LVIII. After a challenge to certain corrupt magistrates, the poet in this piece shows his detestation of the wicked, and anticipates their fate. There is nothing in the contents of the psalm to bear out the traditional title; but neither is there anything to help us to fix on any other author or da... [ Continue Reading ]
CONGREGATION. — This rendering comes of a mistaken derivation of the Hebrew word _êlem,_ which offers some difficulty. As pointed, it must mean _silence_ (comp. Psalms 56 title, the only other place it occurs); and some, regardless of sense, would render, “do ye truly in silence speak righteousness.... [ Continue Reading ]
IN HEART... IN THE EARTH (or, better, _in the land_). — These in the text are in antithesis. The mischief conceived in the heart is weighed out, instead of justice, by these unjust magistrates. The balance of justice is thus turned into a means of wrong-doing. But, perhaps, we should rather arrange... [ Continue Reading ]
THE WICKED. — The poet passes from his indignant challenge to the unjust judges to speak of the wicked generally. He finds that such maturity of vice points to very early depravity. Such hardened sinners must have been cradled in wickedness.... [ Continue Reading ]
THEIR POISON... — Better, _they have a venom like_, &c. The term for serpent is the generic _nâchash._ The most forcible images of determined wickedness, and of the destruction it entails, now follow. The first is supplied by the serpent, the more suggestive from the accumulated evil qualities of w... [ Continue Reading ]
CHARMERS. — Heb., _melachashîm,_ a word undoubtedly formed from the sound made by the charmer in imitating the snake, in order to entice it from its hole. Lane, in _Modern Egyptians,_ describing a snake charmer at his task, says: “He assumes an air of mystery, strikes the walls with a short palm sti... [ Continue Reading ]
BREAK THEIR TEETH. — The change is abrupt from the image of obstinacy deaf to all charms, to that of violence that must be tamed by force. GREAT TEETH. — Literally, _biters, grinders. _... [ Continue Reading ]
After the types of obstinate and fierce malignity, come four striking images of the fatuity of the wicked man’s projects, and his own imminent ruin. The first of these compares him to water, which, spilt on a sandy soil, sinks into it and melts away. (Comp. 2 Samuel 14:14.) Perhaps a phenomenon, oft... [ Continue Reading ]
BEFORE. — The figure in this difficult verse is generally intelligible, though the text as it stands resists all attempts to translate it. As in the preceding images, it must convey the idea of abortive effort and sudden ruin, and, as has generally been understood, some experience of eastern travel... [ Continue Reading ]
WASH HIS FEET. — So in Psalms 68:23. “Wading deep in blood” is the picture suggested.... [ Continue Reading ]