manent title of Israel's God (xlvii. 4, and elsewhere). Holy and reverend. Comp. xcix. 3. One of the principal elements in the con ception of Jehovah's ' holiness ' is an irresistible might. Comp. Isa. xxix. 23. 10 a A commonplace of the sages of Israel (see Prov. i. 7, ix. 10, and cf. Job xxviii. 28, Sirach i. 20). It means that the beginning or foundation (some render 'chief part,' but this will not suit Prov. ix, 10) of true wisdom is true religion. Comp. Oehler, Old Testament Theology, § 240, and cf. Job and Solomon, p. 158. 10 b Practise them. The di vine ' behests ' (v. 7) are referred to by an incorrectness like that in cvii. 20 b. His praise, i.e. Jeho vah's (v. 3 b). PSALM CXII. 1 Happy the man that fears Jehovah, that delights much in his commandments. 2 Wealthy in the land shall be his seed ; the generation of the upright shall be blessed. 3 Substance and riches are in his house, and his righteousness abides eternally. 4 Unto the upright there beams a light in the darkness, (unto him who is) pitiful, compassionate, and righteous. 5 It is well with the man that shows pity and lends ; he maintains his cause in the judgment. 6 For he can never be moved ; the righteous shall be had in everlasting remembrance. 7 He is not afraid of evil tidings ; stedfast is his heart, trusting in Jehovah. 8 Established is his heart, he is not afraid, until he looks his fill upon his enemies. 9 He has scattered abroad, he has given to the poor ; his righteousness abides eternally : his horn shall be exalted in glory. to The ungodly sees it and is vexed, he gnashes with his teeth and melts away : the desire of the ungodly perishes x 306 THE PSALMS 2 Wealthy. Gibbor, here at least, has a peaceful reference. So Boaz is a ' mighty man of valour ' (Ruth ii. i), i.e. rich; comp. I Sam. ix. I, 2 Kings xv. 20. 3 b In what sense can these words, originally (cxi. 3) said of Jehovah, be true of the good man ? Only in this, that, unlike the un godly, the good man will be able to ' stand in the judgment ' (i. 3) ; his righteous deeds will stand for ever as a monumentof his character. There is no occasion to give the word the sense of outward success (as, e.g., in Isa. liv. 17). Comp. v. 9. 4 There are doubts as to the explanation of the second line. Do the epithets refer to Jehovah or to the good man ? Before answering, we must ask another question. In an ' alphabetical psalm ' must we follow grammar, or may a broken sentence be allowed ? If a license is permissible, and so we are left free to follow the suggestions of the context, we must, it seems, interpret the epithets of the good man, and not (as in cxi. 4) of Jehovah. V. 5 is manifestly an expansion of v. 4, and the ' rising of the light in the darkness ' is closely parallel to the promise which in Isa. lviii. 8, 10 is the reward of works of compassion. This view is in accordance with the obvious intention of the writer of these twin psalms. ' We have to expect here, not a repetition, but a sacred parody' (Hengstenberg), that which is said of Jehovah in the one psalm being affirmed of the righteous man in the other. It is the 'alphabetical' arrange ment which has caused the ob scurity. But for this, the psalmist would have expressed himself somewhat as in xcvii. 11. Even on the more common theory that Jehovah is referred to in v. 3 b, the verse is not free from difficulty, for a ' dawning light ' cannot be said to have moral attributes. In a long allegory such a statement might occur, but in a single distich a poet may be trusted to be con sistent. 5 Cf. xxxvii. 21. In the judgment, i.e. not in the divine judgment, but in a human court of justice. Others (e.g. Calvin), 'with rectitude.' 7, 8 Compare the phraseology with Isa. xxvi. 3 (according to R.V. margin), and, for ' stedfastness,' see on li. 12 b. 9 His righteousness. Even here 'righteousness' is not to be weakened into ' beneficence ; ' other forms of ' righteousness ' are tacitly presupposed, though (as in Dan. iv. 24) regarded as less im portant than active love. See on cxi. 3. His horn. See onlxxv. 5. 10 Perishes. See on i. 6, and note the correspondence of Pss. i. and cxii. in the first and last clauses. PSALM CXIII. r salms cxiii.-cxviii. constitute the so-called ' Hallel,' which was recited at the three great Feasts, at the New Moons, and on the eight days of the Hanukka or Feast of Dedication (cf. the commentators on ipvijo-avres, Matt. xxvi. 30). Of this group of psalms, Pss. cxiii., cxiv. form the intro duction, the former describing the condescension of Israel's God, the latter the wonders of the early history of the people ; Pss. cxv. -cxviii., on the other hand, have, as it seems, the historical background of a later period. Linguistically, notice in Ps. cxiii. the unexampled accumulat on of archaising 'construct' forms in :. 1 Praise, O ye servants of Jehovah praise the name of Jehovah. 2 Blessed be the name of Jehovah from henceforth even for ever. PSALM CXIII. 307 3 From the rising of the sun unto the going down thereof worthy to be praised is the name of Jehovah. 4 High is Jehovah above all nations, above the heavens is his glory. 5 Who is like unto Jehovah our God, that is enthroned so high, 6 That sees so low down- in heaven and on earth ? 7 That raises the helpless out of the dust, and out of the dunghill lifts the needy, 8 To give him a home with princes, even with the princes of his people ; 9 That seats the barren housewife in a home as the joyful mother of her sons 1 Servants of Jehovah. The the infinite range of the divine poet means primarily Israelites, vision ? Or, comparing Deut. iii. but (see v. 3) perhaps contemplates 24, is this line the complement of Israel's expansion into a world-wide v.^al Or, does 'in heaven ' be- church. So cxxxv. I, cf. 20 £ ; and long to v. 5 b, and 'on earth' to v. so Isa. Ivi. 8, where foreign prose- 6a? The third view is the most lytes are said to 'become Jehovah's probable on account of 'so low' servants.' (see Keble's version). 2, 3 Let time and space be 7, 8 These verses define the filled with the praise of Jehovah. meaning of 'on earth ;' God's self- V. 3 reminds us of Mai. i. 11, but humiliation is for the lowly, not for there it is open to doubt whether the proud. They are almost a the conversion of the Gentiles is verbal quotation from the Song of referred to, or whether the prophet Hannah (1 Sam. ii. 8), which is at takes a large-minded view of the any rate older than this psalm. spiritual value of ethnic religions. 9 That seats ... in a home, 4 Above the heavens. Comp. the security of the married woman on viii. 2 b, civ. 3. consisting in her having borne 5, 6 Comp. Isa. lvii. 15, Ps. children. Again compare Hannah xviii. 36b, cxxxviii. 6. In heaven (1 Sam. ii. 5), and, for the phrase- and in earth. Does this describe ology of line I, Ixviii. 7. PSALM CXIV 1 When Israel went forth from Egypt, the house of Jacob from a barbaric people, 2 Judah became his sanctuary, Israel his dominion. 3 The sea saw and fled, Jordan turned backward. 4 The mountains skipped like rams, the hill's like the young of the flock. 308 THE PSALMS 5 What ails thee, O thou sea, that thou fleest ? thou Jordan, that thou turnest back? 6 Ye mountains, that ye skip like rams ? ye hills, like the young of the flock ? 7 Be in agony, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob ; 8 Who turns the rock into a pool of water, flint-stone into a gushing fountain. I Barbaric (Heb. lo'ez, fiap- Bap64>a>vos). The word contains a suggestion of character (cf. Cic, Fontei. x. 21, 'immanis ac barbara consuetudo'). Harshness from one with whom we can only communi cate by signs, seems doubly harsh (see en Isa. xxviii. n). Egyptian, even more than Assyrian (read lo'ez in Isa. xxxiii. 19), must have seemed a ' stammering ' or ' bar barous ' tongue to the Israelites. In late Hebrew la'az is used for a non- Hebrew vernacular (cf. the Translator's Preface to A.V.) 2 Judah . . . Israel. The land, or the people ? The fem. verb will suit either. But, to avoid fourfold mention of the people, we should prefer the latter view, which is also rather the more obvious linguistically. His sanctuary, the temple being popularly regarded as in Judah; his dominion, Israel being the national designation. Both this passage and lxxvi. 2 suggest that the northern tribes had already been lost, and that Jerusalem was now in all respects the centre of Israel. Why 'his dominion ' ? Probably for effect's sake, the name of the king being reserved for v. 7. The psalm is evidently by a skilled artist. 3 The parting of the waters of the Red Sea and of the Jordan — the two marvels which marked respectively the beginning and the end of Israel's long journey (cf. Hab. iii. 8). The former is again connected with the foundation of the sanctuary in Ex. xv. 13 and 16-17. 4 Cf. xxix. 6, and for the facts Ex. xix. 18. 8 See Ex. xvii. 6, Num. xx. 11. What greater proofs of almighti- ness ? PSALM CXV. 1 he battle-song of Sobieski and of Christendom in 1683. It is very specially a liturgical psalm. Vv. 1-8 belong to the congregation ; at v. 9 a change of singers takes place, and possibly 9 a, 10 a, and 1 1 a may be intended for one of the Levites, the second part of these verses be longing to the whole choir. Vv. 12-15 will then be sung by the priest, and vv. 16-18 by the congregation. The Sept. (followed by Theodotion and the Peshitto) unites this to Ps. cxiv., Ps. cxvi. being divided into two (see introd.) So also many Heb. MSS. The reason is simply that Pss. cxiv., cxv. are separated by no Hallelujah. See on. Ps. cxxxv. 1 Not unto us, Jehovah, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth's sake. 2 Wherefore do the heathen say, 'Where, pray, is their God?' PSALM CXV. 309 3 Whereas our God is in heaven, all that he pleaseth he worketh out. 4 (But) their idols are silver and gold, the handiwork of men ; 5 Mouths have they, but they speak not ; eyes have the)-, but they see not ; 6 Ears have they, but they hear not ; noses have they, but they smell not ; 7 As for their hands, they handle not ; as for their feet, they walk not ; no sound give they with their throats. 8 Like unto them shall their makers become, and every one that trusts in them. 9 O Israel, trust thou in Jehovah ; he is their help and their shield. 10 O house of Aaron, trust ye in Jehovah ; he is their help and their shield. 1 1 Ye that fear Jehovah, put your trust in Jehovah ; he is their help and their shield. 12 Jehovah has remembered us ; he will bless — will bless the house of Israel, will bless the house of Aaron, 13 Will bless them that fear Jehovah, small as well as great. 14 Jehovah add to you, to you and to your children ! 15 Blessed may ye be of Jehovah, who made heaven and earth ! 16 The heavens are heavens for Jehovah, but the earth has he given to the children of men. 17 The dead are not they that praise Jah, neither all such as have gone down into Silence. 18 But we will bless Jah, from henceforth even for ever. 1 Israel is in danger from 22, 23. We need not therefore heathen enemies, and appeals for stumble at the reference to Jeho- help. 'We indeed are not fully vah's khe'sed'm line 2 as inconsistent khasidim (contrast Ixxxvi. 2), and with line 1. Possibly, however, a do not deserve our name as thy line has fallen out before line 3. servants : but thou art most truly 3 Jehovah is not only (for his khdsid, and wilt glorify, not us, but name's sake) willing, but (being thy covenant-name and promise.' ' the God of heaven;' cf. v. 16) able Comp. Deut. vii. 7, 8, Ezek. xxxvi. to help his covenant-people. The no THE PSALMS question in v. 3b (see below) * im plies the localisation and conse quently the limited power of Jeho vah. If Israel's God is only the God of Jerusalem, he can of course be paralysed by a superior God. The psalmist answers by anticipa tion that 'our God' cannot be localised on earth. Heaven is to him doubtless in process of becom ing a symbolic expression (cf. cxlviii. 13, 1 Kings viii. 27). V. 3b recurs in cxxxv. 6 a. 4-8 A later psalmist copies this piece of caustic humour (cxxxv. 1 5- 18) ; comp. also Deut iv. 28, Isa. xliv. 9-20. What can such vain gods do against the Almighty? Uke unto them, &c. So II. Isaiah says, 'The fashioners of images are all of them tohii ' (im potent, lifeless chaos), Isa. xliv. 9 ; cf. Jer. ii. 5 (above, on lxii. 11). 9-1 1 The versions give, 'trusts . . . trust.' The imperative ren dering, as Street long ago observed, does not agree so well with the latter part of the verses. But the antiphonal character of vv. 9-1 1 accounts for the variation of per sons. A threefold division of the faithful, as vv. 12, 13, cxviii. 2-4, and (with ' house of Levi ' added) cxxxv. 19-20. Israel. Sept. and Pesh. read, 'house of Israel,' har monising with v. 12 ; but, as in cxviii. 2, symmetry requires a tri syllable = beth AKron. House of Aaron. Singled out as the aristocracy of ' Israel.' Te that fear Jehovah. St Jerome renders, ' Timentes Dominum.' Better, 1 metuentes ' — the word used in Latin inscriptions for proselytes — for proselytes, in a wide sense, are surely included (see my note on Isa. Ivi. 6).2 The ordinary Greek phrase is o-efiopevoi tov deov (on which see Schiirer). Help and shield, as xxxiii. 20. 12 Has remembered us. If the psalm was sung during the offering of a sacrifice, this may mean that Jehovah has accepted the sacrifice (Del. compares the use of azkarah for that part of the offering which was to 'remind' God ; see on Lev. ii. 2). But the psalmist may mean only that Jeho vah has constantly shown his favour to Israel. 16-18 The mention of heaven and earth (v. 15) suggests the thought that on earth, and on earth alone, can men enjoy the privilege of praising their God. Sheol is (the land of) Silence (xciv. 17) ; its chief pang will be the loss of per sonal communion with God (cf. Isa. xxxviii. 18, 19). PSALM CXVI. 1 he tender musings of a devout soul on some personal or rather national deliverance ; see Keble's lovely version. The want of continuity reminds us of Ps. cxviii., and the variation in the point of time of Ps. lxxvii. Notice the recurrence of key-phrases (as in Ps. cxviii.) Sept begins a new psalm at v. 10 ; a new part at any rate begins there. 1 I am confident that Jehovah will hear the voice of my beseeching. 2 For he has leaned his ear unto me, and my calling shall last all my days. 1 ' Where is thy God ? ' If he were in Israel (so we may expand the question), we ought to see some signs of his effectual working for his people (comp. xlviii. 13). Is he asleep, or infirm, or on a journey (cf. 1 Kings xviii. 27) ? 2 So Kuenen ; ' Judaism is extending its borders ; proselytism has begun ' (Hibbert Lectures, p. 186). PSALM CXVI. 3 I 1 3 Cords of Death had encompassed me, and straits of Hades had come upon me ; 4 I suffered pain of heart and dejection, and called on the name of Jehovah, 'Ah, Jehovah ! deliver my soul.' S Full of pity is Jehovah, and righteous, yea, our God is compassionate. 6 Jehovah is the keeper of the simple ; I was brought low, and he saved me. 7 Return unto thy rest, O ni)' soul, for Jehovah has dealt bountifully with thee. 8 For thou hast rescued my soul from death, mine eye from tears, my foot from stumbling. 9 I shall walk before Jehovah in the lands of the living. io I was confident that I should speak (thus) ; but as for me, I was sore afflicted ; ni said in mine alarm, ' All men are liars.' 12 What can I render unto Jehovah for all his bounties unto me ? 13 I will lift the cup of salvations, and call upon the name of Jehovah, 14 My vows will I pay unto Jehovah, I would pay them before all his people. 15 A grave thing in the sight of Jehovah is the death of his duteous loving ones. 16 Ah, (save me still,) Jehovah ! for I am thy servant, I am thy servant, the son of thy handmaid ; * * * thou hast loosed my bonds. 1 7 I will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving, and will call upon the name of Jehovah. 18 My vows will I pay unto Jehovah, I would pay them before all his people, 19 In the courts ofthe house of Jehovah, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem. 1, 2 A good resolution, and its love to God, which, as Letronne ground in experience. For I am (after Pascal and De Maistre) has confident, the text has ' I love ' observed, is a specially Hebrew (or (continue, ' for Jehovah hears '). at least Semitic) conception ; the One would gladly find in the Psalter Greeks had the name Theophilos one such emphatic expression of but not Philotheos. Love to God 312 THE PSALMS is certainly more suitable in this context than in xviii. 2 (rec. text). But the omission of the object is difficult (?• comp. 1 John iv. 19, Lachmann). Accepting the cor rection, part i. and part ii. both begin in the same manner, which is in the style of our psalmist. 3 Based on xviii. 5, 6. Straits of Hades may mean ' distresses no more to be escaped from than Hades (Sheol).' If so, our poet may have given the first i^ri in his original in the sense of ' pains ' (not ' cords'). But possibly ' straits of Sheol ' may be = ' fauces Orci ' (see on xxiii. 4), since elsewhere 1VD is (allegorically) literal ; see on cxviii. 5. 9 I shall walk, unhurried and free from care (cf. cxix. 45, same stem). Or, ' I can walk' The poet's present and future are alike free from clouds ; it is the inference of faith (cf. cxviii. 17). Lands (instead of ' land,' xxvii. 1 3) gives the same idea as ' a land of distances ' (Isa. xxxiii. 17) : it is the plural of extension. Geddes, ' (Hence) I yet walk in the regions of the liv ing ; ' Keble — In fields of life and light Speed fearless here and there (expressing the Hithpael). How widely the Diaspora spread at an early period, is well known (cf. ' in the lands,' cvi. 27). Ewald remarks the accumulation of plurals in late Hebrew (Lehrbuch, § 270 c). See, however, crit. note. 10, 11 Connexion and rendering are obscure. In any case, the order of time is broken : what the poet here tells us precedes the deliver ance just described. He means, I think, that, in spite of the dark view of human nature expressed in the speech which he will pre sently quote, he was fully confident that he would sooner or later have to record thanksgivings for deliver ance (such as in vv. 5-9). But there are other explanations, e.g. (a) ' I kept my hold upon God (even) when I spake, or, had to speak, (saying,) I am sore afflicted.' Just as Koheleth was regardful of 'wisdom' in the midst of his experi ments on 'folly' (Eccles. ii. 3), so the psalmist retained his faith even when God and man seemed to have forsaken him, and when two de spairing cries forced themselves from his lips. Or, (b) ' I am full of faith when (thus) I speak (referring to vv. 5-9), and yet I (the person who speak thus confidently) have been so afflicted and alarmed that I said,' &c. I prefer (b), because v.iob seems to me parallel in form to v. 11 a. The view actually adopted, however, has the support of xxvii. 13 (see also above, on vv. 1, 2). 1 1 Line 1 comes from xxxi. 23. Are liars (not, ' are a lie,' as lxii. 10), i.e. disappointing expecta tions. Israel was to owe its de liverance, not to human allies, but to Jehovah (lx. 13). Not the state ment (cf. cxviii. 8, 9), but the tone was wrong. 13 The speaker, who will natur ally make a thank-offering to Jeho vah, looks forward to the happy meal which will follow, and at which, solemnly raising the cup (as in later Jewish festival rites), he will commemorate his rich and abundant deliverance (salvations). So on the great stele of Byblus (Gebal) the king is represented standing before the local deity with a cup in his hand. In lines 2 and 3 he says, ' I call upon my lady the Baalath of Gebal, because she [hath heard my voice] ; ' Ganneau, Etudes d 'archeologie orientale, 1 880, p. 12. That a sacrificial meal and not a drink-offering is meant by the psalmist, is suggested by the verb in v. 14 a (cf. shllem). 14 Repeated as v. 1 8 to lengthen the psalm. IWy vows will I pay, &c. Perhaps this psalm was to be sung before a sacrifice. 15 In xliv. 13 Jehovah is said to have rated his people low ; here, however, to regard the death of his khasidim (see on 1. 5) as something precious, i.e. dearly to be paid for by those who are its agents. We should have expected ' the blood, PSALM CXVI. 313 as in Ixxii. 14. Might we explain even if this were grammatically ydqar 'weighty,' as cxxxix. 17 ? possible, the context shows that 16 God's past kindness em- deliverance is past (see vv. 7, 8). boldens the prayer (to be completed Nor, for the same reason, can it be in thought from cxviii. 25) for its a ' prophetic perfect,' in spite of a continuance. The words of happy superficial resemblance to xxii. 22. self-abasement which follow are Rather, the clause serves a double suggested by Ixxxvi. 16. But what purpose: it furnishes a basis for shall we say to the third line as it the petition in lines I and 2, and stands in all parallelistic versions for the grateful resolution in v. of the received text? Can thou 17. But surely, as Olshausen and hast loosed be, as Ewald takes it, Bickell have seen, something must a ' precative perfect,' and mean have fallen out : the clause, as it 'mayest thou loose'? No; for stands, is scarcely tolerable. PSALM CXVII. Oome MSS. attach this doxology to Ps. cxvi. ; others prefix it to Ps. cxviii. But why may it not have been prefixed or appended to other liturgical psalms, according to convenience ? Comp. v. 2 a with ciii. 1 1 b. 1 O praise Jehovah, all ye nations, laud him, all ye peoples. 2 For his lovingkindness is mighty over us, and the truth of Jehovah endures for ever. PSALM CXVIII. 1_,tjther's psalm at the Wartburg, and less appropriately used as a battle-song by the Huguenots. It is really a string of pearls, each verse being independent like a proverb. The historical background is more definite than in Ps. cxvi. Some happy event has taken place, which is celebrated by festival rites, not unlike (see on v. 27) those of the Feast of Booths. A procession is on its way to the temple, different sections of which alternately sing the several verses of the first part (vv. 1-18). Verse 19 is spoken in the name of the whole band on its arrival at the gates ; v. 20 is the reply in the name of the Levites who receive it. Verses 21-24 are sung antiphonally as before ; v. 25 is the cry of the whole chorus ; v. 26 is spoken by those within to the approaching pro cession ; v. 27 belongs to the leaders of the band ; v. 28 to a part of the chorus ; v. 29 to the whole body of worshippers. 1 O thank ye Jehovah, for he is good, for his lovingkindness endures for ever. 2 O let Israel say that his lovingkindness endures for ever. 3 O let the house of Aaron say that his lovingkindness endures for ever. 4 O let them that fear Jehovah say that his lovingkindness endures for ever. 5 From out of my straits I called upon Jah ; Jah answered me in a broad place. 314 THE PSALMS 6 Jehovah is on my side ; I will not fear ; what can man do unto me? 7 Jehovah is on my side, as my great helper, therefore I shall look my fill upon them that hate me. 8 It is better to take refuge in Jehovah than to put any confidence in man. 9 It is better to take refuge in Jehovah than to put any confidence in princes. 10 All nations have come about me, in Jehovah's name will I mow them down. 1 1 They have come about me, yea, they have come about me, in Jehovah's name will I mow them down. 12 They have come about me as bees about wax, they flame like a fire of thorns, in Jehovah's name will I mow them down. 13 Thou didst thrust sore at me that I might fall, but Jehovah helped me. 14 Jah is my strength and my song, therefore he became my salvation. 15 The sound of a ringing shout of salvation is in the tents of the righteous ; ' The right hand of Jehovah does valiantly : 16 The right hand of Jehovah is exalted, the right hand of Jehovah does valiantly.' 17 I shall not die but live, and tell out the works of Jehovah. 18 Jehovah has chastened me indeed, but he has not given over unto death. 19 Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter into them, and give thanks unto Jah. 20 This is the gate of Jehovah, the righteous may enter into it. 21 I will give thanks unto thee, for thou didst answer me, and become my salvation. 22 The stone which the builders rejected is become the chief corner stone. 23 This was by Jehovah's appointing, wondrous is it in our eyes. 24 This is the day which Jehovah has made, let us exult and rejoice in it. 25 Ah, Jehovah ! save (still) ; Ah, Jehovah ! send prosperity (still). PSALM CXVIII. 115 26 Blessed be he that enters in the name of Jehovah, we bless you from the house of Jehovah. 27 Jehovah is God ; light has he given us ; bind the procession with branches, (step on) to the altar-horns. 28 Thou art my God, and I will thank thee, my God, I will exalt thee. 29 O give thanks unto Jehovah, for he is good, for his lovingkindness endures for ever. 1-4 Comp. this prelude with Ezra iii. 10, 11, cvii. 2, cxxxvi. 1, cxv. 9-1 1. 5 My straits (lit, the strait place). Cf. Lam. i. 3, 'All her pursuers overtook her between the straits.' See same allegory, cxvi. 3. In a broad place, i.e. by setting me at ease (cf. xviii. 20, xxxi. 9). 6, 7 At this point the speaker transfers his point of view into the past ; he is once more fearless in the midst of foes. This continues till v. 13. Notice in v. 6 a verbal quotation from Ivi. 10, 12, and in v. 7 an allusion to liv. 6 (note). 8,9 See cxvi. 11, cxlvi. 3, and comp. these lines from an oracle said to have been given to Esar- haddon (Budge, History of Esar- haddon, pp. 3, 4), ' Upon mankind trust not, (but) bend thine eyes upon me — trust to me ; for I am I star of Arbela,' and these from an Egyptian hymn to Amen the sun- god (Records ofthe Past, vi. 99). Let no prince be my defender in all my troubles : Let not my memorial be placed under the power Of any man who is in the house . . . my Lord is (my) defender. 10 The speaker is still absorbed in the past. His battle-cry is, I ¦will mow them down. Sept. wilfully, fjpwdprfv avTois (suggested by the ' bees '). Hengstenberg, in strict accordance with usage, ' I will circumcise them ' (as Charlemagne baptised the Saxons ; cf. Jos. Ant. xiii. 9, 1 ; 1 1, 3 ; or, in the vindic tive manner of David, I Sam. xviii. 25). One might also suggest, ' I will weaken them, or make them harmless, I will (as in the Indian figure) mix their blood with water ' (cf. the use of mdhal, Isa. i. 22). But ' mow them down ' is simpler and stronger (cf. mdlal, Job xxiv. 24 Nifal) ; cf. similar bold expres sions in Judg. xv. 8, 1 Sam. xv. 33. 12 See crit. note. On the second figure, comp. 2 Sam. xxiii. 6, 7. 13-16 Here the point of time is shifted to the deliverance. V. 14 is an appropriate quotation from Ex. xv. 2 (cf. Isa. xii. 2). 19 The gates of righteous ness, i.e. (1) the gates which open only to the righteous (v. 20 b ; cf. Isa. xxvi. 2), and (2) those from which Jehovah's righteous acts of deliverance proceed (v. 19 b ; cf. Jer. xxxi. 23). To enter God's house is in itself a proof of right eousness (v. 6, 8 ; cf. 2 Sam. xv. 25). 22 An old proverb in a new light. The stone means Israel, which, contrary to all human pro bability, had again become pro minent in the complex organisation of peoples. The builders are non- Israelites who would fain have arranged the world to their liking. 25 Sung, perhaps, by the pro cession carrying and shaking festal branches, the use of which was not confined to the Feast of Booths (1 Mace. xiii. 51, 2 Mace. x. 6 ; cf. Madden, Coins of the Jews, pp. 71, 73, 203, 239). See below. Save (stm). So Jer. xxxi. 7. Again and again tears mingled with Israel's laughter (Ezra iii. 12, 13), so in complete seemed the fulfilment of the promises ; see, e.g., lxxxv. 5, exxvi. 4, Isa. xxvi. 18 (contrast 1-7, 3i6 THE PSALMS 15). The pleading 'Hosanna' in time acquired the character of an eucharistic formula, accommodat ing itself to the joyousness of the festival (see Matt. xxi. 9, and cf. Dante, Purg. xxix. 20, 31). The next verse indeed is already eucha ristic (same transition as in cxvi. 16, 17). 26 In the name of Jehovah. These words go with ' Blessed ' (cf. Deut. xxi. 5) ; so the accentuation. 27 Bind the procession, &c. The passage is difficult, but so much is clear that it must be ex plained by the rites of the Feast of Booths. For 'procession' (khag) we might substitute 'festal victim' (see Ex. xxiii. 18, Mai. ii. 3), or perhaps (a secondary meaning theoretically as defensible) ' festal staves ' (thyrsi). Neither rendering, however, seems to me perfectly suitable to the con text. On the other hand, it is cer tain that a solemn procession round the altar (cf. xxvi. 6 and xxvii. 