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THE
PSALMS
TRANSLATED AND EXPLAINED
J. A. ALEXANDER
PROFESSOR IN THE THEOI.OGICAL SEMINARY AT PRINCETON
VOLUME III
NEW YORK
BAKER AND SCRIBNER 145 NASSAU STREET
1850
Kntered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1850, b)'
JOSEPH ADDISON ALEXANDER,
In the Clerk's Office of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersej'.
C. W. BENEDICT,
S t e r e 0 t y p e r.,
•iOl William st.
THE PSALMS.
PSALM CI.
After propouudino; as his theme the mercy and justice of the Lord, V. 1, the Psalmist announces his determination to be blame- less in his own walk, vs. 2 — 4, and so to exercise his power over others as to favour the godly and drive out the wicked, vs. 5 — 8.
1. By David. A Psalm. Mercy and judgment will I sing ; to t/iee, Jehnva/i, will I play (or make music.) As such a declaration of a present purpose in the Psalms is always followed by its exe- cution, the older interpreters suppose mercy and judgment to be those which David meant to practise, as he states more fully in the remainder of the psalm. But besides that he says nothing in what follows of his mercy., there is no usage of the Psalms more settled than that mercy and justice are combined to denote divine not human attributes, and that tn sing and make music to Jehovah never means to praise something else in an address to him, but always to sing praises to himself. See above, Ps. ix. 13 (11.) xiii. 6 (5.) xviii. 50 (49.) xxx. 5 (4.) 13 (12.) xxxiii. 2. Ixviii. 5 (4.) Ixxi. 22, 23, in all which cases the form of expres- sion seems to be derived from Judg. v. 3. But the psalm be- fore us contains no such celebration of God's mercy and justice
6 PSALM CI.
Having declared wbat his own course of life should be, he now describes the conduct which he should require in his confidential servants. Here again the statement is both negative and posi- tive, but in this case beginning with the former. See above, on V. 3. It is not an improbable conji^cture that in specifying slander, David had reference to his sufferings from that cause in the days of Saul. See above, on Ps. xviii. 1. lii. 4 — 7 (2 — 5), and compare Ps. xv. 3. The verb translated slandering occurs, iu any of its forms, only here and Prov. xxx. 10. Wide of heart means neither magnanimous nor greedy, but proud, self-confident, as appears from Prov. xxviii. 25. Both figurative phrases here used are combined again in Prov. xxi. 4. The last verb in the sentence usually means to be able, but is here used absolutely, as in Isai. i. 13.
6. My eyes {are) on the faithful of the land, to dwell with me. (OneJ walking in a "perfect way — he shall serve me. On the faith- ful, literally, in or with them. See above, on Ps. xxxiv. 16, 17 (15, 16), and compare Ps. xxxii. S (7.) My eyes are on them is equivalent to saying, I will seek them out to dwell with me and serve me. The word translated faithful is properly a passive participle meaning trusted, relied upon, confided in. Another passive participle from the same root is commonly supposed to be used in the same sense, Ps. xii. 2 (l.j xxxi. 24 (23.) In the first words of the last clause there is manifest allusion to the form of expression in v. 2 above. This clause is to be understood ex- clusively, such a person and no other. Shall serve me, be em- ployed by me, clothed with responsible and honourable offices.
7. JVot in the inside of my house shall dwell (one) practising fraud, telling lies ; not settled shall he be before my eyes. Here again the form of expression corresponds to that in the first part of the psalm. Compare in the midst of my house with v. 2, and before my eyes with v. 3. Shrill not dwell, or still more strongly.
PSALM CI. 7
shall not (evenj s^V, which is the primary meaning of the Hebrew verb. The corresponding verb in the last clause means to be established, permanently settled, as opposed to a mere tem- porary, transient presence. As if he had said : though they should even gain admission to my house, they shall not take up their abode there.
8. In the morning ivill I destroy all the wicked of the land, (so as) to cut off from the city of Jehovah all workers of iniqxdty. The first phrase literally means at the monii-ngs, and' may be intended to suggest the twofold idea of early and constantly, in the morn- ing and every morning. See above, on Ps. Ixxiii. 14, and com- pare Jer. xxi. 12. The last clause serves to show, or to remind the reader, that this rigour was not simply prudential or po- litical, but religious. It had reference not merely to Jerusalem as a city, but as the city of Jehovah, his earthly residence, the centre of the theocracy, the temporary seat of the true religion. See above, on Ps. xlvi. 5 (4) xlviii. 2 (1.) Ixxxvii. 3. Under the peculiar institutions of the old economy, the safety of the theocratic state required peculiar vigilance and rigour, in exer- cising even those powers which are common to all governments.
PSALM C II.
1 . A Prayer. By a Sufferer, when he is troubled, and before Jehovah pours out his complaint. The psalm is called a prayer because petition constitutes its substance. See above, on Ps. xc. 1. The translation for the sufferer (or afflicted) would also be
8 PSALM CI.
grammatical, and perfectly consistent with the real design of the composition. But phrases of this kind, in the titles of the psalms, so constantly indicate the author or performer, and when only one occurs the former, that a departure from this usage here is highly improbable, and the assumption of it altogether arbi- trary. At the same time, the indefinite expression, a s%ijferer^ or an ajfflictcd person, seems to bo intentionally used for the purpose of giving the psalm an unrestricted application, though the pri- mary reference is no doubt to the suiFering kings of Israel, in whom the sufferings of the people were concentrated and repre- sented. The other terms of the inscription all occur in psalms of David ; troubled ( or overwhelmed) in Ps. Ixi. 3 (2) ; complaint (or moaning) in Ps. Iv. 3 (2.) Ixiv. 2(1); and pouring out the sold in Ps. Ixii. 9 (8.) This agrees with the general Davidic character of the composition, and favours Hengstenberg's hypo- thesis, not otherwise demonstrable, nor even very probable, that this psalm forms the connecting link between the pious resolutions of Ps. 101 and the joyful acknowledgments of Ps. 103, and was composed in prophetic foresight of the straits to which the theo- cratical state should be reduced, and in which the sufferings of David, here immediately described, should, as it were, be realized anew. The psalm may be divided into two parts, in the first of which the tone of lamentation or complaint predominates, vs. 2 — 12 (1 — 11), while in the second it is tempered and controlled by the contemplation of God's attributes, and confident anticipation of his favour, vs. 13—29 (12—28.)
2(1.) Jehovah, hear my prayer, and let my cry (for help) ^oiio thee come. With this verse compare Ps. iv. 2 (1.) xvii. 1. xviii. 7 (6.) liv. 4 (2.) There is no more reason for regarding these resemblances as imitations by a later writer in the case before us than in any of the others. And if not such, they may serve to show, that David only asks, for the future or for others, that favour which he has himself sought and experienced already.
PSALM CII. 9
3 (2.) Hide not thy face from me ; in the day (there is) distress to me, incline to me thine ear ; in the day I call, make haste (and) answer me. Compare Ps. x. 1. xiii. 1. xvii. 6. xviii. 7 (6.) xxvii. 9. xxxi. 3 (2.) Ivi. 10 (9.) Ixvi. 14 (13.) Ixxi. 2. We find here accumulated nearly all the phrases used by David to express the same ideas elsewhere. This is not unnatural if we suppose him to have been preparing a form of complaint and supplication for the use of his successors in their worst distresses.
4 (3.) For wasted in smoke are my days, and my hones like a hurtling are kindled. With the first clause compare Ps. xxxvii. 20. The bones are mentioned as the seat of strength. See above, on Ps. vi. 3 (2.) xxxi. 11 (10.) xxxv. 10. xlii. 11 (10.) This description, although strictly applicable to the case of indi- vidual suiFcrers, may also bo applied to the decline of the theo- cratic monarchy and the approach of its catastrophe.
5 (4.) Smitten like grass and withered is my heart, for I have forgotten to eat my hread. The first verb is used to describe the efiect of the sun on plants, Ps. cxxi. 6. Isai. xlix. 10. (Compare Jon. iv. 7.) The heart is mentioned as the seat of life. The common version of the last clause {so that I forget) is ungram- matical. The failure of the strength is rather described as imme- diately occasioned by the want of food (1 Sam. xxviii. 20), and this by loss of appetite from extreme distress. See below, on Ps. cvii. 18, and compare 1 Sam. i. 7. xx. 34. 1 Kings xxi. 4. For- gotten to eat, literally, forgotten from eating, so as not to eat, a common idiomatic use of the preposition //-oT/i in Hebrew.
6 (5.) From the voice of my groaning, my hone cleaves to my flesh. The word voice implies an audible and loud expression of distress. The first clause means, in consequence of the agony which makes me groan. My bone may signify each of my bones, or be used collectively for the whole skeleton or framework of the
1*
10 PSALM CII.
body. The only natural explanation of this clause is that it describes emaciation, as a consequence and symptom of extreme distress. See above, on Ps. xxii. 15, 18 (14, 17.)
7 (6.) I resemble a pelican of the wilderness ; I am become like an owl (haunting) ruins. The simple idea conveyed by these figures is that of extreme loneliness and desolation. Beyond the fact that they inhabit solitudes, the natural history of the birds mentioned is of no exegetical importance.
8 (7.) I have watched., and hare been like a sparrow dwelling alone upon a house-top. The first words suggest the idea of a soli- tary vigil. As to the word translated sparrow, see above, on Ps. Ixxxiv. 4 (3.) The word dwelling is supplied in the translation of the last clause, in order to retain the form of the original ex- pression, which is that of an active participle. Some suppose the idea to be that of a bird, deprived of its mate or of its young.
9 (8.) All the day my enemies have taunted me; my infuriated (foes) sivear by me. The verb in the first clause suggests the ideas of contempt and hatred, calumny and insult. See above, on Ps. xlii. 11 (10.) The first word of the last clause is a pas- sive participle, my enraged (or maddened) ones, those who are mad (i. e. insane with enmity) against me. The last phrase does not mean swear at me, i. e. vent their rage by oaths and curses, nor are. sworn against me, neither of which is justified by Hebrew usage ; but sivear by vie, i. e. use me as a formula of execration, imprecating upon others misery like mine. Compare Isai. Ixv. 15. Jer. xxix. 22. The preterite forms imply a long previous continuance of this furious persecution, as all the day does its con- stant, unremitted raging.
10 (9.) For ashes like bread have I eaten, and my drink with weeping have mixed. The ashes, in which he sat, or with which
PSALM CI I. 11
he was covered, as a sign of mourning, became mingled with his food, and his tears fell into his drink. This last word is, in He- brew, of the plural number, drinks or beverages, analogous to victuals as a simple synonyme o^ food. As an opposite example of the same idiomatic difference, the word translated ashes is a sin- gular in Hebrew. The whole verse is a strong poetical descrip- tion of constant and extreme distress.
11 (10.) Because of thine indignation and thy wrath; for thou hast taken me up and cast me away. The first clause describes his suffering as the fruit of God's displeasure. See above, on Ps. xc. 7. The antithesis presented in the common version of the last clause (lifted me up and cast me down) does not seem to be the sense of the original, in which there is probably allusion to the figure of a storm or whirlwind catching things up and blowing them away. The Prayer Book version of the first verb (taken me up) is more exact.
12 (ll.j My days (are) like a shadow inclined., and I {myself) like the grass wither. An inclined shadow is an unusual and ob- scure expression, but seems to mean a shadow verging towards its disappearance, ready to vanish away. The double or reflexive pronoun {I myself ) in the translation of the last clause is neces- sary to convey the full force of the Hebrew pronoun, which is sel- dom expressed, except when it is meant to be emphatic / wither., am withering, or about to wither.
13 (12.) And thou, Jehovah, to eternity shall sit, and thy memory (shall endure) to generation and generation. Here again the pronoun is emphatic, and exhibits a stiong contrast between God's eternity and human frailty. While I wither like the grass, thou endurest forever, and not only so, but reignest, sittest on the throne. See above, on Ps. ix. 8 (7.) xxix. 10. Iv. 20 (19.) The word memory seems here to be employed for the sake of the anti-
12 PSALM CII.
thesis which it implies. While I perish and am utterly forgotten, thy existence and thy memory shall last forever. It may, how- ever, have the same sense as in Ps. xxx. 5 (4), namely, the di- vine perfection, associated in our memory with the name of God. Thou shalt not only reign forever, but be worthy, as an infinitely perfect being, so to do.
14 (13.) Thou wilt arise, wilt have mercy upon Zion, when (it is) time to favour her, ivhen the set time is come. The pronoun is again emphatic. Thou, the God thus glorious and immutable, wilt certainly arise from this apparent inaction, and have mercy or com- passion on thy people, when the time fixed in thy eternal purpose is arrived. The sense of iDhc7i, thus given to the Hebrew particle ('lis), although less usual, is sometimes absolutely necessary, and is therefore admissible in this case, where it suits the sense much better than the ordinary sense of for. Or the one may be re- solved into the other, by explaining the whole thus : thou wilt certainly arise and have compassion upon Zion, at the proper time, FOR there is a time fixed at which thou dost design to favour her. For the meaning of the word translated set time, see above, on Ps. kxv. 3 (2.)
15 (14.) When thy servants love her stones, and her dust regard with favour. Both verbs in Hebrew mean to favour, or more strongly, to delight in, to take pleasure in. See above, Ps. Ixii. 5 (4.) Ixxxv. 2 (1.) Stones and dust are here put for ruins or rubbish, as in Neh. iii. 34 (iv. 2.) iv. 4 (10.) The verse may be understood as a condition or a premonition of her restoration, that before it takes place, God will fill his servants with affectionate concern for her desolate condition. The same sense may be ob- tained without departing from the usual sense of the particle. Thou wilt have mercy upon Ziou, voii thy scrvauts already look with interest and strong desire on her ruins, a sure sign of the ap- proaching restoration.
PSALM CII. 13
16 (15.) And nations shall fear the name of Jehovah^ and all kings of the earth thy glorij. The impression of awo, unavoidably produced by these exhibitions of Jehovah's attributes, shall not be limited to Israel but extend to other nations, and even kings shall vie with each other in their reverential admiration of his regal honours. Compare the similar expressions of Isaiah (lix. 19.)
17 (16.) Because Jehovah has built Zion ; he, has been seen in his glory. These are not praeterita prophetica^ describing future events as past ; nor are they to be taken as mere presents, but as denoting a relative past, dependent on the futures of the verse preceding. The nations and their kings are to fear because Je- hovah has built (i. e. will then have built) Zion. Still another construction may seem possible, viz. ' when Jehovah has built Zion, he shall be seen in his glory.' But in this case, Hebrew usage would require the last verb, if not both, to have the future form.
18 (17.) He has turned unto the prayer of the destitute^ and has not despised their prayer. This verse continues to assign the rea- son why the nations and their kings will be struck with awe, viz. because this great and glorious Grod has turned round, as it were, and listened to the prayer of the destitute and granted their peti- tion. The word translated destitute occurs only here and in Jer. xvii. 6 ; but from its etymological affinities and its intensive form, appears to mean stark naked, and then figuratively, stripped of every thing, impoverished, entirely destitute.
19 (IS.) This shall he written for an after generation, and a people (yet to be) created shall praise Jah. This fulfilment of God's promise and illustration of his attributes is left on record for the learning or instruction of posterity. Compare 1 Cor. x. 11. An after generation, as in Ps. xlviii. 14 (13.) Ixxviii. 4. Equivalent in meaning, but abridged in form, is the expression in the passage
14 PSALM CI I.
upon which these are founded, Ps. xxii. 31 (30.) See also Ps. Ixxi. 18. Created may have the force of a gerundive, as the pas- sive particle often has in Hebrevy ; or it may mean (then) created (but not now.) See above, on Ps. xxii. 32 (31.) As the verb (s'l!:) create is applied only to divine acts, its use here seems to indicate that what is meant is not merely a future generation, a race yet to come into existence, but a people in the strict sense, an organized body to be formed hereafter by sovereign authority and almighty power. Shall praise Jah, recognize Jehovah as possessing and as being all that is denoted by his name.
20 (19.) For he has leaned from the high-place of his holiness ; Jehovah from heaven to earth has looked. The first word may also be translated that., and the verse be understood as an ampli- fication of the pronoun this at the beginning of v. 19 (18.) This is what shall be written for a future generation ; this is what they shall praise Jah for ; viz. that he has looked, etc. To avoid the repetition of the English verb, as well as to add life to the de- scription, the Hebrew verb is here represented by what seems to be its primary meaning. See above on Ps. xiv. 2. Ixxxv. 12 (11), and compare Deut. xxvi. 15.
21 (20.) To hear the groaning of the prisoner., to loose the sons of mortality. The construction is continued from the foregoing verse, and the design of God's thus looking down is stated. The word translated groaning is almost peculiar to the psalms of David, and according to its etymology properly denotes suffoca- tion. To loose, literally to open, sometimes applied to the open- ing of a dress for the purpose of removing it, as in Ps. xxx. 12 (11) ; then to the loosening of chains, as in Ps. cxvi. 16 ; then to the deliverance of the prisoner himself. Sons of mortality or death, i. e. those doomed to die. See above, on Ps. Ixxix. 11.
22 (21.) To recount in Zlon the name of Jehovah and his praise
PSALM CI I. 15
ill Jerusalem. This, according to the laws of Hebrew syntax, does not necessarily denote an act of God himself, as the similar construction in the preceding verse does, but may have a vaguer sense equivalent to saying, that his name may be declared in Zlon. To recount God's name is to recount the mighty deeds which constitute it, and the celebration of which constitutes his praise. Zion is still represented as the great scene of Jehovah's triumphs, not however as the capital of Israel or Judah merely, but as the radiating centre of religious light and influence to all the earth.
23 (22.) In t/ie gathering' of peoples together, and kingdoms to serve Jehovah. This verse is necessary to complete and qualify the sense of that before it. God has looked down from heaven to deliver his people and receive their praise, not in their secluded, insulated state, but in their glorious reunion with the converted nations. The first verb is a passive infinitive in Hebrew, in their being gathered. The preposition in relates both to the time and to the act of convocation. To serve Jehovah, not only as a King, but as a God, to be both his subject and his worshipper. Com- pare Ps. ii. 11.
24 (23.) lie has humbled in the ivay his strength ; he has shortened my days. The Psalmist here resumes the tone of complaint, but only for a moment, and as an introduction to what follows. Humbled, weakened, or aflSicted. In or by the way of his providential guidance, as distinguished from the glorious end to which it led. His strength and my days seem clearly to refer to the same person. To avoid this harsh enallage, the maso- retic critics changed a single letter, and for (iH3) his strength read ("^ri^) my strength, which, though adopted in most versions, is an obvious evasion of a supposed difficulty. With the last clause compare Ps. Ixxxix. 46 (45.) See also Ps. Iv. 24 (23.)
25 (24.) / will say. Oh my God, take me not up in the half
16 PSALM CII.
of my days ; through generation of generations (are) thy years. Take 7ip, cause to ascend, i. e. as some suppose, like smoke, winch is very forced and far-fetched. Others make it simply mean to take away, which gives a good sense, but is not sufficiently sustained by usage. Better than either is the supposition that death or removal out of life is here described by a figure corre- sponding to the actual departure of Enoch and Elijah. See Gren. V. 24. 2 Kings ii. 1, 3, 5, 10, 11. In the half (or midst) of my days ; see above, on Ps. Iv. 24 (23), and compare Isai. xxxviii. 10. Generation of generations ^ i. e. all generations, as in Ps. Ixsii. 5. Isai. li. 8. He prays that God, whose years are endless, would not, as it were, grudge the few days granted to his creatures. See above, on Ps. xxxix. 6 (5.)
26 (25.) At first thou the earth didst found^ and the work of thy hands (are) the heavens. The phrase at the beginning means originally to the face, and then before, as an adverb both of time and place ; but this would be ambiguous here, since it might be understood as a conjunction, before thou didst found the earth, expressing the same idea as in Ps. xc. 2. It here means long ago, of old, in the beginning. With the last clause compare Ps. viii. 4 (3.) xix. 2 (1.) xxxiii. 6. God's crea- tive power is here added to his eternity, in order to enhance the contrast between his infinity and man's littleness, as a reason for compassion to the latter.
27 (26.) They shall perish and tho^b shall stand, and all of them like a garment shall icear out, like a dress sJudt thou change them ami they shall change. The contrast is brought out as pointedly as possible in Hebrew, by the insertion of the pronouns they and thou, neither of which is grammatically necessary to the expres- sion of the meaning. Stand, stand fast, endure, remain, continue. All of them, without exception, even the noblest of God's works, shall at least lose their present form, and in that sense perish, a
PSALM CII. 17
sense wliicli may bo still more readily put upon the parallel verb pass mvay or change. The twofold usage of tbe English verb, as active and neuter, or transitive and intransitive, makes it an appropriate representative of the primitive and derivative forms of the Hebrew verb (^bt]). The corresponding verb, in the second member of the sentence, means not only to ^vax old, but, as the necessary consequence, to wear out. See above on Ps. xxxii. 3, and compare Ps. xlix. 15 (14.)
28 (27.) And Thou {art) He — and thy years shall not be finished. The construction of the first clause is disputed. Some read it, Thov, thyself and thy years shall not end. Others, Tho^l, art the same, giving s^iirt the same sense with the Greek o «i'r6f, which is actually used here to translate it in the Septuagint. In favour of the version first above given, is its agreement with the usage of the Hebrew words, with the analogy of Deut. xxxii. 39 and Isai. xliii. 10, and with the context here. The meaning then is. Thou art the Unchangeable One just described. Or, it is Thou, and nothing else, that shall thus endure. Be finished, spent, consumed, as the Hebrew word invariably means. What is elsewhere literally said of the violent destruction of human life is here transferred to the lapse of time.
29 (28.) The sons of t-hy servants shall abide, and their seed before thee shall be established. This might also be translated as a prayer, let the sons of thy servants continue, which is really included even in the prediction. Before thee, as in Gen. xvii. 1. Ps. Ixxxix. 37 (36.) Be established, as in Ps. Ixxxix. 38 (37.) ci. 7. With this conclusion of the whole psalm compare Ps. Ixix. 36, 37 (35, 36.) xc 16, 17.
18 PSALM cm,
PSALM CIII.
