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DIVINITY SCHOOL
TROWBRIDGE LIBRARY

COMMENTARY

ON

THE PSALMS,

BY

E. W. HENGSTENBERG,
DOCTOR AND PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY IN BEELlN.

VOLUME I.
TBANSLATED BY
THE REV. P. FAIRBAIRN,
MINISXEE AT SALTOJJ;
AND
THE REV. J. THOMSON, A.M.
MINISTER AT LEITH.
THIRD EDITION.

EDINBURGH,:
T. & T. CLARK, 38. GEORGE STREET.
tONDON : HAMILTON, ADAMS, & CO. ; SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, &
SEELEY & CO.; WARD & CO.; JACKSON & WALFOED, &C.
DUBLIN : JOHN ROBERTSON.

MDCCCLI.

AUTHOR'S PREFACE

TO

FIRST VOLUME.

The Author formed the sincere purpose of writing a
Commentary upon the Psalms a number of years ago,
when his eye was first opened to perceive the depth of
their meaning. In 1830 he was going to apply himself
to the execution of his purpose, but then, and as often
since as the determination has again revived in him,
other labours have pre-occupied his attention. After
the completion of the first part of his, elucidation of the
most important and difficult places in the Pentateuch,
his inclination toward this work awoke in such force that
he could no longer resist it. The continuation of the
work just referred to, which has been already begun,
could the more easily be postponed to another time, as
the first part has been published, at the same time, as a
separate work.
What the Author has sought to accomplish here, and
what he actually has accomplished, the indulgent reader
may gather from this*specimen of the work itself. With
all its imperfections, he hopes it may be regarded as a
work of that kind, which has been long earnestly desir
ed, and much needed.
The whole will consist of three volumes. That the

VI PREFACE.

length to which the treatment of this first part has ex
tended, (comprising the first twenty-one Psalms,) is not
disproportionate to the compass thus assigned for the
whole, may be understood by a comparative glance into
the works of my predecessors, for example into Rosen-
miiller's first volume, which contains only the first twenty
Psalms. In the Psalms, much more than in any other
book of Scripture, fulness at the commencement, and
brevity afterwards, is required by the very nature of the
thing. The third volume will contain, besides the completion
of the Commentary, a series of Treatises on the" Psalms,
which shall enter into the consideration, not only of the
topics usually handled in the Introduction, but also of
the doctrines as to faith and morality embodied in the
Psalms. The Author foresees, that the spiritual element, which
pervades the Commentary, will give rise to many objec
tions. Without hoping to be able wholly to remove these
objections, he would yet remark, that these spiritual ob
servations are not foreign to his proper aim, but are made
for the sake of the exposition itself. The Psalms are ex
pressions of holy feeling, which can only be understood
by those, who have become alive to such feeling. So
that to bring out this is quite properly the purpose
of the expositor. For those, in particular, who think the
extracts from Luther's Commentary, which are so admir-
ably adapted to that purpose, too numerous, they may
comfort themselves with the thought, that these will al
most be confined to the present volume, as Luther's great
work only reached to the first two-and-twenty Psalms.
However this work may be received, the Author has

PREFACE. Vll

found an ample recompense in itself, and hopes that he
shall be able to look back upon it with pleasure, even in
eternity. This renders him only the more anxious that
it may be also blessed to others, especially to those, who
are now wandering in the wilderness where no water is,
to bring back here and there one of them to the green
pastures and fresh waters of the divine word.
Berlin, 28th October, 1842.

¦rnE

BOOK OF PSALMS.

PSALM FIRST.

The Psalmist begins by extolling the blessedness of the right
eous, who is first described negatively, as turning away from the
counsels of the wicked, ver. 1, and then positively, as having his
thoughts engrossed with the divine law, ver. 2. He proceeds
next to delineate under a pleasant image the prosperity which
attends him in all his ways, and places, in contrast to this, the
destruction which is the inseparable concomitant of the wicked,
ver. 3, 4. He grounds upon these eternal principles the confi
dence, that God will take out of the way whatever, in the course
of events appears to conflict with them, that by his judgment he
will overthrow the wicked, through whose malice the righteous
suffer, and free his Church, which must be formed only of the
righteous, from their corrupting leaven ; and, as it was declared,
in ver. 3 and 4, that the Lord interests himself in the righteous,
and hence could not leave them helpless, while destruction is
the fate of the wicked, the former must in consequence be ex
alted above the latter, ver. 5, 6.
According to this order, which alone secures to the " there
fore," at the beginning of ver. 5, and the " for" in ver. 6, their
proper meaning, the Psalm falls into three strophes, each con
sisting of two verses.
The Psalm is primarily of an admonitory character. What it
says of the prosperity which attends the righteous, and the per
dition which befals the wicked, cannot but incite to imitate the
one, and shun the other. In reference to this Luther remarks :
" It is the prp tice of all men to inquire after blessedness, and
there is no man on earth who does not wish that it might go
B

I THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
well with him, and would not feel sorrow if it went ill with him.
But he, who speaks in this Psalm with a voice from heaven,
beats down and condemns every thing which the thoughts of
men might cogitate and devise in the matter, and brings forth
the only true description of blessedness, of which the whole world
knows nothing, declaring that he only is blessed and prosperous
whose love and desire are directed to the law of the Lord.
This is a short description, and, indeed, one that goes against
all sense and reason, especially against the reason of the worldly-
wise and the high-minded. As if he had said : Why are ye so
much in seeking counsel ? why are ye ever in vain devising un
profitable things ? There is just one precious pearl, and he has
found it, whose love and desire is toward the law of the Lord,
and who separates himself from the ungodly — all succeeds well
with him. But whosoever does not find this pearl, though he
should seek with ever so much pains and labour the way to bless
edness, he shall never find it."
The Psalm has, besides, a consolatory character, which comes
clearly out in the last strophe ; for it must tend to enliven the
hope of the righteous upon the grace of God? and fill them with
confidence, that every thing which now appears contrary to their
hope, shall come to an end ; that the judgment of God shall re
move the offences, which were caused by the temporal prosperity
of the wicked, and the troubles thence accruing to them.
The truth contained in this Psalm is equally applicable to the
church of the New Testament as to that of the Old. It remains
perpetually true, that sin is the destruction of any people, and
that salvation is the inseparable attendant of righteonsnes3.
Whatever, in the course of things, seems to run counter to this,
will be obviated by the remark, that a righteous man, as the au
thor delineates him, — one whose desire is undividedly fixed upon
the law of God, and to whom it is " his thought by day and his
dream by night," — is not to be found among the children of
men. Just because the blessedness of salvation is inseparably
joined to righteousness, no one can look for an absolute fulfil
ment of the promise of the Psalm. For even when the inner
most bent of the mind is steadfastly set upon righteousness,
there are found so many weaknesses and sins, that sufferings of
various kinds are neces^ry, not less as deserved punishments,'
than as the means of improvement. These do not subvert the
principles here established, but serve rather to confirm them'.

PSALM I.

The sentiment, that " every thing he does, prospers," which is
literally true of the righteous, in so far as he is such, changes
itself, in consequence of the imperfect nature of our righteous
ness, which alone can be charged with our loss of the reward
that is promised to the perfect, into the still richly consolatory
truth, that " all things work together for good to them who love
God." Those who, blinded by Pelagianism, know not the true
conditions of human righteousness, and who, consequently, want
the only key to the mystery of the cross, apprehend the truth of
the reigning idea in the Psalm, could they only at the same
time escape from surrendering themselves to a crude Dualism.
It is unquestionable, say they, that the internal blessedness of life
has no other ground than genuine piety, but as for outward
things, " which depend upon natural influences, the relations and
accidents of life, and the violent movements of the populace,"
one can make no lofty pretensions to them. Who can but feel
that natural influences and such like things are here placed in
complete independence beside God, are virtually raised to the
condition of a second God, and that we are at once translated
from the Christian into the heathen territory, on which matter,
accident, fate, Typhon, Achriman, play a distinguished part, and
all on the same ground — the want of that recognition of sin,
which peculiarly belongs to the territory of revelation ? Such
masters must not take it upon them to instruct the Psalmist, but
must learn of him. Whoever really believes in one true God,
the Creator, Preserver, and Governor of the world, he cannot
but accord with the doctrine of the Psalmist. It is impossible
to disparage in the least the doctrine of recompense, without
trenching closely upon the truth of one God. Internal good, as
the perfect, is usually placed over against external, as the imper
fect. But where, in reality, is the man, who enjoys a complete
inward blessedness — who, even though labouring under the
greatest delusion regarding his state, can spend so much as one
day in perfect satisfaction with himself? Besides, is it not na
tural, that the external should go hand in hand with the inter
nal ? And have we any reason, on account of the troubles which
befall us, to doubt the omnipotence and righteousness of God,
and the truth of that doctrine of Scripture, which pervades both
economies, and appears in every book from Genesis to Revela
tion, that God will recompense to every one according to his
works? Instead of running into such mournful aberrations, it

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

behoves every one, when he reads what the Psalmist says of the
righteous—" And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of
water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season, his leaf also
shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper" — and
finds that his own condition presents a melancholy contrast to
what is here described', to turn back his eye upon the first and
second verses, and inquire whether that also corresponds with
his case, which is there affirmed of , the righteous ; and if he finds
it to be otherwise, then should he smite upon his breast, and cry,
" God be merciful to me a sinner," and thereafter strive with all
earnestness to realize the pattern there delineated, by employ
ing the means which God has appointed for the purpose.
The subject of the Psalm is, in accordance with the previous
remarks, quite general, and it is an error in several expositors to
refer it to particular times and persons. There is great proba
bility in the opinion of those, who suppose with Calvin, that this
Psalm, found somewhere else, was placed by him wbo collected
the Psalms, as an introduction to the whole. Basilius calls it a
" short preface" to the Psalms ; and that this view is of great
antiquity, may be gathered from Acts xiii. 33, where Paul, ac
cording to the correct text, as is agreed by the most approved
critics, (Erasmus, Mill, Bengel, Griesbach, &c.) quotes as the
first Psalm that which, in our collection, occupies the second
place. If the first was considered only as a sort of preface, the
numbering would consequently take its commencement at the
one following, as, indeed, is the case in some manuscripts. The
matter of the Psalm is admirably suited to this application of it.
" The collector of these songs," says Amyrald, " seems to have
carefully placed before the eye of his readers at the very thres
hold, to what aim the actions of men should, as so many arrows,
be directed." The position of the Psalm at the beginning ap
pears peculiarly suitable, if, along with its admonitory tendency,
the consolatory is also brought prominently out. In the latter
respect, it may be regarded as in fact a short compend of the
main subject of the Psalms. That God has appointed salvation
to the righteous, perdition to the wicked — this is the great truth,
with which the sacred bards grapple amid all painful experiences
of life, which apparently indicate the reverse. The supposition
is also favoured, or rather seems to be demanded, by the circum
stance, that the Psalm has no superscription. As from Psalm
third, a long series of titles follows, ascribing the Psalms to Da-

PSALM I.

vid, it cannot be doubted that the collector intended to open
the collection with these. So that there must have been a par
ticular reason for making our Psalm an exception from the gene
ral rule, and it is scarcely possible to imagine any other than the
one already mentioned.
It is justly remarked, however, by Koester, that the supposi
tion in question by no means requires us to hold that the Psalm'
is a late production, and probably composed by the collector
himself. The simplicity and freshness which characterize it are
against this. That it must have been composed, at any rate, be
fore Jeremiah, is evident from his imitation of it. A more de
terminate conclusion regarding the time of its composition, can
only, since the Psalm itself furnishes no data, be derived from
ascertaining its relation to Psalm second.
It has often been maintained, that the two Psalms form but
one whole," and this opinion has exercised considerable influence
upon various manuscripts, (De Rossi mentions seven, and even
Origen in his Hexapla by Montfaucon, p. 475, speaks of having
seen one in his day.) But this view is obviously untenable.
Each of the Psalms forms a separate and complete whole by it
self. Still, several appearances present themselves, which cer
tainly point to a close relation between the two. Fii$t of all, there
is the remarkable circumstance, that Psalm second stands in this
place, at the head of a collection, to which such Psalms only be
longed as bore the name of David on their superscription. We
can hardly refer this to any other consideration than its insepa
rable connection with the first Psalm, which required it to follow
this after its being placed, for the reason above given, at the
commencement. Then there appears a certain outward resem
blance between them : the number of verses in Psalm second is
precisely the double of those in the first — and in both Psalms
there is found a marked and singularly regular construction of
strophes, the first Psalm falling into three strophes of two verses,
and the second into four strophes of three. In regard to the
subject, the first is admirably suited as an introduction to the
second, for which it lays a general foundation. What is said in
the first Psalm generally, of the different state and destiny of the
righteous and the wicked, the second repeats with a special ap
plication to the Messiah and his adversaries. The first Psalm
* See the opin'ons of ihe Jews and the Fi.thtrs in Wetktein, on Acts xiii. 33.

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
had closed by announcing judgment against the wicked, and at
that point the second begins. On the other hand, the latter
Psalm concludes with a benediction, as the former had commenc
ed with it — compare " blessed is the man," with " blessed are all
they that put their trust in him." The expression in Psalm ii.
12, " ye perish in the way," remarkably coincides with that in
Psalm i. 6, " the way of the ungodly shall perish." Finally, the
sentiment about " the nations imagining (literally, meditating) a
vain thing," in Psalm second, acquires additional force, if viewed
as a contrast to the meditation of the righteous on the law of the
Lord, mentioned in the first Psalm.
These circumstances are by no means satisfactorily explained
and accounted for, on the supposition that the collector had
joined the second Psalm to the first, from certain points of con
nection happening to exist between them ; and nothing remains
for us but the conclusion, that both Psalms were composed by
the same author, and were meant by him as different parts of
one whole. This conclusion may be the more readily embraced,
as we have elsewhere undoubted specimens of such pairs of
Psalms, (as Psalm ix. and x, xiv. and xv, xiii. and xliii.) and as
similar tilings are not awanting in Christian poets, for example,
Richter's two poems, " it is not difficult to be a Christian,'' and
" it is hard to be a Christian."
Now, as there are important grounds in Psalm second for as
cribing it to David, we would hence be entitled to regard him as
the author also of the first, and there are certainly no considera
tions of an opposite kind to weaken the conclusion. In its noble
simplicity, its quiet but still extremely spirited character, it pre
sents a close resemblance to other Psalms, of which David was
unquestionably the penman, and in particular to the xv. xxiii.
viii. Psalms.
Ver. 1. Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the
ungodly, and stands not in the way of sinners, and sits not in the
seat of the scornful. That the righteous should first be described
negatively, has its ground in the proneness of human nature to
what is evil. From the same ground arises the predominantly
negative form of the decalogue. As there the thought of some
thing, to which our corrupt heart is inclined, is everywhere forced
on our notice, so also is it here. HXy never signifies, what Stier
and Hitzig here understand by it, manner of thinking, sentiment,
but always counsel, as in Job xxi. 16, xxii. 18, The counsel of

PSALM I. VEK. 1, 7
any one is in some passages the counsel, which one gives, but for
the most part it is the counsel, which one takes himself, his plans
and resolutions. This latter signification prevails everywhere in
the expression, of walking in any one's counsel, which uniformly
means, to follow his advice, to enter with him into the same de
signs — comp. 2 Chron. xxii. 5, where " walked after their coun
sel," corresponds to, " he walked in the ways of the house of
Ahab," ver. 3, and " he did evil in the sight of the Lord like
the house of Ahab," ver. 4, only with this distinction indicated by
the " also" in ver. 5, and the clause following, " andwentwith Je-
horamthe son of Ahab to war," thatwhile there the discourse is of
a general agreement in thought and action, here it is carried out
to particular plans and undertakings. In Micah vi. 16, to " walk
in one's counsels," is taken as parallel with " observing one's sta
tutes and doing one's works." In Psalm lxxxi. 12, " they walked
in their own counsels," means, they walked in the counsels they
themselves took, in the plans they themselves devised. Conse
quently, the exposition of Gesenius and others, who render the
first clause of our Psalm : " who lives not according to the coun
sels of the ungodly," must be abandoned, and this the rather,
that in what follows, the discourse is not of a dependence upon
the influence of the wicked, but of one's personally belonging to
them. To walk in the counsel of the wicked, is to adventure
into the territory of their purposes, their worthless projects.
Olshausen in his emendations on the Old Testament, would
read fHy for HXS?, in the company or band of the ungodly.
He rests upon the strong parallelism, which the author of this
Psalm employs, and, indeed, pre-eminently in this first verse.
The parallels here fall into three members: who walks not,
stands not, sits not. In each member there is a preterite, as
predicate, with the preposition ^ following it, and a noun as its
complement, with an appropriate genitive constantly depending
on it, Two of the nouns which serve to limit the preposition
way and seat, may be local designations, as then they would
most fitly agree to the sense of the particular verbs. In the
first noun alone, no such local designation is to be found. The
proposed change is certainly needed to make out this significa
tion. For the counsel undoubtedly refers to the spiritual error,
the spiritually wrong path, into which he wanders, who follows
it. But the second term, the way of sinners, must also be spiri
tually understood. To speak of standing in their way can only

8

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

refer to their manner of acting, — to follow with them the same
moral paths, or to act like them. " The seat" is the only term
that implies an external locality. And the difference is of little
moment, since even here the outward companionship comes into
view, only as the issue of an internal agreement. If we examine
the matter more closely, it will be found that the alteration pro
posed is not only quite unnecessary, but also unsuitable. For
my, is excluded on the very ground which Olshausen presses
against fi^S?- According to the analogy of the "]TD and the
^&)foH: the preposition ^ must admit of being rendered by on;
it must mark the territory on which the walk is maintained.
Now, the expression : on the counsel, is quite suitable ; but, on
the other hand, this : on the company, is utterly senseless.
According to the common acceptation, ^JJ^D must mean here,
not " seat," but " session." Of the few passages, however, which
are brought forward in support of this meaning, Psalm cvii. 32,
so far from requiring, does not even admit of it. If the transla
tion adopted is : " in the session (assembly) of the elders they
shall praise him," we must then feel ourselves shut up to the
perfectly groundless supposition, that the elders have separate
meetings appointed them for the praise of God, apart from the
rest of the people. History knows of nothing but general re
ligious assemblies. Let it be rendered : upon the seat, or the
bench of the elders, and then every thing will be in order ;
" they shall extol him in the congregation of the people, and
praise him on the bench of the elders," first the whole, then the
most distinguished part. The only meaning which is certain,
is here also quite suitable. To sit in the seat of the scorners,
is, in other words, to sit as scorners, just as in the preceding
clauses, the discourse was of such as stood, not beside sinners,
but among them, and not simply followed the counsels of un
godly men, but themselves diatched these. Luther has given
the meaning correctly : ¦' nor sits where the scorners sit." It
is, perhaps, not an accidental thing, that the attitude of sitting
is distinctively ascribed to the scorners. The mocking disposi
tion unfolds itself chiefly in a company of thcffee who are like-
minded, inflamed with wine and intoxicating drink, which we
elsewhere find mentioned in connection with mockers, — as in
Isa. v. and Prov. xx. 1, where wine itself is called a mocker.
So, in reference to the social meeting, the act of sitting is fre
quently alluded to ; for example, in Jer. xv. 17, " I sat not in

psalm i. Ver. 1. 9
the assembly of the mockers, nor rejoiced;" in Psalm 1. 20,
" thou sittest and speakest against thy brother, thou slanderest
thine own mother's son; Psalm Ixix. 12, " they that sit in the
gate speak against me, and I am the song of the drunkards."
It is proper to add, however, that in Psalm xxvi. 4, 5, sitting is
attributed to men of deceit, and evil doers.
t*7 (scorner,) marks one who scoffs at God, his law, and ordi
nances, his judgment and his people. In Prov. ix. 7, 8, the
scorner is placed in opposition to the wise, whose heart is filled
with holy reverence toward God and divine things. Iii opposi
tion to De Wette, who would here exclude the strictly religious
scoffers, we can point to such passages as Isa. v. 19, " they say,
Let him make speed, and hasten his work, that we may see it ;
and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw nigh and
come, that we may know it;" Jer. xvii. 15, '• Behold, they say
unto me, where is the word of the Lord ? Let it come now," —
where the words of such scoffers are expressly given. Religious
mockery is as old as the fall. The admonition in 2 Peter iii. 3,
regarding scoffers, as appears to me, has some respect to the
passage before us.
Men have often sought to discover a gradation in the verse.
But there is no foundation for this, either in the nouns or in the
verbs. In reference to the former, it was already remarked by
Venema, that " they distinguish men as exhibiting different
appearances, rather than different grades of sin." The J?£}H,
ungodly, or rather wicked, in Arabic, denotes one of.great lust,
and concupiscence, and in Syriac, disturbed in mind ; hence it
properly signifies the passionate, restless, (Isa. lvii. 20, " the
wicked are like the troubled sea, which cannot rest ;") it is de
scriptive of the wicked, in respect to their internal state, their
violent commotions within, the disquietude, springing from sin
ful desires, which constantly impels them to fresh misdeeds.
The O^NtOPlj sinners, designates the same persons in respect to
the lengthened series of sinful acts which proceed from them.
Finally, the C^P, scornful, brings into view a peculiarly veno
mous operation and fruit of evil. But in the verbs we can the
less conceive of a gradation being intended, that the middle verb
*l)!3y> according to Stier, signifies not to stand, but to continue,
to persevere, and thus manifestly destroys the supposed combi
nation of the three bodily states of waking men. The verse sim-

10 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
ply declares in the most expressive manner possible, the abse nee
of all fellowship with sin.
Ver. 2. The fellowship with unrighteousness, which the godly
man zealously shuns, is here placed in opposition to God and
his law, which he zealously seeks. But his delight is in the law
of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night. The
law never has the general signification often ascribed to it here
by expositors — doctrine ; but always the more special sense of
precept. That this is the import here, is perfectly obvious from
a comparison of the parallel passages, which shew also, that the
law meant here, is that described, according to Psalm xl. 8, in
the volume of the book or roll, called the law of Moses, which
is always to be understood wherever the law is spoken of in the
Psalms. These parallel passages are, Deut. vi. 6, 7, where
Moses says to the people : " And these words, which I command
thee this day, shall be in thine heart. And thou shalt teach
them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them," &c;
Joshua i. 8, where the, angel says to him : " This book of the
law shall not depart out of thy mouth ; but thou shalt meditate
therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according
to all that is written therein : for then thou shalt make thy way
prosperous." This last text manifestly stands in a very near rela
tion to ours, not merely from the meditation spoken of, but al
so from the prosperity connected with it. Just as what the
angel speaks to Joshua, rests on. the ground of' that passage in
Deuteronomy, and points to it, (comp. also Deut. xvii. 19, which
contains a like word of exhortation to the future king of Israel ;)
so the author of our Psalm points to the exhortation addressed
to Joshua, who stood forth there as a worthy type of the fulfil
ment of what is here required, and in whose experience, the re
ward here promised, found a sure guarantee for its realization.
How De Wette could think, that the love and study of the law
being enjoined, is a proof of the later production of the Psalm,
can scarcely be imagined, since a profound investigation into the
nature of the law, the converting of it into juice and blood, might
be proved by many passages to have been even held by believers
of the Old Testament, to be the highest end of their life. How
much David fulfilled this condition, how intimate a knowledge
he had of the law, even in its smallest particulars, and how con
stantly it formed the centre of his thoughts and feelings, the
delight of his heart, will be placed beyond all doubt, by this ex-

PSALM I. VER. 2. 11
position. Indeed, the. fifteenth Psalm, which the dullest critic
must ascribe to David, may serve, notwithstanding its limited
compass, for ample proof; for it carries a close and continued
verbal reference to the Pentateuch. Compare also Psalm xix.
Besides, what is here meant, is not a kind of speculating and
laborious trifling upon the law, quite foreign to the practical
turn of the Old Testament saints, but a meditation bearing im
mediate reference to the walk and conduct. This appears, as is
well remarked by Claus, from the whole context, which is
throughout practical. The subject in ver. 1 treats of fellowship
with sin : in ver. 3 — 6 of the different portions of the righteous
and the wicked. How, in such a connection, could ver. 2 refer
to the study of the law in a theoretical point of view, and not
rather to the application of the heart toward the objects and con
tents of the Divine Word ? To this result tends also a compari
son of the parallel passages, in which the'reading and meditating
are expressly mentioned as means to the keeping and doing.
Luther remarks on the words, " His delight is the law of the
Lord :" ' ' The prophet does not speak here of such an inclina
tion, or a liking as the philosophers and modern theologians
would applaud, but he speaks also of this, that it is a pure and
enlightened satisfaction of heart, and a particular desire, which
he, whom this Psalm pronounces blessed, has toward the law of
God, not so much seeking what the law promises, or fearing
what it threatens, as feeling that the law is holy, righteous, and
good. Therefore, it is not merely a love for the law, but such
a sweet attraction for and delight in it, as the world and its
princes can neither prevent or take away by prosperous or ad-
, verse circumstances, nay, which shines triumphantly forth through
proverty, reproach, the cross, death, and hell ; for such desire
shews itself the most in necessities and distresses, in adversity and
persecution. Now from all this it seems manifest, that this Psalm
(in which case it may be understood of Christ alone,) is nothing
else than a mirror and standard, toward which a truly pious and
blessed man must strive and labour; for in this life there is no one,
who is not conscious of some interruption to this delight in the
law of the Lord, by reason of the lust and the law warring in the
members, to which this law is decidedly and wholly opposed ;
as St. Paul complains, Rom. vii. 22, 23, when he says: ' I delight
in the law of God after the inward man ; but I see another law

12 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bring
ing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my members.'"
It is a great thing, therefore, to have one's delight in the law
of the. Lord. The natural man, even when his conscience is alive
to the holiness of the law, and he anxiously strives to delight
himself in it, can never get beyond the region of fear. The re
generate themselves, although they have a predominating delight
in the law, yet do not constantly maintain the conflict with their
sinful propensities. Perfect delight in the law presupposes per
fect union of the human with the divine will, perfect extirpation
of sin — for so much sin, so much dislike to the law — perfect holi
ness. And since this is not to be found in the present life, who can
complain that the saying, " every thing he does prospers," does
not meet in him with a complete fulfilment? The only righteous
one on earth, Christ, he alone, could have laid claim to such a
fulfilment ; but he freely renounced it, he bore the cross, when
he might well have rejoiced. Sufferings are necessary, were it
only as a testimony to the condition of men, as sinful, and since
none experience uniform prosperity, we have in that a real indi
cation from the hand of God, that even his saints have sin still
dwelling in them.
On the " day and night," J. H. Michaelis remarks : " with
such incessant study, that even when the act ceases, there is no
abatement of the pious affection." Instead of meditating, Luther
has speaking, (mentioning at the same time that " the speaking
here meant, is not the mere utterance of the lips, which hypo
crites could also give, but such speaking as labours for expres
sion to the feelings of the heart,") but the construction with ^,
in, (comp. however, Deut. vi. 7,) and especially the reference to
the night, recommends the first signification. Such meditation
day and night, is only to be found in him, who according to the
expression of Luther, " has, through desire, become one cake
with the word of God ; as then love makes of him who loves,
and that which is loved, one thing." — The construction of the
HJin with ^, implies, that the person who meditates, loses him
self in his object.
Ver. 3. And he is like a tree planted by the rivers of water,
that brings forth his fruit in his season, and whose leaf does not
wither, and whatsoever he does he prosperously executes. The ),
and, is not to be translated for. For the verse expresses not

PSALM I. VER. 3. 13
the ground but the developement of the blessedness. The
meaning was perceived quite correctly by Luther: " After the
prophet has described, in ver. 1 and 2, the man who is blessed
before God, and painted him in proper colours, he comes here
to describe him still further, by means of a very beautiful imago.
7^. oy, properly, upon. A thing is said to be upon one, if it
projects over, or generally rises higher. Hence this preposition,
which in common use is rendered by, beside, when the discourse
is of a lower object, in juxtaposition with a higher, is very fre
quently employed in reference to streams, springs, and seas. —
The comparison of a prosperous man, to a tree planted beside a
river, which is peculiarly appropriate in the arid regions of the
East, occurs also in Jer. xvii. 8. There, however, it is only the
imitation and further extension of our passage.* Nothing but
the greatest confusion could invert the relation of these two
passages to each other. The sentence in Jeremiah has evidently
the appearance of a commentary or paraphrase. In Psalm xcii.
12, " The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree," the par
ticular is put instead of the general. With the expression
" in his season," compare that in Mark xi. 13. " for it was
not the time of figs." Most of the older expositors under
stand what is said about bringing forth his fruit, of good works,
but the connection shews, that fruitfulness here, is considered
merely as a sign of joyful prosperity. The figure was embodied
in an appropriate symbolical transaction by Christ, when he
cursed the fig tree. Because the Jewish people did not an
swer the conditions in ver. 1 and 2, they could no longer be
as a tree yielding its fruit in its season : so alights upon the
- tree, by which that was represented, the heavy word, " Let no
fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever," Matt. xxi. 1 9. In the
words: "Whatsoever he does he prosperously executes," the
author returns from the image to the object, and regards that
as the first thing. The word |T7Xn is 'to be taken here, not as
many expositors do, in an intransitive sense, for then we should
have expected 1"), but transitively, to accomplish successfully;
so generally, and in particular, 2 Chron. vii. 11. The intran
sitive signification, when more closely considered, does not oc
cur even in the single passage which Winer has referred to as an
* See Ktlper Jerem. libr. sacr. interp. p. 162.

14 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
example of it, Judges xviii. 5. The hiphil everywhere retains
its import. There appears to be an allusion to Gen. xxxix. 3, 4,
where the same expression is used of Joseph, whose prosperous
condition was a pledge of like prosperity to those who resemble
him in disposition.
Ver. 4. The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff, which
the wind drives away. Luther : " When Scripture speaks of
the ungodly, take heed that thou thinkest not, as the ungodly
ever do, as if it referred to Jews and heathens, or, perhaps also
to other persons, but present thyself before this word, as what
respects and concerns also thee. For a right-hearted and gra
cious man is jealous of himself, and trembles before every word
of God." For the understanding of the figure, to which John
the Baptist makes reference in Matt. iii. 12, as that of the tree
had also been mentioned in ver. 10, (see too, Job xxi. 18,) it is
to be remarked, that, in the East, the threshing-floors are placed
upon heights. They throw aloft the corn that has been threshed,
until the wind has driven the chaff away.
Ver. 5. Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment.
The therefore occasions great difficulty to those who fail in per
ceiving aright the relation between ver. 5, 6, and 3, 4. Some,
as Claus, have been led thereby to adopt instead, the sense of
because, which the phrase in the original, is alleged frequently
to possess. That the ungodly stand not in the judgment, must
constitute the ground why, according to ver. 4, they fly away as
the chaff. But it has already been proved by Winer, what is
indeed self-evident, that the p 7J7 never carries this meaning,
which is precisely the reverse of the true one ; that it always
indicates the consequence, never the cause. Those who adopt
the common signification, cannot properly explain how that
should be here described as a consequence flowing from the
statement in the preceding verse, which appears to be simply
co-ordinate with it. Amyrald alone, of all expositors, seems to
have got upon the right tract, and thus paraphrases : " But al
though the providence of God, whose ways are sometimes un
searchable, does not always place so remarkable a distinction
between those two kinds of men, still the future life (he errone
ously understands by the judgment, only the final judgment,)
shall so distinguish them, that no one shall any longer be able
to doubt, who they are that follow the path of true prosperity.
In ver. 3 and 4, the idea was expressed concerning the conditions

PSALM 1. VER. 5. 15
of the righteous and the wicked, which is applicable to all times.
And from this truth, which can never be a powerless and quies
cent one, is here derived its impending realization : so certain
as salvation is to the righteous, and perdition to the wicked,
the judgment must overthrow and depress the latter, and, at
the same time, exalt the former to the enjoyment of the feli
city destined for them. That the therefore refers, not simply
to ver. 4, but also to ver. 3, is clear from ver. 6, where the sub
ject of both verses is resumed, and is represented as the ground
of what is said in ver. 5. When that straitened application of
the therefore is adopted, one cannot well commence with the
first clause of ver. 6, " for the Lord knoweth the way of the
righteous," and must help out the sense by shoving in an only or
indeed, through which the general nature of the conclusion, by
a reference to both kinds of men, which the whole strain of the
Psalm would have led us to expect, becomes quite lost. Ver. 5
is entirely occupied with a consequence from ver. 3 and 4, if we
only consider that judgment against the wicked carries in its
bosom the deliverance of the righteous who had suffered under
their oppressions and annoyances. Indeed, ver. 6 requires us
to view it in that light, as it can only then form a suitable con
clusion. The whole context shews, that by the judgment we are to
understand God's ; in particular, it appears from the following
verse, where the fact that the ungodly shall not stand in the
judgment, is founded on the truth that the Lord knoweth. the
way of the righteous. The reference to a human judgment,
which has again been lately maintained by Hitzig, is altogether
to be rejected. De Wette narrows the expression too much,
when he would understand it only of the general outward visi
tations of judgment, which were peculiar to the theocracy. Ewald
justly refers the words to the progression of the divine right
eousness, which is perpetually advancing, though not every
moment visible. All manifestations of punitive righteousness
are comprehended in it. " For God will bring every work into
judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whe
ther it be evil." Eccl. xii. 14.
And sinners (shall not stand) in the congregation of the right-
teous, i. e. those who, by turning away their hearts from God,
have internally separated themselves from the kingdom of God,
shall also be outwardly expelled by a righteous act of judgment.

16 THB BOOK OF PSALMS.
The external church or community, can only for a time be dif
ferent from the company or congregation of the righteous. For
God will take care that they shall be separated from the leaven
of the ungodly, a separation which shall certainly find its proper
accomplishment only at the close of this present world.' That
the divine community, in its true idea, is the community of the
righteous, embodies a prophecy of the, excision and final over
throw of sinners. An allusion is kept up through the whole
verse to the expression so often used in the Pentateuch, regard
ing the transgressors of the divine law, " That soul shall be cut
off from his people," that is, it would be ipso facto separated
from the community of God ; and the declaration is commonly
followed by an announcement of the particular manner, in
which the judgment mentioned as already virtually given,
should be outwardly executed, or would be executed by God.
We understand, therefore, the community or congregation of
the righteous as a designation of the whole covenant-people,
in reference to which the Israelites are elsewhere (for exam
ple, Numb, xxiii. 10, Psalm cxi. 1,) called the righteous or
upright, and also the holy, (comp. Num. xvi. 3.) That this idea
shall one day be fully realized, is intimated by Isaiah in ch. ix.
9, liv. 13. The PHS?. congregation, stands for a description of the
whole community of Israel, (see Gesen. Thes. on the word.) The
whole people are referred to in the parallel passage, Ez. xiii. 9,
" And my hand shall be upon the prophets that see vanity, and
that divine lies ; they shall not be in the assembly of my people,
neither shall they be written in the writing (book) of the house
of Israel, neither shall they enter into the land of Israel." Ac
cordingly " sinners in the congregation of the righteous," may
be regarded as equivalent to " sinners in the congregation of
Israel," that being the congregation of the righteous. An ex
ample in part, of the idea here announced, is to be found in the
overthrow of the company of Korah, of whom it is said, Numb.
xvi. 33, '¦ They perished from among the congregation." After
wards, also, in the fate of Saul and his party. The discipline of
God in his church proceeds more vigorously, the more inactive
men are in maintaining it. De Wette and others understand by
the righteous, the elite, who visibly occupy the ground of fortu
nate citizens of the theocratic kingdom. But this is inadmissible,
as their being said not to stand or to remain among the righteous,
implies, that they had belonged to the community of the right-

PSALM I. VER. 6. 17
eous up to the judgment, which was to throw them off, like
morbid matter from the body in the crisis of a disease.
Ver. 6. For the Lord knoivs the way of the righteous, but the
way of the ungodly shall perish. According to various exposi
tors, the two members of the verse do not correspond, exactly,
and something must be supplied in each. God knows the way
of the righteous, and therefore they cannot fail to be prosperous ;
he knows the way of the wicked, and therefore they cannot fail
to perish, But this exposition is not to be approved. The figure
of the way occurs in the Psalms under a two-fold signification ;
first of the conduct, and then of the portion, fate, or destiny.
The latter signification is by much the most common ; comp.
Psalms xxxvii. 5, 18, 23 ; Isa. xl. 27. Now, according to the
above exposition, the first signification must be taken ; but the
second clause shows that the other ought to be preferred. The
perishing applies only to the circumstances of the wicked. They
who would refer it to the moral walk, must torture the word
with arbitrary meanings, or cloak the difficulty with circumlo- ,
cutions. And where the parallelism is so marked, the way must
carry the same sense in the first clause. For understanding it
of the circumstances, the corresponding passage in Psalm ii. 12
may be regarded as a confirmation. Indeed, it would never
have been viewed otherwise, if only the reference of this verse,
to verses 3 and 4 had been rightly perceived, in which the things
befalling the righteous and the wicked are alone discoursed of;
the righteous are prosperous, the wicked are unprosperous ;
therefore the wicked shall not stand, &c. As here it is spoken
of the way of the wicked, that it perishes, so of his hope, in Job
viii. 13 ; Prov. x. 28. The knowing here comprehends blessing
in itself as its necessary consequence. If the way of the right
eous, their lot, is known by God as the omniscient, it cannot
but be blessed by him as the righteous. Hence there is no ne
cessity, in order to preserve the parallelism, which is made good
otherwise, to ascribe to know the sense of having care and affec
tion for, loving, which it properly never possesses. It is enough
if only God with his knowledge is not shut up in the heavens ;
the rest flows spontaneously from his nature, and needs not to
be specially mentioned. How little the y*V in such connections
loses, or even modifies its common signification, appears from the
parallel passage, Psalm xxxi. 7, " Thou considerest my trouble,
thou knowest my soul in adversities," where the knowing is
c

18 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
parallel with considering or seeing. It is justly remarked by
Ewald, that the issue in ver. 5 and 6 is truly prophetical, per
petually in force, and consequently descriptive of what is to be
for ever expected and hoped for in the whole world. Its limi
tation to the affairs of the peculiar theocratic government, is as
certainly false as God's righteousness is inseparable from his
nature, and the moral government of the world is, for that rea
son, unalterable. Luther : " At the close of this Psalm, I would
admonish, as has also been done by such holy fathers as Atha
nasius and Augustine, that we must not simply read or sing the
Psalms, as if they did not concern us ; but we must read and
sing them for this purpose, that we may be improved by them,
may have our faith strengthened, and our hearts comforted amid
all sort of necessities. For the Psalter is nothing else than a
school and exercise for our heart and mind, to the end, that we
may have our thoughts and inclinations turned into the same
channel. So that he reads the Psalter without spirit, who reads
it without understanding and faith.

PSALM II.
The Psalmist sees with wonder, ver. 1 — 3, many nations and
their kings rise against Jehovah and his Anointed, their rightful
king. He then describes the manner in which Jehovah carries
himself toward this undertaking, who first laughs, then terrifies
them with -an indignant speech, and declares their attempt to
be in vain, because they revolt against him, whom he himself
has set up as his king. In ver. 7 — 9, the anointed proclaims,
more at length, what the Lord had briefly thrown out against
the insurgents, that the Lord had given him, as his Son, all the
nations and kingdoms of the earth for a possession, and along
with that, power and authority to punish those who rebelled
against him. The Psalmist finally turns himself, ver. 10 — 12, to
the kings, and admonishes them to yield a lowly submission to
the anointed King and Son of God, who is equally ready to
save those that trust in him, as to destroy those that rise up
against him. In few Psalms does the strophe- arrangement ap
pear so marked as in this. One perceives at a glance, that the
whole falls into four strophes of three members each. The
verses again, regularly consist of two members, only the last

PSALM II. 19
verse has four, for the purpose of making a full-toned conclu
sion. There are the clearest grounds for asserting, that by the King,
the Anointed, or Son of God, no other can be understood than
the Messias. It is generally admitted, that this exposition was
the prevailing one among the older Jews, and that in later times
they were led to abandon it only for polemical reasons against
the Christians. This is supported, not only by the express de
claration of Jarchi and a considerable number of passages in the
writings of the older Jews, in which the Messianic sense appears
uppermost, and which may be seen in Venema's Introduction to
this Psalm, but also by the fact, that two names of the Messias
which were current in the time of Christ, — the name of Messias
itself, the anointed, — and the name, Son of God, applied by Na-
thanael in his conversation with Christ, John i. 49, and also by
the high-priest in Matth. xxvi. 63, owed their origin to this
Psalm in its Messianic meaning. The former is applied to the
coming Saviour only in another passage, Dan. ix. 25, the latter
in this Psalm alone. But though, this is certainly a remarkable
fact, we could not regard it as, by itself, constituting a sufficient
ground for the interpretation in question. Neither would we
rest upon the circumstance, that the New Testament, in a series
of passages, refers this Psalm to Christ, (it is so by all the Apos
tles in Acts iv. 25, 26, by Paul in Acts xiii. 33, as also in Hebrews
i. 5, v. 5, while manifest allusions to the same Messianic sense oc
cur in Rev. ii. 27, xii. 5, xix. 15). For Psalms typically referring
to the Messiah are not unfrequently in the New Testament re
ferred to Christ, and the Psalm really contains an indirect pro
phecy respecting him, even though it were primarily referred to
some individual living under the Old Covenant, so that the two
contending interpretations are not so far asunder from each
other as at first view they might seem ; and, consequently, we
cannot build with perfect confidence upon those passages, though
undoubtedly the fact, that the authors of the New Testament
followed the direct Messianic sense, renders it very probable
that this was the prevailing one among their contemporaries.
But the proper proof we base on internal grounds alone, in re
gard to which we remark at the outset, that we can have no in
terest in deceiving ourselves about its meaning, since, according
to our view, the Messianic kernel of the Psalm, and its importance
for the present time would remain quite inviolable, though the

20 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
internal grounds should speak for its being primarily referred, for
example, to David. Whatever assurance he could derive, as to
the fruitlessness of the revolt made against him by the subjects
of his kingdom, from his Divine appointment, and the nearness
of his relation to God, that must be indicated in a far higher de
gree still when understood with reference to Christ's relation to
his rebellious subjects. But the internal grounds speak so loudly
and so decidedly for the Messianic sense, that we can only as
cribe the disinclination manifested towards it to causes, the in
vestigation of which is foreign to our present purpose.
Many traits present themselves in our Psalm which are appli
cable to no other person than Messiah. Superhuman dignity is
attributed to the subject of the Psalm in ver. 12, where the re-
volters are admonished to submit themselves, in fear and hu
mility, to their king, since his opponents shall be destroyed by
his severe indignation, while those who put their trust in him
shall be made blessed. The remark of Venema: " The anger of
the king is set forth as an object of fear, ver. 12, in a manner
not properly becoming the creature, and the placing of a confi
dence in him is there also recommended, which is most repug
nant to the standing of a creature ;" this remark is too well
grounded to be capable of being rebutted, as the fruitlessness of
all attempts to refer to the Lord, what is there said of his Anoint
ed, abundantly shows. Against every other person but Messiah ¦
speaks also ver. 12, where the king is distinctly called the Son
of God, and ver. 6, 7, where the names " his king," and " his
anointed," are given him in a sense which implies his title to the
inheritance of the whole earth. Ver. 1 — 3, and ver. 8 — 10, are
decisive against all earthly monarchs, for they declare the peo
ple and kings of the whole earth to be the possession of this
king, and speak of them as striving in vain to break his yoke.
The extent of his kingdom is here described to be what the
Messiah's kingdom is always described in those passages which
are generally admitted to refer to him,— comp. for example,
Zech. ix. 10; Isa. ii. 2; Mic. iv. 1. De Wette endeavours to sup
port himself here by an appeal to the pretended " liking of the
Hebrew poets for hyperbole, and the disposition of the inspired
members of the theocracy to conceive magnificent hopes." But
in all circumstances, hyperbole has its limits, and the over-work
ing here must have been connected, not with the representation
of the present, but only with the promises of the future. Hoff-

PSALM II. 21
man, in his work on Prophecy and its Fulfilment, p. 160, thinks
that the words, " Ask of me and I will give thee the heathen for
thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for a
possession," mean no more than that " whatever people, whatever
distant lands he was to have for a possession, these Jehovah
would bring under him." But however high a destiny was ap
pointed to David, he could only have besought for himself some
small territories in the neighbourhood of Canaan. Besides, it is
overlooked, that this Divine appointment and supremacy are held
against the kings of the earth, who have revolted against the
king, their rightful Lord ; that, on the same ground, the judges
of the earth, in ver. 10, are admonished to return to their alle
giance to their proper king. And then, where shall we find in
the history, even the smallest intimation that the Lord made
such an offer to David, as if it had been in his option to say,
whether he would be ruler over the whole world ? Not even
the sovereignty of a single people was offered in that manner to
David. He never waged a war of conquest, always merely
defended himself against hostile attacks. It is farther to be re
garded as conclusive against an earthly king, that the revolt
here mentioned against the Son, and the Anointed of Jehovah,
is represented as a revolt entirely against Jehovah himself, and
the nations are exhorted to yield themselves to him with humi
lity and reverence. It were a quite different thing if the dis
course had been of enemies who aimed at the overthrow of the
kingdom of God ; the enemies, who stand forth here, have no
other end in view than to free themselves from the yoke of the
king. Although we would not absolutely maintain the impas
sibility of such a mode of representation, there is still awanting
any parallel passage, according to which any such design as
revolt expressly against Jehovah had been meditated. The va
lidity of this ground, which was already advanced in the first
part of my Christology, is admitted by Hitzig. He denies still
more decidedly than we would be disposed to do, that heathen
nations, which had been subdued by the people of God, might
simply on that account be regarded as Jehovah's subjects, and
that every attempt to regain their freedom would be a revolt
against Jehovah. To serve a deity, says he, is either to profess
a religion, or at least includes this, and presupposes it, — the
Moabites served David, 2 Sam. viii. 2, not God. On this ac
count, though he will still not declare himself for the Messianic

22 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
interpretation, which reconciles all difficulties, he has felt him
self obliged to throw back the composition of the Psalm to the
time of the Maccabees, when the attempt was first made of in
corporating vanquished heathens, by subjecting them to the rite
of circumcision, — a supposition in which he will certainly have
no followers. Finally, the Messianic sense is supported by the
same grounds which prove that of Ps. xiv. lxxii. ex. which so re
markably harmonize with ours, that their connection with the
Messiah must stand or fall together. These grounds are so con
vincing that we find here among the defenders of the Messianic
interpretation many even of those whose theological sentiments
must have disposed them rather to adopt a different view, in
particular, Eichhorn, Bertholdt, Rosenmiiller, Koester; also
Sack, in his Apologt., and Umbreit in his Erbauung a. d. Psalter,
p. 141. have advocated the same opinion.
Though the Psalm has no superscription, yet that David was
its author, as indeed he is expressly named in Acts iv. 25, may
be gathered from the undoubted fact, that the relations of David's
time, form the evident ground of the representation which is
given, — comp. the closing remarks, as also the resemblance to
Psalm ex. The general character of Psalm first, suitable for an
introduction, would scarcely have warranted the compiler to
place it, and this, so closely related to it, at the head of a long
series of Davidic Psalms, unless he had felt convinced of David's
being their author. In common with the first, this Psalm is easy
and simple in style ; and that the discourse is of a more spirited
character, arise from the different nature of the subject.
Ver. 1 . Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a
vain thing ? The why is an expression of astonishment and
horror at the equally foolish and impious attempt of the revolt-
ers. The |"|Jn is here taken by some in the sense of being in
commotion, blustering; but in that sense the word does not
elsewhere occur in the Hebrew ; and as little does it occur in
that of Koester, to murmur. The common meaning is here
quite suitable, p^, not an adverb, in vain, to no purpose, but
a noun, vanity, nothing. The vanity or nothing is that which,
from being opposed to the Divine counsel, and therefore no
thing, also leads to nothing, reaches not its aim, the revolt
against the king, which, at the same time, is revolt against the
almighty God. The why at the beginning, and the vain thing
at the end of this verse, are what alone indicate, in the other-

PSALM II. VER. 2. ^<5
wise purely historical representation of ver. 1—3, the point of
view in which the transaction is to be considered. But thewe
two little words contain the germ of the whole subject from ver.
4 to ver. 12, in which it is unfolded why the project of the in
surgents is a groundless and vain one.
Ver. 2. The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers
sit with one another against the Lord and his anointed. It is
unnecessary, and destructive to the sense, to repeat, with De
Wette, Koester, and others, the wherefore at the beginning of
this verse. There is no hostility expressed in the first verb here,
merely by itself; that is indicated only through the connection
and the addition of the words " against the Lord." The kings
of the earth, — the huge mass of 'tumultuous revolters draws up
on itself so much the eye of the prophet, that he overlooks the
small company of subjects who still remained faithful. The "ID"1
means to found, in Niph. to be founded, Isa. xliv. 28, Ex. ix. 18;
then poetically to sit down. This is the only legitimate expo
sition of the word here. The idea of combination and common
counsel, is not given by the verb itself, but only by the adverb
together, with which it is united, as it is also in Psalm xxxi. 13,
Against the Lord and his anointed. Calvin remarks, that this
is not necessarily to be understood as implying, that the revolt
wore the aspect of being avowedly against God ; indeed, they
could not revolt against him otherwise than mediately, when
they sought to withdraw themselves from the supremacy of his
Son ; and in that respect, to use Luther's expression, the ungodly
often make terrible efforts for God's honour against God's
honour. The anointing in the Old Testament, whether it be
viewed as an actually performed symbolical action, or as a mere
figure, constantly marks the communication of the gift of the
Holy Spirit, — see Christol. P. II. p. 445. This meaning evidently
shines forth in the account that is given of Saul's anointing,
1 Sam. x. 1, and David's, xvi. 13, 14. The kings of Israel were
said pre-eminently to be anointed, because they received a pecu
liarly rich measure of Divine grace for their important office.
From them was the expression transferred, unconditionally, to
the king, the one in whom the idea of the kingdom was to be
perfectly realized. His endowment with the Spirit, without mea
sure, which was given only in measure to his types, was noticed
by Isaiah, chap, xi., as an essential feature. Luther remarks with
suitable application to the members, of what is here said con-

24

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

cerning the head : " Therefore God permits the ungodly to boil
and rage against the righteous, and employ against them all their
devices. But all such attempts are like the swelling waves of
, the sea, blown up by the wind, which make as if they would
beat down the shore, but before they even reach it, again sub
side, and melt away in themselves, or spend themselves with
harmless noise upon the beach. For the righteous is so firmly
grounded in his faith upon Christ, that he confidently scorns,
like a beach, such vain impotent threatenings of the wicked,
and such proud swellings, which are destined so soon again to
disappear. Ver 3. The enemies are introduced speaking : We will break
their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. The
plural suffix has reference to Jehovah and his Anointed. Their
bands, — that is, the bands which vthey have laid upon us. The
prophet speaks as from the soul of the insurgents, to whom the
mild yoke of the Lord and his Anointed appears as a galling
chain. Calvin : " So even now we see that all the enemies of
Christ find it as irksome a thing to be compelled to submit
themselves to his supremacy, as if the greatest disgrace had be
fallen them."
Ver. 4. The prophet looks away from the wild turmoil of
enemies, from the dangers which here below seem to threaten
the kingdom of the Anointed, to the world above, and sets over
against them the almightiness of God. Calvin : " However high
they may lift themselves, they can never reach to the heavens,
nay, while they seek to confound heaven and earth, they do but
dance like grasshoppers. The Lord meanwhile looks calmly
forth from his high abode, upon their senseless movements."
He who is throned ih the heavens laughs; the Lord mocks
them. God is here emphatically described as being enthroned
in heaven, to mark his exalted sovereignty over the whole
machinery of earth, and, in particular, over the kings of the
earth. The laughter and derision are expressive of security.
and contempt. Calvin : " We must therefore hold, that if God
does not immediately punish the wicked, it is his time to laugh,
and though we must sometimes even weep, yet this thought
should allay the sharpness of our grief, nay, wipe away our tears,
that God does not represent himself as if he was tardy or weak,
but seeks through silent contempt, for a time, to break the pe
tulance of his enemies." Expositors generally suppose that the

PSALM II. VER. 4. 25
1&7 is to be limited by the pr\ffl (the them by the laughing).
This is not necessary, though it is certainly supported by Psalm
xxxvii. 13, lix. 8. Luther gives a course of admirable remarks
upon this passage ; but for the sake of our exposition itself, we
must omit a considerable part of them, which have for their ob
ject a more general practical design. " All this is written for
our learning, that we, through patience and comfort of the scrip
tures, may have hope. For what is here written of Christ, is
an example for all Christians. For every one who is a sound
Christian, especially if he teaches the word of Christ, must suf
fer his Herod, his Pilate, his Jews and heathens, who rage against
him, to speak much in vain, to lift themselves up and take coun
sel against him. If this is not done now by men, by the devil,
or, finally by his own conscience, it will at least be done on his
death-bed. There, at last, it will be in the highest degree neces
sary to have such words of consolation in remembrance — he who
sits in heaven laughs, the Lord holds them in derision. To such
a hope we must cling fast, and on no account suffer ourselves to
be driven from it. As if he would say — So certain is it, that
they speak in vain, and project foolish things, when they would
appear before men as strong and mighty, treating God as of
little esteem, and challenging him to oppose them, as he would
needs do in a matter of great and serious moment ; that he only
laughs and mocks at them, as if it were a small and despicable
thing which was not worth minding. 0 how great a strength of
faith is required for these words! For who believed, when Christ
suffered, and the Jews triumphed over and oppressed him, that
God all the time was laughing ? So that when we suffer and are
oppressed by men, though we do believe that God holds our ad
versaries in derision, yet we may be regarded by others, and may
ourselvesfeel precisely as if we were mocked and overcome both by
God and men." Upon the expression, "he that is enthroned in
the heavens," Luther specially remarks — " As if it were said, he
who cares for us dwells quite secure, apart from all fear, and if
we are involved in trouble and contention, he fixes his regard
upon us; we move and fluctuate here and there, but he stands
fast, and will order it so, that the righteous shall not continue for
ever in trouble, Psalm lv. 22. But all this proceeds so secretly
that thou canst not well perceive it, thou shouldest then need
to be in heaven thyself. Thou must suffer by land and sea, and
among all creatures ; thou must hope for no consolation in thy

26 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
sufferings and troubles, till thou canst rise through faith and hope
above all, and longest for him who dwells. in the heavens — then
thou also dwellest in the heavens, but only in faith and hope.
Therefore must we fix and stay our hearts in all our straits,
assaults, tribulations, and difficulties, upon him who sitteth in
the heavens ; for then it will come to pass that the adversity,
vexation, and trials of this world can not only be taken lightly,
but can even be smiled at."
Ver. 5. The words of contempt are followed by others of in
dignation and threatening. Then he speaks to them in his wrath,
and affrights them in his sore displeasure. 1H, then, namely,
when he has first laughed at and mocked them ; others impro
perly, at the time of their revolt, or when they believe that they
had broken the chains. The laughter directing itself upon the
impotence of the revolters is the first subject ; the wrath excited
by their criminal disposition to revolt is the second. Many ex
positors, as Calvin, think that there is here a speech of God by
deeds, that reference is made to the judgment which he decrees
against the insolent revolters, after he has manifested towards
them his contempt, but without foundation. Ver. 6, where
the speech of God follows, shews that the second member here
is to be expounded by the first ; and in his rage he affrights
them with the succeeding words, not the reverse. The actual
punishment of the revolters, who even to this day are left stand
ing with the speech, " Let us break their bands asunder, and cast .
away their cords from us," lies beyond the compass of this Psalm.
In it the Lord, the Anointed, and the Psalmist, come forth one
after another against the rebels, and endeavour to bring them
back from their foolish purpose. It is not till they have shut
their ear against all these admonitions and threatenings that
the work of punishment properly comes in. With a thundering
voice of indignation, before which the impotent sinners quail to
their inmost heart, the Psalmist represents the Lord as speaking
to them what follows at ver. 6.
Ver. 6. And I have formed my king upon Zion, my holy hill.
Few of the expositors take notice of the 1 at the beginning, which
yet well deserves to be noticed. It is never used without mean
ing, nor ever elsewhere than where we can also put our word and
(Ewald, p. 540). The discourse, as now directed more sharply
against the insurrection, begins here at the middle. The com
mencement, which spake of the revolters, confined itself merely

PSALM II. VER. 6. 27
to the preceding circumstances. The / here, the Lord of heaven
and of earth, stands with peculiar emphasis in opposition to them.
Luther : " They have withdrawn themselves from him, but I
have subjected to him the holy hill of Zion, and all the ends of
the earth. So that it will become manifest how they have been
objects of laughter and scorn, and have troubled themselves, and
taken counsel in vain." The TDDJ is comnonly rendered, I
have anointed ; and of the more recent expositors, Stier alone has
raised a doubt, against this rendering, without, however, ascrib
ing to it a determinate meaning. But it has been disproved by
Gousset on satisfactory grounds. The supposition that 1]DJj ac
cording to its ordinary meaning to pour, has also had the sense
anointing, is supported only by Prov. viii. 23, and the derivative
*H*DJ. a prince, from his being anointed, as is thought. But
on the passage in Proverbs, all the old expositors give the sense
of making or preparing (pouring out=forming), and this sense
is decidedly favoured by the context, " from everlasting was I
set up or formed," is followed by, " from the beginning, or ever
the earth was, I was brought forth." But that the latter word
cannot possibly have the meaning of anointed, since it js pre
eminently and specially used of princes, holding their dignity in
fief of a superior, and in whose case anointing was out of the
question. See two decisive passages, Josh. xiii. 21 ; and Micah
v. 4. The word CD*D*DJ> there used, properly means poured out,
then formed, invested, appointed, and refers, according to the
just remark of Gousset, to " the production of a prince through
the influence and communication of power," either as having
been generated thereby, or rather, formed as a piece of work
manship. In the case before us, the signification of formed is
¦confirmed by the corresponding words, " I have begotten thee."
The expression, " my king," is also deserving of special remark.
If its peculiar emphasis is not considered, if it is merely ex
pounded as if it were " I have appointed him to be king?" the
speech of God will then be unsuited to the end which it ought
to serve, that, namely, of representing the vanity of the revolt
of the kings of the earth. For one might possibly have been
set by God as king on Zion, without having any proper claim to
the lordship of the heathen world. Then, in opposition to every
exposition of a depreciatory nature, we have the corresponding
words, " Thou art my son," through which, as is implied in ver.

28 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
8, a much more intimate relation to God is indicated than if he
had been an ordinary king. The words, therefore, " I have
formed my king," can only mean, " I have appointed a king
(as Luther renders much more correctly than our recent ex
positors) w,ho is most closely related to me." In the setting up
or appointing of such a king, for whom nothing less than the
whole earth could be a sufficient empire, there was given a proof
of the nothingness of all the attempts at insurrection which were
now made by the kings against the Lord. The upon is most
naturally regarded as indicating the place where the Lord's
king was constituted and set up by him, implying of course that
this place is at the same time the seat of his supremacy. The
expression " upon Zion" occurs in Isa. xxxi. 4. We must, with
Hoffman, expound — I have appointed my king (that he be king)
upon Zion, and utterly reject the other; I have appointed my
king (that he be king) over Zion, my holy mountain, as in 1
Sam. xv. 17, Saul was said to have been anointed king over Israel.
Zion can here be only the seat, the residence of the king, not
the territory of his empire — which is, indeed, the whole earth.
Zion, the holy mount of the Lord, is the appropriate seat of this
king ; for as it was from David's time the centre of Israel, so was
it henceforth determined to be the centre of the world, for " out
of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord out of
Jerusalem," Isa. ii. 3. The Lord is to govern the whole earth
from there. The thought is there expressed in Old Testament
language that the kingdom should henceforth break through its
narrow bounds, and bring thewhole world under its sway. Upon
'fcJHp IM, not the mountain of my holiness, but my holiness-
mountain, my holy mountain, see Ewald, p. 580. Zion was
raised to this honour by its having had the ark of the covenant
transferred to it by David. From that period it became the
centre of the kingdom of God.
Ver. 7. The speech of the Lord, in proper adaptation to his
majesty and indignation, is but short. Next appears the king
appointed by God, reiterating, to the astonished rebels what has
been said by God, and further developing it, / will declare the
statute: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son, this day
have I begotten thee. Rosenmiiller explains, " 1 will declare ac
cording to, or in terms of, the decree;" but there is no ground
for this, as the word *)£D is elsewhere coupled with the prepo
sition 7tf, indicating the object of declaration, Psalm, Ixix. 26,

PSALM II. VER. 7. 29
as also the similar words JP1V, to make known, "lfitf, "1*1, and
yi2\&, see, for example, Isa. xxxviii. 19 ; Jer. xxvii. 19 ; Job
xhi. 7. The preposition cannot in such cases have the force of
something like of. It is explained by the circumstance of the
relater's or speaker's mind being directed to the matter — the
relation or speech goes out upon it. Ewald, p. 602. Taking
for granted that the preposition can only mark the thing to be
announced, the exposition of Claus : I will declare for a statute,
i. e. something which must be held to be an unquestionable
law, is to be rejected as not simple enough, and hence not suit
ed to the character of the Psalm, which is the reverse of hard or
artificial. But Claus is right in giving to the word pn its com
mon signification of statute, law, for which most of the modern
expositors substitute the arbitrary sense of decree, sentence, and
. then, indeed, rightly conceive that they must bring over to this
member the word Jehovah to join with the accusative. " I will
declare law," contains more than " I will declare decree or
sentence." It intimates, that the resolution of the Lord just
to be announced, has the force of law, and that it was per
fectly in vain to undertake any thing which wars against it.
Since the Lord has spoken this, " Thou art my Son," he has
at the' same time laid upon the heathen the law of serving his
Son. The question now arises, what determination or sentence of
Jehovah, having the force of an unchangeable law, is . here
meant? Rosenmiiller, Ewald, and others, conceive, that the
reference is to the Divine promise in 2 Sam. vii. But there is
no ground for such a supposition. For then, the declaration,
" Thou art my Son," would be spoken, not in the sense in
which it occurs here, as implying an investiture with dominion
over the heathen. And, besides, this exposition would destroy
the obvious connection between ver. 6 and ver. 7. What the
Son here throws out against the revolters, can only be the fur
ther development of that which the Lord had settled against
them ; the to-day becomes quite indeterminate, if it is not re
ferred to that precise day on which the Lord had set his king
on Zion ; and the expression, " Thou art my Son," can only
point to the subject contained in the words, " My King." So
that the discourse here can only be of a determination of the
Lord, which was issued concerning the Anointed at the time of
his appointment : I will declare the law, which the Lord then

30 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
gave ; when he made me his king on Zion, he said to me, Thou
art my Son, &c. The Psalmist has only in a general way before
him, the terminus of the setting up as king. When Paul refers,
in Acts xiii. 33, the words of our text to Christ, in connection
with his resurrection from the dead, he just supplies from the
fulfilment its more immediate application. The resurrection
of Christ was the key-stone of his redemption-work, the starting
point of his representation as the Son of God, and his establish
ment in the kingdom.
The Lord speaks here to the king on the day of his installa
tion as his Son. Where God, in the Old Testament, is repre
sented as Father, where the subject of discourse is the sonship
of God, there is always (apart from a few passages not in point
here, which speak of him as the author of external being, the
giver of all good, Deut. xxxii. 18, Jer. ii. 27, and perhaps Isa. .
lxiv. 7) a reference made by an abridged comparison tp his in
ternal love, as being similar to that of a father toward his son
— see for example Psalm ciii. 13, where the comparison is fully
stated. In this se^nse, Israel is in a whole series of passages
named God's son. As in Ex. iv. 22 : " Israel is my son, my first
born" — where the expression, " my first-born" points to the ab
ridged comparison, as if it had been said, " Israel is dear to me
like a first-born son," Deut. xiv. 1, 2, where the words, " Ye
are the children of the Lord your God," are more fully explained
by the following, " For thou art an holy people unto the Lord
thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people
unto himself above all nations;" Deut. xxxii. 6, where the ques
tion, " Is he not thy Father ?" is followed by declarations testify
ing in various particulars, of his fatherly- love and carefulness ;
Isa. lxiii. 16, " Doubtless thou art our Father, though Abraham
be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not: thou, 0 Lord,
art our Father, our Redeemer; thy name is from everlasting;"
where the name of Father is used to imply what is related at
large in ver. 7 — 15, the things he did in his great goodness to
wards the house of Israel ; Hos. xi. 1, " When Israel was a child,
then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt ;" Mai. i. 16,
" If I be a Father, where is my honour ?" the theme from ver.
2 — 5, being this, " I have loved you" — from which, however, a
false conclusion is drawn in ii. 10, as if to' say, " Have we
not all one Father," were synonymous with, " One God hath
created us," Jer. xxxi. 9, 20. With a just perception of what

PSALM II. VER. 7. 31
is implied in the abbreviated comparison, the Apostle, in Rom.
ix. 4, gathers up what is said of Israel's sonship in the words,
" whose is the adoption," vMsafa, the admission into the con
dition of childhood. In the same sense the relation of David's
family to God is, in two passages, described as one of sonship.
In 2 Sam. vii. 14, 15, the declaration, " I will be his Father,
and he shall be my son," is followed by the promise of his ever-
abiding love as a sort of interpretation, and in the passage,
Ps. Ixxxix. 26, &c, which has respect to that in Samuel, " My
Father" is placed parallel to " my God, and the rock of my sal
vation," and is explained by, " my mercy I will keep for him for
evermore." Nowhere in the Old Testament is the idea of God's
sonship handled with reference to a» generation through the
Spirit, which Hoffman would have to be the case in all the pas
sages ; but these manifestly could not have been all present to
him. Nowhere, also, does this expression proceed upon an
identifying of creation with generation ; and it is an entire mis
take for Hitzig to maintain concerning Ex. iv. 22, that all men
or peoples are there considered as God's sons, because made by
him. Nowhere does the expression " Jehovah's son," as used of
kings, point to the Divine origin of the kingly authority, or to
the administration of the office according to the mind of Jehovah.
Finally, nowhere in the Old Testament is the sonship spoken of
with a view to bring out the nature of the Father, as the great-1
er part of the older expositors endeavour to discover here.
Now, as we cannot isolate the passage before us from all others,
we must here also understand the words, " thou art my son," as
denoting the inwardness of relation which subsists between the
Lord and his anointed. How inward this relation is, how em
phatically sonship is here predicated of the Lord, — which is
never, on any other occasion, done of any individual king in
Israel, (for, in the two passages before noticed, it is spoken of
the whole line of David,) and far less still of heathen kings — is
shown by ver. 7, where the sovereignty of the whole earth is an
nounced as a simple consequence of the sonship. In that sense
no earlier king of Israel, not even David, the man after God's
own heart, was the son and darling of Jehovah. Such an in
wardness of relationship, cannot properly exist between God and
a mere man.
When the sense of the words " thou art my son," is fairly
settled, no great difficulty can be found with the parallel clause,

32 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
" this day I have begotten thee." If the king is named the Son
of God, not in a proper but in a figurative sense, then the re
ference here cannot be to a proper begetting, as the expression
to-day would also seem to imply, which confirms a non-literal
interpretation of the words, " thou art my Son," an interpreta
tion which takes the begetting only in a figurative sense, as in
dicating not the actual generation of the person, but the inter
nal relation of the Anointed to God. " I have begotten thee to
day," spiritually understood, exactly corresponds to " thou art
my son from henceforth," spiritually understood ; both alike
imply that he was brought into the relation of sonship, or re
ceived into the innermost fellowship of life. This non-literal,
temporal, begetting, has certainly the essential and eternal one
for its foundation, which is the one mainly insisted on here by
the older expositors and theologians. Figuratively, of the set
ting up in the dignity of Son of God, the expression is taken by
Paul in Acts xiii. 3, as it is also in Heb. v. 5.
Ver. 8. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine
inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy posses
sion. For the king, and the son of the Lord, nothing less than
the whole earth is a proper dominion. Ver. 1 — 3 shew, that
he had received all, which the love of his Father here freely of
fered. Ver. 9. If the nations will not obey thee, my son, as their
rightful lord and king, I give thee the right and the power to
chastise them for their disobedience. Thou shall break them
with a rod of iron, thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter's
vessel. The LXX. render the first clause, " thou wilt feed them
with an iron sceptre," — deriving the verb from 7R/*), to feed.
> T
So also the Syriac, Vulgate, and many later expositors. The
present punctuation is then held to be incorrect; it is read
Qjnn> or the form is considered as Poel. But the parallelism
requires that the form should be derived from yy*), to break
or shiver, as is done by the Chaldaic. At the same time, we may
perhaps suppose with Stier, that the word carries a sort of iro
nical allusion to njH. which is so frequently used, comp. 2 Sam.
vii. 7, Psalm lxxxi. 16, Micah vii. 14. ftlfc?, sceptre, was an
ciently the insigne of sovereign authority. The objections
which Rosenmiilier and others have brought against the appli
cation of this meaning here, are of little weight. It is true, in-