6 Sept.) was one ofthe most charac teristic usages of the Feast of Booths. Western parallels to such a custom will at once suggest them selves (e.g. Thucyd. iv. 80, Liv. xxvi. 9, Virg. &n. viii. 285) ; nor is there any want of Semitic illus trations. Thus the Arabic poet Labid alludes to the dance of maidens round Duwar ' (from ddra ' to go round ;' cf. ~/n) — a custom of the ' days ofthe ignorance' — and the Tawaf or circum-ambulation of the Kaaba was too deeply rooted to be touched even by Mohammed.2 The Targum on Cant. iii. 2 may give a strange exegesis, but sup plies a valuable confirmation of what we know well from other sources. Philo, too, evidently regards the custom of sacred dances as Semitic, for he twice refers to it in connexion with the Israelites in the wilderness. A similar joyous procession (not a dance) is referred to here. The welcome in v. 26 is followed by a summons to the members of the Chorus to bind themselves with branches (see below). Then, with a quick, impe rious gesture, the same speakers point to the altar-horns (i.e. the corners with their horn-like projec tions) as the points round which the procession is to move. The 'horns ' were the symbols, not only of strength (Deut. xxxiii. 17) and dig nity (lxxv. 5) in general, but of divine strength and divine dignity (the bull was a divine symbol with the Egyp tians, Phoenicians, and Assyrians 3). To touch or to move round them was to make a direct appeal for divine help, as is clear from 1 Kings i. 50, ii. 28, and (to illustrate one popular usage by another) Plutarch's life of Theseus, i\6pevo-e zrepl tov KepaT&va ficopov. The con text of the latter passage shows that the efficacy of the dance was connected with the (numerous) horns of the altar. The great Jewish altar had indeed but four horns (Ex. xxvii. 2), but these were invested with profound sanctity. Hence the strongly Jewish author of the Book of Judith (ix. 8) says that the Assyrians presumed ' to overthrow with the axe the horn of God's altar.'4 Now to return to the 'branches,' which the Septuagint and Symma chus have already found here. The former,itis true,mayhave explained them ofthe leafy booths ofthe 0-107 ro- irnyla. It is certain, however, that ' the fruit of goodly trees, branches of palm-trees, and boughs of branch ing trees, and willows ofthe stream' (Lev. xxiii. 40) were, in the later 1 So Lyall (Specimens, p. 125) ; Duwar or Dawar, however, is surely not ' the Pillar,' but ' that which devotees encircle.' Cf. Antara's poem in Freytag's Hamdsa, p. 209, v. 1 ; and see further Lane's Lexicon. 2 Krehl, Religion der vorislamischen Araber, p. 63, &c. ; Grunbaum, Zeitschr. d. deutschen morg. Gesellschaft, 1886, pp. 276, 277. 3 See my note on Isa. i. 24, and cf. Euseb. Prep. Ev. i. 10 (p. 38, ed. 1688) ; Sayce, Hibbert Lectures, p. 290. 4 For facts bearing on this subject, see Spencer, De Legibus Hebraorum, lib. iii. c. 4 and lib. iv. c. 5, 8 ; Botticher, Der Baumkultus der Hellenen, chaps. 27, 28 ; and Griin- baum's article in the Z. D. M. G. PSALM CXVIII. 317 period, not plucked merely to make booths, but also for ritual pur poses.1 We need not consult a more recent authority than Jose phus,2 who expressly speaks of thyrsi as carried in the hands (cf. 2 Mace. x. 7). Plutarch (Sympos. iv. 6, 2), with one of his hasty com binations, conjectures that this dvpo-ocfiopla was accompanied by Bacchic dances. What the ancient popular rites of the great autumn festival were, we can hardly be said to know, but processions of priests moving round the altar with a measured step did take place at the Feast of Booths in the later period. Once on the first six days of the festival, and seven times on the seventh day, this solemn circuit was made, the priests repeating meanwhile the 25th verse of our psalm ; 3 and Jewish wor shippers even now bear witness in the words of their liturgy that they ' with songs of praise wave the palm-branch seven days, a memo rial of the sanctuary observed out side it on the Feast of Booths.'4 It is surely much more natural to find such a procession (but not of priests) referred to in our passage than an elliptically expressed de scription of a sacrifice (Perowne, ' Bind the victim with cords till it is sacrificed, and its blood sprinkled on the horns of the altar'). We may also reasonably suppose that the favourite rite of shaking or waving the branches towards the altar in token of supplication was practised on this occasion.6 If so, the shaking probably took place between the singing of v. 24 and v. 25. But this is not all ; the branches are now to be put to another use — that of ' binding,' i.e. perhaps link ing, the members ofthe procession together before they leave the temple. How this was done is matter for conjecture (cf. Griin- baum's article, referred to already). But at any rate we can hardly avoid interpreting D^ay of the branches prescribed in Lev. xxiii. 40 (where notice the phrase rnjTfy). No doubt therewas another rite in which these branches were used at the Feast of Booths. Every morning fresh willow-branches were stuck on either side of the altar, ap parently to decorate it, and Sym machus seems to explain our pas sage of this rite, for he renders, dvdy^aTe oTeipavaipaTa Kal kXoSovs. So too does Dr. Gratz, rendering the line — Bind ye garlands with myrtles ; but, apart from the difficulty of justifying ' garlands,' would not such a decoration of the altar have been completed before the proces sion set forth ? To the altar- horns, i.e. from one horn to another (see above). PSALM CXIX. A sweetly monotonous meditation, in which, partly to assist the memory, and partly as one of love's quaint ways of expressing itself, the eight lines of each stanza begin with the same letter of the Hebrew alpha bet (cf. Lam. iii.) The subject is the duty and blessedness of the study 1 Dillmann explains Lev. I.e., with reference to v. 42, of the making of booths ; Kalisch of the special ritual purpose (ivpao^opia). 2 Tos. Ant. xiii. 13, 6, votiryv OfTos Trapa tois 'IovSatoi? ec Tfl S,Kt]voTryjyia. e'xety etcatrrov Svpcrovs iic v ; cf. iii. IO, 4, e'poi/T« iv Tais xepffii' elpeo-idvriv p.vp. 2 in his appendix to Solomon's temple-prayer (see 2 Chron. vi. 40, and cf. on Ps. cxxxii.) The psalm has also left its mark on the history of Luther and of Wesiey. [First Voice.] 1 Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, Jehovah ; 2 Lord, hearken to my voice ; attentive be thine ears to the voice of my beseeching. [Second J'oice.] 3 If thou, Jah, shouldest bear iniquities in mind, O Lord, who could stand ? 4 Yea, but with thee there is forgiveness, that thou mayest be feared. [First Voice.] 5 I wait for Jehovah, and in his word do I hope. 6 My soul [waits] for the Lord, more than watchmen for the morning. [Chorus.] 7 Hope, Israel, in Jehovah, for with Jehovah there is lovingkindness, and with him is plenteous deliverance ; 8 And he shall deliver Israel from all his iniquities. I Out ofthe depths, i.e. out of meeting the wants of human nature. the flood of calamity which has We might have expected a different come upon me through my sins verb. But hope and fear are nearly (cf. lxix. 3, 15). allied. A trembling hope befits 3 The standard which Jehovah the sinner ; besides which, ' fear of applies is an equitable and relative Elohim (or, Jehovah) ' was a corn- one (ciii. 10). Comp. Psal. Sol. ix. mon phrase for the true religion 15, 8iKaiovs evXoyrio-eis, Kal ovk ei&v- (xix. io, Gen. xx. II). vels irepl av rjpapTov. 5 In bis word, i.e. his promises 4 Comp. the new covenant, Jer. of deliverance (as often in Ps. cxix.) xxxi. 33, 34. 'With thee, as thy 6 See crit note. More than inseparable companion. Por- watchmen, tired with the night's giveness. Sept. badly, Thao-pos. watch (comp. Isa. xxi. 1 1, 12). Heb. s'likhdh (see Neh. ix. 17, 7 Plenteous deliverance (or, Dan. ix. 9, and cf. on Ixxxvi. 5) is redemption), i.e. ways and means in late Hebrew the word for a of salvation in abundance; cf. Ixviii. prayer for forgiveness. That 21, Isa. xxxiii. 6. P'diith only occurs thou mayest be feared. The ob- four times (here and cxi. 9, also ject of the visible manifestation of Isa. 1. 2, and, in a different sense, Jehovah's forgiveness is that the Ex. viii. 19). religion of Jehovah may commend 8 Deliver ; or, ' set free ; ' or, itself more and more widely as ' redeem ; ' from all his ini- z 538 THE PSALMS quitics, and from the calamities to which they have led (see xxv. 22, where the verb is the same, and cf. on xxxi. 11). PSALM CXXXI. ' Like a string of a Christian Lyra Innocentium,' says Bishop Alexander. But it is innocence regained (see xxxii. 2) which breathes through these tender lines— a humility not natural to Israel, but born of penitence (see last psalm, and cf. on vii. 9). 1 Not haughty, Jehovah, is my heart, and not lofty are mine eyes ; neither move I amidst great matters, and things too arduous for me. 2 Surely I have composed and quieted my soul, as a weaned child in its mother's arms ; my soul upon me is like a weaned child. 3 Hope, Israel, in Jehovah from henceforth even for ever. 1 The key to this passage is either Jer. xiv. 5 (Baruch's oracle) or Job xlii. 3. If the former, the psalmist must be understood to have renounced all thoughts of discontent at his own or Israel's outward lot ; if the latter, to have abandoned the speculative debates of the ' wise men ' touching the deep things of God's moral govern ment (see Job and Solomon). We may also of course combi?ie these views, and in the light of Ps. cxxxix. this appears the best course. I think, however, that the former view is the more prominent in the psalmisfs mind. He knows that nothing is ' too arduous ' for Jeho vah (Gen. xviii. 14 ; cf. Ixxii. 18 note), but humbly refrains from definite petitions. He is not one of the ' violent ' who ' take the kingdom of heaven by force ; ' not a Savonarola, but a Ken. 2 He has at least achieved one hard thing — he has quieted the restless longings of a strong human nature. He compares his acquired gentleness to that of a weaned child, i.e. not a helpless infant, but a child of at least three years (2 Mace. vii. 27 ; comp. Gen. xxi. 8). Comp. viii. 2, Matt. xi. 25, xviii. 2- 4. My soul upon me. See on xlii. 5. PSALM CXXXII. Again, as in Ps. lxxxix., Israel longs for the fulfilment of the ancient promises. Its spokesman, however, perplexes the interpreter by assum ing in vv. 6-10 a standpoint remote from that of his own age. Are these verses taken from some other psalm from which all reference to the author's real period has been excluded ? Or does the psalmist suddenly shift the historical scene, and reveal to us his imaginative sympathy with past times ? However this may be, he has not the shadow of a doubt that David can be recompensed in the persons of his remote descendants. For vv. 1-5 are obviously the utterance of the post-Exile Church. It is less easy to define the standpoint of vv. 6-10, which are full of abrupt transitions. V. 6 relates to the early history of the ark ; v. 7 places us PSALM cxxxn. 339 in the Davidic period, and z>v. S-io in the Solomonic. Clearly the psalmist, who believes in the solidarity of successive generations of Israel, fuses three periods in one. The third and fourth strophes give a new version of the ancient promises in two parts which are separated by a comment ofthe psalmist's (v. 13). If the psalm also contained a contrast between Israel's past and present, the parallel of Ps. lxxxix. would be complete. Observe that vv. 8-10 recur in 2 Chron. vi. 41, 42, but with additions which mar the rhythm (cf. on Ps. cxxx.) [Chorus.] 1 Remember thou, Jehovah, unto David all that he underwent ; 2 How he sware unto Jehovah, and vowed unto the Puissant One of Jacob, 3 ' I will not go into the tent of my house, nor ascend the bed of my couch, 4 I will not give sleep to mine eyes, nor slumber to mine eyelids, 5 Until I find out a place for Jehovah, a habitation for the Puissant One of Jacob.' [One part 0/ Chorus.] 6 Behold, we have heard of it in Ephratah, we have found it in the country of Jaar : 7 Let us go into his habitation, let us fall low before his footstool. [Another part of Chorus.] 8 Arise, Jehovah, into thy resting-place, thou and the ark of thy strength. 9 Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness, and let thy loving ones ring out a glad cry. 10 For thy servant David's sake turn not away the face of thine anointed. [A Single Voice.] 1 1 Jehovah has sworn unto David in truth — he will not go back from it : — ' Of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne ; 12 If thy children keep my covenant, and mine ordinances that I shall teach them, their children also for ever shall sit upon thy throne.' [Chorus.] 13 For Jehovah has chosen Zion, he has desired it for his habitation. 540 THE PSALMS [Part of Chorus.] This is my resting-place for ever ; here will I dwell, for I have desired it. 15 Her provision will I bless; her needy will I satisfy with bread. Her priests also will I clothe with salvation, and her loving ones shall ring out a glad cry. There will I make a horn to shoot forth unto David, and set in order a lamp for mine anointed. His enemies will I clothe with shame, but upon himself shall his crown sparkle.' 14 16 17 I Remember unto David (cxxxvii. 7), i.e. unto the Davidic representative (or, the Davidic family) regarded as organically united to his (or, its) ancestor ; cf. Hos. v. 5, 1 Kings xii. 16, and the use of ' Aaron ' in cxxxiii. 2. This idea of the solidarity of successive generations led to the later doctrine of the merits of the fathers (Weber, System der altsynagog. Pal. Theo- logie, p. 281). In line 2 David himself is meant. See on v. 17. 2, 5 Puissant One. Heb. abhir, an uncommon word (see on Isa. i. 24, and cf. abbirim, used of the angels, lxxviii. 25). The story of the ark in 1 Sam. v. illus trates the title. 3 Tent. Conventionally for ' house.' See Perrot's Chaldcean Art, i. 199, and cf. xv. 1, Hi. 7, lxxviii. 51, Ixxxiv. 11, cxx. 5, Sirach xxiv. 8. For the combination of synonyms see on lv. 24. 6 Israel, even at this late period (comp. on lxvi. 6), feels itself one with the Israel of David's time, when the ark was transferred from Kirjath-jearim, first to the house of Obed-Edom, and then to Mount Zion. The Israelites, says the psalmist, first of all enquired for the ark in Ephratah, and at last found it in the country of Jaar. The key to this enigmatical de scription is to be sought with Delitzsch in the genealogies of Chronicles, which sometimes em body ethnographical and geo graphical traditions.1 Caleb arid Ephrath had a son named Hur (1 Chron. ii. 19), who is the assumed father of the men of Bethlehem (1 Chron. iv. 4), and Shobal, a son of this Hur, is the assumed father of the men of Kirjath-jearim (1 Chron. ii. 50). A full enquiry is impossible here ; but it seems most probable that Ephratah was, in post-Exile times, the name (the revised archaic name?) of the district in which Kirjath-jearim as well as of that in which Bethlehem was situated. The former name ( = ' city of forests ') is shortened for rhythm's sake into Jaar ( = ' forest '). 8-10 These verses transport us suddenly to the dedication of the temple (2 Chron. vi. 41,42). They contain the only reference to the ark in the Psalter. And yet that sacred object, equally with the Urim and Thummim, had long since disappeared (cf. 2 Mace. ii. 1-8, arid see Ewald, History, vii. 171). 9 Righteousness is explained in v. 16 by ' salvation.' Both are different aspects of the gift be stowed by a ' righteous ' God (exxix. 4). No doubt it is implied (1) that Israel's divinely wrought prosperity is also its justification in the eyes of the world (comp. Isa. liv. 17), and (2) that Israel itself satisfies the conditions of Jehovah's 1 See Wellhausen , De geniibus et familiis Judceorum quce 1 Chr. ii. 4 enumerantur (1870} ; Gratz, Monatsschrift, 1876, p. 461, &c. PSALM CXXXII. 341 covenant — is, in short, a ' righteous 23, 24, xxxvii. 24, 25. Note also nation' (Isa. xxvi. 2) ; but the fact the expression mike ... to shoot remains that both the inward and forth, which reminds us of Zech. the outward righteousness of Israel iii. 8, vi. 12 (Isa. iv. 2, Jer. xxiii. 5, are rooted in the essential and xxxiii. 15). A still closer phraseo- consistent righteousness of its self- logical parallel is Ezek. xxix. 21, revealing God. where, however, the ' horn ' spoken II Has sworn. So lxxxix. 4 ; of is not that of the Davidic heir cf. 2 Sam. vii. 11, &c. nor of the Davidic family, but of 15 Palestine was very liable to the 'house of Israel.' For the famine; hence the prominence of images of the 'horn' and the 'lamp,' details like these in prophetic see notes on lxxxix. 25, xviii. 29. anticipations. Set in order a. lamp (cf. 1 17, 18 The climax of the re- Kings xv. 4, Prov. xx. 20) reminds compense to which the Jewish us of the Egyptian rite of ' kindling church referred in its opening peti- the light ' in memory of the dead,' tion (v. i\ Whatever David means with which may be compared the in 7'. 1, the psalmist here undoubted- somewhat similar Jewish custom ly gives the name to that Davidic of keeping a lighted lamp in the representative in whose person the chamber of death for seven days glories of the past shall be more after the funeral. than repeated. Cf. Ezek. xxxiv. PSALM CXXXIII. Against partisanship and local and class jealousies ; probably a pilgrim- psalm. The true Israehtish sentiment harmonises all differences — this is one of the blessed effects of the festal gatherings; The spiritual and the secular authority; the rich and the poor, the citizen, the peasant, and the pilgrim from the wide Diaspora ; all at such times feel themselves united with each other and with Jehovah. How? V. 3, compared with cxi. qb, gives the answer. By the bond of the covenant which is 'lovingkindness' (khesed ; see on iv. 4). These ideas, however, are not set forth logically ; two allied trains of thought intersect one another. [First Voice.] 1 Behold, how good and pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together kindly ! [Second Voice.] 2 Jehovah's blessing is like the fine oil upon the head that descends upon the beard, even Aaron's, that descends upon the (upper) border of his vestures. 3 Like the dew of Hermon that descends upon the mountains of Zion. [First Voice.] For there Jehovah has appointed the blessing, even life for evermore. 2 A second voice strikes in, 3 Brotherly love not merely describing Israel's blessing. serves to make life pass pleasantly, 1 Trans. Soc. Bibl. Arch., viii. 223. 342 THE PSALMS but is the condition of richest blessings. A second voice strikes in here, comparing these blessings (l) to the costly oil poured upon the head of the high priest (here called 'Aaron ; ' see on cxxxii. i) at his consecration (Ex. xxix. 7, Lev. viii. 12, xxi. 1,0), which of itself ran down upon his beard and upon the (upper) border of his dress, and (2) to the ' dew of Hermon which fell upon the mountains of Zion.' The first of these figures is clear enough. There is certainly no need, con trary to the analogy of cxxiii. 3, 4, cxxiv. 1-5, to make line 3 of v. 2 a description of the flowing beard of (the historical) Aaron (rendering twice 'that came down'). The second is not so intelligible. Gratz supposes something to have dropped out between ' mountains ' and ' Sion ; ' but this is not favoured by the rhythm of the poem. Delitzsch declares the description to be true to nature, a plentiful dew in Jeru salem being caused by a current of cold air from Hermon, and quotes an Arabic poet who says — Yesterday a spark (i.e. a biting blast) blew over to me From the high snow-mountain (Hermon). Is this satisfactory? I think not. Yet I would not willingly accuse the psalmist of Midrashic fanciful- ness. He seems, indeed, to say that Hermon sends on the dew to Zion ; but he means simply this, that the dew which fertilises the lowly Zion has the same origin and the same preciousness with that which in much greater abundance falls on the slopes of mighty Hermon. The image thus ex plained may seem to be not quite parallel to the first. But the oil on the upper border of the high- priestly dress does not really come from the head but from him who pours it. And in the application of both figures it is not the upper class which blesses the lower, nor the citizen who blesses the pil grim, but Jehovah who blesses all alike in the true 'metropolis' — Jehovah, who said of old, ' / will be the dew to Israel ' (Hos. xiv. 5). On the ' dew of Hermon,' see Tristram, Land of Israel, pp. 608, 609 ; but cf. Neil, Palestine Ex plored, chap, v., ' The Night-mist.' Por there, i.e. in Zion or Jerusalem (as cxxxii. 17). The first voice resumes the strain. Prefix in thought, ' How good, then, to dwell together in Zion — so lowly by nature, so favoured spiritually' (cf. Ixviii. 17). life. Cf. xxix. II. Peace and life are correlative terms. The ' living God' is also the ' God of peace;' His covenant is 'of life and peace ' (Mai. ii. 5). PSALM CXXXIV. An interchange of greetings between the lay- worshippers in the temple and the priests and Levites appointed for the night service (see 1 Chron. ix. 33)- 1 Behold, bless ye Jehovah, all ye servants of Jehovah, who stand in Jehovah's house in the night-seasons. 2 Lift up your hands unto the sanctuary, and bless Jehovah. 3 ' Jehovah bless thee out of Zion, he who made heaven and earth.' 1 Who stand. The word for priestly and Levitical service (Deut. x. 8, xviii. 7, 1 Chron. xxviii. 30, &c.) ; cf. kdhcn from root ' to stand.' PSALM CXXXV. 543 PSALM CXXXV. A MOSAIC-WORK (see on Ps. xcvii.), to which law, prophets, and psalms have all contributed. This psalm and the preceding were sometimes united by the Jews ; in fact, Ps. cxxxv. may be regarded as an expansion of Ps. cxxxiv. with elements from Ps. cxv. (cf. v. 6 a with cxv. 3, and vv. 15-18 with cxv. 4-8). 1 Hallelujah. Praise ye the name of Jehovah ; praise him, O ye servants of Jehovah. 2 Ye that stand in the house of Jehovah — in the courts of the house of our God, 3 Praise Jehovah, for Jehovah is good ; make melody unto his name, for it is pleasant. 4 For Jah hath chosen Jacob unto himself, even Israel for his own possession. 5 For I am sure that Jehovah is great, and that our Lord is above all gods. 6 Whatsoever Jehovah pleases, that he works out in the heaven and in the earth, in the seas and in all abysses ; 7 Who causes vapours to ascend from the end of the earth, who makes lightnings for the rain, who brings the wind out of his store-houses. 8 It is he who smote the first-born of Egypt, both of man and of beast ; 9 Who sent tokens and prodigies into the midst of thee, O Egypt, upon Pharaoh and upon all his servants ; 10 Who smote great nations, and slew mighty kings, 1 1 Sihon the king of the Amorites, and Og the king of Bashan, and all the kingdoms of Canaan, 12 And gave their land for an inheritance, an inheritance unto Israel his people. 13 Jehovah, thy name is everlasting, Jehovah, thy memorial endures unto all generations 14 For Jehovah will right his people, and he will relent over his servants. 15 The idols ofthe heathen are silver and gold. the work of the hands of men 344 THE PSALMS 1 6 Mouths have they, but they speak not ; eyes have they, but they see not ; 1 7 Ears have they, but they give no ear, neither is there any breath in their mouths. 18 They that made them shall become like unto them even every one that trusts in them. 19 O house of Israel, bless ye Jehovah ; O house of Aaron, bless ye Jehovah. 20 O house of Levi, bless ye Jehovah ; ye that fear Jehovah, bless Jehovah. 2 1 Blessed be Jehovah out of Zion, that dwells at Jerusalem ! Hallelujah. 3 it is pleasant (i.e. gracious, Kordn, vii. 55, where the winds are as xxvii. 4, xc. 17), viz. his name 'the heralds of his compassion' (liv. 8). Cf. on cxlvii. 1. (i.e. ofthe rain). 7 Adapted from Jer. x. 13, li. 16 14 From Deut. xxxii. 36 ; cf. (cf. Job xxxvi. 27). Nature has but xc. 13. one verse ; history has five. But 15-18 See on cxv. 4-8. note the characteristic choice of 19, 20 See on cxv. 9-1 1. natural blessings ; cf. cxlvii. 8 and PSALM CXXXVI. A triplet-psalm in the same style. This psalm is generally called the great Hallel, though the Talmud also includes Pss. cxx.-cxxxv. under this title. Cf. v. 1 with cxviii. 1-4 (note). 1 Thank ye Jehovah, for he is good ; for his kindness is ever lasting. 2 Thank ye the God of gods ; for his kindness is everlasting. 3 Thank ye the Lord of lords ; for his kindness is everlasting. 4 To him that alone does great wonders ; for his kindness is ever lasting. 5 To him that by understanding made the heavens ; for his kind ness is everlasting. 6 To him that spread out the earth above the waters ; for his kind ness is everlasting. 7 To him that made great lights ; for his kindness is everlasting. 8 The sun to rule by day ; for his kindness is everlasting, 9 The moon and the stars to rule by night ; for his kindness is everlasting. 10 To him that smote the Egyptians in their firstborn ; for his kind ness is everlasting. PSALM cxxxvi. 345 1 1 And brought out Israel from their midst ; for his kindness is everlasting. 12 With a strong hand and with a stretched-out arm ; for his kind ness is everlasting. 13 To him that cut the Red Sea into parts ; for his kindness is everlasting. 14 And made Israel to pass through the midst of it ; for his kind ness is everlasting. 15 But shook off Pharaoh and his host into the Red Sea ; for his kindness is everlasting. 16 To him that led his people through the wilderness ; for his kind ness is everlasting. 1 7 To him that smote great kings ; for his kindness is everlasting. 18 And slew puissant kings ; for his kindness is everlasting. 23 Who thought upon us in our abasement ; for his kindness is everlasting. 24 And rent us from our foes ; for his kindness is everlasting. 25 Who gives food to all flesh ; for his kindness is everlasting. 26 Give thanks unto the God of heaven ; for his kindness is ever lasting. [19-22 in the received text are a tinuation is lost' The verse is repetition of cxxxv. 11, 12, each needed, however, to complete the stichus of which is coupled with triplet. Calvin remarks, ' Ratioci- the liturgical refrain of this psalm. natur a minori ad majus, non posse The insertion destroys the well- satis extolli incomparabilem Dei marked triplet-division.] erga domesticos suos gratiam.' 25 All flesh, i.e. all living crea- 26 The Cod of heaven. A tures (as Gen. vi. 13, 17 ; vii. 15). frequent phrase in late books A friend remarks, ' It always seems (2 Chron., Ezra, Neh., Dan., Jon.) to me that the psalm would be much Comp. cxv. 16, Gen. xix. 24, and more beautiful (from a literary the Assyrian phrase ' the heaven of point of view) without this verse. Anu ' (Sayce, Hibbert Lectures, p. The poet seems to begin a new 190). stanza or section of which the con- PSALM CXXXVII. A PICTURE in two parts. First, we have a scene from the suffering life of the exiles, or more particularly of the temple-singers. The Euphra- tean streams bordered with trees, from which the not unknown but com paratively unfamiliar ' poplar ' is singled out (see on v. 2), and the weep ing minstrels whose occupation is gone ; the proud, imperious banqueters and their unexpected repulse, are drawn as if from the life. Next, the poet opens a window into his own heart Two sentiments glow therein with equal intensity — love for Israel and vindictive hatred for Israel's and Jehovah's foes, and by a sudden transition the plaintive sweetness which melted us into tears is overpowered by a crash of discords. When was 346 THE PSALMS this written ? At the very close of the Exile, or many years later in Judaea ? To me the atmosphere of the first part of the picture appears to be an idealised one, and I can adopt in two senses the title given to it by the poet Camoens — 'the psalm of pious patriotic memory' (Ker, The Psalms in History, &c, p. 165). Among poetic paraphrases of Ps. cxxxvii. may I refer to Crashaw's in Steps to the Temple (1648), and Lord Bacon's in Certaine Psalmes (1625) — the one lovely, the other dignified? The Targum regards this as an antiphonal psalm — rightly, I suppose, though his own arrangement is fantastic. 1 By Babylon's streams — 'twas there that we sat down and wept, when we remembered Zion : 2 Upon the willows in their midst hanged we our lyres. 3 For there did those who dragged us away require of us notes of song, And of our dancers festive glee : ' Sing us one of the songs of Zion.' 4 How can we sing Jehovah's songs in a foreign land ? 5 If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand deny (its service). 6 Let my tongue cleave to my palate, if I remember thee not, if I esteem not Jerusalem my sovereign joy. 7 Remember thou, Jehovah, unto the sons of Edom Jerusalem's day, who commanded, Lay bare, lay bare, even to the base therein. 