The Psalmist calls upon himself to praise God for personal favours already experienced, vs. 1-5. From these he rises, in the body of the psalm, to the contemplation of God's attributes, in themselves considered, and as manifested in his dealings with his people, vs. 6—19. He concludes as he began, with an exhort- ation to bless God, no longer addressed merely to himself, but to all creatures, vs. 20-22. According to the exegetical hypothesis already mentioned, this is the song of mercy and judgment pro- mised in Ps. ci. 1. The arguments in fovour of this theory have been already stated. The principal objection to it, and that by no means a conclusive one, is the want of unison and even con- cord, as to tone and spirit, between the psalm before us and the two preceding it. Be this as it may, the psalm before us is a complete and finished composition, being one of the most simple and yet regular in structure that the book contains. This has contributed, with other obvious peculiarities, to make it a favourite vehicle of thankful praise among the pious of all ages.
1. By David. Bless, oh my soul, Jehovah, and all 7vithin me (bless) his holy name! The attempts which have be<?n made by modern critics to discredit the inscription in the first clause chiefly consist in representing the many imitations and allusions to this noble composition in the later scriptures as a cento of citations from those scriptures by the writer of the psalm itself, a prepos- terous inversion of the laws of evidence to which the neological
PSALM cm. 19
critics are especially addicted, and by which any thing and every thing can be disproved or proved at pleasure. Bless, when ap- plied to God, means to praise, but with a strong implication of devout affection. By calling on his soul to do this, he acknow- ledges his own obligation, not only to praise God, but to praise him cordially, with all the heart, according to the solemn requisi- tion of the Law (Deut. vi. 5), to which there is perhaps a refer- ence in all such cases.. See above, on Ps. iii. 3 (2.) The pa- rallel expression, all tvithin me, is the plural form of one repeat- edly used elsewhere and denoting the inside of any thing, and more especially of man, his mind or heart, as distinguished from his mere professions or external acts. See above, on Ps. v. 10 (9.) xlix. 12 (11.) The literal translation of the form here used is my insides or inner 'parts, the strong and comprehensive meaning of the plural being further enhanced by the addition of all, as if to preclude exception and reserve, and comprehend within the scope of the address all the powers and affections. His name of holiness (or holy name), i. e. the revelation of his infinite perfec- tions. See above, on Ps. v. 12 (11.) xxii. 4 (3.)
2. Bless, oh my soul, Jehovah, and forget not all his dealings. The positive exhortation is repeated as a kind of foil to the nega- tive one following, in which there seems to be allusion to the fre- quent admonition in the Law to Lsrael, not to forget the Lord who brought him up out of the land of Egypt. See Deut. vi. 12. viii. 11, 14. The last word in the verse before us is the passive participle of a verb which means to treat, and commonly to treat icell. See above on Ps. vii. 5 {A.) The idea here conveyed is that of treatment, determined by the context to be kind and gra- cious treatment. The latitude of meaning and the plural form are both represented in the English word dealings, which, though susceptible of either application, can, in this connection, only have a good one.
20 PSALM cm.
3. Forgiving all thy guilt, healing all thy sicknesses. The par- ticiples are to be granim:itic:illy construed with Jehovah as the object of the praise required, and as.^^ign a reason for the requisi- tion, furnished by the personal experience of the soul itself. The original expression is still more definite, each participle having the article prefixed, the (one) forgiving^ the (one) healing. See a similar construction carried out still further in Ps. xviii. 33—35 (32-34), 48-51 (47-50.) The last word in the verse is an un- usual one borrowed from Deut. xxix. 21, where sicknesses are joined with plagitcs or strokes, to signify calamities considered as penal inflictions. The same idea is expressed in other words, Kx. xvi. 26. The relation of the clauses, in the verse before us, may be that of cause and effect. Forgiving all thy guUt and thereby removing all the misery occasioned by it.
4. Redeeming from the grave thy life., crowning thee {loith) mercy and compassions. The combination of the article and par- ticiple is the same as in v. 3, the {one) redee?ning, the (one) crown- ing. The continuation of the sentence in this form keeps the attention fixed upon the reasons for which, or the characters in which, the Lord is to be praised. As if he had said. Bless him as the one forgiving thee and healing thee, redeeming thee and crowning thee. Rcdeeviing means delivering, but with a strong implication of cost and risk. For the twofold sense of (r:rid) the word translated grave., see above, on Ps. xvi. 10, and com- pare Ps. XXX. 10 (9.) The peculiar form of the possessive pro- noun, in this verse and the one before it, has been represented as a proof of later date, but really belongs to the dialect of poetry, from which, in all languages, certain expressions are continually pa.ssing into that of common life, so that what in one age is poet- ical is in the next colloquial, and seems therefore to belong to the later period and to show the recent date of any composition in which it occurs. The familiar use of such words as oftentimes., -perchmre., etc. in our own day may thus be used hereafter to prove
PSALM CIII. 21
the writings of our older poots spurious. The figure of crowning, which occurs above in Ps. Ixv. 12 (11), suggests the ideas of dig- nity and beauty, while the absence of merit in the object, and the sovereign frceness of the gift, are indicated by making the crown itself a crown of vicrcy and compassions. The last word in He- brew is expressive of the warmest and tcnderest affections. See above, on Ps. xviii. 2 (1.) xxv. 6. xl. 12 (11.)
5. Filling with good thy soul — [tlicn) is renewed^ like the eagle, thy yoxith. The peculiar construction of the two preceding verses is continued through the first clause of the one before us, and then suddenly abandoned. Filling, the {one) fillings in the sense of satisfying or abundantly supplying, but without the accessory notion of satiety. See above, on Ps Ixxxi. 17 (16.) xci. 16. With good, litei-ally the good^ by way of eminence, the chief good or the real good. T'hy soul is not a litem 1 translation of the He- brew term, which, in every other case where it occurs, means or- nament or decoration. See for example Ps. xxxii. 9 (8.) The translations mouth, life, etc. are gratuitous conjectures from the context. The best explanation is that furnished by the analogous word (niiSO honour, glory, which is sometimes applied to the soul as the nobler part of man. See above, on Ps. xvi. 9. This explanation is confirmed by the frequent combination of the noun soul and the verb to satisfy. See above, Ps. Ixiii. 6 (5), and below, Ps. cvii. 9, and compare Isai. Iviii. 11. It is also sanc- tioned by the ancient versions ; for although the Targum makes it mean old age, a palpable conjecture, the Septuagint and Vul- gate have desire (iirtOv^uluv.^ desiderium), a frequent sense of (a?p5) sold in Hebrew, and Jerome translates it literally, orna- vientum. The word then is introduced into the translation of the second clause, in order to retain the Hebrew collocation, which is not without its emphasis. Is renewed, or retaining the reflexive form of the original, renews itself. The supposed allusion in this clause to a fabulous or real renovation of the eagle in its old age,
22 PSALM CIII.
rests upon a misconception of the language, as the only point of comparison with the eagle is its strength and vigour, as in 2 Sara. 1. 23. Isai. xl. 31, and the whole verse may be paraphrased as follows. ' So completely does his bounty feed thy strength, that even in old age thou growest young again, and soarest like an eagle.'
6. Doing rig/iteo7isnessfis (is) Jc/iovah, and judgments for all oppressed. Thus far the reasons urged for praising God were per- sonal, i. e. derived from individual experience. With these, from the very constitution of our nature, all our grateful exercises must begin. But if genuine they do not stop there, as tJie Psalmist, at this point, ascends from private causes of thanksgiving to more general views of God's administration, as a basis for the universal call with which the psalm concludes. The connection here may thus be stated. ' Such have been the Lord's compassions to my- self, but these are only samples of his goodness. He is not only merciful to me, but to all who are oppressed, and to deliver whom he executes his judgments.' There is no contrast here intended between mercy and justice, with respect to different objects of the Lord's compassion. The meaning is, that man's injustice is re- dressed by God's mercy. The redemption of his people is often represented as coincident wtth the condign punishment of their oppressors. Compare my note on Isai. i. 27. Doing., i e. prac- tising in general, and cxcaUivg in particular cases. The partici- ple {doing) signifies habitual and constant action ; the plural form (righteousnesses) completeness and variety, adapted to all possible emergencies. Judgments, as usual, denotes judicial acts, as dis- tinguished from mere attributes or principles.
7. He makes known his ways to Moses, to the children of Israel his (mighty) deeds. The general statement of the fact in the preceding verse is now followed by the great historical example furnished in Jehovah's dealings with his people. This serves ,
PSALM cm. 23
not only to illustrate what was said before, but to show that it was not a mere vague declaration of what God will do to all men, but a definite assertion of his purpose and his practice with re- spect to his own people. All the oppressed^ to whom he grants or promises deliverance, are not mankind in general, without dis- tinction or exception, but his own people when in that condition. The first clause contains an obvious allu.sion to the prayer of* Moses, as recorded by himself, Ex. xxxiii. 1.3, from which pas- sage it appears, that the ways of God, which he desired to know, were his modes of dealing with his people, or the course of his dispensations towards them. See above, on Ps. xxv. 4. Ixvii. 3 (2.) The knowledge thus imparted was experimental or af- forded by experience. The parallelism between Moses and the Children of Israel shows that the latter were represented by the former. The last Hebrew word is one constantly applied to God's exploits or mighty deeds in behalf of Israel. See above, on Ps. ix. 12 (11.) Ixxviii. 11.
8. Compassionate and gracious (is) Jehovah^ sloto to anger, and rich in mercy. See above, on Ps. Ixxvii. 10 (9.) Ixxviii. 38. Ixxxvi. 15, in all which cases, as in this, the terms of the de- scription are borrowed from Ex. xxxiv. 6. There is here an evident progression in the thought. Not only is God good to me, but to all his people in distress ; not only did he prove this to Moses and to Israel by saving them from Pharoah and their other enemies, but by bearing with their own offences. The previous context might have seemed to concede innocence, if not merit, to God's people, as the object of his kind regard ; but they are here exhibited as sinners, needing his forbearance and forgiveness.
9. ISFot to perpetuity will he strive, and not to eternity retain (his anger, j This of course implies that he is sometimes angry, even with his people, and sometimes strives in opposition to their strivings against him. But as he is always in the right, and they
24 PSALM CI II.
arc always in the wrong, it is a signal proof of the divine com- passion, that he docs not strive and is not wroth forever. The first clause is closely copied by Isaiah (Ivii. 10.) The second is itself derived from Ley. xix. IS, where we find a verb meaning to retain or reserve used absolutely in the sense of harbouring a grudge or cherishing a secret spite. This remarkable form of expression is copied in the case before us and in Nah. i. 2. Jer. iii. 5, 12. The original passage is a prohibition, in obeying which the Lord, as it were, here sets his people an example. Compare Matt. V. 48. 1 Cor. xi. L Eph. v. 1.
10. Not according to our sins has he done to us, and not ac- cording to onr iniquities has he dealt with us. That the people stood in need of the divine forbearance, is now still more dis- tinctly intimated. The last verb is the one of which the participle occurs in v. 2, and might here be rendered, with still closer ad- herence to the strict sense of the Hebrew preposition, has he be- stowed upon ^ls. See the same construction in the Hebrew of Ps. xiii. 6. cxvi. 7. cxlii. S (7.) The past tense has reference to the previous history of Israel as a nation, but involves the state- ment of a general truth. At the end of the verse, we may sup- pose it to be tacitly added : as he might have done, not only in strict justice, but in execution of his express threatening. Lev. xxvi. 21.
11, For as the heavens are high above the earth, mighty is his mercy above those that fear him. The Hebrew preposition is the same in both clauses, and cannot be varied in translation without weakening the sentence. In the last clause it suggests the ideas of descent from above, superior power, and protection, in ad- dition to that of mere relation or direction, which is all that is conveyed by the translation to or towards. The force of the original is likewise impaired by substituting great for strong or mighty. The idea meant to be conveyed is not that of mere
PSALM cm. 25
extent but of efficiency. The literal meaning of the first words is, like the height of the heavens, or like their being high. His fearers, or those fearing him, is a common description of the righteous or God's people, who arc more particularly character- ized in V. 18.
12. As far as the cast is frojn the icest, he hath put far from lis our transgressions. The form of expression at the beginning is the same as in v. 11, like the distance of the east, or like its being far. The Hebrew words for east and west, according to their etymology, denote the place of sunrise and the place of evening. Put far from ?<s, as no longer having anything to do with us, a figure which suggests the idea both of pardon and renewal, justifi- cation and sanctification,
13. As a father has compassion on (his) children, Jehovah has compassion on his fearers. The compound phrase, has compassion, is here substituted for the simple verb pity, in order to retain the preposition on, which follows it in Hebrew, and also because the plural form compassions was necessarily employed in v. 4 to trans- late the cognate noun. The Hebrew verb is peculiarly appropri- ate in speaking of parental love. See above, on Ps. xviii. 2 (1.) The preterite forms represent the fact alleged as one already known and well attested by experience.
14. For he knows our frame, mindful that dust {are) we. The fragility of man is here again assigned as a ground of the divine compassion. See above, on Ps. Ixxviii. 39. Ixxxix. 48 (47.) Frame, formation, constitution, or as we say familiarly in Eng- lish, our make, our build. The Hebrew noun is derived from the verb used in Ps. xciv. 9, and may therefore be intended to suggest the same idea that is there expressed. He who formed us knows of course how we are formed. The same noun is applied to the moral constitution. Gen. vi. 5, viii. 21, Deut. xxxi. 21. The word
VOL. HI. 2
26 PSALM cm.
translated mindful is, in form, a passive participle, (l^^T) meaning remembered^ but equivalent in use to the active, rememherivg^ or the verbal adjective mindful^ ju8t as the like form (ncs) trusted is equivalent to trusting^ Ps. cxii. 7, the English rejoiced to re- joicing, etc. We are dust, i. e. made of it, and tending to it. Compare Gen. ii. 7, iii. 19, Ps. xc 3.
15. (As for) man, his days {are) like the grass ; like the blossom of the field, so he blossoms. As the preceding verse expresses the fragility of man by referring to his origin and end, so this verse does the same by a familiar but beautiful comparison, borrowed from Ps. xc. 6, and repeated in Isai. xl. 6 — S. Job xiv. 2. The very name here given to the race is one denoting frailty and in- firmity. See above, on Ps. viii. 5 (4.)
16. For a breath passes over him and he is not, and no more shall his place know him. The pronouns may, with equal gram- matical correctness, be referred to the grass and rendered it, its. The primary meaning of the first noun (breath) is, in this con- nection, stronger than the secondary (wind.) The wind may be a whirlwind ; but to say that a mere breath is sufficient to de- stroy one is the strongest possible expression of fragility. That the wind is called the breath of God, as the thunder is his voice, is a striking and poetical but needless supposition. He is not or no more, there is none of him, no such thing or person. See above, on Ps. xxxvii. 10. With the first clause compare Isai. xl. 7 ; with the second. Job vii. 10. The last verb means to recognize or know again, as in Ps. cxlii. 5 (4), and the whole clause, that death makes men strangers to the objects with which they have been most familiar.
17. And the mercy of Jehovah (is) from eternity even to eternity upon those fearing him, and his righteousness to children's children. Having carried the description of man's frailty to the
PSALM CIII. 27
furthest point, the Psahnist suddenly contrasts with it God's everlasting mercy. The use of the simple copulative and^ in such a marked antithesis, where but might to us seem indispens- able, is one of the most striking and familiar Hebrew idioms. Upon ihrnc fearing him suggests the idea of a gift from above. To children'' s children simply means given (or belonging J to them. Unless we make the last clause a threatening of hereditary vengeance to the wicked, his righteousness can only mean his rectitude, including his veracity and faithfulness in exercising covenanted mercy. Childrenh children, literally, sons of soiis.
18. To the keepers of his covenant, and to the rtmemherers of his laws, to do them. This is the necessary qualification of a pro- mise which might otherwise have seemed too absolute. Even to the descendants of those fearing him the promise availed nothing, unless they themselves were faithful to his covenant and obedient to his law. The last words (to do them) show that the remem- brance of the law required was not merely intellectual but practi- cal and tending to obedience.
19. Jehovah in the heavens has fixed kis throne, and his king- dom over all rules. Not only is he infinitely merciful and faith- ful, but a universal and almighty sovereign, no less able than willing to fulfil his promises and execute his purposes of mercy. The word translated fixed, like its English representative, sug- gests the two ideas of preparing and establishing. The same combination with throne occurs above, Ps. ix. 8 (7.) See also Ps. xi. 4. xlvii. 9 (8.) Over all ; the original expression is still stronger, over the whole, the universe, to nav. The same phrase is applied to the entire human race, Ps. xiv. 3. The past tense of the last verb represents this unlimited dominion as already established or revealed. The future would have made its ulterior continuance the prominent idea.
28 PSALM CIII.
20. Bless Jehovah^ ye his angels, mighty in strength, doing his word, (so as) to listen to the voice of his word. Having finished his assertion of God's claims to universal praise, the Psalmist resumes the tone of exhortation with which he began. His appeal, however, is no longer to his own soul, but to the hosts of heaven, the noblest of God's creatures, the highest order of finite intel- ligences. Mighty in strength, more exactly, mighty (ones) of strength, or, as the first word is applied as a substantive to warriors or conquerors, heroes of strength or mighty heroes. See above, on Ps. xxiv. 8. Ixxviii. 25. The construction in the last clause is obscure. The infinitive may here have the force of a gerund, aiidicndo, auscultando, by listening to the voice of his word, or, as in Ps. Ixxviii. IS, it may denote the extent or the effect of their obedience, so as to hearken, or so that they hearken, i. e. listen for the faintest intimation of his will. The expression hearken to his voice, as thus applied, is a Mosaic one. See Deut. xxvi. 17. XXX. 20.
21. Bless Jehovah, ye his hosts, his ministers, the doers of his will. As the word hosts is applied both to the angels and the heavenly bodies (see above, on Ps. xxiv. 10), some interpreters, in order to relieve this verse of a tautology, suppose it to relate to the heavenly hosts in one sense, as the preceding verse does in another. In the same way they account for the change of ex- pression in the last clause. Only intelligent creatures can be literally said to listen for God's word and to obey it ; but even the inanimate creation may be said, without a metaphor, to exe- cute his will. This last phrase occurs also in Ps. xl. 9 (8.)
22. Bless ye Jehovah, all his works, in all places of his realm ; bless thou, oh my soul, Jehovah ! The angels and heavenly bodies, with men and every other creature, are now summed up in the comprehensive phrase, a// his works, i. e. all that he has made, all creatures, and invited to bless God, which invitation the
PSALM CIV. 29
Psalmist then addresses once more to himself, and thus, by a beautiful transition, brings us back to the point from which we started.
PSALM CIV.
>Ye have here another of those psalms, in which the hopes of God's people are excited and their faith strengthened by a view of the authority and providential care which he exercises over the creation. The sum of the whole psalm is contained in the first verse, and its application indicated in the last. Here, as in Ps. viii, xix, xxix, Ixv, the description of God's glory, as exhibited in nature, is entirely subservient to a moral and religious purpose, and the psalm is therefore fully entitled to a place in the collec- tion, and adapted to the permanent use of the church. The ar- rangement of the psalm is founded on the history of the creation, but with .such variations as were suited to the writer's purpose. After a general statement of this purpose, v. 1, the Psalmist traces the creative and providential agency of God in the works of the first and second day, vs. 2 — 5, then in that of the third, vs. 6 — IS, then in that of the fourth, vs. 19 — -23^ then in that of the fifth, vs. 24 — 26, with an allusion to the rest of the seventh day in V. 31. The psalm closes with a summary statement of the de- pendence of all living creatures upon God's care and bounty, vs. 27 — 32, a resolution to glorify him accordingly, vs. 33 — 34, and a pregnant inference, that they who are under such protection have nothing to fear from human enemies, v. 35. According to Hengstenberg, this and the two next psalms compose a trilogy,
30 PSALM CIV.
added to the Davidic one immediately preceding (Ps. ci — ciii) about the time of the Babylonish exile. This hypothesis, he thinks, accounts for the occurrence of Davidic psalms in this part of the Psalter, which would otherwise have found their place among the Psalms of David in the first division of the book. But having been made the basis or the nucleus of later compo- sitions, they were naturally placed with these iu their proper chronological position.
1. Bless, ok my soul, Jehovah ! Oh Jehovah, my God, thoxL art great exceedingly ; honour and majesty hast thou put on. The resemblance of the first clause to Ps. ciii. 1 shows the designed con- nection of the two psalms. The remainder of the verse is a kind of response to this invocation, and contains, as it were, the words in which his soul does actually bless God. At the same time it ex- hibits in advance the sum and substance of the whole composition, the design of which is to describe the glories of creation and providence as the royal robe of the divine sovereign. Compare Ps. xlv. 4 (3.) xciii. 1. xcvi. 6. Job xl. 10. Isai. li. 9.
2. Weari7ig light like a robe, spreading heaven like a curtain. In carrying out the idea summarily stated in the first verse, he begins where the cosmogony in Genesis begins, with the light and the firmament, not the act of their creation, but their use, as the Creator's robe and curtain. It follows of course that light and heaven must be taken in their popular and ordinary sense, and not as denoting the heaven of heavens and the light inaccessible in which he is elsewhere represented as dwelling. The definite forms of the original, the robe, the curtain, as contrasted with the vaguer forms, light, heaven, may be intended to suggest the idea of the robe and curtain known and used in common life, which man puts on and stretches out with perfect ease, but not more easily than God puts on the light and stretches out the sky. Compare Gen i. 6. Isai. xl. 22. Job. ix. 8.
PSALM CIV. 31
3. Framing loith wafer his halls ; making clouds his convey- ance ; moving on icings of the wind. The first word means laying beams or rafters. The next phrase may either mean in or with water. The first is more obvious, the hist more strikin"-, as it represents a solid building, made of a liquid or fluid ma- terial. In the other case the waters meant are those above the firmament. See Gen. i. 6, 7. Ps. xviii. 12 (llj, where the clouds and the wings of" the wind are also mentioned in the same con- nection. The word translated halls denotes the highest room of an oriental house, which is frequently the largest. Hence the f.-equent mention, in the New Testament, of the ^inegGov as a place of assembly. Making., literally, setting, placing. Chariot is too specific a translation of the Hebrew word, which means anything on which a person rides. The preposterous figure of- icalking on wings belongs entirely to the versions, ancient and modern. The Hebrew word, though often so applied, is a generic one, denoting all progressive movement, and nearly equivalent to our word going., which is not so agreeable, however, in this place, to English usage, as the more general and poetical term moving. See above, on Ps. xviii. 11 (10.)