PSALM II. VER. 10. 33
deed, we do not hear of iron sceptres having been actually used,
but such only as were of wood, silver, gold, or ivory. But iron
is here selected, as being the hardest metal, to indicate the
strength and crushing force with which the Anointed would
chastise the revolters, and is in perfect accordance with the
general language of scripture. The whole is expressed, and
without violence, in the comparison used, Jer. xix. 11, to the
vessels of a potter. It is, besides, to be remarked, what is
omitted by De Wette, who argues from this expression, against
the application of the Psalm to Christ, and by Umbreit, who
labours to make that denote grace, which is manifestly said
of punitive righteousness, that as the Messiah has here to do
with impudent revolters, the power committed to him by God
is displayed only on one side. That he is as rich in grace to
his people, as he is in overwhelming power against his enemies,
is evident from ver. 11 and 12. That, ,in like circumstances,
the same exercise of power which is spoken of here, is also
exhibited in the New Testament representations of Christ,
needs no proof. Those on his left hand, the compassionate,
but siill righteous Saviour, banishes into everlasting fire; he who
treads under foot the Son of God, must experience throughout
eternity a much sorer punishment, than he who broke the law
of Moses ; and,, to say no more, the destruction of Jerusalem is
constantly represented by the Lord as his work. What might
alone have sufficed, is the circumstance, that, in the place refer
red to in Revelation, the punishment, which Christ is going to
execute upon his enemies, is described in the very words of this
Psalm. The question, whether what is here said of Christ be
worthy of him, resolves itself into this, whether God's righteous
ness be an actual reality, and, consequently, to be continued un
der the New Testament. For what is true of God, is true also
of his Anointed, to whom he has given up the whole admini
stration of his kingdom. But, that this question is to be an
swered in the affirmative, will be shown in our excursus upon
the doctrine of the Psalms.
Ver. 10. An admonition to the revolters to consider what had
been said, and submit themselves to the king set up by the Lord.
Here it comes clearly out, that the object aimed at in the pre
ceding context, by referring to the might of the Anointed to
punish, was to induce the revolters to flee from coming wrath
by embracing the offers of his grace and compassion. AncUf&uL

34 THE BOOK OF PSALMS,
act wisely, 0 ye kings; be warned ye judges of the earth. And
now, since the matter has now been declared, since the su
premacy of the Anointed over you rests upon so immoveable a
foundation, a severe punishment is ready to alight on the re
volters. 7*3t5TJ> properly signifies, to make wise, namely, the
actions, the course of behaviour, then to act wisely, finally, to be
wise, to understand, discern. *1DN to instruct, direct aright,*
warn, in Niph. to be warned, and then to let one's self be
warned, to lay the warning to heart, and act according to it.
The judges of the earth, corresponding to kings in the first
clause, the men of authority and rule, because the office of judg
ing is considered as one of their chief functions.
Ver. 11. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
The serving stands opposed to the resolution in ver. 3 to revolt.
The admonition to serve the Lord, calls on them to yield an im
plicit subjection to his Son and Anointed. Several, following the
LXX. and Vulgate, (gaudeatis cum tremore,) consider the last
words as importing: rejoice that you have found so glorious and
good a king, but along with this joy think always of the terrible
punishment which must overtake you, if ye withdraw yourselves
from his benignant sway. It is well remarked, however, by
Stier, that this construction neither agrees with the parallelism
nor with the prevailing idea of the whole context. The kings
had scarcely got so far yet, that they could be called on to re
joice, even with the addition of trembling. But still more ob
jectionable is the exposition approved of by De Wette, Stier,
Gesenius, and others, " shake with trembling." 7^ never signi
fies anything but to rejoice, occurring often in that sense in the
Psalms, never to tremble or shake, not even in Hos. x. 5, where
the relative is to be supplied, and the rendering should be: " who
rejoice thereupon." Besides, the shaking does not correspond
with the serving and doing homage, which require that y^j|
should express some mark of subordination. Now, this will be
the case, if we understand the rejoicing of the acclamations, by
which men testify their fealty to their sovereigns, to the " shout
of a king," spoken of in Num. xxiii. 21. In that case it is only
the outward subjection which is primarily demanded for avert
ing the threatened punishment. What rich blessings internal
subjection and allegiance brings along with it, is first plainly in
dicated at the close.
Ver. 12. Kiss the Son, lest he be angry. The kiss was, from

PSALM II. VER. 12. 35
the earliest times, the mark of subjection and respect in the East.
Such a kiss was given for the most part not upon the mouth, but
upon the garment or the hand of the person kissed. That this
custom prevailed also among the Hebrews, appears from 1 Sam.
x. 1, where Samuel, after he had anointed the king, as a mark
of respect, gave him a kiss. The presenting of the kiss was also
a religious usage, as appears from 1 Kings xix. 18, Hos. xiii. 2,
Job xxxi. 27. Hence Symmachus translates here, by explaining
the figure : adorate. "Q is found also in Prov. xxxi. 2, for p. It
prevails in the Aramaic, and seems to have belonged to the loftier
poetic dialect in Hebrew, which has much in common with the
Chaldaic, and this explains why the higher style, the ancient, so
rarely occurs in common life. These words were handed down
from the primeval times, when the Hebrews stood in closer con
nection with the people who spoke the Aramaic tongue. The
reason on which many account for this form here, is* that thereby
the cacophony is avoided, which must have arisen from the juxta
position of p and p. Others conceive that ""Q is chosen as
being the more dignified and significant expression. Various
other expositions which have been tried have partly usage against
them, and partly the circumstance that the exhortation of the Son
of God here is quite natural after ver. 7. The proper rendering
is, in consequence, justified by the greater part of modern in
terpreters, not excepting those who find the sense thus given
not precisely suitable to them, as Rosenmiiller, De Wette, Ge
senius, Winer, and Hitzig. The exposition of Ewald, " take
counsel," is quite arbitrary, since the verb in Pi. invariably has
the sense of kissing, and, though "Q may indeed signify " pure,"
yet it could not possibly mean " good counsel," without some
addition. The second kind of arbitrariness is shunned by
Koester, who renders, " embrace purity," but the first still re
mains. Besides, in all these expositions the close connection is
overlooked which our verse holds with ver. 1 — 3. For to " the
raging and imagining a vain thing," corresponds the exhortation
" be wise and instructed." The revolt against the Lord finds its
parallel in the injunction to serve the Lord and rejoice with
trembling. But there is still awanting a special exhortation,
with reference to the Anointed, which is the main point of the
whole, and this must be lost unless "Q is rendered son. That
this cannot possibly be awanting, becomes more evident still
when we compare the entire section, ver. 6 — 9, by which pre-

36 ' THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
paration is made for it. Koester's objection, that *H must then
have had the article, is of no force, as it is here in a sort of tran
sition to being used as a proper name. Comp. Ewald, 659.
The king, who is the subject of this Psalm, appears here as Son
of God in a sense as exclusive, as God himself is God. One God
and one Son of God. Although the title, according to what
was remarked above, is much the same as the beloved of God,
and we are not to regard it as conveying directly the idea of
unity of nature with God, yet so singular a dignity is here as
cribed to the Anointed as indirectly points to identity of nature.
The words ^"H VDNfil. though perfectly plain in them
selves, have occasioned much trouble to expositors, and have
had many false renderings. Every intransitive or passive idea
may, in Hebrew, find an immediate limitation, if it is relative ;
that is, if it admits of being extended to many particular cases.
For example, he was sick, his feet ; he was great to the throne*
This concise manner of speech is easily explained, if -we only
expand it a little more ; he was sick, and this sickness affected
his feet, &c. So also here, " perish the way," must mean,
" perish as to the way." The way is used here, precisely as in
Ps. i. 6, as an image of going. For soon will his wrath be
kindled. Blessed are all they who put their trust in him. tDSJDD
shortly, soon. The 3, when denoting limitations of time, retains
in some measure its common signification as a particle of com
parison. The time up to the beginning of the punishment, when
repentance is too late, is like a short period. -'DIP! stat. constr.
for absol. This can only take place when the preposition serves
merely as a description of the stat. constr. relation ; so that, in
stead of the verb being followed by the preposition and pronoun,
ft might simply have been VDIH- This verb with 2 always sig
nifies, to confide upon some one, as without us, and never to flee
to any one — which has been sometimes taken as its import, from
a false interpretation of the phrase, " trusting in the shadow, i.e.
the support of any one." Scripture constantly admonishes us
to place our confidence in the Lord alone ; on which account
the word before us is in a manner consecrated and set apart,
warning men of confiding in earthly kings ; comp. Psalm cxviii!
9 : "It is better to trust in the Lord, than to put confidence in
princes ;" Psalm cxlvi. 3 : " Trust not in princes nor in the son
of man, in whom there is no help." In the words therefore,
" Blessed are all they who put their trust in him," an allusion is

PSALM II. VER. 12. 37
made to the superhuman nature and dignity of the Anointed.
Many expositors, who are against the Messianic interpretation,
are driven to such straits by this, that they would refer the suf
fix in 12, with great violence, not to the Son, of whom mention
. had been made immediately before, and of whom it is said in
this verse itself, " Kiss the Son, lest he be angry," but to the
Lord — which is an unwilling testimony to the Messianic charac
ter of this Psalm, as well as to the superhuman nature of the
Messiah in the Old Testament representations of him. Others,
as Abenezra, De Wette, Maurer, would refer even the words.
" lest he be angry," to Jehovah, overlooking, however, while
they do so, the relation in which these words stand to verse 9,
according to which, not Jehovah, but the Son, is to break the
revolters with an iron sceptre, and dash them in pieces like a
potter's vessel — a manifestation of wrath which they are here
exhorted to flee from.
In conclusion, we have a few general remarks to make upon
this Psalm. The Messianic predictions in the Psalms, and those
in the Prophets, cannot be so incidental in their character, that
the distinction between Psalmist and Prophet here at once
ceases to exist. We may rather expect this distinction to be
come here more distinctly marked. The essential nature of the
distinction is, that the Prophets, for the most part, communicate
the objective word of God, as that had been imparted to their
internal contemplation, while the predominating character of
the Psalms is subjective, the subject matter taken from some
earlier revelation being represented in a contemplative manner,
and from the individual relations of the Psalmist, or those of
his contemporaries, yet all in such a way that the earlier revela
tion is often, through the special working of the Spirit of God,
carried forward and advanced to a higher degree of clearness.
The Messianic interpretation of a Psalm, then, can only be fully
justified when we are both able to point to a revelation, through
which the writer was incited to give a subjective representation
of its contents, and can find a substratum for the particular re
presentation in the relations of the writer, or in those of his
time. But both conditions meet in the case before us. In re
gard to the first, David would be incited to this and the other
Messianic Psalms, by means of the promise given to him by God
of a perpetual kingdom in his family, 2 Sam. vii. 7, which could

38 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
not but be known, after careful reflection, to refer in its proper
sense to Christ. In regard to the second, David found in the
circumstances of his own life, ample occasion for his incitement
by the Spirit of God to express, in the way and manner he has
here done, his hope of the triumph of the promised king his
successor. He had too frequently experienced, on the one hand,
the contumacy and rebellious disposition of his domestic and
foreign subjects ; and on the other hand, the help of God in
subduing them, to find it at all strange for him to transfer these
relations in a more enlarged form to his antitype, which he
probably did at a time when his experience in this respect was
fresh and lively, about the period of his second great victory
over the Syrians, 2 Sam. viii. 6, " And the Syrians became ser
vants to David, and brought gifts ; and the Lord preserved
David whithersoever he went ;" chapter x. 6, where the Syrians
are said to have joined with the Ammonites against David, and
verse 19, where we are told, that after David's victory over
them, " all the kings that were servants to Hadarezer, when
they saw that they were smitten before Israel, made peace with
Israel, and served them." In regard, finally, to the progressive
development of the truth concerning the Messiah, it consists
mainly in this, that the Psalmist here indicates the superhuman
nature atld dignity of the Messiah, which is brought out still
more distinctly in Psalms ex. and xiv. It deserves also to be
noted, that the expositors who oppose the Messianic sense, are
driven hither and thither, and can nowhere find solid ground
for their feet to stand upon. Ewald has contended for a mani
fest reference to David, and yet has decided upon applying it
to Solomon. But against his view we have to set, besides the
positive grounds already adduced for the Messianic interpreta
tion, the force of which he unwittingly acknowledges by the
violence of his expositions, as on verse 12, not the mere silence
of the historical books, of which he would make very light, but
their most express and unequivocal declarations. If we should
transfer the relations, as they exist here, to a state of general
revolt, happening ill the commencement of Solomon's reign, we
must hold the descriptions contained in the historical books to
be entirely mythical. Hitzig has endeavoured to bring down the
application to Alexander Jannaeus, a supposition which Koes
ter, in his mild way, pronounces a make-shift. Maurer, again,
would carry it up to the time of Hezekiah. He conceives, that

PSALM III. 39
by the people and kings of the earth, might very well be Under
stood the Philistines. In Hoffmann, the non-Messianic inter
pretation has again fortunately connected itself with David, but
only to give way, on the first occasion, to some other change.

PSALM III.
The Psalmist complains of the multitude of his enemies, who
mocked at his confidence in the Lord, ver. 2, 3. He comforts
himself by calling to remembrance the support which the Lord
had hitherto afforded him, the dignity to which he had raised
him, and the manifold deliverances and answers to prayer which
he had experienced, ver. 4, 5. He closes with an expression of
his elevated joy of faith, ver. 6, 7, and with a supplication to the
Lord to help him, as he had been wont to do in times past, and
to bless his people, ver. 8, 9. The Psalm consequently falls quite
naturally into four strophes, each consisting of two verses, the
first of which describes the necessity, the second the ground of
hope, while the third discloses the hope itself, and the fourth
contains the prayer prompted by the hope. With this division
of strophes corresponds also the position of the Selah, which
thus comes to stand at the end of a strophe.
The superscription of the Psalm declares it to have been com
posed when David fled from his son Absalom, 2 Sam. xv. 16. It
is alleged by De Wette against the correctness of this suppo
sition that the Psalm itself contains nothing in support of it.
Would not the tender heart of David, says he, have manifested
in the presence of Jehovah, to whom he made his complaint, the
deep wound it received from the conduct of his son ? In a simi
lar way, De Wette very commonly argues against the Davidic
authorship of the Psalms, and the correctness of the superscrip
tions, from the deficiency in them of any definite allusions to his
torical fact. Now, it is here first of all to be remarked that a
lengthened and particular description of personal relations is a
thing impossible for a living faith, which, convinced that our
heavenly Father knows what we need before we ask him, is
satisfied with mere allusions and general delineations. It is
otherwise where the prayer is only in form an exercise of the
heart before God, but in reality a discourse of the supplicant
with himself. There our inclination discovers itself to dive into

40 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
the particulars of suffering, and run out into feeling representa
tions of the circumstances. But still more is it to be consider
ed that the sacred authors of the Psalms, and most of all David,
had not themselves primarily in view in their Psalms, and only
afterwards gave that a general application, which was through
out individual in its character, but rather from the first they de
signed by the representation given of their own feelings to build
up the church at large. The Psalms, which arose out of personal
transactions, are distinguished from the didactic Psalms, pro
perly so called , by a fluctuating boundary. The former also pos
sess, in a general way, the character of didactic Psalms. If we
could imagine the sacred authors of them cast upon a desert
island, with no prospect of again coming into contact with men,
they would certainly, in that case, have lost both the desire and
the impulse to utter their complaints and their hopes in the
form of Psalms. For lyric poetry does not, in such a sense, bear
a subjective character, as that all respect to those placed in like
situations, and agitated by like feelings, can be considered as
shut out. David, in particular, had become so closely entwined
with the people of God, and knew so thoroughly his Divine mis
sion, to give them a treasure of sacred poetry for instruction,
edification, and comfort, that he perceived in all his personal
circumstances, from the first, a clear type of similar ones in his
brethren the righteous, and acted as their mouth and repre
sentative, in regard to the consolation which, though primarily
administered to him, he knew was equally destined for them.
Hence it was necessary that there should appear a tendency to
let the particular retire behind the general, and to give only
slight indications of the one upon the ground of the other. But
such indications, confirming the truth of the superscription, are
found in this Psalm. That there is a general resemblance be
tween the position of the Psalmist and David's there can be no
doubt. As the report was brought to David, 2 Sam. xv. 13,
that the hearts of all Israel were after Absalom, and as chap.
xvi. 18, Hushai said to Absalom, " whom the Lord, and this
people, and all the men of Israel choose, his will I be, and with
him will I abide," so the Psalmist complains, " Lord, how are
they increased that trouble me ! many are they that rise up
against me, many that say of my soul there is no help for him
in God." In both cases alike the distress is connected with a
state of war. And as in 2 Sam. xvii. 1, 2, Ahithophel said to

PSALM III. 41
Absalom, " I will arise and pursue after David this night, and I
will come upon him while he is weary and weak-handed, and
will make him afraid ; and all the people that are with him shall
flee, and I will smite the king only ;" so David says here, " I
will not be afraid of ten thousands of people that have set them
selves against nie round about."
That a high dignity belonged to the Psalmist, appears from
ver. 3, where he calls the Lord " his glory," and speaks of him
as having " lifted up his head." He is not afraid of myriads of
people ; the Lord has often already vanquished all his enemies,
— both indicating a certain greatness of character in the op
pressed. The mention of the people also, in his prayer, ver. 9,
agrees well with his being a king, as their condition might pro
perly be regarded in most intimate connection with his own.
But if the writer is a king, of whom can we, in truth, think, but
David, since, excepting him and Solomon, who is here out of the
question, his government being quite peaceful, history makes
mention of no other crowned bard, while the dignified simplicity
and freshness of the composition bespeak his hand, and its place,
also, among the Psalms of David, confirms the supposition?
Then, if David is the author of it, we have only to choose between
the troubles occasioned by Saul, and those occasioned by Absa
lom. Hitzig decides in favour of the former. For the refutation
of this view, we have no need even to call to our aid the super
scription. During the persecutions he sustained from the hand
of Saul, David was still not king. And a yet stronger proof is
afforded by ver. 4, where David says that the Lord had often be
fore heard him from his holy mountain. This implies, that the
seat of the sanctuary had some time previously been fixed in
Jerusalem. But it was not removed there till David had as
cended the throne, after Saul's death. A serious answer would
scarcely be required, if Hitzig, to obviate this objection, should
understand Horeb by the mountain. The whole phraseology of
the Psalms repels this supposition, for these know no other holy
mountain but Mount Zion. There is not a single passage in all
the Old Testament where an Israelite is found looking for help
from Mount Horeb, which was only hallowed by ancient reminis
cences, and not ennobled by the presence of the Lord in later
times. In fine, the past deliverance, from which the Psalmist,
in ver. 3, 4, 7, and 8, drew his hopes of escape from present
trouble, are manifestly those which occurred in the reign of

42 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
Saul. Indeed, David had no such continued series of deliver
ances to look for now, as he had already experienced. So that
we are led by internal grounds to the very same result, which
the superscription had from the first announced. And from this
we deduce, at the same time, a favourable conclusion for the su
perscriptions generally. The internal grounds lie here, as the
aberrations of recent expositors show, so concealed, that the su
perscription could not possibly have been derived from a fine
combination of these, a thing foreign to antiquity. Ewald main
tains very decidedly, both that David was the author of the
Psalm, and its special reference to the time of Absalom. In
regard to the first, he says, David's rank, livery, and speech,
cannot be mistaken ; in regard to the last, the author had
already stood long upon the pinnacle of human grandeur, had
long experienced the highest favour from God, and often already
poured forth the feelings of his heart in song. In ver. 8, we
plainly recognize the noble spirit of David in that flight, by
which he sought to allay the threatening storm, and avert from
the people the burden of a new civil war. But we can still more
nearly determine the situation of the bard, though only it may
be, with the highest degree of probability. The Psalm was,
according to ver. 5 and 6, an evening hymn. He there expresses
his confidence, that, surrounded as he was with the greatest
dangers, he would quietly sleep, and safely behold the light of
the following day. Now, this circumstance accords only with
the first night of David's flight, after he had gone weeping,
barefooted, and with his head covered, over the Mount of Olives,
and had reached the wilderness, 2 Sam. xvi. 14. Comp. ver. 20.
This first night was the most dangerous one for David ; nay, it
was the only night during the whole period in which the danger
was so very urgent, as ver. 6 states it to have been. David's life
hung then by a single hair; had God not heard his prayer,
" Lord, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness," he had
actually perished. Consequently, when the counsel of Ahitho
phel, to fall upon the king that very night, was rejected by
Absalom, the strength of the rebellion was completely broken,
and the danger in a manner past, as is manifest from this one
circumstance, that Ahithophel, in consequence of that rejection,
went and hanged himself.
Two objections have been raised against this conclusion.
First, David was then still in a great uncertainty whether the

PSALM III. 43
Lord would again grant him the victory, and restore to him the
kingdom, while yet he speaks here at the close with the great
est confidence. The passages referred to in support of this are
2 Sam. xv. 25, 26 : " The king said unto Zadok, carry back the
ark of God into the city; if I shall find favour in the eyes of the
Lord, he will bring me again, and show me both it and his habi
tation ; but if he thus say, I have no delight in thee, behold,
here am I, let him do what seemeth good to him ;" and chap.
xvi. 12, " It may be that the Lord will look on mine affliction,
and that the Lord will requite me good for his cursing this day."
But these passages by no means indicate a complete uncertain
ty, and are mainly to be regarded as a simple expression of the
humility which scarcely ventures to declare, with perfect confi
dence, the still never extinguished hope of deliverance, because
feehng itself to be utterly unworthy of it ; the declaration of
this latter feeling, indeed, is the more special object aimed at
in the passage. That David, in the midst of his deepest grief,
did not abandon his trust in the Lord, appears from his confid
ing prayer, " Lord, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolish
ness," and from his conferring on Ziba the goods of Mephi-
bosheth, 2 Sam. xvi. 4. And then it is not to be forgotten, that
those expressions, and the supposed situation, according to our
Psalm, were still separated from each other by a certain inter
val, great enough for admitting of the proportionate change of
humour, which even when more decided than in the present
case, often takes place in a moment. It is expressly said, that
David refreshed himself that first night in the wilderness, which
is certainly to be understood, not in a mere bodily sense, but
also spiritually, since, in troubles of that nature, a mere bodily
refreshment is little regarded. But it is again objected, that, in
such a state and condition, men do not write poetry. We might,
however, appeal to the poems of the Arabians, which have been
composed amid the very turmoil of action ; to the fact, that the
poet Lebid was writing verses in the very article of death, &c. ;
but we would rather admit, that there is a certain degree of
truth in the objection. The artificial construction of this Psalm,
and others composed in similar situations, (as, indeed, it is far
from correct to regard the Psalms in general as a pure poetry of
nature,) the circumstance that a number of Psalms not unfre
quently refer to one and the same situation, as this, for exam
ple, and tho fourth — these and other things render it very pro-

44 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
bable, that in such cases, the conception and the birth of the
Psalm were separated from each other— that David did not im
mediately express in manifold forms what he had personally re
ceived in those moments of pressing danger, that he only after
wards, and by degrees, coined for the church the gold bestowed
upon himself in such moments. This opinion was long ago
indicated by Luther in regard to the present Psalm, who, how
ever, on insufficient grounds — for it is against all experience,
that, in the midst of the cross, a lively joy should be felt— ad
judges the matter of the Psalm also to a later period : " It is
not probable that he should have composed it at the time of
his flight and distress. For the Holy SpirhVwill have a calm,
happy, cheerful, select instrument, whether for preaching or for
singing. In the conflict, also, man has not understanding, but
becomes capable of this only after the conflict is over — reflects
then aright upon what has occurred to him under it. There
fore, it is most likely that David composed this Psalm long af
ter, when he came to quiet reflection, and obtained an under
standing of the secrets of his life and history, which had vari
ously happened to him."
As in the first and second Psalms, so here again, in this and
the fourth, we have a pair of Psalms inseparably united by the
inspired writer himself. The situation in each is exactly the
same, comp. iii. 5 with iv. 8. The thoughts which agitated his
heart in that remarkable night, the Psalmist has represented to
us in a piece of two parts. In Psalm iii. his earlier experiences
of Divine aid form the chief point, while in Psalm iv. he looks
to his Divine appointment as to the rock upon which the waves
of revolt must dash themselves to pieces.
It is certainly not to be regarded as an accident, that Psalms
third and fourth immediately follow the first and second. They
are occupied, as well as Psalm second, with a revolt against the
Lord's Anointed, and Psalm fourth especially shows a remarka
ble agreement with it, first in sentiment, and then also in
expression — comp. " imagine a vain thing" in ii. 1 with " love
vanity" in iv. 2. In this third Psalm the personal experiences
and feelings of David are most prominent, and they formed the
basis on which he reared the expectation of the events which
were to befal his successor, the Lord's Anointed.
Ver. 1. O Lord, how are mine enemies so many ! Mg,ny are
they that rise up against me. The 0\p with 7J7 is used of

PSALM III. VER. 2. 45
enemies generally in Deut. xxviii. 7, and does not specially in
dicate the revolt as such.
Ver. 2. Many say to my soul, there is no help for him in God.
The greater part of expositors consider ''W&fo as a mere descrip
tion of the pronoun. The words " my soul," indeed, occur in
that sense among the Arabians, with whom many words have
been dipt and pared so as to lose their original impress ; but
not so among the Hebrews, with whom the expression still gene
rally bears respect to the thoughts and feelings. There is al
ways a reason why the *E?£3 rather than the pronoun is used.
Here the discourse is of enemies, as a matter wounding the heart
and soul — comp. Ps. Ixix. 20, " reproach hath broken my heart,"
also Isa. Ii. 23. That we must not expound with most com
mentators ;' o/my soul," but only " to my soul," appears at once,
whenever we understand that the word is not used as a substi
tute for the personal pronoun. No support for the other render
ing is to be drawn from the following words, " no help to him in
God." For what the enemies say of David is so painful to him,
that he considers it as spoken personally to himself. It is his
soul that is affected by the discourse. It is further to be object
ed to that rendering, that *1JbN with 7 for the most part signifies,
•' to speak to some one," — comp. also the opposite declaration
in Ps. xxxv. 3, " say to my soul I am thy salvation." In the
form PIJW the f| is added, as the poets not unfrequently did
with nouns, which already have the feminine termination, to give
the word a fuller and better sound; Ewald, p. 323. Before this
H the preceding J"| fem. becomes hardened into H> Ewald, p. 37.
V>H is always negation of being, always signifies, " it is not."
By the expression " in God," God is described as the ground
and source of salvation. The enemies denied that God would
help him, either because, in utter ungodliness, they would ex
clude God generally from all share in earthly affairs, or thought
at least that matters had gone too far with David, even for God's
power to help him, Ps. x. 11, or because they considered David
as one cast off by him, unworthy of his help, Ps. xiii. 3, 10, lxxi.
Il, xxii. 7, 8 ; Matth. xxvii. 43 ; and this was to him the source
of deepest pain. The last mentioned view of David's case, was
that taken by Shimei, 2 Sam. xvi. 8. He sought to rob David of
his last, his dearest treasure : " The Lord hath returned upon
thee all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose blood thou hast
reigned ; and the Lord hath delivered the kingdom into the hand

46 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
of Absalom thy son ; and behold thou art taken in thy mischief,
because thou art a bloody man." This kind of attack was the
most painfully affecting. The denial, that God is our God, finds
an ally in the believer's own consciousness of guilt, amid all his
convictions of innocence in regard to particular charges of guilt,
and it requires no small measure of faith to gain here the vic
tory. Luther : " As if he would say, They not merely speak as
if I were abandoned and trodden upon by all creatures, but as if
God also would no longer help me, who, while he assists all
things, sustains all, cares for all, for me alone of all things has
no care, and ministers to me no support. Though every pos
sible assault, the assaults of a whole world, and of all hell to
boot, were concentrated upon one head, it were still nothing to
the thought, that God is thrusting at a man — for preservation
from which Jeremiah tremblingly begs and prays, xvii. 17, ' Be
not a terror unto me, 0 thou my Hope in the day of evil.'"
But while the words, as the analogous ones used by Shimei
manifest, and what is written also in 2 Sam. xvi. 18, principally
refer to the will of* God in helping the Psalmist, a reference to
his power also is not entirely excluded. This appears from the
closing words, " Salvation belongeth to the Lord," which carry
a respect to the taunt, " no help for him in God," and which
vindicate to the Lord, not the will, but the power to help. The
general name of God, Elohim, is used on account of the contrast
that is silently implied to human means of help ; every thing is
against him on earth, and in heaven too there is no longer any
resource for him. The speakers are not, as De Wette supposes,
the Psalmist's despairing friends, but his enemies. For thus
only could it justly be said, that there were so many of them.
De Wette's allegation, that the speech is not godless and spiter
ful enough for enemies, proceeds upon a misapprehension of its
real meaning. For to the man, who with his whole being throws
himself upon God, it is even as " death in his bones," to hear
his enemies saying, where is thy God ? This is the most en
venomed arrow which they could shoot into his heart.
The selah occurs here for the first time. It is found seventy-
three times in the Psalms, and thrice in Habakkuk. It is best
derived from Tw$> to rest, of frequent use in Hebrew, as well
as Syriac. The change of the harder $ to the softer D is very
common, see Ewald, p. 29. It can either be tak6n as a noun,
rest, pause, or, with Gesenius in his Thes., as the imperative with

PSALM III. VER. 2. 47
He parag. and a pause. Primarily, indeed, it is a music-mark.
But as the pause in music always comes in where the feeling re
quires a resting-place, it is of equal import as regards the sense,
and the translators who leave it out, certainly do wrong. This
view acquires great probability, by a particular consideration of
the places where the selah occurs. It generally appears where
a pause is quite suitable. Others suppose that the word is an
abbreviation of several words. But there is no proof that the
practice of such abbreviations prevailed among the Israelites.
Koester is inclined to regard the selah as marking the division
of strophes. But that it should in many places coincide with
such a division is easily explained by the circumstance that the
resting-place for the music'must generally concur with a break
in the sense. And that the selah is properly employed for the
purpose of marking the strophe-division, is disproved, by its fre
quent occurrence, not at the end of a strophe, for example, Ps.
Iv. 19, lvii. 3 ; Hab. iii. 3, 9, in which places it is found in the
middle of a verse. Besides, if the selah had indicated a poetical,
rather than a musical division, it should have been found in the
prophets, who have also endeavoured to follow the division into
strophes. Habakkuk forms only an apparent exception. For
the third chapter of this prophet, in which alone the selah occurs,
embodies the feelings which were raised in the church by the
announcements of God, those, namely, of the report in chap. i.
and of the deliverance in chap. ii. ; so that it is really of the na
ture of Psalmodic poetry, and is adapted for singing and playing
as a Psalm, as indeed, it borrows from the Psalms both its su
perscription and conclusion. Our view of the matter is confirm
ed also by Ps. ix. 16, where the selah comes after Higgaion,
meditation, (see our remarks there). The position of the selah
there decides against Ewald's notion, who thinks the selah must
indicate a call to particularly loud playing, deriving the word
from a subst. 7D, and that from 77D, to mount, properly, " for
elevation," " up," which in matters of sound, must be synony
mous with loud, clear. In a verbal point of view also this opinion
lies open to serious objections, see Gesenius' derivation of the
word in his Thes. The right view was substantially given by Lu
ther. The selah, says he, tells us " to pause and carefully reflect
on the words of the Psalm, for they require a peaceful and me
ditative soul, which can apprehend and receive what the Holy
Spirit there cogitates and propounds. Which we see, indeed, in

48 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
this verse, where the Psalmist is moved with a deep and earnest
desire to feel and understand this heavy trial of the soul, where
in also God, though on his side, is silent towards his creature."
Ver. 3. While, according to ver. 1 and 2, the earth presented
to the Psalmist nothing but trouble and danger, an helper in the
heavens appears to his eye of faith. He comforts himself in
God, to whom he looks as his Saviour in all troubles and dan
gers, as to him he owed his high elevation. If men would also
deprive him of his help, he perceives in what God had already
done for him a sure pledge of what he was now to expect.
Luther : " Here he sets, in opposition to the foregoing points,
three others. Against the many enemies of whom he had spoken,
he places this, that God is his shield. Then, as they had set
themselves against him, thinking to put him to shame before the
world, he opposes the fact, that God had given him honour."
Finally, he had complained of the slanderers and scoffers, and
against these he rejoices in the thought, that it is the Lord who
lifts up his head. — He is now, indeed, and in the feeling of his
own mind, forsaken and alone, in respect to the people, but in
respect to God, and in his spirit, he is encompassed with a great
host, neither forsaken, nor alone, as Christ said to his disciples,
John xvi. 32, " Lo the hour cometh, yea is now come, that ye
shall be scattered every man to his own, and shall leave me
alone ; and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.'*
— However impotent and oppressed he might seem in the eyes
of men, before God, and in the spirit, he is the strongest and the
mightiest; insomuch that he reposes on God's power with the
utmost confidence and security, like St. Paul, who could say
" when I am weak, then I am strong." — Whoever understands,
or has experienced such a violent temptation, he will, at the
same time, understand how foolishly and wickedly they speak,
who say that man can love God naturally above all things.
Thou shalt find no one who will bear such displeasure from
God ; and yet, if there is not the love of God sufficient to over
come that, he is not loved above all things. Therefore the
words of this verse are not words of nature, but words of grace,
— not of man's free will, but of the Spirit of God, — of a very
strong faith, which can see God through the darkness of death
and hell, and can still recognise him as a shield, though he
seems to have forsaken, — can see God as a persecutor, and yet
recognise him as an helper,— can see God as if he would con-

PSALM HI. VER, 3. 49
demn, and at' the same time recognise him as the Author of sal
vation. For he who has such faith judges not by what he sees
and feels, like the horse and mule, which have no understand
ing, Psalm xxxii. 9, but keeps close by tho word, which speaks
of things that man sees not."
And thou, O Lord, art a shield about me; my glory, and who
liftest up my head. God is Abraham's shield, according to Gen.
xv. 1, and Israel's shield, according to the closing words of
the law, Deut. xxxiii. 29. David has an especial predilection
for this designation, Psalm vii. 10 ; xviii. 2 ; xxviii. 7. The
*7$?3 corresponds entirely to the German um (Anglice, about),
and to the Gr. «/*p/' Ew. p. 613, around me, giving me protection.
— My glory. Because David's glory, viz. the high dignity which
he possessed, was derived from the Lord ; he names him his
glory — comp. Psalm Ixii. 7, " In God is my salvation and my
glory." Many expositors falsely render ; the' vindicator of my
glory, by metonomy of the effect for the cause. The parallel
passages to which reference is made, such as Psalm xxvii. 1,
" The Lord is my light and my salvation," are brought in sup
port only by a wrong exposition. The vindication of glory is a
consequence of this, that the Psalmist has his glory from God
and in God. What has its ground in God, that he will not suffer
to be taken away. The lifting up of the head marks his de
liverance from the condition of the depressed, of one involved
in great dangers, who goes mournful and dispirited with droop
ing head. The discourse here, however, is not of the deliver
ance to be hoped for in this danger, nor of any particular trans
action whatever, but of all the events in the life of David, in
which he had learned to call the Lord his deliverer. Upon the
circumstance that the Lord had generally been the lifter up of
his head, he grounds the hope that in this distress also he would
be the same ; and from God's having been the source of his
glory, he derived the hope that God would not suffer the impious
attempts of those now to go unpunished who sought to rob him
of it.
Ver. 4. I cry unto the Lord with my voice, and he hears me
out of his holy hill. The verbs in this verse mark a habit, not a
single action, just as in Psalm xviii. 3, " I will call upon the
Lord, who is worthy to be praised, so shall I be saved from mine
enemies." Because the Lord is, in respect to David, the one
who hears prayer, the surest mark of a gracious condition, he
E

50 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
cannot leave him now, without also hearing him. Luther: " He
speaks here chiefly of the voice of the heart ; still I conceive
that the corporeal voice is not excluded, and hence, that the
voice of the heart and feeling, when it is vehement, cannot be
restrained, but must break forth into the literal voice. For
Christ himself upon the cross cried with an audible voice, teach
ing us to cry in straits and necessities, and that with all our
power, inward and outward, we should call upon the Lord." The
answer follows in a real speech. The fut. with vau conv. simply
denotes the consequence from the preceding; hence, if we render
the former verb / call, it is to be translated, not he answered,
but he answers. The holy hill is Mount Zion ; from thence the
servant of the Lord derives his help. This faith very often finds
vent to itself in the Psalms. It had its ground in the promise
that the Lord would dwell among his people, and was enthroned
ln the sanctuary above the ark of the covenant. This promise
was given to help the weakness of the Israelites, assuring them,
as it did, of a presiding Deity, an incorporating of the idea that
God was, in a peculiar sense, their God. If the faithful seek
help from the sanctuary, they consequently declare that they
expect it, not froni Elohim, but from Jehovah — that they hope
for that power of the covenant with Israel, upon which alone they
could rest with proper confidence. For the Christian, Christ
has come into the place of Jehovah, and the holy hill. In re
gard to the Selah here, Luther remarks : " The word means,
that we should here pause, not lightly passing from these words,
but reflecting further upon them. For it is an exceedingly
great thing to be heard, and to expect help from the holy hill
of God."
Ver. 5. I lay me down and sleep ; I awake, for the Lord sus-
taineth me, i. e. the assistance of the Lord, which is assured to
me, by what he has formerly done, makes me soon fall to sleep,
and brings me a pleasant awakening. In this part also, many
expositors think the Psalmist speaks of what is past : Often al
ready, have I laid myself quietly down in the midst of danger,
and found sleep. I have not been like those who live in the
world without God, tossed with uneasy cares upon their bed,
and the issue has always corresponded with my hopes. I have
constantly awoke without any evil having befallen me, for the
Lord is my stay and help. By this construction, however, ac
cording to which this verse would be closely united to ver. 3, 4,

PSALM III. VER. 5 — 7. 51
the strophe-division is entirely destroyed, and the Selah at the
end of the preceding verse appears then unsuitable. The ex
pression of confidence in regard to the present distress, limited
as it must then be to ver. 6, is too short, and the representation
of the Psalmist's hope falls from its proper place in respect to
the representation given of the ground of his hope. But if we
refer also ver. 6, with Venema and others, to the past, we shut
up, in a manner, the eye of the Psalmist. It is therefore better
to refer the words to his present danger, and regard it as the
expression of his joyful confidence, which enabled him in such
circumstances to lay himself down and sleep, and to expect also
that he would awake in security and peace. The TflX^pfi is
consequently to be taken as the praet. proph. Faith sees what
is not as if it were, the awaking just as surely as the lying down.
The passage shows that the Psalm was an evening hymn, as was
also the following one, in which ver. 8 remarkably agrees with
that now under consideration : and the praet. being there used,
leads us to conclude that the Psalmist had already given him
self to rest. It was with David according to his faith. Ahitho
phel found no way, with all his wisdom, for making the attack
by night, and David withdrew before break of day beyond Jor
dan. " What does not happen with like prosperity to all," re
marks J. H. Michaelis, with reference to 1 Sam. xxvi. 7 — 15,
where David surprised and could have slain Saul while sleeping
in his tent. It is only to the righteous that the promise is given
in Prov. iii. 24, " When thou liest down, thou shalt not be afraid ;
yea, thou shalt lie down, and thy sleep shall be sweet." The
'JK is emphatical, in opposition to the vain expectation of the
enemy : I, the person, whom ye imagine to be gone beyond the
reach of deliverance.
Ver. 6. I will not be afraid of ten thousands of people, which
they have set against me round about. The 1"1'Q3*1 has refer
ence to )y\ and WH1 in ver 2 and 3. There is as little reason
here, as in Isa. xxii. 7, (where it may with propriety be rendered,
" The Horsemen place them towards the gate"), for taking Hit?
intransitively, set themselves, in which sense it never occurs.
Ver. 7. The Psalmist prays the Lord to justify the confidence
which he had expressed in the preceding strophe, and to fulfil
the promise substantially given in the earlier deliverances he
had experienced, and on which he grounded his expectation of
present aid. Arise, 0 Lord, save me, 0 my God. For thou hast

52 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
smitten all mine enemies upon the cheek-bone; thou hast broken the
teeth of the ungodly. That is, I cannot but expect this from thee,
as thou hast hitherto so uniformly stood by me. The words
" save (or deliver) me," stand in opposition to those in ver. 2,
" there is no help for him in God." *rt7 is in the accusative.
By the smiting on the cheek, as a piece of insulting treatment,
the power and energy is broken, comp. 1 Kings xxii. 24 ; Micah
iv. 14 ; Lam. iii. 30. We must not limit the design of the smit
ing on the cheek merely to the driving in of the teeth, with
which the wicked, like so many wild beasts, would have eaten the
flesh of David, Psalm xxvii. 2. That was only a particular con
sequence of the smiting in question. The ungodly are parallel
to the enemies in the preceding clause. This intimates that
David's adversaries were, at the same time, without the fear of
God, and directed their hatred against him as identified with
the cause of holiness, which also derives confirmation from the
history of his case. In particular, it is unquestionable respect
ing the persecutions he endured at the hands of Saul, to which
he ¦specially refers, that individual did not stand arrayed against
individual, but principle against principle. The ungodly princi
ple, which was put to the worse in Saul, sought afterwards to
regain the ascendant in Absalom, who is only to be considered
as an instrument and centre of the unrighteous party. The
more, therefore, did the earlier deliverance experienced by the
Psalmist form a ground for his present supplication.
That the preterites IT^H and JTD&J> are not to be regarded
as prophetical, which some consider them to be — that David is
rather to be viewed as grounding, what he frequently does, his
prayer to the Lord for deliverance upon his earlier deliverances,
which arose from his general relation to the Lord, as his present
deliverance was to be an expression of the same, is manifest
from the causative particle »3, which the expositors referred to
seek in vain, to render by yea, also from the parallel passage,
Psalm iv. 1, and most of all, from a comparison of this with
ver. 2 — 4, the subject of which is only repeated again shortly
here. As in ver. 5, 6, he rested his hope upon the general re
lation, so here also his prayer. That relation also of David to
the Lord which warranted him to seek help from him, is alluded
to in the expression " my God." But it is not absolutely neces
sary to translate " thou smotest," " thou hast broken," we may
correctly translate with Luther, " thou smitest," " thou breakest

PSALM III. VER. 7, 8. 53
in pieces;" and this rendering is confirmed by ver. 3, 4, where,
not so much what the Lord had already done is represented as
a ground of hope, as what he was even then doing. The pre
terite not unfrequently denotes a past, reaching down to the
present, see Ewald's Small Gr. § 262. In perfect accordance
with the spirit of this Psalm, which treats of the destruction
here threatened only as a particular form of what may befal the
righteous, Luther remarks : " This Psalm is profitable also to us
for comforting weak and straitened consciences, if we understand
in a spiritual sense by the enemies and teeth of the ungodly, the
temptations of sin, and the conscience of an ill-spent life. For
there indeed is the heart of the sinner vexed, there alone is it
weak and forsaken ; and when men are not accustomed to lift
their eyes above themselves, against the floods of sin, and know
to make God their refuge against an evil conscience, there is
great danger ; and it is to be feared lest the evil spirits, who, in
such a case, are ready to seize upon poor souls, may at last
swallow them up, and lead them through distress into doubt."
Ver. 8. Salvation is the Lord's. He is the possessor and
alone dispenser thereof — he can give it, if he please, even to the
most helpless, whom the whole world considers to be in a des
perate case. " Though all misfortune, all tribulation and evil
should alight upon a head, still there is a God who can then
deliver, in his hand is help and blessing." This thought must
have been peculiarly comforting to David in his desertion of
human helpers and means of deliverance. Since salvation
belonged wholly to the Lord, he might rest secure, for the Lord
was his God. Thy blessing upon thy people ! The royal Psal- >
mist shows by these words that his own person lay less upon
his heart, than the people committed to him by the Lord — that
he claims deliverance for himself only in so far as it could do
good to his people. The declaration in the first clause forms
the necessary foundation for the prayer uttered in the second.
To be able truly to pray from the heart, we must firmly believe
that God is really in possession of the treasure, from which he
is to communicate to us. In the preceding verse the order is
reversed.

54 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

PSALM IV.
Encompassed by enemies, the Psalmist calls upon the Lord for
help, ver. 1. He turns himself then to his enemies, and admo
nishes them to cease from their attempts to rob him of his
dignity, and from their vain purposes — exhorts them to reflect
that the dignity which they sought to take from him was con
ferred on him by God, who along with it, had given the Psalmist
sure ground for expecting the fulfilment of the prayer which he
utters at the commencement ; for what the Lord has given he
must also preserve, ver. 2, 3. He warns them not to sin farther
by giving way to passionate emotions, urges them to meditate
upon his admonition in their silent chamber, upon their bed ; to
cease from their noise and bluster, and, instead of hypocritical
offerings, with which they thought to make the Lord favourable
to them, to present righteous sacrifices, as also to put their trust
in the Lord, instead of boasting to the Psalmist of their own
power, and their confidence in human means of support ; for
nothing but these two, righteous sacrifices and confidence in God,
could afford a well-grounded hope of a prosperous issue, with
which they vainly flattered themselves- so long as they disre
garded the necessary conditions, ver. 4, 5. In ver. 6 and 7 the
Psalmist declares how much the confidence in the Lord, which
his enemies wanted, was possessed by himself. He despairs not
in his distress, as many do, but is firmly persuaded that the Lord
can and will help him ; and this persuasion, wrought in him by
the Lord himself, makes him more blessed than his enemies are
in the very fulness of their prosperity. In conclusion, he again
expresses his firm trust in the Lord, in which he gives himself
to sleep, ver. 8.
The strophe-division has been correctly made by Koester thus:
1. 2. 2. 2. 1. He remarks, that the first verse obviously stands
by itself; then follows the address to the enemies in two
strophes, a third expresses David's delight, and the last verse
again stands alone, as " good night." Koester's remark, how
ever, that the selah stands twice a verse too early, is not correct.
On the contrary, it forms a most appropriate break in the sense,
in the middle of the two strophes, which are directed toward
the enemies. The first verse of both strophes contains the dis-

PSALM IV.

5.5

suasion, the second the exhortation; both times there is a pause
in the middle, as if to give them space for reflection, to make
them thoughtful. In place of the selah, a dash would naturally
have suggested itself.
The Psalm begins with a prayer, and concludes with an ex
pression of confidence in its fulfilment. In the middle, the
Psalmist seeks to bring himself acquainted with the grounds
which tended to assure him of this. It is only when we take v.
2 — 7 so, viewing it as an address to the enemies merely in form,
that the Psalm appears in its real internal connection. The pil
lars of the bridge, which in v. 2—7, is laid between the distress
and the deliverance, the prayer and the confidence, are, 1. The
Psalmist's election, and the circumstance, that the enemies
were striving against this divine fact, when they sought to rob
him of what God had given him. 2. The Psalmist's sincere and
fervent piety, (the " godly one," in v. 3) the enemies' hypocriti
cal and outward sanctity, implied in their needing to be called
on to offer sacrifices of righteousness in v. 5.' 3. The Psalmist's
lively trust in God, v. 6, 7, while the enemies were placing their
confidence not upon the Lord, but only upon human means of
help — comp. what is written in v. 5, " put your trust in the Lord."
Expositors for the most part lay the sense of this Psalm also
in the events of Absalom's conspiracy, and that they are right
in doing so, appears from the following considerations : — 1. The
Psalmist charges his enemies, v. 2, 3, with seeking to rob him of
the glory conferred on him by God. On this one ground we
cannot refer the Psalm, with some, and in particular, Calvin, to
the persecutions of Saul. It presupposes a domestic revolt
against the Psalmist, after he had actually ascended the throne.
2. The Psalm so remarkably agrees with the preceding one,
which belongs to the period of Absalom's conspiracy, that it must
of necessity be referred to the same period — comp. " my glory,"
in v. 2 with iii. 3, and v. 8 with iii. 5. The objection of De
Wette, that the Psalmist makes no mention of a faithless son,
but only of men generally, is removed, besides what has been
already said on Ps. iii., by the remark, that Absalom was the
mere tool of an unrighteous party hostile to David, making his
vanity subservient to its own purposes, and hence David, who
regarded this son as the seduced, rather than the seducer, directs
his speech mainly towards these. The other objections proceed
upon a false view of v. 5, 7. So also Hitzig's opinion, that the

56 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
Psalm must have been composed after the danger spoken of in
the preceding one had passed away, is founded upon a false ex
position. Claus endeavours to show, that all the apparently in
dividual allusions in the Psalm might possibly be also of a gene
ral nature, but he has made nothing by that — as it is of ^course
to be understood, that the individual always carries at the same
time a general aspect, and is only indicated by a few delicate
strokes on the ground of what is general. We have already seen
how this structure of the Psalm arises out of the nature of things
— out of the living faith of the author, which does not admit of
a long historical narrative of its circumstances, and also from the
sacred writer having all along in view the wants of the whole
community. How much the peculiar phraseology of the Psalms
fits them for the general use of the church, is easily perceived.
Only glance for a moment at this Psalm. How much less edi
fying should it have been, had David, in place of glory, which
can be taken in the most extended sense, so that the very least
can possess and lose it, put his kingly honour and supremacy ;
or in place of vanity and lies, under which every one can think,
according to his situation, of that kind of calumny and deception
to which he may be peculiarly exposed, had substituted the
foolish counsels of Absalom, and his companions in particular !
Ewald, following many of the older expositors, properly con
cludes from v. 8, that the Psalm was composed as an evening
hymn and prayer. Night is, the season when painful feelings
are most apt to stir up and inflame the hearts of those who are
far from God. That this night was the first of David's flight, is
probable from v. 7, in addition to the reasons already adduced
in our introduction to the preceding Psalm.
To the chief musician. — The word n20/!27, which stands at
the head of fifty-three Psalms, is considered by many as an Ara
maic form of the infinitive. They render it, either " for singing,"
or as Claus more definitely, "for singing through," with reference
to that kind of music, to which the particular melody is continued
through different strophes, in opposition to such airs as are suited
to each part. Both renderings, however, are quite arbitrary, and
not less arbitrary is the explanation given of the form. The
Aramaic form of the infinitive, is never found in Hebrew, and
even this could not be taken as proposed here. The form can
only be the partic. in Piel with the article prefixed. . Now n?M

PSALM IV. 57
occurs frequently in the books of Chronicles and Ezra, in the
sense of " standing before or over," and indeed, as has been re
marked by Ewald, only of the orders and directions which were
committed to the chief of the Levites — uncertain whether inci
dentally, or whether the word is a Levitical technical term —
and in 1 Chron. xv. 2, it is specially used of the directors of
the musical exhibition. What then could be more naturally
thought of in a superscription to the Psalms, than a leader of
musicians ? The word of itself signifies merely a foreman, and
it must be gathered from the context, if it is a foreman of music
that is specially meant. From the article, which may with per
fect propriety be understood generically, we are not to conclude
with Ewald, that there was a master of music placed in the tem
ple with a standing authority. The title, " to the chief musi
cian," is of importance in so far, as it affords a proof that the
Psalms whicli contain this in the superscription were intended
for public use in the temple. It is only with a reference to this
that the word could hold the place it does in the superscriptions.
This place must have been assigned it by the authors themselves
of the Psalms, thereby begetting a very favourable preposses
sion in behalf of the proper originality of the other parts of the
•superscriptions. Ewald might, indeed, in order to neutralise this
testimony for the superscriptions, translate here : of the chief
musician, as, according to him, the word indicates that the Psalm
was actually set to music, and performed by the chief musician.
But for the other rendering : to the chief musician, meaning that
it was delivered up to his care to be prepared for being sung,
(in which case the word must have been prefixed by the author
himself, before the musical performance actually took place,) a
decisive proof is afforded by Hab. iii. 19, the more important in
its bearing on our exposition here, as the prophet manifestly imi
tates the superscription of the Psalms. The words nXJo?
TW33i> with which the song of the church is there closed, can
be no otherwise explained than as meaning, " to the chief musi
cian upon my (Israel's, for it is the church that speaks through
the whole chapter) stringed instrument," assigned to the chief
musician, that he might publicly sing it with the accompaniment
of sacred music in the temple, which was in a manner the
national music. Negionoth is the general name for all stringed
instruments. The whole-superscription, then, of the Psalm, is to
be understood thus : A Psalm of David to be delivered to the

58 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
president of the musicians, that he may arrange for its exhibi
tion with the accompaniments of stringed instruments.
Ver. 1. When I call, answer me, thou my righteous God, who
hast given me help in distress ; hope mercy upon me, and hear
my prayer. The " my God" is here rendered more definite,
by an additional word. The Psalmist indicates that he ex
pected help, not on account of any partial predilection enter
tained for him by God, but from his God being the righteous one,
who could not but afford aid to his righteous cause. In this
he supplies a rule for every prayer in like extremities. To beg
help, while we are not able to name God in connection with it,
is like a slandering of God. For, instead of wishing that God
would act according to his nature, one then wishes him to deny
his nature. The suffix refers, as it very frequently does, to the
compound idea, Ewald, p. 580. It is used precisely in the
same way ; for example, in Psalm xxiv. 5, " the God of his sal
vation," = his salvation-God. The commonly received exposi
tion, which takes " thou God of my righteousness," for " thou
who dost accept of my righteousness," can find no parallel for
its justification. — *7 H^mn *T5£i> properly, in straits thou
makest me large, wide. Narrowness is a Biblical term for mis
fortune, as broadness for prosperity. The meaning is, " Full of
confidence, I call on thee for help, who hast already given me
so many proofs of thy goodness, hast so often already deliver
ed me from trouble, whose proper part it is to do this." The
verb may be rendered either, " thou hast enlarged," — in which
case David would ground his prayer for help merely upon past
deliverances, — or, " thou dost enlarge," David being then un
derstood to comfort himself with the thought, that God stood
generally to him in the relation of a helper in the time of
need. This latter mode, which appears in Luther's rendering,
" Thou who comfortest me in distress," is to be preferred on
this account, that the words, according to it, briefly comprehend
what had been expressly represented in ver. 3 and 4 of the pre
ceding Psalm, which stands so closely related to this. The
Psalmist shortly resumes in these words what in Psalm iii. had
been taken as the foundation of his hope of deliverance, and
thereafter applies himself, in the following verses, to a new
ground of hope, his divine election. The words have suffered
a false exposition in two ways. First, by De Wette, who con
verts the pret. into an imperative. Grammatically, this is inad-

PSALM IV. VER. 1, 2. 59
missible, for in such cases the vau relat. never fails, Ewald, p.
554. Small Gr. § 621. The parallel passages adduced by De
Wette are to be explained differently. And, granting that a
few particular passages might be found, in which an exception
occurs to the general rule, yet we should not be justified in
adopting here an usage which is certainly very rare, and only
to be admitted in the greatest necessities, since the exposition
we prefer gives an easy and natural sense, and is confirmed by
the parallel passages in the preceding Psalm. Comp. Psalm
xxvii. 9, where " Thou who art my helper" corresponds to " thou
God of my salvation." — Then by Hitzig, who finds here a deli
verance from a certain particular distress, the same that was
spoken of in Psalm third. But that this still continued, is
evident from the extraordinary agreement which the whole sub
ject of this Psalm has with that of the preceding one. And
still more decidedly will this appear, if we compare our Psalm
with iii. 2 — 4, and especially ver. 7.
Ver. 2. O ye sons of men, how long shall my glory be for
shame, or be a matter of reproach, i. e. when will ye at length
cease wantonly to attack my dignity. According to De Wette,
the expression, sons of men, must be viewed as standing simply
for men. But in that case it would certainly have been, not
WH Ml» but the more common expression, ClK ^. The
correct view was perceived by Calvin, who says : " It is an iro
nical phrase, through which he mocks their insolence. They
conceived themselves to be noble and wise, while still it was
only a blind rage which impelled them to their shameful course."
The word fflH> hke that of man, when used emphatically, con
veys the idea of strength. That the expression is sons, not of
men, but of man, gives rise to the objection, that it is difficult
to see why it should be the one, and not the other. The re
volters considered themselves as sons of man, by and for them
selves, as normal-men. In reference to this foolish self-confi
dence, the Psalmist admonishes them, in ver. 5, to put their
trust in God. To the same high- mindedness, indicated in this
form of address, the subject matter of the remainder of this
verse, and of the next one, points; for it was that which led
them to regard the glory of him whom God had chosen as an
intolerable thing. Agreeably to the character of the whole
Psalm, it is mildly described, and but softly indicated, as barely
possible. The expression, by itself, properly marks no more

60 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
than power and might. It is all the milder that the secret
fault discovers itself on the field of public observation ; it freely
accords to them power and strength. Besides, the expression
" sons of man," is in many places, used unquestionably in an
emphatical sense. So, for example, in Psalm xlix. 2, where
" the sons of man," and " the sons of men," stand in precise
opposition to each other, as denoting rich and poor,' Psalm lxii.
9 ; Prov. viii. 4. If this emphatical sense is rejected, here, in
stead of a very significant address, which carries us into the in
most heart of the subject, opens up to our view the ultimate
ground of the behaviour charged in what follows upon those
here addressed, there remains only a quite meaningless form of
speech. The question, " how long," might appear in opposi
tion to what we conceive to have been the situation of the
Psalmist, to import that the improper treatment of the enemies
had already continued a long period. But in so wicked a pro
ject as that of Absalom's revolt, such a question is not out of
place, at the very commencement. That the words, " my glory,"
are not a mere circumlocution for his person, is obvious from the
contrast in which it stands with " shame."
How long will ye love vanity and seek after lies ! By the
vanity and lies, Kiinchi understands the sovereignty of Absalom,
which is so called because it was to have no continuance, and
would disappoint the hopes of the rebels. To the same effect
also, Calvin. He remarks, that the revolt was very truly named
a lie, on this account, that the persons concerned in it deluded
themselves and others regarding the real nature of their attempt,
which they decked out in the most splendid colours. But a
comparison with such passages as Psalm xxxiv. 14, " seek peace,"
Zeph. ii. 3, " seek righteousness," " seek meekness," shows that
the seeking is taken as parallel with loving, or, at the most, in
the sense of being at pains with, to go about a thing, — and a
comparison with such passages as Psalm lxii. 4, " They only
consult to cast him down from his excellency, they delight in
lies, they bless with their mouths, but they curse inwardly," Isa.
xxviii. 15 : " We have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood
have we hid ourselves." Psalm v. 6 renders it probable, that
by lies is to be understood the mass of falsehoods through which
the rebels sought to help forward their bad cause ; and if this
be the case, then by vanity, as in Psalm ii. 1, is primarily to be
understood, vanity in a moral sense, things of no value. How

PSALM IV. VER. 3. 61
important a part lies played in the revolt of Absalom, may be
seen from 2 Sam. xv. 7, 8, by a signal example. Without the
lie of Absalom, which is there recorded, the whole rebellion
would have been strangled at the first.
Ver. 3. But know that the Lord hath set apart him his pious
one for himself. The meaning is, " Think not that it is of men
I have become king ; God himself has chosen me, whom he
knew to be a pious worshipper, to that honour, from among the
people; and ye who presume to fight against me really fight
against him, who also will take the management of my cause."
The close connection between this verse and the preceding one
is marked by the ) at the commencement. This is to be ex
plained by considering the " how long," &c, as virtually saying,
" Cease now at length to defame my glory." If this reference
to the preceding verse is correctly made, we shall then not think
of expounding i"l7fln by distinguishing, and of discovering an
allusion in it ta the manifold proofs he had received of Divine
favour. It can only denote his separation to that which the re
volters strove to take from him, viz. his glory, his kingly honour.
The word, besides, constantly has in Hiph. the sense oi singling
out or separating, comp. Ex. viii. 16, and especially xxxiii. 16,
where Moses says to the Lord, " And we are separated, I and
thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the
earth." As the Lord there separated Israel from all nations, so
here his godly one out of Israel ; and that this meaning also
prevails here, and not the one received by many commentators
of distinguishing, is still further manifest from the following 17
— God has set apart for himself Luther translates : But know
that the Lord wonderfully guides his holy one. He has com
bined 17 with "I'DH and PPSPI he has taken as of like signifi
cation with K7Sn which is also found in a number of MSS.
Hitzig, too, gives a similar exposition : that God does wonders
for his holy one. , This reading, however, is not sufficiently con
firmed ; and &$7|3 and PI73 never interchange with each other ;
nor does the latter lose its ordinary signification of separating
in Psalm xvii. 7 : Separate out of thy grace, out of the number
of the common, show me thy singular loving- kindness. Parallel
to this mode of expression, according to the only correct expli
cation, is the passage Psalm lxxviii. 70, 71 : " He chose David
also his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds ; from follow
ing the ewes great with young, he brought him to feed Jacob

62 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
his people, and Israel his inheritance." When the Psalmist de
signates himself as the " pious one," he declares the ground on
account of which God had selected him, or had called him out
of the mass of the people to be his highest servant in his king
dom. Venema: " As one whom he knew to be well affected
both toward himself and toward men." Comp. 1 Sam. xv. 28,
where Samuel says to Saul, " The Lord hath rent the kingdom
of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of
thine, who is better than thou ;" also 1 Sam. xvi. 7. "1DH signi
fies love, and is used, not merely of the love of God, but also of
human love, of man's love to God in Hos. vi. 4 ; " Your good
ness (love) is as the morning cloud," and Jer. il. 2 ; of love to
ward men in Hos. vi. 6, " I have desired mercy (love) and not
sacrifice ;" and Isa. xl. 6, where the godliness or love of the
flesh is the love which men show to their fellow-men. T'DPl
is such a person as has love toward God, and toward his bre
thren. The form with Chirek has not only, arising out of the
passive form l^fD a purely passive signification, but it also fre
quently forms, arising out of the form with Zere, adjectives of
intransitive signification (Ew. p. 234), so that there is scarcely
need for saying with Winer that a passive form is here taken
actively. That love, as being a characteristic mark of the right
eous, should be one of his standing designations, is important
from the bearing it has on the religious moral standard of the
Old Testamant, as showing how little a dead servile spirit dis
tinguishes it. The Psalms, in this respect, may be said to rest
upon the law ; for there already appeared the two commands of
love to God and to our neighbour, as those in which all particu
lar ones lie inclosed, and the fulfilment of which carries along
with it obedience to all others, while without that this is not
possible. The command, " Thou shalt love thy neighbour as
thyself," is delivered in Lev. xix. 18 ; love to God is expressly
announced in the Decalogue as the fulfilment of the law, Ex. xx.
6 ; and the precept of love to God constantly returns in Deut.
agreeably to its design of forming a bridge between the law and
the heart, and is expressly declared to be the h %a.\ v&v, the one
thing needful, the fulfilling of the whole law, Deut. vi. 8; x.12;
xi. 13. Hupfeld (in De Wette) has revived another explication,
according to which TDH signifies, not such an one as has love
to God and his brother, but such an one as experiences the love
of God. But for exposing the false position on which this view

PSALM IV. VER. 3, 4. 63
is grounded, that "1DH is never used of love to God, the pas
sages already cited are sufficient ; and that such a view has,
with good reason and justice, been of late years abandoned, is
clear from the fact that TDH is used of God himself, Jer. iii.
12 ; Psalm cxlv. 17 ; and from PlYDn the loving, avis pia, being
applied to the stork.
It is a good conclusion which David here draws : The Lord
hath chosen me, therefore will he hear my prayer against those
who seek to rob me of the honour conferred by him. This con
clusion may be appropriated by all those who are assailed in the
particular station and calling which God has bestowed on them ;
they may confidently expect the Divine help to stamp all the
projects directed against them as vanity, and the reasons by
which these may be justified as lies. *But everything depends
on this, that the major be right ; and therefore were our fathers
so extremely careful and conscientious in the inquiry, whether
their call were truly a Divine one. In David's case, it was a
matter of great comfort that he could be perfectly certain of his
election — that he had not arrogated to himself his calling, but
had quietly waited till it was conveyed to him by God. All
his composure during Absalom's insurrection was founded on
that. What could he well have said to the rebels, if he had
himself, at an earlier period, rebelled against Saul, and driven
him from the throne? Besides, the unquestionable reference in
the words, " The Lord will hear when I call to him," to those
in ver. 1, " Hear me when I call," renders it manifest that the
address to the enemies is a mere form, by which the Psalmist
endeavours to satisfy himself regarding the grounds he had for
thinking their project vain, and expecting deliverance, as if he
had said, Lord, hear my prayer, yea, thou wilt do it, for thou
thyself gavest me the glory of which my enemies would fain
plunder me.
Ver. 4. Be angry and sin not; say it in your heart upon
your bed and be silent. After the example of the LXX.
bey'i^ah xal pn ufiagruviri, iy-\, is to be taken in the sense of be
ing angry. The exhortation to be angry changes itself into
the opposite, in consequence of the condition therewith an
nexed, as in such a case anger is inseparable from sin. It is
substantially as if he had said, Sin not through anger. The pe
culiar manner of expression corresponds with the mild character
of the whole Psalm, and conveys this meaning: I would indeed

64 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
permit you anger if the only effect were the injury which might
thereby alight upon me, but since you cannot be angry with
out sinning, I must warn you to abstain from it. The turn
given to it by Augustine, Luther, and others, is inadmissible ;
" Be angry if you please, but see that ye do. not proceed so
far as to think, say, or do what is hurtful to your souls, and
so sin against God, yourselves, and your neighbours." In the
supposed case, to be angry and to sin were one and the same
thing. " Be angry and sin not," is also to be taken as an uncon
ditional command, Eph. iv. 26, which is a quotation from this *
verse, as is manifest not only from the literal correspondence
between the words of the Apostle and the LXX. here, but also
from the reference which the following, " let not the sun go
down upon your -wrath," evidently has to the clause " commune
with your own heart upon your bed." The separation between
being angry and sinning, is there also only an apparent one,
which should serve the purpose of bringing out more distinctly
the internal connection. The exposition of Harless: Be angry in
the right manner, so as not to be guilty of sin, has, in addition, to
the words, *' let not the sun go down upon your wrath," which
he does not find it easy to dispose of, to contend with the whole
context, which, both before and after, contains nothing but ex
press and positive precepts, and still more particularly the com
mand in ver. 31, to put away all bitterness and anger. The ex
position adopted by several, tremble, gives a very tame sense, as
compared with the one received by us. The trembling is also
too bald, and not that, but being angry, forms the proper con
trast to being silent or still. The whole verse bears respect to
the blustering passion of the enemies. Besides, the trembling
does not accord with the tone of this Psalm, which is through
out full of soft representations ; neither would it suit the cha
racter of these revolters, " we will tremble and not sin," while
it would to say, " we shall not commit sin by being angry ;"
nor, finally, does the trembling agree with the dissuasive cha
racter which is peculiar to this verse and ver. 2, while it would
destroy the boundary line between it and ver. 5, which, along
with ver. 3, contains the exhortation.
Say it in your heart upon your bed. In the retired cham
ber, upon their couch, in the lone silence of night, the re
volters must sometimes come to meditate the affair, which
hitherto they had considered only in their uproarious meetings,

PSALM IV. VER. 4. 65
at which the better voice of the heart was suppressed by the
tumultuous outbreak of the passions. ttWti never signifies the
sofa or divan, on which the orientals sit at their conferences.
By imagining this, Michaelis and Dereser have both given a
false meaning to the passage. To a contrast of actual silence
points also )ti1, not " rest, desist" from your sinful projects, as
De Wette would have it, but according to the usual and radical
signification, " be silent," which is here required by the obvious
reference it carries to the speaking or communing with their
hearts, and calls on them to leave off the debates and wild cry
of rebellion. It is to be remarked, however, that *)tiH (render
ed in Eng. ver. commune) differs as much from *")i*7 as our say
from speak. That the former can never stand absolutely, but
only in connection with what some one has spoken, see Gesen.
Thes. In many cases, where the thing spoken is easily gather
ed from the context, it is left to be supplied by the reader. So,
for example, in Ex. xix. 25, " And Moses went down to the peo
ple, and said to them." The sacred writer does not expressly
say what, because it had just been mentioned in ver. 24 as God's
commission to Moses. In like manner, Gen. iv. 8, " And Cain
said to Abel, his brother, and it came to pass when they were in
the field." What Cain said, " let us go into the field," is not
expressed, as any one can easily borrow it from the following
words, " when they were in the field;" comp. also 2 Chron. ii. 9;
xxxii. 24. Now, here the limitation is to be derived from what
immediately precedes : Let us not sin through anger. Some
such saying, then, necessarily follows the silence. For when one
is fairly driven into himself, external noises and tumults cease of
themselves. Besides, the admonition to the revolters acquires
a peculiar character from being, according to what was remarked
in the introduction, an evening hymn. David exhorted his ene
mies to do that which he had just been doing himself, and
from which he was deriving a rich blessing. In the stillness of
the night he employs himself, when lying on his bed, with his
God, and hence is it that every thing is so clear to him, so full
of light. Had his enemies but an experience of the same bless
ing I What they would thus gain is shown by our Psalm, in the
results of David's one night's meditation. The tone is so calm,
so mild, expressing no bitterness against the proud rebels, but a
tender pity and compassion for them, that they should rush so
heedlessly on destruction. The selah leaves them time, as
F