8 O daughter of Babylon, thou doomed one, happy he that pays thee back for what thou hast wrought on us. 9 Happy he that takes and dashes thy children against the rocks. I By Babylon's streams, &c. thither. And yet fair— monoton- Imagine Babylonia as it was in ously fair— as the plain of Baby- ancient times, with those grand, Ionia was, it could not be ' a land riverlike canals,1 and that drapery like their own land' (2 Kings xviii. of waving palms and standing corn 32) to the ' mourners ' in the spiri- which excited the admiration of tual Zion (Isa. Ixi. 3), who were Herodotus. Materially, the Jews like disembodied souls, and had lost nothing by having to migrate Jerusalem written on their hearts 1 All the Babylonian streams (ndrdti) were canals. Friedrich Delitzsch Paradies p. 48. PSALM CXXXVII. 347 (cf. Pss. xlii., xliii.) All the exiles were alike in this ; but a second cause for tears, mentioned in v. 2, specially affected the temple-singers. 2 The trees here called willows are properly ' Euphratean poplars ' — water-plants not unlike willows in appearance, and only found in the warmest parts of Syria.1 Note that the Hebrew name ('ardbah, the sing, form in the Mishna ; cf. Ar. garab) occurs but five times in the O.T., and always in the plur. — Isa. xv. 7, xliv. 4, Job xl. 22, Lev. xxiii. 40, and here — and that the second and fourth of these passages show this tree to have symbolised not grief but mirth. The Mishna says that the last ' day ' of the Feast of Booths ('that great day,' John vii. 37), which drew forth such wild de monstrations of joy, was sometimes called ydm 'ardbah ' willow-day ' (cf. on cxviii. 27). 3, 4 A pendant to the story of Belshazzar's Feast2 A banquet ' is in progress, and fresh amusements are required. Some one suggests that the Hebrew singers should be called in, Taunting us rather in our misery, Than much delighting in our melody, as Lord Bacon paraphrases, for Hebrew music was scarcely as much developed as Babylonian. By the ¦ songs of Zion, ordinary Chaldaean banqueters would probably mean such songs as Amos refers to (vi. 5), or national ballads such as must have been included in the ' Book of Jashar.' All such minstrelsy was hushed among the true-hearted exiles (cf. Jer. xxv. 10) ; centuries afterwards, the Talmudic authorities (e.g. Gittin 7 a) still repudiate pro fane songs, and Maimonides (12th cent.) endorses their prohibition. And as for Jehovah's songs (i.e. psalms ; see 2 Chron. xxix. 27, 1 So Wetzstein in Delitzsch's comm. on Isa. xliv. 4. The Mishna says that this kind of willow grew in a spot below Jerusalem (in the Kedron valley) called Moza, and that branches for the festival were obtained thence (Succa, cap. iv. ) 2 This, however, had a religious character. Mr. Boscawen has connected it with the Babylonian festival of the 15th of the month of Dumuzi (Tammuz). We can hardly assume that Ps. cxxxvii. was written just after the banquet of this day, and just before Cyrus's capture of Babylon (cf. my Isaiah, ii. 291). 1 Chron. xxv. 7), who, in Lord Bacon's words, could sing The praises of Jehovah's glorious name In banishment under a foreign king ? Even among themselves singing must have been dropped, so far as they truly fasted and mourned for Zion. V. 4, however, is not only the reply of the captives to their captors, but a justification of the hanging up of the lyres (v. 2). 5 Deny (its service). The text has, ' forget' We might, with Sept., point so as to render ' be forgotten.' ' May I forget,' would be better (cf. Targ.) But see crit. note. 6 Esteem . . . joy. Lit, 'place . . on the head of my joy.' The singer's joy is headless, as it were, without Jerusalem. 7 For twofold reason of this hatred see Ezek. xxv. 12, xxxv., Ob. 10-16, Mai. i. 2-5. The feud between the Jews and the Edomites lasted till the final humiliation of the latter under John Hyrcanus (Jos. Ant. xiii. 9, 1). 8 Thou doomed one. Lit, ' that art (hast been) stormed (or, desolated).' The Semite, Jew or Arab, prophet or common man, anticipates the future and describes it as present or past (an incompleted or completed action). Hence he says, ' I am killing him ' = ' I will kill him ; ' ' this man is killed ' = ' he is to be killed.' There is no occa sion, then, to change the pointing, and render, with Ewald, ' thou de- solater' (Targ., Pesh., Symm., ' thou plunderer '). See crit. note. 9 So Isa. xiii. 16-18 ; cf. Hos. x. 14, xiv. 1, Nah. iii. 10, 2 Kings viii. 12. This is more natural than Hengstenberg's view, according to which the psalmist writes when the divine vengeance had begun (through Darius Hystaspis), but was not as yet fully complete. 348 THE PSALMS PSALM CXXXVIII. An imitative psalm, but less mechanically so than many. Israel per sonified is the speaker (see on v. 8). I have, with some hesitation, adopted (for vv. 2-8) the triplet arrangement from Bickell. Verse 1 might also be converted into a tristich by making an addition from Sept. ; but the addition is weak (comp. v. 4 b.) 1 I will thank thee, Jehovah, with my whole heart ; in front of the gods will I make melody unto thee. 2 I will worship toward thy holy temple, and will give thanks unto thy name, for thy lovingkindness' and for thy truth's sake, 3 For thou hast magnified thy truth above all thy name ; in the day when I called thou answeredst me, and madest me bold with thy strength in my soul. 4 Unto thee all the kings of the earth shall give thanks, Jehovah, when they have heard the words of thy mouth, 5 and shall sing of the ways of Jehovah. For great is the glory of Jehovah ; 6 for Jehovah is high, and yet looks upon the lowly, but the haughty he knows afar off. 7 If I walk amidst trouble, thou revivest me, against mine enemies' wrath thou stretchest thine hand, and thy right hand saves me. 8 Jehovah will achieve all that concerns me ; Jehovah, thy lovingkindness is everlasting, the work of thine own hands abandon thou not ! I In front of the gods. In Clericus, by a slight correction, defiance (cf. xxiii. 5) of the vain renders, '... above all thy heavens.' gods who cannot help (cf. xcvii. 7). This would perhaps be suitable, if, Sept. ivdvriov dyyeXav. with Binnie, we might render 3 For thou hast magnified, 'imrdth'ka ' thy word ' (in the sense &c. (See crit. note.) ' For thou of written revelation), comparing hast given a grander manifestation Ps. xix. as commonly explained ; of thy truthfulness than of all the but if we adopt the rendering ' thy rest of thy revealed name ' (cf. Ex. promise,' we look for a verb like xxxiv. 5-7). Jehovah is, in short, ' hast established (cf. cxix. 89). from Israel's point of view, essen- In this case, however, ' all thy tially' the faithful God that keepeth heavens' will still be peculiar. the covenant' (Deut vii. 9; cf. Mai. Thou answeredst me, &c. Je- iii. 6), and Lagarde plausibly ex- hovah's acts are, in Biblical lan- plains Yahveh (Jehovah) ' promis- guage, words (see on Isa. xi. 4). sorum stator.' The text, however, It is the faith of the psalmists and has, ' for thou hast magnified thy prophets that the wonderful history promise (viz. to thy servant, v. 3) oi Israel will so affect the nations above all thy name ' — an unparal- outside that they will become con- leled and difficult expression not verts to the true religion and sub- probable in such an imitative psalm, jects of Jehovah's kingdom. Cf PSALM CXXXVIII. 349 Ixv. 6, 9, ' In terrible acts of right- spirit' (Isa. lvii. 15). It requires eousness thou answerest us . . self-humiliation ('andvdh, xviii. 36) east and west thou fillest with to reach these crushed and lowly ringing cries.' madest me bold. ones. He sends down gracious Or, as Hupfeld, 'madest me proud;' glances upon the humble (cxiii. 6), Israel is both proud and humble. but ' the haughty ' (towering up in See on x. 13, and cf. 3m xl. 5, xc. their pride) he knows afar off 10. The root-idea is strong excite- (without needing to consider them, ment ; pride, audacity, fear, swift- Job xi. 11, xxxiv. 23), and leaves till ness are all applications of this. they are ripe for punishment (v. 7). 6 The antithesis is not clearly 8 The work of thine own expressed ; afar off requires to be hands, i.e. either thy providential balanced by 'close at hand.' There work (xcii. 5, cxliii. 5), or, the are two favourite spots with God — nation which thou hast formed 'the high and holy place,' and (Isa. Ix. 21, Ixiv. 7; cf. xliii. 7). On ' with (riX = the neighbourhood of) either view, the speaker's interest him that is crushed and lowly in is national, not personal. PSALM CXXXIX. 1 his psalm is very glorious,' says Ibn Ezra; 'in these five books there is none like it' ' That is the psalm,' said Erskine of Linlathen, ' which I should wish to have before me on my deathbed.' Julius Hammer's metrical translation and Merrick's paraphrase have caught its spirit, and that is the chief point, for the debased Hebrew of the original is not worthy of the noble thoughts. How the psalmist revels in the idea of Jehovah's perfections, especially of His penetrating omniscience ! He reminds us in this ofa sublime Vedic hymn-writer (Muir, Sanskrit Texts, v. 63, 64; Translations, pp. 160, 161), but reaches agreatermoral elevation. He longs for a world of good men, and cannot understand how God can tolerate the ungodly, whom He and all who make His cause their own 'hate right sore.' His language is vehement, and may have been cen sured by him who wrote ' Be not righteous overmuch' (Eccles. vii. 16). But it is in character with the ardent nature of Jewish piety, and the practicalness of Jewish thinkers, who never indulge in contemplative illusions. There are parallels enough for it. Even the greatest of the Hallelujah psalms (see Introd.) has one equally jarring note (civ. 35 ), and the psalm of Leibnitz (xciv.) is full of such. Ought we not to try to realise the psalmists' situation before we judge them ? Ps. cxxxix. was clearly written when the wise men had turned poets, and sought in prayerful strains to lighten the burden of the unsolved problem of evil. Our psalmist is at any rate in no bad sense a Pharisee ; he hates not only the conscious wickedness of others, but the unconscious sin which may lie hidden in himself (cf. xix. 13). 1 Jehovah, thou hast searched me out and knowest me. 2 Thou knowest my downsitting and mine uprising, thou distinguishest my thought afar off. 3 My path and my couch thou siftest, and art familiar with all my ways. 4 For before a word is on my tongue, lo, thou, Jehovah, knowest it all. 350 THE PSALMS 5 Thou hast shut me in behind and before, and laid thy hand upon me : 6 A knowledge too arduous for me ; too lofty, I cannot grasp it. 7 Whither shall I go from thy spirit ? or whither shall I flee from thy face ? 8 If I climb up into heaven, thou art there, or make Hades my bed, lo, thou art there 9 If I lift up the wings of the dawn, and settle at the farther end of the sea, io Even there thy hand shall lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. 1 1 And if I say, ' Surely darkness will screen me, the light becoming night about me,' 12 Even darkness darkens not with thee, but night is as clear as day — gloom is as light, and light as gloom. 13 For thou didst create my reins, and weave me together in my mother's womb. 14 I thank thee, graced so fearfully and gloriously ; marvellous are thy works, and my soul knows it right well. 15 My frame was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curiously wrought in the underworld : 16 Still folded up thine eyes saw me, and in thy book were they all written, even the days that were fashioned (already), when (as yet) there was none of them. 1 7 Unto me, then, how weighty are thy thoughts, O God ! O how vast are the sums of them ! 1 8 If I reckon them, they are more in number than the sand when I awake, I am still with thee. 19 O that thou wouldest slay the ungodly, O God ! and that men of blood would depart from me ! — 20 Who defy thee with lawless acts, and pronounce thy name for falsehoods. 21 Should not I hate them, Jehovah, that hate thee? and have loathing at them that resist thee ? 22 I hate them with a perfect hatred, I regard them as enemies. 23 Search me out, O God, and know my heart, try me, and know my mazy thoughts, PSALM CXXXIX. ;si 24 And see if there be any way of grief in me, and lead me in a way that lasteth long. 2-4 Cf. in the Atharva-veda (Muir), ' Whatever two persons, sitting together, devise, Varuna the king knows it, (being present there as) a third. ; ' and in the Koran (1. 15), 'We created man, and we know what his soul whispers (to him), and we are nearer to him than his neck-vein.' Afar off (see z\ 4~). Used of time, as Isa. xxii. 11, xxv. 1. 3 Thou siftest (or, winnowest), i.e. subjectest to the closest scrutiny. 5 Whence comes this know ledge? From the fact that the freedom accorded to man is but relative. laid thy band. See z: 10, and cf. Job ix. 33. 6 Cf. Job xxviii. 13, 21, 23. 7-10 The psalmist coincides with Plato (his contemporary ?) in his ideas and even phraseology, but to Plato we owe the key-word npovota. The Hebrew sage, how ever, expresses with unsurpassed force the growing conviction of the Jewish Church that the Divine spirit is no mere physical force but a moral person. Hence thy spirit interchanges with thy face (clearly a personal title ; see on xvii. 1 5) in the parallel line, as in Isa. lxiii. 9, 10. Both expressions are myths which have become symbolic (of the self-revealing aspect of the Divine Being) ; and hence in v. 10 another pictorial (one might say, mythic) phrase is used, ' thy hand,' which is said to lead the individual believer (cf. cxliii. 10), precisely as in Isa. lxiii. 14 (Sept., Pesh., Vulg., Targ.) the 'spirit of Jehovah' is said to have ' led ' His people, and as in Ex. xxxiii. 14 Jehovah declares that His 'face' will go with Moses. The truth is that the favourite ex pression of the later writers is ' the spirit of Jehovah,' while the writers or remodellers of the early tradi tions prefer ' the angel ( = the face) of Jehovah.' See on xxxiv. 8, and, on the Biblical doctrines of the Spirit, cf. my art in Clergyman's Magazine,Ua.rchi88o,vp. 129-143. 8 Cf. Am. ix. 2. On the idea of 1. 2, cf. Prov. xv. 11, Job xxvi. 6 ; on the phrasing, Job xvii. 13b. 9 ' Not only in the East, con secrated by patriarchal tradition and usage, but in the unknown and distant islands and seas of the West, the power of God shall be felt as a sustaining help and guid ing hand' (Stanley, American Ad dresses, p. 99). Perhaps, indeed, the poet is thinking of the already widespread Jewish Diaspora (cf. Am. I.e.) If I lift up, &c. We need to see an Eastern daybreak to realise this fine mythic expres sion, with which comp. the Persian phrase, ' bird of the dawn ' (Gold ziher, Hebrew Mythology, p. 116), and, in the Bible itself, ' the sun of righteousness with healing in his wings ' (the sun being imagined as .a winged disk; cf. on xc. 4). In Job iii. 9, xii. 18, the dawn is repre sented as an eye. 1 1 Last of all, the poet imagines an easier possibility, ' Saltern tene- brae operient me,' as Calv. well renders (Gesenius, Delitzsch, &c, prefer ' Merae tenebrae,' comparing ^K in xxxix. 12). Screen me (cxi. 8) ; or, envelope me. See crit. note. 12 God's essential light makes darkness radiant (xviii. 29), just as Sheol's essential gloom makes day light black (Job x. 22 c). Comp. Newman's fine verses on Sleepless ness, beginning — Unwearied God, before whose face The night is clear as day. 13 The secrets of the higher regions of a man's life must be known to God, for He made the complex human organism, the pri mal development of which to man is so unintelligible (Eccles. xi. 5). Didst weave me tog-ether (with bones and sinews), alluding to Job x. 11. 14 A mere poetic description of the wonders of the human micro cosm cannot satisfy the psalmist. Gratitude must overflow into praise; 352 THE PSALMS else the poem were scarcely a hymn. God be thanked, both for the won ders which have been mentioned and for those which even a true poet can scarcely describe. The formation of the embryo was held to involve that of the personality ; hence its mention in this connexion (see the parallel passage, Job x. 8-1 1, and cf. xxii. n, lviii. 4). Graced. Lit., ' that I have been graced, or distinguished (' wonder fully made,' is too conventional and inexpressive) : for the English, see Paradise Lost, xi. 168, and Luke i. 28, A.V. marg. Let us not hurry, like most commentators (even Pe rowne), over this fine passage, which has deservedly become a house- hoM word. Comparing man with the rest of creation, the psalmist feels overshadowed by the pre sence of the invisible Artist, and trembles even while he admires (cf. Isa. Ix. 5). Another reading is ' thou hast shown thy wondrous- ness,' i.e. thy divine power (see crit. note). Hitzig adopts this, following Sept., Pesh., Vulg. ; he would also transpose vv. 13 and 14. Plausible ; v. 14 will then refer, not merely to the marvels of man's physical constitution, but to God's works in general. Hitzig in fact considers such a burst of admira tion inappropriate to the case of human birth. But why? Take the production of a human hand. Why should not a sensitive poet thrill, like Browning's heroine, at The beauty in this — how free, how fine To fear almost ? x Nor is it necessarily of the pheno mena of birth, nor of single details of the human frame, that the poet is thinking (see above). So fearfully, gloriously. Heb. nordoth (cf. Miiller, Hebrew Syn tax, E.T., § 43*). Without this double rendering the sense of the psalmist cannot be expressed. That the ideas of tearfulness and glory are closely allied, is clear from Ixv. 6 (see note), and especi ally from Ex. xv. 11, Deut. xxviii. 58, Job xxxvii. 20; cf. also Deut. x. 21 (where Sept. renders nordoth to. evdoga), 2 Sam. vii. 23 (Sept. inupdveiav), Isa. Ixiv. 2, Ps. lxvi. 6, lxxvi. 5, cvi. 22, cxiv. 5, 6, and per haps Gen. xxviii. 17 (nord with reference to Jacob's glorious vision). Sometimes God's enemies are said to be afraid at His ' wonders ; ' sometimes, as here, His friends. 15 The divine work and labo ratory. Some have found here a hint ofthe 'pre-existence of souls.'2 In so late a psalm we might per haps admit Hellenistic influences (as in Wisd. viii. 19, 20, and in Philo). Elsewhere in this section, however, the ordinary Hebrew view of human nature is presupposed. Why infer from these obscure words (which seem to speak of the body, rather than of the 'soul') a doctrine nowhere else (certainly not in Job i. 21) taught in the O.T. ? Why may not the author, who visibly wrestles with the difficulty of his subject, compare the mysterious womb to the no less hidden realm, not strictly of souls, but of shades ?3 Comp. Kordn, xxxix. 8, ' He creates you . . . in three darknesses;' ^Esch. Eum. 665, iv okotoio-i vrjSvos redpap- pevos. 16 The obscurity deepens. ' How forcible are right words,' says Job ; can lines 3, 4 be rightly represented in A.V. and R.V. ? And as for /. 2, what right have A.V. and R.V. to interpolate ' my members ' ? The rendering of lines 2, 3 adopted above expresses well the grand idea of the providential ordering of the course of time. It must, however, be granted that lines 1 and 4 do not fit in very wdl with lines 2 and 3. The best con nexion is perhaps this : ' In God's book (i.e. His Mind) a day was formed or preordained (cf. Isa. 1 James Lee's Wife, viii. 2 Cf. Bloch, Ursprung des Buches Kohelet, p. 104. 5 The phrase rendered ' the underworld ' is not indeed ' Sheol,' but synonymous with it (see lxiii. 10, Isa. xliv. 23). PSALM CXXXIX. 35: xxii. ii) for every event in human history, and one such was set apart for the final perfecting and birth of the once imperfect substance' (reading i^, the Q'ri, for $,, the K'thib). But I think, with Bickell, that both transposition and corrup tion have taken place in the text of vzi. 15, 16. The ancient versions of v. 16 are very perplexed. 17, 18 a Unto me, who am the subject of ' thy designs ' (or, plans ; cf. xl. 6), how weighty (Dan. ii. 1 1) theyare ! The speaker weighs them in the balance ; or, by another figure, tries to sum them up, but the totals are too great (xl. 6, lxxi. 15 ; cf. cxlvii. 5). 18 b I am still (occupied) with thee : ' still,' because even my dreams hovered about the beloved theme (cf. Jer. xxxi. 26, Cant. v. 2). 19 See introd. ; contrast the tone of xxii. 27, 28. And that men, &c. This follows the Tar gum. The text has the imperative ; cf. Julius Hammer — Tbdtete Gott doch den, der ihn ver- gessen ! Ihr Blutgesellen, weichet fort von mir. But this omits the troublesome ' and ' which opens line 2 ; a voca tive with Waw (probably) only occurs where another vocative has preceded (see Delitzsch on xiv. 13). 20 See crit. note, and cf. R.V. If it is difficult to believe that 'utter thee ' in /. 1 can be used for ' utter thy name,' still more improbable is it that ' take in vain ' could be used by a kind of double ellipsis for ' take thy name in vain.' 23 Search me. From man's point of view, the divine ' searching' is a continuous act, like the divine admonition and guidance. Con trast v. 1. 24 The way of grief, i.e. the course of action which leads to suf fering and death (for the rendering cf. xvi. 4, 1 Chron. iv. 10, R.V.), is opposed to that which lasteth long, i.e. that which has permanent good results (more clearly ex pressed in Prov. xii. 28 ; see Sept.) Gesenius and others, less appropri ately, render or paraphrase ' the worship of idols ' (~pn as Am. viii. 14, 2"iV as Isa. xlviii. 5), which may be opposed as a ' new way ' (Deut xxxii. 17) to the true worship of Jehovah — the ' ancient way ' (cf. Jer. vi. 16, xviii. 15). PSALM CXL In the name of oppressed Israel (cf. Pss. lviii., Ixiv.) 2 Rescue me, Jehovah, from the evil man, from the man of violence guard thou me ; 3 From those who devise evils in their heart, and stir up wars continually, 4 Who have sharpened their tongue like a serpent — the poison of asps is under their lips. 5 Preserve me, Jehovah, from the hands of the ungodly, from the man of violence guard thou me, who purpose to trip up my feet. 6 The proud have hid snares for me and cords ; they have spread nets close by the track ; they have set gins for me. 7 I say unto Jehovah, Thou art my God ; give ear, Jehovah, to the voice of my beseeching. A A 354 THE PSALMS 8 Jehovah ! Lord ! stronghold of my salvation ! thou hast screened my head in the day of weapons. 9 Grant not, Jehovah, the desires of the ungodly, let not his knavery gain its end. io Let [not] them that encompass me lift up their head, let the mischief of their own lips cover them ; 1 1 Let them totter [from their place] ; [Jehovah rain] hot coals upon them ! with fire let him cause them to fall, with nets, that they rise not again. 1 2 A slanderer shall have no continuance in the land ; the violent man — evil shall hunt him with thrust upon thrust. 13 Sure I am that Jehovah will maintain the cause of the afflicted — the right of the needy. 14 Truly the righteous shall give thanks unto thy name, and the upright shall dwell near thy face. 4-6 For these special forms of let fiery rain (xi. 6) add torments to malignity, cf. Iii. 4, lviii. 5 ; also ix. their fate ; let them be so entangled 16, xxxi. 5, Ixiv. 6, cxii. 9, 10, cxlii. in the meshes of vengeance that 4. Asps. Or, as Targum, they can never rise.' With nets, ' spiders ' (alluding to a belief in laid by invisible hands, as Job xxii. their poisonousness).1 In Isa. lix. 10. The text has, 'into whirlpools' 5 'spiders' and 'vipers' are paral- (Gesenius), or 'into ditches' lei. (Symm., Theod., Jerome) — a ques- 10 With most, I take a word tionable cma£ Xeyopevov. over from the end of v. 9 (cf. ix. 6, 12 A slanderer. Lit, 'a man of 7) ; but this is hardly enough, if tongue ' (cf. Sept. and Jerome, both the credit of the poet is to be saved here and at Ecclus. viii. 4). (see crit. note). I4 Truly (1$). The assured 11 The poet longs for the result of long meditation (see on divme retribution. ' Let them fall ; lxxiii. 1). PSALM CXLI. An evening prayer of tried and tempted Israel. On the one hand, many are in danger of falling away, seduced by the prosperity of the unbelievers ; on the other, the continuance of persecution threatens the very existence of the church-nation. Comp. Ps. xvi. Verses 5-7 are most obscure. 1 Jehovah, I call upon thee, speed thee unto me ; give ear unto my voice when I call unto thee. 2 Let my prayer appear before thee as incense, mine uplifted hands as an evening sacrifice. 1 Merx (Hiob, p. liv.), quoting an Arabian story in illustration ; cf. Tristram, Nat. Hist, of Bible, p. 304. 31BOJJ is a «t. key. and has no Semitic parallels ; £"2357 is well attested. PSALM CXLI. 555 3 Set a watch, Jehovah, before my mouth, guard the door of my lips. 4 Incline not my heart to any evil thing, to practise foul deeds wickedly. [Let me not sit] with men that work naughtiness, and let me not eat of their dainties. 5 Let the righteous smite me in kindness and correct me, oil so fine let not my head refuse. 7 As when one cleaves and breaks up the earth, our bones are scattered at the mouth of Hades. 8 For unto thee, Jehovah the Lord, are mine eyes ; in thee have I taken refuge, pour not out my soul. 9 Preserve me from the grasp of the snare which they have laid for me, and from the gins of them that work naughtiness. io The ungodly shall fall into their own nets together ; [unhurt] shall I be, until I pass by. 2 Comp. v. 4, where a morning prayer is made equal to a morning sacrifice, and see Stanley, Jewish Church, iii. 35. Appear. Lit, 'station itself (or, possibly, 'be erected,' alluding to the upward curling of the sweet smoke). As incense. This and the parallel noun are in the accusative (that of state or manner). 3 For the phraseology comp. xxxix. 2, Mic. vii. 5. 4b, 5 Prayerful resolutions of the psalmist He will restrict him self (comp. xvi. 3, 4) to the society of the ' righteous ' (those whose standard of belief and practice is his own), and thankfully accept from such an one the ' correction which tends to life' (Prov. xv. 31). In these difficult days, each man must be ' his brother's keeper,' but especially must the priests and the prophets exercise the ruler's high function of educational discipline. [let me not sit]. These words seem required to fill out the line and to complete the parallelism. Any meal provided by non- Israel ites would be a snare to observers of the Law, but above all, idola trous sacrificial feasts. In kind ness, i.e. with a strictness mode rated by brotherly love (khe'sed) — the bond of the covenant. Oil so fine. (Appositional construc tion, as in Ex. xxx. 23.) There is a play on the two meanings of shUmen rosh (lit., head-oil). The rebukes of the faithful friend are more precious than the ' dainties ' of the perfidious foe (cf. Prov. xxvii. 6), and from their healing efficacy may well be compared to ' oil of the best sort,' such as that with which the grandees of Samaria anointed themselves (see Heb. of Am. vi. 6). They are also a proof of friendly regard which the psalm ist would go without as unwil lingly as a guest would go with out the anointing of the head at a banquet (Luke vii. 36). The last line of v. 5 in the received text, and the whole of v. 6, are too ob scure to translate (comp. Revised a a 2 356 THE PSALMS Version with Delitzsch and De 7 The sufferings of the Israel- Witt). The most plausible way ites, many of whom have sealed out of the difficulty is Bickell's, but their faith by martyrdom. The it is bold in the extreme. This is figurative language, however, in his rendering of the corrected text : line 1 is not clear. Some find in ' For while my prayer rose at their it a suggestion of the future resur- wicked deeds, down from the crag rection either of the Israelites or were hurled their rulers ; and the at least of Israel's cause (comp. pious heard (concerning) my words, Isa. xxvi. 19, Ezek. xxxvii.) ; but in that they had been pleasant in the cxxix. 3 ploughing is simply an ears of Jehovah.' He finds in this image of the afflictions of Israel. an allusion to some unknown event at the mouth of Sheol, un- which the psalmist regarded as a buried therefore. divine interposition in answer to prayer. PSALM CXLII. (complaints in the style of Pss. cxi., cxliii. 2 With my voice do I cry unto Jehovah ; with my voice unto Jehovah do I make my plaint : 3 I pour out my complaint before him I display before him my trouble. 4 When my spirit faints upon me, thou — thou knowest my path : In the way wherein I walk they have hidden snares for me. 5 I look on the right and behold [on the left], but there is none that knows me again ; no place is left to flee unto, there is none that cares for my soul. 6 I cry unto thee, Jehovah, I say, Thou art my refuge, my portion in the land of the living. 