4. Making his angels winds., his ministers flaming fire. Ac- cording to the simplest and most obvious construction of this verse, it can only mean that Grod makes his angels or ministerino- spiiits swift and ardent in his service. But such a statement would be wholly out of place in a psalm, the rest of which relates exclusively to the material creation. The best interpreters are therefore of opinion that angels and ministers are predicates not subjects, or in other words, that the idea meant to be conveyed is, that he makes the winds his messengers or angels, and the flam- ing fire his minister or servant. This agrees exactly with the previous djolaration that he makes the clouds his chariot or con- veyance, and moves upon the wings of the wind. It may seem, however, to be inconsistent with the use made of the passage in
32 PSALM CIV.
Heb. 1. 7, as a proof that the angels are inferior to the Son of God. But how could this inferiority be proved by the fact that the angels are spirits, or even wind and fire ? The latter cannot be literally true, and if metaphorical, can only mean that they are swift and ardent in God's service, which they might be and yet equal to the Son in nature, who, considered as a messenger or agent of the Father, exhibits precisely the same qualities. The truth is that the passage, as thus understood, is perfectly irrelevant and useless to the argument, and therefore that this mode of explaining it is not entitled to the preference, what- ever difficulties may attend the other. Let it be observed, too, that the Septuagint version, which is quoted in Heb. i. 7, is an exact transcript of the Hebrew, both as to the sense and colloca- tion of the words, so that if the original admits of a different con- struction, it may be extended to the version likewise. The most satisfactory conclusion is, that the words are not quoted as an argument or proof of the inferiority of angels, but merely as a striking yet familiar form of words in which to clothe the writer's own idea, which is this, that angels are mere messengers and ministers, and as such may be classed with the material agencies which God employs in esocution of his purpose. The wind and the lightning are God's angels and his ministers, and are ex- pressly so described in the Old Testament ; but they are never called bis sons, much less addressed directly as the sovereign, eternal, righteous, ever-blessed God. Nor are the ministering spirits, who share with these material agencies the character of messengers and servants, ever so described or so addressed. By thus supplying the suppressed links of the chain of argument, the verse before us, in the only sense of which the context really ad- mits, will be found not only as appropriate as the other to the purpose for which it is quoted in the New Testament, but incom- parably more so.
5. He founded the tarth on its bases ; it shall not be moved for-
PSALM CIV. 33
ever and ever. The idea of bases is rather suggested by the con- text, and especially the verb founded^ than expressed by the Hebrew noun itself, which properly means places^ or more specifi- cally, fixed and settled places. See above, on Ps. Ixxxix. 15 (14.) xcvii. 2, and with the whole verse compare Ps. Ixxviii. 69. Ixxxix. 12 (11.) cii. 26 (25.;
6. [With) the deep., like a garment., thou didst cover it ; above the mountains stand the waters. Next in importance to the separ- ation of the land and water in the beginning (Gen. i. 9, 10), was the temporary confounding of the two in the universal deluge fGen. vii. 19, 20), which the Psalmist therefore here con- nects with the creation, as equally demonstrative of almighty power, and also for the purpose of founding on this seeming vio- lation of the promise in the last clause of v. 5, a still more solemn repetition of it. The grammatical objection that the pronoun in the phrase didst cover it is masculine, and cannot therefore refer to earth which is feminine, is easily removed by a reference to the general license of the Hebrew syntax with re- spect to genders, and the idiomatic tendency to use the mascu- line, not as a distinctive but as a generic form, in cases where the subject is sufficiently indicated by the context. There are more- over several clear examples of the masculine construction of this very noun (f '!!'*) besides those in which earth or land is put for its inhabitants. See e. g. Gen. xiii. 6. Isai. ix. IS. The allu- sion in the last clause to Gen. vii. 19, 20, is too plain to be mis- taken.
7. At thy rebuke they flee., at the voice of thy thunder they hasten away. The same power that produced the deluge put an end to it. The verbs agree with waters in v. 6. The divine command that they should cease or disappear is poetically spoken of as a rebuke. See above, on Ps. xviii. 16 (15.) Ixxvi. 7 (6), and com- pare Isai. 1. 2. The Hebrew particle means />o?«, denoting both
34 PSALM CIV.
the time and cause of the effect described. The last verb is a passive meaning strictly to bq panic-struck, or to flee in conse- quence of being panic-struck. See above, on Ps. xxxi. 23 (22.) xlviii. 6 (5.) The voice of thy thunder may be literally under- stood to mean the sound of thunder, or, according to a well-known Hebrew idiom, thy voice of thunder, or thy thundering voice.
8. They go up mountains, they go doivn valleys, to this place thou hast founded for them. The first clause is a beautiful de- scription of the fluctuations which attend the subsidence of swollen waters, not only in the case of Noah's flood (Gen. viii. 4 — 5) to which the words relate in the first instance, but in all other cases, where the same rule still holds good, so that the verse, by an insensible transition, founds the statement of a gen- eral truth on that of a particular event. The use of the de- monstrative {this) is highly idiomatic. The original construc- tion is, to a place, this {which) thou hast founded for them. This form of expression is equivalent to pointing with the hand, and therefore adds not a little to the graphic vividness of the descrip- tion.
9. A hound thou didst set, they shall not pass over, they shall not return to cover the earth. This grand exception to the law which governs the relations between land and water is the only one to be permitted or expected. The limits broken were re- newed with an assurance that henceforth they should be inviol- able. See G-en. ix. 15. Besides the immediate reference to the flood, the verse contains the Btatement of a general fact in the economy of nature, and thus furnishes a natural transition to the similar statements of the next verse.
10. Sertding springs into the valleys ; hetrceen hills they go. The participial construction, interrupted by the parenthetical ac- count of the flood, is here resumed, the participle, like the others,
PSALM CIV. 35
agreeing directly with Jehovah understood, as the {one) sending^ which is the precise form of the original. See above, on Ps. ciii. 3 — 6. Springs or fonnfains, not in the restricted sense, but comprehendin2; both the source and stream, as in Joel iv. 18 (iii. 18.) The word translated vnlleps is restricted in usage to such as have streams flowing through them. The last word is the one translated icalleth by the English Bible in v. 3 above, but here rnn^ although loalk is given in the margin, as a more pre- cise and literal translation, while Jerome inserts it in his text, ut inter medios montes amhulent.
11. They water every beast of the field ; (at them) wild asses quench their thirst. The subject of the first verb is still the waters. The vorb itself means to water, in the sense of giving drink to animals, though sometimes metaphorically applied to irrigation. See Gen. ii. 10. The form of the parallelism in this verse is peculiar, although not uncommon in Hebrew poetry, the last clause containing a specification of the general statement in the first. What is first said of animals, or wild ones in the gen- eral, is then said of the wild ass in particular. Quench, literally, break, i. e. subdue, assuage. A derivative noun is applied in Hebrew to corn or grain, as that which breaks or assuages hunger, although most interpreters and lexicographers suppose a reference to the literal breaking or grinding of the corn itself.
12. Above them the birds of heaven dwell, from between the branches they give voice. The poetical character of the compo- sition is in nothing more obvious than in these minute strokes of exquisite painting, superadded to the more essential parts of the description. At the same time, these are not to be regarded as mere lavish or gratuitous embellishments, since the Psalmist's purpose is to celebrate God's wonderful and bountiful provision for his living creatures, and the running brooks would fail to an- swer one of their most valuable ends^ if there were no birds to ^tVe
36 PSALM CIV.
voice or sing among the branches of the overhanging trees. The word translated birds is a collective answering to the old English fowl, not as used in the version of this psalm, where it is plural, but in that of Gen. i. 20, 22, 26, 28. That passage furnishe-s an explanation of the phrase fowl (or birds) of heaven, in the fuller description (Gen i. 20), fowl that may fly above the earth in the Of en firmament of heaven, i. e. through the air, across the face of the expanse or visible heaven.
13. Watering mountains from his upper rooms — from the fruit of thy icorks is the earth filled. He still returns to God as the author of these merciful provisions, and represents him, by a beautiful figure, as pouring this abundant supply of water from his upper rooms, the same word that was rendered halls in v. 3 ; but here the connection seems to require that its precise etymo- logical import should be prominent. The fruit of thy works, the result or product of thy creative energy. Filled, not in the sense of being occupied, which would require a different Hebrew verb, but in that of being abundantly supplied or saturated. See above, on Ps. ciii. 6. The sudden apostrophe to God himself enhances the poetical effect.
14. Causing grass to grow for the cattle and herb for the culture of man, (so as) to bring forth bread from the earth. In this ver§e there is a transition from God's care of the inferior ani- mals to his care of man. The word translated herb denotes any green plant or vegetable, and is here applied to such as constitute or furnish human food. The common version of the next words, for the service of vian, can only mean for his benefit or use, a sense not belonging to the Hebrew word, which, as well as its verbal root, is applied to man's servitude or bondage as a tiller of the ground (Gen. iii. 17 — 19), and has here the sense of husbandry or cultivation, as in Ex. i. 14. Lev. xxv. 39, it has that of com-
PSALM CIV. 37
pulsory or servile labour. The infinitive in the last clause indi- cates the object for which labour is imposed on man.
15. And wine gladdens the heart of man — (so as) to viake his face shine more than oil — and bread the heart of man sustains. The general expression at the end of v. 14 is now rendered more specific by distinctly mentioning the great staples of production and subsistence in the Holy Land. The only doubt is whether two or three are mentioned. The text of the English Bible makes oil a distinct item in the catalogue, and oil to make his face to shine. But this is an impossible construction of the Hebrew, in which the infinitive {to make shine) bears the same relation to what goes before as the infinitive {to bring forth) in the verse pre- ceding, and is therefore expressive not of a distinct cause and effect, but of a consequence resulting from the one just men- tioned. The true construction is given in the margin of the English Bible, to make his face shine unth oil., or 7nore than oil. To the first of these alternative translations it may be objected that wine canaot make men's faces shine with oil, unless there is allusion to the festive unctions of the ancients, which however were restricted to the head. The other, therefore, seems to be the true sense, in which oil is merely mentioned as a shining sub- stance. The description of food as sustaining the heart is very ancient. See Gen. xviii. 5. Judg. xix. 8.
16. Full are the trees of Jehovah; the cedars of Lebanon which he planted. Full, i. e. abundantly supplied, saturated as in v. 13. The English versions supply sap ; but the idea suggested by the context is the more general one of moisture, irrigation. The mutual relation of the clauses is the same as in v. 11. What is first said of trees, or of the noblest trees, in general, is then said of the cedars in particular. The trees of Jehovah, like the cedars of God in Ps. Ixxx. 11 (10), are those which he has planted (Num. xxiv. 6), those which, by their loftiness or fruitfulness or
38 PSALM CIV.
beauty, bear the strongest impress of their Maker's hand. The cedars of Lebanon are often mentioned as the noblest and most famous of their kind. See above, on Ps. xxix. 5. xcii. 13 (12.)
17. Where the {small) birds nestle; {as to) the stork, the cypresses {are) her house. He again recurs to the provision made for birds, which is here connected with the trees, as it is in v. 12. The word translated birds is not the one there used, but the same with that in Ps. Ixxxiv. 4 (3.) cii. 7, where it is commonly trans- lated sjparroio, though supposed to be a general term for small birds, so called from their chirping, twittering noise. Here it may represent the smaller and the stork the larger class of birds. The Hebrew name of the stork means mercifid or pious, and is supposed to have reference to the natural kindness of that bird, both to its parents and its youug. Nestle or build their nests. The choice between the old translation, _^r-^rees, and the new one, cypresses, is exegetically unimportant.
18. Mountains, the high {ones), are for the wild-goats — rocks {are) a refuge for the conies. The idea seems to be, that even the wildest situations, and the most inaccessible to man, afford shelter and subsistence to some form of life, and are therefore proofs of the divine benevolence and wisdom. Of the names of animals here mentioned, the first occurs also in the book of Job (xxxix. 1) ; the second in the lists of unclean beasts, Lev. xi. 5. Deut. xiv. 7 ; and both in the writings of Solomon, Prov. v. 19. XXX. 26. Of the second, various explanations have been given, but none of them more probable than that derived from the rab- binical tradition. Nor is the question of the slightest exegetical importance, since the only peculiarities involved are those sug- gested by the text itself, to wit, that the animals intended must be such as inhabit rocks and mountains. Some supply a refuge in the first clause from the second ; but a better sense is yielded by the simpler construction, they belong to (or are intended for) the loild
PSALM CIV. 39
goats, which agi-ees exactly with the drift of the whole psalm to show that all parts of the inanimate creation contribute something to the comfort of the living sentient creature.
19. He made the moon for seaso7is; the sun hnoios his setting. Even the heavenly bodies have a reference to man's advantage. The moon is a measure of time, and the sun defines the period of active labor. The word translated seasons is the plural of the one translated set time in Ps. Ixxv. 3 (2.) cii. 14, and the same that means assemblies in Ps. Ixxiv. 4, 8. It is here put for all divi- sions of time, including the succession of day and night, to which there is perhaps a special reference, as in the other clause, where the meaning seems to be, that the sun knows when and where to set, and does not make the day, with its attendant toils, perpetual. This is a strong poetical description of an obvious and familiar fact, and no more presupposes a particular theory or system of astronomy than the similar language of uninspired poets among ourselves.
20. Tho% malicst darkness and it is night ; in it begins to move every beast of the forest. The first verb in Hebrew means to set or place, but is used precisely as a word of the same meaning is in v. 3. Its abbreviated form does not indicate an optative meaning, but is substituted for the full form by poetic license. It is night, or night is, night begins to be. The same inceptive meaning is expressed in the translation of the third verb, which denotes animal motion, but is specially applied to that of reptiles. The idea of a secret, stealthy motion, as suggested by the com- mon version {do creep forth), can hardly be intended, as the con- text shows the main idea of the passage to be this, that as the day affords a time for active motion to mankind and to domestic animals, the night affords a like time for the wilder beasts, or leasts of the forest^ an expression which occurs above, iu Ps. 1. 10.
40 PSALM CIV.
21. The young lions roaring for the prey^ and to seek from God their food. By translating the participle and infinitive both as presents, the common version makes this a distinct propo- sition. But in Hebrew it forms part of the preceding sentence, and contains a specification of the general statement there made. When night comes on, all the beasts of the forest are aroused, and among the rest the lion, roaring for his prey, (is roused) to seek his food from God. This last expression implies no such purpose on the lion's part, but merely that he seeks what can only be bestowed by an almighty being, which idea is suggested by the name of God here used.
22. The sun rises — they are gathered — and in their dens lie down. The first clause may also be translated, let the sun rise, they are gathered, or paraphrased in more accordance with our idiom, when the su,7i rises they are gathered ; but neither of these con- structions is so striking and poetical as the exact version first above given. Gathered, i. e. called in from their wanderings and dispei'sions. The word translated dens means abodes or homes, and is a cognate form to that in Ps. xc. 1 ; but the form here used is specially applied to the lairs or resting places of wild beasts, not only here but in Am. iii. 4. The last verb is also one appropriated to the lying down of animals. See above, on Ps. xxiii. 2. The construction is a pregnant one : t/iey lie down to (or into) their dens, i. e. go into them and lie down.
23. Forth goes man to his work, and to his lalour until evening. This verse presents the day-scene corresponding to the night- scene of the two preceding verses. When night comes on, the beasts of the forest are in motion ; when the sun appears, they gather to their lairs, and man comes forth to labour until evening, when the scene is shifted as before. Leaving out of view all higher claims to admu-ation and respect, the poetical merit of
PSALM CIV. 41
this whole description is of the highest order. The word trans- h^ted labour is the same that was translated culture in v. 14.
24. ITow manifold are thy works, Jehovah ; all of them in wis- dom hast thou wrought ; full is the earth of thy riches. The first verb in Hebrew strictly means are many, but as the context has respect to the variety, and not to the mere number, of God's works, the sense is well conveyed by the term used in the English versions [inanifold.) Works and torought represent a cognate verb and noun in Hebrew, a combination which adds point and ani- mation to the sentence. The last word in the verse is derived from a verb which means to acquire, either by creation or by purchase. While the noun, therefore, strictly denotes acquisitions or pos- sessions, its etymological affinities would instantly suggest to every Hebrew reader the idea of creation, as the ultimate source of these possessions, a modification of the thought which cannot be conveyed by any mere translation.
25. Here is the sea, great and ■wide on all hands; there are moving things, and without miviber, small animals with great. The exclamation or reflection in the preceding verse aflFords a transition to the survey of other parts of the creation, not included in the catalogue before recited, yet no less striking in themselves, and as proofs or illustrations of the Maker's wisdom. Such is the sea, or here for instance is the sea, are the phrases which would probably be used in our idiom, to introduce the first example. The same thing was probably intended by the Hebrew phrase, this (is) the sea, as if the speaker at the same time pointed to it. See above, on v. 8. Wide of both hands is another idiomatic phrase used also by Moses (G-en. xxxiv. 21) and Isaiah (xxxiii. 21.) It obviously means stretching out in all directions. The sense of hand, as thus used, is the same as in the English phrase on all hands, and is probably derived from the use of the right and left hand to distinguish position or direction. Moving things
42 PSALM CIV.
is here used to translate a single Hebrew word (iiJ'^'n), the cognate noun of the verb employed in v. 20 to denote animal motion. It is applied to marine animals, as here, in Gen. i. 9. Ps. Ixix. 35 (34.) The use of the word beasfs, in the common version of the last clause, is not consistent with its modern usage, which re- stricts it to terrestial quadrupeds.
26. There the ships go — Leviathan — this (that) thou hast formed to play therein. While the ships connect the sea with man's activity and interests, Leviathan, the standing representative of aquatic monsters, may be here put for the population of the sea itself. To flay therein., as in his native element. Compare Job xl. 20. The idiomatic use of this is like that in v. 25. The word translated ^'o, in the common version of the first, cteuse, is the same that was rendered walk in v. 3, and run in V. 10.)
27. All of them on thee rely., to give their food in its season. The all of them obviously relates to all the living creatures previously mentioned, and not to any one or more exclusively, the proposition being no less true of men than brutes, or of brutes than men. On thee rely is not an exact translation of the He- brew, which indeed does not admit of one, because it combines a verb and preposition which cannot be combined in English. The form of the original is, to thee tvait, expect, or hope, the verb ex- pressing confidence, the particle the act of looking towards the object thus confided in. The description of the animals as thus expecting their supplies from God, is merely the poetical costume in which the Psalmist clothes the fact, that they are really, although unconsciously, dependent on him. In precisely the same manner, other poets represent the earth, in time of drought, as parched with thirst and longing for the rain, which expressions no sane man would either charge with falsehood, or consider as implying a belief in the conscious personality of
PSALM CIV. 43
Earth. Compare my note on Isai. xlii. 4. In its season^ i. e. when they need it.
28. Thou givest to them, they gather; thnii ojpenest thy hand ^ they are filled (u-ith) food. The point of the significant anti- thesis is this, that God as easily bestows as they receive. He has only to give, they have only to gather. He has but to open his hand, and they are instantly provided, even to satiety. Filled^ satisfied, abundantly supplied, as in v. 13. The verb rendered gathe7- means to pick up or collect from the ground. It is used in the history of the manna (Ex. xvi. 1, 5, 16), to which there is obvious allusion. The act of gathering from the ground seems to presuppose a previous throwing down from heaven. The common version, that (meaning what) thou givest the?n they gather, weakens the sentence, if it does not render it unmeaning.
29. Thou, hidest thy face, they are confounded ; thou withdrawest their breath, they expire, and to their dust return. The hiding of God's face is the opposite of looking with a favourable aspect. See above, on Ps. xiii. 2 (1.) It here means the suspension or withdrawing of the various benefits before described. They are troubled is, in every case, a feeble version of one of the strongest words in the language, which has been already more than once explained. Even confounded, though much stronger, does not perfectly convey the idea, which is that of being agitated, terror- stricken, or convulsed. See above, on Ps. ii. 5. Ixxviii. 33. xc. 7. Their breath, the vital principle imparted by the Spirit of God (Gen. ii. 7), who is the God of the spirits of all flesh, i. e. the author of all life whatever. See Num. xvi. 22. xsvii. 16, and compare Heb. xii. 9. The verb expire is used in the account of the destruction of all living creatures by the flood. Gen. vii. 21, 22, to which there is no doubt allusion, as there is in the next clause to Gen. iii. 19. Compare Ps. xc. 3. ciii. 14. Ecc. xii. 7.
44 PSALM CIV.
Their dust, their own, their native dust, to which they belong, and from which they sprang.
30. Thou sendcst thy breath, they are created, and thou re- newest the face of the earth. The absolute power of God over the life of his creatures is expressed by representing him as annihil- ating and creating the whole race at pleasure, by a breath. With equal correctness we might read thy spirit, but thy breath is more poetical, and therefore better suited to the context as the primary meaning, though the spirit be really intended. They are created refers the effect more directly to God's power than they live or they revive would do. In the last clause there is evident allusion to the renovation of the earth desolated by the flood, and the joyous change of its face or aspect when re-peopled.
31. Let the glory of Jehovah be forever ; let Jehovah rejoice in his works. The optative form of the first verb here determines the meaning of the other. It would also be grammatical, though much less natural in this connection, to regard the abbreviated form of the first verb as a mere poetic license, and explain both as futures proper. The glory of Jehovah shall be to eternity ; Je- hovah shall rejoice in his works. The grammatical question is of less importance, because one of these senses really implies the other. The wish is not for something doubtful but infallibly cer- tain, and the prediction is in strict accordance with the wish of him who utters it. In this verse some interpreters suppose an allusion to God's satisfaction in his own work of creation when he rested from it on the seventh day. See Gen. ii. 1, 2.