66 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
it were, to take to themselves the admonition to be angry and
sin not, and then the dehortation is followed by an exhortation.
Ver. 5. Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, and put your trust
in the Lord. Expositors generally are at a loss regarding the
matter of this verse. Thus Ringeltaube remarks : " It is difficult
to account for such a transition, and to understand why impious
blasphemers should so suddenly be called to confidence in God.
Venema thinks, that an admonition to repentance and con
version might rather have been expected. The key to a right
understanding of it is the remark, that what here is spoken
in the form of an exhortation, like v. 4, really contains, as to
its matter, a dissuasive from evil. The stress is to be laid upon
" righteousness," and " the Lord :" bring not a hypocritical,
present a righteous offering, confide not upon human resour
ces, but confide in the Lord ; it is as if he had said, the victory
cannot belong to my enemies, since they want the necessary
conditions of Divine aid, righteousness and confidence in God.
Many understand by sacrifices of righteousness, such sacrifices
as men were by the law bound to present. Others take the
expression figuratively, as importing sacrifices consisting in
righteousness, or in righteous actions. The unsuitableness of
the former view is apparent from the parallel member, " trust
in the Lord," which leads us to expect here also not an exter
nal, but an internal requirement ; it appears, further, from the
entire religious character of the Psalms, in which, as well as
in the Prophets, the feelings of the mind are constantly brought
out in bold relief, as contrasted with every thing outward ; and,
finally, from the condition of David's enemies, who wanted not
an hypocritical, but a true piety. The relation of this verse
to the preceding one comes also in confirmation of the same.
For if the discourse there is intended to dissuade from moral
guilt, the exhortation here cannot be directed to something
merely external. However, we must reject the second exposi
tion, not less than the first. Such passages as Ps. Ii. 18, 19,
do not justify us in considering the sacrifices here mentioned
as spiritual ones. For the opposition expressed there between
spiritual and fleshly sacrifices, does not exist here. To us sa
crifices of righteousness are neither legal offerings, nor offer
ings consisting of righteousness, but righteous offerings, such as
were presented by a righteous man, or on a principle of right
eousness—see Ewald, p. 572. So unquestionably is the expres-

PSALM IV. VER. 5. 07
sion used in Deut. xxxiii. 19, " They shall call the people to the
mountains, there shall they offer sacrifices of righteousness,"
where no respect is had to any impropriety in the kind of sacri
fices. The quality here demanded was not found in the sacri
fices of the enemies of David, as may be clearly perceived by
looking to the sacrifices of Absalom, 2 Sam. xv. 7, &c, which
might well be regarded as sacrifices rendered in the service of
unrighteousness. The passage is correctly expounded in tho
Berleburg Bible : " Offer the sacrifices of righteousness, there
fore must ye desist from your sin and anger, and fulfil your ob
ligations. For otherwise your faith will be vain, and your whole
service unprofitable, even though ye sacrifice ever so much. It
is not enough to bring sacrifices, but they must also have a
righteous ground. Whosoever hates his brother, he can bring no
acceptable gift to the altar; his very prayer is sin. The Lord
hates the religious services which are connected with unright
eousness, enmity, injury to neighbours, and renouncement of
dutiful obedience. A penitent and contrite heart is required to
a right sacrifice, Ps. Ii. 17, and a humble and thankful faith, Ps.
1. 14, 23, that one may present himself to God as a living sacri
fice, and his members as instruments of righteousness, Rom. vi.
13 ; xii. 1. The righteousness sought here as a basis for the
sacrifices must come in the room of that sinful anger, which was
directed against the Lord's chosen one, and of which the Psalm
ist had admonished the rebels in the preceding verse. The ex
hortation " to trust in the Lord, " proceeds also upon an implied
contrast. The rebels, guided in their fleshly state of mind by
the visible, believed their cause to be sure, because, while they
possessed all human means of support, David, on the contrary,
was bereft of all. David discloses to them the deceitfulness of
their hope, and the danger which belonged to their condition,
by calling on them to " put their trust in the Lord." The same
contrast, which is here silently implied, is expressly marked in
Ps. xii. 5 ; xlix. 7 ; that it is really made here, is manifest from
a comparison of v. 3 and 8.
Ver. 6. Many say, who will show us any good ? Lord, lift
thou up the light of thy countenance upon us. According to the
common interpretation, there is no connection between this verse
and the preceding one. So, for example, De Wette remarks:
"without farther connection the Psalmist passes on to the thought,
&c." But the mere statement of this, is to produce an evidence

68 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
against the soundness of the interpretation. The Psalmist had
said in the preceding context, that the enemies wanted the in
dispensable pre-requisite of salvation, confidence in the Lord,
and here he declares, that he had this pre-requisite himself.
While in times of distress many said, who will show us what is
good ? he replies, in firm confidence on God, Lord, lift on us the
light of thy countenance. The words, " who will show us good?"
(i. e. " give us to possess it,") several expositors regard as a kind
of wish, as importing a desire that they could get some one to do
so. But the words are rather the expression of hapless, wretched
despair, which gives up all hope, because it can find no ground
for this in the visible aspect of things. Whence can we properly
look for help ? Neither in heaven, nor on earth, is there any
one who is willing and able to impart it to us. In opposition
to this despair of unbelief, David in the second clause places the
hope of faith: I despair not, as many do, when earthly things
afford no ground of hope ; I know that a single gracious look
from thee, 0 Lord, can turn away our distress. To them any,
who speak so, there is silently opposed : but / say, on the other
hand. He does not ask, who ? He knows the man, who can
help. Perhaps David, while he speaks of many, has especially
in his eye his companions in misfortune, who had remained true
to him, and who, because they stood not upon the same high
ground of faith, might partly have given way to despair. This
supposition, however, is not absolutely necessary. The words,
upon us, may he explained by David's placing before him the
many, who generally despond in adversity. Only grant, O Lord,
that on me, and on all who may, like myself, find themselves in
troubles above the reach of human counsel, the light of thy grace
may shine, that so help may be afforded us. HDJ is to be taken,
with most Hebrew expositors, for a different form of writing
NKO) imperat. from NSJ'Ji to lift up. The expression of lifting
up the countenance or faces is used in the original passage,
Numb. vi. 26, of the Levitical blessing, to which David here un
questionably alludes : " Lift upon us, 0 Lord, the light of thy
countenance," is formed out of the two passages, " The Lord lift
up his countenance upon thee," y. 26, and " The Lord make his
face shine on thee," v. 25. This evident reference to the original
passage renders it impossible for us to adopt any other explana
tion of the form HD3- David knows, that it was not in vain the

PSALM IV. VER. 6, 7. GO
Lord had commanded to bless his people with these words, and
grasps, with firm faith, the promise which is contained in them.
Similar allusions to the blessings of the priests are not rare in
the Psalms, for example, Ps. xxxi. 16 ; xliv. 3 ; lxxx. 7. " The
light of thy countenance," several : " Thy light serene counten
ance," still better, " The light of thy presence," thy countenance,
which is light, which, lifted upon us, or directed towards us, dis
pels like a clear light the thickest darkness of adversity, before
which the night of sorrow flies away, as the literal night before
the sun. To lift the countenance on any one, when used of God,
who sits enthroned high above us in the heavens, is all one with
looking towards one. But on whomsoever the Lord looks, him
he favours ; whosoever is an object of displeasure to him, before
him he hides his countenance, from him he turns indignantly
away, and abandons him to wretchedness and despair.
Ver. 7. Thou givest joy in my heart more than in the time
that their corn and their wine increased. The Psalmist de
clares, how blessed he was in this confidence upon the Lord.
The hope, which the Lord himself had awakened in him, in
regard to the return of his grace, makes him more joyful in
the midst of his distress, than his enemies were while they re
posed in the lap of fortune and abundance. The verse, like the
preceding one, with which it is closely connected, still belongs
to the representation given of the Psalmist's confidence in God.
How deeply-grounded must that be, when it can make so bless
ed! The contrast is not between God, (apart from his gifts,) the
only and highest good which David possessed, while his enemies
wanted it, and the perishable goods which were in the hands of
his enemies ; but rather a contrast between the hope of a coming
salvation, which rested upon God, and the possession of such an
one as is without God in the world ; nay, has God for an enemy.
Comp. Hab. iii. 18, where, after a description of heavy calamities,
it is said, "Yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will joy in the God
of my salvation. " — More than in the time, elliptically for, more
than their joy in the time. The suffix in the two last nouns is to
be referred to the enemies. The abundance of corn and wine,
is an individualizing mark of plenty and success. At first sight
such a particular mark scarcely seems to accord with the circum
stances of the period of Absalom's revolt, and De Wette has un
questionably some show of reason in arguing from this against
the reference of the Psalm to that period. But if we only com-

70 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
pare 2 Sam. xvi. 1, 2, we shall be satisfied that this trait is en
tirely suitable to the period in question. David was entertained
in his flight by the beneficence of one of his subjects — Zibah
brought forth bread and wine, that he and his servants might
eat and drink in the wilderness.
Ver. 8. The faith of the Psalmist draws from all that precedes
the general result. It is this, that he will rest secure amid all
surrounding dangers, under the protection of the Lord. In
peace, secure, and without any thing being able to frighten me,
I will both lay me down to sleep, and shall go to sleep, jfcj>* is
not to be taken in the sense of sleeping, but in the original—
as the comparison with the Arabic shows — and the predomi
nating one of going to sleep, Gen. ii. 21 ; xii. 5 ; 1 Kings xix. 5,
&c. Only then is the both, at the same time, in its proper place ;
he" alone, who feels himself in perfect security, can go to sleep
when he lies down. The second clause is rendered by many ex
positors, For thou, Jehovah, alone wilt make me dwell in safety ;
thou wilt afford me what the assistance of the whole world can
not do ; thou wilt support me against mine enemies, and grant
me rest and security. David here places his present position in
contrast with his earlier one. Calvin : " He reflects with satis
faction on the guardianship of God as sufficient for him, so that
he can sleep not less securely under it, than if he had watches
stationed all around him, or was defended on every side by
many companions." Others, again, refer the alone not to God,
but to the Psalmist : " Thou, 0 Lord, makest me to dwell alone,
(and) secure," conceiving that the words carry an allusion to
Numb, xxiii. 9, Deut. xxxiii. 28, " Israel then shall dwell in safe
ty alone;" the fountain of Jacob shall be upon a land of corn and
wine. De Wette takes Sachs for the author of this latter ex
position. But it is to be met with in.many of the older com
mentators ; for example, in Venema. Luther, too, brings out
very prominently the reference to Deut. xxxiii. 28, although he
translates, " For thou, Lord, alone makest me dwell in safety."
— " A manner of speech (says he) not uncommon among the
prophets ; as if he would say, indeed, Lord, in that I dwell safe
ly, thou art fulfilling what thou didst promise through Moses,
Israel shall dwell in safety alone." Now, that the alone is really
to be referred to the separation of the Psalmist from his enemies,
and his security against their attacks, the passage in Deut. is the
more decisive, as tho corn and wine there mentioned had just

PSALM IV.

-V. 71

been referred to by the Psalmist, and as the prayer, " Lift upon
us the light of thy countenance," also carries us back to a simi
lar one in the Pentateuch. But if we take this exposition by
itself, and to the exclusion of the other, there is something hard
in it, since the " alone," and the " in safety," are placed beside
each other, and with so little connection. This difficulty va
nishes, if, uniting both expositions together, we suppose that the
Psalmist had in view a sort of double sense: Thou, 0 Lord,
makest me alone dwell in safety ; for : thou only, 0 Lord, (comp .
Deut. xxxiii. 12,) makest me dwell alone and in safety. The
expression, " Thou makest me dwell," by its peculiarity, begets
the suspicion of there being some original passage previously
existing, from which it is taken, and in Levit. xxv. 18, 19, we find
the words, " Ye shall do my statutes and keep my judgments,
and ye shall dwell in the land in safely ; and the land shall yield
her fruit, and ye shall eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety."
With right does the Psalmist appropriate to himself the promises
which originally referred to Israel. What is true of the whole
is true also of the individual, in whom the idea of the whole is
become vividly realized ; so that we may again ascend from the
individual to the whole.

PSALM V.
We make our commencement here with an explanation of
ni^hin bii in the superscription. This has received a three
fold exposition. 1. According to the Chaldee and the greater
number of modern expositors, these words denote the instru
ments, with the accompaniment of which the Psalm was to be
publicly brought out ; H^nj must be of like signification with
7*7P!i flute, to which it is supposed to be related. But to this
it is objected, that not a trace of connection is any where else
to be found between the two roots ; farther, that the instruments
are never in the superscriptions introduced with 7^ ; finally,
that the flute, although it is named among the instruments of
the prophetic schools in 1 Sam. x. 5, was yet never used as a
component part of the sacred temple music : and, in particular,
never as one of the instruments with which the singing of the
Psalms was accompanied. For the most part it is only stringed
instruments that are spoken of in this latter respect, comp., be-

72 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
sides the superscriptions, Psalm xcii. 3 ; xlix. 4 ; cl. ; the trum
pets, which were used only in the songs of praise at the solemn
feasts, are mentioned in Psalms xlvii. 5 ; lxxxi. 3 ; xcviii. 6 ; cl.;
but the flute is never named, not even among the instruments of
Ps. cl. 2. Others suppose, that the words point to another
Psalm, after the air of which this Psalm was to be sung, so
Abenezra, Hitzig: " After the inheritance." But a careful exa
mination of the superscriptions establishes the result, that they
do not afford one undoubted example of this sort, and it would
require an extreme necessity to shut us up here to a supposi
tion, which is so devoid of all certain analogy. 3. Others sup
pose that the words mark the object of the Psalm. So all the
Greek translators, who render the words : w» rin xK^ovo/iovgrn,
" upon the heiress ;" the Vulgate : Super ea, quae haereditatem
consequitur ; and Luther : for the inheritance, which he thus
explains, " According to the title, this is the common purport of
the Psalm, that it asks for the inheritance of God, desiring that
the people of God may be kept and preserved for their Lord."
It is a general confirmation of this view, that, in by far the most
dark and difficult superscriptions, the words are found, on close
investigation, to give a kind of enigmatical description of the
contents and object of the Psalms, of which David, in particular
was fond. It is a special reason for this signification, that in the
only other place where 7K occurs in a superscription, it, in like
manner, introduces the object. This exposition is therefore to
be preferred, provided the word fly^Pli admits of a sense
which can serve as a suitable designation of the object of the
Psalm. 7HJ signifies, to inherit, poslSS?7~the~feminine of the
adjective with a passive signification can, therefore, only mean
the inherited, the possessed ; in plural, the possessions, the lots,
— comp. Job vii. 3. Now, the wdiole Psalm is taken up with a
double destiny, that of the righteous, and that of the wicked —
the blessing which is appointed by God to the former, and the
misery to the latter ; and in case of a single word being em
ployed to describe the contents, none more suitable could be
found than that here used, " upon the lots;"
After an introduction in ver. 1 and 2, in which the Psalmist
enti eats the Lord that he would hear his prayer, the prayer
itself follows in two strophes of equal length, each consisting of
five verses, ver. 3—7, and ver. 8—12, which run parallel in
point of matter, both treating of the same subject, and doing so

PSALM V. 73
in corresponding parts. In the first strophe, the Psalmist prays
the Lord, that as he made haste to pray to him — being his first
business in the morning — so the Lord might hasten to help him
against his enemies, ver. 3 ; ver. 4 — 6 grounds this prayer upon
the circumstance, that God, as holy and righteous, hates sin and
sinners, and dooms them to destruction ; and in ver. 7, the hope
and confidence is expressed, that he, the righteous, delivered
through God's grace, will give thanks to him in his temple. The
second strophe, like the second table of the prayer, which, as in
the Decalogue, is comprised in the number ten, begins anew in
ver. 8, with a supplication for the Psalmist's deliverance in his
conflict with the adversaries; then follows in ver. 9, 10, the
ground of it, pointing to the sinfulness of the adversaries, which,
in a manner, called for God's judgments on them, and bringing
them to destruction ; and the conclusion here again, ver. 11, 12,
contains an expression of joyful hope for the righteous, as those
whom God cannot fail to bless. — The only disagreement in point
of form is, that in the first strophe, the grounding of the prayer,
and the delineation there given of the condition of the wicked,
three verses are taken up, in the second only two, while the
hope and the representation of the state of the righteous occu
pies but one verse in the first strophe, and in the second, two
verses. As it is the peculiar aim of the Psalm to elevate the
hope of the righteous, it is quite natural that the writer should
close with a fuller expression of this.
Venema justly describes the Psalm as " a distinguished testi
mony of Divine righteousness and mercy, in defending and bless
ing the righteous, and in excluding the wicked from his fellow
ship, driving them away, and destroying them." But he errs in
thinking that these truths are delivered by him, quite in a general
way, without any subjective demonstration, without any actual
oppression of the righteous, by the wicked giving occasion to
the unfolding of these truths, — a supposition in which he was
already preceded by Luther, who says : " It is certain that this
Psalm does not treat of external suffering and opposition, for
not a word in the whole Psalm makes mention of that ; but all
the complaint is directed against the wicked, the ungodly, and
workers of iniquity. Hence it appears to me, that the leading
object and characteristic of this Psalm is, that in it the Psalmist
prays against hypocrites, against seductive workers of righteous
ness, and false prophets, who mislead the people of God, and

74 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
the heritage of Christ, with their human satisfactions." That
the historical ground consisted in the oppression of enemies,
appears from the mention of these in ver. 8, from the " for" in
ver. 4, and the same in ver. 9. When the Psalmist grounds his
prayer for acceptance and blessing on the reprobation of the
wicked, it is presupposed that the wicked were his enemies.
He does not say, as he should have done, according to that
hypothesis, bless the righteous, destroy the wicked ; but he says,
discomfit the wicked because of their wickedness, and thereby
deliver the righteous. What has misled men into that hypo
thesis, and given it probability, is the Psalmist's here specially
bringing out, as a ground of hope for the righteous, that his
enemies in general are wicked, while elsewhere, the evil which
they actually as enemies commit is particularly declared — there
it is : deliver me from mine enemies, for they wrong me ; here :
deliver me from them, for they are evil, but I am righteous, and
thou canst not but, according to thy nature, destroy the wicked,
and bless the righteous. The authors of the Psalms divide the
treasure of consolation, which God has given them as house
holders, into particular gifts, and sometimes they exhibit this,
sometimes that particular. Here, for example, the particular
point brought into notice is, that the enemies of the Psalmist
are, at the same time, rebels against God, to whom he cannot
accord the victory, without denying himself, while the Psalmist,
on the other hand, was a righteous man,— that it was impossible
God could interchange them with each other, or confuse the
unalterably fixed, and perpetually separated lots of the right
eous and the wicked ; while in Ps. vi. the ground of hope is de
rived from the extremely mournful position in which the Psal
mist was placed by means of his enemies. To express it shortly,
the Psalmist comforts the suffering righteous, by pointing to the
unchangeable Divine righteousness, which will see to it that the
righteous and the wicked shall each keep their respective lots.
He assures himself, that his deliverance from the hand of the
wicked is as undoubtedly certain, as that God cannot deny and
forget himself. «
The superscription ascribes the Psalm to David, and that no
exception can be taken against this from ver. 7, where the house
and temple of the Lord are spoken of, we shall show on that
verse. What Hitzig has advanced against its Davidic author
ship, viz., the slow motion and differences of expression, is only,

PSALM V. VER. 1. 75
in so far as it is well grounded, of force against those who sup
pose a particular occasion. The racy style and liveliness of
feeling which we generally perceive in those Psalms of David,
which originated in particular occasions, we certainly do not
find here.
Various defenders of the Davidic authorship have tried to
discover some such particular occasion here, for the most part
in the revolt of Absalom, — but the endeavour has been found
to be quite fruitless. Ver. 7, which might be connected with
2 Sam. xv. 25, is altogether general in its subject, and contains
only such matter as every righteous man might utter. Not a
single trace is to be found in the whole Psalm, of any particular
reference. And for the main subject, that the Psalmist speaks,
not in his own person, but in that of the righteous, puts words
into his mouth, which he is to use in times of oppression, is
clear from ver. 11 and 12, where, at the close, the I is sup
planted by those who " trust in the Lord," " who love his name,"
" the righteous." The Psalm is, therefore, in the most proper
sense, a didactic one.
This Psalm probably owes its place here, to the circumstance
of its being designed for a morning prayer, ver. 3. On this ac
count it appears very appropriate to come after Psalm iii. and
iv. which are evening prayers.
The significant part, which the numerals play in our Psalm ,
is worthy of remark. The three which the Israelites accounted
peculiarly important and sacred, are found in it. The whole
Psalm contains twelve verses, its proper building without the
ante-chamber, ten, the delineation of the malice of the wicked
twice over, makes up the number seven.
Ver. 1. Give ear to my words, O Lord, understand my medita
tion, yyn, which, excepting this passage, occurs only in Psalm
xxxix. 3, is to be derived from the verb Jjn> which is of the
same import as PUD- There is no reason for renouncing here,
the common signification of considering, which is also quite suit
able in Ps. xxxix.; indeed, the context favours this. David puts
first the general expression " my words." This he now divides
into two parts, the low and the loud, the silent complaint of the
heart, the unutterable sigh, which is understood by him who
searches the heart, of which Paul also speaks in Romans viii. 26,
27, and the loud cry of the distressed soul for help, in the fol
lowing verses. J*iJ is not to be taken with Luther, and most

76 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
modern expositors, in the sense of marking, considering, which
the verb never has, when construed with the accusative, but in
the sense of understanding or perceiving, which also, as Muis
has remarked, agrees best with the noun meditation.
Ver. 2. Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my king and my
God! ' This address proclaims the ground of the Psalmist's, or
the righteous man's justification in desiring help, and of his
hope in regard to it. God is named king here, not on account
of his resistless sovereignty over the whole earth, but on account
of his special relation to Israel. As king, God cannot permit
evil to triumph in his kingdom, arid he cannot but defend him,
who, as righteous, can address him as his king. Hence, this
address contains a frank recognition of God's obligation to help,
springing from faith, which carries with it at the same time, an
admonition to the Psalmist to confide in his help. Another re
cognition lies in the words, for unto thee will I pray — where
the for refers to the preceding imperative. David, as Calvin
remarks, " sets out with the general principle, that those who
call on God in their necessities, are never cast off by him. He
places himself in opposition to the unbelieving, who in misfor
tune, neglecting God, either consume their grief within them
selves, or make complaints of it to men, as if God took no cog
nizance of them."
Ver. 3. My voice mayest thou hear in the morning, 0 Lord,
in the morning will I set in order my prayer to thee, and look
out. Just as formerly, the Psalmist had entreated the Lord
generally for the exercise of his help, so now he desires him to
make haste to perform the same. It is, says he, so soon as I
awake, my first day's work to flee to thee, do thou, therefore,
hasten also to help me. Comp. in Ps. cxliii. 8, " cause me to
hear thy voice in the morning," with that in ver. 7, " hear me
speedily." That yo^T\ is to be taken optat., and is not, with
Hitzig, to be translated thou hearest, is clear from the analogy
of the qorresponding verse just referred to, where the imperative
is found, as also from the words, I look out, which, as to mat
ter, equally express the language of prayer. Ipy, to set in
order, is used of arranging the wood upon the altar in Gen. xxii.
9, Lev. i. 6, 1 Kings xviii. 33, the bread upon the sacred table,
Lev. xxiv. 8, comp. Ex. xl. 23, Lev. xxiv. 6. The matter, which
is here set in order, are the words of his prayer ; his setting
these in order, however, is not simply his directing them to

PSALM V. VER. 3, 4. 77
God ; but the prayer, probably with a particular reference to
the shew-bread, is described as a spiritual oblation, which the
Psalmist presents to the Lord with the break of day. And then
I will look out. !"|fi¥} speculari, namely, whether the answer,
the help, approached. The Psalmist, having done his own
part, now confidently expects that God also will do his. The
image is taken from those who, when oppressed by an enemy,
look out from a high watch-tower, whether help is at hand.
Comp. Hab. ii. 1, where the same image is more fully expressed.
Micah vii. 7, " Therefore I will look unto the Lord (rather, I
will look out in the Lord), I will wait for the God of my salva
tion ; my God will hear me." The Berleb. Bible : " One must
keep on the watch, if one would receive any thing from God,
and wait with longing for the desired answer, also be constantly
looking about for help, and giving heed to whatsoever the Lord
may speak." This verse shews that the Psalm is a morning
prayer, just as the two preceding Psalms contained prayers for
the evening. That the pious in Israel prayed at the same three
periods, which the Christian church has also consecrated to
prayer, appears from Ps. Iv. 17, " Evening, morning, and at noon
will I pray, and cry aloud ; and he shall hear my voice." Of
the morning prayer alone is mention made in Ps. lxxxviii. 13,
" But unto thee have I cried, 0 Lord, and in the morning shall
my prayer prevent thee."
Ver. 4. For thou art no God whom wickedness pleases, dwells
not with thee the wicked. The for, which connects ver. 4 — 6 with
ver. 3, is only satisfactorily explained, when his deliverance
from his enemies is considered as the object, though not ex
pressly named, of the Psalmist's prayer, and of his earnest ex
pectation : hear my prayer for deliverance from mine enemies,
for thou art not a God that has pleasure in wickedness, &c.
But mine enemies are wicked, therefore thou must subdue them
and deliver me. Upon the number seven in the description of
wickedness, Luther has remarked : " With seven words does the
prophet accuse the ungodly preachers and their disciples, those
who seek holiness by works." It is the less likely to have been
an accident, as the number seven occurs again in ver. 9 and 10.
"?p^ is not to be regarded, with many expositors, as standing for
¦*p$7 *W> nor i® *^e accusat. to be explained, with Ewald, by
saying, that to dwell with is here put for to be confidential, to
know any one as a friend ; for in other passages, such as Ps. cxx.

78 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
5, where the verb is in like manner joined with the accus., this
modification of meaning is inadmissible. There it is used of such
as dwell with any one by constraint, and unwillingly. The con
struction is rather to be explained in this way, that the person
is considered as comprehending its property in itself: " to in
habit the Lord," for, " to inhabit the house of the Lord." This
supposition is strongly confirmed by the fact that 7nKi TU
Hin*,. to dwell in the tabernacle of the Lord, to inhabit the
Lord, by which we explain niiT1 TU here is very commonly
used to denote a near relation to the Lord, and his protection,
comp. for example, Ps. xv. 1, lxi. 4. The representation is de
rived from one's receiving a pilgrim, *]i, hospitably into one's
dwelling. Whosoever is received to such honour by God, he
must take care not to pollute his pure dwelling with unrighte
ousness. He must be holy, even as God is holy.
Ver. 5. The proud treads not before thine eyes, thou hatest all
workers of iniquity. They must not stand under his eyes, a
mark of the deepest abhorrence, taken from earthly kings, near
whom none are allowed to come excepting those who enjoy their
favour. De Wette falsely : they cannot bear thy presence on
account of their evil conscience, instead of: thou wilt not bear
their presence on account of thy holiness. Hab. i. 13, is parallel,
" thou art of purer eyes than to behold evil, and canst not look
on iniquity; wherefore lookest thou upon them that deal
treacherously, &c." OvSlDj proud, from 7711, to shine, then
to be proud, in Hithp. to boast. From the parallelism here and
in other passages with " evil-doers," and " ungodly," some would
have the conclusion drawn for a general signification of the
word. But this is to be admitted only, in so far as high-minded-
ness, together with covetousness and lust, is considered in Scrip
ture as one of the main roots of all sinful corruption, so that
every proud and lofty one is, at the same time, an ungodly per
son, and a worker of iniquity. In regard to the object aimed at
by this representation of the hatred of God toward the workers
of iniquity, Calvin remarks : " It is an excellent conclusion : God
hates unrighteousness, therefore he will take righteous ven
geance on all unrighteous persons."
Ver. 6. Thou destroyest them that speak lies ; the Lord ab
hors the bloody and deceitful man. Berleb. Bible : " In us are
selfish and vain thoughts, which, as liars, only seek after vanity,

PSALM V. VER. 7. 79
and would fill our souls therewith ; but these, Lord, thou wilt
bring down by the sword and word of thy mouth, and root out
all falsehood in us."
Ver. 7. And I, through thy great favour, will come into thy
house, to worship in thy fear toward thy holy temple. In the
words and I, a contrast is presented to the enemies who are
doomed to destruction. So also these, in the greatness of thy
favour, stand in opposition to the Lord's abhorrence of sinners
expressed in the preceding verse, coupled with a reference to
the greatness of the distress, which, irremediable by human
means, called for a singular manifestation of Divine help.
While mine enemies, whom the Lord abhors, are put down,
I, whom he loves as his pious worshipper, will come, not
through mine own power, but through the greatness of his
favour, &c. This contrast, in regard to the Lord's abhorrence
of the ungodly, of itself shows how falsely some expound : "In
the greatness of my love towards thee." This exposition has
not the slightest support from the usus loquendi. T\)T]'1 HDH
is never love to God, but always the grace or favour of God to
wards his people. It is also opposed by Ps. Ixix. 13, 16, where
" the multitude of God's tender mercies" is celebrated as the
cause of deliverance.
The coming into the house of God and worshipping toward
his holy temple is mentioned here only in respect to its occa
sion, and is to be considered simply as it had for its aim the giv
ing thanks to God for his deliverance, and pre-supposes this.
Comp. Ps. lxvi. 13, " I will go into thy house with burnt-offerings,
I will pay thee my vows." In thy fear, corresponds to in the
greatness of thy favour. The fear of God, a reverent regard to
him, is the fruit of the manifestation of his fulness of love, of
the display of his glory in the Psalmist's deliverance. As the
product of God's manifestations, fear is not unfrequently named,
for example, Gen. xxviii. 17, where, after one of God's richest
manifestations of grace had been noticed, it is said, " Jacob
was afraid, and said,. How dreadful is this place;" also Hab.
iii. 1, " 0 Lord, I have heard thy speech, (lit. the report, viz.
of thy glorious deeds in behalf of thy people,) and was afraid."
Completely mistaken is the sense which De Wette and others
give to this verse, understanding it thus : " The Psalmist pro
nounces himself blessed in opposition to the ungodly, in that he
belongs to those who cau approach God ; he seeks for his tern-

80

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

pie and serves him. But it is of God's great mercy, that he is
to do this. Against such a view it might be enough to com
pare this verse with the corresponding 11th, which, like this,
declares, according to our exposition, the hope of deliverance.
The contrast* which is manifestly drawn against the miserable
lot that is prepared by God for the wicked, v. 4 — 6, requires,
that here the happy condition of the righteous should be de
scribed. Access to the outward sanctuary stood open also to
the ungodly, and, to bring one thither, the multitude of God's
mercy was not needed. The singular manifestation of his good
ness here spoken of, as opposed to his annihilating horror of the
wicked, can only be regarded as that exercise of gracious power
which delivers the righteous. The expression " in thy fear," is,
according to the view in question, torn away from its connec
tion with his coming " in the greatness of God's favour." And
in regard to the subject-matter, it gives to the first strophe,
which is manifestly closed, an unsatisfactory conclusion. The
Psalmist had begun with a prayer for help and deliverance, and
this grounded upon God's abhorrence of sin, in consequence of
which he cannot but destroy the wicked, his enemies. The only
conclusion we could expect, is the hope and confidence of help.
But instead of this the Psalmist is made to speak of .his happi
ness in being able to get to the temple of the Lord, — how we are
not told ; and upon the result of his prayer we learn absolutely
nothing. The expression is not, as many expositors take it, in,
but " to thy holy temple." The interior of the temple David
was not allowed to enter. But he would, according to the
custom of the worship then established, turn himself in the
time of prayer to the place where the gracious presence of the
Lord had its seat, from whence also his aid had come. 73*Pl
HirV was the dwelling place of the Lord, not so named as being
a great building, but from being his residence as king of Israel.
The house, where a king or prince dwells, is a palace, whether
it be splendid or not. Hence the tabernacle bore this name
equally with the temple. Of the former it is used in 1 Sam. i.
9, iii. 3 : " And ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of
the Lord, where the ark of God was," — passages which, with
perfect arbitrariness, (for there is no reason to consider 73TI as
exclusively used for designating the temple,) men have sought
to get rid of by the remark, that the author unconsciously carries .
back to an antecedent period, a word of later origin. But an

PSALM V. VER. 7, 8. 81
incontestible proof, that the word was applied also to the taber
nacle, is furnished by Ps. xxvii. From that word occurring in
v. 4, De Wette concludes the Psalm not to be one of David's.
But he has overlooked the circumstance, that in v. 6 of the same
Psalm, the Psalmist vows to bring an offering to God into the
tabernacle or tent-temple. It is undeniable, therefore, that at a
time when the temple was still unbuilt, the holy tent was named
7DT1 ; first the old Mosaic tabernacle, then the tent, which
David erected over the ark of the covenant on Mount Zion. It
is besides false to maintain, as is very frequently done, that the
word denotes the holy, in opposition to the most holy place. In
regard to this, nothing can be concluded from the passage be
fore us, since the person praying could only so far direct himself
to the hekal, as the Lord was throned there — comp. Ps. xxviii.
2, where David stretches out his hands to the holiest of all — nor
from 1 Sam. iii. 3, where the lamp belonging to the sanctuary is
represented as being found in the hekal. The right view is, that
hekal denotes the holy, and the most holy place together — the
temple in the strictest sense, as opposed to the outer Court.
Only in one passage, 1 Kings vi. 5, it is used specially to denote
the sanctuary, where it is limited by being expressly distin
guished from the most holy place, a relation similar to that of
Israel and Judah, Judah and Jerusalem, — so that we cannot
properly say, that hekal of itself denotes the holy place, for the
more limited idea is only conveyed by the context.
Ver. 8. The Psalmist makes here, as it were, a new onset.
Just as upon his prayer joyful hope had followed, so here out of
his hope a new prayer comes forth, to which new confidence
attaches. The matter from v. 8 — 12 runs parallel with v. 3 — 7,
first a prayer, then its ground, and lastly, a hope. — Lead me, O
Lord, in thy righteousness, because of mine enemies; make thy
way smooth before my face. The Psalmist prays the Lord, that
he would display his righteousness in his dealings, and bring
salvation to his servant. A great many expositors, of more
recent ones, De Wette, Ewald, Hitzig, Maurer, understand by
thy righteousness, that which thou requirest, which is well-
pleasing to thee. The words, " because of mine enemies," i.e.
from regard to them, that they may not triumph over me, if I
should make a false step ; " make straight thy way before me,"
direct me into the course of action, which thou lovest. But the
whole of this interpretation is certainly erroneous. The right-
G

82 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
eousness here spoken of is the property of God, according toL
which he gives to every one his own — befriends the pious, who
confide in his promises, and destroys the ungodly. This is evident
from the for in the next verse, which assigns the reason. How
little this accords with the first exposition may appear from the re
mark of De Wette in the earlier editions of bis Com. : " *3 dropt
out in the translation, is not here a proper logical for, and is
often used as an expletive ;" and also from this, that in the fourth
edit., while he makes v. 9 to assign the ground, on account of
which God. should uphold him in righteousness, and sustain him
before his enemies, he feels himself obliged to supply the reject
ed word, though his exposition of the preceding verse does not
justify him in doing so. The meaning is : because mine enemies
are so godless, but my cause and object are righteous, thy right
eousness renders it necessary that thou shouldst guide me, as I
can find no other resource, — shouldst make plain to me thy way,
the path by which thou leadest me, and remove the mountains
of difficulty which thou hast now thrown in the way. This view
is confirmed as the right one, by a comparison with v. 5, where
David grounds his prayer for help in the same manner, and also
with v. 12, where it is said, " Thou, O Lord, blessest the right
eous." It is a farther confirmation, that this view alone brings
the prayer here into a proper relation to the hope in v. 11,
which respects not a moral keeping, but salvation and blessing.
Then, no other interpretation can fitly connect our verse with v.
7, where not spiritual support, but deliverance is hoped for — and
in particular, the words " in thy righteousness," with " the great
ness of my favour." Finally, our interpretation is borne out by
a great number of parallel passages in the Psalms, the meaning
of which has in no small degree been perverted, for example,
Ps. xxiii. 3, " He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness ;"
Ps. xxv. 5, 6, " Show me thy ways, O Lord, teach me thy paths ;
lead me in thy truth and teach me, for thou art the God of my
salvation ;" Ps. xxvii. 11, " Teach me thy way, 0 Lord, and lead
me in a plain path, because of mine enemies." The expression
" in thy righteousness," is, according both to the parallelism and
the parallel passages, to be thus explained, that the righteous
ness of God is represented as the way, by which the Psalmist de
sires to be led, of which nothing else is said, than that it must
develope itself in what befel him. When the Psalmist pleads,
" because of his enemies," it shows how much, being surrounded

PSALM V. VER. 8. 83
by powerful adversaries, he stood in need of help. Through
the whole he has only to do with Divine aid against his enemies.
In the word *-\W)T\ there is united a twofold reading. The
consonants belong to that of the text, which must be pro
nounced 1E*in» the vowels to that of the gloss *"l&J"Pl- Both
forms are the imperative in Hiph. of the verb "\W> to be straight.
The form of the text is here, as always, to be preferred, for in
Hiph. the orignal verbs *£) almost constantly borrow their forms ,
from the 13, comp. Ewald, p. 393. The Masorites have here,
as very often, only substituted the grammatical regularity, to
which they were also particularly led by a reference to Prov. iv.
25, where the form *1{J>T| is actually found. Just as in our text
they satisfied their love for regularity and uniformity by substi
tuting IB^n for ""ll^n, so in Isa. xiv. 2, for the same reason,
they placed the Piel in the Kri instead of the Hiph. of the text.
Ver. 9. For there is no uprightness in his mouth, their in
ward part is wickedness, their throat is an open sepulchre, they
make smooth their tongue. We remarked already, that here also
the representation of the wickedness of the enemies is com
pleted in the number seven. The four points contained in our
verse are obvious, and to these must be added those in ver. 10
— their destructive counsels, the fulness of their transgressions,
their rebellion against God. Our verse corresponds exactly to the
4th and 5th verses, and ver. 10 to the 7th. In both places, the
seven fall into four and three. The for marks what is contained
in ver. 9 and 10, as laying the ground of what has been said in
ver. 8. God must accept the Psalmist, and grant him deliver
ance, for his enemies are in the highest degree corrupt, are
rebels against God, whom he, as the Holy One, cannot but dis
comfit. The suffixes of the verbs refer to the adversaries in ver. 8.
The use of the singular suffix at the first, is to be explained by
the entire mass of enemies being represented by the Psalmist as
one person, as a personified ungodliness. The enemies are only
numerically different ; in respect to wickedness, there is no dis
tinction among them. They are as a head with many members.
" There is no uprightness in his mouth." They speak nothing
but faithless deceit and lies. Comp. Ps. lxii. 4, " They bless
with their mouth, but they curse inwardly." " Their inward
part" is expounded by many as precisely the same with " their
soul." But this does not agree with the structure of the verse,

84 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
which always puts the bodily part that corresponds to the spi
ritual. So that here also, the inward denotes what stands op
posed to the outward — the mouth as the organ of words — the
heart as the seat oi feelings, as we too speak of the heart in the
body, nin from niPl=!Tn, to be, properly accident, casus,
then in a bad sense, an ill accident, misfortune, evil, and not
simply such as one suffers, but, as here, such also as one brings,
hurt, wickedness. " Their heart is wickedness," very expressive,
it has so completely taken possession of their hearts, that there
is no distinction between them. The throat must here, accord
ing to several, stand as the organ of swallowing, marking the
enemies as taken with an insatiable thirst for destruction. So
Calvin : " He compares them to graves, as if he would say, They
are all-devouring abysses, denoting thereby, their insatiable
thirst for the enjoyment of blood." But the throat is commonly
used as an organ of speech, comp. Psalms cxlix. 6, cxv. 7, &c. ;
and that it must here also be regarded as the same, appears
from the connection in which it stands with the mouth as an in
strument of speech, with the heart as the source of speech, and
with the tongue. The point of comparison between their throat
and an open grave, lies in the proneness and tendency to de
struction. Their speech was preparing for them the destruction
which was at hand. — They make smooth their tongues, speak
smoothly and hypocritically.' Venema : " They pretend love to
God and man, that they may the more easily impose on the cre
dulous, and overwhelm them." , Falsely many : with the tongue.
DJ1K,7 is accusative, governed by the verb f)p*7n*, which in Hiph.
is always transitive, and in connection with the accusative.
" The tongue," or " the words," as in Prov. ii. 16, vii. 5, indicate
flattering. Ver. 10. This verse, as to its matter, continues the grounding
of the Psalmist's prayer for deliverance, on the corruptness of
his enemies, which, from the Divine righteousness, would neces-
stitate their destruction. But in place of : Thou must or wilt hold
them guilty on account of their counsels, &c, the imperative is
introduced for liveliness of effect: Hold them guilty, &c. Hold
them guilty, 0 God; let them fall on account of their counsels;
on account of the multitude of their crimes, overthrow them, for
they have rebelled against thee. DJ^N signifies in Kal, to be
guilty, hence, in Hiph. in which it occurs only here, to make or

PSALM V. VER. 10. 85
hold guilty. It is wrong to say, that the word in Hiph. means
precisely to punish. It is perfectly sufficient for the sense, that
it meant to make guilty, and exhibit as guilty, in so far as the
guilty is thereby brought out before the eyes of men, in his real
character — comp., for example, Psalm xxxiv. 21, " Evil shall slay
the wicked, and they that hate the righteous shall be guilty."
Michaelis: Reos eos pronuntia, ut qui multis modis rei sunt.
Luther : " The word properly signifies such a decision and judg
ment, as would show and manifest what sort of neighbours they
are, when their ungodly dispositions are disclosed, and every
one is made known." In the expression OVrtl^yfifi PS*
the preposition is best taken as the causal ft, comp. Hos. xi. 6,
where the same compound is used in the same sense ; on ac
count, because, of their counsels. This exposition is confirmed
by the analogy of the following clause, " Because of the multi
tude of their enemies," and also, " For they have rebelled
against thee." Only when thus understood, can the clause fall
into the circle of the number seven. The cause of their perdi
tion, and of the Psalmist's deliverance from them, is, that their
mouth is without uprightness, &c. These grounds decide against
other expositions. Not a few, following in the footsteps of Lu
ther — that they fall from their own plans : — let them fall, pe
rish from their counsels, i. e., without their being able to exe
cute them. Others : " Let their counsels become vain," p 7SJ
like the Latin spe excidere, ausis excidere. But against this,
it is to be urged, that no example can be produced of this sig
nification. Then there is the parallel " overthrow them," which
shows, that the verb must here be taken in its proper sense.
Comp. Psalm xxxvi. 12, " There are the workers of iniquity
fallen, they are cast down, and shall not be able to rise:"
Psalm cxli. 10. Still others: Let them4/all by their counsels,
or through them. — On account of, prop, in the\ multitude of.
The effect rests in its cause. For against thee have they re
belled. The verbs, which express an effect, and so in particular
those, which rnark a hostile feeling, are commonly connected
with the object to which the effect adheres, by the prep. ^.
Since the Psalm, as already shown, refers not specially to David,
but to the righteous generally, we must notjgexpound: For not
against me, but against thee have they rebelled, but the opposi
tion is of enmity toward men, and rebellion against God. The
Psalmist's enemies must sustain a defeat, for they are rebels

86 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
against God, whose sacred rights they would trample under foot.
God would therefore not be God, if he should suffer them to go
unpunished. The wishes of the Psalmist are at the same time
so many predictions, for he prays only for that which God, on
the supposition that his enemies do not change — that is ex
pressly noticed in Psalm vii. 12, and is generally to be supposed
in such cases — must, according to his nature, necessarily do ; the
request, hold them guilty, has this for its ground and justifica
tion : Thou must hold them guilty. For what God does, and
must do, that man not merely may, but should wish. So already
August Sermo. 22 ad Script. : " The prophet speaks in the form
of a wish, concerning what he certainly foresees would no other
wise take place, as appears to me, showing how we must not be
dissatisfied with the known determinations of God, which he has
firmly and unalterably fixed." Of a thirst for revenge, there
can be no question in cases like the preceding ; it is not against
personal enemies as such, but only against enemies of God, that
the Psalmist pretends to give judgment.
Ver. 1 1. And all those that put their trust in thee shall re
joice, they shall for ever shout for joy, and thou wilt protect them,
and in thee shall they be joyful who love thy name. The and
connects this with the announcement indirectly contained in the
preceding context, of the overthrow of the wicked. That the
futures of the verbs are not, with Luther and others, to betaken
optatively, (let them rejoice, &c.) but in the sense of the future,
expressing not a prayer, but a hope, is clear from the analogy
of the corresponding eight verbs. That those who trust upon
the Lord, are not, with most expositors, to be considered such
as are different from the Psalmist, rejoicing at the deliverance
granted to him, but rather as those very persons who have par
ticipated in the deliverance, — that the gladness and rejoicing
here, comes into consideration only as respects its object and
occasion: they shall rejoice, &c; as if he had said: thou wilt,
through thy salvation, afford them cause for joy, — this appears,
1. From the analogy of ver. 7, where, in like manner, the hope
of salvation is indirectly declared, for the joy and rejoicing here
correspond to the coming into the temple there. 2. From the
circumstance, that if the discourse had been of others, who
should be glad at the deliverance of the Psalmist, this object
of their delight would probably have been more minutely de
scribed. 3. From the words " they shall for ever shout for

PSALM V. VER. 11, 12. 87
joy," which, as the perpetual continuance could not possibly be
ascribed to the rejoicing of others for the deliverance of the
Psalmist, necessarily implies, that the persons rejoicing are the
same as delivered, and that the rejoicing is spoken of only as
the consequence of the deliverance ; thou wilt give them per
petual cause for rejoicing. 4. From the consideration, that
" they shall rejoice," " they shall shout for joy," " they shall
be joyful," stand entirely on a par with •' and thou wilt protect
them," — which the defenders of the exposition we oppose, in
vain strive to separate from the preceding and succeeding con
text, rendering: since thou protectest them, or whom thou pro-
tectest. 5. And finally, our view is confirmed by the entirely
general character of the Psalm, so that it cannot appear strange,
if, at the close, the plurality concealed in unity, should mani
festly discover itself, and the righteous at large, should be sub
stituted in the place of the righteous individual. The meaning,
therefore, is simply this : while the impious rebels are brought
into subjection, salvation is experienced by the pious. — Upon
^p^DIM,, comp. on Ps. ii. 12. The former is the full pausal
form, Ewald, p. 137. ^ptl is fut. in Hiph. from "pD to cover,
with 7JJ to cover upon, to protect. — Those that love thy name.
The name of God never stands in the Old Testament as a mere
designation, but always emphatically, as an expression of his
nature. Hence, " to love the name of the Lord," is as much
as to " love him," so far as he has manifested his nature. If
God were nameless, he could not be the object of love ; for then
he could not manifest himself, as the name is the necessary pro
duct of the manifestation, that by which society gathers up the
impression which it has received through the manifestation, so
that the name is commonly used only for the purpose of renew
ing the impression.
Ver. 12. The Psalmist here expresses the foundation of his
hope, as declared in the preceding context. The pious shall
have occasion to rejoice, on account of the salvation of God, for
it is God's way, founded upon his nature, to bless the righteous,
or him who trusts in God, and loves his name. For thou blessest
the righteous, O Lord, with favour thou compassest him about
as with a shield. The fut. is used in the sense of must. Hope
in regard to that which the Lord will do, is then only a well-
founded one, when it proceeds upon what he constantly does.
The nJ¥D; is prop, to be rendered : ks a shield, i. e. covers.

88 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
The comparison is often not fully expressed, when the mere in
dication will suffice, for example, Is. i. 25, " I will cleanse thy
dross, as soap," that is, as soap cleanses, comp. Ew. p. 614. It
is just as improper, as if a 2 were supplied, to maintain, that
nj¥ stands in the accus. governed by the verb. (De Wette );
Then the shield would be not the covering, but the covered.
13*1t3J?n is fut. in Kal. To take it as fut. in Hiph. with Rosen-
miiller, is without support. The Hiph. is never used in the
sense of covering or crowning, but only in a single place, Isa.
xxiii. 8, as Denom. from niDJ^, a crown, in the sense of " dis
tributing crowns." Luther is not exactly right in rendering :
Thou crownest him with favour. The signification of crowning
does not belong to thelKal, but only to the Piel.

PSALM VI.
Surrounded by enemies, the Psalmist flees to God for help,
ver. 1 — 7. He receives from God the assurance that he is
heard, and calls upon his enemies to desist from their projects,
since the Lord has vouchsafed to him support, ver. 8 — 10. The
two main divisions here marked, are very obvious. Koester
divides the first into three strophes, 1 — 3, 5 and 6, 7 and 8 ; so
that the measure would be 3. 2. 2. 3. But it is better to divide
the Psalm into clear strophes of two verses, with a beginning
and concluding verse. . Then the strophical arrangement exactly
agrees with the sections as to meaning. In ver. 2 and 3 the
Psalmist grounds'his prayer for deliverance on this, that through
suffering he has become quite exhausted, faint in body and soul,
— rising in 4 and 5 so far as to declare, that he had come nigh
to death, and was consequently in danger of losing his highest
good, that of being able to praise God, which God in his mercy
could^ not £take ^from him. In ver. 6 and 7, he justifies his
affirmation, that he had reached the precincts of the dead:
consuming grief for all the malice of his enemies has drunk up
his springs of life. Ver. 8 and 9 form the strophe of his ac
ceptance and^confidence. The first and last verses contain the
quintessence of the whole, ver. 2 — 7 being just a farther expan
sion of ver. 1, and ver. 10 drawing out the result of ver. 8 and 9.
If we bring ver. 1 and 10 together, we have the Psalm in
nuce. . ¦ ... ,

PSALM VI. 89
Traces of a more formal arrangement may be perceived, be
sides this strophe-division. The Psalm has its course in the
number ten ; it contains, as it were, a decalogue for those who
are sadly oppressed by their enemies. Farther, we cannot look
upon it as accidental, that, in accordance with the superscription
upon the eight, the name of God occurs in it precisely eight
times. The fact, also, that in the first part the name of God is
found just five times, cannot be overlooked, when viewed in con
nection with the whole number of verses, ten. It would seem
that the author wished in this way to mark the first part as the
one half of his decalogue. See on the five, as the broken, half-
completed number, Baehr Symbolik Th. I. p. 183. The repe
tition thrice of the name of God, in the second part, makes one
just the more inclined to perceive a reference to the thrice re
peated name of God in the Mosaic blessing, the experience of
which in himself the Psalmist here triumphantly announces, as
in Psalm iv. 7, and elsewhere frequently in the Psalms, there
is a distinct verbal allusion to the same.
The superscription ascribes the Psalm to David, and there is
certainly nothing to throw a doubt upon this testimony. What
makes David so great — the deep feeling of his sins, and his un-
worthiness before God, united with firm confidence that G°d
will not withdraw his favour from those who implore it with a
broken heart — is all uttered here. Hitzig, indeed, maintains
that the Psalmist exhibits a different character from that of
David, — a desponding spirit, which permits itself to be easily
dismayed, — a weak, languishing heart, certainly not that of a
warrior ; David did not carry himself so unmanfully when in
danger of death, but always discovered a lively confidence in
God, which is awanting here. To begin at the last point, that
the Psalmist does not abandon himself to a comfortless despair,
but has a lively confidence in God, is evident from his addressing
a prayer full of expectation for help from the Lord. But if any
one might overlook this in the prayer, he cannot fail to perceive
it in the second part, which breathes nothing but triumphant
confidence. That in David, however, when heavily oppressed
with suffering, the natural man sunk not less than with the
Psalmist here, is capable of abundant proof from his history.
According to 1 Sam. xxx. 6, " David was greatly distressed, but
he encouraged himself in the Lord his God." According to 2
Sam. xii. 16, sq. he fasted and wept for seven long days, after

90 THE BOOK OF PSALMS. .
the prophet announced to him the death of his child. In 2 Sam.
xv. 30, he is said to " have gone up Mount Olivet weeping, and
with his head covered," marks which are in ill agreement with
the idea of a great man as the world conceives of such. The
whole argument proceeds upon the transference of this ideal to
a quite foreign territory. That supposed greatness of soul which
considers suffering as a plaything, upon which one should. throw
himself with manly courage, is not to be met with on the terri
tory of Scripture ; upon that everywhere appear faint, weak and
dissolving hearts, finding their strength and consolation only in
God. This circumstance arises from more than one cause. 1.
Suffering has quite another aspect to the members of God's
church than to the world. While <the latter regard it only as
the effect of accident, which one should meet with manly
courage, the pious man recognises in every trial the visitation of
an angry God, a chastisement for his sins. This is to him the
real sting of the suffering, from which it derives its power to
pierce into the marrow and bone. " Rightly to feel sin," says
Luther, " is the torture of all tortures." He who considers
sufferings in that light cannot without impiety attempt to cast
it to the winds. He must regard it as his duty to allow it to go
to his heart, and if this is not the case, even that must become
again the object of his pungent sorrow. To make light of
tribulations is all one, in the reckoning of Scripture, with making
light of God. 2. The tenderer the heart, the deeper the pain.
Living piety makes the heart soft and tender, refines all its
sensibilities, and, consequently, takes away the power of re
sistance, which the world possesses, from the roughness of its
heart. Many sources of pain are opened up in the Christian,
which are closed in the ungodly. Love is much more deeply
wounded by hatred, than hatred itself; righteousness sees wick
edness in a quite different light from what wickedness itself
does ; a soft heart has goods to lose which a hard one never
possessed. 3 The pious man has a friend in heaven, and on that
account has no reason to be violently overcome by his sorrow.
He permits the floods of this quietly to pass over him, gives na
ture its free, spontaneous course, knowing well, that beside the
natural principle, there is another also existing in him, which
always unfolds its energy the more, the more that the former
has its rights reserved to it— that, according to the depths of
the pain, is the height of the joy which is derived from God —

PSALM VI. 91
that every one is consoled , after the measure in which he has
borne suffering — that the meat never comes but from the eater,
and honey from the terrible. On the contrary, whosoever lives
in the world without God, ho perceives that for him all is lost
when he is lost himself. He girds himself up, gnashes at his
pain, does violence to nature, seeks thereby to divert himself,
and to gain from nature on the one side what it abstracts from
him on the other, and thus he succeeds in obtaining the mastery
over his pain, so long as God pleases. 4. The pious man has
no reason to prevent himself and others from seeing into his
heart. His strength is in God, and so he can lay open his weak
ness. The ungodly, on the other hand, consider it as a reproach
to look upon themselves in their weakness, and to be looked
upon by others in it. Even when smarting with pain inwardly,
he feigns freedom from it, so long as he can.
What is the proper place of sufferings is manifest from the
consequences to both classes. The pious man, while he regards
all suffering as a punishment, takes that as the means of leading
him to repentance, and derives from it the fruit of righteousness.
Ho, on the other hand, who looks upon suffering merely as the
sport of accident, thereby deprives himself of all blessing from
it. And while, in this respect, he is not the better for his suf
fering, he is decidedly the worse in another. He, therefore, only
throws himself on his own resources, only raises himself above
his suffering, awakening as much as possible the fancy of his
own worth, dignity, and excellence, and in the same proportion
that he calls pride into exercise, his love decays — hardness be
comes his inseparable companion. So that he in reality feeds
upon his own fat, and quenches his thirst with his own heart's
blood ; and the question here also is applicable, " What shall it
profit a man if he should gain the whole world, and lose his own
soul ?" But suffering, when borne with faith, serves to free the
heart of its natural hardness, to make it soft, and open it to love.
Finally, it is possible, even at so dear a cost, to find consolation
out of God only for smaller sufferings. While nothing can hap
pen amiss to the righteous, however much may befal him of evil
— for he strengthens himself in God, whose power is infinite —
the man who trusts in himself bears up only so long as " fate,"
or in truth, He who sends the affliction, permits. Every moment
he may be precipitated into the abyss of despair. He who never
fainted, who used to mock at the faintings of believers, and to

92 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
speak in a contemptuous tone of the " plaintive Psalms," must
then feel utterly, undone. Human strength, and whatever be
sides he can summon to his aid, is still but a limited resource;
it finds its proper antagonist only in what wounds the heel, and
gives way when the resistance is too strong and violent to be
contended with on feigned ground. Nothing is better fitted to
show the insufficiency of all human power in the struggle against
suffering, than the valuable confession of King Frederick IL,
who spared no cost to elevate this power, and whose great and
mighty soul certainly did the utmost that can generally be ac
complished in that field. He says, among other places in the
Ep. to D'Alembert, sec. 12, p. 9 : " It is unhappy, that all who
suffer must flatly contradict Zeno, as there is none but will con
fess pain to be a great evil." P. 12 : " It is noble to raise one's
self above the disagreeable accidents to which we are exposed,
and a moderate stoicism is the only means of consolation for the
unfortunate. But whenever the stone, the gout, or the bull of
Phalaris mix in the scene, the frightful shrieks which escape
from the sufferers, leave no doubt that pain is a real evil."
Again, p. 16 : " When a misfortune presses us, which merely
affects our person, self-love makes a point of honour to withstand
vigorously this misfortune; but the moment we suffer an injury
which is for ever irreparable, there is nothing left for us in Pan
dora's box which can bring us consolation, besides, perhaps, for
a man of my advanced years, the strong conviction that I must
soon be with those who have gone before me, (i. e. in the land
of nothingness.) The heart is conscious of a wound, the Stoic
freely confesses ; I should feel no pain, but I do feel it against
my will ; it consumes, it lacerates me ; an internal feeling over
comes my strength, and extorts from me complaints and fruitless
groans." We have not extended our remarks farther than the subject
demands; for what Hitzig urges against this Psalm is just a
particular shoot of that modern cast of thought, which is ever
fretting against the tone of deep lamentation that pervades the
Psalms. Hence it is proper to employ this opportunity in order,
once for all, to cut up such objections by the root.
It is of importance for the exposition, to determine somewhat
closely from the Psalm itself the situation in which the speaker
was placed. From v. 7, and v. 8—10, it appears that he was
sorely pressed with enemies. This serves of itself sufficiently to

PSALM VI. 93
manifest the untenable nature of that view, which represents the
distress as standing in a mere corporeal illness. There are cer
tainly passages, such as ver. 2, which could not without the great
est violence be understood of any thing but of exhaustion of all
bodily powers. But the whole becomes plain, whenever we view
the position of the speaker thus : His distress proceeded at first
from external enemies. But upon this arose another of a far
heavier kind. He looked upon that outward distress as a pun
ishment for his past sins, which now returned upon his soul with
the weight of an oppressive load. He was involved in a severe
conflict, which left even his body weak and impoverished. At
length he gives wing to his oppressed soul in this supplication,
and now succeeds to his deep notes of lamentation, the most
triumphant tone of joy. Now he smiles at the outward distress,
and in spirit sees his enemies already vanquished. De Wette
and- Hitzig, without the least ground for it, would give the Psalm
a national reference, and suppose, that under the image of a suf
fering individual, is represented the Israelitish people in exile.
Not the slightest trace is to be found of such a reference. When
' De Wette appeals to the great resemblance this has to public
songs of a plaintive nature, as ch. iii. of Lam., he overlooks the
fact, that these poems, descriptive of a nation's grief, were imi
tations of personal poems of a hke nature. Ewald remarks, in
opposition to this view of De Wette and others: " No exposition
of such poems can be more erroneous than that which considers
the representation of a severe illness as figurative, or which also
connects therewith the idea of a whole people's lamentation
being contained in it, instead of that of a single individual."
But we must not, on the other hand, attribute too much import
ance to the state of disease, — must not take it to be a suffering
as by itself. The second part speaks decidedly against this. As
there the Psalmist only utters his triumphant confidence, that
the Lord would deliver him from his enemies, and the bodily
trouble is not mentioned, this must only have been the conse
quence of hostile oppression, the outgoing of his sorrow, of which
he was relieved, when the cause had ceased that occasioned it.
The considerations which oppose the reference to mere bodily
trouble, also oppose the exposition of Luther and others, who
regard the Psalm as pointing to a high spiritual conflict in the
hour of death. " It is not to be thought," says Luther, " that
all Christians are afflicted with the vexation and painful trials

94 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
of which this Psalm speaks, for all are not exercised to the same
kind of tribulation, although all are tried with many tribulations
and hardships. — He contends here with death and hell, a battle
which is not to be waged with men, nor by means of temporal
or spiritual temptations, but in the spirit within, nay without and
above the spirit in the last terrors, where no one either sees, or
hears, or feels, but the spirit alone, who with unutterable groans
prays for the holy, and intercedes for them." The words, " be
cause of all mine enemies," in v. 7, and " depart from me all ye
workers of iniquity," in v. 8, are quite inexplicable on this view.
As the Psalm does not contain a single feature of a personal
kind, it is highly probable that David here expresses the feel
ings of those who are vexed to death with the long- continued
assaults of malicious enemies. In this way, jterhaps, the force
of ver. 6 and 7 may be understood, where the profound grief is
described in a manner which seems to indicate a supposed, ra
ther than an actual position. Even in the desolate conditions, ,
which will bring David to mind with his companions in affliction,
despair must not be yielded to, but the very desolation be con
verted into a source of comfort, since, taking encouragement
from him, we may implore God for help, who is ever ready to
assist his own, even when matters go with them to the greatest
extremities, — so that the lowest depth of sorrow is a sure har
binger of salvation, the approach of death a pledge of life. This
general characteristic of the Psalm was perceived by Luther :
" I conceive that we have here a common lesson and instruc
tion, which is suited to every Christian who is plunged in such
distress." It will of course be understood, that what is here said prima
rily of the the oppression of enemies is, in substance, equally af
firmed of every other source of trouble. The particular is the
accident — what is true of the species is true of the kind, and of
every other species of the kind. The remarks of the Berleburg
Bible on, " Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity:" De
part from me, ye false tormenting accusations, ye rage and
fury of menacing spirits and powers, that terrify me to death,
and have shut up my blessed life as in the abyss of hell ; ye are
the real evil-doers, whom my external foes merely represent," —
this is perfectly correct, if it is considered as a theological expo
sition, and not as a grammatical historical one. That the spe
cial kind of affliction with which the Psalm is occupied does not

PSALM VI. 95
so prominently appear under the New Testament dispensation,
so that many cannot recognise themselves among these inces
sant complaints regarding the malice of enemies, is a mighty
proof of the world-conquering power of Christianity.
In regard to the principle which forms the basis of the Psalm,
viz. that outward suffering is a chastisement for sin, nothing can
be more superficial than to maintain, that this view is peculiar
to the lower stage of the Old Testament. The same precisely
is found in the New Testament ; for example, in the declarations
of our Lord himself; John v. 14; and Luke v. 20 ; xiii. 1, &c. Tn
the first passage, sickness is threatened as a punishment for sin ;
in the second, taken away as such ; in the third, the Lord
threatens, on occasion of a heavy calamity, a similar calamity to
all, if they repented not, implying, therefore, that the evil al
ready inflicted was to be regarded as a punishment for sin. If
the suffering were not viewed as a punishment, it could not be
brought into unison with the divine righteousness, all good moral
effects from it would be lost, and it could no longer be taken as a
call to repentance. An error is only, then, made when the suf
fering, instead of being considered in reference to sin generally,
is considered as always bearing respect to some particular sin, to
some great transgression, — an error characterised as such by our
Lord in John ix. 2, 3. Far, therefore, from turning up the nose,
as elevated above the religious position of the old covenant, we
should rather follow the admonition of Muis : " As often as we
are visited with sickness, or any other suffering, we should, after
the example of David, call our sins to remembrance, and flee to
God's compassion ; not like the ungodly, who derive their evil,
as well as their good, everywhere else than from God, and
hence are never led, either by the one to repentance, or by the
other to gratitude. Sickness or calamity is not to be estimated
according to the mind of the flesh, but of the spirit ; and we
must reflect, that if God afflicts us, he deals toward us as sons,
that he may chasten and improve us."
rVyftS? is taken by many expositors for a musical instru
ment, and because ^ftE? signifies eight, the kind of instru
ment is generally considered as a guitar with eight strings.
It is impossible, however, that " the eight" can denote an in
strument of eight cords. Thus, both here and in Psalm xii., the
musical instrument is besides named, as also in 1 Chron. xv. 21.
The correct explanation is given by those who take it for an

96 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
indication of the time. The 7^ is then put to mark the relation
of the particular to the general; that which forms its substratum,
upon which it is laid, and according to which it is measured and
regulated. But our ignorance of Heb. music renders all more
minute explanations impossible.
Ver. 1. 0 L,ord, rebuke me not in thine anger, neither chasten
me in thy hot displeasure. Calvin : " I acknowledge, Lord, that
I am indeed worthy of being destroyed by thee ; but as I am
not in a condition to sustain thy power, deal with me, not ac
cording to my desert, but rather pardon my sins, through which
I have drawn thine indignation upon me." Most expositors
remark with De Wette : " The sufferer prays not for a remission,
but only for an alleviation of the calamity." So also Luther :
" This he regards not, nay, he will readily suffer, that he be
punished and chastened: but he begs that it might be done in
mercy and goodness, not in anger and fury  Therefore
the prophet teaches us here, that there are two rods of God,
one of mercy and goodness, another of anger and fury. Hence
Jeremiah prays, chap. x. 24, " 0 Lord correct me, but with
judgment, not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing."
But that this exposition, flowing from an unseasonable compa
rison of the above passage in Jeremiah, is unsound, is evident
from this, that the Psalmist, in what, follows, always begs the
chastisement generally to be taken away, and especially from
this, that in the second part, where he still experiences nothing
but what he had prayed for; (comp. " The Lord hath heard my
supplication, the Lord will receive my prayer,") he obtains the
assurance, not of a mere alleviation of his suffering, but of an
entire removal of it. The contrast is, therefore, not between a
chastisement in love, and a chastisement in anger, but between
a loving deliverance and a chastisement, which always proceeds
from a principle of anger. The sufferer prays that, as matters
had come to an extremity with him, and his powers of endur
ance were now completely exhausted, the sun of grace might
shine through the cloud of indignation, by which it had been so
long oSscured. While the ungodly only stands under the
Divine wrath, the righteous, who is always, at the same time, a
sinner, is also in the midst of wrath, an object of Divine love,
and this must manifest itself, whenever the expression of anger
has fulfilled its purpose, and the sufferer is brought to the verge
of destruction, which can alight only on the wicked. God does

PSALM VI. VER, 1. , 97
not deal in a soft way with his own, he consumes what remains
in them of sin by hard sufferings, but he always orders it so
that they are able to bear it ; when it has proceeded to a cer
tain point, then he turns, and, instead of concealed grace, (for
even the exhibition 'of anger has a part to serve in the work of
grace,) there is now given an open manifestation of it. But that
the sufferer belongs to the number of the righteous, for whom
the exchange from anger into grace is certain, he makes to
appear by this, that though he feels nothing but anger, he still
sees grace appearing through the midst of thick darkness.
This he alone can do, who possesses an internal relation to
God, and stands in living faith. In the midst of distress, to
pray for grace, to hope for grace, is a sure sign of having come
to occupy a gracious position, a clear pledge that grace may be
looked for. Luther : " This Psalm then teaches us, that when
one is plied with such assaults, he must have recourse] to no
other refuge than to the angry Lord himself; but that is a matter
of difficulty and labour, and is always to believe against hope,
Rom. iv. 18, and to strive against impossibilities. — But it is
carefully to be borne in mind, that they who experience such
distress should adhere, with their whole heart, to the doctrine
of this Psalm, viz. that they should not let their feelings carry
them too far, should not howl and cry, nor seek for human con
solation ; but should stand out against the heaviest trials, and
suffer the hand of God, and, with the prophet here, apply no
where but to the Lord, and say, Ah ! Lord, rebuke me not in
thine anger, and chasten me not in thy hot displeasure. When
men do not conduct themselves in this prudent way, they fall,
to their great hurt, out of the hand of God, who in this manner
holds them up and purifies them, especially if they seek con
solation in a worldly way, and have recourse to some poor
creature, the issue cannot be otherwise with them. If the clay
while being turned, falls out of the hand of the potter, it be
comes more completely shattered than before, insomuch that
it is useless, and the potter throws it away as good for nothing."
— nOIH to reprove. But the discourse here is of a sermo realis.
God reproves the sinner's guilt through the sufferings which he
lays upon him. It is sometimes incorrectly remarked, that the
verb here signifies precisely, to punish with the action, but else
where, to punish with words, nftn prop, heat, glow, then of
the glow of anger. H

98

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

Ver. 2. Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am faint ; O
Lord, Real me, for my bones are terrified. The Psalmist, renounc
ing all claim of right with God, recognising, in the lowest
humility, the righteousness of his sufferings, turns himself alone
to the divine compassion. In this he lays down for his foun
dation the principle, that God can never suffer his own wholly
to perish, and on this ground entreats help from the Lord, since
matters had already gone to extremities with him. Muis : " He
deals with God as with a father, and sets before him his pain,
in order to move him to the communication of aid." Such
childlike confidence, far from being shut out by the conviction,
that sufferings have the nature of punishment, only grows upon
this ground, and the one disappears with the other. 77ftN>
withered, faint, properly of plants, cannot, on account of the
Patach, be the partic. in Pulal with the ft dropt, but must be
the pret., which, with the relative word intended to belong to
it, occupies the place of an adjective — prop. lam one who is
faint. The pret. is used precisely in this way in Isa. xxviii. 16.
That the healing is not here to be taken for delivering, helping
in general, is clear from the declaration, " I am faint, and my
bones are terrified." The healing, therefore, must be primarily
understood of the removal of his state of bodily distress. But
the means of deliverance is the repulsing of the enemies, with
which the bodily exhaustion would cease of itself. The words,
" My bones are terrified," are admirably explained by Luther :
" It is certain, that with those who suffer such assaults, their
bones are so terrified in their body, that they cannot even do
what bones are wont to do in the body. Just as, on the other
hand, we see those who have a merry heart, overflowing with
joy, having also strong bones, apt to spring up, and capable of
bearing along with them the heavy and sluggish body ; so that
they feel as if joy were spread through their bones, like as when
one pours something moist or liquid over the whole body, which
refreshes it, as Solomon says, Prov. iii. 8, ' It shall be health to
thy navel, and marrow (pro. moistening) to thy bones.' Where
the heart, then, is troubled and sorrowful, the whole body is
faint and broken ; and where, again, the heart is full of gladness,
the body becomes so much the stronger and more agile. There
fore, ^the prophet here speaks rightly, when he prays the Lord
to heal him, and was so weak in body, that it could not stand
upon his bones. So mighty and violent is the power of such

PSALM VI. VER. 2 — 5. 99
assaults, not leaving a corner in the whole frame that is not
appalled and bruised thereby. — But man cannot love God, much
less have a heart-felt desire after him, and hence is he vexed
with such great troubles, which constrain and drive him to seek
God's help and consolation with a vehement cry of the soul,
especially when men have been sunk deep in sin, and their life
has been spent in an indolent, corrupt death of flesh."
Ver. 3. And my sold is greatly terrified ; and thou, O Lord,
how long ? The soul is placed in opposition to the bones. The
general complaint of weakness the Psalmist draws out first in
reference to his body, then to his soul. In the expression, how
long, there is not properly an ellipsis, but an aposiopesis, oc
casioned by the violence of the pain, which caused the words to
escape in a broken manner. This Domine quosque was Calvin's
motto. The most intense pain under trouble could never extort
from him another word. Luther : " He not merely begs God
to hasten to him with help, but as one impatient of delay, he
complains that this is very painful to him, since in all emotions
of the heart, such as fear, love, hope, hatred, and the like, a state
of suspense and delay is vexatious and difficult to be borne, as
Solomon says in Prov. xiii. 12, ' Hope deferred maketh the heart
sick.' But in troubles of this kind, delay is the most severe and
insupportable pain."
Ver. 4. Return, 0 Lord, deliver my soul; Oh save me for thy
mercies' sake. The words, my sold, are not here placed instead
of the personal pronoun. The Psalmist feels himself so wretched
in soul and body, that he believes himself to be near death.
This clearly appears from the following verse. But the soul is
the principle of life. Luther : " Not for mine own services,
which indeed are nothing, as is enough and more than enough
proved by this terror at thine anger, and my trembling bones,
and the sadness of my heart and soul. Therefore, help me for
thy mercies' sake, that thine honour and the glory of thy com
passion may be for ever connected with my deliverance."
Ver. 5. For in death there is no remembrance of thee ; in the
grave (in sheol) who shall give thee praise ? David had prayed,
that his God would deliver him, and not permit him to sink in
despair. For the granting of this prayer, he seeks to move him
by the thought, that the dead do not praise him and celebrate
his goodness, hut only the living. Comp. Ps. cxv. 17, 18, " The
dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence,

100 THE" BOOK OF PSALMS.
but we shall bless the Lord from this time forth and for ever
more." Ps. lxxxviii. 10: " Wilt thou show wonders to the dead ?
Shall the dead arise and praise thee ?" Comp. also Ps. xxx. 9 ;
Isa. xxxviii. 18. According to the common explanation, the
thought that the Lord is not remembered and praised in death
is here urged as a ground of deliverance, inasmuch as God him
self, to whom the praise of the righteous is the most acceptable
sacrifice, must therefore be inclined to preserve them in life.
The supposition on which the ground thus made out proceeds,
viz. that the Lord delights in the praise of his people, is no more
peculiar to the Old Testament than to the New. Comp. for ex
ample, Heb. xiii. 15. As the living God has made men for his
praise, he rejoices when this end of his creation is fulfilled, when
the fruit of the lips that praise him is offered. The God of the
Bible is as far removed from the cold indifference and self-satis
faction of the Stoics, as the Christian is from a Stoic. But for
us this ground receives its proper meaning, only when we place
eternal death in the room of the bodily, agreeably to the clearer
light which we have received tegarding the state after death,
and the vast change which has been brought into the times of
the New Testament in reference to that future state, as we shall
show in our treatise on the doctrine of the Psalms, where also
we shall investigate more fully the import of sheol. Then ought
we also, having found consolation, venture to commit our case to
God, and to beg him to turn away. from us the troubles which
threaten to shut our mouths for ever to his praise. There is
another way, however, of explaining the matter; for the prayer
for deliverance may so far be grounded on the fact of one's not
being able to praise God in death, as the' praise of God was the
Psalmist's most blessed employment, to be deprived of which
would be to him the heaviest loss. And this view is strongly
confirmed by the immediately preceding context, which speaks
of the love of God, and naturally leads us to expect some reason
¦connected with the Psalmist's interest. It would be contrary to
the love of God to rob his own of their highest good, to make
them inexpressibly miserable, by closing their mouths from
praising him, before the time that the general law of mortality
should require it. Understood thus, the words afford a deep,
and for us humiliating, insight into the heart of pious men under
the old covenant. To consider the praise of God as the highest
good, as the most essential thing in life, to love life only as fur-

PSALM VI. VER. 6 — 8. i 101
nishing the opportunity for that, is the highest proof of near
fellowship with God. — The constr. of niin with 7 is explained
by a modification of the meaning : to render praise to any one.
Ver. 6. The Psalmist shows in this and the following verse,
that it was not in vain he asked for deliverance, that he had not
without cause described himself as one whose mouth death was
threatening to shut up from praising God. Consuming grief
preyed upon his heart, and would soon carry him away. 1 am
weary with my groaning, every night I make my bed to swim ;
I make my couch to dissolve with my tears. The groaning is here
represented as the cause of all his exhaustion. The prep. 2>
however j commonly marks the relation of effect to the cause. /
make my couch to dissolve. nDJ3 is of one meaning with the
more common form DDtJ. to dissolve. Calvin : " Those who
have even moderately experienced what it is to contend with
the fear of eternal death, will find no straining in these words."
Ver. 7. My eye consumes from vexation ; it waxes old, because
of all my enemies. $£jfy, to fall in, to go into decay, is used,
as here, of the eye in Psalm xxxi. 9, and at the same time also,
of the soul. Some very improperly maintain, that the eye here
is taken for the face, in which sense it never occurs. The eye is
a mirror and guage of soundness, not merely as respects the
soul, but also the body. By long-continued suffering, the eye
sinks, becomes dull and languid, like that of an aged person.
Both verbs are hence perfectly suitable to the eye. DJD may
here be appropriately taken in its common signification of dis
pleasure, vexation. It is not necessary to give it the sense of
grief, which is never ascribed to it without arbitrariness. Nay,
the former sense is here recommended by the parallel, " because
of mine enemies, where the ^ again is to be explained thus, that
the effect is considered as taking root in its cause,
Ver. 8. David, as Calvin remarks, assumes now, as it were, a
new person. He announces, that God has heard his prayer, and
admonishes his enemies to desist from him, as he had now again
come under God's protection. Amyrald : " Those violent com
motions, in which, after the most bitter and dolorous lamenta
tions and testimonies concerning human weakness, faith sudden
ly regains the ascendant, and, through the offered hope of de
liverance, sheds light and serenity over the mind, are very com
mon in the Psalms. Koester falsely : The Psalmist, in thank
fulness, renounces the fellowship of sinners : this is contradicted

102 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
by a comparison of the verse with the preceding context — also
ver. 10 : Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity, for the'
Lord has heard the voice of my weeping. The Berleb. Bible :
" Presently can the righteous Lord change every thing, and
illuminate with the rays of his love the dark earth of men,
which was before covered with thick clouds, while in the depth
of their heart also all was dark." It remarks on the for : " The
winter is past, the rain is gone, the turtle dove is again heard."
The voice of my weeping, my loud weeping. Roberts, Orient.
Illustr. of the Sacred Scrip, p. 316 : " Silent grief is not much
known in the East. Hence when the people speak of lamenta
tion, they say, Have I not heard the voice of his mourning ?"
It is customary not to give to yftJJ> here, and in similar places,
the sense of hearing. If God hears the cry of his own, he also
accepts of it : if he will not do this, then he turns away his ear
from it.
Ver. 9. The Lord has heard my supplication ; the Lord re
ceives my prayer. The matter of this prayer we learn from ver.
10, where the Psalmist more minutely describes what he obtains
in consequence of his being heard.
Ver. 10. All mine enemies shall be ashamed and terrified;
they shall return, be ashamed suddenly. Their being terrified
points back to ver. 2, 3. The terror passes over from the
Psalmist to those who prepared it for themselves, according to
God's righteous retribution. }ffly may be expounded by,
" They shall be again ashamed," see Ewald, p. 631. But a
more expressive meaning is yielded, if we take the word as
standing by itself, and render " they shall return." David sees
his enemies, gathered around him for the attack, all at once in
alarm give way. In confirmation of this speaks the " Depart
from me," ver. 8, and still more, the " return, 0 Lord," in ver.
4. The returning of the Lord, and the turning back of the
enemies, stand related to each other as cause and effect.