7 Attend unto my piercing cry, for I am become very weak ; deliver me from them that pursue me, for they are too strong for me. 8 Bring forth my soul from prison, that I may give thanks unto thy name ; the righteous shall glory in me, because thou dealest bountifully with me. 4 Taints upon me. See on my circumstances (cxxxix. 2 3). If xlii. 5. Tbou knowest my path, I pour out my woes, it is not to tell i.e. I reflect that thou knowest all thee of something new, but to stop PSALM CXLII. 357 myself from brooding over them. text is variously rendered, ' shall Comp. lxix. 20. compass me about,' and ' shall 8 From prison. See on cvii. crown themselves because of me.' 10. Shall glory in me. The But see crit. note. PSALM CXLIII. X? AMILIAR complaints and petitions recast. 1 Hear my prayer, Jehovah, give ear to my beseeching ; in thy faithfulness answer me, in thy righteousness : 2 And enter not into judgment with thy servant, for none that lives can be righteous before thee. 3 For the enemy hath pursued my soul, crushed to the ground my life, made me to sit in dark places, as the ancient dead. 4 Therefore my spirit faints upon me, my heart in the midst of me is bewildered. 5 I remember the days of old, I meditate upon all thy doing, I muse upon the work of thy hands. 6 I spread forth my hands unto thee, my soul is toward thee like a thirsty land. 7 Answer me, Jehovah, speedily, my spirit fails ; hide not thy face from me, [lest, if thou hold thy peace towards me,] I become like those that have gone down into the pit. 8 Fill me with thy lovingkindness in the morning, for in thee do I trust, make me to know the way wherein I should walk, for I lift up my soul unto thee. 9 Deliver me, Jehovah, from mine enemies ; I have fled unto thee for refuge. 10 Teach me to do thy will, for thou art my God ; let thy good spirit lead me in an even path. 1 1 For thy name's sake, Jehovah, revive me ; in thy righteousness, O bring my soul out of trouble ; 12 And in thy lovingkindness extinguish mine enemies, and destroy all them that distress my soul ; for I am thy servant. 1 2 The psalmist is under no ' righteous before God,' and depre- such'illusion as the author of Ps. cates a strictly retributive treat- xliv He knows that he is not ment. He has assimilated the 358 THE PSALMS complaints and confessions of Job (cf. Job ix. 2, xiv. 3, 4), and reached a higher stage, at which ' loving kindness ' is seen to be an essential element of ' righteousness,' and for giveness an all-important manifes tation of 'lovingkindness' (ciii. 8-10, 17)- 3 As tbe ancient dead (Lam. iii. 6). Delitzsch, ' like the dead for ever.' Heb. 'otdm may in fact refer either to past or to future time. But though ' eternal house' (Eccles. xi. 5) and ' eternal sleep ' (Jer. li. 39) are natural phrases, I doubt whether 'the dead for ever' is such an one. 'Dead' implies ' dead for ever ' to an Israelite ; 'the ancient dead' enriches the conception of death with the idea of the ages of his reign. Those who died yesterday have a few to remember them upon earth ; 'the ancient dead ' have none to counter act the 'oblivion' of Hades (lxxxviii. 13). Comp. Ezek. xxvi. 20, 'the human folk of antiquity' (in She61). 5 Alluding to lxxvii. 6 (that fine passage was not written in vain). 6 Comp. line 2 with lxiii. 2 (see note). 7 Phrases from lxix. 18, xxvii. 9, Ixxxiv. 3, xxviii. 1. The insertion is required by the syntax. 8 Till me, &c. See on xc. 14, and crit. note. The way, &c, either ' the course that I should take under my difficult circumstances ' (cf. cxlii. 4), or ' the way of thy com mandments ' (cxix. 32, &c.) 9 Z have fled, &c. The text has, Unto thee have I (Jled and) hidden. See crit note. 10 Thy good spirit — virtually equivalent to 'Thy good provi dence' (good = gracious, as xxxiv. 7, &c.) See on cxxxix. 7-10. In an even path, i.e. in prosperity as the reward of righteousness (Isa. xxvi. 7) — alludingtoxxvii.il. Most MSS. read ' in an even land ; ' less suitably. PSALM CXLIV. another piece of mosaic-work (cf. especially Pss. viii., xviii. -15 are very original in style, and appea ' psalm, chanted probably at festal seasons. Blessed be Jehovah my Rock, who teaches my hands to war, my fingers to fight, My castle and my fortress, my high tower, and my deliverer, my shield, and he in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples under me. Jehovah, what is the earth-born that thou takest notice of him ? or the son of mortal man that thou so accountest of him ? Earth-born man is like unto a breath, his days are as a passing shadow. Bow thy heavens, Jehovah, and come down ; touch the mountains, so that they smoke. Flash forth lightnings, and scatter them ; shoot out thine arrows and confound them ; Reach thy hands from high heaven, snatch me and rescue me out of great waters, out of the hand of aliens, PSALM CXLIV. 359 8 Whose mouth speaks falsehood, and their right hand is a right hand of lies. 9 I would sing a new song unto thee, O God ; with a ten-stringed harp would I make melody unto thee, io Who givest deliverance unto kings, and rescuedst David thy servant from the hurtful sword. ii Snatch me and rescue me [out of great waters,] out of the hand of aliens, whose mouth speaks falsehood, and their right hand is a right hand of lies. 1 2 Because our sons are as plants, tall grown, in their youthful age ; our daughters as corner-pillars carved in palace-fashion ; 13 Our garners ever full, dealing forth store on store ; our flocks increasing by thousands, by tens of thousands in our fields ; 14 Our kine great with young, * * * * no breach (in the wall), nor captive-train, nor woful cry in our broad places. 15 Happy the people that is in such a case ; happy the people which has Jehovah for its God ! 2 My castle. The text has, Palestinian architecture, so far as 'My lovingkindness' — a bold ab- we know it. Seeking for a genuine breviation of ' God of my loving- native image, Wetzstein and De- kindness' (lix. 11, 18), in which the litzsch have thought of the elabo- poet, according to Ewald,1 follows rately carved and vividly coloured Jonah's psalm (Jonah ii. 9). Is cornices which extend some way this possible in such a context ? down from the ceiling, narrowing by See crit note. degrees, and light up the dark cor- 8 Their right band = their oath ners of reception-rooms — fit sym- (cf. cvi. 26). bols of feminine beauty set off by 9 A ten-stringed harp. See rich dress and ornaments not less on xxxiii. 2. than by retiring manners. This at 12 With a sincerity like that of first attracted me, and suggested the Vedic poets, a well-grown popu- a comparison of passages in the lation is reckoned the first of na- Hamisa in which ladies are com- tional blessings (cf. Zech. ix. 17). pared to images (or, statues) — not Different views are taken of the so much, it is true, for their beauty second comparison. Some find a as for their long, trailing robes of reference to the female figures called price, adorned with gold (see p. 506, Caryatides ; but there is nothing ed. Freytag). But then it must be answering to these in Syrian and also remembered that the very 1 Die Lehre der Bibelvon Gott, ii. ±, p. 215. On Jon. ii. 9, however, see Kalisch, Bible Studies, ii. 217. 360 THE PSALMS poem to which I have just referred burning. But why may not this reckons women thus adorned, with verb, like khacab, sometimes be roast flesh, wine, and the lute, among used of artistic cutting, i.e. car- the pleasures of life which not all ving ? Delitzsch's rendering ' many- can enjoy. Is it not more natural to coloured ' is, however, equally justi- render corner-pillars, but without fied (see Prov. vii. 16); Sept., Symm., supposing these to represent the Jerome, all give ' adorned.' human form? The psalmist's ad- 13 Store on store. Lit., 'from miration for the women of his race kind to kind,' i.e. all kinds. would surely be accorded to solid 14 Our kine, &c. The sense column-like qualities, and not to is clear from the preceding distich ; mere splendour of apparel. The 'alliif is epiccene, like 'elef (Deut. rendering carved has been objected vii. 13, xxviii. 4). -Ko breach, to, and no doubt khd(ab generally &c. Cf. Am. iv. 3a, Jer. xiv. means to cut wood into logs for 2 b. PSALM CXLV. An alphabetical psalm of which one distich (that beginning with Nun) has been lost ; see on v. 13. It is beautiful although unoriginal. Justly did Emile Saisset admire it as a specimen of pure and tender-spirited universalistic theism, and well said Rabbi Joshua ben Levi, ' Before pray ing, repeat Ps. cxiv.' (Talm. Jer., Berakhoth, 5). It still forms part of the daily morning service of the Jews. 1 I will extol thee, my God, O King, and bless thy name for ever and ever. 2 Every day will I bless thee, and praise thy name for ever and ever. 3 Great is Jehovah, and highly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable. 4 Let one generation celebrate thy works unto another, and let them declare thy valiant acts. 5 The excellent glory of thy grandeur [shall be their theme], of thy varied wonders shall be my discourse. 6 Of the might of thy terrible acts shall they speak, and I will recount thy greatness. 7 The fame of thine abundant goodness shall they send as from a wellspring, and shall ring out thy righteousness. 8 Jehovah is full of pity and compassion, long-suffering and of great lovingkindness. 9 Jehovah is good unto all, and his compassion is over all his works. 10 All thy works shall give thanks unto thee, Jehovah, and thy loving ones shall bless thee. 1 1 They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and shall talk of thy might, PSALM CXLV. 361 1 2 To make known to the sons of men his valiant acts, and the excellent glory of his kingdom. 13 Thy kingdom is a kingdom of all aeons, and thy dominion endures throughout all generations. 14 Jehovah upholds all them that fall, and lifts up all that are bowed down. 15 The eyes of all wait upon thee, and thou givest them their food in due season. 16 Thou openest thine hand, and fillest everything that lives with goodwill. 17 Righteous is Jehovah in all his ways, and loving in all his works. 18 Jehovah is nigh unto all them that call upon him, unto all that call upon him in truth. 1 9 He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him, he will also hear their cry, and will save them. 20 Jehovah preserves all them that love him, but all the wicked will he exterminate. 21 My mouth shall speak the praise of Jehovah, and let all flesh bless his holy name for ever and ever. 8, 14 Comp. the epithets given works.' Is this an attempt to fill to the Sun-god by a Babylonian up a lacuna by guess (see introd.), psalmist, ' Merciful [compassionate, or was the translator's Hebrew text riminu = ~H.eh. rakhiim] god, planter more complete than ours? The of the lowly, supporter of the weak,' distich is rather poor ; cf. v. 17. Sayce, Hibbert Lectures, p. 100. 16 And fillest, &c. Sept., Kal 13 A kingdom of all aeons ipmnXas irav £coov evdoKias (v. 1. (see on xii. 13, Ixi. 4). So literally. eiXoylas ; cf. Vulg. and Deut. xxxiii. Cf. 1 Tim. i. 17, tc» fiaoiXei tcov 23). God's attributes, being abso- alavav ; J os. Ant. i. 18, 6, 8eo-rroTa lute, not relative, need no possessive iravrbs almvos. After this verse, pronoun (cf. lxxxv. 10, and Luke ii. Sept. adds, 'Faithful is Jehovah in i4Tischendorf). Others paraphrase, his words, and loving in all his ' with that which it desires.' PSALM CXLVI. LI. ALLELUJAH' is the fitting title (see also Sept.) of this and of the next four exuberant psalms, which ' sum up the joy of the Return ' (Stanley, Jewish Church, iii. 98). Evidently they constitute a group of themselves ; with Ps. cxiv. they have long formed part of the daily morning-service of the Jews. God the true helper is the theme of the first psalm. Verse 4 is quoted in a shorter form in 1 Mace. ii. 63. 1 Praise Jehovah, O my soul. 2 While I live would I praise Jehovah, while I am would I make melody to my God. 3 O put not your trust in nobles, in a son of the earthborn who cannot deliver ; 362 THE PSALMS 4 When his breath goes forth he returns to his earth, in the same day his thoughts perish. 5 Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in Jehovah his God ; 6 Who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that therein is, who keeps truth for ever. 7 Who executes judgment for the oppressed, who gives bread to the hungry. 8 Jehovah looses them that are bound, Jehovah opens the eyes of the blind, Jehovah raises them that are bowed down, Jehovah loves the righteous. 9 Jehovah preserves the strangers, he helps up the orphan and the widow, but the way of the ungodly he makes to slant. 10 Jehovah shall be king for ever, even thy God, O Zion, unto all generations. 3 In nobles, in whom, if not ger irpao-rjXvTos in xciii. (xciv.) 6, the will, yet the power to help is where a proselyte in the later sense wanting (see line 2). is obviously not intended? His 9 The sojourners (see on xciv. usage agrees in fact with that of 6). Hitzig finds here a reference the translator of the Pentateuch, to to the proselytes ; he thinks that whom irpoo-rfXvTos simply means an the use of the plural gerim (here immigrant. Later on, bother and only in the Psalter) implies the Ttpoo-j)XvTos specialised their mean- existence of a large and compact ings.1 The orphan. Purvey, body. But in the parallel line we with fine effect, ' a modirless child.' have the singular, and if the Sept Makes to slant, i.e. makes in line 1 renders tovs Trpoo-t]XvTovs, to turn aside into the trackless does not the same translation render desert. PSALM CXLVII. One may again exclaim, Not an original psalm, and yet interesting and even beautiful. Observe (1) how the thoughts of nature and of Israel are interwoven (cf. on Ixv. 7, 8), and how immediate is God's relation to each of his great spheres of activity ; and (2) how admiringly the poet refers to the phenomena of winter. Indeed, from the progressiveness of the references to these phenomena, we may perhaps infer the psalm was written at the beginning and finished at the close of a severe winter. Verse 8 seems to place us in November, when the 'former' or winter rain, which ' prepares ' the ground for the husbandman, is itself being ' prepared' by Jehovah (cf. Ixv. 10, 11). In vv. 16, 17 snow and ice are mentioned — snow very rarely lies at Jerusalem as long as it did in Jan. 1887, and frost is only less rare. In v. 18, the soft breezes of spring are already blowing. And to this there corresponds a progressiveness in 1 Besides the lexicons, see Geiger, Urschrift, pp. 351-54 (cf. p. 54) ; Kalisch, Jonah, pp. 59, 92, 99. PSALM CXLVII. 363 the references to the fortifying of Jerusalem ; in z1. 2 the walls are rebuilt, in v. 13 the gates are set up. The Septuagint actually divides this psalm into two (at v. 12). As to parallel passages, comp. v. 1 with cxxxv. 3, xxxiii. 1 ; vv. 4, 5 with Isa. xl. 26, 28 ; z'. 6 with cxlvi. 7-9 ; v. 9 with civ. 14, cxiv. 15, Job xxxvii. 41 j1 v. 10 with xxxiii. 16, 17 ; v. 15 with xxxiii. 9; z'. 18 with Isa. lv. 10, 1 1 ; z'V. 19, 20 with Deut. iv. 7, 8. 1 0 praise Jah, for it is good to make melody unto him, praise is seemly for our God. 2 Jehovah is the builder up of Jerusalem, he gathers together the outcasts of Israel. 3 It is he that heals the broken in heart, and binds up their painful wounds : 4 He reckons a number for the stars, and calls them all by names. 5 Great is our Lord, and rich in power, his understanding is incalculable. 6 Jehovah helps up the afflicted, but abases the ungodly to the ground. 7 Sing ye unto Jehovah with thanksgiving, make melody unto our God upon the lyre ; 8 Who covers the heaven with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth ; 9 Who gives to the beast his food, to the young ravens which cry. 10 His pleasure is not in the strength ofa horse, his deUght is not in the legs of a man ; 1 1 Jehovah delights in them that fear him, in them that wait for his lovingkindness. 12 Laud Jehovah, O Jerusalem, praise thy God, O Zion : 13 For he has strengthened the bars of thy gates, and has blessed thy children within thee. 14 It is he that has set thy borders in peace, that satisfies thee with the fat of wheat, 15 That sends his commandment to the earth — • his word runs very swiftly, 16 That gives snow like wool, that scatters hoar-frost like ashes ; 1 7 He casts forth his ice like pieces (of bread), who can stand before his cold ? 1 Mr. Bateson Wright, however, would read here 2pl?7 ' at eventide ' for D^IJ?/ ' to the raven ; ' cf. Job and Solomon, p. 52, n. 4. 364 THE PSALMS 18 He sends his word and melts them ; let him blow with his wind, and the waters will flow. 19 He declared his word unto Jacob, his statutes and ordinances unto Israel ; 20 He has not done so to any nation, and as for his ordinances — men know them not. 1 This version in the main 6 The afflicted are the Israel- follows the Sept. The text has, ites ; the ungodly, the heathen 'for it is good to make melody (see on ix. 6, 13). unto our God ; for it is pleasant — 8 The text adds, ' who makes praise is seemly;' or, 'for he is the mountains to sprout with grass' good; make melody unto our God, (cf. civ. 13, 14), which Sept. corri- for he is gracious,' &c. See crit. pletes by the line, ' herbs also for note. the service of men' (civ. 14). A 5 Is incalculable, i.e. not to tristich is certainly improbable. be measured by single facts (the 16 like ashes. The figure sands of thought, to apply cxxxix. was selected to produce a parono- 18), or even by the more complete masia (kefdr-kaefer). results of human reasoning. Vaster therefore than the stars (v. 4). PSALM CXLVIII. 1 HERE are two psalms in which we seem to touch the opposite ends of the gamut of emotion — the De Profundis and the Laudate Dominum in Excelsis. The sequence of ideas in the former is plain ; in the latter, may escape an inattentive reader. To illustrate it, we may refer to the most touching and (as Bishop Alexander has shown) poetical of funeral sermons, in which St. Bernard describes to us his brother Gerard's last night upon earth. ' He made the night as clear as the day by singing this psalm ; after which, looking up into heaven, he said, Father, into thy hands, &c, and, repeating the passage, said again and again, Father, father' (Morison, Saint Bernard, pp. 269, 270). This is in fact the con nexion of thought in the psalmist' s mind, — 'how great and rich and strong is our Father ; ' only we must put aside the Christian individualism of Gerard, and remember that King, Maker, and Father are interchangeable terms applied to the God of Israel. Compare the psalm with its immediate predecessor. In both poems the grand, absorbing motive for praise is the restoration of Israel, but in the former psalm the motive is more prominent than in the latter. In the former, too, nature finds a voice through its high priest Israel ; in the latter, the non-human creatures, animate and inanimate, are called upon to praise God themselves. Compare also the ' Song of the Three Children.' 1 O praise Jehovah from the heavens, praise him in the heights. 2 Praise him, all ye angels of his, praise him, all his host. 3 Praise him, sun and moon ; praise him, all ye stars of light. PSALM CXLVIII. 365 4 Praise him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that are above the heavens. 5 Let them praise the name of Jehovah, for it was he that commanded and they were created, 6 That gave them a station for ever and ever, that made a decree which they cannot transgress. 7 Praise Jehovah from the earth, ye dragons and all ye ocean-abysses ; 8 Fire and hail, snow and smoke, Stormy wind fulfilling his word ; 9 Mountains and all hills, fruit-trees and all cedars ; 10 Wild beasts and all cattle, creeping things and winged birds ; 1 1 Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all judges of the earth ; 12 Youths in their prime and damsels too, aged men by the side of boys ; 1 3 Let them praise the name of Jehovah, for his name alone is exalted, his grandeur above earth and heaven : 14 And he has lifted up a horn for his people ; [seemly] is praise for all his loving ones, for the children of Israel, the people near unto him. 2 All his host (see crit. note). sublime storms in mountain regions, Comp. Josh. v. 13-15, 1 Kings xxii. in which the lightning seems like 19. In ciii. 21 the plural 'hosts' falling masses of fire, and the clouds is appropriate, because other around the summits like the smoke 'servants' are referred to besides of a burning mountain 1 (cf. on civ. angels. 32).. An allusion to volcanic erup- 5 Between the two lines Sept. tions seems less likely (in spite of inserts 'for he spake, and they Jer. li. 25). stormy wind (cvii. came into being' (xxxiii. 9) ; cf. on 25), &c. See civ. 4. cxlvii. 8. 9, 10 Alluded to by Mohammed, 6 That made a decree, &c. Kordn, Sur. xxxiv. 10 (cf. xxxviii. Cf. civ. 9, Jer. v. 22. See crit. note. 17, 18), 'And we did give David 8 The two pairs of natural grace from us, " O ye mountains, objects in line 1 are in inverted echo (God's praises) with him, and parallelism. Tire and smoke (as ye birds," ' and perhaps by Brown- cxix. 83) refer perhaps to the ing, Saul, stanzas 5 and 6. PSALM CXLIX. -L.OVE to God coexisting even in times of worship with hatred to Israel's enemies. I may venture to apply some remarks already made on Ps. cix. to this only too striking psalm, which has been equally misused by Miin- 1 Cf. Ebers, Durch Gose.i zum Sinai, p. 433. 366 THE PSALMS zer, the wild but honest prophet of the German peasantry in 1522, and by Caspar Scioppius on the Roman Catholic side in the dreadful Thirty Years' War. Mohammed might have had a better excuse for quoting it (he knew the preceding psalm ; see on cxlviii. 9, 10). 1 Sing unto Jehovah a new song, and his praise in the congregation of the loving. 2 Let Israel rejoice in his maker, let the children of Zion exult in their king. 3 Let them praise his name with dancing, let them make melody unto him with the timbrel and lyre. 4 For Jehovah delights in his people, he adorns the afflicted with salvation. 5 Let the lovers of God triumph proudly, let them sing aloud upon their beds. 6 Let lofty hymns divine be in their throat, and a two-edged sword in their hand ; 7 To execute vengeance upon the nations, punishments upon the peoples, 8 To bind their kings with chains, and their honoured ones with fetters of iron ; 9 To execute upon them the doom that is written — an honour this to all his loving ones. I A new song, i.e. one that 5 The lovers of God (khasidim, commemorates a new lovingkind- as vv. 1, 9, cxlviii. 4). The word ness. Cf. on xxxiii. 3. means, of course, those who display 2 His maker. 'Non tantum 'lovingkindness' (khJsed) to their quia ab ipso creati erant ut reliqui fellows as well as to Jehovah ; but homines, sed quia eos refinxerat, ' who is my neighbour ' ? At the et ornaverat novi. dignitate, ut period of the psalmist, love to God essent a toto genere humano was more than ever preponderant segregati ' (Calvin). Comp. xcv. 6, over love to man. Cf. on 1. 5. c. 3. Upon their beds — even after they 3 With dancing. 'Whoso has have lain down (cxix. 55). not seen the mirth at the festival 6 lofty bymns divine. Cf. of drawing water, has never seen lxvi. 17. real mirth ' (Succa 49 a). On the 9 That is written. Alluding exuberant love of dancing which perhaps to the doom of the Canaan- lasted on through the post-Exile ites, Amalekites, &c. (cf. lxxxiii. period, see Delitzsch's essay in 10-13) ; perhaps to passages in Expositor, 1886 (2), p. 81, &c. the Psalms (e.g. xviii. 38-43) and 4 The afflicted, or, 'humble- prophecies (e.g. Isa. xiv. 14, lx. minded,' as cxlvii. 6. 11, 12). PSALM CL. Jr S. cl. closes this Hallelujah group (cxlvi.-cl.) not less worthily than the whole group concludes the Psalter. It is ' the finale of the spiritual PSALM CL. 367 concert' The climax is reached in v. 6. Rogers ('Matthews' Bible') renders Hallelujah here very nobly — ' Praise the Everlasting.' 1 Praise God in his sanctuary, praise him in the firmament of his power ; 2 Praise him for his valiant deeds, praise him according to his manifold greatness ; 3 Praise him with the peal of the cornet, praise him with the harp and lyre ; 4 Praise him with the timbrel and dance, praise him with strings and pipe ; 5 Praise him with resounding cymbals, praise him with clanging cymbals ; 6 Let everything that has breath praise Jah. I In his sanctuary, i.e. the Xaypov (cf. I Cor. xiii. i). We can earthly temple, in which this psalm hardly venture to distinguish two is to be sung, and which is a type kinds of cymbals on the ground of of that not made with hands (line these two epithets. 2). 6 How grand is the develop- 5 Resounding cymbals. Cf. ment of this verse in Rev. v. 13, to I Chron. xvi. 5, ' with cymbals, which Vischer's radical criticism sounding aloud.' Clanging does not deny Christian author- cymbals. Sept, KvpfiaXois dXa- ship ! CRITICAL NOTES. NOTE. — The names of authorities cited in these pages have not been flung down at random ; to each some special interest attaches. For some of the more famous of them I have endeavoured to act as an interpreter in Essay X. of vol. ii. of my work on Isaiah. In dealing with the Psalms several less familiar ones will naturally come before us, and here again each has his own characteristic merits ! How different is Baethgen from Bickell, Gratz from Dyserinck, De Witt from Briggs ! Space would fail me to do justice to these still working, still advancing scholars. Baethgen, in his articles on the ancient versions ofthe Psalter (fahrbiicher fiir prot. Theologie, 1882, p. 405, &c, and p. 593, &c), has given a capital specimen of that methodical text-criticism in which our Tyrwhitt and Kennicott Scholars might, if they were inclined, do so much useful work ; may this hint not pass unheeded ! Of Bickell it has been truly observed by Wellhausen that, whatever may be thought of his metrical hypotheses, his researches have often led him to thankworthy corrections of corrupt passages. Gratz and Dyserinck have both published translations of the Psalms, based upon a corrected text : the former, with all his rashness, has now and then made truly felicitous suggestions ; the latter shows a sensible eclecticism which makes his 'Critical Scholia' (Theologisch Tijdschrift, 1878, pp. 279-296) a storehouse of valuable material. Prof. John De Witt's translation in its first edition made many warm friends. It shows how much may be done to make even the Massoretic text in telligible and enjoyable, but it is too free to be often referred to in these notes. The abbreviations are the same as in the Variorum Bible of Messrs. Eyre and Spottiswoode. The chief are these : — Bi., Bickell ; Bo., Bdttcher ; De., Delitzsch ; Dy., Dyserinck ; Ew., Ewald ; Gr., Gratz ; Hengst, Hengstenberg ; Hi., Hitzig ; Houb., Houbi- gant ; Hu., Hupfeld ; Jer., Jerome ; La., Lagarde ; Lo., Lowth ; Mass., Massoretic ; 01, Olshausen ; Pe., Perowne ; Pesh., Peshitto ; Saad., Saadia ; Sept., Septuagint ; Symm., Symmachus ; Targ, Targum ; Theod., Theodotion. ii. 7. Sense and symmetry gain by connecting nirp with line 1. So 01., Gr., Bi., Ley, after Sept. (the Kvpios which follows VivpLov is obviously B B 370 THE PSALMS inserted for clearness' sake). Jerome, ' dei prasceptum ; Dominus dixit.' Gr. changes hit into DD'^S!.- ii. ii. ¦I'pi-l. For the sense, see Hos. x. 5. But in both places J may be a scribe's error for n. So, at least in ii. 11, Ew., Gr. Comp. xcvi. 9, xlviii. 7. — 12. Briill,1 1'3Q •lK'pa. Another correction might be mrV TT13 (cf. 2 Sam. xxi. 6), orioivi ]2 '3, ' Kiss the son of his goodwill' (if we might suppose that all but 3 and -\ had become illegible). Some reference to Jehovah seems necessary. Bruston remarks, ' II n'est pas suppos- able qu'a si peu de distance David ait employe d'abord le mot hebreu [pour 'fils'], puis le mot chalde'en ' (Du texte primitij des Psaumes, p. 76). (The usual reply is surely inadequate.) But his own version, 'Embrassez la purete",' is not happy, though supported by Symm., Jer., Saad. ' Receive admonition ' (Targ., Sept.) may be illustrated by Bammidbar rabba, 10 (cf. Sanhedrin, 92 a), where the Hebrew is explained of obedience to 13 = mill. The only version which gives ' kiss the son ' is Pesh. (a Jewish Christian's work) ; Ibn Ezra, however, also adopts the rendering. So also Jerome in his Commen tary (' adorate filium '). iv. 4. Correct in accordance with usage (xvii. 7, and especially xxxi. 22). So Dy., Gr. For the received text we might compare cxxxix. 