32. lie that looks at the earth and it quakes, touches the hills and they smoke. There is something in the form of this verse similar to that of V. 28. God has only to look at the earth to make it quake- He has only to touch the mountains and they smoke. His controlling and terrifying acts are as prompt and easy as his
PSALM CIV. 45
acts of grace. There seems to be a reference to the words of Moses in describing the effects of the theophany at Sinai, when its summit smoked, and its very roots or bases were on fire. See Ex. xix. 18. Deut. xsxii. 22. To those familiar with the con- stant use of mountains as a symbol of great monarchies, this verse would necessarily suggest the thought, that God's power over states is no less absolute than that which he exercises over indi- viduals, or over the inanimate creation.
33. I will sivg to Jehovah while I live, I will make music to my God while I still (exist.) This is the Psalmist's conclusion from the view which he has taken, with respect to his own interest and duty. If the Lord be such a God to all his creatures, then I can do no better than expend the remainder of my life in praising him. The two verbs are those continually joined to denote vocal and instrumental piaise. The closing words of each clause, and especially the second, have a highly idiomatic character. The phrase translated while I live means literally i7i my life or lives. The corresponding one can scarcely be translated, as it is com- posed of the preposition in, the adverb yet or still, and the pro- noun of the first person, in my yet, i. e. in my (heing) yet, while I still am, or continue to exist.
34. Sweet shall be of hivi 7ny meditation ; I will rejoice in Je- hovah. The ancient versions and the Prayer Book, with some of the best interpreters, put an optative sense upon the first clause, may my thought (or speech) be acceptable to him. In favour of this interpretation is the fact that a synonymous verb, followed by the same preposition (bs?), means to be pleasing to a person, in Ps. xvi. 6. In favour of the other is the want of anything to indi- cate a wish, and the parallelism of the second clause, which relates to the expression of his own feelings towards Jehovah, not to the dispositions of Jehovah towards himself. Thus understood, the whole verse completes the Psalmist's practical conclusion from
46 PSALMCV.
the view which he has taken of God's power, wisdom, and good- ness, namely, that the knowledge and possession of this God is happiness.
35. Consumed are sinners from the earthy and (as for) wicked men, they are no more. JBless, oh my soiol, Jehovah. Hallelujah ! This verse has no perceptible connexion, either with the verse immediately before it, or with the general drift of the whole psalm, except upon the supposition, that the whole psalm was in- tended to derive, from the view of God's authoritative care over his works, an encouraging assurance that his people must be safe ; that he who feeds and shelters the inferior animals, and makes provision for the physical necessities of men in general, cannot fail to provide for the security and happiness of those whom he has set apart for himself, or to free them from the malice of those sinners who are equally the enemies of God and of his people. The psalm, like the one before it, closes with the same words which began it. The last word, Hallelujah (praise ye Jah), occurs here for the first time, and is supposed by some to form no part of the original composition, but to have been added for the purpose of adapting it to some public service at a later date.
PSALM CV.
This, like the Seventy-Eighth, is a historical psalm, recounting God's ancient dealings with his people, especially in Egypt. The practical design of the commemoration is not to bring the people to repentance, as in the case referred to, but to excite their hopes of an analogous deliverance. According to a theory
PSALMCV. 47
already mentioned, this is the second member of a trilogy, added to one of older date (Ps. ci — ciii) during the time of the cap- tivity. It differs from the psalm before it in deriving from his- tory the same consolation which is there derived from nature. After the introduction, vs. 1 — 7, the arrangement is simply chrono- logical, beginning with the promise to Abraham, and ending with the conquest of Canaan, vs. 8 — 44. The first fifteen verses of this psalm are found in 1 Chron. xvi, combined with Ps. xcvi and three verses of Ps. cvi. See above, on Ps. xcvi. 1.
1. Give thanks tmfo Jehovah, call upon his name, make known among the nations his exploits. The original meaning of the second phrase is, call {him) by his name, i. e. give him the de- scriptive title most expressive of his divine perfections ; or more specifically, call him by his name Jehovah, i. e. ascribe to him the attributes which it denotes, to wit, eternity and self-existence, together with that covenant relation to his people, which though not denoted by the name was constantly associated with it, and therefore necessarily suggested by it. The meaning of the next phrase is obscured, if not entirely concealed, in the common ver- sion, among the people. The plural form and sense of the original expression are essential to the writer's purpose, which is to glorify the Grod of Israel among all nations. See above, on Ps. xviii. 50 (49.) Ivii. 10 (9.) For the meaning of the last word, see above, on Ps, ciii. 7.
2. Sing to him, play to him, muse on all his wondrous deeds. The exhortation seems to be addressed to the Grentiles, who are called upon to join in the praises and to share the blessings of the chosen people. For the meaning of the last verb, see above, on Ps. civ. 34.
3. Glory in his holy name ! Glad shall he the heart of those who seek Jehovah. Congratulate yourselves that you nossess a riirht
48 PSALM CV.
and interest in the favour of so glorious a Being. The last clause presents as an inducement, that to seek the favour of this God is a source, and by implication the only source, of joy and happi- ness. Compare Ps. xxxiv. 3 (2.) xl. 17 (16.) Ixix. 7 (6.)
4. Seek Jehovah and his strength^ seek his face evermore. The Hebrew verbs, although synonymous, are not identical. And his strength, the protection secured by his almighty power. Seek him, not as a finite being, but as the omnipotent Jehovah, the source, as well as the possessor, of all strength. Seek his face^ not merely his presence, but his countenance, his favourable look or aspect. With the several expressions of this verse compare Ps. ix. 11 (10.) x. 4. xiv. 2. xxiv. 6. xxxiv. 5 (4.) Ixi. 4 (3.) Ixii. 8 (7.) Ixiii. 3 (2.) Ixviii. 35 (34) xcvi. 7.
5. Reviemher his ivondrous deeds which he did, his miracles and the judgments of his mouth. They are exhorted not to forget them, as Israel is charged with doing, Ps. Ixxviii. 11. Miracles, prodigies or wonders, proofs of divine power. There is no need of identifying these with the judgments of his month, which in- clude his laws and the sentences pronounced upon his enemies. The latter is probably the prominent idea as best suited to this context.
6. Ye seed of Abraham his servant, ye so7is of Jacob, his chosen (o7?es.) Descendants of the patriarchs, and therefore heirs of the patriarchal promises. The common version of the last phrase (his chosen), though exact, conveys a wrong idea, as it seems to make chosen an epithet of Jacob, which would also seem to be required by the parallelism ; but the Hebrew word is plural and describes the object of address as the church or chosen people. Compare Isai. Ixv. 9. Abraham is called the Servant of God, in an emphatic sense, as being his chosen instrument and confidential
PSALM CV. 49
agent. See above, on Ps. xviii. 1, and compare Ps. xc. 1. The parallel passage (1 Chr. xvi. 13) has Israel his servant.
7. He is Jehovah our Gad ; in all the earth (arc) his judg- ments. His covenant relations are with- us the seed of Abraham ; but the proofs of his existence and vindicatory justice are com- mon to all nations. This whole introduction sooms intended to dispose both Jews and Gentiles to the praise of God.
8. He remembered forever his covenant, the word he co?nmandcd for a thousand generations. There is here a kind of antithetical allu- sion to the exhortation in v. 5. They should remember what he did, since he remembers what he promised. What he has done involves a pledge of what he will do. He has remembered (and will remember) his covenant to eternity. The word is the word of promise. He is said to have commanded.lt, partly because his promise is conditional and annexed to his commandment, and for that reason called a covenant ; partly because all that God says must of necessity be said with authority, so that even his pro- mises partake of the nature of commands. The last phrase, a thousand generations^ is Mosaic. See Deut. vii. 9, and compare Ex. XX. 6.
9. Which he ratified with Ahraham, and his oath to Isaac. The sentence is continued from the foregoing verse. Ratified, literally cut ; sec above, on Ps. 1. 5. His oath (which he sware) to Isaac, or, his' oath for (the benefit of) Isaac. The distinction, if any be intended, is that the covenant was formally made only with Abraham, and merely sanctioned or confirmed by oath to his successors. See Gen. xv. 18. xxvi. 3. xxviii. 13. His oath is governed by remembered in v. 8. Compare Ps. Ixxxix. 28, 34 (27, 33.)
10. And confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, to Israel (for^
VOL. III. 3
50 PSALM CV.
an everlasting covenant. Confirvied it., literally, made (or lot) it stand, instead of suffering it to expire with the person to whom it was originally given. A statute, in the wide sense of a perma- nent arrangement, a perpetual constitution, or, as it is called in the last clause, a compact of eternity, an everlasting covenant. See Gen. xxviii. 13. xxxv. 12.
11. Saying, To thee will I give the land of Canaan, as the portion of your heritage. The subject or substance of the pro- mise is now more distinctly stated. The word translated portion primarily means a line, especially a measiiring line, and then what is measured by it, to wit, a piece of land, a lot of ground. This was not to be given to the patriarchs in person, but to their descendants, as the portion of their heritage or their hereditary portion. The plural your may refer, however, to the patriarchs themselves, as the promise was repeated to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
12. WTien as yet they could be nnmhercd — very fetv, and strang- ers in it. The first clause involves an antithetical allusion to the promise, afterwards fulfilled, that they should be innumerable as the stars, or as the sand upon the shoi-e, Gen. xxii. 17. The form of the original is highly idiomatic, in their being men of number, like a little, or like littleness itself. See above, on Ps. Ixxiii. 2, and compare Isai. i. 9. Strangers,, sojourners, living on the lands of others, at their will, or by their sufferance. See above, on Ps. xxxix. 13 (12.) In it, the land of Canaan, men- tioned in the preceding verse. The whole verse qualifies the previous account of the patriarchal covenant, which was not made with Israel when already a great nation, but with their ancestors when few in number and without a settled home. The parallel passage (1 Chron. xvi. 19) has tvhen ye were. Sec Gen. xxxiv. 30, and compare Deut. xxxiii. 6. Isai. x. 19.
PSALM CV. 51
13. And Ihcy went about from oiation to nation^ from Idngdom to another jpco'ph. This may be regarded as in contrast with v. 12, and Q/ci) (key iccnt about, notwithstanding their small number and their being strangers. Or vs. 12, 13, may be the protasis of the sen- tence, and V. 14 its apodosis. ' When they were few and strangers, and wont from nation to nation, he let no man, etc' This verse describes the characteristic feature in the condition of the chosen people, during the patriarchal period of their history, namely, their migratory intercourse with various nations. These are mentioned in the first clause as distinct races, in the last as distinct states or bodies politic. Where we might have expected from kingdom to kingdom, the ear is somewhat disappointed by the phrase from kingdom to another people, which may have been intended to distinguish the Egyptian and other monarchies from the more democratical or patriarchal institutions of the Arabians and other nations. They went about seems to be the force of the reflexive or frequentative verb, as distinguished from that of the primitive, they icent. See above, on Ps. xxvi. 3. xxxv. 14. ci. 2, and compare Gen. v. 22. xvii. 1. xxiv. 6, 9, 40. xlviii. 15.
14. He suffered no man to oppress them, and reproved, for their sake, kings. The precise sense of the first clause is, he suffered not man (or men in general) to oppress them. The protection of the patriarchs is certainly one of the most striking facts in sacred history. The kings mentioned in the last clause are the kings of Egypt and Gerar (Gen. xii. 17. xx. 3), not without reference perhaps to those mentioned in Gren. xiv. 1.
15. Touch not mine anointed {ones), and to my prophets do no harm. These are the words of God himself, and are designated as such, in the English Bible, by supplying the word saying, which is expressed in the analogous case, v. 11. Touch not, as in Gen. xxvi. 11, 29. In the Old Testament, unction is the symbol of spiritual gifts, and especially of those imparted to the
52 PSALM CV.
great tlicocratical offices. See above, on Ps. ii. 2. From the case of Elisba (1 Kings xix. 16) it would seem that prophets were anointed when inducted into office. The patriarchs are here called p?-op/iets in the proper sense of the term, as denoting men insi^ired of God, and admitted to confidential intercourse with him. The allusion here is to Gren. xx. 7, where Grod says to Abimelech of Abraham, "Restore the man his wife, for he is a prophet, and he will pray for thee, and thou shalt live."
16. And he, called (for) a famine on the land ; every staff of bread he brake. The psalmist now passes from the Patriarchal to the Egyptian period of the history, by stating the occasion of Israel's migration into Egypt. The meaning of the first clause seems to be, that he summoned famine, as his instrument or ser- vant, to come down upon the land, as sent from above, that is to say, from himself. The meaning of the last clause is, that the people were deprived of every customary means and source of subsistence. The figure of a stafi" or stay is a Mosaic, one. See Lev. xxvi. 26, and compare Isai. iii. 1. It is near akin to the description of food as staying or sustaining the heart. See above, on Ps. civ. 15, The historical reference in the verse before us is to Gen. xli. 54.
17. lie sent before them a, man ; sold for a slave was Joseph. The same providential pui-pose is assigned to Joseph's bondage by himself. Gen. xlv. 5. With the last clause compare Gren. xxxvii. 36. Some interpreters, assuming, as we have already seen, that this psalm was composed in the time of the captivity, suppose a parallel, in this verse, between Joseph and Daniel, both of whom, in addition to their personal qualities, were sent into captivity before the body of their brethren ; both gained the royal favour and were exalted to high station in the land of their captivity ; and both employed the influence thus gained for th.T advantage of their countrymen. To the Jews in exile, such a
PSALM CV. 53
parallel must have been not only interesting, in a historical or poetical point of view, but consolatory and encouraging as a tol'cn for good, a sign that God was about to renew the exodus from Egypt in an exodus from Babylon.
18. They hurt, with the, fetter, his feet ; into iron came his soul. That Joseph was actually chained or fettered, is included in the true sense of the word bound, applied to him in the history. See Gen. xl. 3, and compare Gen. xxxix. 20, 22. They, the Egyp- tians, or his gaolers ; or the verb may be indefinitely construed, as if it had been said, his feet were hurt. The verb means else- where to humble or mortify, but is here used in its strict sense of afflicting, causing to suffer. The Prayer Book version of the last clause, the iron entered into his soul, is ungrammatical, the word for iron being masculine, while that for sonl is, like the verb, feminine. The general sense is given in the text of the English Bible, and the exact forui in the margin. The mention of the soul, as in many other cases, is of course not meant to be ex- clusive of the body, but to suggest the idea of intimate and heart- felt suffering. See above, on Ps. iii. 3 (2.) xi. 1, etc.
19. Until the time that his word came (to pass), the saying of Jehovah tried him. The last verb properly denotes the assaying of metals, but is figuratively applied to moral trial and purgation. See above, on Ps. xii. 7 (6.) xvii. 3. xviii. 31 (30.)xxvi. 2. The most probable meaning of the verso is, that during the two years which intervened between his explanation of the prisoners' dreams and the favourable issue to which it ultimately led, his faith in the divine promise, both to himself and to his people, was severely but favourably tried. Compare the history in Gen. xl, xli.
20. The king sent and loosed him — the rider of nations, and set him free. Both verbs strictly apply to the removal of his fetters, the first meaning properly to knock off (Isai. Iviii. C), the other to
54 PSALM CV.
open for the purpose of removing. See above, on Ps. xxs. 12 (11.) The king of Egypt is called a ruler of peoples, either in reference to the tribes or nomes of Egypt itself, or because there were other nations tributary to him.
21. He made him lord of his house and ruler of all his wealth. The literal meaning of the first clause is, he placed him lord to his house. See Gen. xli. 40, 41, 43. xlv. 8. For the meaning of the last word in the sentence, see above, on Ps. civ. 24. It is one of the points of resemblance which are thought to identify the two psalms as the work of the same author.
22. To bind his chiefs at his pleasure, and his elders to make wise. The words translated chiefs and elders are those commonly applied to the heads of tribes and families, the hereditary magi- strates under the patriarchal system. The application of the second word to Egypt is found also in the history. Gen. 1. 7. At his pleasure, literally, ^vith his soul, which some explain as a bold metaphor, describing Joseph's mind or soul as the cord or chain with which he bound the Egyptians, i. e. forced them to perform his will. But see Ps. xvii. 9. xxvii. 12. xli. 3 (2.)
23. And (so) Israel entered Egypt, and Jacob sojourned in the land of Ham. This was the main event, to which those just re- cited were preparatory. Israel and Jacob are the names both of the individual patriarch and of his descendants as a nation. In this case both the applications are admissible, or rather requisite, in order to exhaust the writer's meaning. The patriarch himself came into Egypt, but his sons literally came with him, and all his descendants figuratively in him. The land of Ham, from whom Mizraim was descended. See above, on Ps. Ixxviii. 51.
24. And he increased his people greatly, and made them stronger than their enemies. Increased, literally, rendered fruitful. The
PSALM CV. 55
same verb is used in the promise to Abraham and Jacob (Gen. xvii. 6. xxviii. 2), and in the history of Israel in Egypt, Ex. i. 7. The word here used for enemies is one implying persecution and oppression. The siuguhir pronouns in the Hebrew, made hivi stronger than his enemies, are in strict grammatical agreement with the collective noun people.
25. He turned their heart to hate his people, to deal craftily with his servants. The first clause asserts God's sovereign control even of the free acts of his sinful creatm-es, a truth repeatedly affirmed in the history which this psalm recapitulates. See Ex. iv. 21. vii. 3, and compare 1 Sam. xxvi. 9. 2 Sam. xvi. 10. xxiv. 1. The last verb occurs only in the history of Joseph, Gen. xxxvii. 18. The corresponding term in Exodus (i. 10) is let us deal wiselT/, or more exactly, let us make ourselves wise, as the verb in this case may be rendered, let us make ourselves subtle or crafty, both being reflexive forms. The historical allusion is of course to the murderous policy, which preceded the violent oppression of the Hebrews.
26. He sent Moses his servant (and) Aaron ichom he chose. The meaning is not Moses (who was) his servant, or (because he was) his servant, but (to be) his servant, his instrument in the great work of delivering his people. See above, on v. 6, and on Ps. xviii. 1. xxxvi. 1. Ixxviii. 70.
27. They placed among them the ivords of his signs and wonders in the land of Ham. The first phrase seems to mean nothing more than set hfore them ov exhibited to them. Words of signs is by some understood to mean matters (or affairs) of signs, and to be either a pleonastic phrase for sign» alone, or an emphatic phrase denoting all the signs. See above, on Ps. Ixv. 4 (3.) The first is a gratuitous assumption, the last a forced interpreta- tion. Better than either is the explanation which gives to words
56 rSALMCV.
its proper meaning, and supposes stress to be intentionally laid on the divine word of Jehovah, and the prophetic word of Moses and Aaron, in the way of threatening and command, as well as on the physical effects which followed these denunciations. Compare the use of words in Ps. vii. 1, and the explanation there given. Signs, i. e. tokens of God's presence and activity, and indica- tions of his will. Wonders, prodigies, miracles, the same word that occurs above in v. 5.
28. He sent darkness and made it dark, aiul they did not resist his U'OrdSy or according to the marginal reading, his ^iwrd. This is by some iinderstood to mean the plague of darkness, which im- mediately preceded the slaughter of the first born, Ex. x. 22. But to this explanation there are two objections ; first, that it en- tirely disturbs the order of the plagues, which is otherwise observed with great exactness, the only deviation being very trivial compared with this ; secondly, because it would then be necessary to apply the last clause to Moses and Aaron, or to Israel in general, there- by making it unmeaning, or else to admit a contradiction of the history, which expressly says that the Egyptians did resist the word of God even after the plague of darkness, Ex. x. 27. The only remaining explanation is, that darkness, in the verse before us, as in many other cases, is a figure for calamity in gene- ral, and applied not to one plague in particular, but to the whole series, of which a more detailed account is then subjoined.
29. He turned their ivalers to Mood and killed their fish. Here begins the more particular enumeration of the plagues of Egypt. Compare Ps. Ixxviii. 44, where the inconvenience specified is that they could not drink the water, whereas here it is the loss of their accustomed food. This last word is used as a collective in both languages.
30. Their land teemed iritk frogs — in the chamlers of their kings. That even these were not safe from the hateful intruders, is an
PSALM CV, 57
aggravating circumstance, particularly mentioned in the original threatening, and implied in the narrative of its execution. See Ex. viii. 3, 9. The first verb means to bring forth in abundance, and is so used in the history of the creation, with particular refer- ence to the genesis of animals. Gen. i. 20.
31. He said, mid the fly came and gnats (or lice') in all tJieir border. See above, on Ps. Ixxviii. 45, where the gnats or lice are omitted, and the flies precede the frogs. So here, the flies precede the lice, a slight departure from the order of the history. See Ex. viii. 5, 16. He said, i. e. be said so, which is tanta- moxmt to saying, he commanded. In all their border, i. e. every where within it, throughout the land. This expression is bor- rowed from the history. See Ex. viii. 2 (vii. 27.)
32. He gave them hail for fain (and) flaming fire in their land. This, which is the common version, represents the sense correctly, but with a deviation from the form of the original, which is highly idiomatic. A bald translation is, he gave their rains hail, fire of flames in their land. The terms are chosen for the sake of an allusion to the promise in Lev. xxvi. 4, / will give your rains in their season. Instead of these he gave the Egyptians a destruc- tive hail-storm. Compare Ps. Ixxviii. 48.
33. And smote their vine and their fig-tree, and shattered the trees of their border. Compare Ps. Ixxviii. 47, where syca- mores are particularly mentioned. The history says nothing of the vines, but speaks of the breaking of the trees, using the same intensive verb as here. See Ex. ix. 25. Their border, as before, means their land or territory in its whole extent, just as the ends of the earth is put for all its parts. See above, on Ps. ii. 8.
34. He said, and the arbeh came, and the yelek, and (that) withotit number. The two Hebrew words, here retained, denote
3*
58 PSALM CV.
varieties of the locust, and have no equivalents in English. See above, on Ps. Ixxviii. 46, where the first word here stands second, and the place of the other is supplied by hasil^ another distinctive term of the same kind. Without numbo-, literally, there is no number. See the same expression, Ps. civ. 25.
35. And devoured every herb in their land, aiid devoured the fruit of their ground. The verb, though varied in the common version, is the same in both cla uses of the Hebrew. See above, on Ps. xlviii. 46, and compare the original narrative, Ex. x. 5, 15.
36. And he smote all the firstborn in iheir land, the first-fruits of all their strength. For the meaning of the last clause, see above, on Ps. Ixxviii. 51, and compare Ex. xii. 29, 30.
