LXXXIX. This long psalm comes evidently from a time of great national depression and trouble. The idolatries that led to the Captivity, and the Captivity itself, are already in the past, and the poet can think only of the splendid promises of God to the race, and the paradox that while made by a God... [ Continue Reading ]
I WILL SING. — This lyric purpose soon loses itself in a dirge. FOR EVER. — The Hebrew (_‘ôlam_) has properly neither the abstract idea of negation of time, nor the concrete (Christian) idea of eternity, but implies indefiniteness, and looks either backwards or forwards. WITH MY MOUTH — _i.e._, al... [ Continue Reading ]
MERCY... FAITHFULNESS. — These words, so often combined, express here, as commonly in the psalms, the attitude of the covenant God towards His people. The art of the poet is shown in this exordium. He strikes so strongly this note of the inviolability of the Divine promise only to make the deprecati... [ Continue Reading ]
I HAVE SWORN. — The prophetic passage (2 Samuel 7:12, _seq._) is in the poet’s mind.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE HEAVENS. — Having repeated the Divine promise, the poet appeals to nature and history to confirm his conviction of the enduring character of the truth and grace of God. The heavens are witnesses of it as in Psalms 1:4; Psalms 1:6; Psalms 97:6. SHALL PRAISE. — The present tense would be better.... [ Continue Reading ]
SONS OF THE MIGHTY. — Rather, _sons of God — i.e.,_ angels. (Comp. Psalms 29:1.)... [ Continue Reading ]
It is better to take this verse in apposition with the foregoing: “God sublime in the council of the holy ones, And terrible among those surrounding him.” For a picture of the court of heaven see Job 1:6.... [ Continue Reading ]
O LORD. — The Hebrew marches more grandly than the Authorised Version: “Jehovah, God of Hosts, Who as Thou is mighty, Jah? And Thy faithfulness surrounds Thee.” Or the last clause may be rendered, _and what faithfulness is like that round about thee?_ We must either think of the attendant throngs... [ Continue Reading ]
(8-13) Not only is God incomparable in heaven, He is also the only mighty and lofty one in nature or history.... [ Continue Reading ]
RAHAB. — See Note, Psalms 87:4. The mention of the sea has carried the poet’s thoughts to the Red Sea and the deliverance from Egypt, which is represented as some huge monster conquered and crushed.... [ Continue Reading ]
TABOR AND HERMON. — Introduced not only as standing roughly for west and east, but for their prominence and importance in the landscape. (Comp. Hosea 5:1.) SHALL REJOICE. — Better, _sing for joy. _... [ Continue Reading ]
HIGH IS THY RIGHT HAND. — The strong hand is supposed raised to strike. (Comp. Psalms 89:42.)... [ Continue Reading ]
HABITATION. — Rather, _foundation,_ or _pillars._ Righteousness and judgment support God’s throne, and mercy and truth (“those genii of sacred history”) precede (_present_ tense, not _future_) Him as forerunners precede a king.... [ Continue Reading ]
THAT KNOW THE JOYFUL SOUND — _i.e._, that are familiar with the shouting and music that accompanied the feasts of Israel. THEY SHALL WALK. — Better in the present; and so of the verb in the next verse. The light of Jehovah’s countenance of course means His favour.... [ Continue Reading ]
GLORY. — Better, _ornament._ The crown of a nation’s strength is not the triumphs it wins, nor the prosperity it secures, but the spirit in which these are used. Humility, and not pride, acknowledgment of God, and not conceit in her wealth or power, was the ornament of Israel’s strength, and made he... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR THE LORD. — Or, rather — “For of Jehovah is our shield, And of Israel’s Holy One our king,” “shield” and “king” being in synonymous parallelism. Jehovah is the source of the theocratic power.... [ Continue Reading ]
The mention of the king allows the poet to bring still more into prominence the special promises made to Israel. The piece, which is couched in oracular language, is introduced by a prose statement recalling the sentences in Job which introduce a fresh speaker. HOLY ONE. — See Note, Psalms 16:10. So... [ Continue Reading ]