14, but the parallelism favours this easy correction. One MS. in Holmes and Parsons has ro e'Xeos avTov. v. 8. ^OTI = Phoen. bon. Comp. Ass. Skallu (so Haupt ; Schrader ikallu), from Accad. Z: ' house ' and gal ' great ' (Oppert, &c). Those who (too rashly, as it has long seemed to me) reject what they de nominate ' Accadism' would do well to connect ?3'n, not with ]~fy = Ar. wakala,but with Ar. haikal"" (1) large ; or, tall, (2) palace, temple. But the possibility cannot be denied that the primary meaning may be, not ' large,' but ' palatial,' ' large as a palace.' Comp. Haupt, American Journal of Philology, Oct. 1887, pp. 273-4. vi. 8. For bo3 read T)tb22 (see on lxxxix. 51). So Bi. Notice ^3 in the next line. vii. 3 b. Prefix yn$\. So Sept., Pesh. (or do they simply transpose?), Bi., Gr. Comp. cxxxvi. 24, Lam. v. 8. — 5. Text, nSl?n!<'l. This may possibly mean 'and spoiled' (Aramaising sense ; cf. nS'^n), but it seems better to transpose n and b>, with Krochmal,2 Dy, Gr. How Pesh. and Targ. read may be doubtful, but they are at least against the parenthesis. Comp. vii. 5 b, thus interpreted, with Lev. xix. 17, 18 (it takes two to make a quarrel). ¦ — 8. With Rashi, Ddderlein, Dathe, Reuss, Smend, Bi., read n3K* (cf. ix. 5). — 10. Text, jrni. But Sept., Pesh., Jer. do not express 1. — 11. Read -fya (Dy., Gr.). 1 Jahrbuch fur jlldische Geschichte und Literatur, 18S5, p. 67. 2 Haksaw Wehammichtow (Lemberg, 1875), ad loc. CRITICAL NOTES 171 . 12, 13. Pesh., for dogmatic reasons, 'God, a true judge, is not (^a\) angry eveiy day, but turneth.' ii. 2. Why njn ? Probably to show that it is shortened from nJM3 (see a similar case in 2 Sam. xxii. 41) ; but how can God's name be said to confer the divine majesty on the heavens ? Konig, however, calls the pointing Aramaic ; the object, he thinks, is to suggest the Aramaic sense of the verb (because one 'repeats,' i.e. narrates, praises). See his Lehrgebaude, p. 304. Some would point rujj, but the sense 'ex tends' is imaginary; others r\lT\ 'is praised' (Judg. v. 11, xi. 40, Piel). I prefer to follow Sept's iwtjpdn, which at least gives the required sense. Canon Cook regards this as = n3J ; Lagarde,1 as = n.^n (cf. Luzzarto's nt.3 in Isa. xlix. 7). The latter view at any rate is impro bable. Hu., Bi., Gr., Dy., Pe. follow Targ., Pesh., Jer., and read nn:. De Witt now renders, ' With what glory of thine hast thou arrayed the heavens' (in ed. 1, ' Inscribe it as thy glory on the heavens'). ¦ 9. Bi., following Sept, now reads n3p- But see note. . 8. The verse should begin (note the following antithesis) ¦HaN* nan as cii. 27. So Ley, Dy., and virtually Gr., Bi. •17- L'^'lJ. Part Qal from L"pj. So Hu., De., Pe. ; and, among gram marians, Ge. (Thesaurus), Land, Konig, and doubtfully Stade. Others, as Ew., Bottcher, Miiller, see in the form a perf. Nifal ; or (as Ge. in Grammar) a part Nifal (from 2»p»). I have followed Hu., De., &c, but with some hesitation, as the sense seems rather more suitable. I am also not prepared to suppose corruption (cf. Hi. ad loc, and Gr. on xxxviii. 13) in all the five passages in which the secondary formation K'pJ appears to occur. Certainly C'D3n in Deut. xii. 30 (where Sept., Hi. read tyj?3fl) is favoured by Deut vii. 25. 2. p?T • J11503. Most render the verb ' is sore vexed' (lit., is set on fire), appealing to xxxix. 4, Isa. xiii. 8. ' Hotly pursues' is more natural in itself, and suits the next line better; cf. Lam. iv. 19. This involves either reading iniX33 with Ol. and Briill, or taking the r\— in niNJS to be the archaic fem. ending (which is usual in Phcenician). Apparently similar phenomena occur in the titles of Pss. Ixi., liii., lxxxviii., 2 Kings ix. 17 ; comp. the proper names Mahalath, Eglath, Baalath, Helkath, Gibeath, Libnath, Maarath. Cf. 01., Lehrbuch, § 108 b. 3. The verse is difficult, and the versions give no help. Most render, in line 1, 'for the ungodly boasts of ; ' but this has no support in usage. b^H is to sing praise, generally to God, though, singularly enough, in Prov. xxviii. 4 it has for its object S7Eh. Here the object must be God, since ' for his soul's desire ' can only mean ' for the attainment of his wishes.' In line 2, some find the juxtaposition of two readings, spa and yx;. So Geiger ( Urschrift, p. 269), who is 1 Anmerkungen zur griech. Uebersetzung der Proverbien (Leipz. 1863), p. 44. 112 372 THE PSALMS followed by Merx and Bickell ; but see Delitzsch on Job i. 5, and Wetzstein in Delitzsch's Psalmen, ed. 3, ii. 391. For the combination ofthe two verbs, comp. Judg. v. 27, Isa. xviii. 5. x. 8 (end). Gr. corrects *BV? (?-VBY») 5 so Sept. (d-noBXeirovo-i here, but not in Ivi. 7). Cf. xxxvii. 32, lxvi. 7. — 9. La. corrects 133D3 ; cf. Jer. iv. 7. Sept. in both places pdvSpa. Sib elsewhere an artificial booth. — 10. Bi. prefixes J>Kh i*ix ; some prefix at least seems wanted. D*N3^>n(sing. naSn, vv. 8, 14). Sept. here nevrjTes ; Aq., Symm., do-devels. Targ. in v. 8, K»35DD ; in v. 10, W$) ; in v. 14, 7|»jy. Did these translators derive, as Hi. supposes, from "?n = b>TI and D'KD for D*N33(Isa. xvi. 7)? May we compare n3i: (li- 19), DW31J (Isa. lvii. 15)? — 14. In /. 1 nflK seems superfluous, unless with Bi. we supply a verb ; in /. 2 I think we must supply Dp3 with Gr., and in /. 3 13-n with Bi. Notice the three Paseqs in Baer's text.1 The text of/. 2 as it stands is very harsh ; De. renders nJ"l^> 'to lay ( = laying) it' (cf. Ivi. 9) ; Hi. and Hu. more questionably, ' to take ( = taking) it ; ' Ew., entirely against usage, 'to inscribe it.' The parallel line in the second distich shows that active intervention on the part of Jehovah is meant ; but both sense and symmetry require some word or words to be supplied. For my rendering comp. xviii. 48 a, and also HDID |riJ > Ex. vii. 9 (a divine 'avengement' is of course a 'prodigy'). But the same cor rected text might be rendered, ' laying up (vengeance).' xi. 6. Point "H3t?*. In xii. 4 the jussive is more appropriate than here (see v. 7). Similarly xxv. 9 a. Read 'criB with Ew., Bi. (in this context = ^nJ, xviii. 13). Symm., avdpams (Field). — 7- 1D*JB. See on Isa. liii. 8. Bi., apparently denying the existence of a suffix in Sm or dm, corrects here injB = V3B, and similarly in Job xx. 23, xxii. 2, xxvii. 23. He quotes Lucian's recension of Sept. for the reading D'lB*). xii. 5. Read "V32J JTH3, in accordance with Dan. ix. 27, already com pared by Ew., 01. The clever tongue of these men is their god, with whom (instead of Jehovah) they are in covenant. Cf. Hab. i. 11, R.V. — 7. Sept. gives a duplicate rendering of splV and has nothing for W>5?3- For this last most troublesome word Targ. has &n-133 (' in a furnace '), a rendering which is adopted by most (Ol., De., and Bdttcher, however, prefer ' in a workshop'). But surely the word is not Biblical but Mishnic Hebrew. In Rosh haShdna, 21 b, the word is glossed thus, ^3^3 ^hil ' manifestly to all.' Is it not a word from a Targum which found its way first into the margin and then into the text ? 2 The silver stream 1 It is difficult to believe that Paseq is always intended simply to conduce to effect in reading. See Olshausen, Lehrbuch, § 43. 2 Pereant qui ante nos, Sec. Redslob, I see, has already proposed a similar view. But he thinks 'a is a gloss for nnnt3 = ni"inS ' manifest,' adding that such glosses generally are altogether wrong. He also expunges l>-|fc7 3 which runs down to the ground is in the sight of all perfectly pure ; so also are God's promises. Such may well have been the paraphrase, one word of which has thus strangely survived. Comp. Jer. x. ii (a very ancient gloss; see Graf). For pxb Dy. reads pn3 'like gold.' xii. 9, 8. I need scarcely defend the transposition (Bi.), nor yet the change of suffix in both lines, based on Sept., and accepted by Houb., Dy., Bi., and Baethgen. Line 2 of v. 8 is difficult JWt reminds us of the Talmudic KTTO't ' cheapness ; ' the form Xmi>) also means ' con tempt : ' b'PT in Biblical Aramaic = Heb. \h\>. Comp. also Jer. xv. 19, b)>)1 ' that which is of no price,' and Ecclus. x. 19 Pesh., where zalll = impos. Hence, T here may mean either ' vileness ' ( = al evreXels, Symm. ), or ' contemptuousness ' (comp. Prov. xi. 2 Pesh., where zalilutho = Sept. vipis ). The defective form D"i is peculiar ; comp. 0) (Num. xxxv. 6). A totally newview is given by Baethgen, who renders thus : Though the ungodly go round about a vineyard which is contemptible in the eyes of men (for idioms, comp. Job xxii. 14, Jonah iii. 3). He appeals to the vocalisation x"/V in Origen's Hexapla, and refers to Isa. iii. 14 and similar passages as showing that 'a vineyard' had become a kind of technical term for Israel. But, if we pronounce DH3 instead of C13, should we not expect a different verb, such as ' tread down' or ' eat up ' ? Notice too the passage quoted from the Clementine Re cognitions, 128, 35 in Payne Smith's Thes. Syr. (s.v. zalil) in juxta position to Ps. xii. 8 Pesh, which favours the pointing Dn?. xiii. 3. rrixy is usually rendered ' cares.' Hi. compares Prov. xxvii. 9, as corrected by him from Sept. ; but there it means not ' cares ' but ' deliberations.' Pe. comments, ' Lit., put counsels or deliberations in my soul,' quoting Prov. xxvi. 24 ; but how does the phrase ' lay up deceit ' justify ' lay up deliberations ' ? Pesh. gives tabritho ' sorrow ' = m3Vy (xvi. 4, cxlvii. 3), which Abp. Seeker (as reported by Merrick in his note), Street, Dy, Gr., Bi. accordingly read. In line 2 add nWl with Kennicott, Street, Ley, Bi., Gr., following Sept., Cod. Alex, and Sin. (second corrector). xiv. 4. Read D"3I7 Cr6 (similarly Bi. in 1882). y_ j-|13B' ^ 31'£'3- J"I13E> occurs only in this or in a closely similar phrase ; the same would be true of rV3K>, but for Num. xxi. 29, if the text be correct, where it means ' captivity.' There is often a hesita tion between the two forms.1 In expressions like this,2 verb and noun are generally cognate ; why should not this be the case here? Comp. TTltb from \\b, which is found in the construct state with (:) in Prov. iv. 24 ; and see Olshausen, Lehrbuch, pp. 412, 417 (cf P- 276) ; Bottcher, Sprachlehre, § 464 ; Ewald, Lehrbuch, § 165 b. It is important to notice that, while 'turn the fortunes' (lit 'turn a turning,' or better, 1 n,}gj occurs five times as K'thib and six times as Q'ri. 2 See ihe list in Ley, Die metrische Formen der hebr. Poesie (1866), pp. 49-60. 374 THE PSALMS ' restore a restoration ') will suit all the passages in which the phrase occurs, ' turn the captivity ' will not (see, e.g., Deut. xxx. 3, Jer. xxix. 14, xxx. 3, Ezek. xvi. 53, xxix. 14, and Job xlii. 10). Kamphausen, after discussing the point, renders 'jemandes Wiederherstellung bewirken.' The debate, however, is not absolutely closed. Cf. on cxxvi. 1. xv. 4. Point np'1 (as Ezek. xlviii. 14) ; the form follows the analogy of verbs ]}"]). See Konig, Lehrgebdude, i. 466. xvi. 2. Point rnox ; cf. njTP cxi. 13, Job xlii. 2; also 1 Kings viii. 48, Ezek. xvi. 59. So Sept, Pesh., Vulg., Ew., De., Pe., and most. In line 2, read ^p'ly'pS ^3 with Houb., Bi. De. and others get the same sense from the text (by = ' beyond,' Gen. xlviii. 22 ; cf. lxxxix. 8, xcv. 3) ; and so perhaps did Symm., Jer., Targ. (claimed with Pesh. by Houb.). — 3. The text is evidently in disorder. The Sept. does not help, in spite of Baethgen's clever discussion in Theol. Studien und Kritiken, 1880, p. 754; Michaelis had led the way (see Schnurreris Disserta- tiones, 1790, pp. 124-126). Buhl has recently taken up the same wrong clue. The only satisfactory view of the text is suggested by Hitzig, who renders line 1 thus : ' Let it be for the holy ones in the land ; ' i.e. ' let a part of my newly acquired goods be for my friends, Jehovah's worshippers, who are not, like me, outside the borders of the land of Israel' (he regards the psalm as Davidic, and refers to 1 Sam. xxx. 26). This is fantastic, but it remains true that ' no ancient reader could help connecting non with Qi^np? (see Job xii. 3, Gen. xxxi. 16, 43).' Clearly it is a marginal gloss on the word D'THX — ' this relates to the holy ones,' &c. Read -plHKl. Notice the following 3. — 4. Read -13T with Targ., Hu., Bi. — 5. Read TDPi with Dy., Bi., and (fonnerly) Hi. See note, p. 40. Text, Tj^pin ; the double scriptio plena is against Konig's arid De.'s view that it is part. Qal from ^Dfl. — 10. "]TDn is the reading presupposed by all the ancient versions, and given by the best editions and by the majority of MSS. (including most important ones, which do not even mention a Q'ri) ; it is also adopted by many old Jewish commentators (against their contro versial interest). The superfluous 1 was probably caused by the * preceding the consonant 1 ; for the same cause and effect, see Gen. xvi. 5, Ezek. ix. 5, 1 Sam. xxvi. 8, where (as here in our printed Bibles) the Q'ri deletes the 1. Comp. Pusey, Daniel the Prophet, p. 505. xvii. 3. Close line 2 with >riCf ' (any) evil device that is mine ; ' cf. >3iy xviii. 24. So Sept., Pesh., Targ. (altern. rend.), and perhaps Jerome (some MSS.), followed by Dathe, Hu., Pe. — 14. The three opening words in the text are intolerable ; they spoil both sense and symmetry. DJ1DD is simply a repetition ; " "]T a gloss CRITICAL NOTES 375 on *p-in (v. 13). So 01., Bi. Notice the Paseq, and cf. foot-note on x. 14 (above). In /. 3 I follow Ew., Hu., De., Pe. ; Ol. and Hi. render, ' whose sons have enough ' (but why not Dn»33 ?). But Bi. is plausible ; he reads — D^3 n't."V* 3!D"'?33 1V3C1. xvii. 14. ipn. This interesting word 'occurs five times in the poetical books, twice in the sense of lifetime, with the accessory idea of brevity, Pss. xxxix. 6, lxxxix. 48 ; twice in that of the (temporary) world, Pss. xvii. 14, xliv. 2 ; and once in a sense near that of Ar. khalada " duravit " [and hence " perennavit "], Job xvii. 1 1 , where Renan renders well, according to the context, " l'avenir." ' The root-meaning must be sought in Aramaic ; in all the applications of Aram, "pn, 'penetrating deeply' is an essential element So too in Talmudic, T^nn means ' he plunged the sacrificial knife ' (Notes a/id Criticisms on the Text of Isaiah, 1868, p. 36). The scribes who transposed "> and T in xxxix. 5 (see crit. note) and Isa. xxxviii. 1 1 felt the new sense of brevity which in Hebrew poetry 1">n seems to have acquired. xviii. The 'interminable' question (as Prof. W. H. Green has called it) of the origin and relation of the two recensions of this psalm (that in the Psalter and that in 2 Sam. xxii.) cannot be discussed fully within our limits. One theory — that of Hengst. — is that the varia tions in Samuel are intentional and due to David himself. He appeals to the fact that prophets sometimes quote from their pre decessors, introducing variations which affect the sense. His real argument, however, is that an Old Testament text cannot have been so very carelessly transcribed even before the collection ofthe Canon — an argument which few would now treat seriously. The truth is that even the most interesting variations do not materially affect the sense. The view of God and of his relation to the psalmist is the same in both, unless (1) the "]OmK in Ps. xviii. 2 (Mass. text) is genuine, and unless (2) TKJ1 in Ps. xviii. 29 has been inserted out of reverence (to avoid calling God a 13), in both which cases there is a presump tion that the text in 2 Sam. is more original than that in the Psalter (see, however, below). It should be noticed that in neither text do the names of God appear to have been altered, as in some of the psalms. Bbttcher finds a ' temple-recension ' in the Psalter and a ' lay-recension ' in 2 Samuel. The theory has this element of truth (according to De.) — that the Samuel-text contains not a few licences of popular speech. But are the roughnesses of 2 Sam. the licences which a careless transcriber allowed himself, or do they represent an earlier phase of the language ? To the former De. inclines ; to the latter, among ourselves, Prof. Kirkpatrick, who holds that the text in the Psalter has been subjected to a careful revision at a later date, in which roughnesses were smoothed away, unusual words and con structions simplified, and obscure expressions explained. The pro bability is, I think, that the copy from which the Samuel-text was taken was an older one than that which the other text represents, 376 THE PSALMS but that the latter contains some original readings. The first part of this conclusion is based upon the prominence of the scriptio defectiva in Samuel ; the latter, upon ' subjective ' but not therefore arbitrary decisions as to the comparative merits of readings. It is worth noticing that the Sept. both in Samuel and in Psalms inclines upon the whole to the Massoretic text of Ps. xviii. We cannot lay too much stress upon this, as the Sept texts may have been tampered with by a harmonist. Certain MSS. of the Sept of Samuel (19, 82, 93, 108) do in fact form a peculiar recension which presupposes a different Hebrew text from the received Greek text See further W. H. Bennett, Hebraica, 1887, pp. 65-86 ; Joel Miiller, Massechet Soferim (1878), pp. 115-6; H. P. Smith, Presbyterian Review, 1885, pp. 630, 631. xviii. 2. Dm 'to love' occurs repeatedly in Nabatasan inscriptions (Doughty) ; cf. Ass. rdmu. Dr. Hort would connect -piTIX (pointing as Piel) with the title, ' and he (Jehovah) said, I will have mercy on thee.' Against this is the fact that in 2 Sam. xxii. 2 _iDN','l introduces the words ofthe psalm. I read ?|t3t?hs| (xxx. 2) with Ol., Dy., Bi. — 4. ??np. Klostermann, p^gp ' as an umpire' (1 Sam. ii. 25). Cf. on v. 48. — 5. Read ~>~\'SW'0 as 2 Sam. xxii. Klostermann reads, for b\\W, D*B with Sept. 2 Sam. I.e. (Lucian's recension). — 13. 2 Sam., under the influence of v. 9, changes -l^y into -Ilia, and wrongly omits 1 "P3. V3J; is also wanting ; but is not this merely a miswritten nay ? Street (1790) and Woods (Hebraica, 1887, p. 262) follow 2 Sam. — 14. Following the Samuel-recension, which has but two lines. — 15. Read pna D'p}?, with Bennett, Klostermann, and Baethgen (after 2 Sam. xxii., Sept.). Cf. cxliv. 6 a, which alludes to our passage. — 16. For D?0> read DJ, with 2 Sam. xxii. 16 (and all critics). — 30. Read "n| (or fia) pK with La., Klostermann. The verb is also thus pointed by Ew., Ol., De., Dy., Gr., Sept. (Lucian), Spapovpai Tre(j)paypivos (A. B. povo£a>vos). — 34. Klostermann plausibly, niD3 (suffix misleading). — 42. 2 Sam. has Djinfe? (so Ew., 01.), side by side with the corrupt variant Dy^lS (an instructive phenomenon !). — 44. Read D'ay. 2 Sam. has '»y, which Klostermann adopts. But see on xiv. 9. — 48- "OT1 (cf. xlvii. 4). Strictly, 'and drove (under me).' If this psalm and Ps. xlvii. be late, the presence of the word can be more easily explained, but necessity there is none. 2 Sam. has TTIO, which Klostermann (desirous to reduce the number of possible imitations) prefers. So too Prof. Briggs. I would rather assume that the scribe of 2 Sam. wrote just here from memory (like Sept and Targ.), and therefore (like Sept. 2 Sam. in Lucian's text and Targ.) paraphrased. xix. 5. Read obip or D^p with Cappel, 01., Ge., Bo., Dy., Bi., Gr. A CRITICAL NOTES 377 third line is necessary to the harmony of the verse ; it possibly con tained a reference to the heavens, so that we need not, with Briill, correct QH3 into DnD3. x. 7. This verse seems incomplete ; it was probably followed by several more distichs, which may have been lost in the great literary catas trophe of the Exile. - 15. Insert -pOD with Ley (Sept. oWon-or, as xvi. 8, &c). ¦:. 6. Read b>}} with Gr. ; Bi., ^33 (after Sept., Pesh.), but the construc tion seems doubtful. Friedr. Del. adventurously explains the text by the Ass. dagdlu ' to see, look at,' whence diglu = blrl, ' banner ' (Prolegomena, pp. 59-61). - 10. Read -133JM, and attach ^ppn to line 1 with Sept, Bi. In the main, most moderns agree, including J. Forbes (Studies, 1888). cii. 2. Insert ¦>*? rnvpri in line 1, nRN in line 2, and readna^p in line 3, with Bi. The construction, ' far from my salvation are the words of my roaring' has high ancient authority (Sept., Aq., Symm., Theod., Quinta and Sexta in Field, Jer., and Targ). Baethgen adopts it, taking ' salvation ' = ' saviour ' (cf. xlii. 6). But how unnatural ! Pos sibly we should read in /. 2 TlinC'D (cf. xl. 2) with Hi., Dy., Gr. - 9. Read 53 with Bi., after Sept. r)Xino-ev, Pesh., Jer. Comp. Matt xxvii. 43 TT£TT0l8ev). - 10. T\i- Point either *n| (from m3, transitive, as Mic. iv. 10), or Ttji as Mass. text, from a collateral form nns (so Hi.). - 16. Read 'an with most critics (an early emendation ; see Ibn Ezra). De. keeps 'my strength' in his translation, but admits that on is preferable to his exposition. - 17. Read 11X3 = 113. For the ser iptio plena, ci. Ezek. xxviii. 27, Hos. x. 14, Prov. xiii. 23. Some verb-form is certainly presupposed by all the versions (though Targ. gives the alternative rendering 'as a lion'). The Jewish tradition too, as embodied in the Massoretic treatise Ochla weOchla (no. 59, ed. Frensdorff), rejects the rendering ' as a lion.' It must be admitted indeed that this is the natural version of ¦nxa, which is the reading of most MSS. and eds. of the Heb. text. But the context requires a perfect, and ' and 1 are too easily confounded for us to stumble at the necessary correction, for which there is an exact parallel in Ezra x. 44 (Kay), and which is indeed, as it seems to me, presupposed by the exegetical tradition preserved in the Mas- sora. On the versions, see Pe.'s note, and cf. Baethgen, Jahrbiicher fur prot. Theologie, 1882, p. 614 ; De., Complutensische Varianten (1878), p. 27 ; La., Orientalia, ii. 64. Among emendations, I prefer Briill's -IIJ?? (K and n could be confounded in the old Hebrew charac ter ; see Judg. ix. 31 Variorum Bible, and Num. xxxii. 32 Sept.). 22. »Jiyj»- Hi., Riehm, and Bi. take the Waw which opens the clause for a Waw consecutive. But is this separation between the Waw and its perfect possible ? Bo. takes the perfect as having a precative force in itself in certain contexts (whether a Waw precedes or not). 378 THE PSALMS But see Driver, Hebrew Tenses, § 20. Sept. seems to have read, not *n;3J? (Thrupp), but Tj-13#. xxii. 30. 'Read 11PIJ1B" \b "]X, with Pinsker, Bruston, Baethgen, Gr. For 13BH, Gr. v)#», cf. Dan. xii. 2, Briill '33B>. — 30, 31. Sense and symmetry require us (with Hu., Bi.) to attach the last clause of v. 30 to v. 31. We may either take the clause hypo- thetically, or render as I have done. On the virtually relative clause, see Pe. Bi. inserts 1B>KV The versions are in perplexity ; Sept., Quinta, Sexta, Septima (in Field), and Pesh. read '£>B3. So Lowth and Horsley ; so too Geiger, continuing -l? (but then we want n.'JT, ' if he would revive my soul, my seed should serve him '). — 31. Read Wit, with Targ. (DrTDSjn PTjnT; '2X1 is a gloss). Sept ly-lt (same mistake as above ; comp. on xxiv. 4). 1313JJ' was inserted to make sense after the disarrangement of the verses. Baethgen, however, 'ay ,|y~lT. — 32. Read WV tO' "111^ (taking over 'b from v. 31). Sept. yevea f) ipXopevrj- Kal dvayyeXovcri ; Aq. els yeveav iXevoovTai Kal dvayyeXovoi. Pe. agrees in his exegesis. xxiii. 2. Friedr. DeL's explanation l of ?n3 from Ass. na'dlu a synonym (not necessarily an exact one) of ndliu ' to rest ' is plausible. ' To make to repose ' will suit here and in xxxi. 4 (see crit. note). The derived sense, ' to sustain with food,' will also suit in Gen. xlvii. 1 7 (but 2 Chron. xxxii. 22 may be corrupt — see Variorum Bible), where Sept. i^e8pe-^rev. This is also Sept's rendering here ; Pesh., however, follows Targ. (\Jiai ' leadeth me '). Are there two roots, as R. D. Wilson supposes (Presbyt. Rev., April 1885, pp. 319-321) ? or, since ' (gently) lead ' will suit every passage but Gen. xlvii. 1 7, shall we say that ' sustain with food ' is a derived meaning (not difficult to explain) ? — 4. The structure of this artistic poem requires some addition here. niobv. See crit. note on Isa. ix. 1, and Hebraica, April 1885, pp. 251, 252. — 6. Point ^3^ with OL, Dy. (Sept., Symm., and probably Pesh., Jer.), as xxvii. 4. ,'PI3£> cannot be for in3B"1. in spite of Ew. and Gr. Hengst, Hu., Pe. agree that it is an infin. with suffix. xxiv. 4. Gr. adopts the Q'ri i&S2 , supported by MSS. (one is dated 1294), most eds., Saadia, Abulwalid, Rashi, and Kimchi, but against all the versions. See Pe., and cf. on xxii. 31. — 6. In line 1, Sept. (Lucian, according to Bi.) suggests nw WTI ; in line 2, Sept. has ro zrpoo-awov tov Beov 'laKcifi. So (or else, as Pesh., 'thy face, O God of Jacob') Houb., Lowth, and most moderns. De Witt, ' of those in Jacob that seek thy face, O God,' as if '33D had dropped out. Hi., De., Baethgen also adhere to the Mass. text. xxv. 1, 5, 7, 18. See Commentaiy. Note, however, that some MSS. at v. 5 c (Mass. text) read imxi, making a fresh verse begin here (Sept. 1 The Hebrew Language, &c. (1883), pp. 5, 6 ; Prolegomena (1886), pp. 17-20. CRITICAL NOTES 379 also has Kal o-e vTripen-a). Pe. prefers this way of helping the alpha betic arrangement. xxv. 2. Omit \-|?X, with Bi., or attach it to preceding line. — 8. Point D^ph with Bi. and (virtually) Hu. — 17. Baethgen •'O'rnri (Cant. vi. 5). With most, I read 'OD1 3Tnn (2 Kings viii. 6). -- 21. Without mrp (Sept, Bi.) the verse is short. xxvii. 8. Sept's i^e^Trjo-a to wp6o-a>woi> oov may presuppose ^|\3B")"IN K'il'.aK- These words may possibly have been written twice over by mistake, Sept. doing its best to make sense. This, I suppose, is why Bi. omits '33 '3, making the verse a distich. See, however, Baethgen, who holds that both the forms in which the Sept version is handed down are corrupt. The other versions are perplexed. — 13. The Mass. text prefixes X>1? with three points above and four below, which, as most agree, indicate corruption or a various reading (see references in Strack, Prolegomena, p. 91). I presume that <¦> was the original reading (at the end of v. 12), and that it was corrupted into \b (comp. Sept.). This rendered the text, strictly speaking, un translatable ; \b therefore became iib and was prefixed to v. 13 ('I despaired,' &c). Last of all, the two readings were combined, but with warning points. xxviii. 8. Read iayb (xxviii. 8) with Bo., 01., Hu., Krochmal, Dy., Gr., Bi., Konig (after Sept.). Comp. xxix. 1 1. The late Prof. Weir of Glasgow made a similar correction in Isa. xxxv. 8. xxix. 1. &bx '33- 'Sons of = members of (a guild or society). So Neh, iii. 8 'a son of the goldsmiths,' 'a son of the apothecaries ;' and so a certain Syrian saint John (Johannan) is called bar naggbre, i.e. a member of the carpenters' guild (Hoffmann, Verhandlungen. &c, 1873, P- 89). — 6. Transfer ji33^ to line 1 (removing verb-suffix). So Bi. — 7. Insert DniV and D3Xn* with Bi. — 9. Read \i\bx, with Lowth, Seeker, Dy., Gr., Bi.,Thrupp, Jennings and Lowe. — 10. There are five possible renderings : — (a) ' Yahwe sat at the Flood, and Yahwe sitteth on as a king for ever ; ' i.e. ' from that moment went on and continues sitting,' to account for the Imperfect with strong Waw (Driver, Hebrew Tenses, (b) 'Yahwe sat (enthroned) at the flood ; therefore [consequently] Yahwe sitteth as king for ever ; ' i.e. the fact that Yahwe controlled the flood, produced by rain-storms and swollen torrents, increases the psalmist's faith in the general truth of His government of the world. (c) ' Yahwe sat (enthroned) for the flood ' ( = to produce the storm- flood), &c. Cf. ix. 8. (d) ' Yahwe sat (enthroned) on the flood, and Yahwe sitteth on as king for ever ; ' i.e. continues His royal rule from the time when He 380 THE PSALMS erected His throne on the created heavenly ocean (already referred to in v. 3). For ' on the flood,' cf. ix. 5. As to (a). Noah is very rarely mentioned outside Genesis (see Isa. liv. 9, Ezek. xiv. 14), and least of all should we expect a refer ence (and such an abrupt reference) to the Flood in a descriptive poem like this, so free from any tinge of penitential sadness. Against (b) and (c) it may be urged that the foregoing description contains no mention of a rain-storm. One may be surprised at this, remember ing the fine parallel passage in Imra-al-Kais (see Lyall, p. 103) ; but we must not interpret v. 10 as if the omission did not exist. Against (d) is the preposition, which does not harmonise with the construction in v. 3 ; besides the construction seems too condensed (' sitteth on the flood ' = ' sitteth in his upper chambers which are on the flood '). But is it indubitable that ^-13p is rightly translated ' flood ' ? I know that this view is favoured by pKn_bv D'O bl3Dn"J"IK in Gen. vi. 17 (cf. vii. 6), by the paraphrase rj3 'p in Isa. liv. 9, and by Sept's rendering KaTaKXva-pos. But it is clear (as Schrader and Dillmann have pointed out) that >13P was already an archaic term in the time of the early narrators, and the paraphrase which they employed need not be exact The psalmist is certainly not bound by their special ising interpretation ; nor is the philologist. The case is parallel to that of D'I?'IB3, which an early narrator paraphrases by DP3JI (Gen. vi. 4), though probably the root ?B3 is a sister-form of ^33 = Ass. nabdlu ' to destroy ' (cf. IIB and -|t3), and ^B3, like Ass. nablu 1 (an epithet of Tiglath-pileser), = ' destructive.' Of >130 at any rate the original meaning seems pretty clear ; it is synonymous with nabalu, nabal," and perhaps too with nabbdltu, and means (1) destruction, (2) wasting flood.3 I make no reference to Ar. wabl"n and wdbil"" ' heavy rain ' (cf. Kordn, Sur. ii. 266, 267, and Hamdsa, p. 61 1, with Freytag's note), as these must be connected with another root.4 xxx. 4. Read H"p*P (K'thib), with Sept, Pesh. The Q'ri postulates a new infin. 