37. And he brought them out loith silver and with gold, and there xoas not in his tribes a totttrer (or stumbler.) The first clause relates to the spoiling of the Egyptians, Ex. xii. 35, 36. The last word denotes a person unfit for military service. Compare Isai. V. 27.
38. Glad ivas Egypt at their going forth, for their fear had fallen upon them. This panic terror, which followed the last plague and facilitated the escape of Israel (Ex. xi. 1. xii. 31 — 33), accounts for the readiness with which the Egyptians- gave what- ever was demanded, and completely vindicates the children of Israel from the charge of borrowing what they never meant to pay. The terms used in the history denote the acts of asking and giving, not those of borrowing and lending. The terms of the last clause are derived from Ex. xv. 16. Deut. xi. 25.
39. lie spread a cloud for a covering, and fire to give light by night. See above, on Ps. Ixxviii. 14. The poetical description
PSALM CV. 59
of the cloud as covering tlie host is derived from the statement that "the cloud of Jehovah was over (or above) them by day," Num. X. 34. Compare Num. ix. 16. Neh. ix. 12. Isai. iv. 5, 6.
40. (The people) asked and he made quails come — and bread oj heaven satisfied them. See above, on Ps. Ixxviii. 25 — 27, and compare Ex. xvi. 4 — 13. Num. xi. 31. As to the alternation of the singular and plural foi-ms, see above, on v. 24. Bread may either be the subject of the verb, as given above, or a qualifying term, (tcitk) bread.
41. ITe opened a rock and forth gushed waters ; they ran in the wastes., a river. See above, on Ps. Ixxviii. 16, 20. The word translated wastes means, according to its etymology, dry places.
42. Because he rc7nemlered his holy word with Abraham his ser- vant. This brings us back to the statement in vs. 8, 9, in proof of which this long array of facts has been presented. Nothing of all this would have taken place if God had been forgetful of his covenant. This covenant is here meant by his holy word, which is therefore followed by the preposition with, as in Ex. ix. 24, where the covenant is expressly mentioned.
43. And brought out his people in joy, in triumph his chosen (ones.) He remembered his promise and in execution of it brought out his people, etc. The parallelism of people and chosen throws light upon the latter term, as used in v. 6.
44. And gave to them nations'' lands, and peoples'* labour they inherit. The prominent idea is not that of gentiles or heathen, in the religious sense, but that of other nations, and whole na- tions, to whose place and possessions they succeeded. Labour is put for its result or product, as a synonymous Hebrew word is in Ps. Ixxviii. 46.
60 PSALM CVI.
45. To the end that they might keep his statutes and his laws observe. 'Hallelujah ! The emphatic phrase at the beginning, corresponding to our phrases, to the end, for the purpose, or in order that, points this out as the qualification or condition of the promise which had been so gloriously verified. The same con- dition is expressed or implied elsewhere. See above, on Ps. Ixxviii. 7, and compare Gen. xviii. 19. Deut. iv. 40. xxvi. 17. Halldiijah (jpraise ye Jah) as above, in Ps. civ. 35.
P S A L M C V I .
After an introduction, praising the divine goodness, and ex- pressing the hope of a participation in it, vs. 1 — 5, this psalm contains a solemn confession of the sins of Israel through all the periods of his history ; in Egypt, v. 6 — 12 ; in the wilderness, V. 13 — 33 ; in Canaan, vs. 34 — 43 ; and a prayer, founded on encouraging tokens of the Lord's compassion, that he will save his people from the punishment incurred by their unfaithfulness, vs. 44 — 48. According to Hcngstenberg's hypothesis already mentioned, this is the third psalm of the trilogy added to Ps. ci — ciii, in the times of the captivity, and a direct continuation of the series, since the moral condition of God's covenant, pro- pounded at the close of Ps. cv, is here acknowledged to have been violated by his people, who are also represented as actually suffering the punishment of this violation, but encouraged by re- turning tokens of a favourable change, to hope and pray for the forgiveness of their sins and the removal of the judgments which they have so well deserved. The first verse and the two last form a part of the mixed composition in First Chronicles, which
PSALM CVI. 61
has been already mentioned. See above, on Ps. xcvi. 1. But a still more interesting parallel to this psalm is the prayer or con- fession in the ninth chapter of Daniel, which resembles it so much in subject, tone, and diction, that although not otherwise de- monstrable, it would not be absurd to regard the psalm before us as a lyrical paraphrase of that confession, prepared for permanient and public use by Daniel himself or some contemporary writer.
1. Ilalldujah! Give thaTiks unto Jehovah^ for {he is) good ^ for vmto eternity (is) his mercy. The Hallelujah {fraise ye Jah !) which concludes the two preceding psalms, stands both at the beginning and the close of this. The exhortation to give tJinnhs unto Jehovah is also found at the beginning of Ps. cv. The reason here assigned, that he is good, and his mercy endures for- ever, is expressed in the same words, Ps. c. 5.
2. Who shall tell the mighty deeds of Jehovah 1 (Who) shall utter all his praise ? The potential meaning (tcho can tell ?) is here included in the simple future. Mighty deeds answers to a single word in Hebrew meaning strengths or poicers. The ex- pression is borrowed from Deut. iii. 24, where the English Bible has the singular form might. The verb translated utter is a causative, who shall cause to hear or to be heard ? See above, on Ps. xxvi. 7. The interrogation involves a negative assertion, namely, that they cannot be fully expressed or duly celebrated.
3. Happy the keepers of pidgment, the doer of righteousness at every time. The form of expression at the beginning is the same as in Ps. i. 1. The keepers of judgment are those who observe justice as the rule of their conduct, the same idea that is after- wards expressed in other words, the doer (or practiser) of right- eousness, not occasionally merely but at all times. The change from the plural to the singular is common, where tlie latter de- notes an ideal individual, the representative of a whole class.
62 PSALM CVI.
The condition here propounded is identical with that in Ps. cv. 45. ciii. IS. Dan. ix. 4.
4. Heme/mler me, Jehovah, with the favo%r of thy feo'plt; visit me with thy salvation. The speaker is the Church or chosen people, and therefore prays to be remembered with the kindness due to her as such. Visit me, manifest thy favourable presence. See above, on Ps. viii 5 (4.) Such a prayer, uttered by the church itself, implies that the tokens of God's favourable presence had been interrupted or withdrawn.
5. To tntness the welfare of thy chosen (ones), to rejoice in the joy of thy nation, to glory with thy heritage. Our idiom requires the subject of the verb to be more distinctly indicated. The meaning evidently is, that I may ^vitness, that I may rejoice, that I man glory. The phrase translated toitness the welfare literally means to see in the good, i. c. to look on, to be a spectator, when thy chosen ones are in possession or enjoyment of good. 7yiy nation is here used instead of the customary phrase thy people, perhaps because the meaning is, the nation which is thy chosen people. The general meaning of the whole verse is, that I may once more be recognised and treated as thy people.
6. JVc have sinned with our fathers, tve have dove perversely, we have done loickcdly. The connection with the foregoing con- test may be made clear by supplying a few intermediate thoughts. ' True, we have no right to expect this, much less to demand it. We have not performed the condition of thy covenant ; we have not kept thy statutes or observed thy laws ; we have not kept judgment or done righteousness.' The national confession here begun is nearly co-extensive with the psalm itself. The terms of this verse are borrowed, here as well as in Pan. ix. 5, from that great model of ecclesiastical and national devotion furnished by Solomon, in his prayer at the dedication of the temple, 1 Kings
PSALM CVI. 63
viii. 47. Compare Isai. lix. 12. With our fathers, not merely- like them, but as sharing their responsibility and guilt. Of the three verbs used in this confession, the first denotes failure to dis- charfre one's obligations, the second wilful perversion or distor- tion, the third disorderly or turbulent transgression. See above, on Ps. i. 1.
7. Our fathers in Egypt did not understaoid thy looiidrous zoorliS, they did not remember the alundance of thy mercies, and rebelled upon the sea, at the Red Sea. The general confession in v. 6 is now followed by a more detailed acknowledgment, begin- ning with the exodus from Egypt. The u-ondrous loorks of God, the things done wonderfully by him, then and there, for the deli- verance of his people, the great body of them did not understand. Even those who referred them to their true source and author, did not fully appreciate the end for which they were performed, or enter into the majestic plan, in executing which they were per- mitted to be God's co-workers. The truth of this charge is abun- dantly established by the narrow, grovelling, selfish views and feelings so repeatedly betrayed by the generation which came out of Eaypt, showing clearly that they did not practically understa7id God's dealings with them. This is probably the idea meant to be conveyed by the Hebrew verb, which usually means to act wisely, but is here modified by governing a noun directly. See above, on Ps. ii. 10. xiv. 2. The two-fold local designation, on the sea, at the Red Sea, was probably suggested by the parallelism in Ex. XV. 4. The variation of the particle seems merely a poetical embellishment ; the difierence in meaning is no greater than in our on and at. The Sea of Sea-tveed was the name given by the Hebrews and Egyptians to that bay or gulf of the Indian Ocean, which was called the Red Sea by the Greek geographers.
8. And he saved them for his name''s sahe, to make hnotcn his might. This is an answer to a tacit objection, namely, that their
64 PSALM CVI.
conduct bad been sanctioned by God's saving them. True, be did save tbem, because they vp^ere necessary to his purpose. He saved tbem not for their sake but his own, to accomplish his own ends, and exhibit bis own power.
9. And he. rehiJccd the Red Sea and it dried up., and he made them go through the deeps like the desert. This is merely a specifi- cation of the general statement in the preceding verse. The divine intervention here commemorated was the more remarkable because it took place on the very spot where they first rebelled, as mentioned in v. 7. Though they -disobeyed him at the Red Sea, he nevertheless dried the Red Sea, i. e. as much of it as was required to furnish them a passage. Kebuked, as in Ps. civ. 7. Like the deserty as in the desert, i. e. in a level and extensive plain, without obstruction or unevenness. See my note on Isai. Ixiii. 13, where the same comparison is used.
10. And he saved them from the hand of the hater, and redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. Both epithets are intended to appljr to Pharaoh, not only as a personal oppressor of the Israel- ites, but as the representative of Egypt, all of which now feared and hated the occasion of its multiplied and aggravated sufferings.
11. And the valers covered their adversaries ; not one of them was left. The Psalmist dwells upon the completeness of the overthrow and destruction experienced by Pharaoh and his host, in order to aggravate the previous and subsequent ingratitude of Israel, as well as to enhance the free grace of Jehovah, and the fidelity with which he executed his engagements, even to the faithless.
12. Aiid they believe his words, they sing his praise. Then (and not till then) do they believe. This is not an encomium on their faith, but a confession of their unbelief. It was not till the pro-
PSALM C VI. 65
niise was fulfilled that they believed it. With the first clause compare Ex. xiv. 31 ; with the second, Ex. xv. 1.
13. They made haste, they forgot his deeds, they did not tc ait for his counsel. Their propensity to evil was so strong, that they are said to have hastened to forget what God had done for them, which means much more than that they soon forgot it. They did not even wait for the promise to be verified by the event. The ex- pression in the first clause is borrowed from Ex. xxxii. 8. The works or deeds of God are not in this case, as in Ps. ciii. 22. civ. 24, the works of nature, but the plagues of Egypt. See Deut. xi. 3, and compare Dan. ix. 4.
14. And they lusted a hist in the wilderness and tempted God in the desert. The confession now passes from their sins in Egypt to their sins in the wilderness. The strong expression in the first clause relates to their wanton craving of animal food. See Num. xi. 4, 34. With the last clause compare Ps. Ixxviii. 18. The two words for wilderness and desert are the same as those in Ps. Ixxviii. 40. See also Ps. Ixviii. 8 (7.)
15. And he gave them thdr request and sent {them) leanness in their soul. The last phrase is by some translated against, by others into their soul ; but it is really a qualifying phrase, de- signed to show that the emaciation or decay vrhich was sent upon them was not bodily but spiritual. See Num. xi. 18, and com- pare Ps. Ixxviii. 10, 18.
16. Aiid they were envious at Moses in the camp, at Aaron, the Holy One of Jehovah. This is another of their wilderness sins. See Num. chap. xvi. Aaron is not called the Saint of the Lord in reference to his personal holiness, which does not seem to have been eminent, but his Holy (or Consecrated) One, in reference to his sacerdotal dignity.
66 PSALM C VI.
17. (Then) opens the earth and sioaUoics Datknn, and covers over the c.oni'pany of Ahiram. This rolatcs to the destruction of those followers of Korah who were not Levitts. Soe Num. xvi. 32, 33, and compare Deut. xi. 6. From the fii-.st of these passages some interpreters supply her mouth after ofen% ; but the absolute use of the verb is perfectly consistent with our idiom.
18. Aful a fire devours their company, a flame cousumes (those) wicked (men.) This relates to the destruction of Korah himself and his Levitieal followers. See Num. xvi. 35.xxvi. 10.
19. They mahe a calf in Tlorch, and low doicn to a molten image. This was a third sin committed in the wilderness. See Ex. xxsii. 1 — 6, and compare Ex. xxxiv. 4. The golden calf appears to have been an imperfect and diminutive copy of the bull Apis, worshipped in Egypt.
20. And exchange their glory for the likeness of an ox eating grass. This must be read in the closest connection with v. 19, in order to complete it. Their folly consisted in exchanging the true God, whose worship and whose favour was their highest honour, for the mere likeness of an irrational brute. Eating grass, not in the act, but in the habit, of so doing. Although the golden calf at Horeb, and the golden calves at Dan and Beer- sheba, were all regarded as representatives of Jehovah himself, their worship was uniformly treated as idolatry, aud as a virtual though not a formal or avowed renunciation of his service. Com- pare Jer. ii. 10 — 13.
21. They forgot God that saved them, that did great (things) in Egypt. That saved, that did ; literally, saving, doing.
22. Wonderfid (things) in the land of Ham, terrible (things) on the Red Sea. Wonderful, literally, (things^ made wonderful
PSALM CVI. C7
or strangely done. Terrible, literally, to be dreaded. Compare Ps. cv. 23, 27.
23. And he said he icould destroy them — unless Moses his elect had stood in the breach before, him^ to turn back his wrath from destroying. The first and last verbs are different in Hebrew, but have only one exact equivalent in English. The second clause is not a part of what God said, but a historical statement of what really prevented the execution of his threatening. He said he would destroy them, and he would have done so, had not Moses, etc. Moses is called the Elect or Chosen of Jehovah, as having been selected and set apart to be Cod's instrument in the great work of deliverance and legislation. The plural is elsewhere applied to the whole nation as the chosen people. See above, v. 5, and Ps. cv. 43. Stood in the breach is a military figure, drawn from the desperate defence of a beseiged town or fortress. Com- pare Jer. XV. i. Ez. xiii. 5. xxii. 30. The historical reference is to Ex. xxxii. 11 — 14. Deut. ix. 18, 19. To turn back his xorath is to prevent its accomplishing its object. See above, on Ps. Ixxviii. 38, and compare Num. xxv. 11.
24. And theij rejected the pleasant land,, they did not believe his word. This refers to the refusal of the people to invade the land of Canaan in the first year of their exodus from Egypt, and to their believing the report of the ten spies in preference to God himself. See above, on Ps. Ixxviii. 22, 32, and compare Num. xiv. 31. The land of desire, the desired or desirable land, is a name also found in Jer. iii. 19.
25. And they murmured in their tents ; they did not hearken to the voice of Jehovah. The form of expression in the first clause is borrowed from Deut. i. 27 ; in the second from Num. xiv. 22.
26. And he lifted his hand to them,, to make them fall in the icil-
68 PSALM C VI.
deniess. The first phrase does not mean, be raised his hand against them, or to strike them, but as the ancient gesture of swearing. See Num. xiv. 28, 30. Deut. i. 34. ii. 14. The last clause contains the oath itself, or what be swore, to wit, that he would make them fall, slay them, in the wilderness. See Num. xiv. 29, 32.
27. And to make their seed fall in the nations^ and to scatter them in the lands. As the appointed punishment of the older generation was to die in the wilderness, so that of their descend- ants was to die in dispersion and captivity among the Gcentiles. See Lev. xxvi. 33, 38, and compare Deut. xxviii. 32, 36, 64, 68. The recollection of this threatening must have been peculiarly afi'ecting to the Jews in Babylon.
28. And they joined themselves to Baal Peor^ and ate the sacri- fices of the dead. He now adds a sin committed near the end of the long error, and on the very borders of the Promised Land. The first verb is properly passive, they icere joined., but this of course does not mean by others but themselves, and thus the simple passive comes to have a reflexive meaning. Baal Poor is the name given to Baal, or the supreme God of the Tyrians and Moabites, as he was worshipped, with licentious rites, at Peor, a mountain in the land of Moab. See Num. xxv. 1 — 3. The dead, not dead men, in allusion to necromantic superstitions, but the dumb or lifeless gods whom they worshipped. See below, on Ps. cxv. 4 — 7, and compare 1 Cor. xii. 2.
29. And they provoked him by their crimes, and the plague hroJic out among them. The first verb means to excite both grief and indignation. Compare the use of the cognate noun in Ps. vi. S (7), and of the verb itself in Ps. Ixxviii. 58. The word trans- lated plague, like its English equivalent, has both a generic and specific meaning ; that of a divine stroke or infliction in general,
PSALM GVr. 69
and that of a pestilential disease in particular. Sec Num. xxv. 18, 19.
30. Then stood up Phinehas and judged, and (so) loas stayed the 'plague. He stood (or rose) tip from among the rest, pre- sented himself before the people. He judged i. e. assumed the office and discharged the duty, from which the regular official judges seemed to shrink. The verb includes the act both of pro- nouncing and of executing judgment. See the narrative in Num. ch. xxv. The form of expression in the last clause is borrowed from Num. xvii. 13 (xvi. 48.)
31. And it was rechoncd to Idm for righteousness, to generation and geTieration, even to eternity. The form of cxpTcssion is bor- rowed from Gen, xv. 6 ; but what is here meant is evidently not a justifying act by which Phinehas was saved, but a praiseworthy act for which he, a justified or righteous man already, received the divine commendation and a pei'petual memorial of his faith- fulness. Compare Dcut. vi. 25. xxiv. 13. The particular reward promised (Num. xxv. 13), that of a perpetual priesthood, is not here mentioned, but was familiar to the mind of every Hebrew reader.
32. And they angered (him) at the tcatcrs of Strife, and it vienf ill with Moses, on their account. See above, on Ps. Ixxxi. 8 (7) xcv. 8. xcix. 8. The Hebrew word for strife is the name o'iven to the place, Merihah. The object of the first verb is Jehovah, as in V. 29. It toent ill with Moses, or, more literally, it was bad for Moses.
33. For they resisted his spirit, and he spake unadvisedly with his lips. Ills spirit may gi-anmiatically signify either that of God or that of IMoses. The latest writers are in favour of the first construction, which is not without analogies in other parts of
70 PSALM CVI.
Scripture (Isai. Ixiii. 10. Eph. iv. 30) , but the other seems entitled to the preference in this connection, because the first clause then contains the ground or reason of the other. It was because the mind of Moses was excited by their opposition, that be spake unadvisedly with his lips. The last verb is one used in the law to denote a precipitate inconsiderate engagement. Lev. v. 4.
34. They did not destroy the nations %chich tlie Lord said to them. The confession now passes from the sins of the wilderness to those of Canaan. The neglect to destroy the Canaanites com- pletely was not only a direct violation! of God's precept, but the source of nearly all the public evils that ensued. There is no need of giving to the last verb a rare and dubious sense (com- manded.) The meaning of the clause is, u-hick Jehovah said to them (must be destroyed.)
35. And they mixed themselves with the nations and learned their doings. The reflexive verb at the beginning indicates an active and deliberate amalgamation, as distinguished from a pas- sive and involuntary one. The nations of the Canaanites, and those which inhabited surrounding countries. The primary idea is not that of gentiles or heathen, in the religious sense. Learned their doings or practices, learned to do as they did. With the first clause compare Jos. xxiii. 12, 13. Judg. iii. 6 ; with the second, Deut. xviii. 9. xx. 18.
36. And served their idols, and titey ivere to thevi for a snare. The word translated idols, by its etymological aflanities, suggests the idea of vexations, pains. See above, on Ps. xvi. 4. A snare, i. e. a temptation to idolatry. Compare Deut. vii. 16.
37. And they sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons. This last is the Septuagint version and, if not directly sanctioned, is at least referred to in the New Testament (1 Cor.
PSALM CVI. 71
X. 20.) That the worship of idols was connected with that of fallen spirits, is neither improbable in itself nor contradictory to Scripture. According to the modern etymologists, the Hebrew word means lords or masters, and is a poetical equivalent to Baalim, which means the same thing. Compare Dcut. xxxii. 17, and the xvgioi of 1 Cor. viii. 5. The word translated devils in Lev. 17. 7 is entirely different.
38. Ami they shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, which they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan; and de- filed icas the land with bloods. The first verb means to pour out and here implies a copious or abundant bloodshed, corresponding to the next verb, which is an intensive form of that used in v. 37. Blood, in the singular, is used in a physical sense ; the plural bloods in a moral one, always implying guilt, and especially the guilt of murder. See above, on Ps. v. 7 (6.) xxvi. 9. li. 16 (14.) Iv. 24 (23.) The first three members of the sentence have re- spect to the prohibitions in Deut. xii. 31. xviii. 10. xix. 10. With the last clause compare Num. xxxv. 33.
39. And they were polluted by their own doings, and went a whoring by their own crimes. They defiled not only the land of promise but themselves. Or rather, this verse is explanatory of the last clause of v. 38, and shows that the pollution of the land was nothing more nor less than that of its inhabitants. The figure of spiritual whoredom or adultery is often used to signify the violation, by the chosen people, of their covenant with God, which is constantly described as a conjugal relation. See above, on Ps. xlv and compare Ps. Ixxiii. 27. This is not stated as an additional ofi"ence but as an aggravating circumstance attending the iniquities already mentioned.
40. A7id the anger of Jehovah, was enkindled at his people, and he abhorred his heritage. This is the strongest form in which his
72 PSALM C VI.
detestation of their sins could be expressed, but does not neces- sarily imply tlie. abrogation of his covenant with thcra. The feeling described is like that of a parent towards His wicked chil- dren, or of husbands and wives, who do not cease to love each other, though grieved and indignant at each other's sins.'~ The word heiilage adds great point to the sentence. He abhorred the very people whom he had chosen to be his, not merely for a sin- gle generation, but for many. See above, on Ps. Ixxviii. 59, 62.