PSALM VII.
The Psalmist prays the Lord for help against his cruel and
blood-thirsty enemies, ver. 1,2. He protests that he had given
no occasion to their hatred, ver. 3 — 5. In confidence of this

&

PSALM VII. 103
blamelessness, he calls upon the Lord for assistance, and for
judgment between him and his enemies, ver. 6 — 9. God's right
eousness affords him hope that this decision and the overthrow
of his enemies is near, ver. 10 — 13, of the fulfilment of which he
has an inward assurance, so that he is able to conclude with
gratitude for granted deliverance, ver. 14 — 17. '
Ver. 1 — 5 possess the character of a porch, and the entrance
into the proper building of the Psalm opens to us with ver. 6.
This is divided into three parts of equal compass, three strophes,
each of four verses ; the first, that of the prayer, which has here
a much fuller swell, and bears a far more earnest and important
character than the one uttered in the introduction, because it
can now, according to the ground laid down in ver. 3 — 5, rest
itself on God's righteousness, which never leaves those to sup
plicate in vain, who are justified in appealing to it; then, the
strophe of hope, which, as the prayer is grounded upon God's
righteousness, so it is awakened by a lively conviction of the
same ; and, finally, the strophe of confidence, springing from the
inwardly received assurance of being heard, and celebrating the
deliverance as one already obtained, distinguished from the se
cond by the Behold with which it begins, and also by the pre
terites in ver. 14 and 17. The internal character of the two first
strophes, that they contain only what is preliminary, makes it
self apparent in the relation of their length to the length of
those which form the proper building of the Psalm. They are,
as it were, the steps by which one ascends to it. This becomes
still more evident, if we bring the superscription into the body
of the Psalm, which we might be justified in doing by its pecu
liar character, its obviously poetical construction. Reckoning
that as ver. 1, the scheme would be 1. 2. 3. 4. 4. 4. Like the
building itself, the porch then falls into three parts, the occasion
and subject, a prefatory prayer, the removal of the hindrance to
its fulfilment. The proper building (twelve verses) has the
double of those belonging to the porch (six verses).
For understanding more exactly the situation in David's life,
we must apply to the superscription. In this *"£n 7j? is com
monly taken in the sense of, on account of, in reference to. But
. this exposition is manifestly false, the correct one being, on
account of the words, occasioned by the calumnies. A verbal
reason may be given for this. The expression is always in
the singular, and not in the plural, when it means simply on

104 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
account of. The passages which Gesenius adduces for the sense
of on account of, which are, besides this, Deut. iv. 21 ; Jer. xiv.,
1 ; vii. 22, do not contain a proper proof of it; they rather imply
that the EU^ST in them all signifies speeches or words. In Deut.
iv. 21, " The Lord was angry with me, QDn5Y7S?j for your
words," is to be compared with Numb. xx. 3 — 5, where the
words of the people are recorded, by which the faith of Moses
was overcome. Jer. xiv. 1 is to be rendered, " The word of the
Lord came to Jeremias, on account of the words of the dearth."
The words of the dearth-, the prayer which Jeremias sent forth
on account of the dearth, and to which the word of the Lord
bore reference, follow in ver. 2 — 9, and the word of the Lord
does not come till ver. 10. If we expound, " on account of (or
concerning) the dearth," then the superscription, which, 1. an
nounces words of the dearth, and, 2. the answer of the Lord to
these words, does not seem appropriate, and so even Hitzig, in
his hasty manner, declares it untenable. In. Jer. vii. 22, we
are, finally, to expound, " I have not commanded them upon
words of burnt offering or sacrifice." Words of sacrifice are
words which respect sacrifice, as much as: "I have laid upon
them no commands," resting upon, or consisting in words re
garding sacrifice. The correctness of this exposition is rendered
clear by the contrast in ver 23, " But this word did I command
them," for the "fl*! must necessarily be taken in the preceding
verse in the same sense that it bears here. The LXX. also tran
slate the words before us, inreg rSJv Xoyw Xovei. But what espe
cially decides in favour of our rendering is, that David ver. 3 — 5,
defends himself, with the strongest protestations, against culum-
nies. From this defence we see also wherein the accusation
consisted. He had been charged with having sought for the life
of Saul,- and, in general, recompensed good with evil.
It falls now to be more narrowly considered who Cush the Ben-
jamite is, whose culumnious charges against David gave occasion
to the inditing of this Psalm. According to the supposition now
generally current, there must have been an individual Benjamite
of the name of Cush, through whose culumnies the hatred of Saul
was raised anew against David, and with such effect that David
saw himself to be placed in imminent danger of death. Now, that
such culumniators and go-betweens were busy in the matter of
Saul and David, we see in 1 Sam. xxiv. 9, where David says to
Saul, " Wherefore hearest thou men's words, saying, Behold

PSALM VII. 105
David seeketh thy hurt," and in chap. xxvi. 19, "But if the children
of men," &c. It cannot but appear remarkable, however, that a
Cush is not mentioned in the comparatively full historical details
of this period, if the part which he played was of such im
portance as to have led David to compose this Psalm, and im
mortalize his name in the superscription of it, — for this we con
ceive to have proceeded from David himself, from its appearing
to form a necessary member of the Psalm, its internal character,
and the undeniable fact that Habakkuk refers to it, in a way
which implies that it was even then reckoned an integral part
of the Psalm. It must further appear extraordinary that the
words of Cush, according to ver. 3 — 5, do not import anything
like a peculiar fiction, a new sort of calumny by which he sought
to rekindle the fire of Saul's anger, (the words of Cush appear
as the efficient cause of the persecutions,) but rather declare the
quite general allegation that David was laying wait for Saul, an
allegation which, from the very first, was in the mouth of Saul,
1 Sam. xxii. 7, 13. One does not rightly understand how an
individual of the name of Cush could put David into such a
commotion, by merely adding his own to the many slanderous
tongues which uttered this calumny, with the view of ingratiating
themselves into the favour of their master — why he should have
selected him in particular from the mass of such persons — why
he should not rather have kept by .the words of Saul himself.
Others, again, consider the name Cush as symbolical, and sup
pose David to have applied the epithet to his enemy on account
of his dark malice, as being too inveterate to admit of a change
to the better. So almost all the Jewish expositors, with the ex
ception of Abenezra, who adopted the opinion now generally
received, so also Luther, who translates, " on account of the
words of the Moor," and remarks, " He calls him Moor, because
of his unabashed wickedness, as one incapable of anything good
or righteous. Just as we commonly call a lying and wicked fel
low black. Hence the language of the poet : He is black, 0
Roman, be thou ware of him. As we also call him fair, who
deals with people in an honest and upright manner, — who has a
heart that is free of envy. Therefore it is said, David has en
tirely left out his proper name, and given him a new name in
accordance with his perverse heart and ways." This rendering
derives support from two passages in the prophets, Jer. xiii. 23,
" Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard his spots ?

106 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
Then may ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil"
And Amos ix. 7, " Are ye not as the children of the Ethiopians
unto me, O children of Israel ? saith the Lord," Chr. Ben.
Michaelis: Who change not the skin, as ye change not your
ways. Besides, this view is exceedingly favoured by the cha
racter of the Psalms of David, in which a great predilection
discovers itself for the enigmatical, comp. for example, Psalm
ix., xxii., liii., lvii., Ix., where precisely similar enigmatical de
signations of the subject-matter are to be found, and of such a
nature as to show that one can only ascribe to a predilection for
the enigmatical the reason of David's here not calling his ad
versary by his proper name. Now, those who follow this mode
of explanation are again divided in regard to the person whom
David had in view. The Jewish expositors all agree upon Saul,
but Luther and others upon Shimei, whose slanders are given in
2 Sam. xvi. 11. The latter supposition is, for various reasons, to
be rejected, of which we shall adduce only this one as sufficient,
that David could not pray during the rebellion of Absalom,
" Save me from all my persecutors," as he does in ver. 1. He
had then to do, not with persecutors, but with revolters. A
special reason may be assigned in support of the reference to
Saul, which probably led the Psalmist to the choice of a symbo
lical designation for his enemy. Saul was the son of Kish, and
David plays upon this name of his father. Since it is a mere
allusion that is here in question, it is no objection that Kish is
written with a koph, and the less so as the two letters, so like in
sound, are not rarely interchanged. See Gesen, on ^.
From the preceding investigation, we have gathered the re
sult, that this Psalm belongs to the period of Saul's persecution.
The more exact time within this period may be in some measure
learned from ver. 4. There allusion is made to the fact of
David's not having employed the opportunity presented for
killing his persecutor. According to the history, such an op
portunity was presented to David twice, 1 Sam. xxiv., xxvi.
Here it can only be the earliest occasion that is meant. For,
after the second, David immediately passed into the land of the
Philistines, 1 Sam. xxvii. 4 : " And it was told Saul, that David
was fled to Gath; and he sought no more again for him." On
the present occasion, however, David is still involved in the most
pressing danger. The fact, derived from our Psalm, that David
had Saul once already in his power before the close of his per-

PSALM VH. 107
secutions, is of importance for judging concerning the relation
of 1 Sam. xxiv. to xxvi. Hitzig's view, which maintains that
only one circumstance of the kind existed as the foundation of
the two narratives, and throws away chap. xxiv. as the more
wonderful of the two, is thereby proved to be unfounded.
Luther remarks : " Although he composed this Psalm after
the assault, that it might be seen how he. now, taught by the
end and issue of the assault, holds out a consolation to those
who are involved in tribulation, and God's anger to those who
vex and persecute pious men, furnishing instruction to others by
his own and his enemies' danger and hurt ; yet it is still to be
believed that, in the midst of this transaction, he had the same
thoughts as those which he afterwards expressed in this Psalm.
For he never despaired regarding God, and he, therefore, knew
well that it would turn out so, that such misfortune would befal
his adversaries and opponents." This view will be admitted,
when it is seen that here, as also in all the Psalms which have
in the first instance, a subjective ground in history, and carry,
at the same time, a general reference, the Psalm does not, at
some later period, acquire this general reference, but, from the
first, was designed to possess it. Luther, however, goes into
the other extreme, by reducing to nothing the signification of
the Psalm, for the Psalmist himself. No reason exists for the
supposition that David composed the Psalm only after the close
of Saul's persecutions, and for the sole purpose of affording be
nefit to the church of those times from his case, and yet that
supposition, as the more remote one, would require clear
grounds to legitimize it.
De Wette is inclined to deny the Davidic authorship of this
Psalm, and its personal character, and to throw it into the large
class of plaintive Psalms. But against this argues, 1. The super
scription, the originality of which is supported by the reasons
already adduced. 2. The unquestionably very distinct reference
to David's connection with Saul, in v. 4, not to speak of the by
no means unimportant general agreement in the position, — in
both cases alike a malicious persecutor hunting after the life of
a blameless man, under the pretext that he was brooding ill
against him. 3. The correspondence of many expressions here,
with those of David as reported in the historical accounts of the
period — comp. for example v. 1, " Save me from all my perse
cutors," with 1 Sam. xxiv. 14, " After whom is the king of Israel

108 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
come out ? After whom dost thou pursue ?" Also xxvi. 20, " As
when one doth hunt a partridge upon the mountains." V. 3 :
" 0 Lord, my God, if I have done this, if there be iniquity in my
hands," with.l Sam. xxiv. 11, where David protests that there
was " neither evil or transgression in his hand." V. 8: " Judge
me, 0 Lord, according to my righteousness, and according to
mine integrity;" and v. 11, " God judgeth the righteous, and
God is angry every day," with 1 Sam. xxiv. 12, " The Lord judge
between me and thee, and the Lord avenge me of thee," and v.
15, " The Lord therefore be judge, and judge between me and
thee, and see, and plead my cause, and judge me out of thine
hand." V. 16 : " His mischief shall return upon his own head,"
with 1 Sam. xxv. 39, where David, on hearing the report of
Nabal's death, said, " The Lord hath returned the wickedness. ,
of Nabal upon his own head." All these corresponding expres
sions of David belong exactly to the point of time to which the
composition of this Psalm must be referred.
A twofold didactic element particularly discovers itself in the
Psalm. It teaches, 1. That one's being able to stretch forth
pure hands to God, is an indispensable condition of Divine help
under the oppression of enemies ; and, 2. That where this con
dition exists, the Divine righteousness affords an undoubted se
curity for deliverance.
. Superscrip. Erring, of David, which he sung to the Lord, be
cause of the words of the Moor, from Benjamin. It only remains
for us here to explain the meaning of fVJE'. So much is certain
that we are not warranted, when the root njfcJ' is of such common
occurrence in Hebrew, to derive our explanation from a doubtful
comparison with the cognate dialects. At the outset, therefore,
are to be rejected the current renderings from the Syriac by
carmen, and from the Arabic by plaintive song. The latter
reference also does not accord with the subject of our Psalm,
and of Hab. iii., where the same word is found in the superscrip
tion, but nowhere else. For lamentation and pain are in both
places not the predominating ideas. The general signification,
poem, is not at all admissible in Habakkuk. Neither can we with
propriety take the word, with the greater part of those who rest
upon Hebrew etymology, as a musical designation. For it
would then be very difficult to explain how it should occur merely
in the superscription of this one Psalm. T\M always signifies to
err, in a physical or moral sense, and never of itself, as Clauss

PSALM VII. VER. 1. 109
improperly supposes, as a radical meaning, to be drunk. Derived
from this, then, (comp. on the form, Ewald, p. 246), it would sig
nify erring, error. According to the concise style of superscrip
tions, one might very easily designate a Psalm thus, which had
respect to the errors and transgressions of the wicked, the more
so, as a closer description is given in the following -\&, erring,
which sang, q. d. a song upon the erring, which sang. An ex
planation of the concise expression is to be found in that of Ha-
'bakkuk, which alludes to the one before us. He describes his
song as one upon Shiggionoth, a prayer of Habakkuk the prophet
upon the errings, or transgressions. The whole of that chapter is
taken up with the transgressions of the enemy. Against these
the people of God seek help, and express their confidence re
garding it, so that the chief matter of the whole Psalm is
indicated by these words. It is also worthy of remark, that
the word n^S? occurs in the address of Saul to David, ini Sam.
xxvi. 21, " behold I have played the fool and erred exceedingly,"
TlXft T\yiT\ nH&^NI — a passage which, at the same time, con
futes those who would maintain, that JVJE' is too soft a word
for designating such errors as those of Saul toward David —
comp. also Ps. cxix. 21, 118. So that we are here also con
firmed in supposing, that the dark and difficult words of the
superscription refer to the sujbject, and that we obtain the key
for understanding them whenever we have become acquainted
with this, Luther understood the word as referring to the sub
ject, but erred in giving it the sense of innocence.
Ver. 1. O Lord, my God, in thee do I put my trust ; save me
from all my persecutors, and deliver me. Calvin : " This is the
true proof of our faith, that we cease not, even in our greatest
distress, to~ trust in God. From this also we conclude, that the
door is shut against our prayers, if we cannot open it with the
key of confidence. Nor is it a kind of superfluous thing for him
to name the Lord his God, but he places this as a bank against
the persecutions, that they might not overflow his faith." Berleb.
Bible : " If we honour God, and seek no support besides him to
which we would commit ourselves, he shows us and gives us to
experience, that we also need no other, but that he will be to
us quite sufficient." The words, from all mine enemies, shows
the greatness of the distress and danger, the necessity of God's
agency to deliver.
Ver. 2. Lest he tear my soul, like a lion, rending in pieces,

110

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

while there is none to deliver. In the preceding verse mention
was made of many persecutors, while in this David speaks only
of one. Expositors have, for the most part, reconciled this, by
understanding under the many, those who calumniated David
to Saul, and whom the latter made use of for the purpose of
persecuting David, but under the one enemy, Saul, who was the
originator of the whole persecution, and who was, properly, the
one enemy of David, because all the others only acted under
his commission. As we find the same thing, however, where
such an explanation cannot be adopted, it is much better to ex
plain the singular on the principle* of a personification. The
multitude of his enemies David represents as one person, as
that of the ungodly and evil-doer. This properly ideal person
was certainly represented here by Saul. He speaks of his soul,
because it concerned his life. The similitude of the lion, who
cruelly rends in pieces a helpless sheep, must make God, the
only and ever present deliverer, the more inclined to help.
p*\% stands here in its common signification, to tear in pieces.
Ver. 3. Since God cannot be called on, without exciting his
anger, to vindicate ah unrighteous cause, David therefore pro
tests his innocence before he proceeds with his prayer. The apo
dosis follows in ver. 5. 0 Lord, my God, if I have done this;
if there be iniquity in my hands. According to the generality of
interpreters, that is here meant, which was thrown out, as a re
proach against him, and on account of which he was persecuted
by Saul. Ven. : " That which is laid to my charge, and is com
monly reported." Others understand by it the crime, the
mention of which immediately follows. In regard to the sense,
both are the same, for the publicly proclaimed accusation against
David, is just that which is spoken of in the following verse.
But the first mode of explanation is the best. The crime is at
tributed to the hands, because they serve as instruments for its
execution, and are consequently polluted. So also purity of
hands is not rarely taken for innocence.
Ver. 4c. If 1 have rendered evil to him that was at peace with
me, or spoiled him that without cause was mine enemy. ''fo/W
is rendered by most expositors, him that is at peace, that be
friends me. Luther : " Him who lived with me so peacefully,"
Psalm xii. 10. According to this exposition, David first purges
himself of the crime of neglected gratitude and friendship, as
Saul's retainers slanderously characterized the undertaking com-

PSALM VII. VER. 4. Ill
mitted to him ; then of revenge toward one who had causelessly
become his enemy, which Saul in reality had. Or, perhaps
David divides the unrighteousness of which he might have been
guilty, and which would have rendered him unworthy of Divine
help, into two parts, 1. Improper conduct toward Saul, during
the time that David was in good understanding with him, —
in which the reproaches of Saul particularly consisted: he
grounded his persecution on the belief that David laid snares
for him. 2. A revengeful behaviour toward him during the
time of his unrighteous persecution. It is otherwise under
stood, however, by the older translators, in particular by the
LXX. Vulg. Syr., who take the word as equivalent to '•ftS^ft,
" one who recompensed me," comp. Psalm xxxviii. 21 ; xxxv. 12.
The clause is then perfectly parallel to the following one : If
I have requited him, who has done evil to me, and spoiled him
who without cause was mine enemy. It is against this expla
nation that 'chttf never has the signification of recompensing in
Kal, but always in Piel, a remark which is certainly somewhat
obviated by the consideration, that the verb also, in the sense of
being at peace, in friendship with, which appears to be borrow
ed from 0)7JJ>, does not elsewhere occur. Besides, in the
case of David, with respect to Saul, the thought of recompens
ing was scarcely appropriate. But there is a decisive reason
against the interpretation, in the circumstance, that the sense
of retaliating, which it ascribes to 7ft3, does not belong to this
verb. If we can only expound it by render, then the Jpl must
of necessity belong to TDftX and the interpretation in question
falls to the ground. Hitzig no doubt translates: " If I have
done evil to him, who requites me for it." But it is obviously
harsh to suppose that the suff. is to be supplied.1 Y7H to draw
out, or off, specially of the spoiling of a dead enemy, 2 Sam. ii.
1 Vua signifies in Arab., Puloher tarn corpore, quam moribus, elegans, decorus-
fuit, in the 2d conj. bonum pulchrumque et bene atque eleganter fecit, in the 3d,
pulchre, benigneque et humaniter egit, therefore, to be beautiful, to make and act
beautifully, and do beautifully. The many derivatives are easily traced back in the
Arab, to the original meaning. In Heb. also, the verb first signified to be good,
beautiful ; in which sense it occurs Isa. xviii. 5 : Snj ids omphases maturescentes, So-
goodly clusters, and from it is Sw, camel, derived, as the Arabic V*,^, shows,
cameras, sc, pleniore adultus robore. Then to make good, beautiful, so Numb.
xvii. 8, " And it yielded (made good) almonds," brought them to ripeness. To this

112 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
21 ; Judg. xiv. 19. David alludes here to his conduct toward
Saul, as the best refutation of the calumnies circulated against
him. As a proof that it was in his power to have killed him
and carried off his armour, he cut off the skirt of his garment.
Besides, David makes asseveration of his innocence in a quite
general manner, although he has in view his behaviour toward
Saul, pointing to him, specially, with respect to the calumny in
question. He thus shows that his conduct towards Saul was not
something peculiar, but sprung from his whole state of feeling
and action. " If I ever have requited evil with evil, as you re
proach me with doing, in reference to Saul, and that the more
wrongfully, that towards him in particular, I have showed a quite
different spirit," &c. In reference to the sentiment here ex
pressed, Calvin says : " If any one not merely does not repay
the injury that has been received, but also strives to overcome
the evil with good, he gives a solid proof of Divine goodness,
and shows himself to be one of God's children, for it is only
from the spirit of sonship that such a gentleness proceeds."
Luther : " Let this also be marked, that David here mani
fests an evangelical degree of righteousness. For to recom
pense evil with evil, the flesh and old Adam think to be
right and proper. But it was forbidden even in the law of
Moses, as evil was to be inflicted only by the magistrate, cdnse-
also belongs the sense in which it is used, of the weaning of children, which is con
sidered as a transplanting of them into a more perfect state ; and, on this account,
even in patriarchal -times, the weaning day was spent festively. Gen. xxi. 8: " And
Abraham made a great feast the day that Isaac was weaned," a consideration
which readily explains how, on that particular day, the mockery of the envious
Ishmael should have broken out so wantonly. Finally, to show one's self good or
beautiful, to act so, to give or bestow. This last signification is to be held, even
where the word is used of evil, for in such cases, there is always found a silent con-
trast in respect to some good which should have been given. Particularly deserv.
ing of notice on this score is 1 Sam. xxiv. 17, where Saul says to David, " Thou
hast rewarded (done) me good, and I have done thee evil," for I, who should like
wise have done thee good, have, instead, plied thee with evil. Comp. also Gen, i.
15, 17 ; 2 Chron. xx. 11; Isa. iii. 9. Gousset was on the right track, when he re
marked : " I confess, that when used in a bad sense, a noun as r-ijn, etc. is often
added, whence I gather that, in its radical meaning, the word was not of ambigu
ous import, but rather to what was good. With Sy it is used only of good, not of
evil, excepting in 2 Chron. xx. II, but applied ironically, and so is reduced to a
good, since it is only in the figure that evil is mentioned. Also, in Joel iv. 4, there
is the same sort of irony, as appears from the subjoined antithesis." He hi not,
however, pursued, his line of thought to its proper issue, and it has .Wholly escaped
modern lexicographers.

PSALM VII, VEli. 4. 113
quently not of one's own malice and authority." This evangeli
cal degree of righteousness De Wette will not accord to the Old
Testament. It appears to him incredible that it should be here
marked as a serious crime, to recompense evil with evil. He
would therefore make the sense to be : " Do I wrong him, who
now deals toward me as an enemy : No, he is an enemy with
out cause." But what serves it to' banish from the Psalm an
evangelical degree of righteousness, since it cannot be banished
from the history ? Saul himself still accords to the Psalmist
what De Wette would withhold from him ! In 1 Sam. xxiv. 19,
he says to him, " For if a man find' his enemy, will he let him
go well away ? Wherefore the Lord reward thee good for that
thou hast done unto me this day." But that rendering of De
Wette proceeds upon an ungrammatical explanation of T*7n by
doing wrong. If it can only signify to pull off, the discourse can
not be of an injury, which preceded the persecution. To^pull
off, to spoil, can only be used of a vanquished enemy, and when
he is vanquished, the consequence follows as a matter of course.
Ver. 5. Apodosis : If I have done this, then let the enemy per
secute my soul and take it, and tread down my life upon the
earth, and lay mine honour in the dust. In ver. 1 and 2 the
Psalmist had prayed for deliverance of his life from all his per
secutors. Here he solemnly offers his life to destruction, nay,
expressly wishes this, and renounces all claim upon the Divine
deliverance, if the soul, which the enemy sought to take from
him, were one laden with guilt. The most inward consciousness
of innocence, and the deepest horror of guilt, at the same time
manifest themselves here. The declaration has a high moral
meaning. It teaches the oppressed more forcibly than any direct
exhortation, that they are to have just so much participation in
the help of God as they keep themselves free from guilt ; it de
mands of them that they first of all go into themselves, investi
gate their walk before God, as the righteous God will undertake
nothing but a righteous cause. The form tn"V has been very
differently explained. The most probable view is the following:
In the text stood originally the fut. in Piel, tpff. The Masor-
ites would have wished to read for this the fut. in Kal, PAT. be
cause the Kal, in the sense oi persecuting, is by much more com
mon than the Piel, which, however, is the most suitable here, as
the gradation-form (Ewald, p. 195), since it ought to mark the
i

114

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

most violent, repeated, and continued persecution. The diffe-;
rence being merely in the vowels, no Kri could be admitted into.
the margin. Hence they remarked upon this that they united
both punctuations. The one standing in the text is therefore no
form, but we must read either ft'^n*, which is the correct one,
or tj'Tn*) which latter form is found in many copies, the scribes
of. which were bolder than the Masorites. It is customary also
with the Arabians, when the punctuation is doubtful, to write
the points in two or more ways, comp. Ewald, p. 489. The no
tion still found in Ewald, p. 602, that 7 sprung from 7tf, is still
often of like import with it, and, in particular, stands of the
direction to a place, turns out, on a closer examination of the
examples collected by Winer, Lex. p. 510, to be incorrect. The
7 always marks, quite differently from 7X, the relation of be
longing to. Accordingly, here THX? Dftl is to " tread down so,
that it belongs to the earth," and the honour also is made to
dwell so, that it henceforth is & property of the dust. The dwell
ing expresses a remaining, a laying down, from which one can
never rise up again. According to De Wette, the expressions,
" my soul, my life, and mine honour," are a mere circumlocur
tion for the pers. pron. But this is manifestly false. " My soul,"
as the parallel " my life," shows, which is never a substitute for
the pron., is used here, as in ver. 1, because the question now
was of David's life. That " my honour " does not stand for the
pron. is already obvious from the contrast in regard to the dust.
According to many expositors,David offers here, in case he should
be found guilty, to suffer the loss of both kinds of earthly goods,
which were most highly prized by Saul, life and glory. So al
ready Calvin : " The sense is, not merely let the enemy destroy
me, but let him also add all manner of insult to the dead, so
that my name may abide in mud and dirt ;'' in which case the
loss of honour is too closely connected with the disgrace of his
memory after death, instead of a treatment with dishonour in
and after death. Others, however, take the honour as a desig
nation of the soul, corresponding to " my soul and my life," and
implying that David was ready to sacrifice his noblest part. For
this latter exposition there are two conclusive reasons, 1. The
putting of " mine honour" for my soul, in so far as this forms the
glory of man, is what elevates him above the whole animal crea
tion, to which, in his bodily part, he is related — he alone being

PSALM VII. Vlill, 5. 115
II
in his soul a breath of God, Gen. ii. 7 — is according to the pre
cedent in Gen. xlix. 6, of such frequent use in the Psalms of
David (comp. Psalm xvi. 9 ; lvii. 8 ; cviii. 2), that it is very na
tural to think of the honour in this sense, in connection withthe
soul and the life. 2. The reference of our verse to ver. 2 is also
in favour of this sense. The Psalmist here manifestly consents
that the enemy, in case of his guilt, might accomplish the end
there said to have' been aimed at by him. But then it is the
soul only that is spoken of, " lest he tear my soul like a lion."
The enemy reaches after David's soul, and his soul he will readily
give him, if it were laden with guilt ; yet since the accusations
of the enemy were only lying inventions, God could not but de
liver his soul. To make to dwell in the dust, marks a shameful
and humiliating destruction. It is suitably to the relation of
" mine honour," to "my life," stronger than " treading upon the
earth." The honour of the Psalmist, his glory, must lie covered
with dust upon the ground.
Ver. 6. In consciousness of his innocence, the Psalmist de
mands of the Lord judgment against his enemies. The Berleb.
Bible points out well the relation to the preceding context, " But,
because my conscience acquits me of such things, and testifies
that I am innocent in that respect, therefore I seek thy protec
tion, and call upon thy righteousness, which is wont to defend
the guiltless." Arise, 0 Lord, in thine anger, lift up thyself with
the rage of mine enemies ; and awake for me, thou who ordainest
judgment. The " lift up " is stronger than " arise," and is q. d.:
show thyself mighty, comp. Isa. xxxiii. 10, where the " rising ''
is connected with " lifting one's self up." TTQQ prop, an over
stepping, then especially of a violent rage, breaking through all
bounds of order. The stat. constr. in plural has JllllS! in Job
xl. 11. But the variation is capable of explanation from the
general inclination' of the gutturals to the A sound, Ewald, p.
110 ; which may be the more easily justified here, as the vowel
is merely an assumed one, formed out of two schwas. Expositors
generally translate : " Against the rage of mine enemies." But
this rendering weakens the sense, while it confounds the obvi
ously introduced contrast between the anger of God and the
anger of the enemies. nn3J?3 stands in immediate reference
to the preceding *]SN2, and the 2 must therefore be similarly
rendered here. This was already seen by Calvin : " The rage
of his enemies is placed by him against the anger of God. Whilst

116 THE BOOK OF PSALMSi
the ungodly burn, and belch out the flames of their rage, he begs
God that he also would wax hot." " Awake for me," is for,
" turn thyself toward me in a waking state." Thou hast or
dained judgment. As regards the matter, the clause is a relative
one : Thou, who ordainest judgment ; and that this is not exter
nally marked, is to be explained from the circumstance that
poetry loves the abrupt and concise. David begins here to ground
his prayer for help upon the truth that God is the righteous
judge of the world. This thought is farther expanded in what .
follows. We must not translate with De Wette: Order judgment,
command that a day of judgment be appointed, for then the "),
relative, would certainly have been found. The sense also of the
first exposition is more suitable. David says here, the Lord has
ordained judgment, inasmuch as the exercise of judgment is a
necessary manifestatipn of his nature, of his holiness and right
eousness, with reference, perhaps, to the numerous declarations
of God, concerning this exercise of judgment — which, however,
only so far come into view, as they conceal the fact of God's
having appointed judgment, not : thou hast ordained judg
ment in, but according to thy word; for in the law judgment is
not ordained or settled, but announced. In what follows, then,
he calls upon God actually to hold this judgment : help me, for
thou hast ordained judgment, therefore judge the people first,
and then in particular me.
Ver. 7. And the congregation of ihe peoples compass thee about;
and over it return thou on high. The main idea of the verse is,
Show thyself, 0 Lord, as the judge of the world. That special
act of God's judgment is a consequence of his being judge of the
whole world. If this were not the case, the expectation of such
a thing would be without ground, a mere act of arbitrary proce
dure. Hence, the pointing to an universal judgment is not
rarely set forth in the Psalms and Prophets' as the announce
ment of a special judgment, or a prayer for that — comp. Mic. i.
2, ss., Isa. ii. 9, ss. The proper wish of the Psalmist is contained
in ver. 8, " Judge me." But because the special exercise of
judgment is only an expression of the general comprehensive
power in that respect, the Psalmist first of all prays that the lat
ter might disclose itself: Thou hast arranged judgment ; come
then to the judgment of the world; come also to the judgment
between me and my enemies. The clothing of this idea is taken
from the manner of pronouncing judgment, which still prevails

PSALM VII, VER. 7. 117
in the east, where the king, surrounded by the crowd of contend
ing parties, ascends the throne, and then gives forth the judg
ment. The Lord comes down from his lofty seat in the heavens
— this is what is to be understood by D11ftn> the heights, as ap
pears from the quite similar representation in Psalm lxviii., see
especially ver. 18, " Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led
captivity captive, thou hast received gifts for men" — around him
are gathered all nations of the earth ; after the judgment has
been held, he returns back to heaven. ' This representation is in
perfect adaptation to the common figurative description oi every
manifestation of God, as of a bringing down of heaven upon
earth. The true God is at once above and in the world, whilst
the self-made god is either wholly shut out from it, after the
manner of the naturalists, or wholly depressed to the world, and
amalgamated with it, after the manner of the pantheists. Nei
ther D*ftX7 nor d^fty ever marks the family of Israel, of whom
various expositors, incapable of apprehending the true sense,
here think. (In Deut. xxxiii. 3, 19, the word D^ftS? signifies,
not nations, but people or persons.) Nor are the nations to be
considered merely in the light of witnesses of the judgment, but
rather as those on whom the judgment is to be exercised. This
is rendered undeniably clear from the words in next verse, " The
Lord shall judge the people ;" comp. also Micah i. 3. nvj?.
over or above it, raising thyself above it, refers to the assemblage
of the nations. tDllftT'^lty, to return back, that one may
possess the height ; right, as to the sense, but not grammatically:
q. d. return to the height. Venema : Universo coetu inspectante
cesium, unde descendisti, repete. In disproof of De Wette's con
strained interpretation : " Over it turn to the height, i. e. to thy
elevated seat upon Mount Zion," which seat of his, Jehovah had
in a manner left, as he was not exercising righteousness among
the people, and permitting the good to be oppressed, it is enough
to remark that CHftn is never used of Mount Zion, but always
of God's lofty dwelling-place in the heavens. Besides, at the
time of this Psalm's composition, Mount Zion was still not the
seat of the Lord, the " over it" is not suitable, &c. Luther has
also quite failed in giving the right meaning: " That the people
again assemble before thee, and for their sakes return again on
high." Ver. 8. The Lord judges the people; judge me also, 0 Lord, ac
cording to my righteousness, and integrity upon me. David re-

118 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
presents his integrity as a cover and shield, which places him in
safety against hostile assaults, and insures him of Divine assis
tance. Thereupon is to be explained the 7^. There is no need
of supplying with several : do to me. That the Psalmist here
prays God to judge him according to his righteousness and in
nocence, agrees quite well with that in Psalm cxliii. " Enter not
into judgment with thy servant, for in thy sight shall no. man
living be justified." The discourse here, as may be seen by com
paring ver. 3 — 5, is properly of righteousness in reference to a
determinate matter, which certainly cannot be regarded other
wise than as an indication of righteousness generally, yet still
only presupposes such a righteousness, as does not exclude the
exercise of Divine mercy in pardoning, but only fits us for be
coming partakers thereof.
Ver. 9. Oh let the wickedness of the wicked come to an end, and
establish the just ; and the trier of the heart and reins art thou,
0 righteous God. David's conflict with Saul was not a conflict
between individuals, but between parties; Saul's cause was
espoused by the wicked as theirs, and David's by the righteous)
comp. the often misunderstood passage, 1 Sam. xxii. 2. Therefore,
the Psalmist prays, that in Saul the wicked might be judged, in
him the righteous delivered. Many render: " May he, the Lord,
bring to an end." But as there is an address to the Lord in the
preceding verse, and also in what follows, it was scarcely to be
expected that he should here be spoken of in the third person.
IftJ occurs also elsewhere in the Psalms in an intrans. sense, xii.
1 ; lxxvii. 8. The words : " The trier art thou," &c, point to the
Divine righteousness, according to which God does not hold him
self in a state of indifference toward the righteous and the wick
ed, but constantly makes use of his omniscience to penetrate
into the inmost regions of the heart, in order to discern the one
and the other, and to visit them with blessing or punishment ac
cordingly. The proving of the heart and the reins comes into
consideration, as is shown by the " 0 righteous God," not as in
ferring the possibility, but as insuring the reality of the Divine
judgment, not as the manifestation of the Divine omniscience,
but as the manifestation of the Divine righteousness. Comp. Jer.
xvii. 10, " I, the Lord, search the heart, I try the reins, even to
give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit
of his doings," xx. 12, " And, 0 Lord of hosts, that triest the
righteous, and seest the reins and the heart, I shall see my re-



PSALM VII. VER. 9  11. 119
venge on them." The and also receives a better explanation by
this view than the other, which should rather have led us to ex
pect a then, insomuch that some of its supporters, for example
Ewald, are disposed to throw it out of the text entirely. Though
the trying of the heart and reins is a spontaneous activity of
God, yet, in the words before us, which, in their primary aspect,
simply ascribe this activity to God, there is at the same time
expressed, when viewed in connection with the preceding en
treaties, an indirect solicitation to exercise such activity — thou
triest, &c, so try then — and the second clause of the verse comes
into parallelism with the first. Since God tries the heart and the
reins, he cannot but bring to an end the wickedness of the
wicked, and establish the righteous. Many translate : And the
righteous God tries the heart and the reins ; but it is better to
regard this as a direct address to God, in accordance with the
preceding. Ver. 10. In the room of the prayer, appears now the hope
grounded upon the righteousness of God, which manifests itself
in defence of the righteous, and for the destruction of the wick
ed. My shield is with God, who delivers the upright in heart.
The 7y cannot mean precisely with here. Where this sense ap
pears to prevail, the connection with the radical meaning upon
can still be pointed out. Here the use of the preposition may
be explained thus, that the shield stands figuratively for defence,
either it depends upon God to protect me, to hold his shield over
me (comp. Judges xix. 20, " All thy wants are upon me," it lies
upon me to relieve them, Psalm lvi. 12, " Thy vows are upon
me, O God"), or my defence rests upon God, has him for its
foundation. This latter supposition is favoured by Psalm lxii.
7, " Upon God is my salvation and my glory." While David
expects his deliverance only from the principle that God saves
the upright, he supplies a new evidence of his having a good
conscience. Ver. 11. God judges the righteous, and God is angry every day.
This is David's double ground of hope. For he is a righteous
man, and his enemies are the ungodly. Many take £3£1&J> as a
subst., and p**iy as the adjective belonging to it: God is a right
eous judge. But the parallel with OJ?T requires that tD31K> also
should be taken as a participle standing for the verb finite.
This is confirmed by a comparison with ver. 8. To the "judge
me, 0 Lord, according to my righteousness," there corresponds

120

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

here, the " God judges the righteous ;" there the prayer, here
the positive principle, which guarantees the fulfilment of the
prayer. The every day, continually, points to this, that the
Divine judgment upon ungodliness is one always realizing itself
in the course of history, so that they who practise it can never
be secure, but are always in danger of a sudden overthrow.
Ver. 12. If he turn not, he will whet his sword, he hath bent his
bow, and made it ready. The subject of the verb turn, the un
godly, is to be borrowed from the second half of the preceding
verse, where it is contained by implication. It is erroneous to
suppose with many that a particular enemy, Saul, is here de
scribed as such. That the Psalmist delineates here only in a
general way the, punishment of the ungodly, is clear even from
the preceding context. This and the next verse are merely a
further expansion of that, " God is angry every day," which,
from the idea of continuance, cannot be confined to the enemies
of David. The punishment of the enemies of David follows
upon this, with the same necessity, as from the general prin
ciple, " God judges the righteous," the deliverance of David.
The " turning back" is wider than the " turning back to the
Lord." It denotes merely in the general the ceasing from for
mer doings aud strivings, while the latter, at the same time, in
dicates the aim toward which the changed course is directed.
Koester justly remarks that it perfectly accords with the plac
able spirit of the Psalm, comp. ver. 4, that David should first
wish the conversion of the enemy. He will whet his sword.
The Lord is represented under the image of a warrior who pre
pares himself for the attack, comp. Deut. xxxii. 41, " I whet my
glittering sword, and my hand lays hold on judgment." 'This
passage, which the mention of arrows immediately after the
sword, as here, proves more certainly to have been in the eye
of the Psalmist, is, of itself, sufficient to confute those who sup
pose that the ungodly are the subject of the whole verse. And
made it ready — he places the arrows upon it. Falsely, De
Wette: " And judges him." This signification does not accord
with the parallel passage, Psalm xi. 2, nor is generally the
meaning of the verb p^ in Pilel. In all the passages which Ge
senius adduces for the sense oi judging, that of preparing, mak
ing ready, charging, should rather be admitted. The judging is
first introduced in ver. 13. It is a remarkable instance of Divine
foresight, but such as often occurs in history, that in the death

PSALM VII. VER. 12. 121
of Saul, the bow and the sword both actually had their share.
Saul was hit by the hostile archers, and sore pressed, so that he
despaired of his life. " Then said he to his armour-bearer,
Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith, lest these
uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse nie : but
his armour-bearer would not, for he was sore afraid. Therefore
Saul took a sword and fell upon it," 1 Sam. xxxi. 3, 4. The
apparently coarse manner of expression in our text, representing
God as a warrior, equipped with sword and bow, has, besides,
for its foundation, the coarseness of sinners, and the weakness
of faith on the part of believers, which does not direct itself
against the visible danger, with pure thoughts of God's control
ling agency, but seeks to clothe these thoughts with flesh and
blood, and regards the judge as standing over against the sin
ner, man against man, sword against sword. But this kind of
representation shows, at the same time, a very lively faith,
which alone could, satisfying this necessity of faith's weakness,
clothe the judge and avenger with flesh and blood. The idea
of God's righteousness must have possessed great vigour to
render such a representation possible. There are some excel-
„ lent remarks upon the ground of it in Luther, who, however,
too much overlooks the fact, that the Psalmist presents before
his eyes, this form of an angry and avenging God, primarily
with the view of strengthening, by its consideration, his own
hope, and pays too little regard to the distinction between the
Psalmist, who only indirectly teaches what he described as part
of his own inward experience, and the prophet : " The prophet
takes a lesson from a coarse human similitude, in order that he
might inspire terror into the ungodly. For he speaks against
stupid and hardened people, who would not apprehend the
reality of a divine judgment, of which he had just spoken ;
but they might possibly be brought to consider this by greater
earnestness on the part of man. — Now the prophet is not satis
fied with thinking of the sword, but he adds thereto the bow ;
even this does not satisfy him, but he describes how it is already
stretched, and aim is taken, and the arrows are applied to it, as
here follows. So hard, stiff-necked, and unabashed are the un
godly, that however many threatenings may be urged against
them, they will still remain unmoved. But in these words he
forcibly describes how God's anger presses hard upon the un
godly, though they will never understand this until they actu-

122 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
ally experience it. It is also to be remarked here, that we have
had so frightful a threatening and indignation against the un
godly in no Psalm before this ; neither has the Spirit of God at
tacked them with so many words. Then in the following verses,
he also recounts their plans and purposes, shows how these shall
not be in vain, but shall return again upon their own head. So
that it clearly and manifestly appears to all those who suffer
wrong and reproach, as a matter of consolation, that God hates
such revilers and slanderers above all other characters."
Ver. 13. And he has prepared for him the instruments of
death, he makes his arrows burning. The 7 with the verb
P^n denotes the object upon which something is directed,
which concerns the judging, here, therefore the ungodly. The
object stands here with peculiar emphasis in the foreground.
The Psalmist draws attention to this, how dangerous it is to be
the target at which God levels his attack. p7*l to burn. In
sieges it is customary to wrap round the arrows burning matter,
and to shoot them after being kindled.
Ver. 14. Behold he travails with mischief, and is big with mi
sery, and brings forth falsehood. In place of the hope which
springs out of the consideration of God's righteousness, accord
ing to which he helps the righteous, but prepares for the wick- -
ed a fearful destruction, confidence now breaks forth. The
Psalmist sees with his eyes how the malicious plots of the wick
ed, for the ruin of the righteous, are brought to nought, and
turn out to their own destruction. The " behold," and the pro
phetic pret., are a wonderful proof of the strength of faith,
which can overlook what violently presses upon the sense, and
see what is still invisible. Luther ; " he first says, ' behold,'
as if he himself wondered, and called upon all to come, as it
were to a rare spectacle. For it appears far otherwise to our
view." Luther translates : Behold he has evil in his heart, with
misfortune he is pregnant, but he will bring forth a failure ;
and he is followed by De Wette, Hitzig, &c. But we must
rather refer the words, " he is big with misery," to the issue as
full of wretchedness for the wicked. This is supported, 1. By
the accents, which connect the words, not with what precedes,
but with what follows, comp. ver. 15; 2. and, besides, the being
in labour, must follow upon the being pregnant.
Ver. 15. The same thought, under another image. He has
digged a pit; and hollowed it out, but he falls, into the ditch which

, PSALM VII. VEU. 15. 123
he makes. Luther : " All this is written for the consolation of
those who are oppressed, to the end that they may be sure
and certain, that the evil, which is directed against them, shall
fall upon their revilers and persecutors. At the same time, it
is also written for a terror to the ungodly, persecutors, and
slanderers, whose excessive rashness and security needs to be
alarmed, as the weakness of the other to be strengthened." It
is customary to dig pits, and cover them with foliage, in order
to catch lions and other wild beasts in them. From such cus
tom the image is here taken : — And hollowed it out. This addi
tion marks the depth of the pit dug by him, the anxiety of the
wicked to have it made as deep as possible. Luther : " See how
admirably he expresses the hot burning fury of the ungodly,
not simply declaring : he has dug a pit, but adding to this :
and hollowed it out. So active and diligent are they to have
the pit dug, and the hole prepared. They try every thing,
they explore every thing, and not satisfied that they have dug
a pit, but clear it out and make it deep, as deep as they pos
sibly can, that they may destroy and subvert the innocent.
In this way the Jews acted ; although they were eager to have
Christ put to death, and their whole efforts were directed
thereto, still they were not satisfied that he should die a pain
ful death, but took care that his death should be of the most
shameful kind, just as if they had dug a very deep pit for him,
and cleared it out. So are all godless persecutors and revilers
disposed, not to be satisfied with merely destroying their neigh
bour, but strive as much as in them lies, to bring them to the
most shameful end." Before ^S* the pron. relat. is to be
supplied, or more correctly, there is here an usage of very fre
quent occurrence, especially in poetry, of placing the relative
clause after the substantive without any particular word. Comp.
Ewald, p. 646. The pron. suff. also is awanting, because the
sense is clear from the substantive immediately preceding, but
poetry is fond of expressive shortness. Therefore : he falls into
the pit he makes. We must not expound : into the pit, which
he has made. The wicked man is still occupied with the pit,
still working at it, when he falls into it. The punishment over
takes him in the midst of his guilty career. Kaiser supposes
without ground, that a deliverance already past is here cele
brated. But that is not necessarily indicated by the fut. with
vau conv. ySf)- For this form only marks that an action fol-

124

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

lows out of the'preceding. But this being the whole, it may
stand also for the present and the future, although certainly it
is most commonly used of the past. Therefore not : he fell, but
he falls. Ewald, p. 541.
Ver. 16. His mischief shall return upon his own head, and
his iniquity shall come down upon his own pate, like a stone or
an arrow, which, having been thrown aloft, returns upon the
head of him who threw it. The 2 in 1JJ>}02 is the 2, which
stands with verbs of motion, when the object moved remains in
its place. Upon his head, is not grammatically correct. The
head is considered as the seat of the mischief. The mischief
not merely falls upon it, but presses into it. 7fty always de
notes the evil one suffers, not that which one inflicts. The evil
properly coming from without, is here marked through the
suffix, referring to the ungodly, as belonging to him, as wrought
by him. This verse, like the two preceding ones, points to
" the elastic nature of right, according to which every infliction
calls forth a counter infliction," as that is a necessary conse
quence of the existence of a living God. God, indeed, cannot
be thought of without the idea of recompense. Luther : " For
this is the incomprehensible nature of the Divine judgment,
that God catches the wicked with their own plots and counsels,
and leads them into the destruction which they had themselves
devised." Ver. 17. In what precedes, the Psalmist had attained to a
living acquaintance with the Divine righteousness, and de
scribed its manifestations. Here he concludes with giving
praise to God on account of this his righteousness, and generally
on account of his glorious nature, or with the declaration, that
he will praise him on behalf of that. / will praise the Lord ac
cording to his righteousness, and will sing praise to the name of
the Lord Most High. According to his righteousness, agree
ably to that, so that the righteousness and the praise shall
correspond. The verse forms a suitable conclusion to the strophe
of seeing. For the manifestations of Divine righteousness are
taken for granted in it as having been already given.

PSALM VIII. 125

PSALM VIII.

The grand topic of this Psalm must, according to various ex
positors, be twofold, the greatness of God, as the God of the
world and nature, and his goodness toward, man. But a more
careful examination of it shows, that the latter topic alone is
the proper theme, to which the other is merely subordinate ;
that the greatness of the Lord in the creation of the world is
only celebrated for the purpose of presenting in a more striking
light his condescending goodness towards weak man. — God's
glory — this is the train of thought — is displayed upon earth
through the splendour of the heavenly architecture, in so im
pressive, feeling, and palpable a manner, that even children
apprehend it, and by means of the wondering delight which
they experience, and the praise which they stammer forth to
him, put to shame the folly of his hardened blasphemers, v. 1, 2.
— When one considers this glory and greatness of God as re
flected from the heavens, how must he be filled with adoring
wonder, with internal gratitude, that such a God should have so
taken notice of weak man, who appears unworthy of the least
regard from him, crowned him with honour, made him his vice
gerent upon earth, and delivered into his hands the lordship
thereof, v. 3 — 8. Great indeed is God, as well in the dignity
which, in the fulness of his love and condescension, he has con
ferred on men, as in the glory of the heavens ! — This, then, is
the theme, The greatness of God in the greatness of man.
The Psalm needs no historical exposition, and bears none.
It has been often said-, that David was raised to the adoration of
God, by the sight of the starry sky. And in this way it has
been commonly explained, why in the third verse, amid the glo
rious works of God in the heavens, the sun is omitted, and the
moon and the stars only are mentioned. That this idea is not
well-grounded, we shall see when we come to the exposition of
the verse. That David composed this Psalm, not as a shepherd,
as some have supposed, for the sake of their sentimentality, but
as king, is probable from the familiar reference in the Psalm to
the kingly glory, comp. v. 1 and 5. In his shepherd-state, David
had not yet applied himself to indite Psalms ; and in him also
was verified the proverb, " the wine-press only produces the

126 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
wine, and this, " necessity makes men pray." It was in the
persecutions that he endured from Saul, that the springs of
divine song were made to flow in him.
Passages in this Psalm are applied to Christ, and this has led
many expositors to understand the whole Psalm of him alone.
But as many internal grounds oppose this view, so it is not Suf
ficiently confirmed by the authority of the New Testament.
This will appear by an explanation of the particular passages.
In Matt. xxi. 16, Christ rebukes the Pharisees, who could not
contain themselves because children were crying to him Hosanna,
by bringing to their remembrance the 2d verse of this Psalm,
" Have ye never read, Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings
thou hast perfected praise ?" From this quotation, it does not
at all appear that the Lord understood the Psalm in reference
to himself. It is enough that the idea uttered in the Psalm, —
the high-minded, who proudly shut their heart to the impression
of what is divine, withstanding, and impiously blaspheming it,
but put to shame by the cheerful acknowledgment of it, which
is frankly made by the unsophisticated, mind of childhood,—^
enough that this is here also exemplified. The stroke which
the Lord here dealt to the Pharisees, was a completely silencing
one; they must have felt it in their innermost conscience. The
second quotation from this Psalm, in Heb. ii. 6—9, appears to
favour more the Messianic interpretation. There ver. 4, 5, are
applied to Christ's glory, and his lordship over all creation.
But 'neither are we necessitated by this passage to refer the
Psalm, in its primary and proper sense, to Christ. Although
David, in the first instance, speaks of the human race generally,
the writer of the Epistle might still justly refer what is said to
Christ, in its highest and fullest sense. For while the glory of
human nature, as here delineated, has been so deteriorated
•through the fall, that it is to be seen only in small fragments,
and what is here said is to be referred to the idea rather than to
the reality, it appears anew in Christ in full splendour. The
writer of the Epistle describes the glory obtained for humanity
in Christ over the things of creation, whereby it is to be raised
above the angels, in the words of the 4th and 5th verse of this
Psalm. The common application of the beginning of ver. 5, as
rendered in the LXX., to the humiliation of Christ, is not pro
perly an exposition, but a popular adaptation. This is unques
tionably the case also with the third quotation, in 1 Cor. xv. 27;

PSALM VIII. 127
Paul there refers the words of ver. 6, " Thou hast put all things
under his feet," to Christ, because the glory of humanity above
the whole creation, lost in Adam, and reduced to a base servi
tude, is to be again restored in Christ, and that, indeed, in a still
higher and more perfect manner than it was possessed by Adam.
The following remarks may contribute to a deeper insight into
the ideal Messianic meaning of this Psalm. The Psalm stands
in the closest connection with the first chapter of Genesis. What
is written there of the dignity with which God invested man
over the works of his hands, whom he placed as his representa
tive on earth, and endowed with the lordship of creation, that
is here made the subject of contemplation and praise. We have
just that passage in Genesis turned into a prayer for us. But
how far man still really possesses that glory, what remains of it,
how much of it has been lost, of this the Psalmist takes no
thought. His object was simply to praise the goodness of God,
which still remained the same, as God, whose gifts are without
repentance, has not arbitrarily withdrawn what he gave, only
man, by his folly, has suffered himself to be robbed of it. But,
even with this single eye upon the goodness of God, which on
his part continues unabated, it is to be understood that the
entire representation holds good only at the beginning and the
' end, and does but very imperfectly suit the middle, in which we,
along with the Psalmist, now stand. When this middle is placed
distinctly before the eye, man is represented quite otherwise in
the Old Testament than we find him here, — as a sleep, a shadow,
a falling leaf, a worm, as dust and ashes. And why God is here
thanked, see especially Isa. xi. 6 — 9, where the same reference
is made as here to Gen. i., and where a restitution is promised to
man in .the times of Messiah, of the relation he originally held
to the earth, but which is now in a state of prostration. Ac
cordingly, the matter of this Psalm can find its full verification
only in the future, and for the present it applies to none but
Christ, in whom human nature again possesses the dignity and
glory over creation, which it lost in Adam. By and by, when
the moral consequences of the fall have been swept away, this
also shall come to be the common inheritance of the human
family. ]Vn!li"l"7j7 upon the harp of Gath, or in the Gathic style.
As the termination in i. in adjectives, which are derived from

128 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
proper names, is rare, and as *flj in the sense of Gathic, of Gath,
the city of the Philistines, occurs frequently, (comp. Jos. xiii. 3,
2 Sam. vi. 10, 11 ; xv. 18,) we must reject, as arbitrary, all other
derivations, such as from J"0, a wine- press, and still more those
from the purely imaginary ]"tf cantus fidium. Now, the Gittith
may be either an instrument used in Gath, or a tune or air
originated there, just as the Greeks speak of a Lydian or Phry
gian air, and according to analogy, of the expression, " upon the
Sheminith." It is worthy of remark, that all the three Psalms
distinguished by this name, (besides this, lxxxi. lxxxiv.) are of a
joyful, thanksgiving character, from which it, may be inferred,
that the Gittith was an instrument of cheerful sound, or a lively
air. Ver. 1. Jehovah, our Lord, how glorious is thy name in all
the earth ! who hast crowned the heavens with thy majesty. The
" our Lord," is used to show that the Psalmist speaks here,
and throughout the Psalm, not in his own name, but in that of
the whole human race. That the word Q£? is ever used as a
mere description of the person, without some farther reference,
is just as erroneous as the opinion, that it is synonymous with
renown. The name, in the language of the ancient world, ge
nerally, and of the Hebrews in particular, is the image and ex
pression of the being, the echo of its manifestation. God, as
existing secretly in himself, is nameless. But a manifestation
and a name, are inseparable from each other. The name pro
ceeds quite naturally out of it, and the more glorious the mani
festation, so much more glorious also is the name, that is, it is
the more, full and significant. Now, the following words declare
through what means the name of God has become glorious up
on the whole earth, point to the manifestation, whose product
is the glorious name. They are to be translated literally : Thou,
in respect to the giving thy glory, art above the heavens. This,
according to most interpreters, is, as if it had been said : Thou,
who hast not confined thyself to overspread the earth with thy
glory, but who hast also crowned the heavens with it, hast set it
upon these as a crown. But if we compare ver. 3, where the
heavens alone are spoken of, it will be seen that the glory of
the name of God upon earth, is here only in so far celebrated,
as God is glorified upon it through the magnificence of the hea-

PSALM VIII. VER. 1. ]29
vens. This is also implied in the "I^X, which indicates in what
respect, and by what means God's name is glorious upon the
earth, or how he has acquired his glory upon earth. n^H is
the inf. constr. in Kal of |J"\3. Those of the verbs |£, which
form the fut. upon Zere or Patach, commonly throw away in
inf. constr. the J pointed with Schwa, for the small word the
feminal termination 1"|- is commonly chosen ; from fni l"l}fi>
contracted HH- In place of this we find here the fem. term.
n., just as besides the common inf. constr. of T")\ TT\1, the
T
form nni also occurs, see Ewald, p. 460. Now the inf. governs
here, as usual, the case of the verb fin. : the giving thy glory,
Ew. p. 622. We must not translate with Ewald and Winer:
the giving of thy glory ; for the form of the inf. constr. with the
append, n fem. has precisely the nature of a noun standing in
stat. absol. There is not a single instance to be found, where
such a form is immediately connected with a following noun.
It should then, of necessity, have been PH) and not n^H- — The
prep. ™>y instead of 2, which we would rather have expected,
is to be explained in this way, that nin? glory, is considered as
a crown, which the Lord sets upon the heavens, comp. ver. 5. —
The common exposition takes the inf. of jfO here, for the pre
terite. But this cannot be admitted, for two reasons. First,
the inf. constr. never stands in place of the pret., but only the
inf. absol., which must have been plU, because 3, furnished with
a long vowel is not to be dropt. And then the inf. absol. also
can stand for the pret. only when it is used of a pure action,
expressed by the inf., but not when used of the acting person.
This, however, is so far from being the case here, that the acting
person is just what comes prominently into view. The attempt
of Hitzig, and others, to derive the word from another verb
than JfO, is already refuted by the parallel passages, 1 Chron.
xxix. 25, Numb, xxvii. 20, Dan. xi. 21, in which nin }H3 is
found exactly as here, with "?y. We willingly omit other still
more violent expositions, such as that of Hoffmann, who would
take the word as an imperative. — nin is rendered by many ex
positors, renown, but this signification never belongs to it: it
always means glory. God has clad the heavens with his glory,
in that he has set in them the sun, moon, and stars, as proofs of
his almighty power and greatness.