1~\\ (in spite of v. 10), which 01., Stade, and Konig, as grammarians, rightly refuse to recognise. — 8. Read TV TIO^ (a frequent constr. form) ; so Targ. (comp. Ibn Ezra). So too Riehm, comparing Isa. xxxiii. 16, Job xvii. 1, and correcting »jn"lDJjn. Sept. (Pesh.) mnb ; cf. on ex. 3. — 13. Read H1331? with Sept. (Pesh.). xxxi. 4. Sept. oSi/yijoreis pe Kal 8ia6pi\jteis pe. Targ. »JV ]1T1 TV "I3T ' lead me and nourish me ; ' Pesh. bayyain ' console me.' 1 Cf. Schrader, Die Keilinschriften und das A.T. [K.A.T.], p. 609. Norris (Assyrian Dictionary) gives naplu ; but see Sayce, Syllabary, 168. 2 Budge, Hist, of Esarhaddon, p. 59. 3 Friedr. Delitzsch proposes this etymology ( Wo lag das Parodies f p. 156), which is accepted by Haupt (in Schrader's K.A.T., p. 66, n. 3) ; but gives too special a rendering of nabbdltu (' the wasting storm-flood'). Cf. also Friedr. Del., Prolegomena, p. 122. 4 Hebraica, April 1887, pp. 175, 176. CRITICAL NOTES 38 1 xxxi. 7. Read nS3L" with Sept. (Pesh.) and Jer. (in some MSS.). So most (not Pe.). — 10, 12. Insert nbr\22 with Bi. For 1X12 read 13D with La., Bi. (Hi. i|p). Observe HTJ in line 4. — 20. Insert mn> with Sept. (A, B, but not S). So Bi. — 21. Read ^Op (cf. Ezek. xxii. 9), with 01., Bi. The text-reading is commonly rendered 'from conspiracies' (D3"l to bind): better, ' serried ranks' (Targ. H-1T-I ; cf. Ass. raksu, Schrader, K A. T, p. 332). Hi., in his first work on the Psalms, connects with t31 (cf. Sept. dnb rapaxrjs dvdpdnrav) ; but this is scarcely justifiable. Both Targ. and Sept. guess. xxxii. 4. Read »33"in?. — 6. Read t\^ Vip isp ny^, with La. and virtually Bi. — 7. 131 seems like a repetition of the last letters of the preceding word ; Ov3 occurs again in a corrupt passage (Ivi. 8). — 8. Read ^>W (Sept., Symm., Jer. favour this). So Ol., Bi. — 9. Read ybx ba-V IV Qiblb tcnpripa. Surely Viy ' his trappings ' cannot be in apposition to 'bit and bridle,' since these are here regarded not as ornaments, but as means of controlling the animal. ?3 before 31"lp (? infin.) is against usage. Hence von Ortenberg 1 (who reads as above, but retains 'p) takes 'p to be a ' proleptic pre dicate.' It is simpler and helps the rhythm to omit it as an inter polation rendered necessary by the faulty grouping of letters P3 1HI7- But how came Ql?3? where it now stands ? It had been omitted by mistake, and was afterwards written in the margin, and thence inserted in a wrong place. For 73V in this context, cf. Ix. 11, Isa. liii. 7. xxxiii. 7. Read 133 = nN33, with Dathe, Ew.. 01., Dy., Gr., and all the versions (except Quinta in Field) ; but not in lxxviii. 13, in spite of Sept. xxxiv. 6. See note. The points give a weaker interpretation, influenced by v. 7. Note that bx DOn is a synonym of ntD3 (cf. Sept of Isa. xx. 5, 6) ; the phrase must have arisen from the primitive use of sacred symbols (cf. Num. xxi. 9). xxxv. 2, 5, 6. See notes. Transpose participles, reading Drn with Sept. — 7, 8. Transpose JinC and DntJH. Omit the last three words (a gloss on v. 8 a). — 13. Read 3,E>FI with Bi. (cf. lxxix. 12). — 15 b. Read D'-CO with 01., Bi., Gr. ; Riehm prefers DO£?>3 (cf. Hab. "• 7)- , — 16. The Mass. text clearly cannot stand. We might read D*J5[7, taking up 13 from JWO, the remainder of which will then be either a clerical error or a gloss = H3W ' a jest ' (but I doubt this Rabbinic word in Kimchi), or nJV |1B>7l 'in a foreign tongue' (Sanhedrin, 101, 2, in Buxtorf 's Lex. Talmud.). The versions, if they read 31I7D, interpreted 1 Zur Textkritik der Psalmen (1861), pp. 6, 7, 382 THE PSALMS it as Kimchi (as a synonym of iyb), but it is more agreeable to usage to suppose that they read iyb, which I accept with Baethgen as the true reading. Are the versions in other respects reconcilable with Mass. text ? It is possible that Symm., Pesh., Targ. do but guess ; we cannot safely use them. Sept., however, which renders ineioaodv pe i£epvKTTjpicrdv pe pvKTrjpiopov, does suggest a correction for »33n3, viz. 'I33n3 ' they vexed me ' (strictly, ' tried me, as metals,' lxvi. 10). But, with Baethgen, I hesitate to accept this new sense, and abide by Mass. text (pointing, however, '3J?7). Foreign oppressors were of course D'Bi.n. xxxv. 17. Read DnJKCO with 01., Dy, Gr. xxxvi. 2. See notes ; Krochmal's Dy3 or D'JO is too easy. Read ia1?, with Sept. (Pesh.), Jer., Targ. (in two eds.), and some Heb. MSS. — 3. Omit K3B>7 — 'in respect of hating' (his iniquity), a gloss defining the sense of Xfu> and consequently of the whole verse. In fact, Sept., Aq., Targ., Jer. all interpret as if the subject of the verb in /. I were the sinner, whose aim in his 'flattery' is to 'find' (i.e. get an opportunity for) sin, and to hate (Targ. supplies X3B^-1N ' instruc tion,' which casts a flood of light on the gloss). Symm. takes the opposite view ; Pesh. is general and vague. On the moderns, see Pe.'s crit. note. — 8. See note. De.'s ' explanatory Waw ' is very awkward. xxxvii. 28. The Sept. version exists in two forms, dpapoi iKSiKrjdrio-ovTai (so codd. B. and S.) and avopoi [8e] iKOiaxdria-ovrat (so A. S. 2nd and 3rd correction). The latter suggests D^iy (cf. napdvopoi = 7jy Job xxvii. 7 Sept.); the verb is of course •lnDK'3. — 35. See note ; Sept. and Pesh. as quoted by Aphraates agree. — 36. Read "lh.pi with Sept., Pesh. ; cf. Prov. xxiv. 30, and see crit. note on Isa. li. 19. xxxviii. 12, 13. The pentastich is to compensate for a preceding tristich (vv. 6, 7). Thus the number of distichs is virtually 22. In v. 12 b, Gr. lE>pJ?il (see on ix. 17). — 20. Read D3n with Houb., Lo., 01., Ew., Hi., Hu., Dy., Bi., Gr. — 22, 23. The last tetrastich seems short ; Bi. enlarges it from the Memphitic version of the Sept xxxix. 2. Read np^K with Dy, Bi., Gr. (and virtually 01.). mDSW was copied from /. 1. — 5. Read >3X "l^irnp 'quantilli sim aevi,' with Hu. "]bn occurs again in xvii. 14, xlix. '2, and (especially) lxxxix. 48. The same transposition occurs in Isa. xxxviii. 11. Possibly later scribes found a deep mean ing in l7n (' ceasing," cessation ') ; cf. De., Gesch. der jiid. Poesie, p. 167. — 6. Omit ?3 before "?3n, with Aq., Symm., and many Heb. MSS. So too Pesh., unless it read 73H3. » 7- E37V3. Menahem ben Saruq (Spanish school ; loth century) is right, as against Donash, when he explains the word ')! ' image.' But CRITICAL NOTES 383 Donish is more plausible than Miihlau and Volck (who explain 'X ' shadow,' i.e. ' vanity '), when he renders ' in darkness man wanders about '(see Hebraica, Jan. 1888, pp. 120, 121). So doubtless Ibn Janah (Book of Roots, s.v.), who compares Ar. zalima ' to be dark.' Gr. reads 'np 7)>3, which at any rate puts no violence on Hebrew usage. Darkness is an image of misfortune, not of vanity. xii. 2. Insert |V3N1 with Bi., Ley (after Sept.). — 9. La. suggests pointing Ta'n ; but cf. ci. 3. xlii. 2. May we not plausibly correct n^KS with 01., Bo., Bi., Stade ? The final n would be so easily absorbed by the initial one of the next word. ~iVC' and "llDn have no fem. form, but b*X has. — 5. Konig (Lehrgebaude, p. 587) ingeniously defends a most improbable pointing. Surely we must read D'inX with Schnurrer, Dy., Bi. ; so Aq., Trpofii,3d£rhx\ '33 \ with most, after Sept. — 7. Ol., Gr., nyio inp, either of the temple-mount (01.), or even of Hermon (Gr.). Cf. Lam. ii. 6 (not Isa. xiv. 13). But see note. — 11. Read 3 £"13 with 01., Gr. (Prov. xii. 4). flVT! ln Ezek. xxi. 27 is corrupt (see Sept.). xliii. 3. La., rpprn THIS. But see lvii. 4. Hi. as needlessly introduces the ' Thummim ' into xvi. 5. xliv. 3. Read y"!3n with La. (cf. Isa. x. 33). — 10. Read ^X with Gr. (as lviii. 3). xiv. Prof. Briggs gives several original suggestions on the text in his Messianic Prophecy, pp. 140-143. — 3. Read M^ 'D'. (cf. Sept). Konig himself (Lehrgebaude, p. 584) admits that the reduplication in the received reading can only be accounted for by the influence of the idiom which expresses the superlative by repetition — the reader, in short, was intended to think of id1 ; how artificial ! — 5. The last word of v. 4 has been repeated by mistake, instead of the right word (cf. on xxxix. 2). In two of Kennicott's MSS. (followed by Street) it is omitted, but this is clearly a conjecture ; hence I have left a blank. Horsley, Hi., Baethgen, TVini. (Sept Kal evreivov) ; but this is harsh. Read H13yl pTi with Ol. (doubtfully) and Bi. — 6. Insert 1133 with Sept., Kennicott, Bi. 7. It is very doubtful whether a suffix can be interposed between the construct state and its genitive ; Hu.'s rendering, ' DeinThron ist ein 1 Oav|tiaoT05 = -|»"]N. vlil- •¦• xcli- 6 (SeP'-)> xv- 3> lxxv' 5 (Theod.). 384 THE PSALMS Gottesthron,' cannot be any longer defended ; nor will Ew.'s parallel passages bear examination (cf. crit. note on lxxi. 7). Read n3133 "|ND3 QT\bx ICpn lDTlDS with Bi. Saadia (quoted by Ibn Ezra) para phrases, ' God shall establish thy throne for ever,' &c. That there is a corruption or an omission seems to me obvious, as soon as one realises at all fully the hazards of transcription. It is not enough to show that the received text can be somehow construed ; exegetical tact must speak the last word on such a point. Interesting as Dr. Hort's argument for the rendering ' God is thy throne ' in Heb. i. 8 certainly is, and well as it deserves more than private circulation, it appears to me on every ground more ingenious than convincing (see Perowne, who summarises its chief points). On the grammatical interpreta tion of the text-reading, and on various emendations (except Bi.'s), see Driver, Hebrew Tenses, § 194. Kuenen's view (which agrees with Ol.'s) will be found in his Religion of Israel, i. 373. It had been anticipated by Street (1790). Giesebrecht's recent emendation of Wlbx into n\"V (see his paper translated in Hebraica, Jan. 1888, p. 92, &c.) is ingenious, but the passage cited by him (2 Sam. vii. 16) is parallelistic ; v. 7, as he would read it, is not so. Besides, ' le gout doit aussi etre entendu.' xiv. 8. For DT17K read mrp with Street, Bi., Kuenen, and (doubtfully) 01. But can there be a doubt that the name of God was altered by the ' Elohistic ' editor ? — 9. Read D'JD (cf. on xviii. 44, cxliv. 2), unless we may suppose that a stroke after ijp originally marked the omission of the D. See crit. note on Isa. v. 1, where the apocopated plural is surely not too decidedly rejected. The levelling process through which the O. T. has passed makes such a linguistic fact very improbable, nor can an Assyriari or Himyaritic analogy neutralise this consideration, especi ally if we remember the frequent corruptions of the text. Whether D»3P is right, however, is of course questionable. The versions found no music here ; and it is strange that the palace-musicians should receive such slender commemoration. Bi., in his latest corrections reads 'B> ]& ^3'n 1|3p. This is extremely plausible ; »jp (the poetic form of |p) was written, he supposes, twice over. Curiously enough, this mistake has apparently produced a corruption of the text in Ixviii. 32 (where, however, Bi. has not noticed it). I would gladly adopt Bi.'s view, but that the line seems to me obscure without a 'subject.' Has some other word — D'1B> ' singers ' for instance — been supplanted by the second i|D ? On the older views, see Pe.'s note, and comp. Gesenius, Thes. ; and on the meaning of D^JD, see crit. note on cl. 4. — 13. Read .1N13J •qb'! (Bi. 7]b). See note. ' Unto thee ' is prefixed for emphasis (cf. cxxxix. 17). — 14. Read D'WB, with Krochmal and Gr. xlvi. 4. For "ran3, Krochmal and Gr. Jl»n3 (v. 7 b). Ew. rightly re stores the refrain. CRITICAL NOTES 385 xlvi. 5. Insert HDn with Ol., Bi. (afterwards Bi. preferred X)n). In de fence of the text as it stands, Baethgen compares Job iii. 6. But there the reference is clear. Here it would not be so. We must supply something, and it is not enough to do this mentally ; an enigma would be intolerable. To this Baethgen replies by reading in line 2 p^>y 133t:'P L§i"3j3, after Sept. ' The second verse-half,' he says, ' expresses the idea of the first without imagery, and alludes to the dangers which beset the city from its foes. These foes sought to ' pollute' Jehovah's dwelling (7?n, lxxiv. 7) ; but by declaring this 'holy,' the Most High has rendered vain their endeavour' (Theol. Stud. u. Krit, 1880, pp. 759-761). To this I reply, that the perfect parallelism of the rest of the psalm makes such an abrupt construc tion in line 1 improbable ; in the impassioned speech of the patriarch, abruptness is of course only to be expected. xlvii. 4. We need not point 13"l» (with Bi.) ; the allusion in xviii. 48 is against this. See Driver (Hebrew Tenses, § 84/3), and Hitzig on Ps. viii. 7. — 10. In /. 2 the versions (except Symm., Targ.) read Dy ; so Kimchi, Ew., Dy. ' Possibly Dy has dropped out ' (Pe.) ; so Hi., Ol., La., Bi. In /. 4 Gr. and Bi. round the verse off with D^N-ta'Sy (xcvii. 9). Briggs explains /. 3 thus : ' the shields of heroes from all parts of the earth are hung up in His palace.' xlviii. 3. The ordinary view makes J1B¥ WV an accusative of place, which, however, is hardly natural between two nominatives. Can this inopportune reference to the northern mountain of the Elohim be genuine ? Glosses began very early to be inserted ; it is clear, for instance, that Jeremiah contains some which are common to the Hebrew text and Sept. Observe that when the gloss '"£ '1 was inserted the tradition of Aralu as a name of Mount Zion had passed away (which also accounts for the pointing T^nK in Isa. xxix. 1, 2). Cf. Expositor, 1888, pp. 22-26. 14. .1303. ' Est iK tS>v airag Xeyopeviov hoc verbum. Itaque per con- jecturam exponitur' (De Dieu, 1648). 3DB in Jewish Aramaic = ' to divide ; ' whence some explain, ' look at them part by part ' (so still Pe.) ; others, 'walk between them in all directions.' So De Dieu, quoting from Maimonides, where Joshua is said to have allowed a free passage between vineyards to him who ' divides ' and mounts up and ' divides ' and goes down (T1V1 3DSO H7W1 3DBD). The sense required seems, however, to be ' mark well ; ' and Gratz may be right in correcting 1"lp3. — 15. Transpose ni?1 D7iy and I33n3'1 Nin with Bi. De. keeps the usual arrangement, but supposes the true closing words have dropped out. Sept. gives els tovs alavas, and so Symm. els to beqveKes, whence Ew. ni07J? (for the usual fem. form, cf. ni73*n, Hos. viii. 14, and Ew., Lehrbuch, §§ 174 d, 177 d). Ley, 'y ly (for metre's sake). Ibn Ezra explains =' eternally,' rVp^V i»?. To me ;t seems that ™S"^ is a c c ,386 THE PSALMS (mutilated) musical note, standing exceptionally at the end of the psalm, or belonging properly to the title of the next psalm. It pro bably stands for T\Voby~by (as we should also read in the title of Ps. ix., and as Mass. text reads in that of Ps. xlvi.). xlix. ' The text of the entire psalm is more than usually corrupt ' (Ewald). This is too strong ; but from v. 6 onwards the style is almost always harsh, and the text in some parts at once so difficult and so unsym metrical that its correctness must be boldly denied. — 5 b. Paraphrase, in order to reproduce the strong brevity of the original. Comp. Pesh. — 8. Read ^]{$ (actually found in some MSS. — of course as a conjecture) ; other MSS. have P)X ; the two words are elsewhere too confounded (see lviii. 3, Isa. xxxiv. 14, 15). So Ew., quoting Ezek. xviii. 10, xxi. 20, where, however, the corrupt T\X is not so easily corrected. But n is probably miswritten for a in 1 Kings ix. 7 (cf. 2 Chron. vii. 20), and 3 for n in Ps. cxliii. 9. Point i"03*. — 10. "ilirwi. The connexion of this little clause is not clear. Ewald's view is on the whole the best ; an elaborate sentence is to be expected here, and if it is produced with difficulty the writer cannot be blamed : how should it be otherwise in parallelistic poetry? Hi. and Gr., however, make these words begin a new sentence ; and so Prof. Briggs (Hebraica, April 1887, pp. 156-158), who even commences a new strophe with them. But this only involves us in fresh difficulties. First, how are we to construe the passage (vv. 9, 10) ; and next, how to explain it ? Gr. boldly renders, following De Dieu (Animadver- siones, p. 342), ' Will he go on living perpetually, (and) not see the grave?' Although he 'has seen how,' &c. ; Hi., 'And though he should still live for an eternity, (and) not see the grave, he shall see it (the grave).' Gr., it seems, follows the syntax of De Dieu (1648). Hi. is a fine modern grammarian and subtle exegete ; but would !"l¥3^ be the natural expression in this context (to mean simply, 'for a longer or shorter period ') ? I s it natural to take *2 here as emphatically introducing the apodosis ? And does it not injure the parallelism of v. 11 to borrow an object for iiKT from v. 10? I see no difficulty myself in taking v. 9 parenthetically ; the brief digression is so natu rally suggested by 11D3 ; but those who do find one may, with 01., transpose v. 9 and v. 10. On the rendering ' castle ' (root-meaning, 'to be high') see note in Isaiah, ii. 172-3. The Assyriological data seem undeniable. — 12. Read D"!3p with Ol., Riehm, Dy., Bi. ; Dathe, Ew., Gr., and vir tually Pe. adopt D13p from Sept., Pesh., Targ. The insertion of •iri3E>* (or some other suitable verb) restores symmetry and relieves the construction ; it is due to Bi. In my view of '131 isap I follow Hi., who appeals to vv. 14 b, 19 b, as suggesting that the Q^Xlip are not the rich men themselves. For the sense ' spoke with honour,' see my note on Isa. xii. 4 (the phrase could, of course, be used of CRITICAL NOTES 387 any one of high rank). It is against A. V.'s interpretation (adopted by Pe.) that it is not DrVDBIN but niDIN ; the ambiguity of the phrase DC'3 Xlp makes the suffix indispensable. niD"lK = m¥"lK. xlix. 13. See note. Ew. follows Sept. But if the negative particle is different in the two forms of the refrain, why should not the verb be different too ? — 15. DT¥ (K'thib) or D11S (Q'ri) ? Many MSS. and editions have the latter. There is no difference in the sense ; for we can hardly with Symm. and (probably) Sept. take "1-1 ¥ in its usual sense of 'rock' (' their rock ' would not ' waste away,' but suddenly disappear ; cf. Isa. xxxi. 9). "VV and TIV both presuppose the verb 11V, a collateral form of 1SS common in Jewish Aramaic. The expression is a sug gestive one ; one thinks who it was that 'formed' these once glorious frames ; as Job says, ' Thy hands have formed me (Targ. *3-l"l|V Ti\) and made me ; afterwards dost thou turn and destroy me ?' (Job x. 8.) In two words the strange antithesis is conveyed — creation and destruction. The psalm of course is late, though not as late as Ps. cxxxix. The transposition (Hu., Bi., Briggs) somewhat relieves the diffi culty of the verse. Of course ',b 73-tp is impossible. Ew., Hi., and Riehm point SsTp ; but, as we have elsewhere found single letters remaining out of a nearly effaced text, so it seems to be here. With Hi. I venture to correct \b 73f D[VwV] 5 cf- v- 12a- Krochmal simply reads bat- — 20. Read sia^ with Sept. (Pesh.), Bo., Dy., Gr., Bi. (Pe. and De Witt render ' he shall come'). Note the preceding 2 sing. fem. 1. 1. Aq., Symm., and Theod., according to some authorities, omit Kvpws (which occurs nowhere else in this psalm), rendering simply lo-xvpbs Beds; Sept has, debs 8e5>v Kvpios. The accentuation, however, implies three names of God, which the Midrash distinctly affirms. Calvin follows Sept., but Clement Marot, in his beautiful Huguenot Psalter, renders — Le Dieu, le fort, l'Eternel parlera, Et haut et clair la terre appellera. May I add that this fine rendering, sung by Dr. Perowne's ancestors, ought to have inclined him in favour of the view which it implies? Besides, ' the God of gods ' would surely be, not DTOX bx, but Dvbxn T17X or &bx bx, as De. remarks. — 7 The Elohistic editor's avoidance of the name ' Jehovah ' (Yahveh) produces an odd result here (cf. xiv. 7). Read 'bx nifV (as in Ex. xx. 2, to which there is an allusion). _ 10 Read1?*? (01., Bi.) ; see note. It is well known that errors in manuscripts sometimes arise from the insertion (e.g, Prov. xv. 4 *, K'thib) or addition (e.g. Isa. liii. 8 Sept) of intrusive letters. _ -3 Read Dni with Gr. (who, however, wrongly claims Symm.) and "Geiger. A scribe may have thought that DH was an intrusive neo- c c 2 388 THE PSALMS logism (DTI = DE> in late Hebrew). Or he may simply have misread ; & and n seem confounded in the Mass. text of Isa. Ixiv. 4 (cf. Sept.). There is no need to correct "ipfe>1 (cf. on lxxxv. 14). li. 10. Read ?JSPaETI with Pesh., Bruston, Baethgen. Iii. 6. Insert niStp, or the like. Similarly Bi. — 9. Read fains with Pesh., Targ., La., Gr., Bi., Baethgen (cf. cxii. 3d). — 11. Read n:inxi with Gr. (similarly Dy., Bi.). liii. For a comparison of this text and that which forms Ps. xiv., see Ewald's and Hitzig's commentaries, and Merx, Hiob, lv. Certainly the ordinary hazards of transcription will account for the reading niD¥V (v. 6). See Ezek. xxiv. 5, where D'pVIM is corrupted from Q^yi (cf v. 10, where Vulg. has ossa, but Mass. text correctly D'Xlin). Iv. 3. In spite of Konig's insistence, I doubt the root D-in (see lxxvii. 4). — 4. Insert niB-nj ' reproachful words ' with Bi., and for npj? read ripVV with 01., Dy., Gr., Bi. — 9. Sept. Hpoa-ebexopr]v tov (rojfovra pe dnb oXtyoij/vxias Kal Karaiyidos. So Pesh., but avoiding the charming mistake dirb oXi-yoi//. Read 1^ Pj'Sp^' n^nx 1 (cf. Ewald, Lehrbuch, § 282 c). — 10. Gr. reads bv2- This stem, however, does not occur. Barth sup poses a root y">a ' to confound' (Beitrdge zur Erkldrung des Jesaia, 1885, p. 4). For nyb read nBID, with Hu., Gr., Bi. (cf. lxxxiii. 16). — 16. The Q'ri nip (X^ ''Wl is supported by most MSS., including the best Spanish, and, above all, by the versions. See Konig, Lehr gebaude, p. 635. There is, however, a difficulty in the following word 'why ; it is not ungrammatical to render, ' Let Death beguile [them, and break in] upon them,' but certainly harsh. The K'thib gives an easier construction, but niQ'K". only occurs elsewhere in the name of a place, and ' desolations ' is not the word one expects here. Con sidering that other passages of this psalm are mutilated, it is not at all bold to adopt Briill's correction iDyba\ Insert ~3yin nisip (or the like) with Bi. Most explain D31p3 ' in their heart,' a forced climax. — 20. Insert Di»3y Jip.yV with Ol., Bi. (cf. next line). In /. 2 Sept., Pesh., Jer. favour the reading lD3yi (Kuenen, De., Dy, Bi.), though rendering as Piel ('humble'). Note the two Paseqs ; if the first is to guide recitation, the second must surely mark a lacuna. — 22. Read with Bi. riKDnD (for this archaic termination, see 01., Lehrbuch, p. 202), or, with Dathe and Pe., HXDnD. The versions all understood the prefix to be prepositional. Is De.'s rendering of the Mass. text at all probable ? For VB, Sept. favours V3B (see Gratz, Psalmen, p. 140) ; but /. 3 will not then be fully .parallel. Symm. to. o-Topara ; Targ. Rip-IB sed s^* poeta voluerat ' (La.). — 4. La., T8 0'T1 (J°b xxi. 30) ; Hu. JOpX DV (v. 10). — 6. Read n313 ' with words' (cf. Job xv. 3, and perhaps Isa. xxix. 21). 3X5? is specially used of words that hurt (cf. Prov. xv. 4). — 7 ; lix. 4. Read -ITU* (xciv. 21) with Ibn Ezra in the first passage. Cf. my note on Hos. vii. 14. It is less natural to take 113 in the Ass. sense ' to be hostile,' ' to revolt,' or in the Arabic ' to be unjust, tyran nical' (though in the latter case the prep, would suit). In /. 3 La., Bi., very plausibly, -Vip* nga. — 8. Hu., Riehm, Dy., Pe., Bi. correct d!?B, ' For (their) iniquity weigh to them' (viz. retribution), following Ew., who compares lviii. 3 (where, however, there is no ellipsis of the object). - — 9. The versions are suggestive. Targ. agrees with Mass. text. Symm.'s second ev8ov crov should surely be ivdimov oov (cf. Jer., who agrees with Symm. in /. 1). Sept. is the most striking — ttjv £a>Tjv pov e^rryyelXd croc, e6ov to. daKpvd pov ivarmov aov, &>s Kal iv t?) iirayyeXla o~ov. The closing words may be fitly disregarded ; but those who will may follow Sept's text of lines 1 and 2. Y1J37 'nyOI nnt3E> ["l^THBD ^n.1 I have followed Sept. partly in /. 1, but do not insist on "p (see next note). The last line, as Bi. points out, is a gloss (cf. on xvi. 3). — 10 b. Insert ybx with Sept ; so Bi. (At any rate, the sense is in completely given without it.) — 11. Read naT with Hu., Dy., Bi. — 14. Insert FiabTJ with OL, Bi. lvii. 3. Perhaps read bl2i with Gr., Bi. (Sept.). • — 4. Hi. emends spn into fjap (Ps. lxxi. 4 b). Sept. eSaKev els oveidos tovs KaTawaTovvrds pe — if a guess, at any rate a happy one. — 5. Read n33^* (cxx. 6). — 6, 7. These verses should have been transposed (so Ley). The three parts of the psalm will then be more symmetrical, and the ' Selah ' in the Mass. text will then be sure to be justified (comp. the three ' Selahs ' in Ps. xlvi.). The sense, too, is improved by correcting v. 6 and v. 7. — 7. Read 13B3, with Gr., Bi. (Sept.). lviii. 2. Read C>b,X with Houb., Ew., OL, De., Geiger, Dy., Gr., Bi. — 3. For f)« read -i]X with Gr. (cf. v. 12), and for 3!?3 read D3?3 with Pesh. (not Sept.), 01., La., Gr., Baethgen. Total depravity is always a feature in such descriptions (see Pss. xii., xiv.). — 8 b. Read ^?»n» mnO -I'Sn 103 (so Bi., but reading -l^iDi). Cf. xc. 6. An allusion to xxxvii. 2, ' Hie versus in quodam codice arche- typo fere illegibilis evasit, ita ut vestigia Iiterarum quasi divinando ad sensum novum contorta sint ' (Bi.). 1 I can hardly think that t> £. ,*ov is a mere half-rendering of 'IS ' my wandering.' Elsewhere, it is true, the Sept. Psalter renders -r?n by yv, oi3 is useful. Read D3nfe>3 with Bi., who also inserts niyi and mn*. The last word is perhaps unnecessaiy (see Neh. xiii. 18) ; at any rate, I prefer FP, which some translators, and presumably scribes, out of excessive reverence, ignored 1 (cf. Jer. ii. 31 Sept., Pesh. ; Pss. lxxxix. 9, cxxx. 3 Pesh.). Cf. Dillmann on Ex. xv. 2, who holds that pp only occurs in late poetry, ' except in Isa. xxxviii. 11' (but surely the Psalm of Hezekiah is late, as I at least have maintained since 1880). lix. 10. Read nnDTX 'ty (as v. 18). Most agree as regards ''•ly (so also Sept., and virtually Pesh. ; also Targ., Jer., and some MSS.). — 11. Adopt K'thib ; so Sept. Cf. xxi. 4. — 12 c. La., after Pesh., lOTOni (cf. Gen. iv. 12). Ix. 6 b. La. corrects e]pK\ But surely tSE'p is an Aramaising fonn of TWp. So Sept., Pesh., Jer. Prefix T[X (for we can hardly insert the negative particle, with Pesh.). — 8 a. La. corrects n-T'yX l T ' — 10. Point yr) Xaov. Note the Paseq, which here indicates a lacuna. In two other places where a 1 has been dropped (1 Kings ix. 18, Dan. ii. 9) a blank space was left ; here the lacuna is indicated by a Paseq (Baethgen). So Bi. — 11. Read 633-1 E'iiiyS. So La., Gr. lxiii. 2. Symm. and Pesh., pN3 (cxliii. 6) ; so Gr. Cf. De.'s foot-note on xxxii. 4. — 3. Read ^iy>)X with Gr. (cf. Isa. xxvi. 9). At first sight 'tn seems supported by xxvii. 4; but mm? in that passage corresponds to riisn1? here. 1 See Geiger (Urschrift, pp. 274-8), who remarks, however, that the Greek pro phetical books and the Hagiographa do not show this characteristic. This makes against the insertion. I have therefore used round and not square brackets. CRITICAL NOTES 39 1 lxiii. 5. For "H3 La. reads n^Xa (as v. 2). Ixiv. 7. The consonants ofthe text are most naturally pointed .13pn (ist pers. plur.). The punctuators, however, failing to realise the dramatic character of the passage, invented the non-form -1300. They wished to approximate as near as they could to -lBPi, which in fact Hu. and Pe. believe to be correct (cf. Sept. i^iXmov). Certainly in Lam. iii. 22 130n must be corrected into -IBR ; for the intrusive 3,cf. Isa. xxiii. 