41. And he gave them into the hand of nations^ and over them, ruled their hnicrs. The same nations whom they had rebelliously spared, with others of like spirit — the same nations who had led them into sin — were used as instruments of punishment. Com- pare Lev. xsvi. 17. Judges ii. 14.
42. And /heir enemies oppressed them., and they were bowed down 7ivder their hand. They not only governed them, but governed them tyrannically, so that they were not only under coercion and constraint, but humbled and degraded from the rank of an independent state to that of tributaries and bondsmen. With the terms of this verse compare Judg. i. 34. iii. 30. iv. 3. viii. 28.
43. Many times he free?, them., and they resist (him) by their counsel., and are, brought low by their guilt. Having given in the preceding verses a brief but lively summary of the Book of Judges, the Psalmist now passes, by an almost insensible transi- tion, to the later periods of the history, and indeed to its catas- trophe ; for the meaning of the last clause seems to be, that after all their fluctuations, they at length sink or fall into a ruinous condition, as the ultimate fruit of their rebellions. The meaning of the first clause is, that by their self-willed plans and projects they continually come into collision with the will of God, and with that great providential purpose, in promoting which it was
PSALM CVT. 73
their dut)', and would have been their happiness, to co-operate. With the hist clause compare Lev. xxvi. 39. Ezek. xxxiii. 10.
44. And he /las looked at their disf?'ess rchen he heard them cry. The idiomatic form of the original may thus be represented by a bald translation, and he saw in the distress to them in his hearing their cry. As this follows the brief statement of their downfall, there is much probability in the opinion, that it relates to the " tokens for good," which were granted to the exiled Jews in Babylon long before their actual restoration. With the first clause compare Ex. ii. 25. iv. 31. Deut. iv. 30. Ps. xviii. 7. cii. 3.
45. And he has rememhered for them his covenant.^ and repented according to the abundance of his mercy. For them, i. e. in their favour, for their benefit. It does not qualify covenant., but re- membered. With the first clause compare Lev. xxvi. 42, 45. Ps. cv. S, 42 ; with the second. Num. xiv. 19. Ps. v. 8 (7.) Ixix. 14 (13.) Neh. xiii. 22. The common version of the last word {mercies) rests upon the marginal or masoretic reading ; the more ancient text is mercy.
46. And has given them favour before all their captors. The literal translation of the first clause is, and has given them, for mercies or co7npassions. This remarkable expression is borrowed from 1 Kings viii. 50 (compare 2 Chr. xxx. 9), not only here but in the history of Daniel and his fellow-captives (Dan. i. 9), which makes it not at all improbable, that what is there recorded is among the indications of returning divine favour here referred to by the Psalmist.
47. Sa,ve us, Jehovah, our God, and gather its from the nations, to give thanks unto thy holy name, to glory in thy praise. Encour- aged by these tokens of returning favour, the church prays that the hopes thus raised may not be disappointed, but abundantly
VOL. III. 4
74 PSALM CV .
fulfilled in the restoration of the exiles to their own land, in return for which she indirectly engages to render praise and thanksgiving to Jehovah as her liberator. We are thus brought back to the be- ginninj^ of the psalm, and the voice of confession is again lost in that of anticipated praise. Instead of our God, the parallel pas- sai^e (1 Chr. xvi. 36) has God of our Salvation. The word trans- lated glory occurs only in that passage and the one before us. It is synonymous, however, with the one used in Ps. cv. 3, and often elsewhere, both meaning properly to praise one's self. With the second clause compare Ps. xxx. 5 (4.)
48. Blessed (be) Jehovah, God of Israel, from eternity even to eternity. And all the ^people says Amen. Hallelujah.' Some intei*- preters regard the psalm as closing with the preceding verse, and the one before us as a doxology added to mark the conclusion of the Fourth Book. But here, as in Ps. Ixxii. 19, it is far more probable that this doxology was the occasion of the psalm's being reckoned as the last of a Book, notwithstanding its intimate con- nection with the one that follows. This probability is strength- ened, in the case before us, by the addition of the words, and all the people sai/s Amen, which would be unmeaning, unless the doxology formed part of the psalm itself. The additional words are borrowed from Deut. xxvii. 15 — 26. The parallel passage (1 Chr. xvi. 36) has, And all the people said Amen and give praise (or gave praise) to Jehovah, which last words are represented, in the verse before us, by the Hallelujah {Praise ye Jah!)
PSALM CVII. 75
PSALM evil.
After propounding as his theme the goodness of God in deli- vering his people, and especially in bringing them back from their dispersions, vs. 1 — 3, the Psalmist celebrates this great event, under the various figures of safe conduct through a desert and arrival in a populous city, vs. 4 — 9 ; emancipation from imprison- ment, vs. 10 — 16; recovery from deadly sickness, vs. 17 — 22; deliverance from the dangers of the sea, vs. 23 — 32 ; then de- scribes, in more direct terms, the fall of the oppressor, the restora- tion of Israel, and his happy prospects, vs. 33 — 42 ; ending, as he began, with an earnest exhortation to remember and comme- morate Jehovah's goodness, v. 43. The psalm is so constructed as to admit of being readily applied, either literally or figuratively, to various emergencies ; but its primary reference to the return from exile seems to be determined by vs. 2, 3. According to Hcngstenberg's hypothesis, this psalm was added to the double trilogy by which it is preceded (Ps. 101 — 106), immediately after the return from exile, when the holy city was re-peopled, and the first harvest had been gathered, but the rebuilding of the temple had not yet begun. The whole seven then compose one series or system, intended to be used together in the public worship of the ancient church.
1. Give thanks unto Jehovah^ for he {is) good, for unto eternity (is) Ms mercy. The repetition of the first words of the foregoing psalm, as the beginning of the one before us, strongly favours the
76 PSALM CVII.
opinion, that the latter was designed to be a kind of supplement or appendix to the former.
2. (So) say the. Redeemed of Jehovah, lohom he has redeemed from the hand of distress (or of the enemy.) What they are to say is not the exhortation in the first clause, but the reason for it in the last clause, of the foregoing verse. Let them acknowledge his unceasing mercy, who have just experienced so remarkable a proof of it. The ambiguous word (^12) should probably be taken in the same sense which it elsewhere has throughout this psalm. See below, vs. 6, 13, 19, 28, and compare Ps. cvi. 44. Indeed the two senses may be reconciled by simply supposing the distress to be personified. Compare the unambiguous expression in Ps. cvi. 10. The Redeemed of the Lord is a favourite expression of Isaiah (xxxv. 9, 10. Ixii. 12. Ixiii. 3.)
3. Aiid from the lands has gathered them, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the sea. The Babylonish exile is continually spoken of as a dispersion, either because it is considered as including other minor deportations, or because the migration of the great mass of the people into Babylonia was un- avoidably accompanied, followed, or preceded, by a less extensive and more scattering migration of many individuals and families to other quarters. On the false assumption of a perfect parallelism as indispensable, some have supposed that sea is here put for the south. But this is not the only case in which the enumeration of the cardinal points is complete only in number. See Isai. xlix. 12, and compare Isai. xliii. 5, 6. Ivi. 8. The mention of the sea in- stead of the south may perhaps have reference to the prophecy in Deut. xxviii. 68. The verse before us records the answer to the prayer in Ps. cvi. 47, and thus affords another indication, that the writer of the later composition had the earlier in his eye, and wrote with some intention to illustrate or complete it.
PSALM CVII. 77
4. They wandered in the wilderness^ in a desert way ; a city of habitation found they not. Here begins the first metaphorical account of the Captivity and Restoration, in which the exiles are described as wanderers in a desert way, i. e. as some suppose a pathless desert, which sense, however, can scarcely be extracted from the Hebrew words. Others understand the phrase to mean a way, i. e. a course, a region to be traversed, which is desert ; but this supposes ^vay to be the subject and desert the qualifying term, as they would be in English, but in Hebrew the precise sense is a desert of tvay, or a way-desert, which some interpreters explain to mean a desert in reference to its ways or paths, thus arriving, by a different course, at the meaning first suggested, namely, that of a pathless wilderness. City of habitation may mean a habitable or inhabited city in general, or a city for them to inhabit in particular. The latter is more probable, because the word translated habitation is not an abstract but a local noun, meaning the place where men sit or dwell, according to the pri- mary and secondary meaning of the verbal root. See above, on Ps. i. 1. It may here be either governed by city, as above, or in apposition with it, a city, a dwelling-place, i. e. a city in which they might dwell. There is obvious allusion to Jerusalem, as well as to the great Arabian wilderness, although the contrast of the city and the desert suggests the idea of suifering and relief, by a natural as well as a historical association. See Ez. xxix. 5, and compare Job xii. 24.
5. Hungry — also thirsty — their soul in them shrouds itself. This verse continues the description of the wanderers in the desert. To avoid the ambiguity of an exact version, in which hungry and thirsty might seem to agree with soul, the substantive verb may be supplied in the first clause, {they are) hungry, also thirsty. The primary sense of the reflexive verb at the end of the sentence seems to be that of covering one's self with darkness, or sinking overwhelmed beneath some great calamity. See above,
78 PSALM CVII.
on Ps. Ixxvii. 4 (3), and compare the cognate forms in Ps. Ixi. 3 (2.) Ixv. 14 (13.) cii. i. Isai. Ivii. 16.
6. And they cried to Jehovah in their distress ; from their straits he frees them. Both the nouns, according to their etymology, convey the idea of pressure, compression, painful restraint. In their distress, literally, in the distress to them, that which they had or suffered. See above, on Ps. cvi. 44, and compare Deut. iv. 30. The change from the past tense to the future seems intended merely to describe the act denoted by the second as more recent.
7. And he led them in a straight course, to go to a city of habi- tation. No exact version can preserve or imitate the paronomasia arising from the etymological affinity of the first verb and noun, analogous to that between the English walk and to walk, though the Hebrew forms are only similar and not identical. The idea of physical rectitude or straightness necessarily suggests that of moral rectitude or honesty, commonly denoted by the Hebrew word.
8. Let (such) give thanks to Jehovah (for) his mercy, and his wonderful tvorks to the sons of man. Some interpreters make this the close of a long sentence, beginning with v. 4, and adopt, in all the intervening verses, a relative construction, as if he had said, let such as wandered in the wilderness, whose soul fainted in them, who cried unto the Lord, whom he led etc. let such give thanks unto his name. But although this is certainly the logical connection of the passage, its involution and complexity of form are as far as possible removed from the simplicity of Hebrew syntax, which prefers a distinct enunciation of particulars to all such artificial combinations. This verse constitutes the burden or chorus of the psalm.
9. For he has satisfied the craving soul, and the hungry soul
PSALM CVII. 79
has filled wUh good. This is merely tbe conclusion of the first scene or picture, with a change of figure but a very slight one, as the want of food is one of the most painful and familiar hardships of a journey through a desert, and as such would necessarily occur to every Israelite who knew the story of the error in the wilderness. The first verb has the same sense as in Ps. civ. 13 ; the last noun the same sense as in Ps. ciii. 4. civ. 28. The unusual word translated craving is borrowed from Isai. xsix. 8.
10. Dwelling in darkness and deathshade^ hound in affliction and iron. Here begins the second picture which exhibits the same sufferers, no longer as wanderers in the desert, but as closely confined prisoners. The darkness primarily meant is that of the dungeon, but not without reference to the frequent use of dark- ness in general as an emblem of misery. See above, on Ps. Ixviii. 7(6.) The idea of darkness is then expressed in a still stronger form by the striking compound deathshade or shadow of death, a bold but beautiful description of the most profound obscurity. See above, on Ps. xxiii. 4. The leading words of the two clauses might, in one respect, be more exactly rendered, inhabitants of darkness, prisoners of affliction. See above, on Ps. Ixxviii. 61. There is no mixture of literal and figurative terms in the last clause, but only the addition of a specific to a general term. The affliction particularly meant is that produced by iron, i. e. chains or fetters. See above, on Ps. cv. 18, and with the verse before us compare Isai. xlii. 7. xlix. 9. Job xxxvi. 8. Luke xiii. 16.
11. Because they resisted the words of the Mightiest, and the, counsel of the Highest contemned. This verse introduces what was wanting in the first scene, the fact that these were not inno- cent sufferers. However cruel or unjust their sufferings at the hands of men, they were but condign punishments as sent by God. This is a point of contact and resemblance with the preceding
\,
78 PSALM CVII.
on Ps. kxvii. 4 (3), and compare the cognate forms in Ps. Ixi. 3 (2.) Ixv. 14 (13.) cii. i. Isai. Ivii. 16.
6. And they cried to Jehovah in their distress ; from their straits he frees them. Both the nouns, according to their etymology, convey the idea of pressure, compression, painful restraint. In their distress, literally, in the distress to them, that which they had or suffered. See above, on Ps. cvi. 44, and compare Dent. iv. 30. The change from the past tense to the future seems intended merely to describe the act denoted by the second as more recent.
7. And he led them in a straight course, to go to a city of habi- tation. No exact version can preserve or imitate the paronomasia arising from the etymological affinity of the first verb and noun, analogous to that between the English umlk and to walk, though the Hebrew forms are only similar and not identical. The idea of physical rectitude or straightness necessarily suggests that of moral rectitude or honesty, commonly denoted by the Hebrew word.
8. Let (such) give thanks to Jehovah {for) his mercy, and his wonderful works to the sons of man. Some interpreters make this the close of a long sentence, beginning with v. 4, and adopt, in all the intervening verses, a relative construction, as if he had said, let such as wandered in the wilderness, whose soul fainted in them, who cried unto the Lord, whom he led etc. let such give thanks unto his name. But although this is certainly the logical connection of the passage, its involution and complexity of form are as far as possible removed from the simplicity of Hebrew syntax, which prefers a distinct enunciation of particulars to all such artificial combinations. This verse constitutes the burden or chorus of the psalm.
\
9. For he has satisfied the craving soul, and the hungry soul
'»Mii3
PSALM CVII.
79
has filled with good. This is merely the conclusion of the first scene or picture, with a change of figure but a very slight one, as the want of food is one of the most painful and familiar hardships of a journey through a desert, and as such would necessarily occur to every Israelite who knew the story of the error in the wilderness. The first verb has the same sense as in Ps. civ. 13; the last noun the same sense as in Ps. ciii. 4. civ, 28. The unusual word translated cravins: is borrowed from Isai. xsix. 8.
if ae Helirew
10. DweUivg in darkness and deathshade^ bound in affliction aTid iron. Here begins the second picture which exhibits the same sufi'erers, no longer as wanderers in the desert, but as closely confined prisoners. The darkness primarily meant is that of the dungeon, but not without reference to the frequent use of dark- ness in general as an emblem of misery. See above, on Ps. Ixviii. 7 (6.) The idea of darkness is then expressed in a still stronger form by the striking compound deathslmde or shadow of death, a bold but beautiful description of the most profound obscurity. See above, on Ps. xxiii. 4. The leading words of the two clauses might, in one respect, be more exactly rendered, infuihitants of darkness, prisoners of affliction. See above, on Ps. Ixxviii. 61. There is no mixture of literal and figurative terms in the last clause, but only the addition of a specific to a general term. The affliction particularly meant is that produced by iron, i. e. chains or fetters. See above, on Ps. cv. 18, and with the verse before us compare Isai. xlii. 7. xlix. 9. Job xxxvi. 8. Luke xiii, 16.
jmt'HtiiKT
Wt'iS
1 1 . Because they resisted the words of the Mightiest, and the counsel of the Highest contemned. This verse introduces what was wanting in the first scene, the fact that these were not inno- cent sufferers. However cruel or unjust their sufferings at the hands of men, they were but condign punishments as sent by God. This is a point of contact and resemblance with the preceding
80 PSALM C VII.
psalm, whieli is not without importance. Resisted^ rebelled against, a favourite expression in these psalms. See above, on Ps. cv. 28. cvi. 7, 33, 43. Words or sayings^ commonly applied to promises, and even here combining that idea with the sense of command, because the command which they resisted or rebelled against had reference to the plan or counsel of the Lord for the deliverance of bis people. The word translated mightiest is (blS:) one of the divine names, here represented by an English superlative, in order to preserve the antithesis with Most High in the other clause.
12. And he Ironght doicn, uilk trouble, their heart ; they stumbled and there was no helper. The remedial design and effect of their punishment are beautifully set forth in the first clause. The word translated trouble means originally work or labour, then the pain attending it or flowing from it. Stumbled may here be put for fell, or have the milder sense of tottering or stumbling, as distinguished from a total fall. No helper, or none helping, except God, as intimated in the next verse ; or against God, when he chose to punish them.
13. And they cried to Jehovah in their distress; out of their straits lie saves them. An exact repetition of v. 6, except that the first verb is exchanged for a cognate one, differing only in a single letter, and the last verb for a synonyme still more familiar. As to the consecution of the tenses, see above, on v. 6.
14. He brings them out from darhicss and deathshade, and their bonds he severs. The terms used in describing the deliver- ance are studiou.sly made to correspond with the account of the captivity in v. 10. It is more remarkable, though possibly for- tuitous, that the words of the second clause are the same which David puts into the mouth of the revolted nations, Ps. ii. 3. The English word severs is here used instead of breaks, in order to re- present the more uncommon and poetical term used in Hebrew.
PSALM evil. gl
15, 16. Let (such) give thanks unto Jehovah (for) his mercy, and his ivonderfid works to the sons of vian, because he has broken doors of brass, and bars of iron has cut asunder. The burden iu V. 15 is in all respects identical with v. 8, but the supplemen- tary verse diflfers, according to the prominent figures in the two scenes or pictures. As the idea of famine was selected, in v. 9, from among the hardships of the wilderness, so here the fastenings of the prison are presented in precisely the same manner. In this striking regularity of form, combined with vividness and beauty of conception, there is evidence of art and skill as well as genius. The verb in the first clause of v. 16 is an intensive form of the verb to break, and might here be rendered shattered, shivered, or the like. The corresponding verb in the last clause is a similar in- tensive of the verb to cut. The whole verse is copied from Isai. xlv. 2, where we find the promise, of which this is the fulfilment.
17. Fools by their course of transgression, and by their crimes, afflict themselves. Here begins the third scene or picture, at the very opening of which the charge of folly is added to the previous one of guilt. The reflexive meaning of the verb is essential and cannot be diluted into a mere passive, without weakening the whole sentence, the very point of which consists in making them the guilty authors of their own distresses. The word for trans- gression is the one that originally means revolt from God, apostasy. See above, on Ps. xxxvi. 2 (1.) Course, literally, way or path. By, literally, from, as when we speak of an eflect as arising or proceeding from a cause.
18. All food their soul abhors, and they draio near to the very gates of death. This verse abruptly brings before us the same persons whom we lately beheld wandering in the desert, and then chained in a dark dungeon, now suflering from disease, such as not only mars their pleasures, but threatens to abbreviate their lives. Compare Ps. cii. 3. Job xxxiii. 20. The expression very
4*
82
PSALM CVII.
gates, in tlie translation of tlie last clause, is intended to convey the full force of the Hebrew preposition (n5) which is stronger than (bst) to. See above, on Ps. Ivii. 11 (10.) With the last clause compare Ps. ix. 14. Ixxxviii. 4 (3.) Job. xxxiii. 22. Isai. xxxviii. 9.
19. And they cry to Jehovah in their distress ; out of their straits he saves them. See above on vs. 6, 13, with the last of which this agrees exactly.
20. He sends his tvord and heals them., and malxs them escape from their destructions, i. e. those which threatened them, and from which escape appeared impossible. He sends his word, he issues his command, exerts his sovereign power and authority. The last word in the Hebrew occurs only here and once in Lamentations (iv. 20.) The modern interpreters have pits or graves ; but such a derivation from the verbal root is without example or analogy. See above, on Ps. xvi, 10- With the first clause compare Ps. xxx. 3 (2.) xxxiii. 9. Isai. Ivii. IS ; with the last Ps. ciii. 4.
21. 22. Let (such) give thanks unto Jehovah (for) his mercy ^ and his wonderful worhs to the sons of man ; and let them sacri- fice sacrifices of thanksgiving, and recount his deeds xcith {joyful) singing. The freedom from technical and artificial rules of rhetoric or versification, e'ven in those parts of the composition which exhibit most of art and skill, is peculiarly observable in this verse, where, instead of adding to the uniform chorus or refrain some particular image from the scene just closing, as in vs. 9, 16, the Psalmist continues and completes the sentence by repeat- ing the exhortation to give thanks, in another but still figurative form, derived from the musical and sacrificial customs of the temple worship. They must not only utter thanks but oflFer them
PSALM evil. 83
in sacrifice. Thoy must not only offer thom in sacrifice but sing them. With the first clause compare Ps. 1. 14.
23. Going doimi th?, sea, in ships, doing business in the. many waters. Here again the scene is shifted, and the exiles pass before us, not as wanderers in the desert, or as captives in the dungeon, or as suffering from sickness, but as mariners engaged in an adventurous voyage. Descending, going down, seems to be an idiomatic phrase, borrowed from Isai. xlii. 10, and equivalent to going out to sea in English. The expression may have refer- ence to the general elevation of the land above the water (see above, on Ps. xxiv. 2), but is directly opposite to our phrase, the high seas, and to the classical usage of ascending ships, i. e. em- barking, and descending, i. e. landing. Doing business has its ordinary sense, as applied to trade or traffic. The last words may also be translated great or mighty waters ; but the usage of the Psalms is in favour of the version many waters, which more- over forms a beautiful poetical equivalent to sea or ocea7i. This imao-e could not fail to suggest, however indirectly, the idea of the world with its commotions, of which the constant emblem is the sea. See above, on Ps. xlvi. 4 (3.) Ixv. 8 (7.)lxxxix. 10 (9.) xciii. 3, 4, and compare Matt. viii. 23 — 26. Mark iv. 36 — 41. Luke viii. 22—25.
24. They saw the icorks of Jehovah, and his toonders in the deep. The pronoun at the beginning is emphatic, (it is) they (that) see (or saw) the works of the Lord, as if others could lay claim to no such privilege or honour. Both the senses of the phrase God''s works are appropriate in this connection, his works of creation and his works of providence. The last word is another poetical equivalent to sea or ocean. See above, on Ps. Ixix. 3 (2.)