130 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
Ver. 2. Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou hast
prepared for thyself a power. D v/IJJ. are children in general.
CpiV. children till the third year, up to which the Hebrew
women used to suckle their children. De Wette, without cause,
stumbles at the circumstance, that praise to God is here ascribed
to sucklings. Even a little child is conscious of pleasure, in look
ing upon the lovely scenes of nature, in particular, upon the
starry heavens, which are here specifically mentioned, and this
admiration of the works of God is a sort of silent praising of
them. According to De Wette, and others, the sense must be :
" The child, his existence, his life, his advancement, &c, pro
claim God as creator," Or: " The child, even in his happy being,
in the fulness of his delight in life, is a witness of God's renown."
But the incorrectness of this view is evinced partly by its render
ing the expression, " out of the mouth," devoid of meaning, — for
no one surely will agree with Hoffmann in thinking, that " the
mouth" here is superfluous, — and partly because the allusion to
children, in proof of the creative power of God, is here quite
unsuitable, as in the following verse, which again takes up and
resumes the subject of ver. 1 and 2, it is God's greatness in the
framework of the world that is discoursed of. The beautiful
structure and connection of the Psalm is entirely destroyed, if
the children are made to praise God through their being, and not
through their admiration of the glory of God, as displayed in the
heavens, — a reason which also disproves the view of Umbreit,
who, artfully enough, seeks to get rid of the difficulty connected
with " the mouth," by referring it " to the living breath of the
new-born child, to the first cry of the babe, and the first move
ment of the infant lips to pronounce words." It is further to
be noticed, that it would be quite unsuitable to bring forward
children here, as proofs of the creative power of God, followed
up, as it would presently be, by a declaration of the nothing
ness of man, for the purpose of magnifying the more the grace
of God. If children were indeed viewed as proclaiming the
glory of God, not less than the starry heavens, it might seem
nothing wonderful or unexpected, that God should bestow so
richly of his favour upon men. ^Q> commonly means, to lay
the foundation of, and then also to prepare in general, fj? most
modern commentators take in the sense of praise, renown;
but we must retain, with Calvin and others, the sense of might,
strength ; this seems the more suitable : God needs for his im-

PSALM VIII. VER. 2. 131
potent and foolish adversaries, no other combatants than chil
dren, who are themselves in a condition to maintain his cause.
Aud what is quite decisive, a more careful consideration of
the passages, in which the word, according to grammarians
and lexicographers, should signify praise, shows that such a
meaning is quite imaginary. J5? always signifies might or
strength. By taking it in the sense of praise here, the mean
ing is disfigured. The marked contrast between the proud
enemies of God, and the little children whom he sets up against
them as his force of war, then completely disappears. But
God obtains the victory over his rebellious subjects, by means
of children, in so far as it is through their conscious or un
conscious praise of his glory, as that is manifested in the splen
dour of his creation, especially of the starry firmament, that
he puts to shame the hardihood of the deniers of his being or
his perfections. Even Koester, who otherwise egregiously errs
in the right construction of the Psalm, returns here to the cor
rect explanation : " In ty there is contained a pointed irony, indi
cating that the lisping of infants forms a sort of tower of de
fence (?) against the violent assaults of the disowners of God,
which is perfectly sufficient."
In order to still the enemy and the revengeful, all those who,
if they were visited by thee for their sins, would burn against
thee with foolish rage and impotent revenge. The words are
a farther extension of the preceding ones ; because of thine ad
versaries. The enemy and the revengeful are united here to
gether, just as in Psalm xliv. 16, where they have for their ac
companiment the reproacher and blasphemer. How revenge
might be spoken of in respect to God, is shown especially by
the book of Job, where, for example, Elihu in ch. xxxvi. 13,
speaks of the lawless, " who heap up wrath, and cry not when he
bindeth them ;" that is, when God inflicts sufferings upon them,
they flee not for pardon and grace, but kick against him, refer
ring specially to Job, who, because punishment of sin was com
bined with want of acknowledgment of sin, turned his spirit
against God, and cried out against him to the blood avenger of
his wrong, existing not on earth but in heaven : " O earth, cover
not thou my blood, and let my cry have no place." In modern
literature, nothing could be of more service to keep us from
every attempt to force a foreign meaning upon DpJHft, than
the journal of Carl von Hohenhausen, in the work : C. v. Hohen.

132 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
Untergang eines Jiinglings von achtzehn Jahren, Braunschw.
1836. What but the most burning revenge discovers itself there
in such expressions as the following : " Lord of the heavens and
the earth, what have I done to thee, that thou crushest me ;"
" no words of reproach are too big for me, they are all little for
the weight of my sufferings ;" " Almighty ! why must I be trod
den down and crushed to pieces so very slowly ! were a man to
do this, one would say, that it must proceed from the most
miserable weakness, or most wretched malice." It everywhere
appears, that he would fain have got rid of God.
Ver. 3. When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy hands
—inasmuch as men can make nothing without fingers, and in
expressive contrast to the poor works which they can make
therewith — the moon and the stars, which thou hast founded. If
we would not account for the absence of the sun, by supposing
the Psalm to have been composed for a night season, we may
conceive with S. Schmidt among the older expositors, (quando
suscipio coelum, prout illud interdiu apparet cum sole suo, noctu
autem lunam) and Ewald 'among the more recent, that the
Psalmist in the first member has his eye chiefly upon the sun,
and then in the second specially describes the splendid appear
ance of the night-heavens ; and this seems the more natural,
particularly on account of the respect it carries to Gen. i., where,
among the objects of creation, the sun holds so prominent a
place. When the heavens are spoken of as proofs of the great
ness of God, every one thinks first of the sun.
Ver. 4. What is man that thou art mindful of Mm ? The
designation fcJ'lJX) which, according to its etymology, is weak,
frail, is here used intentionally. Calvin : " The prophet means,
that God's wonderful goodness is the more brightly displayed,
in that he, the great Creator, whose omnipotence shines forth in
the heavens, should crown so miserable and unworthy a creature
with the highest honour, and enrich him with numberless trea
sures." In respect to God, whose almightiness and greatness
as Creator is manifested by the heavens with their shining stars,
man appears nothing more than a worm in the dust, undeserving
of the least regard. What a wonderful display of love is it, then,
that he should still have done so much for him, as is set forth
in the following verses.? — npfi to visit. Every manifestation of
God for blessing or for punishment — which of the two must al
ways be determined by the connection — appears as an act of

PSALM VIII. VER. 4, 5. 133
visitation by him. So, for example, Kuth i. 6, « The Lord
visited his people to give them bread." In Gen. xviii. 13, the
Lord promises, then personally present, • that he would return
about that time the following year to Abraham, and then would
Sarah have a son. In ch. xxi. 1, the fulfilment of the promise
is thus recorded, " and the Lovd visited Sarah, as he had said;"
hence, it is added, in words of like import, " and the Lord did
unto Sarah as he had spoken." The Lord appeared not person
ally, but invisibly in the fulfilment of his promise. From this
and similar passages it is rendered manifest, that the commonly
received signification of 1p£ in such a connection : to look on
something or some one, is inadmissible. The expression testi
fies with great force of the religious consciousness, which appre
hends God in every operation of his hand. — The commence
ment of David's prayer in 2 Sam. vii. 18, presents a striking
resemblance to our verse, " Who am I, 0 Lord God, and what
is my house, that thou hast led me hitherto ?" It is the same
humility which vents its admiration here, upon the greatness of
God's condescension to man in general, and there upon the
greatness of his condescension to the Son of Jesse. The senti
ment : what is man, what am I, is grounded in the deepest feel
ings of David's soul. In v. 5 — 8 it is further enlarged upon,
how far God has thought upon man and visited him.
Ver. 5. Thou makest him to want little of a Divine standing,
thou crownest him ivith honour and glory. Various expositors
follow the Chaldee and the LXX. in rendering Cn^K by angels.
But this exposition has manifestly sprung from doctrinal consi
derations. In support of this meaning, one can only appeal to
certain passages in which it has been so rendered on doctrinal
grounds, or others not connected with the subject treated of, so
that on these passages, reference is again made to the one be
fore us. But there is here a special ground for rejecting this
exposition, which was first pointed out by Dereser. The grace
of God is here celebrated, according to which, he has given to
man the sovereignty over the earth. But how could he be com
pared in this respect with angels, who possess no such sove
reignty ? Others expound : Thou hast made him only a little
less than God. But there is a double objection to be made also
to this exposition : 1. IDfi according to it, must be taken in Pi,
with {ft in the sense of making less than, to make inferior to,
which is against the usus loquendi. The verb signifies, in Piel.

134

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

to make, or cause, to want, and the noun connected with it by
Jft marks the object, in regard to which there is the want. So in
the only place besides, where it does occur. Eccl. iv. 8, n^lftft
^SJTlN "iDnft, " Deprive my soul of good ;" comp. the adj.
*1pn with jft of the thing in Eccl. vi. 2. Accordingly, the ex
pression here ft iniDnilj can only be rendered : Thou hast
made him to want little of God. 2. It is not admissible to un
derstand by Q^n/^ here, precisely and exclusively the only true
God. The passage would, in that case, be at variance with the
view unfolded in Scripture, of the infinite distance between, God
and man, as that is so loftily expressed in this Psalm itself. The
correct interpretation is the following : The Elohim expresses
the abstract idea of Godhead. But where it is not made con
crete by the article, it is not rarely used when something merely
super-earthly is designed to be marked. (See my Treatise on
the names of God in the Pent, in 2d vol. of Beitr. zur Einl. ins
A. T.) Important in this point of view is the passage Zech. xii.
8, " The house of David shall be as Elohim, as the angel of the
Lord," where the transition from " Elohim" to " the angel of the
Lord," is put as an advance from the less to the greater. The
idea of the Elohim sinks lowest in 1 Sam. xxviii. 13, where the
witch of Endor says to Saul : " I saw Elohim ascending out of
the earth." Here remains only the vague representation of a
super-earthly, super-human power, which the woman perceives
in an apparition, discovering itself in the world of sense. Now,
applying this to the place before us, it shows, that the words,
" Thou makest him want little of God," thou makest him well-
nigh possess God, is correctly expounded by Calvin : Parum
abesse eum jussisti a divino et ccelesti statu, — thou bestowest
on him an almost super- earthly dignity.
It is still inquired, however, whether the comparison refers to
all the privileges conferred by God on man, or only to some
thing special. The latter is undoubtedly the right supposition.
The discourse is of man's dignity only, in so far as the lordship
over the earth has been given him by God. This is clear from
the parallelism alone. God is praised in the second member,
because he has conferred royal dignity on man. But still more
does it appear so, from the following verses. These are only a
further expansion of the present one. And in them, the sub
ject handled throughout, has to do merely with the lordship of
man over the earth, as the deputy of God. In his representa-

PSALM VIII. VER. 5. 185
tion, the Psalmist has manifestly before his eye the passage in
Genesis, in which man was installed by God, as lord of the
earth. Hence, in what follows, we find in part a literal argu
ment, comp. Gen. i. 26 : " Let us make man in our image, and
let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the
fowl of the air, and over the cattle, &c," ver. 28, and especially
ix. 2, " And the fear of you, and the dread of you, shall be up
on every beast of the earth, and upon every fowl of the air ... .
and upon all the fishes of the sea ; into your hand are they de
livered ;" which last passage has this in common with our verse,
that in it also, a progress is made from the higher objects of
lordship to the lower, while in Gen. i. the reverse order is ob
served. Our Psalm is properly the expression of the subjective
feelings occasioned by this sovereign act on the part of God-
But certainly, though the Psalm directly relates only to the su
premacy of man over the earth, it still indirectly leads farther.
This particular dignity of man is the result merely of his general
endowment, of the general pre-eminence which he holds above
all creatures of earth. In Genesis this is very obvious. It is
because man bears God's image, that there the lordship of crea
tion is given him. But, on the supposition that the Psalm treats
indirectly upon the dignity of man generally, we have not exact
ly the same right which would derive from the Psalm a proof
for the moral dignity of man, as remaining also after the fall, or
rather notwithstanding the fall. We have already shown, that
the Psalm brings to view, simply and alone, God's appointment
and gift, and does not take into account what man has squan
dered of that, and brought to nothing. If this holds of the pro
per object, the lordship over the earth, it must also hold of that,
which comes into consideration only as an antecedent ground of
the former.
And with honour and glory thou crownest him, the common
designations of kingly state and majesty, comp. Psalms xxi. 5,
xiv. 3 ; Jer. xxii. 18 ; 1 Chron. xxix. 25. God has set up man
upon earth as his deputy-king. It is, of course, to be under
stood, that every individual man is not represented here as
God's depute and vicegerent, but only man at large. The fut.
with vau conv. at the beginning, shows, that the making him to
want, is a consequence of thought and care. That we must not
translate : Thou hast made him to want, but, thou makest him
to want, or, and so thou makest him, (comp. Ps. vii. 15,) appears

136 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
from the parallel iniD^n. thou crownest him. To the Psalm
ist, the action of God is not one limited to a period absolutely
past, but one continued through all time, and independent of
time. God daily crowns man anew. ItOJN to crown, like all
verbs of clothing, with a double accusative.
Ver. 6. Thou makest him to have dominion over the work of
thy hands, thou puttest all under his feet. In Genesis, the cor
responding phrase is T\T\ with 2» prop, to plant the foot on
something, to tread, then to rule.
Ver. 7. All sheep and oxen, and also beasts of the field. nJX
=V&*£, a flock made up of sheep and goats. The choice of the
rare form is to be referred here to the poetical dialect. The
form JO¥, midway between the two, occurs in Num. xxxii. 24.
HSJ>> poetic form for ni&JN field, Ewald, p. 298.
Ver. 8. But thou hast not merely put land animals beneath
his feet, or subjected them to his rule, thou hast added also the
tenants of the air, and of the water, the fowl of the air, and the
fish of the sea, whatsoever passes through the paths of the sea. The
paths of the sea, as the Homer, vy^a x'i\svl)a,. -Q}? is not pre
cisely to be referred to *J"T, for then we should have expected
the plural, but to the going through, whatsoever goes through ;
Eng. Trans. : And whatsoever passeth, beside fishes, the other
inhabitants also of the sea, comp. Gen. i. 21. That what is here
ascribed to man, belongs to him still in a certain degree, even
since the fall, as is implied in the frequent use of the future de
noting the present, is shown, not only by Gen. ix, 2, but also by
daily experience. No creature is so strong, so savage, so alert,
but that man, though relatively one of the weakest creatures,
in process of time becomes its master: comp. Jas. iii. 7. Never
theless, there is a vast difference in this respect between before
and since the fall. Before that event, the obedience of all crea
tures toward the appointed vicegerent of God, was a spontaneous
one ; after it, his subjects revolted against him, as he against his
Lord. He must maintain against them, as against the resisting
earth, a hard conflict, must on all hands employ art and cunning,
and though, on the whole, he remains conqueror in this warfare,
yet, in particulars, he has to suffer many defeats.
Ver. 9. Jehovah, our Lord, how glorious is thy name in all
the earth. These words are not a simple repetition of those in
ver. 1. There they contained a general expression of praise to

PSALM IX. 137
God on account of the glory accruing to him on earth, by means
of his manifestation in the heavens. Here they refer to the
great proof of his glory, which God has given in his condescen
sion and goodness toward man.

PSALM IX.
God's righteousness is praised, in that he has assisted his
people, and humbled their ungodly enemies, ver. 1 — 6. From
what God has done, a conclusion is drawn as to what he is, right
eous, and an helper to the oppressed, ver. 7 — 13. From the
consciousness of what the Lord had formerly done, and what he
is, the Psalmist, or rather the people in whose name he speaks,
raise the prayer that he would graciously assist them, as hereto
fore, against all their other and still unsubdued enemies, who
threatened them with destruction, ver. 13, 14. They receive
the assurance of an acceptable hearing, ver. 15, 17, and conclude
with the hope, that God will verify his word, ver. 18, 19, and
with the prayer that he would do so, ver. 19, 20. The opinion
of Koester, that the author has observed a six-membered
strophe, is not well founded. To secure that, we should need
to divide what belongs to one part, and throw together what be
longs to different ones.
The superscription attributes the Psalm to David, and no
weight is due to the reasons which have been alleged to the
contrary. Even by critics like Hitzig the authorship of David
is admitted, both of this and the next Psalm. In support of
this might be mentioned the rough and abrupt style, the archa
isms, and many traits in common with those Psalms which are
certainly David's. The precise time, however, in the life of
David to which the Psalm is to be referred cannot be determin
ed ; for nothing more definite can be learned from the Psalm it
self than, 1. That it must have been composed after Zion had
become the sanctuary of the nation, by the removal thither of the
ark of the covenant, — the Lord being spoken of in ver. 11, as
" dwelling in Zibfi ;" and, 2. That it was composed at a time when
some of the external enemies had been conquered, and while
others were still threatening danger. But, in such a position,
David was ever and anon placed through tho whole of his life, as
indeed, generally with God's faithful peopleupon earth, the church

138

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

militant, the words, " I will praise the Lord with my whole
heart," are constantly succeeded by " have mercy upon me, 0
Lord." The Psalm, besides, may be fully explained without
any more exact historical reference. The matter is so general,
that one presently feels himself obliged to take up the supposi
tion of David's having at first penned the Psalm for the use of
the people, when pressed with danger from foreign adversaries.
There is nothing to set against this supposition, if we refer the
first part, ver. 1 — 12, not to any particular transaction, but to
all the deliverances in general which God had granted to his
people. The sacred penman makes grateful remembrance of
this, that, by such a recognition of the past, he might render
God more inclined to listen to the prayer which follows. The
view now taken contributes much to make the Psalm appear in
its true light. Especially does it serve to make the general
bearing of the entire first part clear. The relation of this part
to the second has been very much misunderstood by De Wette.
He conceives that it only contained the hope, that the Lord
would subdue the enemies, confidently expressed. But we only
need to consider the representation somewhat more closely, in
order to see that it expresses, not hope for help to be afforded,
but thanksgiving for benefits already conferred. The Psalmist
beginning in such a way, may just be regarded as opening the
gate into the house. De Wette himself is obliged to admit that
" the Psalm certainly stands in this respect alone." Here, and
in a multitude of other Psalms, thanks and praise are offered up
before prayer on a double account. The giver will be more
disposed to bestow new gifts when he sees that those already
conferred are kept in grateful recollection. A spirit of thank-
fulness is one of the marks by which the family of God is dis
tinguished from the world. He who cannot from the heart give
thanks shall beg in vain. The receiver raises himself more easily
to the hope of future kindnesses, when he throws himself back
on the remembrance of former benefits derived from the giver.
The foundation of despair is always ingratitude. The false sup
position of De Wette is occasioned by another just as false, ac
cording to which the first part is made to express thanks (by
anticipation) only for a single deliverance, notwithstanding the
" all thy wonders," in ver. 1, and the still more decidedly con
tradictory words in ver. 5, " thou rebukest the heathen."
The relation which David had in view when he composed this

PSALM IX. 139
Psalm for public use, was that of the church of God to its
foreign enemies. We must not regard it as an objection to this,
that these are simply designated the wicked, those who forget
God, while the Israelites appear as the righteous, the meek.
The same appearance constantly recurs again, — that, namely, of
one society, which has a truly divine principle, and, consequent
ly, therewith a kernel of members, in whom this principle is em
bodied, without respect to the shell, which everywhere pre
sents itself; and another society which has an ungodly princi
ple, and in fellowship with which there can consequently be no
kernel, the evil rather being there in its legitimate place, as the
empire of good stands opposed to the empire of evil. Let us
just look at the songs about the time of the reformation. They
everywhere present, in contrast, the community of God and
tho community of antichrist. Who would conclude from this
that the reformers reckoned every professing member of the
Evangelic church truly pious, and every member of the Iiomish
church utterly bad ? But, in that case, it still was, according
to their view, accidental, because not involved in the idea and
principle, if in the former any unrighteous person was found,
and in the latter any righteous. Then, it is also to be taken
into account, that, in the relation of Israel to the heathen, the
goodness of the cause was also on the side of the former, who,
humanly considered, were unjustly oppressed. In this point of
view Habakkuk justly asks of God, i. 13, " Wherefore lookest
thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue,
when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than
he ?" The two together, the internal righteousness of the
kernel, and the external righteousness of the cause, gave a solid
ground of confidence to the prayer for deliverance out of the
hand of the heathen. It may also be considered how entirely
analogous the language was with ourselves during the war for
freedom. In opposing De Wette, who would throw this into the large
class of plaintive Psalms, Clauss has suffered himself to fall into
an entirely false view of it. He maintains that the Psalm pos
sesses no element of prayer, but is wholly occupied with matter
of thanksgiving and praise. He is thus obliged to take up the
unnatural position, in which he is certainly preceded by many of
the older expositors, that ver. 13 only introduces, in direct terms,
the cry of the miserable, which was already heard ; which is

140 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
contradicted, however, by the conclusion of the Psalm, where
there is also a prayer, showing that the evil was still not alto
gether disposed of. The structure of our Psalm is quite analo
gous to that of Psalm xviii., xl., Ixviii., and to many others, in
which the deliverance already obtained is first expressly de
scribed, and then, upon the ground of that, are raised the hope
and prayer. It is certainly the case that the feeling of gratitude
for the aid already received is here the predominant one, and
on that account the prayer here is shorter, supplanted in a man
ner by the confidence of being heard. Hence we are not to
think of such times as the exile, when the pain is much more
severely felt, and the conflict is more violent.
That the Psalmist speaks not in his own person, and of what
he himself had either obtained or wished to obtain, but in the
name of the church and of the deliverance granted to it, or wished
for by it, is clear from the designation of the object of the Divine
care, as " the afflicted," ver. 12, "the meek," in ver. 18, " those
who know the name of the Lord and seek him," in ver. 10.
Consequently, what Hitzig alleges in support of the Davidic
authorship of the Psalm, that the author must, from ver. 3, 4,
13, have been a king, vanishes of itself. For this allegation
rests upon the supposition that the author spoke in his own
person. The position, that the Psalm does not refer to the personal
relations of the Psalmist, but from the first was composed in the
name of the whole body, and designed for its use, is supported,
not only by the absence of all definite historical references, to
which we have already adverted, but. also by the whole tone of
the Psalm, which evidently betrays the situation of the author
to have been merely a supposititious one. We also discover no
thing here of that inwardness and liveliness of feeling which
the Psalmist displays when referring to his own personal rela
tions, or even to the community at large, when a precise situa
tion of that was in question, a special necessity which oppressed
it, or a special deliverance which it experienced.
In the LXX., which the Vulgate follows, this Psalm is united
to the following one. Many expositors approve of this, resting
on the similarity of subject, and the want of a superscription to
Psalm x. We shall return more at length to the matter in our
introduction to that Psalm.
The words p7 rV)ft"7X? in the superscription are not easy.

PSALM IX. 141
Winer, De Wette, and others, read the two first as one word, and
point H1ft7^ ; which is used at the beginning of PBalm xlvi. for
marking the tune. p7 they render : for Ben, or the Benites.
A Ben is mentioned in 1 Chron xv. 18 as a master-singer. It
is to be alleged against this, however, that the common reading
and punctuation have on their side the preponderance of ex
ternal authorities ; and still more, that we are then driven to
the unjustifiable necessity of supplying 7y before l"flft7y.
Clauss gets rid of this difficulty only by introducing a greater
one. He would read rvlftvJN But this word, which never ac
tually occurs, can only signify virginity, and from this to make
a virgin-song, or virgin-piece = music- piece of the character
mft7y 7J7, is not quite intelligible. Finally, the p should then
have been without the article, an objection which is not of itself
indeed quite conclusive, but which still gives important confir
mation to the others, as the placing of the article before proper
nouns belongs to very rare exceptions; see Ewald, p. 568. If,
with others, we consider the words as taken from an old song,
after the air of which our Psalm was to be sung, still they needed
not have formed exactly the beginning of this song, but only to
have occurred somewhere in it. Songs are not always named
from their commencing words. Thus David's song of lamenta
tion upon the death of Saul and Jonathan, in 2 Sam. i. 8, is
named the bow H^p. because mention is made in it of the bow.
It is very natural, then, to suppose that this old song was a
plaintive one on the death of a son, dying to the son, either with
some such verb as the following, has happened, or perhaps as a
mere circumlocution for the stat. constr., rendered necessary
from the circumstance that the first noun must be an indefinite
one, the second a definite one, not the dying, but dying ; see
Ewald, p. 583. Hlft is found as inf. nominasc. also in Psalm
xlviii. 14, comp. Gen. xxv. 32. But the whole view labours
under the difficulty, that for such a pointed reference to a song,
after the air of which a Psalm was to be sung, is destitute of all
analogy in the superscriptions ; in every other place, where this
hypothesis has been advanced, it has turned out, on closer in
vestigation, to be groundless. The true mode of explanation was
hit upon by Grotius, who supposed that p7 was put by a trans
position of letters for 7^3, and that the superscription marks

142 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
the object of the Psalm. But he erred in this that he took
7iJ as a proper name, upon the dying of Nabal— a subject to
which the Psalm could not possibly refer — instead of: upon the
dying of the fool. This error being rectified, the superscription
accords precisely with the contents, the destruction of the fool
(comp. Ps. xiv. 1) is actually the subject of the Psalm. Precisely
corresponding words are used in ver. 5, " thou hast destroyed the
wicked ;" comp. also in ver. 3, " they shall perish at thy pre
sence," in ver. 6, " their memorial is perished," in ver. 12, " when
he maketh inquisition for blood, he remembereth them," and in
ver. 17, " the wicked shall be turned into hell." Analogous ex
amples of an enigmatical designation by a change of letters, are
Sesach for Babel, and the Leb Kamai for Kasdim in Jeremiah,
both according to the Alphabet Atbash. — See on this and simi
lar enigmatical designations, Christology, Part ii. p. 92, ss. Such
an enigmatical description of the subject is peculiarly appropriate
in the superscriptions of the Psalms, and finds in them, as our
exposition will show, a great number of analogies. It derives
special support from 2 Sam. iii. 33, where David laments, " Died
Abner as the fool dieth," 7^J fll&D. comp. also 1 Sam. xxv. 38,
" And it came to pass about ten days after, that the Lord smote
Nabal that he died." Though the word is here to be taken as
an adjective, yet it would seem that David had his eye upon
that circumstance, which he viewed in the light of a prediction,
comp. 1 Sam. xxv. 26, where Abigail said, " let thine enemies,
and they that seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal."
In the first strophe, ver. 1 — 6, the Psalmist first declares his
purpose of praising God ; in ver. 1, 2, then in ver. 3, he men
tions the overthrow which, through God, had been inflicted on
the enemies as the ground and occasion of this purpose, and in
ver. 4 — 6, lays the foundation of what he had said in the gene
ral, in this respect, by an enlargement on some particulars.
Ver. 1. / will praise the Lord with my whole heart, I will
show forth all thy marvellous works. The words, " with my
whole heart," serve at once to show the greatness of the deli
verances wrought for the Psalmist, and to distinguish him from
the hypocrites — the coarser, who praise the Lord for his goodness
merely with the lips, and the more refined, who praise him with
just half their heart, while they secretly ascribe the deliverance
more to themselves than to him. All thy wonders, the marvel
lous takens of thy grace. The Psalmist shows by this term, that

PSALM IX. VER. ] — 4. 143
he recognised them in all their greatness. Where this is done,
there the Lord is also praised with the whole heart. Half-
heartedness, and the depreciation of Divine grace, go hand in
hand. The 1 is the i instrum. The heart is the instrument of
praise, the mouth only its organ.
Ver. 2. I will be glad and rejoice in thee ; I will sing praise
to thy name, O thou Most High. Many expositors render "?3
by, upon thee, upon thy wonderful doings. But the ^ after a
verb of joy always denotes the person or object wherein the af
fection reposes. It is not a mere joy before God, but a joy in
God. To sing to the name of God is as much as to sing of his
glorious deeds (Venema : Deum factis illustrem), for the name
is the product of the deeds. The Most High is used descrip
tively, because God had manifested himself as uncontrolled ruler
over all earthly things.
Ver. 3. When mine enemies are turned back — the ^ points to
the occasion of the praise, the circumstances which had called
it forth, its cause — they shall stumble and perish at thy presence,
not human power and might have compassed their overthrow, but
thy indignation, which they could not withstand. This is poeti
cally expressed, as if the enemies had been thrown to the ground
by the glance of God's fiery countenance. Jft is the Jft causa?.
0*35 elsewhere, has the sense of angry face, only from the
connection ; it never has this, as many expositors maintain, of
itself. The use of the fut. is to be explained from the lively
nature of the representation. The Psalmist sees the downfall of
his enemies taking place before his eyes. With this De Wette
could not sympathize, and so he thinks that in this verse he
finds a support to this false view, that ver. 1 — 6 expresses hope
in regard to the future deliverance. In the further enlargement
that is given in ver. 4 — 6, the discourse assumes a milder cha
racter, and there the preterite is constantly used.
Ver. 4. For thou hast made my judgment and right. The for
marks the relation of ver. 4 — 6 to ver. 3. What has been said
in general is confirmed by particulars. ftS&J'ft and TH both de
note, according to many expositors, causam forensem. Thou
hast made, q. d. thou dost determine, or decide. The idea of a
favourable decision necessarily lies inclosed in this, since God,
as the righteous one, if he gives judgment upon any matter
whatever, can give nothing but a righteous judgment. But
this exposition is contradicted by the fact, that the expressions

144 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
EDS&yft n^J? and pinfc/*^ are always used only of a decision
in favour of a righteous cause, while, according to it, they might
be used just as well of a decision against the ungodly. Comp.
1 Kings viii. 45, 49 ; Deut. x. 18; Psalm cxl. 12. These parallel
passages show that the two nouns must be taken rather in the
sense of judgment and right (p*l in this sense, Prov. xx. 8; Isa.
x. 2), that which belongs to me, what is due to my righteous
cause. This exposition also suits better than the first in the
parallelism. Thou satest on the throne as righteous judge. The
verb should here, according to many, be taken in the sense of
putting himself, on account of the prep. 7 following ; for that 7
is not put for "2,, is to be taken for granted. But there is no
thing to prevent us from abiding by the common and only cer
tain meaning of the verb. For the 7 can just as little be taken
in the sense of 7X, as these interpreters suppose, than in that
of 2- Therefore KD137 %ffl, to sit, belonging to the throne, is
all one as to the meaning with to sit upon the throne.
Ver. 5. Thou hast rebuked the heathen, thou hast destroyed the
wicked, nyj to rebuke, marks, when used of God, the infliction
of the punishment, without receiving another sense than the
word naturally imports. The punishment is considered as a
sermo realis. The C1J shows that the thanksgivings do not
refer to a single heathenish nation. Thou hast put out their
name for ever and ever, thou hast so completely extirpated them
that their memory has perished with them.
Ver. 6. The enemy, finished are the destructions for ever, and
thou hast destroyed cities, their memorial is perished with them.
The pron. sep. nftn is used with emphasis, after the suff. had
just been employed. It has perished, even its memory, or more
exactly : their memory has perished, even it (has perished). It
points out the great contrast between the proud expectations of
the enemies, their apparently invincible strength, and their now
entire annihilation ; their memory is gone, the memory of those
who, in their supercilious pride, and in their actual possession of
all human means of help, fancied themselves lords of the whole
earth. So also at the beginning stands emphatically the nom.
absol. the enemy — he who thought himself so secure, so invin
cible, who appeared destined to lasting prosperity. Dftfi in
the sense of being completed, finished, is found also in Jos. v. 8;
1 Kings vi. 22; vii. 22; Psalm lxiv. 6. While lftfi marks the

PSALM IX. VER. 6. 145
entireness of the desolation which reigns in the land of the
enemies, fiXjS expresses the perpetuity of it. Under the de
structions we are to think, as the parallel, cities, shows, and the
word itself, indeed, of prostrated fortresses and dwellings. In
the verb " thou hast destroyed," the address is directed to God,
as in ver. 5, throughout. As in the first and last clause, the
desolation is merely described by itself, it is necessary that the
author of it be pointed to in the middle, the desolation being
here viewed only as one wrought by God. The second clause
stands equally related here to the first and third, just as in ver.
3 the third does to the first and second. Another exposition
renders : " the enemies, their devastations have an end." But it
is to be objected, that T\11T\ never signifies devastation in an
active sense, but only destructions, desolations. Apart from the
use of the language, according to which the word is never found
in the former signification, either in the masculine or feminine
gender, the inadmissibility of that signification is evident also
from the form. The Segol-forms with ft serve only to express
intransitive or passive ideas, see Ewald, p. 228. As the verb
signifies only to be desolated, never to desolate, so also the noun
must mean desolation in the passive sense. The parallelism too :
" thou hast destroyed cities," tends to show that the subject of
discourse here is the ruin of hostile habitations ; as also the as
sertion, that their " memory is perished," indicates a total de
struction of them. The three verbs IftH — nfcJTti — H^N stand
in exact parallelism. Now, if the affairs of the enemies are de
scribed by the two last, as going to perdition, the same explana
tion must be held also to be the only correct one in regard to
the first. Ewald, following Venema, would take ^IXfi as the
subject : the enemies are completed as desolations for ever, i. e.
the enemies would be altogether perpetual desolations. But
desolations do not suit persons ; and how little the parallelism
favours this exposition may be gathered from this alone, that
Ewald sees himself under the necessity of taking LV1J7 in the
sense of \yt, adversaries. Quite arbitrary, also, is the exposi
tion of Maurer : 0 enemy, there is an end to the ruins and the
cities which thou hast destroyed. For the address in the first
part is throughout directed to the Lord, and it could not be said
that the cities destroyed by the enemies have an end. Finally,
the exposition of De Wette : The enemies are gone, desolations
, (are) for ever, does violence to the accents which separate Iftn
L

146 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
from yan, and connect it with Hllin : the verb in the plural,
standing in the middle between a noun in the singular and a
noun in the plural, is more naturally joined with the latter than
•the former, according to the analogy of JlEJ'fi.] and the 72H, the
Iftn also is to be referred, not to the enemies themselves, but to
somewhat belonging to them ; lastly, that the words tXHl?
ninn> form a period by themselves, with the omission of the
verb, is against the analogy of the other members of the verse,
and of ver. 4 and 5, where verbs are constantly placed in the
preterite. The contents of ver. 5 and 6 suit most exactly to the
Amalekites (without being confined to them), who, after the
victories gained over them by Saul and David, altogether disap->
pear from the theatre of history. That the Psalmist thought
chiefly on them, derived from their fate the strongest colours,
with which he delineates the overthrow of the enemies of God's
people, is probable from the reference which the expressions,
" thou hast put out their name for ever," and " their memorial
is perished," seem to carry to Ex. xvii. 14, "I will utterly put .
out the remembrance of Amalek," and Deut. xxv. 19, " Thou
shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek." Comp. also Num.
xxiv. 20, " Amalek is the first of the heathen, but his end is
destruction," *fo£t ^1^. The representation, however, has also
its verification in the subjection of the Canaanites, and in the
victories of David over the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, and
other nations.
Ver. 7. And the Lord is enthroned for ever, he has prepared
his throne for judgment, or for holding judgment. The Psalmist
strengthens his faith through the conviction, confirmed by those
deliverances, that God is the eternal ruler and judge of the
world ; that however the rage of the ungodly may swell, they
still can never prevail to push God from his exalted throne, on
which he governs, with almighty power and perfect righteous
ness, the world, and vindicates the cause of the oppressed. He
therefore derives the general from the particular, from its indi
vidual operations he forms the idea, from the history he deduces
the instruction, so that the overthrow leads the way to prayer.
The futures are to be translated in the present, and mark the
continuous action.
Ver. 8. And he judges the world in righteousness, he ministers
judgment to the people in uprightness.
Ver. 9. And the Lord will be a refuge for the oppressed- *PW

PSALM IX. VER. 9 — 11. 147
might be taken as an optative. The Psalmist would then ex
press a wish that God would be to him what he had been de
scribed in the preceding context. Through this wish he would
make known his satisfaction in what is divine, as if it were his
own. However, as in poetry, the abbreviated form stands in
place of the common one, we may also translate in agreement
with the preceding and following context: And there is U£>ft,
a high place, where one is secure from the attacks of one's ene
mies. The remark of Venema is not to be overlooked : " David
is the first, as far as I have noticed, who, by this term, calls
God a high place." The ground of David's predilection for this
designation of God he fiifds in the circumstance of David's hav
ing often experienced safety in such places, when fleeing from
Saul. Tj"l from 'Ipi, to crush, an oppressor. A refuge for
times in trouble. Times in trouble are times when one is in
trouble, comp. Psal. x. 1. In this verse, also, faith concludes
from that which God has done, what he is and will do. How
he had shown himself during the past, in a series of actions,
as a refuge for the oppressed, was declared in verses 3 — 6 ;
therefore such is his character generally, and such also in this
respect must he prove himself in regard to the present oppres
sion. Ver. 10. And they that know thy name shall put their trust in
thee, i. e. ought to do so, have a sufficient ground for it. To know
the name of God is to know him according to his historical
manifestation, as that was delineated in ver. 3 — 6. — For the
name of God is the product of this manifestation. When one
hears him named, then one calls to remembrance all that he has
done. The name is the focus in which all the rays of his ac
tions meet. For — this shows thy name, this establishes thy
historical character, which can only result from thy name — thou
hast not forsaken them that seek thee, 0 Lord.
Ver. 11. This and the following verse form the conclusion, the
epiphony and resume" of the whole first part, or of the two first
strophes, in which it has been described how the Lord has acted,
then how he is : therefore sing. Sing praises to the Lord who is
throned upon Zion — prop, the enthroner of Zion, to whom Zion
belongs. This designation is here chosen because God had given
theocratic help, had acted as King of Israel, as guardian of the
nation, and in that capacity had been described. Declare among
the people his doings, tell among the heathen how gloriously he

148 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
has helped and still helps his people. Rightly Calvin: " Al
though this were substantially to preach to deaf ears, yet David
would show, by this form of expression, that the limits of Judea
were too narrow for composing that everlasting kingdom to the
praise of God."
Ver. 12. For the avenger of blood is remembered by him, he
forgetteth not the cry of the afflicted. For — this is the result of
the deeds with which the Psalmist had just been occupying him
self — the Lord, who leaves not innocent blood to be shed with
impunity upon the earth, punishes the enemies for the cruelty
which they practised upon his people. In regard to the pre
terites of the verb, which are rendered by the present, the re
mark of Ewald, Small Gr. § 263, specially applies : " General
truths which are made manifest by experience, and have already
shown and proved themselves to be such, are described in the
perfect." The suffix in QtMt refers to the plural D*ft*J. God
appears to have forgotten the blood of the slain so long as he
leaves the murderer unpunished, he calls it to remembrance
when he punishes it. The sense is weakened if we refer it to
the following Q^i^, and it is also opposed to the parallelism.
God remembers blood, he forgets not the cry of the afflicted.
In both members it is announced through what the vengeance
of God is called forth against the evil-doers. Blood is not here
to be taken, with the generality of expositors, as synecdochically
comprehending all sorts of misdeeds, but the Psalmist naturally
mentions the highest pitch of hostile malice, being one pecu
liarly fitted to draw forth the Divine vengeance. A more special
reason for this manner of expression is to be found in the un
questionable reference to Gen. ix. 5, where God designates him
self the avenger of blood, " I will require your blood :" he, who
in his word announces himself to be the avenger of blood, con
cerns himself about the facts of experience. (Venema : " Which
character God had already appropriated to himself in the time
of Abel, whose blood cried for vengeance, and declared that he
would perpetually sustain it in his government of the world."
Gen. ix.) For Q^jy the Masoretic marginal reading is WW>
whose vowels, as usual, stand in the text. The marginal read
ing is here also to be rejected. It has only arisen from the
feeling that a moral quality, humility, is necessary to ,the hear
ing of prayer. But it is overlooked that not only does *jy con
stantly retain its proper signification (see upon the never-failing

¦ft ¦¦*.

PSALM IX. VER. 13. 149
distinction between ity, afflicted, miserable, and 13y, humble,
Christol. P. ii. p. 126, ss. ;) but here also from the connection it.
self there can be no doubt that only persons, as innocently suf
fering, are discoursed of. The mention of a cry and of blood
also points to the idea of suffering, and not of humility. And
even the reading in the text is confirmed by the following «jy,
in ver. 13, which carries the closest reference to the word here :
God forgets not the cry of the afflicted, — be merciful to me, 0
Lord, behold my affliction.
Ver. 13. The prayer is now raised on the foundation laid in
the preceding context. Luther remarks : " In the same way do
all feel and speak who have already overcome some tribulation
and misfortune, and are once more oppressed, tormented, and
plagued. They cry and beg that they may be delivered." This
is unquestionably the right view of this and the next verse. Be
gracious to me, O Lord^ behold my affliction of my haters, thou
that liftest me up from the gates of death. The form "OJjn is
made as if the verb were a regular one. According to the ana
logy of the verbs yy it ought to have been ^3n. Such forms
are merely poetical, Ewald, p. 476. Poetry ever strives to give
an outward expression of its internal separation from common
life. Of my haters, i.e., proceeding from them, done to me. Jft
marks the lifter up. Not so good is the exposition of those who
suppose here a constr. praegnans : behold my affliction and free
me from my haters. There are certainly to be found similar
constructions. So, for example, is to be understood 2 Sam. xviii.
19, " the Lord hath judged him out of the hand of his enemies."
But still the passage here is not perfectly analogous. The see
ing is less practical than the judging, and even than the hearing
in Psalm xxii. 21 ; the helping is not implied here, as it is there,
in the expression itself, (it is to be observed that in Psalm xxii.
not yfttJ', but Ity is used,) and is merely a consequence of the
seeing. Thou, my lifter up, thou, whose constant part it is to
lift me up. Death or the realm of death, sheol, is represented
under the image of a deep, firmly barred prison house, from
which no one can deliver himself. The greatest distress and
misery are here, therefore, denoted by a sinking down into sheol.
That God is a helper in distress, begets confidence towards him
in particular seasons of distress. The words briefly comprehend
what, in the first part,' had been expressly delineated, and, cou-

150 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
sequently, point to the relation subsisting between this strophe
and the two preceding ones, the connection between the prayer
and the thanksgiving and praise.
Ver. 14: As a reason for the granting of his prayer for further
deliverance, the Psalmist represents that he would thereby have
occasion for still more praising God. In this verse is brought
out one of the two ends mentioned for pouring forth thanks and
praise. It substantially rests on the supposition that thanks
and praise are acceptable to God. That I may show forth all thy
praise, all thy wonderful doings, in the gates of the daughter of
Zion. That we must not, with many expositors, the last of
whom, Clauss, render Jyft7 by on this account, we have seen on
a former occasion. In the gates, — expositors commonly remark,
— were the assemblies and judgments held ; hence, in the gates
is as much as in the public meetings. But this explanation is
untenable. God's praise is not to be celebrated in the gates*
amid the throng of worldly business, but in the temple. The
expression is to be regarded as simply meaning within. It is
confessedly often used in that sense in the Pentateuch, see the
Lexicons. The former interpretation is opposed also by the
gates of death in the preceding verse, which comprehended the
whole region of the dead. The daughter of Zion is Jerusalem.
The Gen. is to be understood precisely as in the words, fllS
11%, the flood of the Euphrates, for, Euphrates. So, DTWV
7S2i 7^)3 H!3> daughter of Jerusalem, daughter of Babylon,
should , rather be, daughter Jerusalem, daughter Babylon, &c.
Words which are very commonly coupled together, generally on
that account receive the form of the stat. constr., although, ac
cording to the idea, they should be regarded as standing in ap
position, Ewald, p. 579. Cities were poetically personified as
maidens or daughters, and that so frequently that the designa^
tion sometimes found its way also into prose. The form TprnPlfl
cannot be plural ; this must have been TjhTnn; neither can it
be singular, for then the Jod must have been awanting. It ap
pears that the vowels have originally belonged to a Kri, which
had afterwards been dropt from the margin. The Masorites
would have had the singular instead of the rarer plural, to be
considered as the reading, which they would also recommend in
Pp. Ixxi. 4, cvi. 2.
Ver. 15. The fourth strophe containing the internal assurance

PSALM IX. VER. 15 — 17. 151
of being heard.— The heathen are sunk down in thepit that they
made; in the net which they hid, is their own foot taken. That
the praeterites refer to an ideal past, denote that, which not the
corporeal eye, but faith saw to have existed, and that we must
hence not suppose, with most expositors, that the Psalmist
points in his praise, to a deliverance actually past, appears from
v. 17, ss., where is continued, as matter of hope in the future,
what is here represented as already experienced.
Ver. 16. The Lord makes himself known, he holds judgment.
The latter words denote the form of the making known, express
that through which he is made known, wherein he manifests
himself. It is quite unnecessary to bring the two members
into a closer relation to each other, to make the second verbally
dependent on the first. The abrupt mode of expression is in
perfect accordance with the joyful emotions of the Psalmist.
In the work of his own hands, — in the snares prepared by him
self, and laid for others, — the wicked is snared, comp. Ps. vii. 15,
16. B'pli is the particle in KaL of the verb E>p3, in Piel, to
ensnare, in Kal. to be ensnared. As this verb is also found else
where, there is no reason for taking the word here as an irregu
lar form of the praet. in Niph. from £J>p\ where, instead of the
Zere, Patach should have been used. — VfUl is found in three
other places besides this. In two of them, Psalm xix. 14, Lam. iii.
61, the sense, musing, reflection, is certain, and generally recog
nised. But this established meaning is also the only suitable
one in the third passage, Ps. xcii. 3 — musing upon the harp, is
a meditative, feeling exercise thereupon, corresponding to the
silent praise in Ps. lxv. 1, — and to substitute with Gesenius, De
Wette, and others, the sense of loud tune, or music, without any
just ground, is quite arbitrary. Now, if we apply this significa
tion also here, the word contains a call for reflection, one most
appropriate to the elevation of the period in which the assurance
of being heard comes into view. The Selah, pause, makes a
very suitable conclusion. The music must cease, to afford space
for calm meditation.
Ver. 17. The fifth strophe. The wicked shall be turned into
hell, all the nations that forget God. The transition from the pret.
to the fut., which is the rather to be noticed, as Higgaion and
Selah intervene between the two, may be explained in this way,
that the lively emotions which took possession of the Psalmist,
when he became assured of acceptance, have now subsided, so

152 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
that he continues his discourse in a more calm and ordinary
manner ; or, perhaps, in ver. 15 and 16, the Psalmist, as out of
himself, sees things with God's eye as present, while here he falls
back to the common point of view, and hope consequently takes
the place of sight. — y\& never signifies to turn one's self any how,
but always to turn away, to turn back, and this signification is
quite suitable here also : They shall be turned away from the
Psalmist, and thence to hell. Already was it remarked by J. D.
Michaelis: Ceterum reditur quidem interdum a termino, ad quem
ventum erat, sed ad alium, quam in quo quis antea fuerat, e. c.
2 Par. xviii. 25, Job i. 21. The n in n7lKSJ>7> can only be held
as superfluous by those who recognise no distinction between 7
and 7tf. There is a reference to ver. 13. The same God, who
raises the righteous from the gates of sheol, drives the wicked
down thither, as into their own place. In reference to " the for
getting of God," Venema remarks excellently : " Not in that
sense, in which the Gentiles are said to be without God and his
worship, which is common to them all, but rather in an empha
tical one, as treading all law and righteousness beneath their
feet, and manifesting, that they have thrown off all regard to
God, the judge of the world, and the avenger of crime — that
they have worn out and erased the thoughts and apprehensions
of God, which are inscribed upon the consciences of men."
Ver. 18. For the poor shall not always be forgotten, the hope
of the meek shall not perish for ever. In the second hemistich,
the bit is to be supplied from the first. The Kri D"Jy for
fciyy has first come from the false conviction of the Masorites,
that the parallel JV2N requires a word, which does not denote
a moral quality, but has respect to the outward condition. Ac
cording to the connection, the needy is the poor and neglected
righteous man, and the Cljy are the suffering meek ones.
Ver. 19. The fifth strophe. The renewed prayer, different
from the former, in so far as it springs from the confidence of
being heard, (the Psalmist takes God at his word), while the
former was uttered only upon the ground of a general confi
dence in God's grace. — Arise, 0 Lord, let not man prevail; let
the heathen be judged in thy sight. The words, " Let not man
prevail," (be strong) call attention to the internal opposition
which exists in the present state of things, the contrast between
the reality and the idea, which imperiously demands a compen
sation. That man whose very name is weakness, (comp. the vin-

PSALM x. 153
dication of the derivation of &))$ from BOX, to be weak, by
Tholuck, Beitr. Z. Spracherkl. s. 61,) makes his power prevail,
is so intolerable a quid, pro quo, that God must necessarily lift
himself up, in order to put it down. The use of the 7y is to be
explained thus : The parties stand before the sitting judge, and
so are raised above him.
Ver. 20. Put fear into them, O Lord, i. e. associate it with
them as a companion, place it beside them, or appoint it for them.
T\)& with 7 exactly as in Ps. cxli. 13 : Set a watch to my mouth.
To drive into, or lay on, cannot be the meaning of the verb with
7. Some take n*T)ft in the sense of razor, in which sense it
occurs, Judg. xiii. 5, and elsewhere, and translate : Lay on them
the razor. By this would then be denoted the greatest disho
nour, for it is customary in the East to let the beard grow, and
to have no beard is counted a reproach. But this cannot, as we
have said, be the meaning of the verb, and the expression has
here, where all else is so simple, a forced and unnatural appear
ance. It is, therefore, better to take nilft as only a different
manner of writing the word on the margin, H1)f2, fear, from
HI'', n often usurps the place of X, because the sound at the
end is the same, and the number *of words which end in n> is
much greater than those which have tf. The Masorites, then,
have only, as they have often done, placed the current for the
rarer form. — Let the heathen know that they are men, weak, im
potent creatures. The singular SJ^JX carries more emphasis
than the plural — dying, feeble man, not God. The use of the
singular shows, that in all numerical and other differences, the
nature still remains the same.

PSALM X.
The Psalmist complains, that the Lord delivers up his people
to the oppressions of proud, cruel, deceitful enemies, who forget
God, v. 1 — 11. He calls upon him to withhold no longer his
help from the innocent, and avenge himself and them on his
despisers and their oppressors, and expresses his confident hope
that this should be done, v. 12 — 15. He holds fast his assurance
of being heard, and, with the eye of faith, sees the enemies an
nihilated, the meek redeemed, the offence removed, which had
drawn from him the " wherefore," v. 16 — 18.

154 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
Though the Psalm has no superscription, yet its place among
those which belong to David, renders it very probable that he
was the author. At all events, the exceedingly compressed and.
difficult style, and the impress of originahty, allowed even by De
Wette, proves it to belong to an early age. The almost literal
agreement in many passages between it and the preceding Psalm,
which the superscription makes David's, would lead us to infer
that this also must be his — comp. especially the peculiar phrase
n7X5 mny?) in v. 1, which nowhere else occurs, with ix. 9,
" Arise, 0 Lord," in v. 12 with ix. 20, " That the man of the
earth may no more oppress," at the close with " let not man
prevail," in ix. 19, the words " the heathen are perished," and
" judge the fatherless and the oppressed," in v. 16 and 18, with
" let the heathen be judged," in ix. 19, &c. These similarities,
especially the first, conclude not merely for the identity of the
author, but also for the circumstances being alike, in which both
were composed. The rest show, that a still nearer connection
has existed between the two Psalms, and that the older transla
tors, such as the LXX. and Vulgate, who joined both together,
did not do so without some reason. It is, first , of all, remark
able, that this Psalm has not, like all those which immediately
precede and follow, any superscription. It is still more remark
able, that Ps. ix. begins with X and Ps. x. closes with n, nay,
that through the two Psalms a certain alphabetical arrange
ment discovers itself, though it is not preserved throughout. In
the rule every alternate verse begins with the letter of the al
phabet next in order. This fact is not overthrown by a number
of exceptions. For these are to be explained on the principle,
that the external arrangement was subordinated to the sense,
and hence sacrificed to it, where the one could not be adapted
to the other. The same view also is supported by the manifest
internal reference, in the words, " thou hidest thyself in times
of trouble" in x. 1, to those in ix. 9, " The Lord is a refuge in
times of trouble," — a reference, to which the peculiar form of
expression common to both passages, otherwise quite singular,
points as with the finger, and by which Ps. x. proclaims itself to
be a continuation of Ps. ix. But, on the other hand, it does not
suit well to unite both Psalms precisely into one. An external
ground against this exists in the division in the MSS., which
certainly is not accidental, and an internal one, that the two
Psalms are quite separate and cut off from each other. There

PSALM X. • 155
only remains, therefore, the supposition, that according to the
design of the author, the two Psalms form one whole, divided
into two parts — a circumstance which also occurs elsewhere, for
example, in the relation of Ps. i. and ii., Ps. xiii. xliii. to each
other. Amid the unquestionably great resemblance which the
two Psalms present in reference to the object, situation, train of
thought, and particular features, there still exists a threefold
difference, not to be overlooked : 1. The help, which the Lord
had already granted to his people, forms in Ps. ix. the ground,
on which the prayer is raised, whereas in Ps. x. what serves this
purpose, is a lengthened representation of the mournful state of
things, as loudly calling for Divine interference, of the superci
liousness of the ungodly, which had been nourished by their im
punity, and of the sufferings of the righteous. This parallelism
of the two sections, Ps. ix. 1 — 13,-and x. 1 — 11, is of importance
for coming to a right judgment on the first. It shows that the
thanks rendered in it have no meaning by themselves, but that
the recognition of that, which the Lord had formerly done, was
only designed to insure the fulfilment of the word, " ask in faith
nothing doubting." 2. In Psalm ix. the reference to the heathen
is decidedly prominent. On the contrary, in Psalm x. the heathen
are only once thought of, in ver. 16, and the author besides, is
throughout concerned simply with " the wicked." 3. In Ps. ix.
the Psalmist introduces the people of the Lord saying, " I will
praise the Lord," &c, giving occasion thereby to the groundless
supposition of many, that it refers to the personal relations of
the Psalmist ; but here, on the other hand, he speaks always of
the meek, the afflicted, &c. in the third person. — That David
composed this Psalm, not in reference to any particular event of
his life, but to the end that the people might avail themselves of
it in all seasons of distress, was remarked even by Kimchi ; and
if this supposition had been kept steadily in view here, as also
in the preceding Psalm, confirmed as it is by the entire matter,
a host of fruitless conjectures might have been spared, such, for
example, as Hitzig has brought forward, who has decidedly ac
knowledged too the penmanship of David. No trace is anywhere
to be found of an individual reference, and the passage v. 8 — 10,
which might be pointed to as having most of an historical ap
pearance, conclusively shows that the individual, where it seems
to be introduced, is only a poetical personification. The indi
vidual representation is also excluded here, as in Ps. ix. by the

156 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
use of the alphabetical arrangement. This is never found in
the personal Psalms.
Ver. 1. Why standest thou afar off, 0 Lord ? Why standest
thou as an indifferent spectator in my contest with the enemy,
and dost not hasten to my rescue ? The why is, in circumstances
like the present, an evidence of lively faith. Only he who pos
sesses it, and, with it, a firm conviction of God's omnipotence
and righteousness, will consider it as a monstrous thing, and one
that cannot continue, that God should not assist his suffering
people. Thou coverest in times of trouble, dyyn rightly by
Calvin : connives, to which must be supplied eyes. The expres
sion stands in full, Lev. xx. 4, 1 Sam. xii. 3, and in many other
places. See upon the omission of the members in current phrases,
Ewald, p. 190. When God does not assist his people, he ap
pears to have turned away his face from them, to have covered
his eyes ; comp. v. 14. See on Psalm ix. 9, for the expression,
" times of distress or trouble." The supposition that times in
distress, without anything further, stands for times of distress,
is opposed by the whole character of the Psalm, which is very
concise. We have already shown, that the words carry an ex
ternal, as well as internal, reference to Ps. ix. 9. There the
Psalmist had obtained from the earlier manifestations of God
the sure result, that he is a refuge in times when one is in dis
tress. He here takes up the inference from this result, and asks
God, wherefore his actions stand in opposition to that. The
11X5 niny7 is to be viewed as if it were furnished with
marks of quotation, and D^yn should have the stress laid on
it, as forming the contrast to UEJ'ft.
Ver. 2. Through the pride of the wicked the poor is inflamed,
they are taken in the plots which they have devised, p/l, in
Heb. as well as in the cognate dialects, has the sense of to burn.
Here the burning, or setting on fire, denotes the fury, (comp.
Dy5 indignation, in v. 14,) which so often appears under the
image of fire — comp. for example, Ps. xxxvii. I, " Be not inflamed
against the evil doers," Ps. xxxix. 3, " My heart was hpt within
me, while I was musing the fire burned," Isa. xxx. 27, " burning
his anger," Ezek. xxi. 3, Q^yi, burning, for angry, raging.
Against Gesenius and De Wette, according to whom, to bwrn
must here mean to be in anguish, we place the fact, that anguish
is never so designated in Hebrew, and the notions of Stier, who
would have T$y\ to signify the heat of oppression, and of Hitzig,

PSALM X. VER. 2, 3. 157
who translates : is burned, are refuted by the remark of J. H.
Michaelis, that the word " denotes an active heat, such as is in
fire, not passive, like that in matter." The exposition of Sachs
and others : through the pride of the wicked he persecutes the
poor, does not suit the parallelism so well, can bring only one
passage, Lam. iv. 19, in support of pbl in this signification with
the accusative, while elsewhere it has this signification only with
*iriX> which also is properly required, and indeed unless a low
style of language were used, it would scarcely do to say, to burn
after any one, for, hotly to persecute. Most expositors explain
the second clause : they, the poor, are caught or taken through
the plans which those, the wicked, have devised ; and this ex
position is to be preferred, from the parallelism and connection,
to the other : they, the wicked, shall be caught or taken in the
wiles which they have devised, although the latter can also refer
for support to parallel passages, such as Ps. vii. 13, ss., ix. 16.
Ver. 3. For the wicked extols the desire of his soul, and he
who makes gain blesses, despises the Lord. The for marks not
so much the relation. of this verse to the preceding one, as the
relation of the whole representation in ver. 3 — 11 to ver.' 1 and
2. The brief intimations which the Psalmist had given in these
two verses, regarding the posture of things, he grounds by a
farther elucidation in ver. 3 — 11. "O has precisely the same
force in Psalm ix. 4, and this agreement also is a proof of the
closer connection between the two Psalms. The first clause is
commonly expounded : For the wicked boasts of his desire.
But this rendering is inadmissible, as 77n never signifies to
boast, to be proud, least of all in Psalm lvi. 4, where its object is
coupled with it, nor in Ps. xliv. 8. We must rather translate :
The wicked extols the desire of his heart. The 7y stands then
quite appropriately as a designation of the object, on which the
extolling is raised — its substratum. When the wicked ventures
to laud in public the shameful lusts of his heart, as what need
not shun the light, this is the highest degree of depravity, and
betokens, at the same time, how secure he has become in con
sequence of his impunity, how sad the condition of the poor,
how much occasion there is for such to fear, how necessary it
hence is for God to interfere, and what reason there was for the
why in the first verse. So also Ewald : " he gives praise, "not
as is due to Jehovah, but to his own lust," comp. Hab. i. 11—16.
The second clause can only be rendered : whosoever makes gain,

158 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
blesses, despises God. y^3 is correctly explained by Venema :
quaestum faciens per fas et nefas. The bad sense lies not in the
word itself, but in the connection. The object of the lamen
tation is, that whosoever just makes gain, without further con
sideration, blesses God for it, without ever thinking, perhaps,
whether the gain is a righteous one or not. Despises God. This
indicates the highest state of impiety. For any one who pos
sesses any moral feeling, will say, " Blessed be God," only when
he has obtained a righteous gain, — comp. Zech. xi. 5, which
passage clearly shows, that God is to be considered as the ob
ject of blessing. This expression, therefore, " he despised God,"
occupies the proper place. Such a blessing of God is, indeed,
the highest kind of contempt toward him. For, as Calvin justly
remarks : Whosoever believes that God will be his judge, it
will be found a horrible thing for him, that he has not hesi
tated to bless his soul, (rather: God,) while he has an evil con
science. That from the expression, " he blesses the Lord," we
are not to conclude the Psalmist to have had respect merely to
the wicked belonging to Israel, is manifest from the passage al
ready quoted, Zech. xi. 5, the oversight of which has been a
main cause in the misunderstanding of this. There the discourse l
is of the flock of slaughter, whose buyers slay them, and hold
themselves not guilty ; and they that sell them say, " Blessed
be the Lord, for I am rich." Under the buyers and sellers are
there to be understood the foreign oppressors, see Christol- in
loc. The blessing or praising of the Lord here, on account of
gain, we are not to regard quite so seriously, — it is done half
in joke, — and then even the heathen were inclined to grant a
certain portion to Jehovah of the gains which they obtained
among his people, — comp. for example, Jer. 1, 7. De Wette,
following many of the older expositors, and himself again fol
lowed by Maurer and others, expounds quite differently : The
plunderer blasphemes, despises God. If we would follow this
exposition, we must, in that case, not take 112 in the sense of
blaspheming, which it never has, but in that of renouncing,
bidding farewell, taking its rise in the custom of blessing at
separation. That the sense of blaspheming does not, and can
not exist, Schultens has proved on Job, p. 12. Comp. further,
my Beitr. Th. II. s. 131, where it is shown, that that sense is not
found in the passage, 1 Kings xxi. 10, on which the principal
stress is laid. Neither must Jflft have the signification of plu'n-

PSALM X. VER. 3, 4. 159
derers forced upon it, which is not justified from y^in being
sometimes rendered robber in Hab. ii. 9 — for what might not
then be proved ? — but it must be taken in the only certain sig
nification : the gain-getting, which is also perfectly suitable in
Hab. ii. 9. The meaning, then, of ]}1 Jflfa y^3, is, who gain-
eth a wrong gain, and not only is the sense of robber unsuitable,
but that also of covetous, which others would impose on it.
Therefore : Who is just always making gain, takes leave of the
Lord, depises him. The verbs Ipi and ^fcO would then mark
a progression. But it is against the exposition, even when thus
modified, that thereby the so obvious and striking contrast be
tween blessing and despising, the designation of the highest
degree of impiety by the juxtaposition of these extreme oppo-
sites, is annihilated ; to which also, it must be added, that 1"\2
can scarcely be taken in any other sense than that of blessing,
were it only for the parallelism with 77n. to extol ; the extol
ling of the desire of his soul, and the blessing of God on account
of his unrighteous gain, hang closely together. The exposition :
He blesses himself, adopted by Stier and others, after Venema,
is quite arbitrary. In the passage referred to by them, Deut.
xxix. 18, the verb in Hithpael is unquestionably used in a tran
sitive sense. We repeat, that all these wrong expositions are
convicted of error by the passage in Zechariah.
Ver. 4. The wicked in his pride : he does not inquire, God is
not, are all Ms purposes. The height of the nose is a picturesque
description oi pride. Many render the first clause : the wicked
in, or according to, his pride, does not concern himself. They
either supply God to JJHT : he does not seek after, or care for
God ; or they make (be verb quite general ; in his heart the
wicked sets himself far above all ; right and wrong are alike to
him ; he knows no other law than his own lust. " The prin
ciple of right action through the whole of life," remarks Calvin,
" is inquiry, not allowing ourselves to be blindly carried about
wherever our own temper and the constraint of our fleshly cor
ruptions would draw us. But the disposition to inquire springs
from reverence, in that we, as becomes us, set God before us as
our judge and guide." But others take JJHT 73 as words of
an evil doer, the wicked in his pride (says) he (God) searches
or perceives not. And this exposition, which presents no diffi
culty on account of the extremely concise style of the Psalm, is
shown to be the correct one, by comparing ver. 13, " Wherefore

160

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

doth the wicked despise God ? He hath said in his heart, Thou
will not require it," KH"Tfl K7> a parallel passage, which is the
more decisive, as verse 13 manifestly resumes the subject of ver.
3 and 4. In these verses there is the representation of the fact,
he despises God, he says, " thou perceivest not ;" in ver. 13 re
spect is had to the lawlessness of such conduct, and the neces
sity of putting it down : wherefore does he despise, wherefore
does he speak. We may also comp. Cftn &11. in Ps. ix. 12,
where the verb, in like manner, signifies to inquire for, to take
notice of. The denial of providence is here justly marked as the
product of pride. The wicked would be a god himself, there
fore he suppresses consciousness regarding God in heaven. . God
is not, are all his purposes , they are a continued practical denial
of God. For had he a real conviction of the being of a living
God, he would stand in awe of the judgment-seat. Whether he
might have a cold and dead notion of God, or even of his provi
dence, is a matter of indifference. Venema : " Their counsels and
projects were such, that in their very nature they involved the
denial of God, and if an inference might be drawn from these of
the faith of those who entertain them, we should conclude them
to be deniers of God." In the same sense as those who are said
to have confessed God in words, but denied him by their works,
Tit. i. 16." nftTft we take here, according to the phraseology
usual in the Psalms, for ungodly purposes, and the rather so, as
it had occurred in that sense in ver. 2. The sense is weakened
if we render, with other expositors: There is no God, are all his
thoughts. This exposition is also unsuitable, in that it would
attribute a theoretical denial of God to the wicked, in opposition
to the first clause, ver. 3, ver. 11 and 13. Some, in order to
avoid this objection, would take the " not God," against the
usage, as meaning : " God is nothing, he prevails nothing. |'K
always denies existence, not quiddity — see Christol. P. ii. p. 474,
ss. Hupfeld, Hitzig, and De Wette, in his 4th ed., take ygH
absolutely, and both periods as expressing his thoughts : " The
wicked, according to his pride, he punishes not, God is not,
are all his thoughts. But this construction, which destroys the
parallelism, rests upon the view of VHIftTfti which has already
been proved to be false. If this be understood of the purposes,
it cannot be referred to £JH"V 73- For the denial of providence
is, according to ver. 11 and 13, the theoretical principle of the
wicked. Ver. 5. His ways, his undertakings, are always prosperous.