11, where read with Knobel and Bredenkamp n^tyo. Both these read ings being open to us, which is the more effective ? Surely the former ¦; for the sudden introduction of speakers comp. ii. 3. De. regards 13071 as put for IDn 'one of those linguistic peculiarities in which the psalmists delight when depicting the sinful courses of the ungodly.' There speaks the philosopher, not the philologist ! On my side are Kimchi and Gesenius. Comp., however, Konig, Lehrgebaude, p. 323, and Schnurref's note (Animadversiones, pp. 142-147). The former explains the 3 in i3Dfl as compensative for Dagesh, against which see Pe.'s crit. note ; the latter adopts the too easy (conjectural) reading of many MSS., 1300- Insert, with Bi., inO&O, npll |»R, and Q1X- Ixv. 2. Point n^pil (as virtually R. Jehuda Hayug of Fez1), i.e. either o-ianrmo-a (Aq.), or si lens (Jer. ; v.l. silef), ornpenei (Sept.). The latter suits best (see note), unless ' is silent ' could mean ' awaiteth,' as Calvin (after Kimchi) takes it That nlX3 is used for npinei in xxxiii. 1 is no proof that '1 cannot mean this here. niK>, for instance, generally = TV01 ' to be like,' but in Esth. iii. 8 and probably i. 22 (see Var. Bible) it means ' to be suitable.' It is important to notice that neither here, nor in xxii. 2, xxxix. 3, Lxii. 2, is such a word as n'P-ll recognised by Sept. and Pesh. — 6. Read D"K (as Gr. ; cf. Targ.), or D»13 (as Weir; cf. Pesh.). lxvi. 12. Read nnnb with Houb., Ew., Hi., Hu., Dy., Gr. — 20. Insert 1BSP and non -|'e»n xb\ with Bi., developing Ol.'s sugges tion. Ixviii. 3. Read f)13n or e)h3 with OL, Stade. So distinctly Targ., Symm., and paraphrastically Sept., and two other versions in Field. Bi. adopts the former ; so also Pont,2 who also corrects the abnormal Ppl21-I into rrtn P.BP- The latter emendation is bold, but is at any rate better than that of the ancient versions, which seem to have read •IDnS' (so Gr.), contrary to the parallelism. The text is certainly corrupt. 5. PP2 and il3K> are both suspicious ; the one because a Beth essentia here would be unparalleled (cf. Ex. vi. 3), and the other because 1DE> occurs in line 1, and may so easily have been repeated by mis take. Krochmal corrects 'B> 'a into D!PB>n (following Targ.'s inter- 1 Two Treatises on Verbs, &c, edited and translated by Rev. J. W. Nutt (1870), p. 73. He groups '-\ with rVBIV' rVOin. &c- remarking that 'f has !) for V 2 See his Exegetisch-kritische Studie on the psalms (Leiden, 1877). 392 THE PSALMS pretation of many) ; Reifmann, Dy, and Hilgenfeld ' correct inpt? PP3 (inverting the proper order). I follow Gr.'s correction of !V3 into 13n3 (cf. xcvi. 2). The versions do not help us. Sept., Pesh., Targ. do not express 3. Symm., 8m tou 'lA ; Quinta (in Field), iv t<5 TA'. Ixviii. 7. Read a'B'P, with La., Hilg., Bi., Pont. — 9, 10. Insert 713 (cf. Judg. v. 5). So virtually Gr., Bi. Also np% and n;y yix (Bi.). ' — 1 1. Sept., Pesh., to. fad o-ov. Bi. and Hilg. point accordingly. — 15. Insert jbgJrj 1D3 (Bi.). La. corrects, )b®n 1!j2 = 'on Hermon' (cf. Jos. Ant. xii. 3, 3). — 18. Read ''WO X2 (Pott, OL, Hu., Pe., Dy, BriilL Bi., Hilg., Pont). For the unexpressed K cf. Gen. xxx. 1 1, 1 Chron. ii. 24. D*ri13n. The Dual here perhaps indicates multitude, like D,ny3E', as Kautzsch (in review of Grill) ; cf. Gesenius, Lehrbuch (ed. Kautzsch), § 97, 3. |S3E'=l'l3E'. The confusion ofthe radical X with 1 or 1 is Aramaic (Land8) ; in Hebrew itself a similar confusion of these letters is ob servable (see crit. note on Isa. li. 19). Sept., evdrjvoivTav = J3SK' (Sept., cxxiii. 4) ; Aq. rjx°"VTa"'> an°l Symm. ' vociferantium ' = ])XW (Sept., Ixv. 8). Hilg. accepts the first view, Baethgen the second ; comp. Jer. xlviii. 45. La. and Bi. correct, bxnE*11 (Num. x. 36). — 19. The versions confirm the Mass. text, though Pesh. (not for a dogmatic reason, as in vii. 12, but to make sense) inserts a negative in the second verse-half, as if it read faEv xb. Land actually follows this reading, correcting f)S (with many MSS. he drops the 1) into 7]X, and reading Ta (cf. 1 Sam. xxi. 14) for Pl,a. But, as Land him self observes, \yth reminds us at once of |3C" (v. 17 ; cf. Isa. lvii. 15, ny |aE>; see also lxxxv. 10); and if we keep to the text, Pe.'s rendering is relatively the best, ' yea, even the rebellious (shall be) for the dwelling of Jah ; ' so Sept Kal yap direidovvres tov KOTaa-Knvao-ai (comp. Aq., Symm.). And why not follow this? (1) Because it is Jehovah's spirit, not Jehovah, which 'dwells within' men (Isa. lxiii. 11), (2) because in v. 17 the verb ' to dwell (or, abide)' is used abso lutely, and (3) because such a construction and such a sense mar the parallelism of the verse. Transposition (which is so often re quired in ancient texts) is the easiest and least arbitrary remedy (cf. OL, Bi.). Hi. virtually agrees, construing, ' Thou didst go up, &c, to dwell there, God Jah.' — 21. Omit <3ns with La., Bi., Hilg. (Sept. only tov Kvplov). A correc tion of nin*, due to a too scrupulous scribe. — 22. For ny"B>, Krochmal and Gr. yah. — 24. pnDTI was perhaps miswritten under the influence of vno* in v. 1 'Die Schlacht bei Issos im Alten Testament,' Zeitschr. fur wiss. Theologie, 1887, p. 91, &c. 2 'Drie Psalmen (68, 120, 133) verklaart,' Theologisch Tijdschrift, 1872, p. 540, &c. CRITICAL NOTES 393 22. Read pinn (cf. lviii. n) with Hi. (formerly), OL, Bo., Hu., Pe., Dy, Bi., Grill, Pont, Briggs. In sense Sept, Pesh., Targ. agree. Less probably Krochmal, Hi., Gr. (developing a hint of Kimchi's), fonfl.1 To defend Mass. text by the Ass. makhacu = baldlu (?^>3),2 is hope less. At the end of the verse Grill reads,3 in3D D'S^D '(the tongue of thy dogs) who are longing after some of it' But atf' (an Aramaic loan-word) does not occur in Piel, and in cxix. 131 it goes with 7. We may at least correct ij"l3p (lxiii. 11), with OL, Dy., Bi. Saad. and R. Yepheth (cf. on v. 31 b) agree in sense. It is too bad to find here the old word jp ' part ' (see on cl. 4). Ixviii. 27. Sept, Pesh., Jer. express the plural, whence Briill ixnppp (he wrote in 1885) ; Hilg. and Pont prefer KnpOD. I do not see how to defend the text as commonly explained. Street (1790) reads mpD, as a title of Jehovah. — 28. Dl" ' thereupon.' Din (i.e. 'in a deep sleep;' Sept. iv iKo-Tao-ei) is a puzzle. The context suggests the rendering of Moses Mendelssohn, ' Hier Benjamin, der jiingste, fuhret sie an ' (cf. Ewald, ' als ihr Fiihrer') ; but how can this be proved philologically ? as Schnurrer rightly asks. The latter would read Dnn ; cf. xlii. 5 (Animadversiones, p. 308). Far better Grill, Hilg., and Pont, Dip (cf. v. 26). In /. 2, read DJIK-'jn (cf. lv. 15, Ixiv. 3), with Hu., Pe. (altern.), Bi. 'D3n could only mean ' a heap of stones ' (cf. nD3no, Ar. rafmat) or (cf. the proper name 'Regem' 4 and Ar. rajm) 'friendship,' or (cf. Ass. ragdmu ' to cry out,' Haupt in Schrader, K.A.T., p. 517) ' outcry.' — 29. Point DTI1?*? ri:1V> with versions, and most moderns (vv. 30-32 are the basis of a prayer). On n-TW see Konig, Lehrgebaude, p. 363. The versions (except Targ.) take it transitively. — 31 b. Matthes, as reported by Pont (p. 93), acutely corrects, D^py h$% (cf. Isa. xvi. 8). Line 3 is the hardest in the verse. May we read e)P3"n?33 DBnnp (or, see Judg. v. 19/3 y¥33)? E>Bn = mire, Isa. lvii! 20 ; cf. E>Bn, Ezek. xxxiv. 18, &c. 3 must be Beth pretii. R. Yepheth the Karaite (10th cent), in his Arabic translation, explains, ' trodden down for delight in silver.' De Rossi ( Var. Leet, iv. 47, 48) quotes n¥33 (Kenn., 133) ; one remembers that in Job xxii. 25 DHV3 is parallel to f)D3. Street renders, '. . . that marched for pieces of silver ; ' Bo., ' alles was sich tummelt um Silberstiicken ; ' Grill, 'Das Schilfthier schreck . . . mit Silberhagelschlag ' (lit., with silver-white hailstones) ! In /. 4 we must point n:T3 or n{3 with Sept., Pesh., Jer., and most moderns. 32. Read DK>n with Hilg., Pont, and the versions. The three addi- 1 On similar suggestions ofthe Rabbis see Gratz, Monatsschrift, 1861, p. 21, &c. 2 So Friedr. Delitzsch, Prolegomena eines neuen hebr.-aram. Wbrterbuchs (1886) , pp. 69—71. 3 See his monograph on this psalm (1883), and cf. review by Kautzsch in Theol. Lit.-Zeitung, March 22, 1884. * Dr. J. H. Hall (Hebraica, Oct. 1885, p. 7) finds a proper name Regm(an) in a Phcenician inscription from Cyprus in the Cesnola collection. 394 THE PSALMS tional letters in Mass. text are in fact due to ' dittography ' (see next word). Some support the text-reading by the obscure family-name Hasmonaean (n) ! But this is perhaps from Hesmon (pDE'n), Josh. xv. 27. Ixviii. 33. Sept prefixes ifraAare tg> Oea ; hence Ley repeats, '3nN inOT. — 36. The two corrections (mn*, and suff. 3rd sing, masc.) are both obvious ; with ' thy sanctuary ' we seem to need nDX (cf. Isa. xiv. 15). Possibly the second person implies a Messianic interpretation ; cf. ex. 1, 2 (Grill). lxix. 5. Read 'rj'lDXyp (or ipyyp), with Pesh., OL, Hu., Dy., Bi. (origi nally), partly for the parallelism, partly to avoid tautology. After this, correct ttj into 13K = ' I, the innocent sufferer ; ' cf. nFlX (v. 6) = ' Thou, the pitying God.' So La. Symmetry and the connexion are both gainers by Bi.'s suggestion that /. 3 has fallen out of the text — 11. Sept. reads ko.1 o-vveKaptya, Pesh. mak'keth, i.e. !"I3PK1, from H3D = "]D (cvi. 43). So at least La., and virtually Michaelis (Castelli Lexicon, p. 497). I would rather read njyXI (xxxv. 13), which we may either (Bo.) insert after n33N1 or (Dy., Bi., Gr.) substitute for it. 01. led the way in sanctioning the alternatives. Pe.'s note explains the subtleties by which the most improbable text-reading is supported. — 21. Weir, n:1p X-m ty-ISKl (Academy, 1870, p. 257) ; cf. Jer. xvii. 9. For a lighter movement and more symmetry, I prefer Bi.'s correc tion, ^B3 ri30 nB»13N1 ; cf. Jer. xv. 18. — 27. With Sept, read VBp' (Ew., OL, Gr., Bi.). The text-reading may be defended exegetically by lxxi. 10, and grammatically by ii. 7 (if at least bx be correct). lxxi. 3. See note. Targ. also reads TlyO. Cf. xc. 1, xci. 9. — > 6. Thrupp would read p. — 16, 17. Bi.'s insertions (partly supported by Sept.) justify themselves. So in part Ley. In /. 1 read nyB£> (La., Gr.). Lxxiii. 4. ReadDFl 1D^ ; so Moerlius (1737), Street, Ew., Hi., Bo., OL, De. Dn in a physical sense, as DPI Job xxi. 23, D'DFl, Prov. i. 12. See, however, Pe.'s thorough but too hesitating note. — 7. Read iD3iy. (Schnurrer, Hi., Ew., OL, De., Bi.). So Sept — 8. The verse-division is that of all the versions (except Symm.), and of Street, Bo., Klostermann, Bi. — 10. Read orf? iOy'l3E>! with La. (similarly Houb., Gildemeister, &c). Had we a right to render )37 ' nevertheless ' (Gesenius), this would make excellent sense. In /. 2 read -1XD*, or .VXD* (Gr.). — 18. For 1D7 La, reads I0?3n. — 25 a. Targ. supplies ' but thee ; ' Pesh. transfers n,py from b. — 28. La., n,,niXl?Q3 ; cf. lxxv. 2. lxxiv. 4, 5. Woods omits ninK and yi,> as interpolated from v. 9, where he takes ,nD"iy to be also interpolated (Hebraica, July 1887, p. 261). — 6. Sept., Symm., n'nnB. — 8. D3'3 might mean 'the whole clan of them' (Sept o-vyyeveia) ; i.e. no quarter given. But is not a verb required ? Let us say, DrV3^3 (so possibly Sept., if we may hold that j) ovyy. air. and KaTairavawpev are renderings of rival readings,1 or DTn33 (cf. lxxxiii. 4), or (as Briill) DJV-V3. We have no right to emend Sept.'s KaTazravo: into KaraKavcr. (after Symm.). — 11. The text-reading destroys the parallelism. Read, 3np.3 T|3.*P*1 NT7=fl 1i?tl (Bi-)- 1 Pesh. favours this view by giving naubed ' let us destroy ' twice over. I suspect that the Sept. translator had before him a mutilated form of the text. 396 THE PSALMS lxxiv. 14. Read simply D*'X (see crit. note on Isa. xxxii. 1, with Hu., La.). — 19. (1) Shall we transpose JVD and E>B3 (Hu.) ? This is an easy remedy ; ' but E>B3 in the sense of ' greed,' ' passion,' should be in construction with another noun (see xxvii. 12, xii. 3). (2) La, (after Targ.) would read }g> n>r6, ' to beasts with teeth ' (a poetical phrase for lions ; see lviii. 7). Cf. Deut. xxxii. 24 ; Ezek. v. 17. But is it likely that n»n, bears two senses in the same verse ? Surely 'n in line 1 either means 'life' (as Hu.), or else it is a scribe's mistake. (3) I would therefore correct either r)1D^> (Schrader), with nnE>7 (Krochmal) for an alternative — see xvi. 10 — or more suitably ann? (cf. lxxviii. 62). — 20. For n"lN3 read n-1KH with Bi. (originally), who, however, now simply omits ri1S3, without accounting for its presence in the text, and in /. 1 reads "|n*n3. The latter certainly seems wanted, if (as Hu., De., Pe., &c, suppose) the '3 is Jehovah's covenant with Abra ham or with Israel at Sinai. My explanation, however (which is also that of Ew. and Hi.), is the more natural one in this context ; it is supported by Syr. qyomo, which means not only ' a contract,' but ' a society bound together by oaths ' (Eidgenossenschaff) ; see G. Hoffmann, Verhandlungen der Kirchenversammlung zu Ephesus (1873), p. 90. lxxv. 2. For 3inp1 read yX1p\, with Dy. — 6 b. Read n-lX3 with Baethgen (Sept., koto, tov BeoO). The same error occurs in Hab. iii. 13. Gr., *3nN3, not observing Sept's custom of paraphrasing n-1X. — 7. With Baer and De. (1874) I adopt nanp. So Sept., Pesh., Symm., and probably Targ. It is the reading of most MSS., and is supported by Ibn Ezra. See, however, Kimchi's important note. — 9. Read nt7 ntD, with Sept., Pesh., Gr., Bi. Ixxvi. 5. Read Nni3 (as vv- 8, 13) with Sept, Targ., Hu., Krochmal, Gr., Bi. (finally). Cf. Ex. xv. 11. Also read ny (Sept. a'uovliov) for Ppt3, a gloss implying a false interpretation of ny, which finally supplanted the true reading (Bi.). ly is an unfortunate word in the MSS. (see Gen. xlix. 26, Isa. xlvii. 7). — 7. Rapoport reads, 33n 1onn3 (Geiger's Jiid. Zeitschr., 1871, p. 311). — 8. For tSD Geiger Typ (xc. 11). — 11. For n3nn Bo. and Ew. njnpl, with Sept. (not Pesh.). Thrupp (pointing ^jnp)) explains thus : ' Those of the wrathful who survive the judgment with which thou shalt destroy them, shall turn to thee, and shall come up to Jerusalem to the feast to adore thy name.' He finds an allusion to this passage in Zech. xiv. 6. This puts too much into the Hebrew. For my own part, I agree with Gr. and Briill that the passage contains the name of an enemy whose submission the writer anticipated. The 'remnant' referred to is that ofthe smitten enemy 1 So also is Wellhausen's correction, D'O1? (cf. Hilg.'s correction in Ixviii. n). Too easy ! CRITICAL NOTES 397 (cf. Isa. xvii. 4) ; but whether Aram and Hamath (see my note) are both mentioned (so Gr.),or only Aram (so Briill), it is difficult to say. Is not the first non probably miswritten (like n*n in lxxiv. 19)? We might plausibly read, 3nn.fi npq 'V \n'W Dng [ion *3- (This is Gr.'s suggestion, except he reads in l. l, Dn'lS np'p..) Comp. the various readings (n3!t. 3nn) in xviii. 46, 2 Sam. 'xxii. '46. Why 'the remnant of Hamath'? Possibly Tiglath-pileser had carried away a part of the population of Hamath (cf. 2 Kings xvi. 9). ' Zecha riah ' too had prophesied that the cities of Aram, especially Hamath, should become Jehovah's (Zech. ix. 2, as corrected in Var. Bible). lxxvii. 7. Read CBriKI, with Sept., Pesh., Symm., Theod. So Baethgen. — 1 1. Point Ttbn (Bi.). »rYl?D is rendered by Konig ' mein Durch- bohrtsein' (Lehrgebaude, p. 341) ; comp. De Witt, 'my misery.' — 19. See crit note on Isa. xvii. 13. Gr. corrects, ^33 'like the noise of wheels.' lxxviii. 9. With some hesitation I omit *pin as a rival reading to '3 (so Hu., Bi.) ; cf. 1 Chron. xii. 2, 2 Chron. xvii. 17. The co-ordination of the participles is not indeed without a parallel (see Jer. xlvi. 9), but at least as much can be said of the union of readings. The exci sion of one participle lightens the movement. — 48 a. Dy. and (finally) Bi. correct n3nb . — 48 b. 'The (sky-sent) flames.' Ew., in his latest work (on Biblical theology), explained S]EH *33 in Job. v. 13 as ' sons of Reshef — another of those mythological allusions which abound in Job. This is at least plausible. Baudissin understands S]Kh or P]BH to be the storm-god, and compares the Phcenician Melqarth Regef (art. ' Moloch,' in Herzog-Plitt, Realencyclopadie, x. 174). Cf. also Ed. Meyer, Zeitschr. der D. M. G., xxxi. 719. — 60. Read Qal (as lxxxv. 10 ; see below). The Piel of Mass. text (comp. Symm. ihpv&elo-av) implies a reluctance to localise God. Sept., Theod., KaTeo-Kijvao-ev. See Geiger, Urschrijt, p. 321. — 69. Read D*DinD3 Qob xvi. 19, xxv. 2, xxxi. 2), as Hi. ; or Din»3, as Bi. 'n, however, is as old as Sept., which stumbled at it Lxxix. 7 a. The singular verb is intolerably harsh. Read y>2X with some MSS. (see Jer. x. 25). Ixxx. 5. Bi. corrects niN3¥ nin*, very plausibly ; cf. comm. on lix. 6. — 14. The suspension of the y may be due to its having been inserted by a corrector (as De. suggests). The ordinary view is that this peculiarity calls attention to the middle letter in the Psalter (Strack, Prolegomena, p. 92 ; Geiger, Urschrijt, p. 259). — 16. Riehm and Briggs would point n|3, which seems right if the word is an imperative from |33 (which is at least better, on account of the preposition, than Sept's view that it is from (-13). But |33 = p| occurs nowhere else. Against Konig (Lehrgebaude, p. 331), but with Gesenius, I take it as the feminine of |3, which Sept. (Dan. xi. 7) translates (f>vr6v; cf. Syr. kanno 'a stock' (Pesh. Isa. xvii. 6). So 398 THE PSALMS Targ. and probably Pesh. (vine-shoots). Thus the nouns in both lines become accusatives to npB (v. 15b); line 2 is improved by Bi.'s correction n?y (collective). I let the above note stand to account for the translation. In revising the proof, however, I have had fresh doubts as to this pas sage. La. and Ley omit the verse altogether as a corrupt repetition of v. 18. Notice the large 3, which suggests that it occupied the place of letters which had become effaced (for possible parallels to this, see Geiger, Urschrift, p. 295). We might of course read n33131 (cf. Sept. KardpTio-ai) on this ground, but the old difficulties re main. Ixxxi. 17. Read 'f5K1, with Houb., Dathe, Bi. (an error of the ear). Cf. Sept, Pesh. Ixxxiii. 6. Read nnK (1 Chron. xii. 38). So OL, Dy, Bi. Ixxxiv. 4. With reference to the lines attributed to the prince of the ex pelled Jorhomites (admired and imitated by the Arabic writers them selves — see the 13th of the Maqdmdt of Hariri), perhaps it should be added that the great antiquity given to them by Schultens is absurd. We might be thankful if they were even many centuries less than Solomonic. Insert in 6 b V-^n*, in 6 c ?\3, and in n^p-ina (Bi., 1882). lxxxv. 5. On •133-155' cf. Konig, Lehrgebdude, p. 491 (who renders, 'return to us '). In /. 2 read nDni, with Sept., Bi. — 9. Read nb D3^ *3E> ^b.X , with Sept., Baethgen. 3-155' transitive, as in vv. 2, 5. — 10. Targ. reads ]2&b (cf. on lxxviii. 60). — 14. Schrader (Stud. u. Krit, 1868, p. 639) corrects nOt5"1 and ' shall guard,' or ' observe (the way of his steps).' Too easy ! De. (com paring Job iv. 20) gets the sense of 'observe' from the text-reading. The Hebrew is no doubt ambiguous, and in such a case a two-thirds majority of the revisers in favour of the rendering here adopted may have a special weight, especially as A. V.'s rendering is different. The meaning is, that Righteousness shall both precede and follow Jehovah. But read DE"*,. Ixxxvi. lib. Read nn*, with Sept., Pesh., Gr., Bi. Ixxxvii. 7. D*^in for D^Vinp. Cf. D*^, Hos. vii. 5, and see crit. note on cxxxvii. 3. Of line 2 01. truly observes that the expression is 'very unclear.' One of Schnurrer's readings — *J*yp (cf. Sept., r) KaToiKid) — has found some favour, but the word is invented. lxxxviii. 2 a. Read *nyiB> '¦xhx, and attach DV, or rather Dpi* (cf. Sept, Targ.), taken from the next line. So Gr., Bi. (cf. v. 14). Some will compare xxii. 2, if we may correct there *nyit5'D. — 6. For *55>Bn, Street and Gr. *fi!?g'p3 (or the like) ; if so, read D*np3. — 8. Read *JV3.y with Hu., Bi. — 16. Read n31BK (lxxvii. 3), with OL, Hu., Gr., Bi. — 19. Schnurrer (Animadversiones, 1780, p. 165), *yn*p ; rather add CRITICAL NOTES 399 napl (Bi.). Baethgen follows Pesh. and Jer. (see my note in Coram.) ; but Sept. implies our text, though he stumbles at "|55>nD. lxxxix. 3. Read nnpN, with Sept, Jer. (most MSS.), Gr., Bi. (whose later reconstruction of this psalm I cannot now consider). Note Paseq after 'E*, indicating that a letter has dropped out. Dn3 was inserted later to make sense. — 9. For pDn (a aw. Xey.), Gr. TDI"|. But N7B in v. 6 suggests such an epithet as pen (from a genuine Hebrew root). Both the Paseqs are probably to prevent the sacred name from being uttered too quickly. The second verse-half seems mutilated. - — 10. Read pN5J*3, with Riehm and Bi. — 20. In /. 1 many MSS., 16 edd., and all the Greek versions, Targ., Pesh., Jer., and perhaps the Bab. and Jerus. Talmud, have "VTDn (cf. the var. reading in xvi. 10). Baer and De. accept it as the Massoretic reading. But in this connexion the virgules must be right. See on v. 51. In /. 2 for nty read Ty, as Hu. proposed, or ntj, as virtually Yenema (1762-67). — 34. Read n'DX, with OL, Hu., Dy, Gr., Bi. — 48. 'n 'D *3X. ' MSS. vary considerably, and editors have troubled themselves with explanations, but there is really no difficulty,' says Perowne. The pronoun stands first, as he rightly says, for emphasis ; the sense is the same as in xxxix. 5 (see crit. note). The versions give no support to Houb.'s suggestion *3nX, as v. 51, for <3K (adopted by Ew., Hi., OL, Dy., Gr.); and nbrvnD, 'what life is,' seems a doubtful expression. — 51. Read "pay, as Gr., Bi., with Pesh. and some MSS. Even if a plurality be referred to, yet it is conceived of as an individual (cf. v. 40). And what of 'y 'T73 ? Grammatically, it may no doubt be defended (see Ezek. xxxi. 6, and for the position of 'n, Jer. xvi. 16, Prov. xxxi. 29, Neh. ix. 28) ; but what can it mean in the context ? Surely the text is corrupt. Read np^3, the last two letters of which having become illegible, D*3n was inserted by a scribe's conjecture. So Bi., completing a conjecture of Bb. Symm., wapwoXXav (Sept. simply woXXiov) i8vu>v. xc. 1 xci. 9. Read tiyp, with OL, Gr. (lxxi. 3). Sept. in both places KaTa(f>vyri ; the other Greek versions (in xci. 9) olKrjTrjpiov (Field, Auctarium). — 2. Read bb'mBi with Sept, Aq., Symm., Targ., Jer. (see his note). So Bo 01 Hi , De., Pe. Note the parallelism. In v. 6 Hu. corrects 771D*. " — 9 b. Transfer 'n 1D3 to /. I, and in /. 2 read -lbs (see note). — 10. The intransitive use of ?| combined with the unusual form B"n may suggest a doubt as to the' text. Turning to the versions, Targ., Symm., and Jer. are the most accurate— Tprjdivres yap SQva iKwerav- viaeSa, transivimus cito et evolavimus (Targ. gives exactly our render ing). Sept., iwqXde wpatrrjs ko.1 waidevfyo-opeBa, possibly taking 55>*n in 4OO THE PSALMS the sense of ' feeling' (cf. late Hebrew, CJ*in), and conjecturing nnD131 ; similarly Pesh., but closing with 'we are snatched away.' Aq., o-ieireXao-ev avf,p (conjecturing), ko.1 cWn'o-fy. Quinta is reproduced by Field with some uncertainty, but his second alternative i^eXlwouev seems to me most probably right, considering that Sept's equiva lent for np3 in xii. 2 is hXiXoiwev, and that Syro-Hex. xc. 1 1 gives, for Quinta, g'marnan. Quinta therefore read or conjectured npp3*, which Gr. adopts as the correct reading. It is doubtless simpler, but does not t| (' to cut through,' as an arrow parts the air) suggest the image of flight (cf. Job xx. 8) ? But I have my doubts as to 55**11 The versions take it as a noun (so expressly Kimchi) ; most moderns as an adverbial infinitive = speedily (cf. Ass. ikhisu ' he hastened ') ; but the analogy of Cant. ii. n, and especially Isa. xix. 7, favours a perfect, either C5TI (Deut xxxii. 35), or better, as Bi., t5>*nn (lv. 9). Note in passing that nfc»n in lxxi. 12 (K'thib) is an Aramaising false reading ; seven times elsewhere we find nMn. xc. 12. Bi. corrects 33,77; Prov. ii. 10 suggests '3. xci. 1, 2, 9. Krochmal supposes a rhetorical title in the manner of the later scribes, ' Prayer of Moses . . . who sitteth in the Most High's covert,' &c. This is better than to render, ' He dwelleth,' &c. (as De Witt). But it is best to prefix ntVK, in v. 2 to point np'X, and in v. 9 to insert FnpK, with OL, Hu., Gr., Bi. As regards nps, Pe. agrees, following Sept. (ipe\). xcii. 5. Read ngtyp, with Hi. When the third radical is * there is a fre quent uncertainty whether the singular or plural construct is meant (see Gen. xlvii. 3, Isa. lxiii. 11). — 10. Omit the repeated words with Ley, Bi. (and many MSS. of Sept). — 11. Read *n?3, with Hu. (see note). xciii. 4. D*n*n.X. See Pe.'s thorough crit. note. His proposal to take /. 2 as parenthetical might be supported by xiv. 6 (Mass. text), where the punctuators regard the clause 'peoples fall under thee' as a terri fied exclamation which interrupts the construction. I prefer, however, to follow De. xcv. 7. Some words have fallen out ; Bi. suggests n* 12~I -13*Tfc$n. — 10. Insert n:tn or &Unn, with OL, Dy, Ley, Bi. So Sept. xcvi. 12. Read t]S, with OL, Dy, Gr., Bi. xcvii. 11. Read nnt, with versions and Mich., OL, Hu., Dy., Bi., Baethgen. c. 3. i?1 (the Q'ri) is supported by Targ., Jer., Saad., by Talmud and Midrash, by some MSS., and by Ew., Hu., De., Pe., &c. s6] (the K'thib), by Sept., Pesh., Symm. (airbs iwoiqaev f/pas ovk ovras). cii. 18. nyny. Is there not an allusion here to Jer. xvii. 6, as suggested in my note ? Such plays upon a double meaning are in harmony with the character of the Soferim (cf. De. on Isa. xvii. 2). It seems clear to me now that, though most commentators are against it, we must render 'y in that passage 'dwarf juniper' (or, mountain-juniper), comparing, with Abulwalid, Ar. 'afat', which, though some Arabic CRITICAL NOTES 4OI lexicographers (see Lane's Lex.) represent it as Persian, is recognised by the Qdmiis as a good Arabic word. Forobserve that the unbelieving man, when driven out into the desert, cannot be compared to a de stitute man ; he is one. What more fitting object can he be compared. to than a ' gloomy and stunted shrub ' (Tristram) of his new and fearful habitation ? Whether the name Aroer is an Arabising ' broken plural' meaning 'place of junipers' (Lagarde, Semitica, on Isa. xvii. 2), and whether in Jer. xlviii. 6 (where Sept reads niny) nyinjjis also a ' broken plural ' or to be corrected into njny ' dwarf juniper,' may both be left open questions. In our psalm-passage ' destitute ' seems both a literal and a forcible equivalent. Aq. and Symm. excellently, tov eKKeKevapevov ; the other versions vaguely, 'lowly' (Sept.), 'wretched' (Pesh.), 'desolated' (Targ.). civ. 4. Read DnSl L"'8 (OL doubtfully, and Bi.). C5'!< is fem. ; for in Job xx. 26 we should point nB3, and in Jer. xlviii. 46 read nKS* (as Num. xxi. 28. cv. 18. Targ., Hi., De. render 'iron (i.e. iron-fetters) entered into his soul.' It is true Ptn3 elsewhere is masculine, but a similar incorrect ness is found in Mass. text of civ. 4. But why assume this ? Read 7.P33 (OL, Bi.). On the other view, lucidity seems to require ie'arny (lxix. 21. — 27, 28. Read q\», with Sept, Pesh., Aq., Symm., Jer., Hu., De., and omit SO with Sept., Pesh., and Sexta in Field (so Bi.). — 40. Read )bxy, with Sept, OL, Dy., Bi. cvi. 20, 27. See notes ; the second correction is presupposed by Sept., Pesh., Targ. (so too Venema, Hu., Hi., De., Bi.). cvii. 3. Read pp»p, with Clericus, Mich., 01. (doubtfully), Hu., Pe., Bi. See crit note on Isa. xlix. 12. — 17. Read D^in, with Ol. (altern.), Gr., Bi. — 30. tinp. On the formation cf. Noldeke, Kurzgef. syrische Gramm., § 126 G ; the root is Nn ' to shut in,' whence the two possible meanings 'city,' 'haven' (see note, p. 297). Ass. makhazu is used of the fortified towns of Hazael, and Nebuchadnezzar calls Babylon the makhag oi the great lord Marduk (Norris ; Schrader). ' Haven' is therefore a later meaning. The Arabising sense of ' shore,' suggested by Schnurrer (Animadverss. p. 496), is unnecessary. — 33. '3 and 'd 'D at once suggest Babylonia. For the rendering 'watercourses' see Whitehouse's note in Expositor, Dec. 1886, p. 479. There seem to be two traditional renderings : hence it is that the Vulg. oscillates between ' fontes ' and ' rivi aquarum,' and Sept. renders here SiigoSoi and in Isa. lviii. 1 1 wr\yr\. The Assyrio-Baby- lonian equivalent of D*D *XS1D is muci ml, which means Abzugs- candle 'drainage-gutters' (Schrader, K.A.T., p. 124). cix. 2. Read y55>n (Houb., Hi., Dy., Gr.). 5. Read -1dW.*1 (xxxv. 12, xxxviii. 21), or -H*^'! (Prov. xvii. 13), Hu. 10. Read •l&Vnjl (Sept., Houb., Hu., Bi.). See Sept. Ex. xii. 39. D u 402 THE PSALMS cix. n. Gr.,^fp2\. Cf. crit. note on ix. 17. ex. 3 a. For *nnn3 (we should expect mnn3) read n^na^ with Symm., Jer., many editions and MSS. (so Hare, Houb., OL, Hu., Gr., Bi.). — 3 b. Sept., wpb ecoo-qjopov ; Pesh., men q'dlm (from the beginning) ; Theod., awb wpat ; Quinta, dwb opdpov = nng'p. Cf. Sept. Job iii. 9, xxxviii. 