25. And he said — and there arose a stormy wind, and it lifted wp his waves. He now parenthetically specifies some of the divine
84 PSALM C VI I.
uwrks wliich he had just mentioned in the general. The form of expression at the beginning, as in all like cases, involves an allu- sion to the history of the creation, where each creative act is pre- ceded by Grod's saying, let it be. So here, the full sense is, and God said (let a stormy wind arise) and a stormy inind arose. See above, on Ps. xxxiii. 9. Arose, literally, stood, stood up, as in Pe. cvi. 30. A stormy wind, literally, a wind of storm or tem- pest. Instead ci his waves we may read its waves, and refer the pronoun to the remoter antecedent (sea) in v. 23. Deep, in v. 24, is of a different gender. It is equally correct, however, and more natural, to refer it to Jehovah, as the maker of the sea and the ruler of its waves. Compare the expression thy toaves and thy billows in Ps. xlii. 8. See also Isai. li. 15. Jer. xxxi. 35.
26. They rise (to) the heavens ; they sink {to) the depths ; their soul with evil dissolves itself. That the verbs in the first clause relate not to the waves but to the mariners, is evident from the last clause. The words rise and sink are used instead of ascend, descend, or go up, go down, because the Hebrew verbs have no etymological affinity, nor even a single letter common to their roots. The ellipsis of the preposition to is frequent, or rather verbs of motion in Hebrew may be construed directly with a noun, where our idiom requires the intervention of a par- ticle. Evil in the last clause may denote their evil state or painful situation, with all the cu-cumstances comprehended in it ; or more specifically, their distress and painful feelings. Com- pare Gen. xli. 29. The reflexive form of the last verb is not essential to the meaning of the sentence, as in v. 17, and may therefore be explained as an intensive or emphatic passive, it is melted. See above, on Ps. xxii. 15 (14.) With the whole verse compare Ps. civ. 8.
27. They reel and stagger like a drunken {man), and all their wisdom is confounded. By rvisdom we are here to understand
PSALM evil. 85
reason, common sense, that which makes men rational and raises them above the brutes. This is phiin from the comparison with drunkenness, the only point of which must be the loss of reason. The reeling and staggering may relate to the irregular and violent motion of a vessel in a storm, or, as the last clause does, to the mariners themselves. The last verb literally means is sioallmced ztp, or retaining the reflexive form, still more strongly, sioallows itself lip. But see above, on the last word of v. 26.
28. And they cried to Jehovah in their distress, and out of their straits he brings them forth. The consecution of the tenses cor- responds to the relation of the acts which they denote, as viewed by a spectator. ' Now they have cried to the Lord, and now he is bringing them forth.' The verse differs from vs. 13, 19, in the first verb, which agrees with v. 6, and in the last verb which is unlike both.
29. He stills the storm to a. calm, and silent are their waves. This is an amplification of the last phrase in v. 28, and shows how it is that he brings them forth. The first verb strictly means he makes it stand, but in a sense directly opposite to that of a synonymous though different verb in v. 25. Calm, literally, silence, stillness. Their waves, the waves from which they suf- fer, by which they are buffeted. Compare his tvavcs in v. 25.
30. And they are glad that they are q7('ict, and he guides them to their desired haven. The connection might be rendered clearer by translating with the English Bible, then are they glad^ etc. The last word in the verse occurs only here, and is by some translated shore, by others goal ; but it is safer to retain the old interpretation, ■swhich affords a perfectly good sense, and rests upon the joint authority of the Babbinieal tradition and the Septuagint version.
86 PSALM CVII.
31, 32. Let (such) give tkanks to Jehovah (for) his mercy, and his wonderful worJxS to the sons of man ; and let them exalt him in the congregation of the people, and in the session of the elders praise him. Here again we have a striking instance of variety combined with uniformity. The burden or chorus, as in v. 22, is followed by a solemn exhortation to connect the required thanksgiving with the forms of public worship. But instead of the temple with its sacrifices and its chants, the reference in this case, it should seem, is to the spiritual worship of the synagogue. The word translated congregation is one constantly applied to Israel, as actually gathered at the place of worship. See above, on Ps. xxii. 23 (22.) The word session is employed in the translation of the last clause, not for the sake of a verbal coincidence with Presbyterian institutions, a coincidence however which is not to be denied, but because it adequately represents the Hebrew (3B'i>3) in its double acceptation, as denoting both the act and the place of sitting, and especially of sitting together. See above, on v. 4. The elders, here as elsewhere, are the heads of tribes and families, the hereditary chiefs and representatives of Israel.
33. He turns streams into a toildcrncss, and springs of water to a thirsty place. As the shifting of the scene is not renewed in the remainder of the psalm, which, on the other hand, if viewed as a distinct and independent portion of the poem, mars its symmetry of structure, it seems best to regard these verses as an episode belonging to the last scene and containing the praises of the people and their elders. The figures in this verse are often used, particularly by Isaiah, to denote an entire revolution, ■whether physical or moral, social or political. Compare Isai. xliv. 26, 27. 1. 2. Jer. 1. 38. li. 36. It thus prepares the way for the subsequent rejoicings in the downfall of Babylon and the restoration of the exiled Jews.
PSALM CVII. 87
34. A fruitful land to saltncss, for the wickedness of those dwel- ling in it. The sentence is continued from the fore2;oing verse, the nouns being governed by the verb he turns. The first phrase literally means a land of fruit. The next noun may be taken either in the abstract sense of saltness or the concrete one of a saline soil or region, and by implication barren. For., literally from, as in v. 17 above. Compare the threatening in Isai. xiii. 19, and the great historical type of all such judgments, the de- struction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
35. He turns a desert to a pool of water, and a dry land into springs of water. This is the reverse of the description in v. 33, to which the terms are studiously conformed. In both cases the first verb literally means he sets or p^its, and the noun translated springs means issues or places where the waters issue. Compare Isai. XXXV. 7. xli. 18. xliii. 20.
36. And has settled there famisMd (men), and they have estallished a city to dwell in. There is no need of assuming, that the desert thus transformed is Palestine or Canaan. It is better to adhere to the general import of the figures, which is change for the bet- ter. Settled, literally, caused to dwell. The priniary meaning of the last clause is that those once homeless have a home ; but there is of course a reference to the repossession and rebuildin(T of Jerusalem. The last phrase in Hebrew is the same with that translated city of habitation in v. 4.
37. And have sowed fields, and planted vineyards, and made fruits of increase. The form of all these verbs requires them to be understood, like those of v. 36, as referring to time actually past, from which some have inferred that the date of the psalm itself lay between the first ingathering of the fruits by the returned Jews and the founding of the temple, to which there is here no allusion. The word translated increase is applied elsewhere to
88 PSALM CVII,
the annual productions of the earth. See Lev. xxv. 16. To make these is to gain or acquire them by cultivation, as we speak of making money, but of raising corn. See above, on Ps. Ix. 14 (12.)
38. And he has blessed thc7n, and they have increased greatly^ and (even) their cattle he does not diviinish. Increased, not in numbers merely, but in wealth, strength, and prosperity. See Deut. sxx. 16. The verb to diminish is borrowed from Lev. xxvi. 22. The negation may be understood as a 7nciosis, meaning to increase or multiply. The whole of this description agrees well with the encouraging appearances, by which the Restoration was attended and immediately followed, before the colony experienced reverses or had lost the fresh impression of their recent sufferings and privations, which are mentioned in the next verse.
39. And they were diminished and hroicght low, from oppression, suffering, and grief. The only gj-ammatical construction of the verbs is that which refers them to a former time, i. e. to the con- dition of the people under Babylonian oppression. The sense is therefore quite mistaken in the English, though correctly given in the ancient versions. The contrast is intended to enhance the joy and thankfulness of the restored exiles. These, now so pros- perous, are the very men who lately were in abject misery.
40. Pouring contempt on princes — and he has made iJiem wan- der in a waste (where there is) no way. From the exiles he reverts to their Deliverer, and describes him as spurning the most lordly of their persecutors — nay as making them take the place of those whom they oppressed, which idea is conveyed by the figure before used of wanderers in a pathless desert. See above, on V. 4, and compare Job. xii. 21, 24. The word for waste or void is one of those used in Gen. i. 2, to describe the original con- dition of the earth.
PSALM CVIII. 89
41 . A7id has raised the poor from affliction, and made like a flock families. The first verb suggests the two-fuld idea of elevation from a wretched state, and security from future danger. For its ordinary sense, see above, on Ps. xx. 2(1.) xci. 14. The last clause simply means, he has increased the people who were so reduced in strength and numbers.
42. The righteous shall see and rejoice, and all iniquity stop htr mouth. The righteous are the true Israel, as in Ps. xxxiii. 1. Num. xxiii. 10. Dan. xi. 17. With the last clause compare Job V. IC. Isai Hi. 15.
43. Who {is) wise and will olserve these things, and attentively consider the mercies of Jehovah ? The change of number in the Hebrew does not affect the meaning. Whoever is wise will ob- serve these things, and all who are wise will consider them. With this conclusion compare Hos. xiv. 10. Isai, xlii. 23. Jer. ix. 11.
PSALM CVIII.
1. A Song. A Psalm. By David. This is not an original or independent composition, but a compilation from two other psalms, which have already been explained. The introduction, vs. 2 — 6 (1 — 5) is substantially identical with Ps. Ivii. 8 — 12 (7_11) ; the body of the psalm, vs. 7—13 (6—12), with Ps.
Ix. 7 14 (5 — 12.) The supposition of erroneous copies, or of
later corruptions, is still more improbable in this case than in those of Ps. xviii, liii, Ixx. The best solution which has been
¥
90 PSALM C VI 1 1.
proposed is, that David himself combined these passages to be the basis of a trilogy (Ps. cviii — cs), adapted to the use of the church at a period posterior to the date of Ps. Ivii. and Ix. The comments here will be confined to the variations, as in Ps. liii and Ixx.
2(1.) Fixed is my heart, oh God, fixed is my heart ; / will sing and play — also my glory. See above, on Ps. Ivii. 8 (7.) The words here added, also my glory, correspond to the first clause of the next verso in that psalm, awake my glory !
3 (2.) Aicahe lute and harp ! I will atvaken the daion (or morning.) See above, on Ps. Ivii. 9 (8.) The only variation is the one already mentioned, the omission here of the words awake my glory, for which the last clause of v. 2 (1) is a substitute.
4 (3.) I will thank thee among the nations, oh Jehovah, I ivill praise thee among the peoples. See above, on Ps. Ivii. 10 (9.) The only variation is the substitution of the name Jehovah for Adhonai, a change scarcely perceptible in the English versions.
5 (4.) For great from above the heavens (is) thy mercy, and unto the clouds thy truth. See above, on Ps. Ivii. 11 (10.) The only variation is the change of ("IS') unto into (i?^) from above.j apparently intended to suggest the idea of God's mercy as de- scending upon man.
6 (5.) Be thou high above the heavens, oh God, and above all the earth thy glory. See above, on Ps. Ivii. 12 (11.) The only variation is the introduction of the copulative and at the begin- ninc: of the second clause.
7 (6.) Ifi order that thy beloved {ones) may be delivered, save with, thy right handj and hear (or answer) us. See above, on
PSALM CVIII. 91
Ps. Ix. 7 (5), with which this verse agrees in all points, not ex- cepting the keri or various reading in the last word {me for us.)
8 (7.) God hath spoken in his holiness (and therefore) I ivill triitmph, I will divide Shcchctn, and the valley of Succotk 1 will vieasure. See above, on Ps. Ix. 8 (6), with which this verse agrees exactly.
9 (8.) To me (belongs) Gilcad, to me Manasseh^ and Ephraim the strength of my head^ Judah my laiogiver. See above, on Ps. Ix. 9 (7.) The only variation is the omission, in the verse before us, of the and after Gilead.
10 (9.) Moab (is) my tv ash-pot ; at Edom will I throw my shoe ; over Pkilistia ivill I shout aloud. See above, on Ps. Ix. 10 (S) At the end of this verse is the most material variation in the whole psalm, which, however, is evidently not fortuitous or by a later hand, but intentional and made by the original writer. I will shout alojul, as an expression of triumph over a conquered enemy,
11 (10.) Who will bring me {to) the fortified city? TT^o leads (or has led,) me up to Edom 1 See'above on Ps. Ix. 11 (9.) The only variation is the change of one synonymous word for another, to express the idea of a fortified city.
12 (11.) (Is it) not God., toho hast cast us off, and wilt not go forth loith our hosts 1 See above on Ps. Ix. 12 (10.) The only variation consists in the omission of the emphatic pronoun thou., which is expressed in the parallel passage, and only implied in the one before us. Some interpreters suppose a sudden change of construction from the third to the second person. Is it not God — (even thou who) didst cast us off, etc.
13 (12.) Give us help from the enemy (or from distress); and
92 PSALM CI X.
(the rather because) vain is the salvation of man, meaning that which he affords. See above, on Ps. Ix. 13 (11), which agrees with this exactly.
14 (13.) In God we will make (i. e. gain or gather) strength, and he will tread down (or trample on) onr adversaries (perse- cutors or oppressors.) See above, on Ps. Ix. 14 (12), between which and the verse before us there is not the slightest differ-
PSALM C I X .
This psalm consists of three parts ; a complaint of slanderous and malignant enemies, vs. 1 — 5 ; a prayer for the punishment of such, vs. 6 — 20 ; and a prayer for the sufferer's own deliver- ance, with a promise of thanksgiving, vs. 21 — 31. According to the theory repeatedly referred to, this is the second psalm of a Davidic trilogy. See above, on Ps. cviii. This psalm is re- markable on two accounts ; first, as containing the most striking instances of what are called the imprecations of the psalms ; and then, as having been applied in the most explicit manner to the sufferings of our Saviour from the treachery of Judas, and to the miserable fate of the latter. These two peculiarities are. perhaps more closely connected than they may at first sight seem. Per- haps the best solution of the first is that afforded by the second, or at least by the hypothesis, that the Psalmist, under the direc- tion of the Spirit, viewed the sufferings of Israel, which furni.shed the occasion of the psalm, as a historical type of the IMessiah's sufferings from the treachery of Judas, representing that of
PSALM CIX. 93
Judah, and that with this view he expresses his abhorrence of the crime, and acquiesces in the justice of its punishment, in stronger terms than would have been, or are elsewhere, employed in reference to ordinary criminals.
1. To the Chief Musician. By David. A Psalm. God of my praise., be not silent. The first, inscription was particularly necessary here because the psalm might otherwise have seemed to be a mere expression of strong personal feeling. See above, on Ps. li. 1. God of my praise., i. e. the object of it, whom I delight, or am accustomed, or have cause, to praise. Be not silent means not merely do not refuse to ansicer, but amidst the threats and railings of my enemies, let thy voice be heard also. See above, on Ps. xxviii. 1. xxxv. 22. xxxix. 13. (12.)
2. For a wicked moutk and a mouth of deceit they have opened ; they have spoken against me with a tongue of falsehood. Com- pare Ps. xxxv. 11. Iv. 4 (3.) The subject of the first verb is his enemies, and not the nouns preceding, as the verb translated open is elsewhere always active. Against me, literally, with me, implying that they charged him falsely to his face, a circumstance remarkably fulfilled in Christ. See Matth. xxvi. 59.
3. And toith words of hatred they have compassed me, and have fought against me without cause. See above, on Ps. xxxv. 20. xxxvi, 4 (3.)
4. In return for my love they are my adversaries — and I (am) prayer. The first word in Hebrew strictly means instead or in lieu of. The unusual expression at the end can only mean, 1 am all prayer, I do nothing but pray, which some understand to sig- nify, I bear their persecution meekly and continue my devotions undisturbed by their calumnies and insults. But as the whole context is descriptive, not of the sufferer's behaviour but of his
94 PSALM CIX.
enemies', a more probable sense is, I am forced to be continually praying for protection against them and deliverance from them.
5. They laij wpon me evil instead of good and haired instead of love. The first verb literally means they set or place. Instead of the good and the love which they owed me, or in return for my kindness and love to them, as in v. 4.
6. Appoint thou over him a wicked one., and let an adversary stand upon his right hand. The first verb in Hebrew means to place one in authority or charge over another. See Gen. xxxix. 5. xli. 34. Num. i. 50 and compare Lev. xxvi. 16. Jer. xv. 3.
- Wicked one. and adversary (Sata7i), although here used as appel- latives or common nouns, are the very terms applied, in the later scriptures, to the Evil Spirit or the Devil. See Job i. 6. ii. 1. 1 Chr. xxi. 1. Zech. iii. 1,2. In the place last cited he stands too at the right hand of the sinner to accuse him. The change of number in the verse before us might, in conformity with usage, be explained as a mere difference of form, the ideal person denoted by the singular being really the type and representative of the whole class denoted by the plural. But the constancy with which the chano'e, in this case, is adhered to, rather favours the conclusion, that a real individual is meant, to whom the Psalmist turns from the promiscuous crowd of his oppressors. For a similar transi- tion, see above, on Ps. Iv. 13 (12.)
7. When he is tiied he shall go forth guilty, and his prayer shall be for sin. The future meaning of the second verb is deter- mined by the form of the third, which is not apocopated, as in vs. 12, 13. When he is tried, literally, in his being tried. The next phrase simply means that he shall be condemned ; the last clause, that his very prayer for mercy shall be reckoned as a new offence, a strong description of extreme judicial rigour and inexorable justice.
PSALM CIX. 95
8. Let his days be few — Ms office let another take. The word translated office is a collateral derivative of the verb at the be- ginning of V. 6, and means commission, charge. This expression makes it still more probable that a real individual is referred to, as the possession of a charge or office could not be common to the whole class of malignant enemies. The Septuagint version is £niaKOTni\i' ^ oversight or supervision, corresponding exactly to the meaning of the Hebrew verb in v. 6. This translation is retained in Acts i. 20, where the verse before us is expressly quoted by Peter, as " written in the book of Psalms," and applied to the case of Judas Iscariot.
9. Let his sons be orphans and his wife a widow. He here passes from the person of the criminal to the sufferings of those dependent on him. See Ex. xx. 5.
10. And umnder — wander — let his sons and beg, and seek (their food) from (among) their ruins. The emphatic repetition of the first verb is expressed, in the English Bible, by a paraphrase, let his children be continually vagabonds. The last clause is ex- tremely graphic, representing them as creeping forth in search of food from amidst the ruins of their habitations.
11. Let a creditor entrap all he has, and strangers phtnder (the fruit of) his labojir. The first noun originally means a lender, but in usage has the accessory sense of a hard creditor, an extor- tioner. The verb means to lay a snare for, as in Ps. xxxviii. 13 (12.) Strangers, not his natural heirs, not members of his family. See Deut. xxv. 5.
12. Let there be no one to him extending mercy, and let there be no one shotving favour to his orphans. The verb translated ex- tend literally means draw out, prolong, and is applied to the con- tinued indulgence both of hostile and amicable feelings. See
96 PSALM CI X.
above, on Ps. xxviii. 3. xxxvi. 11 (10.) Ixxxv. 6 (5.) Showing favour, exercising mercy, as in Ps. xxxvii. 21.
13. Lei his posterity be cut: ojf ; in the next generation, Hotted out he their name. The word for posterity strictly means futurity, after part, or latter end. See above, Ps. xxxvii. 37, 38. Ctct off, literally, for cutting off. The next or after generation, as in Ps. xlviii. 14 (13.) The plural pronoun their refers to the col- lective noun posterity.
14. Let the guilt of his fathers he reviemhered by Jehovah, and his mother''s sin not blotted out. This is perhaps the most fearful im- precation in the psalm, as it extends the consequences of trans- gression, not merely to the children, who might naturally be ex- pected to partake of them, but. to the parents. It is not to be forgotten, however, that in all such cases, the personal guilt of the implicated parties is presupposed, and not inferred from their connection with the principals. Remembered by (literally to) Jehovah, which may possibly mean brought to his remembrance, recalled to mind by another, perhaps by the accuser before men- tioned.
15. J^et them he before Jehovah ahoays, and let him C2it off from the earth their memory. The subject of the first clause is the guilt and sin mentioned in the verse preceding. Before Jehovah^ in his sight, an object of attention to him. See above, Ps. xc. 8 With the last clause compare Ps. ix. 7 (6.) xxxiv. 17 (16.)
16. Because that he did not remember to do mercy, and perse- cuted an afflicted and poor man, and one smitten in heart, to kill (him.) There is an antithesis between the remember of this verse and the reviemhered of v. 14. Though he did not remember mercy, God remembers guilt. The last phrase, to kill, denotes both the design and the extent of the malignant persecution, which
PSALM CIX. 97
was deadly or to death. The object of the persecution is the psahuist hiniRC'lf, or the ideal person whom he represents. See V. 22.
17. And he loved a curse, and if has come (upon) him ; and he delighted not in Messing, and it has removed far from him. This verse contemplates the event as actually past. The optative moauino;, mven to the verbs in the Enfrlish Bible, is as incon- sistent with the form of the oricinal as the future meaning; eiven in the Prayer Book and the ancient versions.
18. And he has jiut on cursing as his garment, and it has come like water into his inside, and like oil into his bones. There is an obvious climax in this verse. That which is first described as the man's exterior covering, is then said to be within him, first as "water, then as oil or ftit, first in the vessels of his body, then in his very bones. The general idea is that the curse, which he de- nounced and endeavoured to inflict on others, has taken possession of himself, both within and without. Compare Num. v. 22, 24, 27. The first clause admits of a diiferent construction, which would make it descriptive of the crime and not the punishment. He put on cursing as his garment, and (now) it has come, etc. This construction introduces an antithesis, and there- by adds to the point of the sentence, and is also recommended by the analogy of v. 17.
19. Let it be to him as a garment (that) he wears, and for a belt let him alioays gird it. This is not a mere reiteration of the figure in the first clause of v. 18, but conveys the additional idea of a habitual and constant presence. The word belt is used in the translation of the last clause, because the Hebrew word to which it corresponds is not the usual derivative of the verb that follows, but etymologically unconnected with it.