PSALM X. VER. 5. 161
The Chaldee gives this sense, and the best expositors follow
him. The verb 7in occurs in a similar moaning in Job xx. 21,
and the derivative, yi, strength, also confirms it. Against the
parallelism, some expositors take it in the unsupported sense of
being crooked, and translate : His ways are always crooked .
The relation of the two following members to this first, was al
ready pointed out quite correctly by Venema : " The other two
members take out of the way the obstacles to prosperity, the
one of which is the judgments of God, the other, the attacks of
enemies." A height ar'e thy judgments, thy punishments, away
from him, i. e. thy righteous chastisements are so far removed
from him, that they never reach him. This can only be under
stood two "ways — either as a continued description of the pro
sperity of the wicked, and their freedom from punishment, from
which sprung their supercilious security described in ver. 6, or
as a description of this supercilious security itself, as a conser
quence of their being " prospered in their ways." The latter
exposition is adopted by Calvin : " Because continual prosperity
flows in upon them, they think that God is obliged to them.
And so it comes to pass, that they put his judgments far from
them." But as the reference to the wicked's thoughts is not in
the slightest manner indicated, and since the preceding words,
" his ways are prosperous," refer not to the imagination, but to
the reality, this view could only then be considered as admis
sible, if these grounds could be removed, by the undeniable re
ference of the last clause to the supercilious security of the
wicked. This, however, is by no means the case. The last
clause, also, has respect, not to the thoughts, but to the actual
condition of the wicked. The preceding context affords a pre
sumption in favour of this view, and the most natural exposition
is : All his adversaries, he blows at them, i. e. he drives them
away with little trouble, he has only to breathe, and they vanish :
comp. Isa. xl. 24, " He blows upon them, and they wither," and
the cujus tu legiones difflavisti spiritu quasi ventus folia, of
Plautus in the Mil. Glor. i., 1, 17. The exposition of the words
in reference to a certain blowing, through which a proud dispo
sition manifested itself, has this against it, that such a blowing
is nowhere mentioned in the Old Testament. In Mai. i. 13, to
which we are referred, the n^fln, to make to breathe out, is,
by comp. with Job xxxi. 39, as much as, to blow out the light of
life, to rob the soul, to annihilate. So that the whole three

162 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
clauses refer to the external condition of the wicked, and the
following verse for the first time represents the influence, which
his fortune and his impunity have upon his disposition.
Ver. 6. A feehng of security grows with his prosperity. He
says in his heart, I shall not be moved, from generation to gene-,
ration, I am he who is not in adversity, i. e. is not unfortunate.
The meaning is : Misfortune shall never overtake me. The ex
pression, " from generation to generation," is to be explained by
the circumstance, that the wicked here is an ideal personage.
yi2, in evil, for in misfortune, as in Ex. v. 19. The I^H stands
with peculiar emphasis, and not as a kind of expletive, as we
might at first sight suppose. He is that man who defies all
misfortune, from whom God can take away nothing, even though
he would. Precisely so is it also used, for example, in Isa. viii,
20, " If they speak not according to these, they are those in
whom the light has not dawned." Calvin here beautifully con
trasts the confidence of the pious, which is the offspring of faith,
and the false security of the wicked. " The latter says, I shall
not be moved, or shall not shake for ever, because he thinks his
strength sufficiently powerful to bear up against all assaults.
The believer says, If I should happen to be moved, or even to
fall, and then to sink into the lowest depths, still I shall not
utterly perish ; for God will put his hand beneath me."
Ver. 7. The representation given of the violation of duties to
ward neighbours, which the ungodly, confirmed in his uncon-
scientiousness by his prosperity, allows to grow into actual guilt,
is commenced in this verse with the words, and proceeds in ver.
8 — 10 to deeds. His mouth is full of cursing, and of deceit and
oppression. n7N preserves here its common signification. But
the circumstance, that it occurs here in a description, which re
fers only to the relation toward neighbours, and its being coupled
with deceit and oppression, shows that the discourse here is of
such cursings as the ungodly utters upon himself, so that he may
be successful in his deceit, and may win confidence to the per
juries through which he seeks to circumvent his neighbour in
goods and chattels — a mark which agrees better with the wick
ed among themselves, than the enemies from among the hea
then, who plundered with rude violence. In Ps. lix. 12, ibit is
coupled, as here, with nft7ft. with $12, lying. Against the
connection, Stier regards the cursings, execrations, and calum
nies, as directed towards God, as well as men. N/ft not an

PSALM X. VER. 7, 8. 163
adjective, but a verb. — And of deceit and oppression. nift7ft
the LXX. render by mxgia, bitterness, probably confounding the
word with nilft from lift- — Under his tongue is sorrow and
mischief. 7fty, never active distress, which one brings upon
another, but here, as always, misfortune, distress, which others
suffer, px signifies here, and constantly, mischief. The sor
row, the product of the mischief, is in, and with this under
the tongue — comp. the investigations upon both words in my
Treatise on Balaam, p. 112, sq. In the expression, " under his
tongue," the metaphor must be taken, according to most in
terpreters, from the poison of serpents, which is concealed under
the teeth, and from thence is pressed out, as is mentioned in
Ps. cxl. 3, " Adder's poison is under their lips," But the paral
lelism, with the mouth, favours the closer exposition of others,
according to which, the tongue is here named as the organ of
speech. That the Psalmist says under the tongue, arid not, as
elsewhere, upon it, arises from his thinking of a whole store
house of misery and affliction as being under their tongue, from
which, at fitting times, particular portions are taken and laid
upon the tongue. This corresponds precisely to the words in
the first clause : His mouth is full. His mouth is like a magazine
of sorrow and mischief. It is also against the reference to the
poison of serpents, that, in Ps. lxvi. 17, the expression, " under
the tongue," is in like manner used of words, and that in a good
sense, " I cried unto him with my mouth, and the song of praise
was under my tongue."
Ver. 8. The train of thought represents, that if God would
help, it is now the proper time, as the profligacy of the wicked
was mounting to the highest pitch, and so the Psalmist turns
himself from words to deeds. He describes them as high- way
murderers, who lay wait for the defenceless traveller for the
purpose of destroying him. The greater part are disposed to
understand this.representationi/2<jrwrataVe&/: the wicked must be
likened to robbers. But there is just as little ground for this
supposition, as for the other, that a reference exists here to
special historical relations. The representation is not a figura
tive, but an individualizing one, and the precise mode in which
the active principle of evil here comes into view, is in reality no
. more under consideration, than any others ; the individualizing
serves only to give vividness to the description. The particular
trait, besides, manifestly suits better to evil-doers among the

164 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
Israelites} than to foreign adversaries, whq were wont to break •
in upon the land with open violence, and not to waylay indivi
duals in lurking places — comp. the analogous description, Job
xviv, 14, Hab. iii. 14, to which De Wette appeals in support of.
the reference to the heathen, is placed by him in a distorted i
light. The Chaldeans are there expressly compared to such
as waylay the poor in secret places, who are here the.subject of
discourse ; it cannot therefore have been their custom. He lies
in the lurking places of the villages, i. e. in concealed places, in
the thicket, in the neighbourhood of townships, they lie in wait
for the peaceable inhabitants, with the view of suddenly falling
upon them, and killing or plundering them. The verb 2ffl is
primarily used of the lion, who lies in his den upon the watch,
comp. v. 9, then also of men. In the secret places he murders
the innocent. "IfiDft is used pre-eminently of covered places,
which are adapted for snares. So, of the dens of lions, where
they lie in secret, Ps. xvii. 12 ; Lam. iii. 10. — His eyes keep
watch upon the miserable. ffiX prop, denotes to conceal, and
nothing else. The sense of watching, as it occurs here and in
Prov. i. 11, 18, comes only from the general omission of the ob
ject, as is often the case in Hiph., namely, the concealed place of
the snares or gins. But this omission must have been so current,
that the verb had generally received the sense simply of watch
ing. For here, on account of the connection with the eyes, re
spect is no longer had to the object. n37n is very differently
explained. The Masorites would have it to be made up of the
defectively written word 7M host, and the suff. T[ with n ap
pended ; while they therefore believed, that the first syllable
must have been originally written in full, they have given to it
the vowel Zere, since otherwise, in a compound syllable, a short
vowel must always stand, so that the vowels, as suitably placed
for the Masoretic meaning, do not comeunder consideration. This
exposition of the word, which a number of interpreters follow, is
undoubtedly false, and yields no fitting sense. Equally false
is another explanation, that of Schroeder ad Ps. dec. p. 180 — 88,
which is adopted by most recent expositors. According to it
the word is derived from the Arabic <£X&., to be black, which, in
the metaphorical sense, must mean to be unfortunate. It is in
itself a questionable proceeding to bring over a root at once into
the Hebrew, which is otherwise not met with in it, and that too

PSALM X. VER. 8. ';¦''.,'„% 165
in a sense not even found in the Arabic ; some faint trace of it
is discernible there only in the derivatives. The chief objection,
however, on the other side, is, that the n cannot, as is done by
some, be taken as a formative, or with others as parag., since
the plural D'WD^n in ver. 10, where the n is exchanged for X,
shows it to be a radical. We must rather take the word as a
quadriliteruin composituin, and that from the two Hebrew roots
nSn. to be weak, sick, and HND. to be sorrowful, afflicted.
Comp. Ps. cix. 16, Ez. xiii. 22. The sing, is then to be pointed
nD7ni the plural D^07H- There are not wanting examples
of similar compounds ; comp. Ewald, p. 519, Christol. P. ii. p.
98. The double form with n and with X admits then of an
easy explanation, because both letters properly belong to the
root, and there was freedom to abbreviate it by omitting either
the one or the other. We can thus also understand^how the
Masorites should have come to consider the word as a double
one. In ver 10 they quite correctly apprehend the one of its
component parts. They take D^iO/fl as meaning a band of
afflicted ones, and consequently derive D'fcO from the verbn&O-
With this exposition agrees also admirably the rendering of the
LXX. the Syriac, Chal. by poor, that of Aquila and Symm. by
weak. But what is the main thing, this exposition is imperfect
accordance with that which the Psalm itself suggests in reference
to the signification of n^bn. And here there come first to be
considered the other kind of designations which are applied in
the Psalm to those now denoted by this word. In reference to
these, it is remarked by Gousset : " They are called twice, ver.
14 and 18, by the name QinS once by that of *pj, and generally
by that of *3y. But we shall justly prefer that of 'jy, because
it frequently occurs in the same discourse as denoting the pro
per subject of discourse, and suggesting the idea the writer had
chiefly in view." Then, an important consideration for the
right exposition is supplied by ver. 10, where D'N^SPl stands in
opposition to D^ft^y, the strong. Now, ^in DWD7)"!> according
to the view we have taken, both ideas, that of mournful, poor
condition (nX3)> and that of, weakness (H7n)> are combined,
while the latter, according to the derivation from>]Sn is en
tirely sunk. Besides, the writer unquestionably formed this
word himself, which is never met with elsewhere, and intention
ally made if somewhat enigmatical.

166 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
Ver. 9. He lies in wait in the secret places as a lion in his
den, he lies in wait to Catch the poor, he does catch the poor,
drawing him with his net. • The suff. in \2V?l2i2 refers to the
poor; comp. in Hosea xiv. 4, DjE>ftN DIN-vim funibus hu-
manis eos attraxi. Others refer it to the ungodly, and translate:
while he draws, or draws to his net ; comp. '•{SJ'ft with 2> in the
sense of drawing, in 1 Kings xxii. 34. The Psalmist, who, in
the first member, had compared the robber to a lion, lets this
image drop here, and represents the ungodly under the figure
of a hunter, who casts his noose around the neck of the unsus
pecting wild beast ; comp. Psalm xxxv. 7 ; lvii. 6. The thought
which lies at the bottom of the figurative representation is this,
that the ungodly always unite cunning with open violence, and
that, consequently, the poor servants of God must be poor every
way, unless the Lord deliver them.
Ver. 10. Crushed, he sinks down, the poor man. The first
word has a double reading. The form in the text, which must
be spoken, T\21), is an adj. verb, formed from niDI = 1*51 ; the
marginal reading, which must be spoken n^T, and the vowels
of which, as usual, stand in the text, is fut. in Kal of HD*]- The
text is here, as always, when no urgent reason exists for the ,
contrary, to be preferred to the margin. The unhappy man is
represented under the image of a wild animal, which, entangled
in the net, falls to the ground. The crushing, overpowering, is
to be taken figuratively, and refers to the utter impotence pro
duced by the netting, to use his powers and save himself, comp.
Psalm lvii. 6. With the sinking down here should be cpmpared
'• my soul is bowed down," in Psalm lvii. 6. And the poor falls
through his strong ones. D^ftl^y signifies, wherever it occurs, the
strong, hence we are to reject all those expositions which would
give the word another meaning, from such as derive to it a
foreign sense out of the Arabic, to those which take it as an ab
stract in the sense of strength. The suff. 1 refers to the wicked
as an ideal person. His strong ones stand in opposition to
D^iO/fl, and indicate how the latter, in their impotence and
helplessness, must be an easy prey for such formidable enemies.
Through his strong ones, is substantially the same as, through
them, the strong. The individuals are represented as belonging
to the personified idea. Calvin explains it otherwise. According
to him, the image of a lion is here continued, his claws and teeth

PSALM X. VER. 11. — 12. 167
are personified as strong warriors. These suppositions, though
deserving to be rejected, as the Psalmist has long since dropt
the image of a lion, are, however, more admissible than the one
adopted by some recent expositors, who would have the word
to signify strong members, by which also the manifest contrast
between D^ftl^y and D^07T% requiring the former, according
to its common import, to be understood of persons, is much
weakened. The connection between a verb in the singular with
a noun in the plural, is always allowable, then, when the verb
precedes, since the speaker does then still not think of deter
minate persons, of their number or sex ; comp. Ewald, p. 639.
Here the use of the singular was the more natural, as in the
first member the discourse had still been of the poor.
Ver. 11. The Psalmist here comes back again to the source of
the impiety of the wicked, their delusive belief, fostered by their
continued impunity, that God's providence takes no oversight of
human things. He brings this so prominently out, because it
must be the most pressing motive for God's interference, and is
consequently the best preparation for the immediately following
prayer. He, the wicked, says in his heart : God hath forgotten,
namely, my shameful deeds, as well as the sufferings of the un
fortunate ; it is to him all one what is done on earth, he troubles
himself not about it — he hideth his face, that he may not be dis
turbed in his repose by the misconduct he perceives on earth,
he Sees not for ever.
Ver. 12. Arise, O Lord : 0 God lift up thine hand; forget not
the poor. Here the second part begins, the prayer, which, of it
self, springs out of the lamentation that had been uttered before
God, and was virtually indeed contained in that. As the visi
ble presented no traces of God's righteousness and providence,
but seemed rather to clash with these, it is to the Psalmist, ac
cording to the weakness of human nature, no otherwise than
if God did rest, not concerning himself about earthly things,
and leaving his people in forgetfulness. But while the ungodly
purposely cherishes and feeds this error, the offspring of his
own reprobate state of mind, the believer fights against it, as
a thought that has arisen only from his troubled condition,
and prays the Lord to help him in this conflict, and, at the
same time, to destroy the delusion of the wicked, by making
himself known in his righteousness and recompenses. The lift
ing up of the hand, is spoken of one, who, after he has been

¦'1 j

168 'the book of psalms.
taking rest, and has put his hand into his bosom, arises and
addresses himself to his work. The words " forget not," re
fer to those of the wicked in ver. 11, " God hath forgotten."
On the different readings, CTjy and D*1Jy> 8ee on Tsalm ix.
12. Here, too, the latter, which is the marginal reading, has
owed its existence to the supposition that a moral quality was
required. Ver. 13. Wherefore does the wicked contemn God?. ^Therefore •
dost thou permit him to despise thee with impunity ? Where
fore does he speak. Thou per ceivestnot, prop, thou dost not inquire.
This, with God, coincides with punishing. For God inquires
into the doings of men, and from that, he being a righteous
God, it necessarily follows that he also recompenses. The tran
sition from the third person to the second gives more emphasis
to the language. He speaks as if God had become visibly pre
sent. • Still we might also take the words " Thou perceivest
not," as an oblique speech, = that thou perceivest not, and this
mode of viewing it is even to be preferred. Calvin : " Though
it is superfluous to bring forth reasons to God, for the purpose
of persuading him, he yet permits us to deal familiarly with him
in our prayers, just as a son may speak to his earthly father.
For the object of the prayer must always be kept in view,
namely, that God may be the witness of all our affections, not
as if they should otherwise escape him, but because, while we
pour out our hearts before him, our cares are so far lightened,
and our confidence of being heard, increases. Thus Dayid at
present, considering how absurd and intolerable it was, that God
should be despised with impunity, by the impious, thence de
rives the hope of deliverance. The verse, besides, stands in
close connection with the first part, ver. 3 and 4. There the
fact was set forth, here respect is had, to its senseless, unfounded
nature, and consequently to the necessity of a change of aspect
in regard to the actual state of things.
Ver. 14. Thou hast seen. The Psalmist here rises to the
highest confidence of faith, that the Lord will put to shame the
delusion of the ungodly, mentioned in ver. 11, as to God's being
unconcerned about earthly things in general, and especially
about their wickedness, that he sees both their abominable
deeds, and the sufferings of the righteous, and will act accord
ingly. We might regard this as the commencement of the third
part of the Psalm. However, as the Psalmist turns back again

PSALM X. VER. 14. 169
to the prayer in ver. 15, it is better to begin the third part with
ver. 16, from where confidence alone has the ascendant. When
more closely examined, the confidence here also is different from
that in ver. 16, ,sq. Here it is grounded upon a conclusion,
there it is an immediate conviction. Confidence of the first
kind, which may be designated a pre-supposing one, is more re
lated to prayer, nay, a kind of prayer : I hope still, that thou
dost see. The Psalmist here declares his confidence in the form
of a conclusion, from the genus to the species. God is, in ge
neral, the all-knowing, the righteous one, the true helper of his
people, consequently, he both will, and must prove himself to be
so here also. This inference from the genus to the species is,
of all problems, the most difficult, and one that can be solved
only by the powerful assistance of God. That all human things
are placed under God's providence, is not so difficult to be re
ceived as a matter of conviction, but to judge by this of every
particular oppression, to apply this doctrine to it, at the very
time when the flesh disposes us to feel precisely the reverse,
when God appears to be merely an inactive spectator of our
misery, this is what none but the regenerate can accomplish,
and where it is spoken of as being done, it must be regarded as
the fruit of a living faith in the Divine providence. The same
holds good also in reference to the doctrine of the atonement.
To be convinced that Christ has died for the sins of the whole
world, is not so difficult. But to be convinced, and firmly per
suaded, that he died specially for our sins, when sin and Satan
are loudly crying the opposite, lies beyond the reach of human
power. The object of the expression, " Thou hast seen^" which
carries a reference to " he does not see for ever," in ver. 11, is
the particular case, — that, in respect to which the ungodly had
declared, God inquires not. The ft^n, on the other hand, re
fers to the general. If we allow this, then ^2 will appear quite
suitable as a part of speech, and there is no need to ascribe to
it, with many expositors, uncommon meanings, such as yea,
yea indeed. To this also agrees the use, first of the preterite,
and then of the future. Thou hast seen, for thou must behold.
If the latter were not, the supposition of the first were also a
quite groundless one. For God does nothing which has not its
foundation laid in his nature, and what has its foundation there,
must be done as a matter of course. But if the latter exists,
then it is unreasonable not to admit the first. For this is vir-

170 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
tually to hold that God denies himself, that he is not God.
For thou seest suffering and anger in the city, to put them in
thine hand. The verb DyO always signifies to be angry, the
noun, without exception, rage, anger, and the meanings grief,
lamentation, in which expositors take it here and in some other
places, is ascribed. to it merely from the connection. Here it
is the anger that arises on account of the unjust assaults of
the wicked, the righteous indignation, the subjective feeling
which is called forth by the suffering, 7fty : comp. 1 Sam. i. 6,
where an example also occurs of the manner in- which God*
takes this anger into his hand, when he appears for a moment
to forget : also the expression in ver. 2, " the poor burns,"
and the passage in Job vi. 2, which is important for the signi
fication of DyD. in connection with words expressive of mis
fortune. In the words, " to give, or put them in thine hand,"
the image, according to many, must be derived from those who
make for themselves marks of remembrance in their hand. The
justness of this explanation is clear from Isa. xlix. 16, " Be
hold I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands, thy walls
are continually before me." But the use of the verb jnj does
not favour the view adopted. Rather is the thought that the
Lord lays the sufferings of his people in his hand, a mark that
he will, in his own time, avenge it upon their enemies, that
no part of their afflictions escapes him, or is a matter of in
difference to him, comp. lvi. 8, " Thou tellest my wanderings,
put my tears in thy bottle, nay they stand in thy book."
Against the sense of recompensing with thy hand, there is also,
apart from the impropriety of assigning such a meaning to giv
ing without any addition, the circumstance that T^ |fl3 uni
formly occurs, in the sense of, putting in the hand. The poor
surrenders to thee. 2W> must give up, commit to thee, as the
last parallel member shows. The discourse is not immediately
of that which the helpless in duty ought to do, but what he, in
good confidence, can do. The verb is not be taken here in a
sort of reflective sense: neither is any definite object, his weak
ness or the like, to be supplied ; but it is as if he had said : the
unhappy man commits to thee, to thee he surrenders. The or
phan, thou art the helper, fin1" denotes here, by way of in
dividualizing, him who is without father, deliverer and helper
upon earth, but has such in heaven, — so Lam. v. 3, and else
where. We must not, however,, take, " orphan" quite figura-

PSALM X. VER. 15. 171
tively, so as to exclude the literal orphan, but among the diffe
rent kinds of human helplessness which are under the protection
of God, one only of the most prominent is named, which, on
that account, comprehends all the rest, because what moves God
here to show himself helpful must be found also in the others.
What God does in a particular case, always rests upon a general
property, grounded in his nature. If it is certain, for example,
that God is a helper to the orphan, the widow needs no more
special promise. As we are not warranted to take the orphan
figuratively, and as the proper orphan can only be an object of
oppression to the internal workers of iniquity, who take advan
tage of its helplessness, such a trait may also be regarded as
pointing (see, too, the repeated mention of the orphan in ver.
18.) to the result that the Psalm does not allude simply to hea
then enemies.
Ver. 15. Break the arm of the wicked, annihilate his power,
which he is applying to the destruction of the innocent, — and
the evil, seek out his wickedness, find them not. \}1, according
to the accents, belongs to the second member, and stands as
nom. absol. : And the evil. Expositors generally explain : Thou
mayest seek his wickedness, not find it, i.e. thy judgments shall
so utterly, annihilate him that even thine all-seeing eye shall be
able to detect no more wickedness remaining to be punished.
The trackless disappearance of a thing, and its complete de
struction, are often denoted by the seeking and not finding of it,
comp. Psalm xxxvii. 35, 36. But it is remarked, on the other
hand, quite correctly by Claus, after the older expositors, as
Venema, that there is thereby to be overlooked the undoubted
reference to the inquiry in ver. 13. The verb must here be taken
in the same sense as there, — therefore : search out his wicked
ness, drag it before thy judgment-seat, to which he thinks him
self not liable, and that with such a result, that it shall be ut
terly brought to an end, that thou thyself shall find it no> more.
Venema : " Until thou shalt not find, i.e. until there shall be
none surviving, or nothing shall remain to be punished, and so
thou mayest require to the very uttermost." To the feJHin K7
of the ungodly stands opposed the £J>T7. The Ntfftn 7^ con
tains a piece of covert raillery. True, indeed, as thou sayest, it
shall not be found, but from quite another cause than thou sup-
posest, because thou, with thy ungodliness, shall be wholly ex
tirpated. The prayer, that God would break the arm of the un-

172 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
godly, and search out his wickedness, proceeds from the living
faith that he could and must do so, that the ungodly raged only
through his permission, that he would be made to disappear with
out leaving a trace behind, the moment God pleased, and that he
would certainly be pleased to do it in his own time. We have
proceeded on the supposition that ^HT) and X¥ftfi are to be
taken optatively in paral. with the imper. Til^. But, as the de
mand has hope for its foundation, we can, consequently, expound:
Thou wilt search out, thou wilt not find ; and this might be re
presented as the more suitable, since the transition to the most
undoubting confidence, as that is expressed in ver. 16, appears
then as a more natural one : break, therefore, we pray ; thou wilt
search out, that we hope for, they are perished, that we behold.
Ver 16. The third strophe — the confidence, as it springs from
the inwardly received assurance of being heard. The Psalmist
gives utterance here to an exuberant joy of faith. The Lord
has granted him such an internal assurance of being heard that
he already sees the ungodly conquered, and the holy land of God
purged of their abominations. The Lord is king for ever and
ever. At an earlier period, when his faith still underlay tribula
tion, it had appeared to the Psalmist as if the Lord were thrust
down from his high throne, but now the matter presents itself
to him quite otherwise. Faith shows him how impotent all at
tempts of the rebels are to rob him of his supremacy. He is,
and abides King, and will maintain his position as such now and
for ever. The Lord is named King here, not as ruler of the
world, but as sovereign over his people and his hbly land, comp.
Deut. xxxiii. 5, Num. xxiii. 21. The heathen are perished out
of his land, Luther understands by D*1^ such as must have be
longed to God's people and the chosen Israel, but have now gone
out of the way and become heathens, and so are no longer
God's people, but his enemies. So also Calvin with an appeal
to Ezek. xvi. 3, " Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of
Canaan, thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother a Hittite,"
for : As to thy way and manners thou derivest thy being from
these people, comp. other passages in which the ungodly among
the Israelites are described as heathens, in Christol. P. ii.' p;
398. But we have no reason here to depart from the usual
signification of the word, and this, indeed, is rather confirm
ed by a comp. with ver. 9, where heathens, in the proper
sense, are unquestionably meant. DIX also signifies, not hea-

PSALM X, VER. 17, 18. 173
then as individuals, but heathen nations. Yet it does not follow
from this that the whole Psalm limits itself to them. The
Psalmist might here very well name a particular species of un
godly enemies — just as the poor are in ver. 14, 18, denoted by
the individualizing term of the orphan, and the wicked in ver.
8 — 10 are described under the particular character of robbers —
because the same law which brought their subjection, would
certainly carry in its bosom the subjection of the others. Against
the exclusive reference of the whole Psalm to heathenish ene
mies, we have to urge the want of any special allusion to them
in all the rest of the Psalm, and the existence of many traits
which suit better a home conflict between the pious and the un
godly, comp. on ver. 7 — 10. But all appearances are satisfacto
rily explained when the Psalm is viewed as a song for the gene
ral use of the pious when suffering oppression at the hands of
the wicked,— it being of no moment whether the latter were
merely uncircumcised in heart, or also uncircumcised in flesh,
comp. Jer. ix. 25. The words, " out of his land," point to the
cause of the extirpation of " the heathen." The pret. 1*nX is
to be explained thus, that the Psalmist, by the internal view of
faith, sees his enemies as already annihilated.
Ver. 17. Thou hast heard, 0 Lord, the desire of the meek,
thou makest their heart firm, through the inward conviction
which thou givest them of the hearing of their prayer, thou im-
parfcest to them the power of resisting all assaults, in the firm
hope of obtaining the deliverance promised them. A firm heart
is opposed to a heart that is moved, shaking, trembling, and in
dicates courage, strength, repose, comp. Ps. cxii. 7, " his heart
is fixed, trusting in the Lord," Ps. Ii. 12, lvii. 7. Thou causest
thine ear to hear.
Ver. 18. In that thou judgest the orphan and the oppressed.
These words are closely connected with the last of the preced
ing verse. — The man of the earth will not continue to brave.
We must take the words as an expression of confidence, not of
desire. For in the latter case, the abbreviated fut. would have
been used. JJHiN has, as formerly remarked, the subordinate
ideas of feebleness and weakness, which are still more plainly
denoted by the addition, " of the earth," q. d.: He who is sprung
from the earth, who belongs to it, the man of the earth as op
posed to the God of heaven. The expression occurs in Ps.
cxlviii. 7, " Praise the Lord, pifc*n jft, ye of the earth," ye in-

174 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
habitants thereof; before, in ver. 1, it was, praise the Lord, from
the heavens. Comp. also, examples of the similar uses of Jft in
Venema in loc. The verb t**lJ7 has in the Arabic and Hebrew
(Isa. xlvii. 12) the signification of, withstanding, braving. As
the object of the resisting or braving, God is to be understood.
Between T*7y7 and t^xn there exists an intentional parono
masia, pointing to the sharp conflict between nature and will.
The exposition of Hitzig and others : That one may not further
drive the people out of the land, is already confuted by the
parallel passage, Ps. ix. 19, 20, " Arise, O Lord, let not man
prevail," where the same contrast is found between the assumed
strength, and the native weakness ; and also by the circumstance,
that the significance of the paronomasia is destroyed, which was
taken notice of by Luther : " Here is a fine play upon the words,
in that man who is still of the earth, should magnify and exalt
himself; which carries a strong contrast with it, since it is
wholly and utterly unsuitable, that man, as he is a man, born of
the earth, and returning again to it, should lift himself up and
act loftily." Also, we do not perceive, how the suffering could
be designated by EyiJX, which bears respect merely to human
weakness in general. Finally, it is far-fetched to render B^DV
72, one will not continue.

PSALM XI.
The speaker is hard pressed by godless enemies, and he is
advised, abandoning all, as all indeed was already lost, to look
only to the safety of his life, ver. 1 — 3. But he answers, that
he puts his confidence in God, who, throned on high in his
holy heaven, rules with his providence over the affairs of men,
and would assuredly accomplish the overthrow of evil, mighty
though it seemed, and secure victory to the righteous, ver. 4 — 7.
" Confidence in the Lord and his protection, even against the
huge force of the wicked," remarks Claus, is the one subject of
this Psalm. After a short expression of this confidence, (" in
Jehovah I put my trust,") follows the representation of the facts,
which seem to show, that the condition of the people of God is
a perfectly hopeless one, that the oppression of the good princi
ple and its supporters, and the triumph of wickedness, is a mat
ter conclusively settled, so that the righteous and upright, who

PSALM XI. 175
can no longer rectify public affairs, is obliged at the most, to
concern himself only for his personal deliverance. Over against
this state of matters, the speaker places the avowal, " I put my
trust in the Lord," representing how the Lord would bring de
liverance unto what, humanly considered, was certainly hopeless,
so that it was right not to flee, but to continue in good courage.
The general principle set forth in ver. 4, that the providence of
the holy and omnipotent God bears rule among men, (" His eyes
behold, his eyelids try the children of men,") is extended farther
in ver. 5 to this, that ,he knows to love the righteous, and hate
the wicked, (" The Lord trieth the righteous, and the wicked
his soul hateth,") and these two principles the Psalmist extends
still farther in ver. 6 and 7, taking up again the last first, " Upon
the wicked he will rain snares," &c. and then returning again
to the first, " Righteous is the Lord, he loveth righteousness,
his countenance beholds the upright."
The hypothesis of Koester, which would divide the Psalm into
two strophes of three verses, with a concluding verse, is quite
subverted by this distribution of the matter. The second strophe
is mutilated, if we separate ver. 7 from it.
At first sight, the Psalm appears to bear a personal character ;
the " I put my trust," and, " How say ye to my soul," seem to
carry us into the midst of personal relations. But, considered
more narrowly, this commencement leads to a precisely opposite
result ; the address directed to a number, " flee," and the ex
pression, " to your mountain," can only be satisfactorily explain
ed, when it is supposed, that the speaker introduced, saying,
" I put ray trust," is an ideal person, the personification of the
whole class — more especially, as the supposition, otherwise
far from being natural, that the Psalmist is addressed along with
his companions, has the following singular against it, *yiSX< in
which the Psalmist again returns to the personification. In ver.
2 — 7 also, there is no trace whatever of a reference to an indi
vidual ; we have only to do with " the wicked," " the lover of
violence," " the righteous," " the upright," the two classes,
which constantly meet us in the Psalms, that are of a general
character. How little colour the Psalm affords for a personal
construction, is evident from this, that among those, who take
that view, it is a subject of perpetual controversy, whether it re
fers to the times of Saul or of Absalom. The individualizing
description in ver. 2, of the misdeeds which the wicked practise

176 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
against the righteous, appears also to conclude against both, in
asmuch as it points to crafty devices of a private, nature, where
as, in both the periods referred to, the wicked openly lifted
themselves up against the righteous— a trait which is equally,
fatal also to the supposition of De Wette, that the Psalm refers
to the relation the Israelites held to their heathen oppressors,
comp. on Ps. x. 8 — 10.
The following, accordingly, presents itself to our mind as the
correct view : David had lived to see two great conflicts of the
evil principle against the good, and, standing in both as the re
presentative of the latter, had each time strengthened himself
in the Lord, and had received deliverance as the reward of his
faith. On the ground of this personal experience he shows here,
" the righteous," how in similar circumstances, when the church
is in a troubled and distracted condition, they ought to behave
themselves, viz. that they should not abandon themselves to
despair, but should trust in the Lord.
The placing of this Psalm in the same series with the pre
ceding ones, appears to be justified, not merely by the general
similarity of its contents, but also specially by the resemblance
of v. 2 to Ps. x. 8.
Ver. 1. In the Lord put 1 my trust, how say ye to my soul,
Flee as a bird to your mountain ? *"pN> quomodo ergo — an ex
pression of wonder, of reproach. The words " to my soul," were
already explained well by Calvin : " intimating that his inmost
bosom was pierced by the taunting question." If the same per
son who is introduced saying, " In the Lord put I my trust," is
an ideal one, the righteous, those who address him must also
be ideal persons. The Psalmist has in his eye such as, though
attached to a good cause (the words unquestionably betoken
that), still rest upon a lower ground of faith, and hence their
view continuing wedded to the visible, they think that all was
gone without remedy. In reality these persons are merely per
sonifications of the doubting thoughts, which arose of themselves
in the mind of the speaker, — the " flee," is the voice of the flesh,
which is met by the voice of the Spirit in the declaration, " I
put my trust in the Lord." No one, not even the most advanced,
needs to seek what is imported in that " flee," out of himself.;
The plural 1*713 is accounted for by What has been already re
marked. &37n> your mountain, is, according to the common
interpretation, the mountain which will afford you protection,

PSALM XI. VliR. 1. 177
in which ye have your place of refuge. But this has something
constrained about it, and we cannot but feel ourselves tempted,
were it only from the your here employed, to take mountain in
an improper sense, your mountain = your hiding place. Ven. :
mons hie locum exilii extra societatem, ad quam noster pertina-
bat, designat. This exposition is the more natural, as the follow
ing 1)Sii appears to explain it, on account of which the hiding
place is figuratively described as a mountain. Birds escape the
dangers, to which they are exposed in the open plain, by betaking.
to the wood-begirt mountain. But if we should even abide by
the literal meaning, the expression would still afford no coun
tenance to the individual reference of the Psalm. For the
mountain, in that case, would only be chosen as an individualiz
ing trait, having respect to the natural appearance of Palestine,
where the mountains occupy the first rank among the hiding-
places — comp. the saying of our Lord, which alludes to this pas
sage, in Matth. xxiv. 16, " Then let those, who are in Judea,
flee to the mountains." We are not, as many expositors think,
to supply 2 simil. before 1)S)"i, but to regard it as decurtata
compar. ; as a bird, (a bird in the improper sense.) Lam. iii.
52, " Mine enemies chased me sore, like a bird without cause,"
is a parallel passage. Q3"in is in the accus., see on the accus.
of verbals of motion, Ewald, p. 585. The Masorites would, on
account of the sing. 'EPS} 7 preceding, have the reading to be
not llli but 'T)J. This reading would not have been preferred
to that of the text, had it been borne in mind, that, like all the
Kris, it has no more than mere conjecture to support it. What
is advanced by Hitzig in its support, that the Ketib offends
against the sing. 71SX. and is quite unsuitable to the preceding
context, where an individual is addressed, serves for explaining
how it arose. It avails as little to the originators, as to the de
fenders of this reading, to refer back to the interchange between
the singular and the plural in this verse. They thus sought to
remove what they did not understand, but betrayed little con
sistence, as they left standing the to them not less inexplicable
DD7n. If we look more closely, we shall find, that 'mj, flee
thou, soul, cannot he admitted. To the soul belongs feeling, not
an act. The like may be said of the different reading, which,
according to most expositors, the old translators must have fol
lowed, and which, after their supposed example, several exposi
tors have preferred : *fl3X ift3 11, to the mountain as a bird.

178 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
The easier this reading is, the more doubtful does it become.
Our difficult text could never have arisen from that, the under
standing of which lies so plainly upon the surface. The old
translators probably left out only the suffix, which must always
remain a matter of difficulty, so long as one does not recognize
in DDin the decurtata comparatio, which the following *"|13X so
naturally suggests. Too straightened a sense is given to the
verse, by those who seek nothing more in it than a simple call
to flee. This the righteous might have compEed with, as David
indeed actually did flee during the persecutions of Saul and
Absalom, without necessarily exercising confidence in the Lord.
The flight may rather, in the circumstances, he the product of
confidence. But here the righteous places his confidence upon
the Lord, in opposition to such a call. In what sense this was
meant appears from ver. 2 and 3, where it is grounded upon the
circumstance, that the constitution of society was shaken to its
lowest depths, and all prospect of a healthful state of things was
foreclosed against the righteous. This flee, therefore, was a
word of utter despair, which ,the righteous meets even here by
the declaration, " In the Lord put I my trust," and still more
strongly in ver. 4, sq., after he had expressly represented, in ver.
2 and 3, what those, who looked on things with an eye of flesh,
produced in justification of their proposal. As in ver. 6 there is
undoubtedly a literal reference to the destruction of Sodom and
Gomorrha, as that is recorded in Genesis, it is possible that the
words, " flee to the mountain," allude to those of the angel to
Lot, " escape to the mountain," in Gen. xix. 17.
Ver. 2. The friends of the righteous indicate the ground on
which they thought flight necessary for him. That ^2 must not
be expounded with Claus, by, indeed ! it is true, certainly ! is
self-evident, and consequently, there can be no doubt that this
verse, and the next, contain the still prolonged discourse of the
friends. — For, lo ! the wicked bend the bow, place their arrow
upon the string. — 1)2 in Pilel aptare, — to shoot in the dark,—
from a concealed lurking-place, comp. tZ^inDftl in Psalm x.
8, 9, — at the upright. There is just as little ground here, as
there, for understanding the expression figuratively, the less so,
if we keep in view the general character of the Psalm, to which
the matter of this verse also certainly points. For the manifes
tation of wickedness here selected and individualized, which
was peculiarly adapted to poetry, as being fond of picturesque

PSALM XI. VER. 2, 3. 179
scenes, was, unquestionably, of very rare occurrence in real life,
far rarer than others. 27 *n*2>', properly, straight of heart,
not in respect to the cunning and malice of the wicked, but to
their own state, as conformed to the rule, comp. Vitriuga on
Deut. xxxii. p. 41 : " It is implied in the idea of rectitude, that
there is some canon, rule, or common measure, according to
which judgment may be given in regard to all spiritual opera
tions. What is conformed to this standard is morally straight,
as that is also called in architecture, which is done according to
the line or plummet." The word " upright" is purposely with
out the article. That the wicked should relentlessly persecute
the upright, shows what is the state of things. T\1'l> to throw,
to shoot an arrow, elsewhere with the accus., here with 7 of the
person, which belongs to the action, in so far as that is the aim
of this. The distinction is such as between our : shooting any
one, which carries with it the hitting, and shooting at one.
Ver. 3. For the foundations are destroyed. We have no right
to take >>2 in the sense of when, which it very rarely possesses :
When the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?
The common signification,/or, is quite suitable. What had been
mentioned in the preceding verse, as a particular, is here refer
red to the general, as the ground from which it springs. This
general is a state of moral dissolution, which deprived the right
eous of any footing for successful application. T\)T\^ from
rV)£J> is rightly rendered by the Chaldee, Syriac, Aquila, and
Symmachus: foundations. What is to be understood by the
foundations is obvious enough from the preceding verse, as also
from the words, " What can the righteous do?" The basis of
society is the supremacy of justice and righteousness. The
foundations are destroyed, " in societies remarkably corrupt, in
which the laws of right and equity are wantonly trodden under
foot," (Venema.) — The righteous, what does he do ? With the
dissolving of the foundations, in the sense meant, the impossi
bility of the righteous acting goes hand in hand. Things must
have gone far with a community, when such an impossibility
exists. It suits* precisely the pret. 7yS, what is said by Ewald
in his Small Gr. § 262 : " The perfect is used of actions which
the speaker considers as complete, as already finished, but so
reaching into the present, that modern languages employ the
simple present." That the righteous effects nothing, is suf
ficiently proved by past experience, is a fait accompli. The ex-

180

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

position of De Wette and others : The righteous, what should he
do, what else should he do than repent, flee away, has against it
the pret., the common use of 7yS, not facere, but efficere, comp.
Job xi. 8; xxxv. 6, and the parallelism, since, according to it,
two unconnected periods are united, and we are obliged to give
an unhappy turn of this sort to the passage : when the founda
tions are destroyed, &c.
Ver. 4. The reply of the righteous ; Geier: " he returns now
to his first expression of confidence, ver. 1, and fortifies himself
in that." Although certainly the earth offered him no help and
hope, though all was remediless, so far as human aid was con
cerned, yet a regard to the Lord and his providence made de
spair appear to be folly. We can either expound : The Lord (is)
in his holy temple, the Lord, in heaven is his throne ; or : The
Lord, in his holy temple, the Lord, of the throne in heaven,
his eyes see, for : The eyes of the Lord, who is in his holy
temple, whose throne is in heaven, see. In support of the latter
exposition there is, 1. This, that in the succeeding context the
principle, " his eyes see," " his eyelids try," is only farther ex
tended ; and 2. The parallel passage in Psalm cii. 18, 19, " For
he looks down from his holy height, the Lord looks from heaven
upon earth, to hear the groaning of the prisoner, to loose the
children of death." These reasons are sufficient to show that
if we prefer the first exposition, which certainly looks the sim
plest of the two, still the words, '• The Lord is in his holy tem
ple, the Lord, in heaven is his throne," cannot be considered
1 as independently co-ordinate with these others, " his eyes see,"
&e, but only as the basis on which the assertion in the latter is
made ; so that this alone, " his eyes see," is the proper shield
which preserve's the righteous from despair. The Lord is in his
holy temple, i.e. as appears from the second clause, in heaven.
Calvin : " It is a great exercise of faith, when we are on all sides
environed by darkness in the world, to seek light from heaven
to guide us into the hope of safety. For though all confess
that the world is governed by God, yet, when the sad disorder
of affairs has enveloped us in darkness, there are few in whose
inmost minds this persuasion keeps a firm hold. " The Lord's
throne is in heaven." The Lord's throne being in heaven, as a
mark of loftiness and majesty, shows his power to see, and the
holiness of his abode, arising from his personal purity, his will;
for as a holy God he cannot permit unholy beings to obtain the

PSALM XI. VER. 4 — 6. 181
ascendancy in his kingdom on earth. On these two foundations
is raised the declaration his eyes see, his eyelids try the children
of men — his eye is continually directed toward earthly things,
he watches every operation of men, continually weighs their
spirits. VSySy> his eye-lashes, for his eyes, in parallelism with
Wy> because the language offers no expression quite synony
mous. YTi2, to prove, of the penetrating glance of the Lord as
judge. Ver. 5. The Lord tries the righteous. In God's searching and
prying inquiry, there lies enclosed, because he is holy, love and
protection. Precisely as in Psalm i. 6, the first member is to
be supplied out of the second, and the second out of the first.
And the wicked, and him that loveth violence, his soid hates.
Luther : " This, too, is spoken emphatically, in that the prophet
does not say simply he hates, but his soul hates, thereby de
claring that God hates the wicked in a high degree, and with
his whole heart ; he cannot, as we may say, either see or hear
them. It is not to be understood as if God had a soul as we
have ; just as he has no eyes. The language here is metapho
rical," &c.
Ver. 6. Upon the wicked he will rain snares, fire and brim
stone. 7t3ft* stands here poetically for the common fut. CnS
must here, according to various expositors, be taken as a figura
tive designation of lightning, which is alleged to be called also
by the Arabians, in prose and poetry, by the name of chains.
But it is a sufficient objection to this meaning that nS does not
signify cord in general, but specially gin, snare, trap. We are
the less warranted to give up the ordinary signification, as the
cords, nets, and snares, in which God entangles the wicked, is a
common image of the destruction which he prepares for them ;
comp. Ps. ix. 15, " In the net which they hid is their own
foot taken,'*' Job xviii. 9, " The gin (nS) shall take him by the
heel," xxii. 10, " Therefore snares are round about thee," Isaiah
xxiv. 17, 18, Prov. xxii. 5. The common signification also of
LVnS is confirmed here, by the reference it carries to " bird"
in ver. 1, being specially used of the snares of bird-catchers ;
comp. Amos iii. 15, Gesenius, Thes". s. v. While the wicked
believe that they have the righteous in their snares, and are now
able, with little difficulty, to destroy them, suddenly a whole
load of snares is sent down upon them from heaven, and after
all flight is cut off for them, they are smitten by the overpower-

182 THE BOOK OF PSALMS,
ing judgment of God. It is well remarked by Calvin: " He
appropriately mentions snares, before he comes to fire and brim
stone. For we know that the wicked fear nothing, so long as
they are spared by God, but freely wanton, as on an open field.
Then if any thing of an adverse nature threatens them, they be
think themselves pf ways of escape. In fine, they always mock
God, as if they could not be caught, until he binds them with
his cords" (more correctly : catches them in his gins). In this
representation there is, at the same time, contained a refutation
of the supposed emendation of Olshausen, which reads tDfiS, TV
coals — an emendation inadmissible, indeed, even on the ground
that this word, when used without any farther addition, denotes
black, and not burning coals, in opposition to OvflX burning
coals, as appears incontestably from Prov. xxvi. 21. The same
consideration also disposes of the view of Gesenius, that 01%
is here singular, and of hke import with Onfi> as also of Boet-
tcher's " etymological explanation" regarding CnS, as mean
ing " something striking with fearful violence." With etymo
logical explanations we shall do well to make a very sparing
use, in regard to words that are of such frequent occurrence.
Hitzig takes the word, indeed, in its common signification, but
thinks that the snares must consist of fire and brimstone, " a
sort of burning sulphur-threads." It is sufficient to repeat, on
the other hand, that nS signifies not cord, but gin, and to refer
also to the parallel passages. One is at a loss to comprehend
what should have given rise to all these groundless attempts at ex
position, since the correct meaning is so obvious. The expression,
" that he will rain," can present no proper difficulty, as it simply
points to the fulness of God's retributive judgments, noticed al
ready by Luther, when he says that by it "the prophet indicates
the great variety and multitude of the evils threatened." In
the words, " God will rain fire and brimstone," there exists a
literal reference to the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrha, Gen.
xix. 24. That transaction must be regarded as a standing monu
ment of the punitive righteousness of God, more especially as
the scene of it lay before the eyes of the covenant people. The
Psalmist hopes that the transaction in question would be re
peated, as every divine act, indeed, is a real prediction regard
ing the future, and, under like circumstances, must again take
place. A similar reference is found in Ez. xxxviii. 22, comp.
Job xviii. 15.

PSALM XI. VER. 6. 183
The " fire and brimstone," in the opinion of many expositors
on Genesis, in particular Le Clerc and Michaelis, must be under
stood as a circumlocution for lightning. A number of expo
sitors are inclined also to adopt this exposition here ; but it has
not sprung from a natural and proper line of inquiry. We have
in both places, to think of a literal rain of brimstone, in con
formity with the natural constitution of the region of Sodom
and Gomorrha, which supplied material for the fire that was
descending. This is perfectly clear from Job xviii. 15, where
the brimstone occurs without fire, so that lightning cannot pos
sibly be thought of. If the words here are retained' in their
natural sense, it becomes obvious how little the latter is to be
pressed in the representations which the Psalms give of the de
struction of the wicked. That rain of fire and brimstone ap
pears so singular and isolated a thing, that the Psalmist is ma
nifestly to be viewed as representing the similarity as to sub
stance in the future, under the form of the past, and that it is
only the nature of the thing which the representation touches.
The last clause is explained by recent interpreters : And a
burning wind is the portion of their cup ; more correctly, their
cup-portion, for the suffix refers to the collective idea. The
wind Silaphot must be the pestiferious wind, which is called by
the Arabians Samum, blows in July and August, and instantly
kills every thing which does not prostrate itself on the ground.
But the language does not support this exposition. Of the two
other places where the word occurs, that in Psalm cxix. 53, does
not admit of this exposition. And then the image of the burn
ing wind, which does not blow in Palestine, is generally, and in
particular, as denoting the punishment of the ungodly, a quite
uncommon one. The only well-grounded exposition is : strong
wrath. The 7 is a letter inserted, not belonging to the root,
comp. the collection of similar examples in Gusset's Lexicon, and
Ewald, p. 520. The root ftyj has, in Hebrew, the signification
of being angry, no other, and that of being hot, is not once to be
found in the dialects ; the vehemence of the anger is denoted by
the plural, perhaps also by the strengthening of the form. The
wrath-wind is the Divine anger, which resembles a wind, breaks
forth even as a tempest. The representation of the Divine an
ger, under the image of wind and storm, is a very current one.
Here it is the more suitable, as mention had just been made of
fire and brimstone. The breath of God's indignation blows up-

184

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

on the burning coals, Isa. xxx. 33. In the two other passages
also this exposition is quite suitable, Psalm cxix. 53 : '¦ Anger,
indignation hath taken hold of me, because of the wicked, who
forsake thy law." In the paral. ver. 139, nNJp, seal, is substi
tuted for nSy7T- In Lam. v. 9, the prophet takes the keenness
of hunger as a poetical description of his fury. Their cuppor- .
tion, that which is proper for them to drink — a figurative de
scription of their lot or portion. Upon the form fijft, with
Kametz, comp. Ewald, Small Gr. § 386. Such representations
of the fearful destruction of the wicked, as already intimated,
are not to be taken literally ; but we ought always to bear in
mind the remark of Luther on this passage : " This verse con
tains the description of a storm against the wicked, who do not,
however, always perish in an actual tempest, and. by a corporeal
destruction ; but this takes place in a way so far similar, that
they are carried away, not in peace, and against their wish."
This is the substance of the thing, the form is partly borrowed *
from the earlier judgment upon Sodom, and Gomorrha, and
partly adapted to the imaginative character of poetry, so that it
must not be taken into account. The threatening meets also its
fulfilment in him who, though outwardly reposing in the lap of
fortune, breathes his last amid pangs of remorse.
Ver. 7. For righteous is the Lord, he loves righteousness, his
countenance beholds the upright. The Psalmist concludes from
the nature of God, that he could not do otherwise than suspend
over the ungodly the judgment spoken of in the preceding
verse. He, the righteous one, loves righteousness, because it
accords with his own nature ; his eye, therefore, rests with sa
tisfaction upon the upright, as the pillar of righteousness ; and
he must support and avenge him by the overthrow of the wicked.
The^verse isjo be viewed primarily as laying the ground for
what is affirmed in ver. 6. But the comparison with ver. 5 shows
that it stands in a co-ordinate relation also to that. We have
already remarked, that in it the Psalmist has given a further
extension to the first half of ver. 5, just as he has done in ver. 6
to the second. The words,' his countenance beholds, is a mark of
satisfaction. God hides or veils his face from those with whom
he is displeased. The plural suffix is to be explained from the
fulness and richness of the Divine nature. 1ft*' stands for the
singular — never, and where it appears to be so, this always
arises from its being usedjn reference to collectives, or ideal

PSALM XI. VER. 7. 185
persons, who, in point of fact, comprise a multitude, while it is
never used in regard to mere individuals. See on the plural de
signations of God, which are unconnected with Elohim, and
spring from the same root with it, (the plural of the suf. in Gen.
i. 26, " In our image, after our likeness,") my Beitrage, P. ii. p.
256 — 260, 309. Here the plural suf. is probably chosen for the
sake of having at the close a full, well-sounding form. Others
expound : the righteous behold his countenance, as much as :
they rejoice in his favour, as the expression unquestionably oc
curs in Psalm xvii. 15, — only we should then have expected the
plural. The plural 1fiT, standing between a singular and a
plural, cannot, without the greatest violence, be referred to any
thing but the latter. Then, by this exposition, the obvious pa
rallelism between the first and second member is left unnoticed,
as the 1ft^S 1TIT corresponds to m&$> so must "1EJM stand in a
like relation to mpTX. Farther, all proceeds, even as to form
in ver. 4 — 7, from God, and hence upon his acting the conclusion
is made especially to turn. But besides, there is not the slight
est ground for rejecting the first exposition. It is supported by
ver. 4, where, likewise, God's eyes are the seeing, and the chil
dren of men are the seen. Let it only be remarked how exactly
this, " his eyes behold the children of men," corresponds to that,
" his countenance beholds the upright." A comparison of the
two parallel passages also decides against the exposition of
Koester : " the righteous shall see it with their countenance,"
which is inferior even to the second. So also does it conclude
against the exposition of Boettcher : " upon what is right his
countenance looks." (?W as neuter, in which Luther also takes
it, though not in Ps. xxxvii. 37, yet in Ps. cxi. 8, Job xxxiii. 27.)
The seen must here, as well as there, be persons. The whole
of these expositions vanish the moment we discern aright the
structure of ver. 4 — 7, — see introduction. It is then perceived
that the words, " his eyes behold the children of men," in ver.
4, and those in ver. 5, " the Lord tries the righteous," have not
merely the signification of passages happening to be parallel,
but also supply a sort of test for ascertaining the sense of the
passage before us. Against the objection of Boettcher, that
nEy is never used as, an appellative for the upright, it is enough
simply to refer to Ps. xxxvii. 37, and against the allegation of
De Wette, that the expression, " his countenance beholds,"
never occurs, but that it is aiways, " his eye beholds," Ps. xxxiv.

186 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
16 is a sufficient proof, where the words," the eyes of the Lord
are upon the righteous," are followed by " the face of the Lord
is against them that do evil."

PSALM XII.
The Psalmist complains of the corruption of the world, espe- ,
cially of its prevailing faithlessness and malice, and intreats the
Lord to stand by his own, to bring to nought the all-powerful
delusion of ungodliness, to which it had been led by confidence
in its own deceptive worth, and, finally, to destroy supercilious
iniquity, ver. 1 — 4. The Lord answers, and promises him a
sure fulfilment of his prayer, ver. 5. And on this promise the
Psalmist places an undoubting confidence, ver. 6 — 8. The
Psalm may be divided into two strophes of four members, the
first of which contains the complaint,, and prayer, and the second
the. answer and hope.
Those who set out with the supposition that the Psalm pos
sesses an individual character, differ from each other in regard to
the precise period of David's life to which it refers. Some
understand it of Absalom's revolt, and especially of Ahitophel,
others of the persecutions under Saul. The Psalm, however, is
undoubtedly not individual, but composed from the first by
David for the necessities of the church. The Psalmist never
takes into account the help which he personally required ; he
does not say in ver. 7, " thou Shalt keep me," but " thou shalt
keep them," the righteous. From ver. 5, also, it is evident that
he prays, not specially for himself, but for " the poor and
needy." Then, the oppressed condition of these, not of any
single individual, is there marked as the ground of the Divine
interference. Finally, in ver. 8, we have the usual contrast in
Psalms possessing a general character, between the wicked on
the one hand, and the righteous, suffering under their oppres
sions, on the other.
Attempts have been made to explain this Psalm also of the
relations between Israel and the heathen ; but the peculiar pro
minence given to hypocrisy and deceit, would then be without
meaning, as the heathen nations acted toward the Israelites, not
with cunning, but with open violence. The heathen adversaries
did not say, as it is here written in ver. 4, " Through our tongues

PSALM XII. 187
we will prevail," but through our swords. The allusion to hypo
crisy and deceit, isjust the individual physiognomy of the Psalm,
and a relation, which does not coincide with that, must, at the
very outset, be set aside. The Psalm can only be referred to
the internal relations of the people of God themselves, and the
great conflict existing within that community, between the
righteous and the wicked.
The drift of the Psalm, which Geier rightly describes as " the
common complaint of the church of all times," is to show, how
the righteous must maintain themselves in the sufferings which
come upon them through the corruption of the world, reaching,
as it does, even to the covenant-people, especially through pre
vailing injustice and deception, the artifices of a hypocritical and
deceitful tongue, which appear to prepare, for them certain de
struction. The church must carry this affliction up to God, and
with unshaken confidence trust in his help.
On the Sheminith see on Ps. vi.
Ver. 1. Help, Lord. Luther : " It sounds more impressive,
when one says, Deliver, or give help, than to say, Deliver me.
As one, therefore, says in our language, under circumstances of
great distress, or approaching death : Help, thou compassionate
God, crying aloud with the utmost vehemence, and using no pre
fatory words upon the danger in hand ; so does the prophet, as
one inflamed with zeal on account of the oppressed state of God's
people, cry out without any prefatory words, and implore in the
most impressive manner, the help of God," For the godly man
ceases, the upright fail from among the children of men. It
might seem, as the Psalmist in common with the prophets gene
rally complains, that piety, truth, and faith had vanished from
the land, and the holy land of the Lord had been changed into
a dwelling of unrighteousness, as if the very sting of his pain
were derived from this same degeneracy of the people of God,
considered by itself, and without respect to the sufferings which
were thereby prepared for the righteous. In fact, several expo
sitors, as Venema, have allowed themselves to be deceived by
this appearance. But a closer examination shows, that the dis
appearing of the pious and upright comes here into considera
tion only in so far as that the righteous man was thereby placed
in circumstances of difficulty, being exposed to the attacks of
the reigning impiety. The " help" at the very outset, implies
that ; for that this is as much as " help me, the righteous man,"

188 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
is evident from the answer, promising his exaltation, " I will set
him in safety, who sighs after it," ver. 5. Then, the same thing
is decidedly proved by these other ' words, in that verse, " For
the oppression of the poor, for the sighing of the needy, now
will I arise, saith the Lord." It is not, then, the reigning cor
ruption in itself, but what the righteous have to suffer on ac
count of it, that is set forth as the ground of the Divine inter
ference. Ver. 7 and 8 also confirm this view, since they declare
the hope, not that God would improve or annihilate the wicked,
would purge his floor, but that he would keep the righteous in
presence of that race, and raise them out of the depression into
which the others had sunk through their machinations. — That
the expressions, " The godly man ceases," " The upright fail,"
are not to be understood very literally, that the Psalmist had only
for a moment dropt out of his eye the small beloved band of
pious and faithful men, by reason of his sorrow at the far-spread
corruption, which he saw all around, is manifest from his own
words afterwards, from the mention he makes in ver. 5 of " the
poor and needy." Still, the truly pious must have been only a
very small flock; otherwise, the Psalmist could not have spoken
of the whole human race as of a corrupt mass. Luther : " That
the prophet here speaks in such a manner as to make the mat
ter more than it was in reality, arose from his intense zeal — for
there always are holy persons upon earth. In the same style,
people still complain from time to time, that there is no longer
any honesty among men, they act in every thing with deceit."
The &ira£, Aiyofisvov, QQ&j is best taken with Jarchi as of one mean
ing with the related DSN, to come to an end, to fail. This
signification agrees quite well in the parallelism with IbX
pftN=|ftfcW> properly, the certain or sure. " The upright fail,"
stand related to " the godly man ceases," as the particular to
the general, or the consequences, coining into special considera
tion according to the design of the Psalmist, to the foundation.
Were it perfectly certain, that ED*31ftN> is an adj. or part. Pual
of jftN, it would unquestionably have to be so taken here. For,
beside the paral. here, " the pious or godly," the passage in
Micah vii. 2, " The pious is perished out of the earth, and there
is none righteous among men," supports it — for there 1$* cor
responds to O'OlftN, and the one passage so remarkably coin
cides with the other, that the prophet appears to have had the
words of the Psalmist before him. However, as OOlftX often

PSALM XII. VER. 1, 2. 189
•occurs elsewhere as the plural of V\l2it, fidelity, while, for the adj.
meaning, no certain passage can be adduced, (in Ps. xxxi. 23,
D'JlftN 7¥J on comp. with Q\J1fttf 7ftjy of Isa. xxvi. 2, may
perhaps, be rendered : maintaining faithfulness,) we are not
disposed strenuously to oppose those who, with the Vulgate,
render: Truth and faith have disappeared from among men.
Ver. 2. They speak lies every one with his neighbour, with
smooth lips. Instead of " lies," Luther has improperly : Profit
less things. In connections such as this, the word '¦ neighbour"
is not to be taken in the attenuated sense that it commonly bears
with us. It has respect to the law in which yi, companion,
fellow, friend, interchanges with '¦ brother," and forms, in the
commands of the second table, the ratio legi adjecta. Here the
words, " with his neighbour," point to the abominableness of the
conduct spoken of : those, whom they deceive, whom they try
to cheat through hollow assurances of friendship, are not ordi
nary friends, they are such as God has joined to them by closer
bonds. When Paul, in the exhortation, Eph. iv. 25, which has
reference to this passage, " Wherefore, putting away lying,
speak every man truth with his neighbour, for we are members
one with another," makes the on ee/tfo akXriXw t^M, follow upon
the /jsr& s-ou <!rXr,c:!oii avrou, he only gives a development of the
same idea, but introduces no new matter. Hlp7n T\%W is most
easily explained as the accus., just as N")pX vIp in Ps. iii. 4, as
to, or with lips of smoothness — comp. with this kind of accus.
Ewald, Small Gr. § 512. The exposition: They speak lips of
smoothness — lips for that which is spoken by the lips, words,
is opposed by ver. 3, as well as by the parallel : with a double
heart. A lip of smoothness is a flattering lip; comp. in Ps. v.
9, " They make their tongue smooth" — on which Luther: " Soft,
cozening, and hypocritical," Prov. vi. 24. Here he substitutes,
" they act the hypocrite," for " They flatter." T\)p7l is the
plural of np7n> smoothness. — With a double heart do they speak.
It is usually expounded : They speak otherwise than they think.
But how this sense can be derived from the words without some
addition, it is not easy to perceive. The attempts also of Ve
nema to make a distinction : " With a double mind, the one
which they express, and another which they conceal, the former
bland and open, the other impious and malignant;" and Umbreit :
" That is, that they have one for themselves, and another for

190 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
their friends, are not without weight. The words, simply con
sidered, imply a duplicity in the mind itself, just as the wfy
bfyu-xps, in Jas. i. 8, is not such an one as is internally unbeliev
ing, feigns faith, but such an one as is at the same time both be
lieving and unbelieving, has faith in the surface of his heart, but
in its depths, unbelief. Experience shows, that hyprocrisy and
flattery very rarely come palpably out to view ; this would de
feat their object. The hypocrite and flatterer is precisely on this
account so dangerous, that he calls into play for the moment
only, such feelings as appear to him fitted for accomplishing his
aim. He not merely feigns love, but he prepares it. Tet, while
this prepared love is on the surface, the natural hatred still keeps
possession of the underground of his heart. In the paral. pas
sage also of 1 Chron. xii. 33, the words 171 17 X71 mark an
internal duplicity of heart. Michaelis : " Not with a wavering
and discordant, but with a firm and resolute mind." The diver
sity is indicated by repeating the word, so Deut. xxv. 13,
pN1 \2H, stone and stone, a double stone, diverse weights,
comp. ver. 14. Ewald, p. 637-
Ver. 3. After the complaint, the Psalmist here makes the
prayer follow. The futures must be taken optatively, as was
already done by the LXX. The Lord cut off all flattering lips,
the tongue that speaks big, the boastful tongue. Expositors find
here a difficulty, through which they have partly been drawn
into very forced and false interpretations. Supercilious speeches
— say they — proud words against the poor and oppressed, do not
square with the design of entrapping by "smooth words." But
if we compare the following verse, we plainly see, that the proud
speeches are not to be thought of as directed against the poor :
that they rather boast of their fancied almightiness, which they
possess by means of their artifices, their skill in lying, hypo
crisy, and flattery ; so that the meaning is : The tongue, which
boasts of its power to deceive. They are the same persons, who
in Isa. xxviii. 15, say, " We have made lies for our refuge, and
under falsehood have we hid ourselves." That the rooting out
of the lips and the tongue must be executed by extirpating their
possessors, is shown in the following verse.
Ver. 4. Who thus speak — to be supplied from the preceding
verse : The Lord cut off: through our tongues we are strong, all
we might wish, we can accomplish through our tongue. Ac
cording to some, this exposition must be regarded as unsuitable,

PSALM XII. VER. 4, 5. 191
for a twofold reason — 1JJ&J>SS cannot signify " through our
tongue," and the verb has not in Hiph. an intransitive significa
tion ; it rather means corroboravit. We must hence translate :
Our tongues would we endow with strength, we would so arm
them with lies and calumnies, that no one will be in a condition
to resist us. Still, however, the reasons against the first exposi
tion are not decisive ; 1JJ&?77 only needs to be rendered, " in ^
respect to our tongue," and *VUn may warrantably be taken
in the sense of " acting vigorously," the more readily, as the as
sertion, that it can only mean " to strengthen," rests merely
upon the single passage of Dan. ix. 27, where it is connected,
not as here with 7, but with the accusative. This exposition
also is favoured by the connection and the parallelism. Not the
purpose : " we create strength for our tongues," but only the de
claration : " through our tongues we show ourselves to be strong,"
agrees with this, " the tongue which speaks big," and especially
with that, " our lips are with us who is Lord over us," the se
cond member of the verse. On the expression with us, J. H.
Michaelis : nobis auxilio et praesto sunt ; and on this, who is
Lord over us: qui impediat, quod nobis placet et decretum fuit.
Our lips impart to us such a power, that we can do what we
would — by means of our lips we are omnipotent.
Ver. 5. The Lord answers the complaint and prayer of the
righteous, and promises to repress the violence. Because of the
desolation of the poor, because of the signing of the needy, now
will I arise, saith the Lord, jft is the jft causae, marking the
motion from out of a thing. The misery of the poor is that
from which the Divine action proceeds as from its immediate
cause, comp. Ewald, p. 601. nny is used with peculiar empha-
- sis. Till now, says the Lord, I have rested, but now I must act.
At the foundation of this lies the consolatory truth, that so soon
as the malice of the wicked, and the wretchedness of the poor,
has reached a certain point, God must interpose. The last
member is literally : place will I in safety him who sighs after
it. The constr. of n*1^ with 1 is to be explained in this way,
that safety is here considered as a possession, in which God in-
stals the righteous. Till now he had been in distress, now God
endows him with safety. Rightly already Calvin : " To the un
justly oppressed God promises an entire restitution." The words
contain the answer to the " help," at the commencement. The
suff. in 17 refers to the deliverance. The pron. relat. is awant-

192 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
ing from the originally looser connection, which latterly is still
very common in poetry, comp. Ewald p. 646. HIS signifies in
Hiph. to pant, to sigh deeply after something; the object after
which one does sigh, is connected with it by 7, as in Hab. ii. 3,
Pp7 nfi^ anhelat ad finem oraculum, in parallelism with : there
is no delay. In a similar way is ftXJJ' used, prop, anhelare1, not
unfrequently of vehement longings and sighings. Therefore: I
shall conduct him to a state of safety, who sighs after it, viz.
safety. According to this exposition, the second member is quite
parallel to the first: On account of the sighing of the needy
will I now arise. Others expound : I set him in safety against
whom one, or the impious, puffs. But this exposition is to be
rejected on the simple ground, that the verb nifi in Hiph. is
never used in the sense of puffing. And besides, the puffing is
here not at all suitable. The wicked in the Psalm are not scorn
ful tyrants, but sleek hypocrites and flatterers. The exposition
of Gesen. in his Thes. : quern sufflant, contemnunt, is also to be
rejected. We already showed on Ps. x. 4, that blowing is never
used as a gesture of contempt. Others again, as Calvin and
Dereser, expound : I set in security him, who is blown- upon,
whom the ungodly thinks to blow away like mere froth. But
we should then have expected not 17, but rather, as in Ps. x. 4,
)2- Contrary to usage also is the exposition of Schultens, which
takes niSn in the sense of breathing upon : it (the deliverance,)
or he must breath on "himself, i. e. recover strength. The word,
however, never occurs in this signification, and by that exposi
tion, n^fc^ would lose its object, which cannot fail.
Ver. 6. The righteous places firm confidence in this promise
of the Lord. For : the wordswf the Lord, (" the words of the
Lord" here refer to " thus saith the Lord," in v. 5,) are pure
words, they are throughout true, have no mixture of false in
them, they are not like impure ore, from which dross and earth
must first be removed, but they are purified silver of a Lord of
the earth, purified seven times. The 2 in T/yi we take, with
Aben Ezra and Kimchi, as radical, and the word as synonymous
with Syi dominus, with a reduplication of the last radical letter,
as is done in "V^D, S^DIl inSS?, t^ftiy, comp. Ewald, Small
Gr. § 332. V7N7 is, instead of the stat. constr., placed thus not
without reason, as the Psalmist wished to say " of a lord," while
T*7Xn'h would have implied " of the lord of the earth," comp.*
Ewald, p. 582. It is remarked by Gesenius in his Thes., p. 730,

PSALM XII. VER. 6. 193
that " 7 stands occasionally after nouns, which signifyflord, king,
god, and, on the other hand, servant, minister, especially when
the noun is used quite indefinitely," as the 7 at Y\1H Gen. xiv.
8, 18, and at ^7ft, Isa. xxxvii. 13, and in 1^7 jntf in our Psalm
itself. Kings and judges of the earth not unfrequently occur
in the Psalms, comp. Ps. ii. 1, 9, cxxxviii. 4, cxlviii. 11. The
meaning here is well given by Vatable : " The word of the Lord
is like' the purest silver, which is diligently and with the greatest
care purged from all dross, not for common use, but for the use of
an earthly prince." The striking parallel is not to be overlook
ed, which arises out of this exposition : the word of the Lord of
the whole world is pure as the silver of a prince of the earth, it
is related to man's word as this silver is to common silver. A
great muss of wrong expositions have been occasioned by the
belief, that 1 was to be taken as a servile. Of these expositions
we shall make trial ohly of that which is now the most current.
Rosenm. Gesn. Winer, and Hitzig expound : silver, purified in
the workshop, in respect to the earth, or to its supposed ingre
dients. This exposition is objectionable on two grounds. The
meaning ascribed to 7*7y, workshop, is quite arbitrary. If the
idea of working does lie in the root 77y, as the derivative nT7y
and others show, still 7^7y cannot, from its form, signify a work
shop. The form b^tSp, is that of adjectives, partly with a pas
sive, partly with an intransitive signification, comp. Ewald, p.
234, and that we must attribute this signification also to Wy,
is clear from the frequently occurring fem. n7*7y» that which
is worked, done, then the work, the deed. This first ground is
also available against another exposition, (that of Luther, recently
Maurer,) according to which 7*7y, without any apparent justifi
cation from the Hebrew usage, merely upon the authority of the
Rabbins, looking at the connection, or upon the ground of an
etymological combination, (Hupfeld) is taken in the sense of
crucible. But the second reason is still more^decisive. THN7
cannot possibly be used in reference to the supposed component
parts — for that word never denotes the earth as matter. For
this the Hebrews have a special word, nftlN; for example,
" man is of the earth," taken ex humo, could not be expressed
by piCT |ft, but only by fiftlNn fft. This difficulty Umbreit
escapes from, by rendering : in the workshop upon earth. But
he still has the first standing against him. He is more satisfac
tory, however, with the y *"|N7 than the defenders of the expo-
o

194

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

sition, " in a crucible," who render it so : upon the earth, where
the crucible is fixed, — for that were quite to burden and confuse
the sense — or so : out of the earth, earthy (Luther), of which
the same may be said, and which is besides contrary to usage.
Others, as Michaelis and Dereser, expound : as silver purified
in a workshop of earth, as solid silver, which has been found in
the mountains, the workshop of earth. But against this is to be
advanced, not only the inadmissibility of the exposition of 7*7^
by workshop, but also that then the connection between the two
nouns should necessarily have been by stat. constr., and not by
7. For the workshop of earth must in that case have been
limited by its contrast with a human workshop. Besides, one
does not see how solid silver, which has never been purified,
can be called S|11S.
The comparison of the word of God with purified metal is pe
culiar to David, and occurs again in Psalm xviii. 30. Calvin :
" Though such knowledge may appear, at first sight, easy of
attainment, yet if any one will consider, more attentively, how
prone the minds of men are to distrust and impious doubts, he
will readily understand how profitable it is to have our faith
strengthened by this testimony, that God is not fallacious, and
does not beguile us with empty words, nor does he unduly laud
his own power and goodness, but that he simply offers in 4is
word, what, in reality, he is willing to bestow. There is no one
indeed, who would not willingly profess to go along with David
in what he here delivers, that the words of God are pure ; but
those who, in ease and retirement, are loudest in extolling the
word of God, when matters come to serious conflict, though
they dare not openly spout blasphemies against God, yet often
insinuate a charge of bad faith. For whenever he delays to
help us, we consider his fidelity at fault, and forthwith begin to
cry out, as if we had been defrauded." Luther remarks : " It
is not necessary, by God's words, to understand only such as
are taken from scripture into the mouth; but also what God
speaks through men, whatsoever it may be, and whether the
speaker be learned or unlearned, also what he spake through
his apostles, not recorded in scripture', and what he still
speaks from day to day, through his own people." In the
general this is quite correct. The praise of God's word is
here, indeed, immediately occasioned by an inward oracle, which
the righteous received, and which was designed to serve the
purpose of leading him to grasp, with firm faith, the substance

• PSALM XII. VER. 6 — 8. 195
of what should be again repeated to every one that reads the
Psalm. We must, therefore, comprehend under the words of
God those also of which Paul Gerhard sings : " His spirit often
speaks to my spirit in sweet consoling strains," &c. It is not,
however, to be forgotten, that these internal speeches, now that
scripture exists, always rise upon its foundation, as here the word
of the Lord in ver. 5, is only a special application of the promises
of the law to the righteous.
Ver. 7. Thou, 0 Lord, shalt keep them, thy people suffering
wrongfully. — Luther, incorrectly : Be pleased to keep them.
The connection demands the expression of firm hope, not of a
wish. — Thou shalt preserve him against this generation for ever.
The singular suffix is to be explained as a personification. In
order to mark the contrast more pointedly between the pious
and the ungodly, and to indicate that it is not of certain indivi
duals against certain others, the pious is often set in opposition to
the ungodly, the righteous to the wicked, the former as the object
of Divine oversight, the latter as the object of Divine punish
ment. The If inn fft is not: from this sort of men; but
from this generation. > Calvin : " We collect from this, that the
age was so corrupt, that David could, by way of reproach, throw
the whole, as it were, into one bundle." This exposition has
the common usage on its side, and perfectly agrees with the
general spread of corruption, as represented in ver. 1. It
affords a far greater contrast than the other, presenting the
small number of pious men on the one side, and, on the other,
the immense mass of the ungodly, who form, as it were, the
whole present generation, the bearers of the spirit of the age,
— a contrast • which springs out of the constitution of human
nature, and has given rise to the prevailing use in the New Tes
tament of xoefhoi, in opposition to the chosen. The signification
of aoV°s> Koester would here attribute to ED/iy. He renders :
Thou wilt keep them before the*race, which the world loves.
But the word never has that signification, it never means the
world, but always eternity, and D7iy7 is always used adver
bially, for ever.
Ver. 8. The wicked walk round about, they have encompass
ed the righteous on all hands, so that without; God's help de
liverance is impossible, comp. Psalm iii. 6. As elevation is de
pression to the sons of men, i. e. although now the righteous are
overborne by the wicked, yet their distress is to be regarded in

196 THE BOOK OF PSALMS. « v
the light of prosperity, because God forsakes not his own, but
will richly recompense them for the sufferings they have endur
ed. The sense requires that a but should be inserted before the
second member. D7i elevation, is inf. nominascens. The mean
ing of niSh which occurs only here, cannnot be doubtful. 771
has just one and the same meaning in all the Semitic dialects.
In the Chal., according to Buxtorf, it signifies, vilescere, vilipen-
di, despici, ut Hebr. T\bp et 77p quibus quandoque respon
ded In Arabic Jj abjectus, vilis, despectus fuit. In Hebr.
771T, the little-worth, stands opposed in Jer. xv. 19, to Iff,
the precious; the same word denotes, in Deut. xxi. 28, &c, a
man of low manners. The Niph. of the verb occurs in Isa. Ixiv.
2, in the sense of being lowered, despised. So that ni7T can
signify nothing else than humiliation, contempt, just as the
Chald. Xni7T. vilitas, despectus. This signification, as it is
the only one grounded in the language, so it is specially recom
mended by the contrast with Q7> which is perfectly obvious,
and which all other expositions leave unnoticed. The sense of
terror, which Gesenius and Hitzig give to the word, is unsup
ported and unsuitable. Still more so is that of storm, which
Maurer adopts. The greater, part of expositors follow Kimchi
in their explanation of this hemistic, who thinks that D*D is
put for Dft7D ; it is then rendered : as they are exalted, it is a
reproach to the children of men. But this exposition cannot be
at all grammatically justified, since for such an omission of the
suffix, no analogous example can anywhere be produced. This
view is also confirmed by the consideration, that the repetition
of the complaint, upon the powar of the ungodly, without any
mention being made of hope in the Lord's assistance, to which
the righteous looks for consolation, would here be unsuitable,
the conclusion would be a quite unsatisfactory one, we should
be compelled to wish it away. The same reason decides also
against the exposition of J, H. Michaelis and Umbreit: When
scorn exalts itself among men," and against that also of Ewald,
which is similar in meaning : " So soon as baseness exalts it
self;" and it is farther to be objected to the latter, that Hl/T
cannot signify baseness, and that Q)1 does not mean to exalt
itself, or to prosper, but to be high, — which latter difficulty is
shunned by Luther, though following the same exposition, by
his rendering : Where such wicked people reign among men.
According to our exposition, the conclusion of the Psalm gathers

PSALM XIII. 197
up, in a short enigmatic declaration, the substance of the whole
of it. The depression to which the righteous have sunk, through
the hostilities of the wicked, is like their elevation. For, as
sure as there is a God in heaven, their suffering is a prediction
of their joy, their contempt of their honour. So that they may
quietly look on at all the machinations of malice.