12, xii. 9. Sept. also reads *VpnS* (cf. ii. 7), which Herder admits, rendering — Vom Schooss der Morgenrbthe, wie den Thau, Hab' ich dich mir erzeugt. cxiii. 8. Read ia*{J>in^> (cf. Bdttcher, Lehrbuch, i. 662, Anm. 2). On the affixed *, so abundant in the later psalms (from ci. 5 onwards), but especially in Ps. cxiii., see Philippi, Wesen und Ursprung des Status Constructus (1871), p. 96, &c. To admit it in the present case, how ever, is contrary to all precedent cxiv. 1. Krochmal and Gr., ty/13 (Isa. xxxiii. 19) ; but see my note. cxvi. 1. Read *PI3PKn (Bruston, Gr.). Cf. v. 10. — 9. Weir proposes ninnxa (Academy, July 1, 1873, p. 251). cxviii. 12. Read, with Baethgen, D*S1p3 VX2 iny[3 33]m D*n3n3 *313D. So Sept., and, as it seems, partly Targ. (who renders /. 2, n,*n ^pbl t*3-133 XnB'X). How much more natural than the text-reading ! For what is the sense of the energetic exclamation in /. 3, if the ' ex tinguishment ' (-13yn) is, even from a prophetic or ideal point of view, past? Besides, should not vz>. 10-12 present us with a climax in the description of the assailants' fury ? Lastly, "|yn occurs nowhere else in Pual ; one expects Qal (Isa. xliii. 17). Baethgen's argument seems very strong. — 27 a. La. proposes D*3ny3. Cf. Lev. xxiii. 40 (see my note). cxix. 20. nDn3. Most render, 'is crushed' (viz. with longing), and rightly no doubt. The versions give the same sense but without the figure. The Hifil occurs in Lam. iii. 16, and a noun 'tjnjl = that which is bruised, in Lev. ii. 14, 16. But Aram. Dn3 has a secondary mean ing, ' to read, study.' See (Targum) Prov. iv. 19, xyin Dn?n Kn-lDnn.3-1 (according to one reading) ; and comp. Deut. ii. 19 (Targ. Jon.). These passages clearly show that Dn3 was a natural word to employ for the study of the Law. Does not the psalmist play upon this double meaning ? For the verse may, from the point of view of Aramaic, be rendered, ' My soul is absorbed in longing study concerning thine ordinances at all times.' Cf. v. 97. — 21. Omit D*nin« (a gloss), with Bi. — 22. Read 7j (Ew., Hi., Bo., von Ortenberg, Riehm, Gr.). The false punctuation was caused by bi in v. 18. — 96. n731"|. Sept. o-WTeXeias, Aq. TeXeaei. A aw. Xey. for n*73R, which means both the attainment of the goal and the goal or boundary itself (see De. on Job xi. 7). We need not alter the text, with Gr. (on the ground of the obscure rendering of Symm.). The form in CRITICAL NOTES 403 n— was preferred to that in n*— for euphony's sake (see termination of next word). cxix. 103. Read n/nhptf (Hi., De.). Sept. to. Xoytd oov. — 119. Read n3'J;n (Sept., Ew., Gr., Bi.). — 128. Read ^H-lpB (Sept., Pesh., Jer., Houb., and most except Hi.) It seems practically the same whether we read *]}"1B'* or ^"IB'K ; Sept gives the right sense for either, Trpoy wdoas ras ivroXds o-ov KaTapSovprjv. — 149. Sept., Targ., Jer. have n.PfK'p ; cf. tSBE'D?, v. 132. cxxvi. 1. Read n-1355' or 71*355' (as v.' 4), with OL, Bo., Hu., Gr., Bi. See crit note on xiv. 7. cxxix. 6. f|pt5!. The punctuation seems to me to imply the sense 'to blossom' ('to become unsheathed'). So Jerome, '(statim ut) vir- uerit ; ' Targ., V*V* (the duplicate rendering, which gives the rival view, looks like a paraphrase added later) ; Aq., dvedaXev ; Symm., eKKavXrio-ai ('to run to stalk'); Sexta, fWrtprao-ai (' to arrive at full firmness'). Of Sept. Theodoret remarks, "~Evia tS>v dvriypdipav ovk iiavdijo-ai exei, dXXa eKo-wao-drjvai (we should now say just the oppo site). Theod. and Quinta certainly render eKo-wao-8rjvat, and no doubt this expresses the usual meaning of the verb (so Rashi). Yet if the punctuators had adopted this view, would they not probably, for clearness, have pointed as Pual? The intrans. sense 'to blossom' is justified by the Talmudic PBB17B* 'date-flowers' (see Buxtorf). Bi. prefers to point F|Se;'. Calv., A.V., Ew., Hi., De., and Geiger (Zeitschr. der D. M. G., xiv. 278-9) follow Targ. ; Hu. and Pe. agree with Theod. cxxx. See Haupf s very bold restoration of the text of this psalm in Hebraica, Jan. 1886, pp. 98-106. None of his own conjectures can I accept, least of all, in v. 4, Kn*B '(the) religion' (cf. TSXI}., xix. 10 Job iv. 6), though it is true that Jerome (Opera, ed. Migne, i. 865-6, Epist. cvi.) recognises the reading ' Thira,' and that Aq., Symm., Theod., render (eveKev) n is troublesome, as the versions show. On Targ., see my note. Sept., ' let it be forgotten ; ' Pesh. and Saad., ' let it forget (me).' Jer., ' in oblivione sit' Ibn Ezra and Kimchi, ' let it forget (its art).' 1 The former also mentions a view adopted by Schlesinger in Cahen's French-Jewish Bible — ' qu'elle se desseche, qu'elle s'engourdisse ' (naKTI in the sense of 55TDFI). But transposition (cf. on xxii. 16) is the only adequate remedy, as Krochmal, Herzfeld, and Gratz have seen. Read either 55TI3n ' (let it) fall away ; ' or, better, 55*naPl ' (let it) disappoint.' Weir's n'3 55*3* is a poorer phrase. — 8. Bo., Hi., Ew., Riehm, nninSJ'n 'thou desolater.' I have explained why I agree rather with Aq. and Theod. (r/ wpovevopevpev-n, fj hiapwao- 6na-opevrj) than with Symm. (17 Xgo-Tpis), Targ. (Kn*T-1T3), and Pesh. (bozusto). Halevy renders, ' fille moribonde.' cxxxviii. 2. For n,nnDX read T]npN (Gr.). If we keep the text, we might render either, ' thou hast magnified Thy promise above every monu ment of Thyself (see crit. note on Isa. lv. 13), or (notice the punctu ation P3 in Baer and De.), ' . . . Thy name (and) Thy promise above everything,' where, of course, ' Thy promise ' might be an intrusive gloss on ' Thy name.' Dy. reads, ^*D55'. cxxxix. On the strong Aramaising element in this psalm cf. Giesebrecht in Stade's Zeitschrift, 1881, pp. 286-7. Elsewhere this writer may have fallen into exaggeration and have limited the old Hebrew vocabulary too much. — 11. Read *33-1D* (Ew.). Others prefer *3B-ly* (Bo., De.). Even if ^•155' can borrow the sense of P|Kt?, yet 'inhiet me' is not the phrase one expects here. — 16. De. adopts the Q'ri i^i. But this reading seems discredited by the Haggadic interpretations of it (see Rashi ad loc, and cf. Joel Miiller, Masechet-Soferim (1878), p. 95. — 19. Read -in-lD* (Targ., OL, Gr., Bi.). — 20. Read ?pnp*. (Hu., Riehm, Pe., Dy), and at the end T|p55' (Bb., OL, Bruston, Gr., Bi.). cxi. 3. It is safest to read -inV (Hu.) ; but cf. crit. note on Isa. liv. 15. — 9-1 1. Many, from Hare and Venema onwards, have seen that IDin* cannot belong to v. 9, but to prefix this word to v. 10 is not enough. We must read -1D*n*. bx ; Sept. and Symm. witness at least to the negative particle. This is safer than Thrupp's DapD 55'Kn 1D-ln* ' men shall shoot at them the poison of their own tables,' a truly 1 So Clement Marot in the fine Huguenot Psalter already referred to— Or, toutesfois, puisse oublier ma dextre — L'art de harper. CRITICAL NOTES 405 wonderful correction to which Gr. approximates unawares (cf. Jerome's ' amaritudo convivarum meorum ; ' Sept's toO kvkX^potos abrav). Perhaps one may remark here that Thrupp had a clearer sense than some of his successors of the difficulty of interpreting the Psalms, and the desirableness of a fresher and less traditional exe gesis, and also of the helpfulness of the ancient versions for the cor rection of the text. His own work, however (2 vols., i860), though not illiberal in the tone of its exegesis, shows a great want of scho larly tact, especially in the corrections of the text. In v. 11 read npp* (Hu.) ; the insertions are due to Bi. In /. 4 Gr. corrects very happily, mnD3D3 (cf. cxii. 10, Hab. i. 15, 16, Isa. xix. 8, li. 20). The text-reading is a arr. Xey. explained from Ar. hamral ' rain ' as = ' whirl pools.' Mohammed says, ' When the unjust are in the floods of death ' (Kordn, vi. 93). But, especially in so corrupt a context, I hesitate to accept this Arabising word. cxlii. 8 c. Read inXBrV (Gr.). cxliii. 7. The arrangement of the lines is perhaps imperfect. In /. 4 the insertion (from xxviii. 1) saves us from the necessity of rendering ' else ' or ' that I be not' — 9. Read »rypn with Ibn Janah (Abulwalid), OL, Ew., Hu., Bi. The construction with bx is no doubt unusual, and may indicate a later period. Note that npa is constructed both with 3 and also (less frequently) with bx. Sept. has, on wpos o-e Kareqbvyov (i.e. either 'n or *flp3). Have we any right to take WD3 in a reflexive sense? as Perowne pertinently asks. Gr. reads, 'n*)p. — 10. Read nn'K3 with Pesh., Hu., Weir, Gr., Bi. cxliv. 2. Read '3pn (Krochmal, Gr.). De. defends *npn by referring to Jon. ii. 9, where, however, Dnpn means — not 'the author of their mercies,' but either the divine benefit which has been theirs in the past (as Kalisch), or better, that which may be theirs in the future (cf. *3iyp ' from guilt that might be mine,' xviii. 24 ; *pKt3DD ' from sin that might be mine,' Prov. xx. 9). In the same line 17"*P?BD-1 may possibly combine two readings, *p?BP and 17 DpSD. See xviii. 3, and cf. foot-note on lv. 9, above. Or the *— may be the ' binding sound ' (see cxiii. 5, 6). — 3. This passage may be added to those usually quoted (Cant. viii. 4, Job xvi. 6) to show the incipient negative meaning of nD. The psalmist says, literally, 'What is man, and (yet) thou dost notice him,' as Driver rightly renders (Hebrew Tenses, § 79). cxiv. 5. For n311, read -lnST. (Bi.). cxlvii. 1. Read inpt (cf. xlvii. 7), continuing 'xb (Bi.). Cf. Sept. — 20. VDB^p-1 (Sept., OL, Bi.). cxlviii. 2. The K'thib is right (as in cxlvii. 9). The Q'ri gives an ano malous phrase invented to get over the incongruity of a singular noun and plural verb (Schrader, Jahrbucherf.prot. Theologie, 1876, p. 316). See note. 406 THE PSALMS cxlviii. 6. Read -may* (Bi.). cl. 4. D*3P3. Pesh., b'qithdre ' cum citharis.' See crit. note on xiv. 9. 'D is of course the plural of |p, properly ' a part,' and hence (cf. Syr. menno, I ' a hair,' 2 ' a harp-string ') — a word which was once in use in Hebrew, as the prep. -jp attests, and which Hu. and Pe. find in W3D (Ixviii. 24). INDEX. The references are to the pages of the Introduction, and to the prefaces (P.) and notes to the Psalms according to their number and verse. References to the Critical Notes (Cr. N. ) come at the end of the entries to which they belong. AAR Aaron, a name for the High Priest, cxxxin. 3 Abaddon, lxxxviii. 12 Abbott, Dr., on unscientific fear of Nature, Civ. 9 Abelard, xlix. 13 Abu Katifah, lv. 7 ' Accession psalms,' xlvii. P. Acrostic or alphabetical psalms, ix. P. ; xxv. P. Adonai, cxxui. 2 Afflicted, the, i.e. the pious kernel ofthe Jewish people, IX. 13 Ahab, possibly the subject of the psalm, XLV. P. Ainsworth, vn. P. Alexander, Bishop, LXVIII. P. ; cxxxi. P. Al-Harith quoted, xxx. 8 Alphabetical psalms, see Acrostic Altar, compassing of the, xxvi. 8 Altar-homs, cxviii. 27 Amalek, lxxxiii. 8 Amr ibn al Harith quoted, lxxxiv. 4 Amyraut, xviii. P. Angels, viii. 6 ; xxix. 1 ; xxxiv. 8 ; xxxv. 5 ; xliii. 3 ; lxxxii. P. ; lxxxv. 1 1 ; lxxxix. 6 ; xci. 11 An-Nabigha, the Arab poet, quoted, lxxv. 9 ; lxxxiv. 4 Anthropomorphism, XVIII. 9 ; xxxiv. 8 ; xciv. 8 Anticipatory use of tenses, cxxxvii. 8 Antiochus Epiphanes, xiv. 1 BAL Antitheses, xi. P. Anu, Babylonian Heaven-god, CIV. 3 _ Arabic illustrations, xlix. 15 ; LVIII. 5 ; LXXV. 9 ; LXXXIV. 4 ; xcii. 13 ; cxviii. 27 ; cxx. 4 Ark of God, xxiv. 7 ; cxxxii. 6 Asshur, lxxxiii. 7 Assur, called a 'rock,' xviii. 3 Assurbanipal, XL. 7 ; Annals of, quoted, xvn. 15 Assyria, illustrations from, XVIII. 3 ; XVIII. 9 ; XXI. P. ; LXXIX. P. ; cxxn. 6 ; cxxxvi. 26 Assyrian kings, II. 7, 8, 9 ; ex. I Assyrian view of Hades, IX. 13 Asterisks in the translation, their meaning, Int. p. xvii. n. Authorized Version, LXV. 6 ; lxviii. 7 Babel, Tower of, lv. io Babylonia, cxxxvii. [ Babylonian Hades, xxn. 16 ; xxiii. 4 Babylonian Plague-demon, xci. 6 . Babylonian Sun God, cxlv. 8 Babylonian view of God as forgiv ing, lxxxvi. 5 Bacon, Lord, version of the psalm, cxxxvii. P. Baethgen, Cr. N. Pref. (p. 369) ; xn. 9 (P- 373); xxvn- 8 (P- 379) ; CXVIII. 12 (p. 402) Balsam Vale, lxxxiv. 7 408 THE PSALMS BEA Beatitude psalms, xxxii. P. Bel, called a ' rock,' xviii. 3 Belshazzar's feast, cxxxvii. 3 and n. Benisch, Dr., xiv. 1 Benjamin, tribe of, lxviii. 28 ; lxxx. 2 Berakoth, a name for the Psalms, Int. p. xv. Bernard, St., quoted, cxlviii. P. Bickell, xxxii. 9 ; xlii. 7 ; xlvii. 10 ; lxxxiv. 6 ; lxxxix. 48 ; ex. 3; cxxxix. 16 ; cxli. 5 xoA pas sim. Also Cr. N. Pref. (p. 369) ; xi. 7 (p. 372) ; xlv. 8 (p. 384) Birds, symbolism of, lxxxiv. 4 Black, the colour of mourning, xxxv. 14 Blake, Wm., civ. 4 and n. Bochart, lxxxiv. 4 Bones, used to represent the whole body, vi. 3 Book ofthe Dead, quoted, XV. P. Booths, Feast of, lxxxi. 2 ; exvm. 25, 27 ; cxxxvii. 2 Boscawen, Mr., on Belshazzar's feast, cxxxvii. 3 n. Bottcher, Cr. N. XVIII. (p. 375) Brackets in translation, meaning of, Int. p. xvii. n. Bredenkamp, L. 10 and 16 Brewer, Prof., Int. p. viii. Briggs, Prof., XLII. 7 Browning, Mrs.,xxn. 2; CXXVII. 2 Bruston, Cr. N. II. 12 (p. 370) Buchanan, G., Latin version of the Psalms, Int. p. ix. ; lxxiii. 1 ; lxviii. 21 ; lxxiv. 9; cxxvii. 2 Budge, Mr., quoted, ex. 8 Bulls, symbolism of, lxviii. 31 ; cxviii. 27 Bythner's Lyra Davidis, Int. p. xi. Calvin, vii. 3 ; xxii. P. ; xxii. 21 ; LI. 7 ; lv. 13 ; lviii. 4 ; lxxxvii. P. ; civ. 26 ; cxxxvi. 25 ; cxlix. 2 and passim Camoens, cxxxvii. P. Canaan, fertility of, lxviii. io Cappel, Louis, XIX. 3 Caryatides, CXLIV. 12 Chaldseans, x. 8 Chaldsean view of Paradise, XXXVI. 10 Cherubim, xviii. 9 ; xxii. 4 Children's Crusade, viii. 3 Clericus, vii. 8 ; CXXVI. I ; cxxxviii. 3 Clifford, Prof., xxiii. P. ELI Clovis, xviii. P. Coals of broom, CXX. 4 Columba, S., xxxiv. P. ; lxxxiv. P. Communal land, XVI. 5 Conder, Capt , quoted, LXXXIII. 7 re. Conscience, idea of, XCIV. 10 re. Corner pillars, cxliv. 12 Corrupting association, three forms of, 1. 1 Crashaw, version of the Psalms, quoted, xxiii. 2 ; cxxxvii. P. Dale, Mr., quoted, cxix. 152 Damascus, street of, xlviii. 13 Dante, on angels, VIII. 6 Dathe, LXV. 6 ; cxi. 3 David, iv. 4 Davidic authorship of Psalms, Int. pp. xv. -xvi. ; XVIII. P. " Day begins at sunset, lv. 18 Day of Atonement, service for, LI. P. Death, fear of, vi. 6 ; synonym for Sheol, xviii. 5 Decalogue, paraphrased, L. 16 Dedication, Feast of, cxiii. P. De Dieu, xiv. 4 ; lxxii. 15 Delitzsch, quoted, Int. p. x. ; on Davidic psalms, Int. p. xvi. , on Isaiah (xxviii. 17), iv. 3: and passim, especially XVI. P. ; xviii. 21 ; xxxii. 9; xxxv. 13; xl.'8; lx. 6; lxii. 15; cxi. 2; exxxm. 3 ; cxliv. 12 Dew, ex. 3 n. ; cxxxiv. 3 De Witt, Int. p. viii. ; xiii. ii' xxxv. 16 ; xlv. 2 ; lii. 5 also Cr. N. Pref. (p. 369) <.'¦ Dibbara, the Babylonian Plague- demon, xci. 6 Dillmann, lii. 3 Ddderlein, xlv. 7 Doves, symbolism of, LXVIII. 14 ; wild doves, Lv. 7 Dragon, symbolism of, LXXI v. 13, 14 Driver, Mr., xxviii. 6 Duport's metaphrasis, Int. p. ix. Dyserinck, Cr. N. Pref. (p. 369) Earthly retribution, xxxvii. P. ' Eating up ' a people, xiv. 4 Ebionites, ix. 13 Egypt, illustrations from, II. 8 ; xxiii. 4 ; xxiii. 5 ; lxxxviii. 9 ; XCVII. io ; CI. 7 ; CIV. 13 ; cxxi. 3 ; cxxxii. 17 Elim, lviii. 2 ; lxxxii. 1 INDEX 409 ELO Elohim, XLV. 7 ; LXXXII. P. and I ; XCVI. 4 ; CXXIII. 2 Enoch, lxxiii. 24 Ephratah, cxxxii. 6 Ephrem, St., Hymn of, ix. P. Erskine, of Linlathen, cxxxix. P. Esarhaddon, oracle to, cxvm. 8 Eshmunazar, King of Sidon, xxi. 11 Eternal life, xi. 7 Ewald, on Davidic Psalms, Int. p. xvi. ; his chronological arrange ment of Psalter, Int. p. xvi. ; also vii. P. ; viii. P. ; xx. P. ; xxii. P. ; xxxvn. P ; xlv. P. ; LI. 7 ; lv. 20 ; LX. 6, 10 ; lxxxiv. 6 ; lxxxvii. 4 ; ex. P. ; CXVI. 16, and passim Facc of Jehovah, xvii. 15 ; cxxxix. 7 Fetish worship, xviii. 32 Fool, the, xiv. 1 Foolishness = sin, xxxviii. 6 Forgiveness, xxxii. I ; CXLIII. 1 Forgivingness of God, lxxxvi. 5 Francis, St., xxxvi. 7 ; lxxiv. 19 Frau Treue, Frau Wahrheit, XLIII. 3 Gaxneau, M., quoted, cxvi. 23 Gebal, King, lxxxiii. 7 ; cxvi. 13 Geiger, ex. 3 Genesis, cosmogony of, civ. P. Ger, the, xv. 1 'erard, brother of St. Bernard, his death, cxlviii. P. "resenius, lxxiv. 8 Glassius, lxxxiv. 4 Glory, my, see My glory Glosses, early inserted, Cr. N. xlviii. 3 (p. 385) God, attributes of, in the Psalms, iv. 4 ; xxix. 5 ; lxxx. 5 ; ci. 1 : titles of, in the Psalms, vii. 18; xxiv. 10 ; lix. 6 ; lxviii. 15 ; lxxiii. ii; lxxvi. 3; lxxviii. 35 ; lxxxiii. 19 ; xci. 1 Gratry, Abbe, XLIX. 15 Gratz, on number of Psalms, Int. pp. xiii. and xiv. : on subscriptions to Books I. -IV., Int. p. xv. ; also lii. 3 ; xcii. P. n. ; cxviii. 27 and n. ; cxxxiii. 3, and passim. Cr. N. Pref. (p. 369), lxxvi. ii (pp. 396-97) Greek and Latin Metrical Psalters, Int. p. viii. Gregory VII., Pope, xlv. P. IDO Hagarenes, lxxxiii. 7 Halevy, M., XVI. 10 ' Hallel,' the, cxiii. P. ' Hallel, the great,' cxxxvi. P. Hallelujah, name given to psalms, Int. p. xii. re. : cf. cxlvi. P. ; CL. P. Ham, race of, lxxviii. 51 Hammer, Julius, xlv. P. ; cxxxix. 19 Hannah, Song of, cxiii. 7-9 Hanukka, or Feast of Dedication, cxiii. P. Harvey, Gabriel, Int. p. ix. n. Hauran, lxviii. 15 Heart, the seat of the conscience and intellect, iv. 5 ; lxxiii. 2 Heaven, cxv. 3 Hengstenberg, xlii. 8 ; lviii. io ; lxxxix. 46 ; ex. P. ; cxviii. 10; cxxxvii. 9; Cr. N., xviii. (P- 375) Herder, Int. p. ix. ; xxxv. 7 ; xlii. 7 ; xciv. P. ; civ. 13 Hermon, lxviii. 3 ; lxxxix. 13 ; cxxxiii. 13 Hermonim, XLII. 7 Hezekiah, King, his reformation, XVIII. 21 ; zeal for fortification, xlviii. 13 Hildebert, lxxxiv. P. ; cxxii. 6 Hind, a symbol of the soul, xlii. 2 Hinnom, valley of, xlviii. 3 Hippolytus, S., quoted, Int. p. xii. Hitzig, on Davidic psalms, Int. p. xvi. ; and passim, especially xxxv. P. ; xliv. 20 ; XLVI. 5 ; lxii. 2; lxxii. 15; lxxxi. 6; cxlvi. 9 ; Cr. N. xvi. 3 (p. 374) Holiness, xvi. 3 ; li. 13 Holy of Holies, v. 4 and 8 ; xxviii. 2 Horsley, Bishop, xlv. 9 Hort, Dr., Cr. N. xlv. 7 (p. 384) Hosanna, cxviii. 25 Hospitality, laws of, XV. I Huguenots, lxviii. P. ; cxviii. P. Huleh, Lake of, cii. 7 Hume, Sir Patrick, Int. p. ix. Hunt, Holman, lxxxiv. 4 Hupfeld, xxxii. 9 ; xlix. P. ; L. 10 ; lxxi. 20 ; cxx. 3, 4 ; and passim Ibn Ezra, ii. P. re. ; cxxxix. P. Idolatry, references to, xvi. 4 ; XL. P. ; cxxxix. 24 410 THE PSALMS IMM Immortality, hope of, VII. 6 ; XVI. io ; xlix. 13; lxxiii. 21 Imprecations, lxix. 23 ; lxxxiii. 17 Imra al Kais, xxix. P. Innocence, the claims to, VII. 9 ; xvii. P. ; LVIII. 11 Irving, Edward, civ. P. Isaiah (II. ), xc. P. ; xcvi. P. xcvm. P. ; cii. 19 Israel, relations with God, XL 6 lxv. 3 ; cxxxii. 9 ; relations with other nations, LXVI. 5 ideal of character, XLIII. I ; long continued nomad life, LXIX. 26 as a succession of men of faith, xc. P. Israel's enemies, xxii. 13 Israel's kings, an image of Jeho vah, lxxxix. 28 ; cf. ex. 1 Ivory palaces, XLV. 9 Jackals, the place of, xliv. 20 Jacob, the patriarch, lxiv. 5 Jacob, i.e. Southern Israel, LXXVII. 16 Jacob ben Khayim, Int. p. xiv. Jehuda Hallevi, era. P. Jeremiah, influence on Psalms, xxx. P., xxxv. P., lxxxi. 12; his sufferings, LV. 13; his view of • sacrifice, L. 5 Jerome, St., Int. p. xii. ; XLV. 7 re. ; cxv. 9 Jerusalem, topography of, cxxn. 3 ; meaning of the name, cxxn. 6 Job, xxxvii. 1 ; civ. 26 ». Joseph, i.e. the Northern Kingdom, lxxvii. P. and 16 ; cf. lxxx. 2 Joshua ben Levi, Rabbi, CXLV. P. Joyfulness of Old Testament reli gion, XXXII. 11 Judah, tribe of, lxviii. 28 Kant, xix. P. Kay, Bishop, Int. p. viii. ; xlii. 2 ; xlv. 9; xciv. 15 Keble, xxxii. 7 ; xxxvi. 7 ; xlii. 6 ; cxvi. P. ; cxvi. 9 Kimchi on number of the Psalms, Int. p. xiv. King, Mr., XLVI. 5 Kings of the earth, 11. 1 Kings, worthy, their reward in heaven, xxi. 4 Kingsley, Charles, reference to his biography, CXXI. P. MIK Kirjath-jearim, cxxxii. 6 Kirkpatrick, Prof., Cr. N. xviii. (P- 375) Koheleth, cxvi. 10 Korah, CVI. 17 Korahites, LXXXIV. II Koran, quoted, xv. 1 re. ; xxvm. 2 ; xlix. 8 ; lii. 3 ; xc. 3 and 5 ; civ. 25 ; cxxi. 3 ; cxxxv. 7 Kriiger, CII. 26 Kuenen, cxv. 9 Lagarde, Mr., ix. 13 ; lxiii. 5 ; cxxxviii. 3 Land, Prof., lxviii. 26 Lang, Andrew, XXI. 4 re Lebanon, lxxx. 11 Leibnitz, xciv. P. Leopardi, xci. 6 Letronne, cxvi. I Leviathan, symbolism of, lxxiv. 13 ; Civ. 26 Liddon, Canon, quoted on the topography of Jerusalem, cxx. 3 Lion, symbolism of, xxii. 22 ; common in Palestine, LVII. 5 Liturgical Doxologies, Int. p. xv. ; xvin. 51; xli. 14; lv. 23; cxvu. P. Lovingkindness, IV. 4 ; xlvi. 5 ; L. 5 ; lxii. 12 ; lxiii. 4 ; ci. 1 ; cxliii. 1 Low, L., lxxiv. 8 Lowth, Bishop, xxix. 9 Luther, XLVI. P. ; lxxv. 3 ; xc. 5 ; xciv. 15 ; cxviii. P. ; exxx. P. Maccabean psalms, lxxiv. 8 Maccabees, ex. 4 Mace of iron, II. 9 ; cf. xxiii. 4 Manichaeans, lxxxvi. 15 Marot, Clement, lxviii. P. ; Cr. N. cxxxvii. 5 (p. 404 re) Maspero, M., quoted, lxxxviii. 19 Maundrell, xlviii. 13 Melchizedek, ex. 4 Mercenary soldiers, lxviii. 31 Mercy, in Old Testament not un limited, cix. 7 Merrick's version quoted, lxviii. 18 Mesha quoted, lxxii. 1 Messianic references, II. P. ; xvi. 10; XXTI. P. ; XLV. P. ; CI. 2; ex. P. ; ex. 4 Midrash Tillim quoted, Int. p. xii. Miktam, the title, xvi. P. INDEX 411 MIL Milton's version quoted, iv. 3 ; ym. 6 and 9, und passim Misfortune and sin, v. 1 1 Mishna quoted, cxxxvii. 2 Moloch, xvi. 4 Moon, the new, lxxxi. 4; observ ance of, cxiii. P. Morata, Olympia, Int. p. ix. Morrison, J. Cotter, Life of St. Ber nard quoted, cxlviii. P. Moses, xcix. 6 Miiller, J., xvi. 4 Miinzer, cxlix. P. Musculus, xlii. 7 ' My Glory,' III. 4 ; iv. 3 ; vn. 6 Naphtali, tribe of, lxviii. 28 Nature, feeling for, viii. P. ; civ. P. ; cxxxv. 7 ; cxlvii. P. Nebhel, the ten-stringed, xxxiii. 2 Neil, Mr., on 'dew,' ex. 3 n. Noah, Cr. N. xxix. 10 (p. 380) Nomad Ufe, lxix. 26 ; cxx. 4 Ointment, symbol of oy, xxiii. 5 ; xlv. 8 ; cxli. 5 Olshausen, xxii. P. ; xlii. 7 ; lxviii. 15; lxxxi. 6; lxxxix. 46 Orelli, xxii. P. «. Osiris, tribunal of, XV. P. Paradise, xxxvi. io Pascal, cxix. P. Passover, lxxxi. 2 Pearson, Bishop, XLV. 7 n. Pelican, the, en. 7 Perowne, translation of the Psalms, Int. p. viii. ; on Davidic Psalms, xvi. n. ; also XXXV. 16 ; civ. 4 ; CX. 7 ; cxviii. 27, and passim ; Cr. N. XCIII. 4 (p. 400) Personality, Hebrew conception of, VI. 3 ; cf. XVI. 9 Petrarch, LV. 7 Phcenician representation of God, xliv. 24 Philo, civ. 4 ; cxviii. 27 Pinches, Mr., quoted, lxxix. P. Pirke Abhoth, XLIII. I Plato, CXXXIX. 7 Plural of extension, cxvi. 9 Plutarch, quoted, cxviii. 27 Polytheism, lviii. 13 n. Praise, the chief feature of the Psalms, Int. pp. xi.-xiii. See also Prayer and praise Prayer, answer to, lxv. 3 SCH Prayer and praise regarded as sacri fice, v. 4 ; their connection, xlii. 9 ; Lxv. 2 Predestination, Li. 6 Proselytes, cxv. 9 ; cxlvi. 9 Psalms, their name, Int. pp. xi., xii. ; division into Books, Int. p. xiii. ; number, Int. p. xiv. ; sub scriptions to, Int. p. xiv. ; en larged for liturgical use, lxxxiv. 9 ; Ewald's chronological arrange ment of, Int. p. xvi. Ptah-hotep, XCVII. 10 Punishment of the wicked, vn. 14- 16 ; lxiv. 8 Pusey, Dr., LXXXVII. 4 Rachel tribes, lxxx. 2 Rae, Mr., civ. 26 Rahab, symbolic name for Egypt, LXXXVII. 4 Rain, lxv. 10 and 12 Reins, the, xvi. 7 Resurrection, hope of, XLIX. 11 ; LXXXVIII. 11 Reuss, Int. p. viii. Revised Version, Int. p. vii. ; viii. 6 ; xxxi. 21 ; cxxvi. 5 Riehm, xxii. 4 ; xxxv. 13 ; li. 11 ; cxx. 3, 4 Righteousness, conception of, vn. 18, cxi. 3, cxii. 9, cxxxii. 9, cxliii. 1 ; external rewards of, 1. 1 and 3 ; cf. iv. 2, v. 11, xvi. 6 Rock, an old phrase for God, xviii. 32 Rogers (Matthew's Bible), cl. P. Sabaoth, lix. 6 Sachs, M., lxviii. 14 re. ; CII. 15 Sacrifices, v. 4 Sacrificial system, XL. 7 ; L. 5 and 6 Saisset, E., cxlv. P. Salem, lxxvi. 3 Salmon, Mt, lxviii. 15 Salvation, meaning of, III. 3 ; LI. 14 ; cxxxii. 9 Samuel, xcix. 6 Sanctuary of God, lxxiii. 17 Sanctuary, rights of, XV. I Sandys, George, CVI. 15 Savonarola, XXXI. P. ; LXIII. 10 ; lxviii. P. ; lxxiii. P. Sayce, Prof., quoted, xxxv. 3 ; lxxx. 2; lxxxiii. 24 re. ; lxxxvi. 5 ; cxxn. 6 ; cxlv. 8 Schultens, LV. 20 412 THE PSALMS SCI Scioppius, Caspar, cxlix. P. Scotch Covenanters, LXIII. IO Sedarim, or orderings, Int. p. xiv. Segond, lviii. 8 ; lxxxiv. 6 Sela, lxxii. io Shaddai, lxviii. 13 ; xci. 1 Shaftesbury, Lord, quoted, xxxix. 5 Sharpe, xlviii. 8 Sheba, lxxii. 10 Shechem, lx. 8 Sheol, vi. 6 ; xvi. 10 ; xviii. 5 ; xxii. 30; xlix. 11 ; lxxi. 20; lxxxviii. 6 ; cxv. 16 ; cxliii. 3 Shiloh, lxxxviii. 60 Shoe, symbolism of, LX. 10 Sin, three terms for, xxxii. I Sin and misfortune, v. 11 ; LI. 16 ; lxiv. 8 ; evil. 17 Sleep, ascribed to Jehovah, XLIV. . 24 ; the gift of, cxxvu. 2 Smith, Dr. Robertson, LI. P. Sobieski, cxv. P. Song of Songs, xlv. P. Sons of the gods, xxix. 1 Sophocles, xciv. 19 Stanihurst, Richard, II. 12 Stanley, Dean, quoted, CIV. 4 ; cxxi. 5 ; cxxxix. 9 ; cxlvi. P. Star-worship in Israel, xxiv. 10 Stirling, motto on Regent Mar's building at, CI. P. Stork, the, civ. 10 Strack, lxxiv. 8 re. ' Subjective ' emendations, Int. p. x. Succoth, lx. 8 Suffering, views of, lxix. 6 Tabernacle, the, v. 8 re. Tabor, lxxxix. 13 Tamerlane, LXV. 10 Tarshish, lxxii. io Tefillah, name of Psalms, Int. p. xii. re. Temen-Sallim, meaning of the name, cxx 1 1. 6 Tent, used conventionally for house, cxxxii. 3 Theocritus quoted, xxi. 4 re. Theodore of Mopsuestia, XXII. P. ; xxii. 2 ; li. P. Tholuck, lxv. 3 Thomson, Dr., XLII. 7; LXXIV. 19 Threshing floors, 1. 4 ZIO Thrupp, Cr. N. cxl. 9 (pp. 404-5) Tora, the, I. 2 ; cxix. P. Transpositions of text, xxxiv. 17 Trees, symbolism of, xcii. 13 Trench, Archbishop, XCVII. P. Trinity, the doctrine of the, L. I Tristram, Dr., quoted, LVIII. 8 ; lxix. 2 ; lxxxiv. 4 Trumbull, Dr., xvi. 4 Truthfulness, xv. 2 ; ci. 7 Typical sins specified instead of a generic term, LI. 16 Ungodly, the, in. 8 Universalism (i.e. the extension of salvation to the Gentiles), xxii. 27 : cf. lxv. 3 ; lxvi. 5 ; Lxvn. P. ; lxxxvi. P. ; CXIII. 2 Usertsen L, XLIX. 12 Usury, LXII. II Vatke, xxii. 4 Vedas, illustrations from, XIX. 6 ; xxxvii. P. ; lxxiv. i i ; lxxxix. 7 ; cxxxix. P. and 2 Villages, x. 8 Vine, symbolic of Israel, LXXX. 9 Vitringa, Int. p. viii. Walther von der Vogelweide, LXXIV. 14 Warren, Sir Charles, XLVIII. 3 Water supply of the Temple, lxviii. 26 Waw consecutive, 1. 3 ; Cr. N. xxii. 22 (p. 377) Wesley, John, xviii. P. ; cxxx. P. Wetzstein, xlv. P. ; xlix. 8 ; lxviii. 16 ; cxliv. 12 Willows, properly Euphratean pop lars, cxxxvii. 2 'Wise men,' xlix. 11 ; L. 6 ; lxii. 12 ; cxxx. i Yehawmelek, King of Gebal, xxi. 4 Zebulon, tribe of, lxviii. 28 Zion, Mount, 11. 6 ; in. 5 ; vn. 8 ; XV. I ; XLVIII. 3 ; XLVIII. 13 ; ex. 1 ; exxv. 1 Zion, songs of, cxxxvii. 3 INDEX 413 ILLUSTRATIONS FROM LITERATURE. ^Eschylus, cxxxix. 1 5 Alexander, Bishop, xxxix. 13 re. Baxter, Richard, LXIII. 5 Browning, Robert, xxvii. 4 ; xxxi. 16 ; lxxii. P. ; cxxi. 6 ; cxxxix. 14 ; cxlviii. 9 Cowley, Abraham, lxxxii. P. Dante (Purgatorio), LI. 9 ; lviii. II; lxviii. io;xcii. P. ; cxviii. '25; cxxvn. 2; (Paradiso) Int. p. xii. ; xlviii. P. ; l. i Eliot, George, civ. 4 Emerson, XX. 3 Goethe, xxix. P. ; XXIX. 9 ; XLI. 14 a. ; xc. 10 Herbert, George, lvi. 9 ; civ. P. Herrick, lxxx. 6 Homer, (Iliad) lxxv. 9 ; xci. 5 (Odyssey) lxxiii. 19 Keats, xciv. 19 Milton, v. 4 ; xviii. 5 ; xxix. P. xlii. 8 ; xlv. 4 ; xlviii. 8 lvii. 9; lxii. 10; lxviii. 18 lxix. 2; xcvn. 8 ; civ. 31 ex. 3 Newman, Cardinal, cxxxix. 12 Savonarola, xiv. 1 Shakespeare, ex. 7 Shelley, VIII. P. Tasso, v. 13 Woolner, xxxix. 8 Wordsworth, xc. 10 WORDS ANNOTATED OR EXPLAINED. ABHIR, CXXXII. 2 addir, VIII. 2 ; xvi. 3 'addirim, XCIII. 4 'amal, lxxiii. 16 anav, ix. 13 ani, ix. 13 'arm5n, xlviii. 4 'avon, xxxi. 11 b'ne 'elim, xxix. 1 caddiq, I. 1 cafan, lxxxiii. 4 cebaoth, lix. 6 celem, xxxix. 7 d'bhir, xxviii. 2 dibba, xxxi. 14 'edyo, xxxii. 9 El, LXXIII. 11 El Elohim Jahveh, L. I El Elyon, lxxviii. 35 elilim, xcvi. 4 Eloah, xviii. 32 Elohim, xlv. 7 ; xciv. 20 Elyon, vn. 16; lviii. P.re.; lxxiii. II ; XCI. 1 'ezrakh, xxxvii. 35 gibbor, lii. 3 ; cxii. 2 gibborim, on. 20 haggebher, LII. 9 haggibbor, LII. 9 havvah, LII. 9 hoMIm, v. 6 kabdd, VIII. 2 k'doshim, lxxxix. 6 khasid, xn. 2 khasidim, cxlix. 5 khata, xxv. 7 khesedh, iv. 4 ; L. 5 khuppah, xix. 6 lecim, 1. 1 ; cf. xiv. 1 lo'ez, cxiv. 1 maskil, xlvii. 8 nabhal, XIV. 1 p'diith, cxxx. 7 ra'anan, LII. 10 racakh, xlii. 1 1 rasha', I. I reshef, lxxviii. 48 riq, iv. 3 r'kh5b, LV. 12 r'sha'im, in. 8 Satan, cix. 6 Shaddai, xci. I Shebhet, n. 9 shedim, cvi. 37 shegal, xlv. 10 sh^men rosh, cxli. 5 s'likhah, cxxx. 4 tal, ex. 3 n. tam, lxiv. 4 teref, cxi. 5 Tefillah, Int. p. xii. re. ; xlii. t'hom, lxxi. 20 tora, 1. 2 'Yahve Elyon, vn. 16 'Yahve (^ebaoth, xx. io zabur, Int. p. xi. re, zarim, Liv. 5 PRINTED BY SPOTTISWOODE AND CO., NEW-STREET SQUARE LONDON BY THE SAME AUTHOR. The PROPHECIES of ISAIAH. Translated, with Critical Notes and Dissertations. 2 vols. 25J. THE BOOK of PSALMS. A New Translation. 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