20. (Be) this the wages of my adversaries from Jehovah, and
VOL. irr. — 5
98 PSALM CI X.
of those speaking evil against my soul. The pronoun this in the first clause refers to the whole preceding sei-ics of denunciations. The word translated wages means originally toork^ and secondarily the price or recompense of work or labour, and is so used in the law of Moses. See Lev. xix. 13. It is here peculiarly appropriate because it represents the misfortunes of his enemies as the direct fruit of their own misconduct. No single word in English can express this double meaning of the Hebrew. Such is their work and such their wages. The word translated adversaries is a cog- nate form to that used in v. 6, and might suggest the idea of my Satans ; but this would probably convey too much. From Je- hovah., their reward or recompense to be expected from him, or already bestowed by him. The description in the last clause in- cludes insult, slander, and malicious plotting.
21. And thou., Jehovah, Lord., do with me for thy nnmeh sake ; because good is thy mercy, set me free. The emphatic thou at the beginning indicates a contrast between God and his oppressors. Do with me is a common English phrase meaning deal tvith me, dispose of me ; but no such idiom exists in Hebrew, and the best authorities regard the construction as elli^jtical and make it mean, do kindness (or shew mercy) to me. With the last clause com- pare Ps. Ixiii. 4 (3.) Ixix. 17 (16.)
22. For afflicted and poor (am) /, and my heart is wo^mded within me. This, though indefinite in form, is equivalent to say- ing, I am the afflicted and poor man whom the malignant adver- sary persecuted, as was said in v. 16. The word translated wounded strictly fneans pierced or perforated, a stronger expres- sion than the one in v. 16. With the first clause compare Ps. xl. 18 (17.) Ixix. 30 (29.)
23. L,ike a shadow at its turning I am gone ; / am driven away like the locust. The first comparison is the same with that
PSALM CIX. 99
in Ps. cii. 12. Our idioai enables us to imitate the phrase I am goncj a passive which in Hebrew occurs only here. The other verb is rare, but its meaning is suflQcientlj determined by usao-e. The allusion here is to the violence with which a cloud of locusts in the east is scattered by the wind. Compare Ex. x. 19. Joel ii. 20. Nah. iii. 17.
24. My knees totter from fasting, and my flesh fails from fat- •mss. The last phrase is obscure but seems to mean/Vo?w heing fat, so that it is not fat ; the privative usage of the preposrtiou being very common. The sense thus put upon the verb is justi- fied by the analogy of Isai. Iviii. 11, where an equivalent expres- sion is applied to failing waters. Some interpreters, however, insist upon retaining the strict sense both of verb and noun, and understand the clause to mean, my flesh lies or deceives the eye, by no longer appearing as it once did, or by seeming to exist when it is gowG, from oil, i. e. from want of oil, because no longer taken care of and anointed. But no construction could well be more forced and far-fetched. It may also be objected that the external use of oil was to anoint the head on festive occasions, not to fatten the person or preserve the flesh.
25. And I have been a reproach to them, they see me, they shake their head. A reproach, an object of contempt, as in Ps. xxii. 7(6.) xsxi. 12 (11.) As to the meaning of the gesture men- tioned in the last clause, see above, on Ps. xxii. 8 (7.)
26. Help me, Jehovah, my God, save me, according to thy mercy. The renewed description of his sufi"crings, in vs. 22 — 25, is fol- lowed by a renewed petition for deliverance, corresponding to that in V. 21. According to thy mercy, i. e. in proportion to its great- ness and the freencss with which it is exercised.
27. And they shall know that this (is) thy hand ; thou, Jehovah^
100 PSALM CIX.
hast done it. The optative construction, let them A-?zo?(','and the subjunctive one, that they may hioio, are really involved in the more exact translation, they shall knoto. The subject of the verb may be men in general, or the persecuting adversaries in par- ticular, more probably the latter, because they are referred to, both before and after. This is thy hnnd^ i. e. this deliverance is the product of thy power. Compare Ps. lix. 14 (13.)
28. They loill curse., and thou wilt bless ; they have risen up., and shall he shamed., and thy servant shall he glad. The first clause, expressed in our idiom, would bo, they may cxirse hut thou tcilt bless. Risen up, i. e. against me, a favourite expression in the Psalms. Shamed, in the pregnant sense of being disappointed, defeated, confounded. Thy servant, i. e. I as such, in that ca- pacity or character.
29. Clothed shall my adversaries he icith confusion, and dressed., as a rohe, in their shame. This is not the mere expression of a wish, like that in v. IS, which would here be out of place, but a confident anticipation, with which he concludes the psalm. Com- pare Ps. Ixxi. 13. The word translated rohe denotes a garment reaching to the feet, and expresses therefore still more strongly the idea that Lis foes shall be completely covered with confusion.
30. I uiill thank Jehovah greatly with my mouth, and in the midst of many will I praise him. He vows that his thanksgiving shall not be merely mental or domestic, but audible and public. With the last clause compare Ps. xxii. 23 (22.)
31. For he ivill stand at the right hand of a poor (man), to save {kim) from the judges of his soul. This assigns the special rea- son of his promised praise. The verse is in strong contrast to V. 6 above, especially if Satan be there taken as a proper name. The right hand here is not the j^lacc of honour but of pjotection.
PSALM ex. 101
A poor man, as in v. IG, means this poor man, i. e. me a poor man. Compare Ps. xxxiv. 7 (6) The last clause is correctly paraphrased in the common version, those that condemn his soul.
PSALM ex.
This is the counterpart of the Second Psalm, completing the prophetic picture of the conquering Messiah. The progressive development of the Messianic doctrine lies in this, that the King- ship of Messiah, there alleged and confirmed by a divine decree, is here assumed at the beginning, and then shown to be connected with his Priesthood, which is also solemnly proclaimed, and its perpetuity ensured by a divine oath. This constitutes the centre of the psalm, v. 4, to which all the rest is either introductory, vs. 1 — 3,, or supplementary, v. 5—7. The repeated, explicit, and emphatic application of this psalm, in the New Testament, to Jesus Christ, is so far from being arbitrary or at variance with the obvious import of the psalm itself, that any other application is ridiculous. The chief peculiarity of form is a frequent change of person, not unlike that in Ps. xci.
1. By David. A Psalm. Thus saith Jehovah to my Lord, Sit thow at my riqht hand, unlil I mahe thine enemies thy foot- stool. The ascription of the psalm to David is not only uncon- tradicted by external evidence, but corroborated by the internal character of the composition, its laconic energy, its martial tone, its triumphant confidence, and its resemblance to other undis- puted psalms of David. In addition to all this, we have the authority of Christ himself, who not only speaks of it as David's, but founds an argument upon it, the whole force of which depends upon its having been composed by him. See Matt. xxii. 43.
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Mark xii. 36. Luke xx. 42, and compare Acts ii. 34. As a fur- ther confirmation of the truth of this inscription, some allege the obvious relation of this psalm to those before it, as forming with them a Davidic trilogy. See above, on Ps. cviii. 1. Thus saith Jehovah^ or more exactly, a dictum (or saying) of Jehovah. For the origin and usage of this formula, used only in prophetic declarations, see above on Ps. xxxvi. 2 (1.) My Lord^ i. e. David's, as our Saviour explicitly declares in the passages already cited, yet not of David merely as a private person, nor even as an individual king, but as representing his own royal race and the house of Israel over which it reigned. The person thus de- scribed as the superior and sovereign of David and his house and of all Israel, could not possibly be David himself, nor any of his sons and feuccessors except one, who, by virtue of his twofold nature, was at once his sovereign and his son. See Rom. i. 3, 4. That the Lord here meant was universally identified with the Messiah by the ancient Jews, is clear, not only from their own traditions, but from Christ's assuming this interpretation as the basis of his argument to prove the Messiah's superhuman na- ture, and from the fact that his opponents, far from questioning this fact, were unable to answer him a word, and afraid to interrogate him further (Matt. xxii. 46.) The original form of expression, in the phrase Sit at my right hand, is the same as in Ps. cix. 31. A seat at the right hand of a king is mentioned in the Scriptures as a place of honour, not arbitrarily, but as implying a participa- tion in his power, of which the right hand is a constant symbol. See above, on Ps. xlv. 10 (9), and compare Matt. xix. 28. The sitting posture is appropriate to kings who are frequently described as sitting on their thrones. See above, on Ps. xxix. 10. In this case, however, the posture is of less moment than the position. Hence Stephen sees Christ standing at the right hand of God (Acts vii. 55, 56), and Paul simply says he is there (Rom. viii. 34.) The participation in the divine power, thus ascribed to the Messiah, is a special and extraordinary one, having reference to
PSALM ex. ^ 103
the total suLjugation of his enemies. This idea is expressed by the figure of their being made his footstool, perhaps with allusion to the ancient practice spoken of in Josh. x. 24. This figure itself, however, presupposes the act of sitting on a throne. It does not imply inactivity, as some suppose, or mean that Jehovah would conquer his foes for him, without any intervention of his own. The idea running through the whole psalm is, that it is in and through him that Jehovah acts for the destruction of his enemies, and that for this very end he is invested with almighty power, as denoted by his session at the right hand of God. This session is to last until the total subjugation of his enemies, that is to say, this special and extraordinary power of the Messiah is then to terminate, a representation which agrees exactly with that of Paul in 1 Cor. xv. 24 — 28, where the verse before us is dis- tinctly referred to, although not expressly quoted. It is there- fore needless, though grammatical, to give the until an in elusive meaning, namely, until then and afterwards, as in Ps. cxii, 8 below. This verse , it has been said, is more frequently quoted or referred to, in the New Testament, than any other in the Hebrew Bible. Besides the passages already cited, it lies at the foundation of all those which represent Christ as sitting at the right hand of the Father. See 3Iatt. xxvi. 64. 1 Cor. XV. 25. Eph. i. 20—22. Phil. ii. 9—11. Heb. i. 3, 14. viii. 1. X. 12, 13. 1 Pet. iii. 22, and compare Rev. iii. 21.
2. The rod of thy strength will Jehovahscnd forth from Zion ; rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. The Psalmist- now ad- dresses the Messiah directly. The idea latent in the figures of the first verse, namely that of power, is here expressed. The word (rit3>3) translated rod never means a sceptre, as the synony- mous term (top^N sometimes does, from which it is distinguished by Ezekiel (xix. 11), but a rod of correction and of chastisement. See Jer. xlviii. 12, and compare Isai. ix. 3 (4.) x. 5, 15, xiv. 4, 5. Ez. vii. 10, 11. It is here named as the instrument with
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whicli the foes are to be subdued. Compare Ps. ii. 9. There may be an allusion to the rod of JMoses. See Ex. xiv. 16, 21, and compare Isai. x. 24, 2G. The o-od of thy strength^ or tliy rod of strength, thy strong rod, or rather the rod by means of which thine own strength is to be exerted. As this strength is not human but divine, it is said to be sent forth by Jehovah out of Zion, considered as his earthly residence, the seat of the theo- cracy. See above, on Ps. xx. 3 (2.) The verb translated ridn is not applied in usage to a peaceful reign, but to coercive or compulsory dominion over conquered enemies. See above, on Ps. xlix. 15 (14), and compare Num. xxiv. 19, The imperative here involves prediction in its strongest form. As if he had said : All is ready for the conquest ; there is no resistance ; there can be no doubt of the result ; rule, therefore, in the midst thine ene- mies, i. e. over the very enemies by whom thou art surrounded, and who threatened to dethrone thee.
3. Th%i peo2)le (are) free-iciU-offcrings in the day of thy power, i in holy decorations, from the womb of the daion, to thee (is) the dew of thy youth. E^-ery member of this very obscure verse has been a subject of dispute and of conflicting exjjlanations. The com- mon version of the first words {thy peo])le shall he willing) is en- tirely inadmissible as an exact translation, since the word trans- lated unlling is a plural substantive of the feminine gender, and not an adjective agreeing with the masculine singular noun people. The idea, however, is the same, but expressed with far more strength and beauty. The plural noun just mentioned is the one used to denote spontaneous gifts, or freewill-offerings, under the law of Moses. See above, on Ps. liv. 8 (7)^ and compare Ex. XXV. 2. XXXV. 29. xxxvi. 3. Lev. xxii. 23. By supplying the correlative verb, which may be considered as latent in the noun, we obtain the sense, thy people (offer) voluntary gifts. But by supplying the substantive verb, which is far more natural and common, we obtain the still more striking sense, thy people are
PSALM ex. 105
themselves sucli gifts, i. e. they freely consecrate themselves to God. In this sense of voluntary self-dedication the reflexive form of the verbal root is used even in historical prose (1 Chr. xxix. 14, 17), especially in reference to military service (Judg. v. 2, 9. 2 Clix. xvii. 16.) The. day of thy power ^ the day in which it is ex- erted and displayed in the subjugation of thine enemies. The next phrase literally means, in beauties (or ornaments) of holiness j which may either have its obvious spiritual sense, as in Ps. xxix. 2, or that of holy decorations, with allusion to the sacerdotal dress, which is expressly called garments of holiness, Lev. xvi. 4. The last is the sense put by the modern interpreters upon the phrase, which then means that the people, when they make this solemn offering of themselves to God, appear clothed in sacerdotal vest- ments, as the servants of a priestly king (v. 4 below), and them- selves a "kingdom of priests'/ (Ex. xix. 6.) The womb of the dawn (or day-break) is a very strong poetical description of the origin or source of the dew which immediately follows, and the sense of which must determine that of the whole clause. The most probable opinions as to this point are the following. Some suppose the clause to be descriptive of the multitude of warriors who devote themselves to the Messiah, and who are then described as noTess numerous than the drops of dew born from the womb of niorning. The objection to this is, that it lays too much stress upon mere numbers, and expresses that idea by a figure neither common nor altogether natural. Another explanation makes the point of the comparison with dew, not numbers, but beauty, bril- laiicy thus corresponding to the holy decorations of the other clause. Here again the comparison selected is by no means obvious, much loss familiar. Lovely or beautiful as dew is not a combination likuly to occur to the mind of any writer. In the two interpreta- tions which have now been given, youth must be taken in the sense of young men, like the Latin ^mbes and juventus, when ap- plied to a youthful soldiery, or made to qualify the noun before it; youthful dew, still meaning the young warriors. But of such 5*
106 PSALM ex.
a figure there is not a trace in IL'brcw usage, and in the oi)ly other place where the word (ri^ib"^) occurs, it evidently means youth^ as a period of huruan life (Ecc. xi. 9, 10.) Free from all these objections is the supposition, that the clause relates not to the numbers or the beauty of Messiah's people, but to their per- petual succession, expressed by a fine poetical comparison with dew, engendered afresh daily from the womb of the morning. Youth will then have its proper sense, as denoting the perpetual youth of the Messiah, whose body is thus constantly renewed by the successive generations of his people. This construction also enables us to divide the clause more equally than in the masoretic interpunction, which, at all events, is either incorrect or rather musical than logical.
4. Sworn hath Jehovah^ and will iiot repent^ Thou [shalt be) a priest forever, after the order of Mclchizedek. The declaration in the last clause of v. 3 is here repeated in another form, and with a statement of the ground or reason upon which it rests. What was there poetically represented as the perpetual youth of the Messiah is here more solemnly described as a perpetual priest- hood, indissolubly blended with a perpetual kingship, both secured by the oath of God himself. He will not repent, there is no fear or even possibility of his breaking or retracting this engagement, for such it is, and not a mere declaratory attestation of the pre- sent fact or general truth, as it might seem to be from the com- mon version, not only here but in Heb. v. 6. vii. 17, 21, in every one of which places the Grreek conforms exactly to the Septuagint version and the Hebrew text, the art being constantly supplied by the translators. That the clause is a promise, and as such relates directly to the future, is clear from the whole tenor of the psalm as a prophetic one, as well as from the oath, which is not used in Scrip- ture to attest mere matters of fact, but to confirm the divine promise and threatenings. The indefinite expression, a priest, is intended to describe the office iu itself considered, Avithout reference to
PSALM ex.
]07
temporary distinctions and gradations. It therefore comprehendg whatever appertained to the oiSce of the High Priest, as the head and representative of all the rest. After the order ^ i. e. accord- ing to the manner, character, or institution. It is remarkable that this phrase (like nmbtl iii ^- 3) is almost -peculiar to this psalm and the book of Ecclesiastes, being found besides in only one place (Job v. 8.) In all the direct quotations of the verse in Hebrews, the Septuagint version of this word (rci^tj') is re- tained. But in one of the more indirect citations (Heb. vii. 15) another word (ouoi^rrjra) is substituted, showing that the essen- tial idea is that of likeness or rescn:blance. This likeness con- sists primarily in the union of the regal and sacerdotal offices. See Gen. xiv. IS. The meaning of the verse in its original con- nection is, that this royal conqueror is also a priest, who makes atonement for the sins of his people, and thus enables and dis- poses them to make the dedication of themselves described in the preceding verse. The perpetuity of this relation, and its confir- mation by the oath of God, are attendant circumstances but essential, and as such insisted on by the apostle, Heb. vii. 20 — 24. The coincidences founded on the meaning of the names Melchize- dek and Salem (Heb. vii. 2), and on the want of hierarchical succession in both cases (Ileb. vii. 3), are perfectly legitimate but not essential to the understanding of the verse in its original con- nection. The inspired commentary on this sentence, which occu- pies the whole seventh chapter of Hebrews, is not intended merely to explain its meaning, but also to make use of its terms, and the associations coupled with them, as a vehicle of other kindred truths, belonging to the Christian revelation, and not necessarily suggested by the Psalm to its original readers.
5. The Lord on thy right hand has smitten^ in the day of his anger ^ kings. Some suppose this to be addressed to Jehovah, and the Lord to mean Messiah, on the ground that they could not each be on the right hand of the other. See above, v. 1. That they
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could be so, however, only shows that the whole desciiptiou is a figurative one, and that the principal figure has a two-fold mean- ing. On the right hand has precisely the same meaning here as in Ps. cix. 31, where it denotes the place of protection oi assist- ance, the figure being probably derived from the usages of war, in which one who succours or protects another may be said to strengthen his right band, as the member which he uses in his own defence. In one sense, therefore, the Lord is at the right hand of Jehovah ; in another sense, Jehovah is at his. This assistance, far from excluding, presupposes his own action, or ra- ther, what Jehovah is described as doing for him he does through him. See above, on v. 1. The word translated smite is very strong and has repeatedly occurred before. See above, on Ps. xviii. 39 (38.) Ixviii. 22, 24 (21, 23.) The day of Jehovah's wrath is coincident with that of the Lord's strength in v. 3. The strength of the Messiah, as a conqueror, is to be exerted in giving efiect to Jehovah's wrath against his enemies. The position of the word kings at the end of the sentence, although harsh and almost ungrammatical in English, is retained in the translation for the sake of its efiect upon the emphasis and point of the description. The objects of Jehovah's wrath and the Messiah's strokes are not to be mere ordinary men, but kings, if they continue to oppose themselves. See above, on Ps. ii. 2, 10. The tense of the verb may be regarded as an instance of praeteritum pro'pheiicuin^ de- scribing what is certainly to happen as already past.
6. He will judge among the nations — he has filled {them) with corpses — he has smitten the head over much land (or oi'tr the loide earth.') By another sudden change of form, the Messiah is again spoken of as a third person. The judgment here ascribed to him is only another name and figure for the conquest just described. The form of expression in the last clause is unusual and obscure. The common version makes both head and land collectives, the heads over many countries. Some interpreters explain the second
\
PSALM ex. 109
word in this way, but the first more strictly, as denoting a sino-le ruler over many countries. Others invert the terms and under- stand by head the various chiefs of nations, but by earth the whole earth with its qualifying epithet of great or wide. Amidst these questions of construction or minute interpretation, the general idea is clear enough, to wit, that of universal conquest on the part of the Messiah, and extending to all earthly principalities and powers.
7. From the hrooh in the tcay he will drink^ therefore tvill he raise the head. According to the masoretic interpunction, in the way does not qualify the brook but he irill drink, a distinction of little excgetical importance. Unlike the foregoing verse, the one before us is perfectly clear in its particular expressions, but ob- scure in its general import and relation to the context. The most probable moaning of the first clause is, that he shall not be exhausted like those wandering in the desert (Ps. cii. 24. cvii. 4, 5) but I'efreshed and strengthened, with a reference, as some suppose, to the relief experienced by Samson (Judg. xv. 18, 19.) The raising of the head, in the last clause, is an obvious and in- telligible figure for exhilaration, or relief from dejection and de- pression, which is naturally indicated by the hanging of the head. The only question is whether this effect is here supposed to be produced in the conqueror himself or in others. In favour of the former explanation is the parallel clause, which represents him as assuaging his own thirst. In favour of the other is the analogy of Ps. iii. 4 (3) xxvii. 6, where God is said to raise the head of man. As in other doubtful cases, where the senses are not incompatible or exclusive of each other, it is safe, if not en- tirely satisfactory, to leave them side by side, the rather as the words could probably not fail to suggest both ideas to the Hebrew reader.
110 PSALM CXI
PSALM CXI
This is an alphabetical psalm, in which the Hebrew letters mark the beginning not of verses but of clauses. The first eight verses contain each two clauses ; the last two consist of three. The psalm begins with an invitation to the public praise of God, V. 1, then assigns, as the ground and object of this praise, his dealings with his people, vs. 2 — 9, and ends with the conclusion, that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, v. 10. There is nothing in the psalm itself to determine its date or its historical occasion. According to Hengstenberg, it is the first psalm of a trilogy, added to the ancient one preceding (Ps. eviii — ex.) after the return from exile.
1. Hallelujah ! I will thank Jehovah with a whole heart, in the company of the upright and in the congregation. The Hallelujah {praise %ie Jah) marks the designation of the latter psalms for permanent use in public worship, as the inscription to the chief musician does that of the older ones. With a whole heart, or toith all [my) heart, as it is fully expressed in Ps. Ixxxvi. 12. Compare Ps. cxix. 2. The word translated company means properly a circle of confidential friends. See above, on Ps. xxv. 14. Iv. 15 (14.) Ixiv. 3 (2.) Issxiii. 4 (3.) It is here applied to the church or chosen people, as constituting such a company or circle, in opposition to the world without. It is not therefore really distinct from the congregation mentioned in the last clause, but another name for it. The upright (or straighffonoard) is a title given to the true Israel, from the days of Balaam downwards. See Num. xxiv. 10.
2.