PSALM XIII.
The Psalmist complains of his great distress upon earth, while
in heaven he seemed to be forgotten, ver. 1 and 2. He prays
the Lord for help, ver. 3, 4, and is revived by the assurance he
obtains of it, ver. 5, 6.
The Psalm contains no indication, from which the time of its
composition might be more exactly determined. This justifies
us here also in supposing, that the Psalm was not, at some
future period, first devoted to the general use, but that David
originally composed it with this design. Already did Luther
understand it of every pious man, who was persecuted as David
was. The general character of this Psalm, as well as of many
others, is falsely represented by Jarchi, Kimchi, and De Wette,
who refer it to the whole Israelitish people: Of national
enemies, too, there is no trace whatever to be found here. As
throughout the Psalm, a single individual comes into view, it
cannot be doubted that he is described from the soul of suf
fering individuals, oppressed by personal enemies, unless it could
be proved on definite grounds, that the people are here per
sonified as an individual. Such grounds, however, have no ex
istence. The situation is that of one who, through lengthened perse
cutions and continued withdrawal of Divine help, has been
brought to the limits of despair, and is plunged in deadly sor
row. This particular feature of the Psalm may be recognised in
the four times repeated question, how long ! States of mind
such as those here described, must often have crept upon David
in the later periods of the Sauline persecution, and with the
consolation which he experienced under them he here comforts.
his brethren.
Ver. 1. How long, O Lord, wilt thou continually forget me ?
How long hidest thou thy face from me? The nXJ> according

198 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
to the most obvious exposition, marks the uninterruptedness;
and consequently the entireness of the forgetting. The Psalmist's
darkness was enlightened by no ray of Divine favour, his misery
had no lucid intervals. This exposition is confirmed by the cor
responding QftV daily, in ver. 2. It may be doubted, how
ever, whether the niW and the HSJ7. which occurs in parallel
passages, (Ps. Ixxix. 5, " how long, 0 Lord, wilt thou be angry,"
, nX37. and again in Ps. lxxiv. 10, Ixxxix. 46), can signify con
tinually, in the sense of constant, uninterrupted, as it rather ap
pears to mean continually, in the sense of for ever — comp. es
pecially ix. 18, " for the needy shall not alway be forgotten, the
expectation of the meek shall not perish for ever," where nXJ7
is a parallelism with ny7, and where obviously the discourse is
of a final forgetting. It is the more natural to think of such
an one here as the sufferer, according to ver. 3, " lighten mine
eyes that I sleep not unto death," believed himself to have
reached the last stage, and prayed God that he would still
rescue him from the gates of death. Now, if we ascribe a de
cided meaning to this doubt in the exposition we give, we must
render the clause : how long wilt thou forget me for ever. The
weak man, who is always inclined to estimate the grace of God
according to his own feeling and experience, is prone, in every
suffering, to give himself to despair concerning it, to regard
himself as wholly and irrecoverably lost. But when a hard and
oppressive cross has been appointed, as is the case here, the
flesh cries out in the most vehement manner that he has been
for ever forgotten. On the other hand, however, the Spirit
raises its protest ; faith lays hold of this, that the poor shall not
alway be forgotten. This conflict in the feelings of the sufferer
discovers itself also in his address to God ; for he prays God
still, at length, to restore to him the favour which appearances
seemed to show, and the flesh cried out, had completely gone.
The sense is quite correctly given by Muis : thou showest thy
self to me such as if thou hadst entirely forgotten me. Calvin :
" It is not in a human way, or from natural feelings, we recog
nise in our misery that God cares for us, but by faith we appre
hend his invisible providence. So David, as far as he could
gather from the actual state of things, seemed to himself to be
deserted by God. Still, however, having previously enjoyed
the light of faith, he penetrated, with the eye of his mind, into
the hidden grace of God ; else how should he have directed his

PSALM XIII. VER. 1, 2. 199
groans and desires to him ?" Luther: " He therefore paints this
most pungent and bitter grief of mind, in the most graphic
words, as one that feels he has to do with a God alienated from
him, hostile, unappeasable, inexorable, and for ever angry. For
here hope itself despairs, and despair hopes notwithstanding,
and there only lives the unutterable groaning with which the
Holy Spirit intercedes in us, Rom. viii. 26, who moved upon the
darkness which covered the waters, as is said at the beginning
of Genesis. This no one understands who has not tasted it."
Luther also perceived what emphasis lies in the repetition of the
" how long," with which the sufferer introduces his " four bitter
and violent complaints :" " In Hebrew the word how long is four
times repeated without alteration ; instead of which, however,
the Latin translator has substituted another word at the third
repetition, because he wished to make some variation. But we
would rather preserve the simplicity of the Hebrew dialect, be
cause, by the fourfold use of the same word, it seeks to express
the affection of the prophet, and the impressiveness of which is
weakened by the change adopted by the Latin interpreter."
The Psalm is prepared for those who have been sighing under
long distress, and in the one expression, how long, we discover,
in a manner, its whole nature.
Ver. 2. How long must I take counsel in my soul, sorrow in
my heart daily ? The expression of putting or laying counsels
has something strange in it. The simplest mode of explaining
it is by taking the laying as equal to laying down, as in Ex. x.
1, " That I may lay (put down) these my signs in the midst of
thee." The soul and heart appears as a store-room, which is
entirely filled with counsels and sorrows. The sense of tho
words : how long must I take counsels, is : how long wilt thou
leave me to myself — how long must I weary myself in finding a
way of escape from this misery and distress, from which thou
couldst so easily deliver me ? We have here very strikingly
pourtrayed the mental condition of a man who harasses himself
in helpless embarrassment by seeking for counsel, falling some
times upon this, sometimes upon that plan, and then giving them
all up again in utter despondency, because he sees them to be all
unavailing. This disquiet, which arises in us whenever the Lord
turns away his face from us when in trouble, the sufferer consi
ders as his greatest evil. Luther : " When the unhappy man
finds that God feels toward him in the manner described, it then

200 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
happens to him as follows : — That is, his heart is as a raging sea,
in which all sorts of counsels move up and down ; he tries on
all hands to find a bole through which he can make his escape ;
he thinks on various plans, and still is utterly at a loss what to
ad vide." What is implied in taking or forming counsels, David
knew well in his own experience, especially during the perse
cution of Saul, when hunted by his enemies " like a partridge
upon the mountains," he sought refuge, sometimes upon the
hill-tops, sometimes among the Moabites, sometimes among
the Philistines ; and amid all the projects which he fell upon
for his deliverance, the mournful reflection still forces itself
back upon him, " I shall now perish one day by the hand of
Saul." The sufferer was pained, not merely for his outward
trouble, but still more for this, that God seemed to have turned
away his face from him, after having promised him his favour
and assistance. This was the proper sting of his pain, the beat'
ing pulse in his misery. Many render Dftl* improperly : " the
whole day," giving it the force of HT71 DftV- The day, in
its more extended signification, comprehends also the night.
The word here means, not merely by day, but also daily,' comp.
Ez. xxx. 16; " Just as diu in Latin connects itself with dies,"
Ewald. This signification does not certainly belong to the com
mon usage, occurring, as it does, only in poetry, and even there
only in tw,o places. How long shall mine enemy exalt himself

over me

?

Ver. 3. The prayer stands in immediate connection with the
complaint. Luther : " He here sets something over against each ¦
of the preceding points. He had complained of four evil things,
therefore he begs for four sorts of good." To the forgetting
and the hiding of the countenance stand opposed the looking
and hearing, to the counsels and sorrow the lightening of the
eyes, and to this : How long must mine enemy exalt himself
over me, reference is made in ver. 4. The Psalmist, however,
has avoided all monotony ; in the three first petitions the refe
rence is only in the matter, and never verbally expressed ; and
in the fourth, even the form of a petition is abandoned. Look
hither. This is set against the hiding of the face, of which the
Psalmist complains in the first verse. " So long (remarks Cal
vin) as God does not actually stretch out his hand to help us,
the flesh cries out that his eyes, are shut." Hear me, 0 Lord,
my God, enlighten mine eyes. These words are explained by

PSALM XIU. VER. 3. 201
Luther thus : " As soon as tho face of God is turned away from
us, presently follows consternation, distraction, darkness in the
understanding and uncertainty of , counsel, so that we grope, as
it were in midnight, and seek everywhere how we may find an
escape. Therefore, when the Lord lifts upon us the light of his
countenance, and turns his face toward us, listening to our cry,
then are our eyes again enlightened, and we have no difficulty
in obtaining counsel." But, that this exposition is not right,
that the enlightening of the eyes here is not spiritually, but is
to be understood in the proper sense, with special reference to
" the sorrow in my heart" in ver. 2, is evident from the follow
ing words : So that I sleep not unto death. In the man who is
oppressed with sorrow, the feeble and dying, the eyes, which
reflect the power of life, are dim ; hence, to " enlighten the
eyes" is as much as to give the vital spark, as Calvin already
properly remarks. The passage 1 Sam. xiv. throws light on this.
The eyes of Jonathan, who was faint almost to death, were
covered with darkness ; but after he had tasted the honey
comb, his eyes see, according to ver. 27, (where the Ketib alone
is right) and are enlightened, 111K, according to ver. 29. In
Ezra ix. 8, the words, " enlighten our eyes," stand in connection
with, " give us a reviving." The Psalmist here, then repre
sents himself as a dying man, as one already half gone, who
should soon have been wholly overwhelmed with the darkness of
death, if the Lord had not given him new power of life, set him
free from consuming grief and sorrow, by granting him deliver
ance, and so prevented his threatening dissolution. Ewald ex
claims : " Pity that we could not more exactly determine the
history." But with this, after the remarks made in the intro
duction, we cannot sympathize. The feeling which is here ex
pressed is not so very singular a one, as to need explanation
from the facts of history; How many souls, driven to the verge
of death, have found in this verse the record of their own expe
rience ? — Nay, who that has been exercised to the cross, has not
already passed through such experience ? — It is also against all
experience to maintain, that such a state of feeling implies him
who is conscious of it, to be looking to this earthly life as his
farthest boundary. — To sleep to death, a bold poetical connec
tion for : To sleep the sleep of death ; com. Jer. Ii. 39, 57, where
sleeping an eternal sleep occurs. Ewald, p. 591.
Ver. 4. Lest mine enemy say, I have prevailed against him.

202 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
ITl/^ from by> potuit, must stand, according to many, for
17 V"I73*5 but this is wrong, if understood so, that the suff.
accus. marks precisely the dative. The construction with the
accus., instead of the common one with 7, is rather to be explain*
ed out of a modification of the meaning of the verb, to overcome
any one. — Mine adversaries rejoice not when I fail. The suf
ferer says, that it were unworthy of God to give his servant as
an occasion of mirth to the ungodly, who were just watching for '5
his fall, to rail at it. He proceeds, therefore, on this principle;
that it is God's peculiar business to check the wantonness of
sinners, as often as they boast of having conquered his people,
and through them himself.
Ver. 5, 6. The Lord imparts to the Psalmist, and through him
to all who are found in similiar situations ; or, rather, he imparts
to the righteous sufferer the assurance of his favour and assis
tance. — And I trust in thy goodness, my heart rejoices in thy
salvation ; I will sing to the Lord, for he has dealt bountifully
with me. — ^y, not as many : will rejoice, but, would rejoice, as
this is the form which lies near to the Fut. apocop. standing
for the optative, comp. Ewald, p. 527, and as it is quite suitable
to the following, " I will sing." The Psalmist declares his wish
and resolution, that his heart might give thanks to God for his
salvation, which, as already secured to him, he sees with the eye
of faith as actually present. In this wish lies enclosed, at the
same time, the certainty and greatness of the salvation. The
exultation of the righteous man's heart stands opposed to that
of the enemies, ver. 4. The object in which the affection of joy
rests is marked by 2- The pret. 7ftJ is to be explained from
the faith, which sees what is not as if it were. Luther, whom
most expositors follow, renders : " That he deals so well toward
me ;" and this exposition is right, and decidedly to be preferred
to the other : That he recompenses me. Comp. upon SftJ> to
give, with 7y, to give to, on Ps. vii. 4.
PSALM XIV.
The Psalmist begins with a lamentation regarding the fright
ful power and extent of corruption reigning in the world, ver.
1 — 3. But the righteous, who have much to suffer on account
of sin, must not therefore despair. .As sure as there is a God in

PSALM xiv. 203
heaven, they shall bring upon themselves destruction. From the
watch-tower of faith, the Psalmist looks forward with trium
phant joy to the overthrow of impiety, and the establishment of
righteousness, ver. 4—6. He closes with the wish, that the
Lord, by fulfilling his purpose, would send salvation and de
liverance to his people, and thereby give occasion to grateful
joy, ver.' 7.
In the first part, the complaint treats of the corruption of the
world by itself, without respect to the sufferings which thence
arise to the " generation of the righteous." But that the com
plaint really stands in close connection with these, — that the
Psalmist delineates the corruption of the world with respect to
the difficult and apparently hopeless condition, which should
thereby be prepared for the righteous, is evident from the se
cond part, which is occupied throughout, not with the judg
ments themselves coming upon the wicked world, after the man
ner of the prophets, but with these, only in so far as they might
serve to bring salvation to the righteous, aud rescue them from
the clutches of the wicked. Hence, the purport of the Psalm
is quite similar to that of Ps. xii. ; it is designed to administer
consolation to the righteous under the troubles which come upon
them from beholding the corruption of the world, the ascen
dancy of wickedness, which appears to threaten their entire
destruction. Should even the whole world be given up to cor
ruption, and be in league against them, they may still comfort
themselves with the thought, that God overcomes the world.
Along with this, however, the Psalm carries a powerful warning
to the ungodly. And that this is not to be excluded, may be
learned from the superscription, were there nothing else, of the
corresponding 53d Psalm.
The absence of all special allusions renders it certain, that
this Psalm also, like the many nearly related ones immediately
preceding, was from the first destined by David for the general
use of the church. As regards those who call forth the com
plaint of the Psalm, and against whom the Lord is entreated,
the reference of the Psalm is just as wide as the designation,
" children of men," can make it. Whether the corrupt children
of men belonged outwardly to the people of God, or not, makes
no difference. The former were not proper members of his
church. In the Pentateuch, the standing form in reference to
evil-doers is, " their soul is cut off from among their people,"

204 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
it is ipso facto separated, belongs no longer to the people of God,
although the theocratic government might fail in power and will
to make good in an external way also the separation, as was
constantly, for example, in Deut. xiii. 5, enjoined in these words,
" so shalt thou put the evil away from the midst of thee." From
this we can have no doubt how the contrast between *fty and Ifty,
in ver. 4, 7, in respect to the children of men, is to be understood.
The contrast is that of the righteous generation against a corrupt
world, as it has existed in all ages, and will continue even to
the end of the present constitution of things. De Wette and
others would refer the Psalm exclusively to the relation of Israel
in regard to its heathenish oppressors. That the first part is
unfavourable to this hypothesis, De Wette himself is forced to
admit. Ver. 1 — 3, he remarks, " has quite the appearance of a
general moral representation." Of a special reference to the
heathen, there does not exist the smallest trace. It is not
heathenish, but human corruption, that is described. To this also
points the reference, which the description carries to Gen. vi. 12,
" And God looked upon the earth, and behold it was corrupt;
for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth," comp. v. 5,
" And the Lord saw that the . wickedness of man was great upon
the earth." This primary delineation bears not upon the heathen,
but generally upon mankind. How little the prophets and sacred
bards were disposed to confine the corruption merely to the
heathen, and exempt Israel from it, might be shown by a great
multitude of passages; but we shall produce only one, in which
what is here said of the whole world is just as expressly said of
Israel, Jer. v. 1, " Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jeru
salem, and seek in the broad places thereof, if ye can find one,
if there be one that executeth judgment and striveth after in
tegrity, and I will pardon it." That no advantage arises in favour
of this supposition from the words in ver. 4, " who eat up my
people like bread," even De Wette is obliged to admit. He says,
" The oppressors spoken of in ver. 4 could certainly be found
among the Israelites." That this not merely could be done, but
that the internal oppressors must not be excluded, appears from
the following passage in Micah, which refers exclusively to the
internal relations,, iii. 2, 3, " who also eat the flesh of my people,"
&c, which obviously has respect to the expression of the Psalm
ist, and in which the prophet comments upon it, drawing out
into particulars what is here indicated only in the general.

PSALM XIV. 205
Comp. also the passage in Prov. xxx. 14, which likewise refers
to enemies of a domestic character, " There is a generation,
whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw-teeth as knives, to de
vour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among
men." De Wette rests his view entirely upon ver. 7, conceiving
that the wish there expressed for the return of the captives,
points to an oppression of a political nature, and most naturally
to that of the exiles under the Chaldeans. But our exposition
will prove, that the Psalm contains not a word of returning from
captivity, but only expresses in the general a wish, that God
would have compassion on the misery of his people, whether
that might be inflicted by an internal, or by a foreign hand.
Other expositors, as Stier, have been led, in opposition to the
view above noticed, to maintain the position, that the Psalm re
fers merely to the internal conflict between the righteous and
the wicked — that the human corruption, described in ver. 1 — 3,
is such only as manifested itself in Israel, — that the ¦ evil-doers,
who ate up the people as bread, are to be sought only in Israel,
and that it is only the wicked in Israel, against whom destruction
is threatened, and from whom the righteous are to have deliver
ance. But this view is just as arbitrary as the other ; the con
trast throughout is that of the corrupt world and the righteous
generation, and as this contrast came also palpably out in what
" the chosen" among Israel had to suffer from heathen malice,
one cannot perceive with what justice this relation should be
excluded. The fatal : either — or, an internal opposition, or a relation to
external, heathen oppressors, must in short be abandoned ; we
must not always proceed on the supposition, that the one or the
other alone must necessarily have place. The men of God, ele
vated by his Spirit above the mere national platform, contem
plated the heathenish and Israelitish wickedness as one whole,
without suffering themselves to be deceived by the difference
of costume. So also everywhere Moses, to whose command,
" thou shalt not have diverse weights in thy bag," this here cor
responds. Comp. for example, Deut. xxxii.
From the preceding remarks, it is manifest that, with perfect
propriety, Paul adduces, in Rom. iii. 10 — 12, a proof from this
Psalm of the scripturalness' of his position, that " Jews and hea
thens are all under sin." He justly puts this passage, ver. 1 — 3,
at the head of his proof, for the Old Testament contains no pas-

206 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
sage in which the universality and depth of the human corruption
is painted in such vivid colours.
What has been alleged against the Davidic origin of the Psalm
proceeds entirely on a false understanding of ver. 7.
This Psalm recurs once again, with certain alterations, in Ps.
liii. These alterations, (with the exception, perhaps, of the
omission of the " all," in ver. 4), bear altogether the same cha
racter, — everywhere, in Ps. liii., is the rare, the uncommon, the
strong, and the elevated, substituted for the common and the
simple. The consideration of the particulars will show this.
The simple superscription of the xiv. " to the chief musician
of David," is enlarged in the liii. by a twofold addition, and
these additions both possess the character now mentioned.
First, in regard to TOIp'b'S- That nothing is to be made out
of these words, viewed in the way they have hitherto been, as
marking an instrument or a melody, the remark of Ewald, (Poet.
Books, P. i. p. 174), may suffice to show : " a word, on the
meaning of which nothing whatever can be said." We conceive
that the words contain an enigmatical description of the subject
and object, and translate : upon sickness. This view is justified,
1. By its being the only one admissible in a grammatical point
of view. The verb in Hebrew has no other signification than to
be weak, sick, and the very nearly related forms n^nft and
T\blf2 occur in the sense of sickness. Even could it be shown
that n7Plft cannot always bear this signification, it were still
quite arbitrary to explain it out of the Ethiopian. 2. In the
superscription of Ps. lxxxviii., where the same words are again
used, they are connected with HIDy1?, which, according to the
usage, and the ]"|^, affligis, in ver. 7, and the *jy, in ver. 9,
can only be expounded : regarding the tribulation, thus admira
bly comporting with : upon sickness. The common exposition:
for the singing, must be abandoned as arbitrary. 3. The words,
rendered as we have done, suit exceedingly well the purport of
the Psalms which they designate. Psalm liii. is taken up with
the spiritual sickness of the sons of men. Psalm lxxxviii. is the
prayer of one visited by severe bodily sickness. — The second
addition in the superscription is TOJ^ft, a didactic Psalm,
(comp. on Psalm xxxii.) This designation has been chosen with
distinct reference to ver. 2. The Psalm aims at bringing the un-

PSALM XIV. 207
reasonable, who are there discoursed of, to sound reason. In the
Psalm itself there is a pervading change in the substitution of
Elohim everywhere for Jehovah. The reason of that is the
following : It is not to be doubted that even in Psalm xiv. the
sevenfold use of the name of God, (thrice Elohim, and four
times Jehovah,) is not accidental, especially, when the corre
sponding sevenfold number of the verses is taken into account,
which it is the evident purpose to have preserved also in Psalm
liii. where the extended superscription forms itself into a verse,
while there is found in ver. 6, (in Heb.) thrown into one verse,
what in Psalm xiv. forms two ; and when we take into account,
also, analogies, as that in Psalm xxix., where nin11 7lp recurs
seven times. Now, while in Psalm xiv. the predominating in
terest showed itself in the different names of God being used
according to their different meanings, in Psalm liii. the other
interest prevailed, which sought to render palpable the design
of the sevenfold repetition by uniformity of the name,-— a design
which was the more visibly accomplished, as the Elohim in some
of its connections, — for example, " they call not upon Elohim,"
— sounds rather oddly. — In Psalm liii. ver. 1, 7iy, crime, is sub
stituted for nVby, deed. The " deed" is justified by the con
trast with speaking in the heart ; apart from this important re
ference, 7iy, as being the stronger, is, at the same time, the
more characteristic ; so that here, as is the case also in the other
verses, each of the readings has its peculiar advantage. In ver.
3, 173 is first substituted for the simple and also clear 7^n,
while it is not quite certain how the suffix should be explained.
Then, instead of the common 7D» the very rare JD is substi
tuted, which elsewhere occurs only twice in Kal, where a word
is manifestly chosen, on account of its being, both in writing
and pronunciation, as similar as possible to the other, — just as
Jeremiah appears fond of substituting words similarly written
and spoken, to those of the original ; comp. Kiiper Ierem. libr.
sacr. interpres. p. 14. In ver. 5, for, " there were they in great
fear," we have, still with the view of enlarging and deepening
the picture, " where no fear," added ; and instead of the plain
words, " for God is in the generation of the righteous," are put
the far more emphatic and highly poeticalones, " for God scat
ters the bones of him who encamps against thee," prop, of thy
besieger. So also in ver. 6, the statement " only put to shame
the counsel of the poor, for God is his refuge," which stands so

208

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

to speak, on the defensive, is supplanted in Psalm liii, by an
other plainly offensive, and, as the form of address itself shows,
much more lively, " thou dost put to shame, for God rejects
them." Finally, in ver. 7, for the singular nyiE?1 the rarer
and more emphatic plural is substituted.
From the representation now given, it is clear that we can
never adopt any such account of the origin of the variations in
the two Psalms, as that espoused by Ewald, who supposes a
reader to have rectified for himself the text, as well as he could,
from a manuscript that had become illegible. It is not less clear,
that the variations could not have sprung from traditional usage.
They all belong to one author, who made them with careful con
sideration. That it was David himself, the superscription in
Psalm liii. appears to indicate, which ascribes the Psalm also in
that form of it to him ; and yet it will be impossible, perhaps,
to bring forward any well-grounded proof of it.
*When the collectors gave a place to both forms, the original
and the changed, they certainly acted in the mind of the author
of the changes himself, who did not intend by his form, to set
aside the other, but only claimed for it a place beside the other.
Each of the two forms has its peculiar beauties and characteris
tics, and it is most justly remarked by Venema, that " no vari
ation occurs, which does not provide a sense excellent in both
Psalms, and suited to the scope."
Ver. 1. The fool speaks in his heart, God is not — not : it is
only the fool that speaks in his heart, whosoever speaks thus in
his heart is a fool, but : the whole world is replenished with
fools, who speak, or, the fools, of whom the world'is full, speak.
The Psalmist marks the reigning folly first, after its internal
root in the mind, (Muis : orditur a fonte omnium scelerum impie-
tate,) and then passes on to describe its manifestations in deed.
7^3 stands here in its original signification, which, indeed, it
never loses, if we examine carefully. For, even when it is used of
crimes, these are still always contemplated in the light of folly.
David designates those who, with a renunciation of all fear of
God, give themselves up to unrighteousness, as blinded fools, in
silent contrast to the judgment of the world, and their own,
which. magnifies them as great spirits, and people of distinguish
ed prudence. That 7^J stands here in its original signification
appears also from the expression in ver. 4, " know they not,
which refers back to this. Their whole course is folly, because

PSALM XIV. VER. 1. 209
it proceeds upon the supposition that God is not, does not see
and recompense. It is not less apparent from the opposite
T3fc?ft in ver. 2, and from the designation of the Psalm as
VH&yft in Ps. liii. The fools ought by this Psalm to be made
wise. It is, therefore, quite wrong, when De Wette renders
723 by ungodly, and when Sachs, in bad taste also, does it by
the rogue. The pious and godly of Scripture is, at the same
time, the wise man, because his frame of mind and his conduct
proceed upon a right insight into the nature of things, and draws
them as consequences after it. But for this very reason, the
piety and godliness of Scripture are not variable ideas, but the
boundaries of both, and the qualities opposed to them continue
always strongly marked. The discourse here is not of the athe
ism of the understanding, but of the atheism of the heart, (he
speaks in his heart,) the region of which is infinitely great, as
that also of the former is, with which the world is well nigh
swallowed up, although the number of its theoretical doniers of
God is but small, and with which also the righteous has constant
ly to fight. Luther : " The prophet speaks here in the Spirit,
sees no person in an outward point of view, treads upon the
ground of the reins and hearts, and says : The fool speaks, there
is no God, not with the mouth, gesture, appearance, and other
external signs, for in such respects he often boasts before the
lovers of God, that he knows God — but in heart, that is, in his
inward sentiments. These in the ungodly are deluded, and
thence presently follows blindness of understanding, so that he
can neither think rightly of God, nor speak, nor direct his con
duct properly. Accordingly, those alone have God, who do not
believe in God with hypocritical faith. All besides are fools,
and say in their hearts : there is no God."
They are corrupt, abominable in their actions, there is none
that does good. The relation of this second part to the first
was already explained quite correctly by Luther, according to
whom " the other evil" is here described, " which is a flowing
stream, issuing with force out of the spring of unbelief."
Atheism of the heart has corruption of life for its inseparable
attendant. It is a question how H7*7y, and the corresponding
7iy in Ps. liii., is to be construed, whether, with most expositors,
as an accus. governed by IH^n^n and 1i*ynn> they make
their conduct corrupt, abominable, or as a mere appended ac
cus. which defines more narrowly the sphere of the two verbs,
p

210

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

as to action, crime, (on such accusatives, see Ewald, Small Gr.
§ 512,) as already Luther here : with their conduct, in Ps. liii.:
in their bad conduct. For the latter construction there is, first
of all, the circumstance, that the contrast between actions and
heart, which the Psalmist obviously had in view, and for ex
pressing which nS^Sy is used, becomes more prominent. Then,
according to the other construction, we should have expected
the plural with the suff, instead of the sing, without the suff.,
— comp. OniV/y in^nfcJ'n in Zeph. iii. 7. It is also a con
firmation of the same view, that flin^n has an accus. after
it only as an exception ; in the rule it stands absolutely in the
sense of acting corruptly — comp. upon this and similar verbs
in Hiph., Ewald, p. 189; but l*ynn> in the only two other
places where it occurs, 1 Kings xxi. 26, Ez. xvi. 52, has the
signification of acting abominably, not of making abominable.
Sly also, injustice, crime, does not well suit with either of the
verbs in the sense of corrupting, making abominable. That
llTn^n alludes to Gen. vi. 12, where the corruption of men
before the flood is denoted by the same word, of that we can
entertain the less doubt, as in ver. 2 a still more manifest
reference is found to that passage. Luther : " He describes
the race of the ungodly as equally corrupt then with what they
were at that time." The preterites in this verse, and the follow
ing one, are to be understood just as in Ps. xi. 4, x. 3, and to be
rendered by the present. The sense and the connection of the
Psalm are quite destroyed, if we translate with Ewald and
Hitzig : he spoke, &c.
Ver. 2. The Lord looks down from heaven upon the children
of men, that he may see whether there be one that behaves him
self wisely, that seeks God. That David represents the Lord as
looking down from heaven, and finding no fearer of God on the
earth, is done on a double account. First, the greatness and
universality of the reigning corruption are thereby well brought
out. Not merely the short-sighted eye of man, but God's all-
seeing, all- penetrating glance, can find no piety upon earth.
Michaelis : Ex infallibili dei judicio et scrutinio- This reference
is the leading one. But, at the same time, by way of contrast to
the delusion of those forgetters of God, who would shut him up
in heaven, and not let him trouble himself with earthly things,
the representation points to the fact, that his all-ruling providence
is ever active, that he continually looks out from the high watch-

PSALM XIV. VER. 2. 211
tower, the heavens, upon the actions of men, in order to hurl
down, in his own time, judgments upon the wicked— a truth full
of consolation to the fearers of God, full of terror to the ungodly.
According to the latter reference, the clause, " The Lord looks
down from heaven," forms a contrast to that, " The fool saith in
his heart, there is no God," and prepares for the catastrophe de
scribed in ver. 4 — 6. Both references were noticed by Luther :
" This is spoken against the folly of fools, who say that there is
no God. As if he would say : There is not only a God, but also
a God who sees, nay, who sees all, i. e. he penetrates all with
his eye, there is nothing too far removed, or too deeply concealed, t
which he cannot grasp. Next to this, that no one might think
that these fools, and such as corrupt their ways, were only a
handful of people, among whom alone none was to be found
who does good, he therefore extends his declaration far and wide
to all, when he says : The Lord looked down from heaven, from
thence he beholds all people upon earth, and from him no one
is concealed. So that respect is had to Gen. vi. 12, where the
whole earth is said to be corrupt." Besides this passage, there
are two others, which come into view as a type of the represen
tation given — the first of which is Gen. xi. 5, " And the Lord
came down from heaven to see the city and the tower, which
the children of men builded," from which the expression, " chil
dren of men," seems to have been derived : and the other is
Gen. xviii. 21. Very suitably is Elohim, whose existence the
ungodly deny, made to pass into Jehovah, who looks down from
heaven. They deny, forsooth, the being of a God altogether ;
but there is a living, and in the highest sense personal God, who
lives and beholds. ^'OEJ'ft, one who acts prudently, forms the
contrast to : they act corruptly, abominably, just as: God looks
down to see, stands in opposition to the fool, who says : there
is no God ; so that in this way the order of the first verse is here
reversed. TO^ft signifies, not to be prudent, and still less to
be pious, but is always used of the conduct, to act prudently,
reasonably. The wicked man, while following, instead of the
law of God, his own perverse inclinations and desires, treads
reason under foot by his actions, does in his waywardness what
profits not, and what hands him over to destruction. That the
very common phrase, D^T'X &JH7, can only signify: to seek God,
is clear from the counter expression of finding in Deut. iv. 29,
" Thou shalt find the Lord, if thou seek him with all thy heart

212

IHE BOOK OF PSALMS.

and with all thy soul," comp. Jer. xxix. 13, 2 Chron. xv. 2. To
seek God marks the desire of the heart toward him, the longing
directed upon him. The wicked do not seek God ; they flee and
shun him as their greatest enemy ; but whosoever does not seek
him, him he seeks with his punishment. The Elohim has here
already acquired the nature of a proper name. Hence the f\H,
though the article is awanting. This particle never occurs ex
cept before definite nouns. The examples of the contrary, which
Ewald still retains, drop away on closer examination.
Ver. 3. All are gone away, they are together corrupt, there is not
that does good, not even one. It may be asked, how this charge of
a corruption, extending through the whole of humanity, can be
reconciled with ver. 5, where mention is made of a righteous ge
neration. This can only be accounted for by the supposition, that
the view of the monstrous corruption, which had spread itself
among men, led the author to overlook the few righteous persons,
so that his words are to be taken with some limitation, as is done
by himself in what follows. Comp. what we have already said on a
quite similar statement in Ps. xii. Others, as Calvin, understand
by the " children of men," ver. 2, the whole of humanity in its na
tural condition, as opposed to the children of God, who, through
the Spirit, have been delivered from the general corruption. But
it is quite improbable, that tho expression, " children of men,"
should be used in this sense without being made plain by the con
trast. In regard to the substance, this view is certainly the cor
rect one; for the few righteous persons, whom the Psalmist excepts
from the corrupt mass, have become so by the grace of God. Be
sides, this must have been the case with proportionally very few,
otherwise the Psalmist could not have represented the corruption
as so all-pervading. Luther : " See how many redundant words
he uses, that he may comprehend all menin the charge, and except
none. First, he says all, afterwards once and again, that there is
not so much as one." There is an emphasis in the S^n> the all-
ness ; the whole of humanity is, as it were, a corrupt mass. The
going away receives its more immediate determination by the
contrast in which it stands with " seeking the Lord," just as the
being corrupt, and the not doing good, forms the contrast to
b''2&l2- In the delineation of the fool, godliness and immoral
conduct are constantly linked together, and in such away,indeed,
that the next pair always begins with the same member with
which the preceding one had closed. The acting prudently, an-

PSALM XIV. VER. 3, 4. 213
swers to the acting corruptly— the all going away, to the seeking
of God — the evil-doers, who eat up my people, to the being corrupt,
and no one doing good. The last member of the description :
They call not upon the Lord, corresponds to the first : He says
in his heart, There is no God. The whole chain is broken, if to
the words, " all are gone away," we supply, instead of God, from
the right way. — rbit, originally to be sour, to corrupt, here as
in Job xv. 16, in a moral sense. — At the end of this verse, some
critical helps, in particular the Cod. Vat., the LXX., and Vulgate,
introduce a longer addition, which manifestly owes its origin to
Rom. iii. 13 — 18. There other declarations from the Old Testa
ment, bearing on the same subject, are added to the citation made
from our Psalm. And while it has been overlooked, that the
Apostle does not confine his citations to our Psalm, but professes
to give passages of Scripture in general, it has been thought
that an addition should be made to the Psalm from his authority.
Ver. 4. Know not, then, all evil doers, who eat my people as
bread, who call not upon the Lord. The Psalmist begins the
second part with an expression of wonder at the great blindness
of the fools, who do not see what lies before their eyes, and
what is brought out in lively colours in ver. 5 and 6. The de
signation of the fools as evil-doers, who eat up the people of
God, and call not on the Lord, resumes the subject of ver. 1 — 3,
but substitutes, at the very first mention of the badness of their
actions generally, their shameful conduct toward the people of
God, as the species in the genus, which came particularly under
consideration, according to the design of the Psalm as unfolded
in the introduction. The " all" appears only to serve the pur
pose of joining this to the preceding context, and because of
little use, apart from this, it is dropt in Ps. liii. : Know not, then
all those evil-doers, that whole troop of miscreants. We must
not, with Claus and others, take yT precisely in the sense of
" having right understanding," being wise and prudent. The
object is rather left out in the pregnant speech, and is to be sup
plied from the context. This is everywhere, and without excep
tion, the case, where the yT appears to stand absolutely. Now,
the deficiency here is to be supplied from that, which was al
ready indicated in ver. 2, according to which the Lord from hea
ven looks upon all the children of men, and from what is ex
pressly said in ver. 5, with which tbat here may be united by a
colon. Quite correctly already Luther : " Will they then not

214

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

once perceive, that they are such people, as occasion sorrow to
themselves." The question of wonder expresses the magnitude
of their folly. The current exposition is : Will not the evil
doers repent ? But this exposition needs, in that case, a modi
fication, yn* never signifies exactly to suffer punishment, but
only to become wise through experience. Even in this sense, it
is never used quite so absolutely as it would be here. Adopting
it, we should have expected the fut. instead of the pret., which
also, several expositors, after the example of the LXX. and Vul
gate, would substitute here. And, finally, the first mentioned
exposition is doubtless occasioned by the manifest reference of
the expression : They know not, to that : the fool, in ver. 1.
Who eat up my people as bread. By *fty, the Psalmist means
the people of God, who belong to him, in so far as he does to
them, there is no ground for supposing, with Claus and others,
that Jehovah speaks ; the contrary seems to be implied by the
Lord being spoken of in the third person in the last clause, as
throughout the Psalm, indeed, he is nowhere introduced as
speaking. In the parallel passage too, of Micah iii. 3, " Who
also eat the flesh of my people," it is not Jehovah that speaks,
but the prophet, and *fty occurs likewise of the people of the
prophet twice in Isa. iii. 12. By naming the people his people,
the Psalmist shows, how much he laid the shameful conduct of
the wicked towards them to heart. In regard to the eating of
the people, it is remarked by Augustine : " Those eat the peo
ple, who draw only profit from them, and who do not employ
their station for the glory of God, and the salvation of those
over whom they are placed." The expression, " as bread," in
dicates the heartless indifference of the eaters ; he who . eats
bread, never thinks of doing any wrong by it. We must not ex
pound in this sort of way : As they eat bread — which either re
quires us to supply IJJ'JO, and that is not very happy, or sup
poses, that the comparison clause has entirely disappeared ; — on
the contrary decides the IJOp, which connects itself, not with
w^it, but with 173X, and which requires us to conceive of 1WH
as standing before ''bSH- We must rather expound : " Who eat
ing my people, eat bread, so that the people themselves are de
scribed as bread, namely, in a spiritual sense, what in spiritual
things^corresponds to bread. The exposition of Luther, Claus,
and others : Eating my people, they eat food, they find nourish
ment therein, gives a tame meaning. The simple *fttf 173K

PSALM XIV. VER. 4, 5. 215
were then more expressive. Already did Calvin remark, that
the matter in the verse suits still better to the degenerate mem
bers of the church of God, than to the heathenish enemies. The
abominableness lay precisely in this, that the shepherds spared
not their own flock, and that the subjects of Jehovah concerned
not themselves about their king. The not calling upon God, is
a description of ungodliness. For without calling upon God
it is impossible to think of any fear of God. The Psalmist here
connects impiety with unrighteousness toward men, as its inse
parable attendant, as the latter indeed springs from the former
by a sort of necessary relation. We have already pointed out,
that the words, " They call not upon the Lord," corresponds to
the earlier descriptions of ungodliness, through " saying in their
heart, There is no God, not seeking God, and turning away from
him." Ver. 5. There terror overtakes them ; for God is among the
righteous generation. Instead of there, many put then, at the
time when punishment alights on them. But the particle Q£J>
always denotes in Hebrew, the place, never, as in Arabic, the
time. Others retain the usual signification of the word, and ex
pound : there, in the very place where they have committed
their crimes, shall their punishment surprise them. It is best
explained by Calvin, who supposes that the Psalmist would here
only mark the certainty of the punishment, while he points to it,
as it were, with the finger. The 0B>, as well as the pret. 17n3>
is a testimony to the strength of the Psalmist's faith, which
placed the judgment that was to come on the wicked so
vividly before his eyes, that it seemed as if it were actually
present. The same strength of faith discovered itself also
in the question of wonder : Know they not ? in the preced
ing verse. — For God is in the righteous generation, he is
found amongst them as helper and deliverer. Falsely, Luther:
But God is in the righteous generation. God's being in
the righteous generation, is the ground of the destruction,
which he suspends over their oppressors. Hence also we must
not supply with Claus : but not with and among them, the un
godly. — After the words nnS Hn& there is added in Psalm
liii. JVPl ab nnS, where no fear was, i. e. in the midst of their
prosperity, while in a human way, perhaps, nothing of the kind
could have been looked for, suddenly. Venema: " Where
they were securely indulging themselves, there they began

216 THE BOOK OF PSALMS,
suddenly to be afraid, and so were unexpectedly overwhelmed."
Others, incorrectly, and quite unsuitably to the context : they
fall into a blind, groundless fear. The discourse here, is not of
the remorse of conscience, but of divine judgments actually
inflicted. We are not, therefore, to refer to such passages as
Lev. xxvi. 17, 36 ; Prov. xxviii. 1, where God threatens the
transgressors of his law, that they would flee when no one pur
sued them, would be frightened by the rustle of a falling leaf;
but to such passages as Job xv. 21, " The sound of terrors is in
his ears, in prosperity the destroyer shall come upon him," and
1 Thess. v. 3, " When they shall say, peace and safety, then
sudden destruction cometh on them." The sudden and unex
pected nature of the destruction of the wicked, | overtaking
them while they are still in great prosperity, is constantly
brought forward in the Psalms. It is further added in Psalm
liii. : TpH Hift^y 7TB ChStf '3. for God scatters the bones
of those who encamp against thee, substituting these words for
the last member of our verse. Tph pausalf. for TjjH, of the
besieging thee, is partic. of njn to besiege. It is generally
construed with Sy. The construction found here is to be ex
plained thus, that n^n> he who encamps, stands for : the be
sieger ; comp. *ftp for »7y D^ftp in Psalm xviii. 39. The op
pression of the pious, by the ungodly, appears here under the
image of a siege, which God raises, by shattering the besieging
enemies, so that their bones, formerly the seat of their strength,
cover the field of battle. This addition renders unquestionable
the soundness of the exposition given by us on the preceding
words. For how could these supply the ground of what hap
pens, on the supposition of its being an ungrounded fear that is
spoken of? In the midst of their security, destruction over
takes then,— for, O righteous generation, God annihilates your
adversaries. According to this view, the changes in Psalm liii.
would not touch the essential meaning. The addition : where
no fear was, serves only to complete the picture, and;is in sub
stance contained in the preceding words, where already the
state of the ungodly is described as one of such perfect security,
and untroubled prosperity, that they no longer thought there
could be a God at all. And in the second member both Psalms
contain the same fundamental thought, that God interposes for
the good of his people, against the wicked, only in Psalm liii.

PSALM XIV. VER. 6, 7. 217
the destruction wrought in their behalf is delineated in striking
colours. To the expression : he scatters the bones, there is a
verbal paral. in Psalm cxli. 7.
Ver. 6. Put only to shame the counsel of the poor, for God is
his refuge. The address is to the enemies. These the Psalmist
admonishes not to triumph too hastily, if they should succeed
in defeating the plans for delivering the oppressed servants of
God. For such joy would soon be annihilated, as they have on
their side a mighty helper, mightier than themselves. £5H3, in
Hiph. to shame, to put to shame. Various render mock only,
but this meaning is unwarranted. That the ^2 is not, after
Luther's example, to be explained by but, is obvious, and, con
sequently, it is certain that we must render, not : ye shame,
but: shame only, I will not hinder you in that. The ''2 indi
cates the ground, on account of which the enemies might al
ways put to shame the counsels of the poor. In Psalm liii.
we have, corresponding to these words, 0^7^ *3 ir\W21
DDXft, thou shamest, viz. thine enemy, him who encamps
against thee, (the naming of the object was unnecessary, be
cause sufficiently plain from the preceding context,) for the
Lord has rejected them. The righteous man, or the righteous
generation, is addressed, to which also the Ipn had been direct
ed. As regards the meaning, these words are quite of one im
port with ours. Both passages unfold the firm hope of delive
rance, on the ground that the Lord could not fail to give to
righteousness the victory over wickedness.
Ver. 7. The Psalmist closes by expressing his desire after the
salvation of God, promised in the preceding context, through
the destruction of the church's enemies. Oh that the salvation
of Israel were come out of Zion, and the Lord returned to the
imprisonment of his people ! Then let Jacob rejoice and Israel
be glad. The first clause is literally : Who will give from Zion
the deliverance of Israel ? The jJV *ft, who will give, is con
fessedly used instead of the optative, as if it were : might it but
come. From Zion, because there the Lord was enthroned in
his sanctuary, as king of his people. It is quite erroneously
supposed by De Wette, that the Psalmist must have been far
from his native land, and looking towards it. The expectation
of help from Zion, is found continually in those Psalms, which
were unquestionably David's, or those, at least, which were cer
tainly composed before the captivity ; comp. for example, Psalm

218 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
iii. 4 ; xxviii. 2 ; xx. 2 ; cxxviii. 5 ; cxxxiv. 3. While the pious
Psalmist utters this expectation, he thereby reminds God, that
it is his obligation to help, since, as the head of the Divine
kingdom, he could not abandon this to the devastations of
the impious. If the Psalm had belonged to the period of
the captivity, the Psalmist could not have looked for salvation
from Zion. For the kingdom of God had no longer its centre
there, after the prostration of the temple, as was indicated
by Ezekiel, ch. xi. 22, when he caused the Shekinah, the sym
bol of God's indwelling presence, solemnly to depart from the
temple. When Daniel also, after the destruction of the temple,
turned his face in prayer toward Jerusalem, he did so only in
reference to what had once been there, and what should be
there again. He did not expect help out of Zion, but he di
rected his face thither, simply because, in his view, the city was
holy, where the temple had stood, and where again a temple
was to be reared. The only passage that De Wette makes avail
able as a proof, that, even in exile, help was expected out of
Zion, is Ps. cxxi. 1, and this becomes so only on the arbitrary
supposition, that the Psalm belongs to the times of the capti
vity, the groundlessness of which is proved by the very com
mencement : I lift mine eyes to the hills, from whence cometh
my help. So here also the words themselves show that the
Psalm could not have been composed, according to the modern
hypothesis, in exile, and every interpretation of the following
words, which proceeds upon that hypothesis, must appear quite
unsuitable. The words : in the returning of the Lord to the im
prisonment of his people, announce more immediately the way
and manner in which the salvation of Israel should come out of
Zion. It comes thus, that the Lord, who is throned in Zion, has
compassion on the misery of his people, and returns to them in
the manifestations of his grace. Modern commentators for the
most part expound: when the Lord brings back the prisoners of
his people. They then draw from this a proof that the Psalm
could not be the production of David, but must have been com
posed during the captivity. Others, who still ascribe it to David,
have been led by this to consider our verse as a later addition,
which was done also by the author, Beitr., i. p. 142, — a supposi
tion which is the less probable as this verse is found also in Ps.
liii., and as thereby the sevenfold use of the name of God would
be lost. But the whole exposition is demonstrably false ; for,

PSALM XIV. VER. 7. 219
1. 2)& never has the signification of bringing back, it never is
used intransitively, but always means to return, comp. Beitr. ii.
p. 104. 2. It is alleged, without the least proof, that fllltJ'
signifies the prisoners, since, wherever it occurs, excepting in
this form of expression, it rather denotes the captivity, the state
of confinement. 3. The whole form of expression is unques
tionably used in many other places, in a general way, for show
ing favour, — imprisonment, captivity, an image of misery, as very
often the prison, Ps. cxlii. 7, bands, cords, comp. for example,
Isa. xiii. 7; xlix. 9, &c. So Job xiii. 10, " And the Lord turned
the captivity (prop., turned himself to the prison) of Job,"
though, certainly, Job was never confined. Then Jer. xxx. 18,
" I turn myself to the captivity of Jacob's tents," for : to their
mournful condition, as the tents cannot be considered there as
imprisoned. Ez. xvi. 53, " I will return to their captivity, the
captivity of Sodom and her daughters," &c. ; q. d. I will exer
cise compassion on their misery, for certainly Sodom and the
other cities of the plain of Jordan were not carried away into
captivity, but were wholly annihilated, comp. the investigations
in my Beitr. P. ii. p. 104, ss. On the other hand, there is not
to be found one place in which the form of expression was un
questionably used in reference to the exiles. 4. The original
ground of all the passages where this expression occurs is that
of Deut. xxx. 3, " And the Lord thy God returns to thy prison-
house, or captivity." But that there 2)& is employed in its
common signification of returning, and has the object of the re
turn beside it in the accus. is clear as day. In ver. 1 — 6 alone
the word occurs no fewer than six times : of these it is generally
admitted to be five times used in the sense of returning, and
how then should it now alone signify to bring back ? Now, if
we add to this the special grounds which, in our Psalm, declare
against the reference to the bringing back from captivity, — the
desire of help from Zion, and the whole matter of the rest of
the Psalm, which does not contain the slightest allusion to the
times of the captivity, but rather turns on relations of a general
kind, common to all ages, and, finally, the superscription, we
cannot entertain the least doubt of the alone correctness of the
exposition, which renders : when the Lord returns to the capti
vity, i. e. the misery of his people, (the accus. being used, as is
customary in verbs of motion, comp. Ex. iv. 19, 20, Numb. x.
36, Ps. lxxxv. 4, Nah. ii. 3.) But to wish that the Lord might

220 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
have compassion on the poor of his flock, there was so much the
more occasion for David doing it, in a Psalm composed for the
general use of the pious of all ages, the greater the deliverances
were which he himself had experienced in the times of Saul and
Absalom. The wish here expressed found its highest fulfilment
in Christ, and this also is to reach its highest stage of develop
ment in the future, when the triumphant church shall take the
place of the militant. Till then we shall have occasion enough
to make the wish of the pious Psalmist our own. Amid the joy
which arises from the lower fulfilments, the longing after the
last and highest can never be extinguished. 7J* and nftt?*, on
account of the form of the first, and a comparison with Ps. xiii.
6, — from similarity to which this Psalm, in all probability, owes
its position — are to be taken as a wish and demand : then let
Jacob exult, let Israel rejoice.

PSALM XV.
In this Psalm the question is answered, what must be the
moral condition of the man who would be a true servant of the
Lord, and a partaker of his grace. First, the question is put :
Who is loved and esteemed by God ? ver. 1. Then comes the
answer, in two strophes of two verses, each of three members,
ver. 2, 3, and 4, 5, in which the first verse of both strophes de
scribes the nature of piety positively, the second negatively.
The Psalm concludes with a declaration, pointing to the begin
ning, that he who acts such a part may comfort himself with the
help of God.
The greater part of expositors suppose that David had com
posed this Psalm when the ark of the covenant was transferred
to Zion, comp. 2 Sam. vi. 12, ss., 1 Chron. xvi. 1, ss., with the
view of stirring up the people, by this occasion, to the true
honouring of God, to genuine righteousness. Though this trans
action afforded a suitable occasion, yet, in the Psalm itself, there
is nothing which necessarily refers to that, and we should have
regarded the supposition as a mere uncertain hypothesis, if the
xxiv. Psalm, which coincides in a very striking manner with
this, had not been undoubtly occasioned by the circumstance
in question.
Notwithstanding the simply positive aspect of the Psalm,

PSALM XV. VER. 1. 221
when formally considered, it still has an unquestionably polemi
cal reference ; it brings out the purely moral and internal pro
perties of the man who is a member of God's kingdom, in con
trast with the delusion of the hypocrite, who thinks himself
secure of God's favour through the possession of externals, and
the observance of ceremonies. This was perceived by Luther :
" But this Psalm strikes against the lovers of outward show.
For the Jews boasted themselves over all other people, on the
two grounds, that they alone were the seed of the Fathers, and
alone possessed the law of God." It is in perfect accordance
with the occasion that the contrast with a mere outward service
should have been brought prominently into view. David might
have wished to meet, at the very threshold, the errors which
were so apt to arise on the revived state of the worship, as con
nected with the removal of the ark to Zion. It is only when
viewed in respect to such a polemical design that the subject
of the Psalm can be rightly apprehended. The pressing simply
of the commands of the second table admits of explanation, no
otherwise than by supposing a contrast with hypocrites to be
drawn. The Psalm most probably owes its position after the xiv., to
an internal reference which its subject bears to the other.
Luther already remarks : " This Psalm follows the preceding
one in the finest order. For, just as in that the form and
pattern of the ungodly has been described, so now in this the
pattern of the godly is described." This delineation of the
righteous was with the more propriety made to follow Ps. xiv.,
as mention there occurs of a " righteous generation," which
might console itself with the sure hope of God's help. It was
important that every one should thereupon clearly understand
what really constituted one a member of that righteous genera
tion. That David was the author of the Psalm appears, not only
from the superscription and a comparison with Psalm xxiv., but
also from ver. 1. The mention of the tabernacle of God in this
verse does not permit us to come lower than the times of David.
Hitzig, indeed, maintains that the name tabernacle was some
times applied to the temple of Solomon : but this is in itself
very improbable, and no satisfactory proof can be brought in
support of it.
Ver. 1. Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle, who dwell on

222 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
thy holy hill ? The sum, says Calvin, is this, that access to God
lies open to none but his pure worshippers. The representation
in the verse is a figurative one. The holy hill of God appears
as a place of refuge, his sacred tabernacle as a hospitable tent,
in which he receives his people to himself. Parallel passages,
in which precisely the same figurative representation prevails,
and no reference whatever is found to the outward worship of
God, are Psalm v. 4, " The wicked shall not dwell with thee ;"
Psalm xxiii. 6, " I shall dwell in the house of the Lord all my
days ;" Psalm xxvii. 5 ; " He shall hide me in his pavilion in the
day of trouble;" Psalm xxiv. 3; lxi. 4, comp. Christol. P. II. p.
447. The image in all these places is taken from one who is re
ceived by another into his dwelling, or his possession. This
kindness can be experienced from God only by those who are
not excluded, on account of their unholiness, from his sacred
presence, as is here indicated by the expression, " on thy holy
hill," and even, indeed, by the emphatic suffix, " in thy taber
nacle." The majority of modern expositors have misunderstood
this figurative representation, occasioned probably by the exter
nal approach of great multitudes to the tabernacle of the Lord.
Hence have arisen such expositions as those of De Wette,
Maurer, and others, that the abiding and the dwelling imply
here nothing but a frequent approach : as if it had been, who
can, or who is worthy to abide ? But such a method of exposi
tion is as little accordant with the words of our text as with
the parallel passages. These plainly show that the discourse
here is of a continual social dwelling with 'God, which the
righteous man enjoys, or that the dwelling with God is only an
image of the confiding trust which is referred to at the close of
the Psalm, where " the never being moved" is made to corre
spond to the " dwelling in the house of the Lord." Venema :
" The answer given in the conclusion cannot be different from
the thing sought." Dwelling with God marks, indeed, confi
dence and intimacy, but protection and stability are a necessary
consequence of it. The futures are accordingly to be taken as
proper futures, as it depends only upon the Lord, who is to be
admitted into this confidential state. Who shall dwell — whom
wilt thou permit, or to whom wilt thou grant the favour, that
he should dwell with the ? That the ground was already laid
for this figurative representation in the law, where the sacred
tabernacle, by its very name, " the tabernacle of convocation,"

PSALM XV- VER. 1. 223
or meeting, is pointed out as the place where God was to hold
fellowship with his people, and that hence, in Lev. xvi. 6, tho
Israelites are regarded as dwelling with God in his holy taber
nacle, with all their sins, involving the necessity of an atone
ment, has been shown in my Beitr., vol. iii. p. 628. The re
presentation runs even into the New Testament. In Matt, xxiii.
21, the temple appears as the spiritual dwelling-place of God,
and in Eph. ii. 19, the members of God's kingdom are called
o/Wo/ roD ©eoS, inmates of God's house. — 71JI never signifies to
dwell in general, but always specially to dwell as a guest and
sojourner. The expression is to be primarily explained from
the image of a rich and powerful man, who hospitably receives
a poor stranger into his tent, an image which is more distinctly
brought out in Psalm xxvii. 5. .But the substance of the figure
stands in this, that our dwelling with God is only after the
manner of guests, that we are not born and rightful inmates of
his house, but have become so merely through grace. That the
figure is not carried too far, — that it must not be explained :
whom dost thou receive to thyself, as one who receives a stran
ger into his tent, but only : who dwells in thy tabernacle as a
stranger, that has been received by some potentate of earth, is
clear from the expression, " on thy holy hill," which corresponds
to " thy tabernacle." At the same time, the mention of the
holy hill, by which nothing but Zion can be understood, shows
that the tabernacle of God is not the old Mosaic tabernacle,
which was then standing without the ark of the covenant on
Gibeon, comp. 1 Chron. xvi. 39, 2 Chron. i. 3, 5, but the tent,
which David had prepared for the ark on Zion, comp. 2 Sam. vi.
17, 1 Chron. xv. 1, xvi. 1, 2 Chron. i. 4. Nowhere, indeed, have
the Psalms any thing to do with that old tabernacle at Gibeon,
that shell without a kernel, but always where they speak of the
sanctuary of the Lord, that upon Zion is the one referred to.
The question regarding the qualifications for an interest in the
kingdom of God, which the Psalmist here addresses to the Lord,
he answers in the following verses before the Lord, according to
his mind, and through his Spirit. It is just for the purpose of
showing this, of showing that the settlement of the matter be
longs to God and to him, who speaks in God's name, that he has
addressed the question to the Lord. Those who suppose that
the Psalmist puts the question in ver. 1, while in ver. 2—5 God

224 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
answers, have in point of form judged wrong, but correctly as
to the substance.
Ver. 2. He who walks blamelessly, and works righteousness,
and speaks truth in his heart. We must explain : walking in,
for as a blameless person. In Ps. Ixxxiv. 11, LVftl"Q ^\bl,
walking in an unblameable, stands for as an unblameable. De
Wette and Maurer would take D^ftn as a substantive, standing
in the accus., but it is never so found, not even in Josh. xxiv. 14 ;
and the supposition is opposed by the original passage, which
the Psalmist seems to have had in his eye, Gen. xvii. 1, where
God says to Abram, "Walk before me, and be thou unblameable."
We may consider the words : who walks unblameably, as the ge
neral sentiment, which is applied in the second member to the
deeds, and in the third, to the words and thoughts. On the ex
pression, " And works righteousness," Luther remarks : " As if
he would say, Not on this account, because thou art a priest, or
a holy monk; not on this account, because thou prayest much, be
cause thou dost miracles, because thou teachest admirably, be
cause thou art dignified with the title of Father, nor, finally,
because of any particular work, except righteousness, shalt tbou
dwell upon the holy hill of God." This is a sound exposition.
The Psalmist had not, indeed, the particular kinds of false con
ceit before his eyes which are specified by Luther, but he cer
tainly had the genus under which they are comprehended. In
reference to theexclusive mention of works, which also frequently
occurs in the New Testament, for example Matt, xxv., it is re
marked by the same reformer: " And indeed it is worthy of no
tice that he draws the likeness of a pious people, without showing
whence such was to come or be derived. Hence, it is true that
a foolish person may apply all that is written in this Psalm to
the moral virtues and free-will, though it is, in whole and in
part, a work of the grace of God, which he works in us." That
the Psalmist speaks merely of the works of the second table,
arises from this, that he would distinguish the true members of
the church from hypocrites, who have a thousand ways of coun
terfeiting the works of the first table. This Calvin notices : " Faith,
calling upon God, spiritual sacrifices are by no means excluded
by David; but because hypocrites seek to exalt themselves by
many ceremonies, though their impiety is still rendered manifest
by their outward walk, which is full of pride, cruelty, violence,

PSALM XV. VER. 2, 3. 225
fraud, and such things, the proof of sincere and genuine faith
is therefore sought in the second table of the law, that such de
ceivers might be exposed. For just as men practise justice and
equity with their neighbours, do they in reality show them
selves to be fearers of God." But of what sort the righteous
ness is, which the Psalmist requires,— that it consists, not like
that of the Pharisees, in appearance, but in living reality, that it
requires the most thorough agreement, not of the external ac
tions merely, but of the heart, with the law of God, is very
strikingly expressed in the last clause : " Who speaks truth in
his heart." The words, " in the heart," show that the discourse
here is of internal purity and truth, to which the truth that is
outwardly expressed by the lips, is related as streams to the
fountainhead. This reference to the heart goes through the
whole Psalm, and excludes all, who give only an outward satis
faction to its requirements, from any interest in its promises.
where, in one feature of the delineation, express allusion is
made to the heart, there in the others, words and deeds can only
so far come into consideration, as they proceed from a pure and
spiritual mind ; as it is only then also, where this is the case,
that words and deeds can be sure and abiding. " Hypocrites,"
says Luther, " can do much, or even the whole of this in ap
pearance for a time, but in a time of evil they do the reverse."
Ver. 3. As the Psalmist, in the preceding verse, had men
tioned some gifts which the true members of the church must
possess, so here, he points to certain faults from which they
must be free. In regard to the construction, this verse, like the
following ones, is quite complete of itself. He slanders not with
his tongue. 7J7 occurs frequently in Piel, in Kal, only here.
Derived from bi1> foot, it properly means, to go hither and
thither, whence the signification of spying out, babbling to and
fro, slandering, very naturally arises. The tongue stands op
posed to the heart. Here also we are presented with the tri
logy of thought, word and deed, which runs through the Deca
logue. The preposition 7y is to be explained by the circum
stance, that the tongue forms, as it were, the substratum of ca
lumnies. Quite analogous is the expression in Gen. xxvii. 40,
" Upon thy sword shalt thou live," comp. also Isa. xxxviii. 16-
There is an allusion to the passage in Lev. xix. 16, "Thou
shalt not go up and down as a tale-bearer, 7*37— 737= 7i7 —
Q

226 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
among thy people." He does not evil to his friend, and does not
take up a reproach against his neighbour. The words my77
and 137p 7y are used with peculiar emphasis. They imply,
how improper it would be to act injuriously toward those who
are united to us by so many ties. As this idea is so evidently
implied, it is not advisable to take the two words, with Kim'chi
and others, in the most general sense for any one, with whom
we have to do : what the latter, indeed, cannot' properly signify.
They both point to everything through which the members of
the church of God have been bound together, not merely the
general relation of man to man, but also the common bodily and
spiritual derivation, through which they have, in a double sense,
become brethren. It is the latter which is peculiarly pointed to
in alb the laws of the Pentateuch, referring to the injury of
neighbours. Israel constantly appears as a people of brethren,
every violation of the neighbourly relation, as an unnatural
crime, a condition of things, which' again occurs among Chris
tians in a higher form. Comp, also, Ex. xxxii. 27, where y7
and 317p are found united as here, and where the exposition :
Every one with whom we have to do, cannot be thought of.
NBO cannot be taken here in the sense of uttering, which most
interpreters give it, as the subjoined 7y sufficiently shows, but
must have the signification tollere, therefore properly: Who does
not take up, or raise a reproach against his neighbour. Consi
dered more narrowly, we find, that the word may well enough
signify to originate, but never to utter. In Ex. xxiii. 1, to which
reference is here made, the proper reading is, " Thou shalt not
raise a false report," the raising standing in contrast to the per
petuating, a contrast which exists also here. That N£J>ft, which
is commonly derived from X£JO, in the sense of speaking forth,
uttering, signifies, not a speech, but a burden, has been proved
in my Christology, P. ii. p. 102. With 7y, the verb often oc
curs in the sense of lifting on any one, for example, 2 Kings ix.
25, " The Lord lifted or laid on him this burden," Gen. xxxi. 17.
Reproach is considered as a burden, which the person who
spreads the slander, instead of allowing to lie, heaves on his
neighbour. Ver. 4. In his eyes the rejected. is despised, but he honours them
that fear the Lord. DKft} is either, the to be rejected, the vile,
or he whom God has rejected. The latter exposition is to be
preferred*, because of the contrast it presents with the " honour-

PSALM XV. VER. 4. 227
mg of the Lord" in the following member, and because of the
parallel passage in Jer. vi. 30, where it is said of wicked princes,
" They are reprobate silver, for the Lord has rejected them."
The sense is therefore given by Luther : " The righteous One is
no regarder of persons, he considers not how holy, learned, pow
erful, any one may be. If he sees virtue in him, he then ho
nours him, even though he should be a beggar ; but if he does
not see that in him, he accounts him as an evil person of no va
lue, tells him so, punishes him. Thou despisest, says he, God's
word, thou revilest thy neighbour, therefore will I not be en
tangled with thee." Hitzig has revived another exposition, al
ready adopted by some old commentators (Chal. Abenezra) : " Who
despises, who is little in his own eyes." The deepest humility and
abasement would then be given as a mark of a true honourer of
the Lord, as was beautifully described by David in 2 Sam. vi, 22.
But this exposition has already been set aside by the remark of
Calvin, that besides the harshness of the asyndeton, the manifest
contrast, in which the two members stand, decides against it.
Just as : He despises, stands opposed to : He honours, so must
DXftJ form the opposite to the fearers of God. The discourse
here, therefore, can only be of the right position of a man to
ward the different classes of his fellow-men, or rather of his
fellow-members, which the fearer of God attains, because of his
eye being pure, because of his heart being drawn only to that
with which he stands related, only to what has its origin in God,
while it shuns, as a denying of the Lord, the external recogni
tion of those, from whom one internally differs, and an external
separation from those with whom one is internally united. The ¦
exposition of Jarchi were less objectionable: The despicable is in
his eyes rejected ; although this also lies open to the objection,
that the despising forms a more suitable contrast to the honour
ing, than the rejecting, and that the despised can scarcely, with
out some addition, stand for despicable. In reference to this :
He honours them that fear the Lord — who are to be regarded
also as honoured by God, from the contrast with : The rejected
or despised by God — Calvin remarks: " It is no common virtue
to honour pious and godly men. For since they are often as the
offscouring of the world, it not unfrequently happens, that their
friends also draw its hatred upon them. Hence, most men re
ject their friendship, and suffer them to remain in dishonour,
which cannot be done without, great and dreadful offence to God."