EXACT. — This meaning is possible, and is supported by the LXX. and Vulgate, “shall not get profit.” There may be an allusion to Deuteronomy 15:6, but perhaps it is better to take the verb in the same sense as the Hebrew margin of Psalms 55:15, “shall not surprise him;” Symmachus has, “lead him astr... [ Continue Reading ]
BEAT DOWN. — Probably _bray,_ as in a mortar. PLAGUE. — Or, _smite. _... [ Continue Reading ]
FAITHFULNESS AND MERCY, represented in Psalms 89:14 as God’s attendants, are here commissioned to act as a guard to David and his house.... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE SEA. — A reference, as in Psalms 72:8; Psalms 80:11, to the limits of the Solomonic kingdom, the Mediterranean and the Euphrates. For the figure we may compare a saying attributed by Curtius to some Scythian ambassadors, who addressed Alexander in these terms: “If the gods had given thee a bo... [ Continue Reading ]
HE SHALL CRY. — This verse is interesting in view of the theological development in the psalter. We might think that the poet was referring to an actual psalm of David, with whom the expression, “My God, the rock of my salvation,” was familiar (see Psalms 18:1, &c.), were it not for the word “Father... [ Continue Reading ]
FIRSTBORN. — Jesse’s youngest son became the firstborn, the favourite son of God. Here, of course, the epithet is extended to all the Davidic succession.... [ Continue Reading ]
DAYS OF HEAVEN. — Deuteronomy 11:21. (Comp. Psalms 72:5; and see below, Psalms 89:36.)... [ Continue Reading ]
(30-33) An elaboration of 2 Samuel 7:14, and evidently made with a purpose. The poet acknowledges the sin of Israel in past times, but also regards the sufferings of the exile as having been the punishment foretold by them. Hence the sin has been expiated, and the perplexity arises why Israel is sti... [ Continue Reading ]
AND AS A FAITHFUL WITNESS IN HEAVEN. — Rather, _and there is a faithful witness in heaven,_ which the parallelism shows to be the _moon,_ just mentioned. The moon (see Psalms 81:3) was to the Jews — as to the ancients generally — the “arbiter of festivals,” and the festivals were signs of the covena... [ Continue Reading ]
BUT THOU. — The poem takes a new departure here. God is reproached for violating the covenant, and the contrast between the actual condition of things in Israel at present, and the glorious destiny promised, is feelingly set forth. The boldness of this expostulation has scandalised the Jewish expos... [ Continue Reading ]
MADE VOID. — Better, _cast off,_ as the word is rendered in Lamentations 2:7, the only other place where it occurs. There the LXX. have “shook off;” here, “turned upside down.” THOU HAST PROFANED. — Comp. Psalms 74:7.... [ Continue Reading ]
EDGE OF HIS SWORD. — The Hebrew is _tsûr, i.e., rock,_ and a comparison with Joshua 5:2 (margin) suggests that we have here a reminiscence of the “stone age.” The word “flint” for the edge of a weapon might easily survive the actual use of the implement itself. So we should still speak of “a foeman’... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU HAST... — Literally, _Thou hast made to cease from his brightness_ — _i.e._, the brightness of the sun, promised in Psalms 89:36. TO THE GROUND. — From being as the sun in heaven.... [ Continue Reading ]
HOW LONG. — With this persistent cry of the Maccabæan age (see Psalms 74:10), the poet shows that faith is not extinct, though it has a sore struggle with despair.... [ Continue Reading ]
REMEMBER. — The text of this clause runs, _Remember I how duration,_ which might possibly be an incoherent sob, meaning _remember how quickly I pass._ But since the transposition of a letter brings the clause into conformity with Psalms 39:4, “how frail I am,” it is better to adopt the change. WHER... [ Continue Reading ]
WHAT MAN. — Rather, _What hero,_ or _champion,_ or _great man._ The word is used of a king (Jeremiah 22:30; comp. Isaiah 22:17). The verse repeats a common poetic theme: — “Pallida mors æquo pulsat pede pauperum tabernas, Regumque turres.” — HORACE, I. _Od. iv._ THE HAND OF THE GRAVE. — Rather, _o... [ Continue Reading ]
(50) The phrase, “bear in my bosom,” is explained by Psalms 79:12.... [ Continue Reading ]
FOOTSTEPS... — Every step taken by Israel was the subject of reproach. Rabbinical writers connect the verse with the delay of the Messiah, since it brings reproach on those who wait for him in vain.... [ Continue Reading ]