228 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
He stuears to his own hurt, and exchanges not. Following
the LXX. who pointed yTT7> Luther has : who swears to his
neighbour. De Wette, Gesenius, and others, expound : " he
swears to the wicked, and changes not," i. e., even the promises
which he made to the ungodly, he fulfils with inviolable inte
grity. According to this exposition., y7n7 is the same as y77
with n dropt. The article. is indeed commonly dropt after 3, 2,
7, but in particular cases it has been retained, comp. the ex.
in Ewald, p. 175. These cases nearly all belong to a later age,
and are taken from Nehemiah, Chronicles, Ezekiel, when the
language, gradually falling into disuse, was again written accor
ding to the etymology, although one instance does occur in the
Psalms of David, fi*ft&J>n3- Apart from the consideration,
however, that we should only be justified in admitting here so
rare a form, if no other suitable exposition presented itself, the
sense yielded by this exposition is by no means a suitable one.
For who could properly seek to get rid of an oath, on the pre
text, that he to whom it was made, was not a virtuous man ?
Then, it also decides against this exposition, that it destroys
the connection which so manifestly exists, between this passage
and Lev. v. 4, — which is the less uncertain, as the Psalm has
throughout, so close a bearing on the law, so that we must
cast about for another interpretation. The form y7n7, in all
the places where it occurs, and these are many, is inf. in Hiph.
with 7 of the verb yi7, to do ill, to bring hurt, to hurt., So it
is found, particularly in Lev. v. 4, where the discourse is of
a hasty oath: 3*ft*n7 IK y7?"I7, for hurt, or for benefit. '
Hence : he swears for hurt, and exchanges not, must mean : "
when he happens to have made a promise or oath, which tends
to his hurt, he still most religiously fulfils it. " Hence," Calvin
remarks, " arises such lawless perfidy among men, because they
conceive themselves to be no further bound by their pledged
word, than may be for their profit. Therefore David, while
he condemns that levity, demands of the children of God an
other sort of stedfastness in their promises." The objection,
that the person must be more exactly determined, who is affect
ed by the hurt, is inconsiderable. He who was to suffer damage
by the oath, is so perfectly obvious, that no further description
was necessary. 7*ftn, may, properly enough, be taken in its
common signification, of exchanging, or putting something else

PSALM XV. VER. 5, 229
in the place of; and there is no reason for substituting for this,
the sense of not keeping or breaking. He exchanges not, is as
if it was : he gives what he has vowed, and puts nothing else in
its place. Luther remarks, quite in the spirit of the Psalmist :
" I believe that what the prophet here says of keeping an oath
is to be understood also of every sort of promise. For its object
is to inculcate truth and fidelity among men. But it makes
special mention of the oath, because, in a pre-eminent way, good
faith is thereby either kept or broken."
Ver. 5. He gives not his gold to usury. The Mosaic law for
bids the lending of money for interest to an Israelite, Ex. xxii.
25 ; Lev. xxv. 37 ; Deut. xxiii. 19 ; Prov. xxviii. 8 ; Ez. xviii. 8.
In several of the passages referred to, it is expressly supposed
that money is lent only to the poor — a supposition which has
its ground in the simple relations of the Mosaic times, in which
lending, for the purpose of speculation and gain, had no exist
ence. Such lending ought only to be a work of brotherly love,
and it is a great violation of that, if any one, instead of helping
his neighbour, takes advantage of his need to bring him into
still greater straits. The Mosaic regulation in question has ac
cordingly its import also for New Testament times. With the
interest-lending for capitalists, who borrow for speculation, it
has nothing to do. This belongs to a quite different region, as
is implied even by the name Iffl J, a mordendo, according to
which only such usury can be meant as plagues and impoverishes
a neighbour. By unseasonable comparison with our modes of
speech, many would expound : his money he puts not to interest.
That the jnj signifies here to give, not to put, is shown by np7
in the next member ; the improper giving, and the improper
taking, are placed parallel to each other. 7^3 cannot signify :
upon usury, but only : for usury ; the 3 is currently used in re
gard to the payment of a price, Ewald, p. 607. Opposed to the
giving for usury is the giving gratis, whether in loan or as a
present, comp. Prov. xxviii. 8. There is a reference in words
and even in letters to Lev. xxv. 37, " Thou shalt not give thy
money for usury." And he takes not a present against the in
nocent ; when he has to give judgment on a cause, he does not
permit himself to be seduced by bribes from the rich and power
ful to an unrighteous decision*. This also is marked in the law
of Moses as a great crime, Ex. xxiii. 6 ; Deut. xvi. 19, " Thou
shalt not respect persons, neither tako a gift ; for a gift doth

230 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the right
eous ;" xxvii. 25, " Cursed be he that taketh reward to slay an
innocent person." From these two passages the words before
us are literally taken. The last words : he who does this shall
never be moved, are parallel to the first, " he shall abide," &c,
For he whom the Lord takes into his house as a member is
secure against all the storms of misfortune. Psalm lv. 23 may
be compared as parallel. De Wette's words : " for, according to
the notions of the Jews, the pious, as such, is prosperous," may
be allowed to pass, if only the addition is permitted : as also to
those of Christians.

PSALM XVI.
The substance of this Psalm is comprised in its very first
words, " Preserve me, O God, for in thee do I put my trust ;"
all, besides, presently appears as a development of this thought,
so soon as it is observed that the preserve me, to which also the
briefness of the prayer points, has for its foundation the confi
dent hope of such preservation, and includes within it, Thou wilt
preserve me.
The first words embody a twofold idea : they express the
Psalmist's confidence in the Lord, or that the Lord is his confi
dence and salvation, and they ground upon this his preservation
amid the dangers by which the Psalmist was surrounded. Both
elements appear also among us in the same connection, for ex
ample, in the declaration, " Jesus is my confidence and my sal
vation in life ; this I know ; must I not therefore take comfort?
And why also should I brood over the long night of death ?
The farther development of the first idea, which respects the
trusting in God, is contained in ver. 2 — 7. He recognises in
Jehovah the only Lord of all things, without whom nothing can
help, with whom nothing can injure, the sole author of his sal
vation, with the whole community of the Lord, to which he at
taches himself with inward love, ver. 2, 3.
He turns away with abhorrence from the other gods, from
which the world seeks salvation, purchasing by their sacrifices
pain instead of the desired salvation ; he finds his salvation in
the Lord, who prepares for him a glorious portion, ver. 4, 5.
He accounts himself blessed in the possession of this inheri-

PSALM XVI. 231
tance, or of the Lord with his goods and gifts, and is full of gra
titude to the Lord, who has laid open to him the way to such an
inheritance, ver. 6, 7.
The development of the second idea, of the : Preserve me, 0
God, the representation of the hope growing out of the confi
dence already expressed, is given in ver. 8 — 11.
His hopeful eye is in the time of trouble directed upon the
Lord ; for he, his Saviour, will not permit him to go down.
Therefore is his heart full of joy at the emerging deliverance,
and of this he reckons himself quite certain, ver. 8, 9.
For God, his Saviour, will not give up him, his pious one, to
death — confiding in him, he shall exclaim, Death, where is thy ¦
sting, Grave, where is thy victory ? — he will endow him with
life, joy, and salvation, ver. 10, 11.
The strophe-division rises to view of itself from the represen
tation of the contents just given. The first verse, which pos
sesses an introductory character, contains the quintessence of the
subject ; it stands by itself. The rest has its regular course in
strophes of two verses each. Apart from the introduction, the
whole is completed in ten verses ; and the ten is subdivided into
five. The superscription names David as the author, and even De
Wette cannot help remarking that " there is no decided reason
for the contrary." The originality of the superscription is con
firmed by the circumstance that Dfi3ft occurs only in super
scriptions of the Psalms which are marked with the name of
David, a fact not easily accounted for on the supposition of those
who hold the superscriptions to be the productions of a later col
lector. The character also of this designation, which has quite
an enigmatical aspect, is what David was peculiarly fond of in
his superscriptions. Its correctness is further confirmed by the
remarkable coincidences with other Psalms of David, which we
meet with here, comp. ver. 1 with vii. 1, xi. 1 ; ver. 5 with xi. 6 ;
ver. 8 with xv. 5, x. 6 ; ver. 11 with xvii. 15. We call attention
also to such purely Davidic phrases as " my glory," in ver. 9
(comp. on vii. 6), " dwell confidently," in ver. 9, comp. with iv.
8 ; " with thy countenance," in ver. 11, comp. with xxi. 6 ; and
" by thy right hand," in ver. 11, comp. xvii. 7.
The situation of the speaker is that of one who finds himself
in great danger, and is in prospect of death. But this danger
is nowhere particularly specified ; it is only indicated by the

232 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
most general circumstances ; and this alone renders it probable
that David had composed the Psalm, not so much in his own
person as in that of the pious man in general ; that he presented
here for the feelings of such an one a mirror, in which all pious
men might recognise themselves — a pattern after which they
might conform themselves, not as if for that purpose he trans
ported himself into a situation and frame of mind quite foreign
to himself, but only that he, drawing from the source of his
natural experience, just extended his consciousness so as to em
brace that of the pious at large. This supposition is raised into
certainty, when we ascertain the correct reading in ver. 10 to
be " thy holy ones." For this puts it beyond a doubt that the
person who speaks in this Psalm is an ideal one, comprehending
in the personality a manifold variety, and that every pious man
should find himself represented in it, and by its help should
rise, by means of his confidence in God, to the expectation of
hope. A secret of David. On3ft is very variously expounded.
Many of the older translators (Chald., Aq., Symm.) considered
it as a compound word, and this has recently found a supporter
in Vorstmann, in his laborious commentary on this Psalm, Haag
1829. The word according to him is=On 7ft, probably falsely
pointed, and he expounds : The distressed, delivered. This ex
planation has something, at first sight, that recommends it ; for
such enigmatical designations of the subject in the superscrip
tions are quite in the manner of David, and such a superscrip
tion as that just given, suits admirably to the subject of the
Psalms where it occurs, which comprehend, along with this, Ps.
lvi. — lx. But to say nothing of the punctuation, and the fact,
that On is always used in a moral sense, it is decisive against
this view, that Qn3ft never occurs along with 71ftTft- Psalm,
or with 7l,32'ft, didactic Psalm, or even with n7fin. prayer, but
always stands in a similar position to these words, either before
the 7177 or after it (the same change is found in the use of
71ft?ft, see for ex. Ps. xxiii., xxiv.) Precisely as we have here
7177 DH3ft. wc have in Ps. xvii. 7*77 n73n. from which it
clearly appears that the word before us must stand upon one
line with these others. Some again derive it from Qn3: gold.
So Aben Ezra, who says that the Psalm has been thus named
because us excellence is like the best gold. Luther : A golden
jewel. Similar designations also occur elsewhere. Among the

psalm xvi. 233
Arabians, the seven pre-Mohammedan poems, known under the
name of Moallakat, are also called, on account of their excellence,
Modhahabat, that is, golden. Further, among them the proverbs
of AUi are for the same reason named, the.gold of morals. Among
the Greeks we find the golden verses of Pythagoras. But it is to
be objected to this exposition, that scarcely can a noun be pointed
out with ft, which borrowed its signification merely from a de
rivative noun, without respect to the literal idea, and especially
from such an one as occurs only in poetry. Others, for example
Gesenius, in his Thes., take Dfi3ft as = 3H3ft. writing, which
is used in Isa. xxxviii. 9, in the superscription of Hezekiah's
song of praise. But this view also is to be rejected, on the
ground that the roots QH3 and 3fi3 are strongly separated
from each other in the Semitish dialects, no trace being found
of their intermixture, and still more decidedly, because writing
is expressive of nothing, and the predilection of David for this
designation, as also the circumstance that it is peculiar to him
alone, cannot then be explained. Others, as Hitzig, take the
word in the sense of jewel, from Dn3> to which they give the
meaning of carefully preserving. The verb, however, never has
this signification, but only : to conceal, to cover, to secrete. In
the same signification it occurs in Arabic ; the Syriac significa
tion of sealing up, and staining, and disfiguring (comp. in refe
rence to the latter, the &<pavi£si]> in Matt. vi. 16,) are only derived
ones from it. In Hebrew it occurs in Jer. ii. 22, " though thou
wash thyself ever so much, yet is thine iniquity marked before
me," and in Dn3» gold) prop, the covered, comp. 71JD in Job
xxviii. 15. Hence would the word Dn3ft5 properly first form
ed by David, mean a secret = a song with a deep import.
Understood in this sense, the designation is in the highest de
gree suitable. Like the Psalm itself, how does it conduct us
into the secret — the full depths of , the divine life, how deeply
mystical is its very language ! Its whole subject is quite dark
to those who are not experienced in the ways of the Lord.
Besides, we should, greatly err did we suppose that David,
when he gave to many Psalms, in the superscription, the predi
cate of the secret, denied that character to the rest. It is rather
common to them all, and is ascribed to some particular ones,
only because they arc parts of the whole, and such, unquestion
ably, as peculiarly possess the property in question. The same
also holds good, for example, of the name 7*3^, didactive

234

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

Psalm. We must everywhere understand it positively, not ex
clusively. All the Psalms are didactive, and in many this cha
racter is even more prominently displayed than in those which
are expressly called such, so that there was no need for any
N. B. in the superscription about it. From the above remarks,
the Michtam in the superscription is like a procul profani ; it
proclaims, at the very outset, to the readers, " 0 the heights
and the depths which the Spirit of God alone can reveal !" The
connection between this word and the 3n3ft, in Isa. xxxviii.,
does not need to be wholly given up. It is not improbable that
the latter forms the groundwork of our designation, and that
David only, by the change of a letter, transformed a word from
a very common meaning, into a similar one of deeper significa
tion. Ver. 1. Preserve me, O God, for in thee do I put my trust.
What an infinite richness of matter these simple words contain
in themselves, appears from the following illustration. On the
words, " preserve me, 0 God," Luther remarks : " He here be
gins like a man who sees his destruction before his eyes, who is.
abandoned by all, and must presently die. Such a man would
speak in the following manner : Behold, I must die, my strength
is departed from me, angels and men have forsaken me, nay,
devils and men seek to devour me. I cannot escape, no one
cares for my soul, every one already looks on me as lost, and
counts me for dead. Therefore, Lord, thou alone art my pre
server and my deliverer, thou, who savest him that has been taken
for lost,, and makest the dead to live, and liftest up the oppress
ed : Lord, deliver me, let me not be brought to shame. As he
says somewhat differently in Ps. xxxi. 5 : Lord, into thy hands I
commit my spirit. — So fares it with the godly : he dies daily,
and still is always delivered and preserved. And this is the new
life of faith and hope, which is'celebrated for us in this Psalm,
namely, the life under the cross, the life in the midst of death.
.... Hence we should here learn that we must call upon the
Lord, especially in distress, when we are ready to perish, in
which circumstances the children of men, instead of doing no
thing but call upon the Lord, rather renounce all hope, and give
themselves up to despair." On the other words, " For I trust
in thee," he also remarks : " See how trust here calls upon the
Lord. How can he call upon the Lord who has not confided
in him? Confidence and believing trust are reckoned among

PSALM XVI. VER. 1, 2. 235
those things which regard God as gracious according to his
compassion, and through which he will make us perpetually
blessed, as we see here. Nothing can stand, nothing can uphold
or deliver, when matters come to such a pass, but a pure and
firm faith, which grounds itself solely upon the Divine compas
sion, and which promises itself nothing from itself, but every
thing from God  Whenever man places his hope on any
thing else than on the Lord our God, he cannot say : I trust in
thee. Hence should all persons in misery, and wrestling with
despair, take heed that they labour and strive in the state of
mind here described. This most excellent and noble affection,
confidence in God, forms the distinction between the people of
Christ, who are his property, and those who are not his people,
and here there is no respect of persons, no rank nor title." But
this confidence comes into consideration here, not simply as an
affection, but also in reference to its object : whosoever places
his confidence on the Lord, whose confidence and whose salva
tion he is. That both are here to be taken into account, that
the Psalmist's ground of hope is not a subjective one merely, but
also an objective one, is evident from what follows.
Ver. 2. (O my soul) thou hast said to Jehovah, Thou art my
Lord, my salvation is not without thee. The H7ftK> the second
person fem. is only to be explained from supposing the address
to be directed to the soul. That the soul is addressed, or is re
presented as speaking, is no unusual thing, comp. Ps. xiii., xliii.,
in which the Psalmist constantly addresses his soul anew, and
stirs it up to confidence and hope in God, Jer. iv. 19, and espe
cially Lam. iii. 24, 25 : " The Lord is my portion, saith my soul,
therefore will I hope in him. The Lord is good unto them that
wait upon him, to the soul that seeketh him," — where allusion
seems to be made to1 our Psalm. The difference between this
latter passage and the one before us is only this, that here the
soul is not expressly named ; but such an omission is quite in
keeping with the enigmatical character of our Psalm, and the
general difficulty of its style, and analogies may be produced for
it from the Arabian poets, perhaps also from 1 Sam. xxiv. 11,
2 Sam. xiii. 39. The majority of modern expositors would read
Tl70N» I speak. But this is opposed by external authorities,
and also by internal grounds. The expression : I speak, is ex
tremely cold and flat ; the address to the soul gives dramatic

236 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
life to the discourse ; the Psalmist, after he has uttered the
solemn words, " I put my trust in thee," holds converse with his
soul, and raises it to a conviction that this is in reality its settled
feeling, that it cannot despair in times of trouble, without com
ing into flagrant opposition with itself. The consequence of
this is, that the soul, having again been within itself, " rejoices
and is glad," in the sure expectation of God's salvation, ver. 9.
Such interlocutions, in which the sacred bards still and pacify
their souls, like a child weaned by his mother, Ps. cxxxi. 3, have
something indescribably moving and touching. The first ex
pression of trust in the true God is this, that we say to him,
" thou art the Lord," the uncontrolled ruler over all in heaven
and on earth, the possessor of all power, the dispenser of all
safety, the One, without whom not a hair of our head can fall,
who holds every breath of those who threaten us with destruc
tion, the almighty Lord, whom heaven and earth obey, the
supreme God, who has, and can do every thing. " Who is it
that orders all things ? Who distributes all gifts ? It is God ;
and he also is the One who can supply counsel and aid when We
are ready to sink." Trust in God manifests itself, further, in
the lively acknowledgment that he is the alone author of pre
servation — that this is to be sought and found only in him, not
from those whom the world calls gods. This acknowledgment,
which is a simple outgoing of the conviction, that he is the Lord
— for being this he must be the only author of preservation — is
given utterance to in the words, " my good is not without thee,"
or beside thee ; to which many analogous passages might be
produced from our popular poetry, such as : " All that I am and
have comes from the hand of God ; all is the gift of the highest,
nothing happens by chance ; God alone is every thing to me, he
must be continually my helper ; all else that is to be found on
earth soon vanishes," &c. That special reference is made here
to the gods, when preservation is ascribed to God alone, appears
from ver. 4. But this special reference is an accident ; the gods
come into notice only as those from whom, if men do not trust
in Jehovah, they commonly seek help and safety ; and in a per
fectly similar relation to them stands one's own power, the aid
of one's fellow-men, and whatever objects of trust may anywhere
be found out of God. In unison with Ps. lxxiii. 25, " whom
have I in heaven but thee ? and there is none on earth that I

PSALM XVI. VER. 2. 237
desire beside thee," the Psalmist renounces all such helpers and
dispensers of good, and thereby proves that he has said in per
fect sincerity, " I trust in thee."
We take the n31ft, good, in the sense of preservation and
prosperity, resting upon the opposite " sorrows," in ver. 4, and
upon the corresponding words, tJ my part, my cup, my lot, my
inheritance," in ver. 5 and 6. The 7*7y we expound : out of
thee, beside thee, prop, in addition to thee, with allusion to Ex.
xx. 3, " Thou shalt have no other gods beside me," *3£7y, prop.
in addition to me, LXX. ta?)» ipou, Targ. *Jft 73. This passage
is the more important, as the Psalmist obviously had it in his
eye, which we shall be the less inclined to doubt, if we take
into view the beginning of ver. 4. Just as this, " Thou art the
Lord," is the soul's response to the words in Ex. xx. 2, " I am the
Lord thy God," so this, " Thou alone art my salvation," is the
response to the command, " Thou shalt have no other gods be
side me," the soul's declaration, that what should be, has actually
come to be in its experience. • The nearest approach to the ex
position we have given is that of Sym., uyaMv pou w% tans anu aou,
that of Jerome: Bonum mourn non est sine te, as also that of the
Chal. and Syr. : " Thou art my highest good." But we have
to place against this, the reference to the Decalogue, and ver. 4,
5, 6, according to which, not only the above, but also the beside
is excluded. That the 7y does not absolutely require such an
exposition, show, beside the ground passage in Ex. the examples
in Gesenius's Thes. under ~>y 1, b. y. Still more decidedly ob
jectionable is the exposition of Boettcher, Gesen., and others :
All, my prosperity is not to me above thee, the good which I
have, I prefer not to thee. The unsoundness of this view ap
pears from the opposite in ver. 4 : many are the sorrows, &c,
from the positive declaration in ver. 5 of what is here negatively
expressed, from the reference to the Decalogue, and, finally, be
cause this thought cannot be considered as an extension of the
sentiment : I put my trust in thee, which alone were sufficient,
as it does not at all suit the connection of the Psalm. The same
grounds also for the most part decide against the exposition :
My good is not over thee, = I can do thee no good, which, after
the example of the LXX. (on ruv ayaSZv ,«,ou ob xgiictv s'xs's,) Calvin
propounds. " The sum," says he, " is this, that when we go near
to God, we must lay aside all self-confidence. For if we imagine
that there is something in ourselves, we need not be surprised

238 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
if he reject us, since we rob him of the chief part of his honour."
This thought, however excellent in itself, does not suit as an
extension of the words : I trust in thee, not with the context, nor
even with the parallelism. But ver. 5 in particular is against it.
The contrast with the pains or sorrows, which are experienced
by the servants of false gods, shows that by the good of the
Psalmist, must be understood, not the good which -he does, but
that only which he receives, which is imparted to him, prosperity
or deliverance ; comp. n31ft in this signification,. Psalm cxvi.5,
"Visit me with thy favour, that I may see the good of thy chosen,"
Job ix. 25. Utterly to be rejected also is the exposition of Kimchi
and Jarchi : Thou art not obliged to do me good ; as also that
of Luther : I must suffer for' thy sake, in connection with the
following verse, which he renders thus : for the saints, who are
upon the earth, and for those in glory. We have then, indeed,
a sense which is applicable to Christ alone, but at the expense
of the whole connection and train of thought. In his comm.,
however, he goes along with the LXX.
Ver. 3. With the saints that are in the land, and the honour
able ones, in whom is all my delight. With this his confidence
in Jehovah, the conviction that he alone is the Lord, the sole
author of salvation, the Psalmist does not stand alone ; he has
it in common with the church of God, those whom God endows
with the highest gifts, invests with a noble dignity, and to whom,
on this account, the Psalmist cleaves with a fervent love. As a
member of this church, which has its seat in the land of the
Lord, he trusts in the Lord as his only Saviour, disdaining all
those whom the world," the surrounding heathen nations, have
forged to themselves. According to this exposition, the 7 has
just its common signification, and what is objected by Stier, re?
garding the ellipsis, joining myself, that it is too hard, there, is
no force in it ; as an ellipsis can just as little be thought of
here, as in the 7177 belonging to David, in the superscription.
The 7 is used in a quite similar manner, (de eo quorsum quia
pertinet, Gesen. in Thes. s. v.) for example, 1 Kings xv. 27 :
Baasha the son of Ahijah, 7322^ fi*37> belonging to the house of
Issachar. By the holy and honourable persons, are not desig
nated certain individuals, or some particular classes in Israel,
but, according to the idea, all Israelites were holy and honour
able, the whole people of the covenant, and this predicate is
continued to the whole, although a great part of the individuals

PSALM XVI. VER. 3.. 239
may have excluded themselves, by their own guilt, from a real
participation in ^is dignity ; these, the souls, that are cut off
from their people, are considered as separate, though they may
still be corporeally connected with them. For this reference to
the church at large, decides, first, the expression, " who are in
the land," then a comparison of the original passages on which
the reference leans, Ex. xix. 6, " And ye shall be to me a king
dom of priests, (comp. the royal priesthood, as applied in 1 Peter
ii. 9, to the whole church of the New Testament,) and a holy
people," and Deut. vii. 6. " For thou art an holy people to the
Lord thy God; the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a spe
cial people to himself, out of all peoples that are on the earth."
As a predicate of the whole people, the term " holy " is found
also in Psalm xxxiv. 9, Dan. viii. 24, vii. 21. That the saints
here does not mark the moral quality, but the dignity, appears
not only from the passages already referred to, but also from
the parallel D*7*7X, which never denotes the noble, in point of
sentiment, but the noble in dignity, and is excellently render
ed in the Berleb. Bible by " princely." The saints are the
chosen ones, those whom God has taken out of the territory of
the profane world, and raised to the standing of his people.
Of this elevation in dignity, an elevation in sentiment is cer
tainly the consequence. The election of God, first of all, and
above all, manifests itself in this, that he erects institutions,
provides arrangements, and communicates powers, through
which he makes to himself a people, that is zealous of good
works. T*7N3> which must be translated, not : in the earth, but only :
in the land, points to the dwelling-place of the holy, and the
honourable. The church of God is a visible community, circum
scribed in point of space, its place is the land of the Lord.
The opposite of the holy, who possess the land, is made up of
the outlandish worshippers of idols, of whom mention is made
in ver. 4. Out of the land there are no holy and honourable
ones, but such only as Jehovah has not chosen, and who do
not trust in him, do not say to him, " Thou art the Lord,
my salvation is not out of thee," but rather have commerce
with others. It is just this connection between the people
of the Lord, and his land, which is brought into view by
David, in 1 Sam.' xxvi. 19, where he says to Saul, " And if
the children of men (have stirred thee up against me,) cursed

240

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

be they before the Lord, for they have driven me out this
day from abiding in the inheritance of the Lord, saying, Go
serve other gods." Then Josh. xxii. 24, 25, is also very clear,
as, according to it, the tribes beyond Jordan, who did not dwell,
strictly speaking, in Canaan, were afraid lest those within Jor
dan might say, " What have ye to do with the Lord God of Is
rael ; for the Lord hath made Jordan a boundary between us
and you, ye have no part in the Lord." We see here how close
the union was represented between an interest in the land of
the Lord, and an interest in the Lord himself. So early as in
Genesis are we met with this local circumscribing of the church
of God. Cain, with his banishment from the rest of the human
family, was driven away from the presence of God ; Jacob is full
of admiring gratitude to God, when Jehovah revealed himself
to him after his withdrawment from the place to which the
church of God was at that time confined. The deep truth which
lies at the bottom of this mode of contemplation, is unfolded by
Melancthon in his Locis, de Ecclesia, at the beginning : " By the
church we are to understand the company of the called, which
is the visible church, and are not to think of any as being else
where elected, out of this visible community. For God does
not wish to be called upon or acknowledged otherwise, than as
he has revealed himself, and he has nowhere revealed himself
but in the visible church, in which alone is heard the sound of
the Gospel," &c.
The last words properly mean : " The nobles, the wholeness
of my desire is toward them; comp. on the stat. constr. as
thus used, Ewald, Large Gr. § 303, and the Small, § 509.
The ground of the Psalmist's satisfaction in the holy and the
noble, is just their holiness and their nobility ; he attaches
himself with all his heart to those, whom God has distinguished
above all others, whom he has ennobled by his election. Of the
erroneous expositions, we subject to proof only the most plau
sible and widely diffused. 1. Many, and among the last, Gese
nius, expound : As regards the holy, who are in the land, and
the honourable, so in them is all my delight. But against this,
it is to be urged, that the stat. constr. never and nowhere oc
curs for the stat. absol. ; as here D*7*7N would be in the room
of *7*7N. Besides, the sense thus obtained, does not at all suit
the connection of the Psalm. As the whole to ver. 7 is only an
enlargement of tho idea : In the Lord I put my trust, as it all

PSALM XVI. VER, 3. 241
only utters the confidence that is felt in the Lord, so the satis
faction of the Psalmist in the saints might well be expressed by
the way, in a sort of side statement, but could not form a sub
stantive and independent declaration. We must give up either
this exposition, or the connection. Finally, the words : Who
purchase of another, in ver. 4, immediately connect themselves
with: My good is not out of thee, in ver. 2, and from this con
nection alone does another receive its determination ; but this
connection is destroyed the moment we convert the third verse
into a substantive form ; that can only stand with our exposi
tion, according to which the Psalmist, in this verse, merely
gives utterance to the thought, that he did not appear alone
with his recognition of Jehovah, as the Lord and the sole
author of salvation, but expressed it as a member of the church
of God, 2. De Wette and others expound : " The saints who,
in the land, are the honourable* toward whom is all my desire."
This exposition avoids only the first of the objections just men
tioned. The two others remain against it in full force. Ac
cording to it also the thought breaks in upon the connection.
De Wette, indeed, thinks that the sense suits admirably with
the sentiment in the following verse : " The sense of the verse,
according to our exposition is : the poet holds with the pious in
the land, the contrast to which is given in the next verse,
namely, that he turns with abhorrence from the worshippers of
idols." But the main idea placed in the front of the following
verse, that those who purchased of another, and have many sor
rows, is thereby left quite out of view, and of a horror of the
worshippers of idols, there is no mention in this verse, when
rightly expounded. 3. Hoffman, in his Prophecy and its Ful
filment, takes the 7 here as corelative to that before Jehovah in
ver. 2 ; there what the soul speaks to the Lord, here what it
speaks to the saints. But the address is, throughout the whole
Psalm, only to Jehovah ; ver. 4 contains nothing, in point of
matter, which is properly suitable as an address to the saints,
and in point of form, also, there is not the least trace of such an
address. It is also against this view, that by it the whole
strophe-construction would be destroyed. Besides, even before
Hoffman, it was put forth, and met with a similar refutation.
Boettcher remarks against it : " The reference to ver. 2 implies,
a too lengthened train of thought, in *37\ in ver. 4, a too in
distinct commencement for an address, as that at such a distance
s.

242

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

from fi7ftN, it should be perceived by common readers, who
are not skilful in exegesis."
Ver. 4. The Lord is, with the holy in the land, the Psalmist's
only salvation ; then they, who seek their salvation from others,
receive for the sacrifices through which they endeavour to pro
pitiate their favour, instead of the hoped for possession of good,
only an, inheritance of sorrows ; therefore he turns himself away
with horror from these others, the idol-gods, he will have no
part in their abominable service, and their names he will not
take into his lips. Many are the sorrows of those who purchase
of another, I will not pour out their drink offerings of blood, and
not take their names into my lips. Instead of " many are the
sorrows," Ewald, Maurer, and several others, expound: many are
the idol-gods. But this exposition is against the usage ; it must
then have been Dn*3Xy; H13Xy are always sorrows. But
this undoubted meaning must also be retained here on account
of the contrast with n31ft» in ver. 2 ; I seek my salvation from
the Lord, for with the others are only sorrows. Then the men
tion of the manifoldness of the false gods appears also out of
place here; and the exposition further deprives the verse of
what might render it an extension of the Psalmist's declaration
of confidence in the Lord, while it also disturbs its relation to
the following verse, in which the many sorrows, which alone one
can obtain from the false gods, are put in opposition to the rich
goods which the Lord imparts. So much only in that exposition
is right, that the Psalmist probably does make an allusion to the
D*3¥y> gods, points to the mournful omen which was embodied
even in the name, — an allusion which has the more significance
in it, as the two words actually stand in close connection with
each other, the idol gods having received the name in question
from the troubles and calamities which followed a transition to
them. From such a commencement no good result could come.
The sorrows consist, not merely in the extinguished hope, but
also in the judgments which God suspends over the apostate,
comp. Isa. lxv. 14, " Behold my servants shall sing for joy of
heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and. shall howl for
vexation of spirit." The 17nft 71"IK many expound, with De
Wette : who hasten away elsewhere — an exposition which was
long ago set aside by the older commentators with the remark,
that Ha never signifies, " away elsewhere," and that we are not
justified in giving to 7i"lft here the signification of hastening, as

PSALM XVI. VER. 4. 243
this signification elsewhere belongs to it only in the Piel, while
the Kal is found in Ex. xxii. 15, as also in Arabic and Syriac, in
a quite different signification, viz. of buying a wife. Luther,
who renders : Who hasten after another, has avoided the first
objection. But the plain and uniform meaning of the words ad
mits only of our exposition : who purchase of another. Against
those who allege that " another" could not be used thus of
other gods without some addition, it is not simply to be replied
with Boettcher, that " the Hebrew poets are continually turning
their thoughts toward God, and that which concerns him," but
this expression, " another," does not stand here by itself for other
gods; it receives its determination from ver. 2, where the
Psalmist has described Jehovah as the only Lord, as the One,
beside whom there is no salvation, and no saviour. Viewed in
this connection, " the other" can only be another God beside
Jehovah, and if it is maintained that 7nX could only then signify
a false deity, when, as in Isa. xiii. 8, xlviii. 11, it stands in im
mediate contrast with Jehovah, nothing, in fact, is demanded
which is not found here. A more explicit description, was the
less necessary, as, in the Pentateuch, the expression of " going
away after other gods" is of current use. Here, as there, the
lia is employed, not without emphasis, instead of the express
mention of idols, for it imports as much as this, whosoever, if it
be only another, not Jehovah, the Lord, the only saviour. The
word thus clearly shows how unimportant the distinction is be
tween the proper service of idolatry, as it is primarily under
stood here, and the service of idolatry in a more general sense.
When this alone is taken into account, that another than the
Lord is the object of trust, then stands mammon (whom the
Lord, for that very reason, has personified, that he might place
it on a level with the false gods, as these were commonly under
stood) in a precisely similar relation to Dagon.
In 17nft not a few would preserve only the general idea
of buying, purchasing. They perceive here merely a sort of
antithesis to the sacrifices with which the worshippers of idols
sought to propitiate their favour, lavishing much expense upon
their worship, and reaping in return nothing but sorrows. But
there is no reason for omitting here the special meaning which
usage has attached to the word, emit dote uxorem. This fur
nishes here a richer and deeper sense, and the application of it
in such a connection is the more natural, as it is by images bor-

244 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
rowed from the married state, that the relation is constantly
marked toward God and idols, which latter received the name
of Q*3nXft. paramours. Applying this idea, it serves admira
bly, by means of the verb itself here used, to point out the im
purity of the relation between idolaters and the objects of their
worship. According to the oriental fashion, a man purchases his
wife. The same also, substantially, needed to be done by the
divinity in respect to its admirers, as holding the relation of a
man to his wife. It belonged to the deity to take the initiative,
to go forth and win the regard of its chosen. And this is pre
cisely what was done by Jehovah in his relation to Israel ; he
purchased Israel to himself from the bondage of Egypt, comp.
Hos. iii. 2. He met Israel with great demonstrations of love,
first loved him, and sought his love in return. But it was quite
otherwise with the false gods. These had done nothing to show
their existence, Or testify their love ; the relation commenced
with expensive sacrifices to them, on the part of their servants.
Such a beginning could lead to no other end than the one here
mentioned. A bought god never can afford salvation ; the seed
of the sacrifices can yield nothing but sorrows. A god who does
not enter into the connection with tokens of his love will never
fulfil it, and it is a piece of folly to cherish such a hope. . The
representation is analogous in Hos. viii. 9, " Ephraim hath
bought for himself loves," and in Ez. xvi. 33, 34, where the pro
phet brings out the contrast that, while in all other cases pre
sents were given to the person loved, the worshippers of idols
gave presents to their lovers, the idol-gods. The suffixes in
On*3DJ> their drink-offerings, and Omft£?> their names, are
referred by many expositors to those who purchase another, the
idolaters, and by some again to the idols. The admissibility of
the latter exposition cannot be denied, as the 1T\a is only an
ideal oneness, put in opposition to the one true God, and, in
point of fact, comprehends a multiplicity. It is also supported
by the undeniable reference which the words, " I will not take
their names into my lips," carries to the original passage, Ex.
xxviii. 13, " Make no mention of the name of other gods, neither
let it be heard out of thy mouth," to which also that in Hos. ii.
17 refers, " And I will take away the names Baalim out of her
mouth, and they shall be no more remembered by their name."
The words themselves, also, can scarcely be viewed in reference
to the worshippers of false gods; the pronouncing of their

PSALM XVI. VER. 4, 5. 245
names, those of the heathen nations, the Psalmist could have
had no desire to shun. Finally, the reference to the idol-gods
is demanded by the contrast in ver. 5. The drink-offerings of
blood are understood by various expositors literally ; but in this
reference to a particular heathenish custom, for which it is ne
cessary to collect, with much pains, very scattered proofs, the
connection is not attended to, which would lead us to expect a
rejection of the worship of false gods in themselves merely, those
saviours who yet are none, and to whom is only given what is
taken from* the true God ; not the how but the that of the idol-
service is an object of abhorrence to the Psalmist. One must
rather, with a comparison of Isa. lxiii. 3, explain thus the drink-
offerings of blood : drink-offerings which are as much objects of
abhorrence as if they consisted, not of the wine, which exter
nally they were, but literally of blood. The expression : of
blood, was the more natural, as wine is named the blood of
grapes in Gen. xlix. 11, Deut. xxxii. 14, &c. Drink-offerings
outwardly of the blood of grapes, inwardly of the blood of men.
Ver. 5. Not those others, with whom are only sorrows, are
the Psalmist's salvation, the Lord alone is that, and in him he
finds fulness of blessing. The Lord is my portion and my cup,
thou makest my lot glorious. The meaning was given quite cor
rectly by Muis : " All my good is of God, and in God alone."
That the Psalmist here names God his portion, not in respect
to the pure love of the mystics, does not bless himself, as Boet
tcher would have it, on account of his internal connection with
God, but is rather to be regarded as simply declaring that God
is the alone author of his salvation, is clear from the circum
stance that this verse is still an extension of the sentiment, " I
put my trust in thee," as also from the expression, " Thou
makest glorious my lot," but especially from the affirmation in
ver. 2, " My good is not out of thee," which here returns in an
other form, according to which the Psalmist expressly renounces
connection with those in whom one seeks good out of God, and
from the contrast of the many sorrows which the service of
those others draws in its train. The Lord comes here, there
fore, into consideration according to the entire fulness of the
goods and gifts which dwell in him, and the declaration, " The
Lord is my portion and my cup," is substantially the same as
if he had said : What the Lord has, and gives, that alone do I
seek, that is for me, and with it I am content. This meaning

246

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

receives confirmation as the only correct one, from a comparison
of the original passages in the Pentateuch, which the Psalmist
manifestly has in view here. They are those, in which the Lord
is named Levi's portion and inheritance, Numb, xviii. 20, " The
Lord spake unto Aaron, Thou shalt have no inheritance in their
land, neither shalt thou have any part among them ; I am thy
part and thine inheritance among the children of Israel," — where
J. H. Michaelis thus gives very correctly the sense : " From me
alone thou shalt receive what is amply sufficient, and what things
are due to me, these shall be thine ;" Deut. x. 9, xviii. 1, 2,
where this, " The Lord is their inheritance," is explained by
" The offerings of the Lord and his inheritance are they to eat."
Just as there, it is not as if a demand were made at Levi, that
he, coming to enjoy the favour of God, and considering this as
compensation for his sacrifices, should give up all besides, but
rather, that a participation in the rich goods of the Lord was as
signed him as compensation, so the declaration here, " the Lord
is my portion," is as if it were : In the possession of the Lord
and his goods and gifts, I freely give up to the world its seeming
gifts and goods, which, more narrowly examined, are but sorrows.
Calvin justly remarks, that the opposite state of feeling, unbe
lieving and ungrateful dissatisfaction with the highest and only
good, or the only true source of all happiness, is the basis of
superstition and of all false worship. On the form nJft comp.
on Ps. xi. 6. What is the import of, " The Lord is my cup," is
evident from Ps. xxiii. 5, " my cup runneth over," comp. also
Ps. xi. 6. The Lord is for his people a cup which is never empty,
and never suffers them to become thirsty, the source of all good i
by means of it they are richly provided with everything which
can contribute to their refreshment during life, so that it were
thankless folly for them to seek for refreshment elsewhere. The
last words are commonly expounded : Thou supportest, or main-
tainest my lot. After the example of the older translators
7*ftm is taken as a participle. But such a participle-form is
wholly without example. The Cpl* in Isa. xxix. 14, and xxxviii.
5, which is referred to, is manifestly not a participle, but the
third person future. It is to be added, that the supporting or
maintaining of the lot has something of a strange aspect ; the
lot is not maintained for the Psalmist by God, but bestowed on
him. As the word stands here, it can scarcely be anything else
than the fut. in Hiph. of 7ft*. Now this verb has in Arabic the

PSALM XVI. VER. 6. 247
highly suitable signification, amplus fuit, therefore in Hiph. to
make broad, glorious. So first Schultens Inst, ad fundam. 1.
Hebr. p. 298.
Ver. 6. My possession has fallen to me in bliss, also a goodly
heritage was to me. The sense is excellently given by Calvin :
" He confirms what he had already said in the preceding verse,
namely, that he rested with a composed and tranquil mind in
the one God (and his salvation); nay, he so glories in this that
he looks down with contempt on whatever the world might feign
itself to have of a desirable nature without God." Q*73n. lines,
measuring cord, then the measured portion, the possession. So
Josh. xvii. 5. The possession of the Psalmist is the Lord with
his goods and gifts. The falling must, according to most inter
preters, be understood as a figure from the lot. But no ground
exists for this supposition. 7SJ with 7, occurs, in the significa
tion of happening to any one, without respect to the lot, in
Numbers xxxiv. 2, Judges xviii. 1. D*ft*y}3 is commonly ren
dered : in pleasant places. But against this Boettcher justly
alleges that no example is to be found of an adjective, not of
local import, which, without any addition, refers to places ; and
in Job xxxvi. 11, filft^ stands parallel with ninft£J>, in a
sense precisely similar to the word here : in bliss. These rea
sons are decisive. The plural is used here, as frequently, for
marking the abstract : delightful things, for delightfulness, bliss.
But when Boettcher farther maintains that, in delightfulness,
stands for : upon the most delightful, we cannot agree with him.
When a noun with 3 follows the words : possession fell to me,
every one expects to find in that a designation of the locality of
the possession. We consider the bliss and delight as the spiri
tual regibn, upon which the Psalmist has obtained his posses
sion. The tia stands here, as also in ver. 9, not as a particle of
ascension, but with a weaker import, in the sense of also, comp.
Winer s. v. TV1) is not stat. constr., but the poetical form of
the stat. absol. The expression : an inheritance, it is fine, is a
loose construction for : an inheritance, which is fine, a fine or
goodly heritage. *7y is prop, upon me, for : it is with me, I
have, possess it, and is to be explained thus, that the possessor
of a matter is considered as the bearer of it. Precisely so is the
7y used in Ps. vii. 8, cxxxi. 2, Neh. v. 7. Quite' correctly al
ready Luther : a fine inheritance has become mine. Gesenius,
De Wette, and others, render : and the possession pleases me.

248

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

But then fl^, which can only mean also, not and, must be con
nected, not with the noun, but with the verb ; we should have
expected the art. or the suff. at T\bl^ 5 and though 732? with ~>y
occurs in Chal. in the sense oi pleasing, yet never in Hebrew.
Ver. 7. / will bless the Lord, who has counselled me, also by
night my reins stimulate me. The words : who has counselled
me, receive light by being viewed in connection with what pre
cedes. The Psalmist, placed in the midst of all possessions,
knows not what to choose, or where to settle himself. Then the
Lord conveys to him the counsel, to choose the pleasant inheri
tance delineated in the preceding verses, i. e- to put his trust in
him, to seek his salvation only in him, to apply himself to him
as the only saviour, and this counsel he celebrates here with
grateful praise. Calvin : " Finally, David confesses this also to
have been given him of the mere grace of God, that he had
come by faith into the possession of so great a good. For it
would avail nothing that God freely offered himself to us, un
less we received him in faith, for that is done to all alike. We
must therefore know that both is the gift of God's free grace —
his being our inheritance, and our possessing him in faith."
The object of the counsel is indefinitely given by Jarchi : " to
choose the life, and to walk in his ways ;" by De Wette : " that
I have remained true to him ;" and by Boettcher : " not to re
nounce it," to say nothing of the arbitrary view of Hitzig;
Others render : because he has cared for me ; but this explana
tion is not supported by usage, py* with the accus. signifies :
to give any one counsel, comp. Ex. xviii. 19, Jer. xxxviii. 15,
1 Kings i. 12. In the second member that, to which the Psalmist
is admonished, is manifestly the praise and thanksgivings men
tioned in the first. The impulse to thank the Lord for his
gracious counsel, springing from the most profound and lively
apprehension of the greatness of the salvation, into which the
Psalmist had been mercifully introduced, is so powerfully felt by
him, that it continues with him through the night-season, and
leads him to praise and give thanks, when the whole world is
asleep. Here begins the second part of the Psalm, in which hope
springs out of confidence.
Ver. 8. / set the Lord always before me, because he is on my
right hand, I shall not be moved. According to the connection,
the eye of the Psalmist, hoping even in the midst of distress, is

PSALM XVI. VER. 8, 9. 249
continually directed upon the Lord, or he looks out for the Lord
as his helper in trouble and death. Luther : " It gives such a
fresh courage and undaunted heart, when one has God always
before one's eyes, that even adversity, the cross, and sufferings,
will then be cheerfully encountered and borne. Farther, such
a faith can be overmastered and vanquished by no cross and
calamity." In the words : Because he is, &c, the Psalmist gives
the ground of his hope being placed upon the Lord. The hope
proceeds from confidence. The expression, " He is on my right
hand," as my Saviour and helper, corresponds to thee : I put my
trust in thee, in ver. 1, and brings into a short compass, the sub
stance of ver. 2 — 7, where the Psalmist represents that the Lord
is his saviour.
Ver. 9. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices ; my
flesh also shall rest secure. Therefore, namely, because the Lord
is on my right hand, and I shall not on that account be moved.
In the preceding verse : I hope in the Lord, for he is my sa
viour ; here : He is my saviour, therefore I hope in him, I am
full of joy and gladness, and sure of my deliverance. The glory
or honour is here also an emphatic designation for the soul.
What the heart and soul rejoice upon, that it is on the certainty
of salvation, assurance in trouble and before death, is clear
from the parallel : My flesh also shall dwell secure, in ver. 10.
By the flesh, many of the Messianic interpreters understand the
lifeless body, the corpse ; to this, the Psalmist promises a safe re
pose in the tomb ; so Luther : My flesh also will lie secure. But
the following reasons are against this: 1. 7£?3> flesh, when
used elsewhere in connection with the soul and heart, denotes,
not the corpse, but the living body, as the soul in such cases is
not separated from the body, but is in the body. Comp. Ps.
lxiii. 1, " My soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee;"
Ixxxiv. 2, " My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts
of the Lord, my heart and my flesh." 2. The expression: nt373
p£}>, cannot of itself be properly understood of the rest of the
body in the grave ; the dwelling does not suit well with that, as
appears from the fact, that these expositors for the most part
quietly substitute lying in its place. And if we compare the
primary and parallel passages, this exposition will appear only
the more inadmissible. In them, the expression denotes a con
dition of settled prosperity, endangered and disturbed by no
hostile assault. So Deut. xxxiii. 12, of Benjamin, " The belov-

250 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
ed of the Lord shall dwell in safety by him ;" ver. 28, " And
Israel dwells in safety," — which passages, in particular the lat
ter, are the rather to be considered as primary or ground-pas
sages, as the expression of dwelling safely, when used of an in
dividual, has a certain air of strangeness, and as the reference
to it in Ps. iv. 8, " For thou Lord only makest me to dwell in
safety," is undeniable. Comp. besides, Jer. xxiii. 6, xxxiii. 16 ;
Judges xviii. 7. 3. The succeeding context decides against the
exposition in question. For, first, as we find there the soul put
in the stead of the flesh, we are naturally led to reject the idea
that here, the flesh denotes the soulless body. Then, we do not
find there, as that interpretation would lead us to expect, pre
servation in death hoped for, but preservation before death. —
We must, therefore, even adopting the strong and direct Mes
sianic meaning, understand the words, not of the secure repose
in the grave, but only of salvation and deliverance generally.
That Peter already understood the words so, appears from this,
that he finds Christ's preservation, not in death, but before it,
declared in the following verse.
Ver. 10. For thou, my only God, my portion, and my cup.
Thou, who makest my lot glorious — that we must fill up thus,
appears from the designation, " thy holy ones," in the second
member — Thou wilt not leave my soul to hell, nor give up thy
holy ones to see the grave. The confidence of salvation express
ed in the preceding verse, is here grounded upon this, that the
Lord, as the Psalmist's saviour, could not surrender him a prey
to death, to which the corresponding positive idea is presented
in the next verse, that he should impart to him life, joy, and
bliss, n^y with 7, means, to leave to any one, to give up,
comp. Lev. xix. 10; Ps. xlix. 10; Job xxxix. 14. The exposition
of Luther and of many others : Thou wilt not leave my soul in
hell, has both usage and the parallelism against it, according to
which, the pious is not even to see the grave, and, consequent
ly, his soul could not be in hell (sheol.) Peter, for the sake of
whom this exposition has been adopted, has not followed it.
He renders, "in Acts ii. 27, " Thou wilt not leave my soul to
hell," s/s abou, or, according to Lachmann, atijjv, as also the LXX.
have: wilt not die and be buried ; this hope Peter finds expressed
in the Psalm, and realised in Christ, notwithstanding his death
and burial. For a death such as his, and in consequence of his,
that also of his people, is as a more passage into life, and not

PSALM XVI. VER. 10. 251
deserving the name of death. We may here also take into ac
count the words of Christ, Matth. ix. 24 : " The maid is not dead
but sleepeth." Comp. also John xi. 11. — The distinction be
tween the two readings 7*7*01"!, thy holy ones, and 77*011, thy
holy one, is important. Were the latter a mere Kri, it were un
questionably to be thrown away, as a conjecture of some modern
critic. But the matter is not so. A great many copies, and
among these, some very good ones, have " thy holy one" in the
text. All the old translations express the singular, and so also
do Paul and Peter. It is also to be considered, that the Jewish
polemical interest, their opposition to the Messianic interpreta
tion, favoured the reading in the plural 7*7*0n. The passages
in Jewish writers, in which this is employed with that view,
may be found collected by Aurivillius, de vera lectione vocis,
7*7*0n. We are still inclined, however, to regard it as the ori
ginal reading. ' It is supported, 1. By the preponderance of the
external critical authorities; the testimony of the manuscripts,
which is chiefly upon its side, cannot be outweighed by the tes
timony of the old translations, which carry no great weight with
them in such matters. 2. The plural, as the more difficult read
ing, might readily be exchanged for the more easy singular, by
those who knew not what to do with it, since, throughout all
the rest of the Psalm, an individual appears as the speaker.
That the Jewish polemical interest favoured the plural, is not
enough to counterbalance this reason ; for views of that sort
could not exercise more than a partial influence. — Recognising
the plural as the correct reading, we perceive here, as was re
marked in the introduction, the not individual character of the
Psalm, its destination for all pious persons, precisely as in Ps.
xvii. 11. — The expression, " thy holy ones," contains the ground
of confidence. It combines all that the Psalmist — or those in
whose name, and out of whose soul he speaks — has uttered, in
ver. 2 — 8, upon his relation to the Lord ; the pious, or holy man
is he, who trusts in the Lord, takes him for his only good, &c.
1 — nUL? is rendered diutpQoodv by the LXX. ; and that there is a
noun nilE' in the sense of corruption, derived from nnfe/S to
corrupt, destroy, beside the common HnS?, which, derived from
m£J% signifies, pit, grave, is still recognised even by Gesenius
and Winer. But the passage, which is chiefly rested on for this,
Job xvii. 14, is by no means decisive, since the common signifi
cation pit, grave, can very properly be admitted there as parallel

252 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
with worm, and the most urgent reasons would require to be
produced for the contrary, as it is in itself improbable, that one
and the same word can have different derivations and meanings.
• Here the sense of corruption is the less admissible, as the same
expression T\1W nK7 is elsewhere, Ps. xlix. 9, demonstrably
used in the sense of: seeing the grave. The defenders of the
other exposition have improperly pressed the authority of Peter
in support of it. It appears that Peter, Acts ii., who still un
doubtedly addressed the " men of Judah and the inhabitants of
Jerusalem" in the Aramaic dialect, took the nnE', no doubt re
tained by him, in the sense of grave, and not of corruption ; for
to see the T\1W, corresponds with him in reference to David,
with : " He is dead and buried, and his sepulchre is with us to
this day ;" as also he died, corresponds to : " Thou wilt not leave
my soul to hell." Hence, it appears, that no stress is to be laid
upon the hatpQa^a,, which Luke may just have adopted from the
received translation. The argument of Peter remains in full
force, though we should substitute grave for corruption, if only
it is understood that by the seeing, something abiding is meant,
such a seeing is always meant when the opposite phrase of
" seeing life" is employed. Christ's death and burial are not
considered as death and burial. Paul, also, in his line. of argu
ment, Acts xiii. 36, 37, lays no stress upon the idea of corrup
tion, as distinguished from the grave : David, after he had in his
own generation served the will of God, fell on sleep, and was
laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption ; but he, whom God
raised again, saw no corruption." The argument is not at all
overthrown, if we substitute grave for corruption. Christ did
not see the grave in the same sense that David did ; he did not
see it in the sense of the Psalmist.
Ver. 11. Thou wilt make known to me the way of life ; fulness
of joy is for me before thy face ; a blessed life through thy right
hand for evermore. The Psalmist hopes to receive from the
Lord, his Saviour, and his confidence, negative preservation
from death, (the preceding verse,) positive life, joy, and bliss.
The way of life, as Luther properly translates, is : the way to
life. In Prov. ii. 19, the paths of life, are the paths which leap1.
to life. Life stands immediately opposed to the death, from
which the Psalmist hopes, in ver. 10, to be preserved, and im
properly would several here give to life exactly the signification
of salvation. But that, on the other hand, we are not to think

PSALM XVI. VER. 11. 253
of simple life merely, naked immortality, is shown by its con
nection with joy and bliss. A miserable life is to be named no
life, in the Bible sense, it is only a form of death. The words :
Thou wilt make known to me the way of life, involve, therefore,
a double idea : Thou wilt preserve me in life, and endow me
with blessing. The, 7*33 T\a, prop, with thy countenance,
occurs again in Psalm xxi. 6 : " Thou enlivenest him through
joy with thy countenance." The joy springs out of the fellow
ship with the Lord's countenance, which was granted to the
Psalmist; light breaks in upon the darkness of his misery.
Comp. Psalm iv. 6, " Lift upon us the light of thy countenance."
Psalm lxxx. 3, 7*}*ft3 can only mean : through thy right hand;
and the exposition of Luther and others : at thy right hand, is
wrong. As joy proceeds from God's countenance, so from his
right hand, which is almighty either to punish or to deliver,
bliss, comp. Psalm xvii. 7.
It still remains for us, now that we have finished our expo
sition of the Psalm, to investigate its Messianic import. That
such an import does belong to it, is certain, even apart from the
testimonies of the New Testament. The situation evidently
appears to be that of one, who found himself in great danger,
and whose life was threatened. But the Psalmist does not rest
with the hope of obtaining deliverance from that particular
danger ; his soul rises higher ; he triumphs, not only over the
danger then present, but over death itself, exclaims, " Death
where is thy sting, hell where is thy victory." The ground of
hope is 'connected with that, which, for the moment, was neces
sary, and the hope itself is expressed more comprehensively.
The assurance is declared quite generally, that death and the
grave can exercise no power over him, who is inwardly united to
the living God ; of this he is confident, nor for the present mo
ment merely, but for ever, ver. 11 ; and on that account, certainly
for the present also, in respect to which he primarily gives ut
terance to the general hope.
Apart from Christ, this hope must be regarded as a chimera,
which the issue would put to shame. David served God in his
generation, and then he died, was buried and corrupted. But
in Christ, who has brought life and immortality to light, it be
comes perfectly true. David, in Christ, could speak, as he does
here with full right. Christ has conquered death, not merely

254 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
for himself, but also for his members. His resurrection is the
ground of our resurrection ; for can tbe head fail to draw its
members along with it ? In so far as what is here hoped for to
the members, can only be experienced by them, in consequence
of its having first been experienced by the head, so far the Psalm
must be considered as a prophecy of Christ.
But how far David himself clearly understood the Messianic
subject of his hope, we cannot ascertain.' That the prophecy in
respect to Christ, was for him, not an altogether unknown one,
the declaration of Peter in Acts ii. 30, 31, implies, while Paul
stands simply on the ground, that the Psalm was fully verified
in Christ. That the heroes of the Old Testament, in their more
elevated moments, were favoured with a deep insight into the
mystery of the future redemption, is affirmed by our Lord him
self, John viii. 56. A more or less conscious connection between
the hope of eternal life, and the expectation of Christ, is at
tended with the less difficulty, as this connection constantly ap
pears, where we find, in later times, the hope of eternal hfe ex
pressed in Isaiah, Ezekiel, Daniel.
Our explanation of the Messianic meaning substantially agrees
with that of Calvin, which he has most clearly and distinctly un
folded in his Comm. on the Acts of the Apostles : " When he
glories that he should not see the grave, so far as corruption
was concerned, he doubtless considered himself as a member
of Christ's body, by whom death is overcome, and its empire
abolished. But if David promised himself deliverance from the
grave, only in so far as he was a member of Christ, it hence
appears, that from Christ, as the head, we must take our com
mencement." Many of the .older expositors, on the ground of the New
Testament quotations of this Psalm, and not perceiving that the
contrast in them lies, not between David and Christ, but be
tween David, apart from Christ, and David in Christ, have main
tained that the Psalm refers directly and exclusively to Christ,
who is introduced speaking by the Psalmist. But against the
Messianic interpretation thus understood, which was also vindi
cated in my Christology, there are certain difficulties not easily
disposed of. That the Psalmist should, from the commence
ment, speak in the person of another, does not comport well
with the prevailing subjective character of the Psalmodic poetry,
and even from the circle of prophetic literature, scarcely can an

PSALM XVII. 255
example be produced, where this is done so very immediately,
without some more exact designation of the person going before.
Then tbe matter in ver. 1 — 8 is too little of a Messianic character,
as, indeed, is sadly betrayed, without being confessed by those
who seek to bring out, by a forced meaning, a special Messianic
element. Also, that in ver. 9 — 11, the direct and exclusive
Messianic references rest only on a false exposition, has already
been shown. Further, by this exposition the Psalm is wrested
from its connection, with so many others, which unquestionably
stand very closely related to it, and above all, with the follow
ing one, which is united with it into a pair. Finally, we are
necessitated by this exposition, to hold the reading 7*7*0n in
ver. 1 0, to be incorrect, which cannot be done, at least, with
positive certainty, and the less so, when we compare it with Ps.
xvii. 11, where, in like manner, the idea of number, concealed
in unity, is distinctly brought out.— ,-The only apparent ground
for this opinion, the testimony of the New Testament, must
certainly be regarded as quite decisive by any one who views
the citation as entirely isolated; but those will judge differently,
who, taking properly into account the whole relation in which
the New Testament stands to the Old, have attained to a com
prehensive view of the free manner in which our Lord and his
apostles handle the application of prophecy.

PSALM XVII.
The situation here also, is that of one, who finds himself in
great distress and danger, through hostile oppression. " We
know that God heareth not sinners; but, if any man be a
worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth," " let
every one that names the name of God, depart from iniquity,"
— therefore does the Psalmist first of all ground his supplication
to be heard on his righteousness, which is so far from all hypo
crisy, that it does not shun the most searching scrutiny of Divine
omniscience, penetrating into themostsecret recesses of theheart.
He declares his firm conviction, that this scrutiny will bring to
light no contrariety between heart and mouth, but rather a per
fect harmony between the two, ver. 1 — 5. Then, upon the
foundation thus laid, arises a more confidential and urgent
prayer, which is called forth by the godless malice of the

256

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

wicked, copiously and forcibly delineated, as loudly calling for
the interference of Heaven, and the conclusion embodies an
expression of joyful hope in the salvation of the Lord, ver.
6—15.
The two parts of the Psalm, the first of which may be describ
ed as the porch, and the second as the proper building, present
themselves to us as distinctly separate. The external dimensions
of these parts are proportioned to their internal relation to each
other. The introduction, declaring the indispensable condition
of being heard, as possessed by the Psalmist, has five verses,
the. main burden of the Psalm is discharged in the number ten,
the mark of completeness. To this the formal arrangement
appears to be confined. We might, however, conceive another
division, analogous to that pointed out in Psalm vii. of strophes,
which have an ascending number of verses, only that the one,
in which alLthe rest are enclosed, and into which they run out,
instead of beginning, forms the conclusion : 2. 3. 4. 5. 1. Each
of those strophes would really have pretty much its own proper
ideas ; ver. 1 and 2, the prayer of the Psalmist about his right,
ver. 3 — 5, the grounding of this his right, ver. 6 — 9, his
prayer for deliverance from the wicked who oppressed him, ver.
10 — 14, the grounding of this prayer, pointing to their disregard
of all divine and human rights, which called aloud for the inter
position of God, and to their hitherto prosperous condition,
which, as being contrary to God's word and nature, could there
fore not continue. Finally, in ver. 15 we have the expression
of hope and confidence, in the salvation of the Lord. Still, this
division cannot be held with the same confidence as the first :
the last strophe especially, consisting of only one verse, renders
it very doubtful.
If we suppose a particular occasion for the Psalm, we can only
refer it to the times of Saul ; of those of Absalom we cannot
think, because the Psalmist appears through the whole as an
oppressed individual. But the absence of all individual traits
makes it already probable, that the Psalmist does not speak in
his own person, but in that of the righteous ; and this supposition
is confirmed by ver. 11, where, precisely as in ver. 10 of the pre
ceding Psalm, the diversity concealed under the unity comes
distinctly out. The individual character is discountenanced
also by the introduction, ver. 1 — 5, in which the didactic
tendency, the purpose of directing the member^ of the church

PSALM XVH. 257
to the fact, that righteousness is the indispensable, though also
the sure foundation of the hearing of prayer, and the bestow-
ment of salvation, can scarcely be overlooked.
This Psalm has many coincidences with Ps. xvi., which are so
important, that they give colour to the idea of both Psalms
having been united by the author into one pair. (Already
Venema remarks : " Such is the agreement between this Psalm
and the preceding one, that I am almost disposed to reckon
them as one Psalm.") First, in both Psalms there is a formal
arrangement, mainly distinguished by this, that the chief matter
is thrown into the number ten, the same in both, excepting that
in the former one the introduction consists only of one verse,
while in the latter it occupies five. Then, the situation in both
Psalms is precisely the same, that of one who is brought into
immediate peril by the persecutions of wicked and ungodly ene
mies. Further, the conclusion of both Psalms remarkably
agrees. And, finally, they present many striking coincidences
in particular points ; comp. the following expressions : here in
ver. 7, " through thy right hand," with the same in Ps. xvi. 11,
" thou deliverer of them that put their trust in thee," here in
ver. 7, with " I put my trust in thee," in Ps. xvi. 1, " preserve
me," here in ver. 8, with " preserve me," in Ps. xvi. 1, and the
plurality which discovers itself in ver. 11, with the plural expres
sion " thy pious ones," in Ps. xvi. 10.
Taking into view these several points, they furnish us with the
following result. David, while he would prepare a treasure of
consolation and confidence for the sorely persecuted and op
pressed out of his own experience during the times of Saul,
presented it in a whole of two parts. Of the different subjects
which thus come to be considered, those which respect confi
dence in the Lord, growing into the sure hope of salvation, the
Psalmist's own righteousness, and the unrighteousness of his
enemies, the first is handled in Ps. xvi., and the second and
third in the Psalm before us. The subject with which he ex
clusively occupies himself in Ps. xvi., and which forms the pro
per theme of that Psalm, returns here in order to bring both
into an organic connection, and to indicate the place which it
should hold in the subordinate arrangement. After the Psalmist
had solemnly protested before God his righteousness, he calls
on God as the " deliverer of those that trust in him," implying
as much as this, that where once a foundation of righteousness

258 THE BOOK OF PSALMS,
exists, if only it be well grounded and in full measure, confidence
attains to the prominent position which had been ascribed to it
in Ps. xvi.
Besides this connection with Ps. xvi., there is one also, though
not so close, with Ps. vii., which is of importance, especially in
so far as it shows how, in David, the general raised itself out of
the individual — how his own personal experience lies at the
bottom even of those Psalms which he, from the first, indited as
from the soul of the church, how he consoled others only with
the consolation with which he himself had been comforted of
God. As in Ps. vii. there' was a porch of six, and a building of
twelve verses, so we have here a porch of five, and a building of
ten verses. In both Psalms also the ascent in the number of
verses of which the strophes are composed is alike, in so far as
this may be recognised to have any place in our Psalm. The
matter of the introduction, the protestation of innocence and
righteousness, is in both Psalms the same. Common to both,
also, is the " arise," in Psalm vii. 6, and here, in verse 13,
and the expression, " trier of the hearts and reins art thou, 0
righteous God," in Ps. vii. 10, agrees with the " proving of the
heart/' &c, in ver. 3 here, comp. also Ps. xi. 4, 5.
Finally, ver. 1 — 5, in this Psalm, coincides with Ps. xviii.
20 — 27. Just as here the prayer for deliverance is grounded
on righteousness, so there the deliverance obtained was derived
from righteousness. This coincidence has probably led the col
lector to place Ps. xviii. immediately after ours, a very fitting
connection, since confidence in righteousness, as the ground of
salvation, must grow when it is manifested as such in so glorious
a manner by the events of experience.
The superscription : A prayer of David, can have had no
other than David for its author, as appears from what was for
merly remarked, though it is not to be understood to mark him
as the one to whose circumstances the prayer refers. The super
scription in Hab. iii. 1 : A prayer of Habakkuk, formed after
this, is quite analogous. For, in the whole chapter, the church,
and not the prophet, is the speaker.
Ver. 1. Hear righteousness, 0 Lord, attend to my cry, give
ear to my prayer from lips without deceit. The prayer is here
still only as means to an end, only serves the purpose of intro
ducing the Psalmist's protestation of righteousness ; the proper
commencement of the prayer is at ver. 6. The Psalmist begs

PSALM XVII. VER. 1. 259
that the Lord would hear righteousness, instead of the righteous,
with the view of giving emphasis to the fact, that he sought no
thing from tho holy and righteous God, with whom there is no
respect of persons, out of party predilection or favouritism ; that
he laid claim to his help and salvation only in so far as right
eousness appeared to be personified in him. He is inwardly
penetrated by the conviction, that the sine ira et studio, quorum
causas procul habeo, of which men do but falsely boast, prevails
with God, and in the fullest sense, and he will have this convic
tion also to take hold of others, It has often been found a stone
of stumbling, that the Psalmist seems here to make his reception
of the Divine help depend on a condition, which lies beyond the
reach of sinful men. Several expositors have been induced there
by, either to refer the Psalm exclusively to Christ, or at least,
to maintain that it has its full truth only in Christ. • So Amyrald
remarks : " In the exposition of this Psalm, and of some others,
the left eye must be fixed on David, that the right may be kept
intent on Christ." Luther says : " The Hebrew text says plainly,
Lord hear the righteousness, without having the word my attach
ed to it. We would here overlook the error of the Jews, who
feign, that David deserved afterwards to be allowed to fall into
adultery, since he here boasts of his righteousness; and would
only think of this, that some of our own also have taken such
offence at this word, as to have ascribed the whole of this dis
course to Christ." Others seek to help themselves by substitut
ing the righteousness of the cause for that of the thing. So
Luther : " He says, though I who beg, do indeed possess no
righteousness as to my person, yet is the cause in itself worthy,
because it concerns thy word and the faith, and is truly right
eousness, that thou shouldst not leave it to be oppressed ;" and
Venema, who gives a somewhat different delineation of the idea :
" Righteous is my cause, which T bring before thee, 0 God, and
I have neither in thought, in word, nor deed, been guilty of any
such things as they lay to my charge, and on account of which
I am persecuted." To the like effect also, J. H. Michaelis, De
Wette, and others. But it is to be objected to this, that neither
hero, nor in the succeeding verses, is a trace to be found of any
special reference to the particular cause : righteousness and in
tegrity in general the Psalmist ascribes to himself, protests that
his heart is pure and upright, and that he constanly adheres to
the ways of God. Of the righteousness of his cause, the parallel

260

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

section in Ps. xviii. 21, ss., leaves no room to doubt. And,
finally, even the righteousness of the cause is not of itself sufficient
to form a foundation for the hope of deliverance ; it is possible
for the wicked also to have a righteous cause, without obtaining
thereby any claim on the Divine help. The righteousness of
the cause at any time can only be of importance, in so far as it
is the indication of the righteousness of the person ; and hence
the Psalmist, even if he did in the first instance assert the right
eousness merely of his cause, would still, at the same time, be
taking into account the righteousness of his person. The le
gitimate removal of the difficulty presents itself, whenever the
idea of personal righteousness, which the Psalmist assumes to
himself, is more definitely fixed : it is not a perfect holiness— how
far David was from laying claim to that, appears from such expres
sions as Ps. cxliii. 2, " enter not into judgment with thy servant,
for in thy sight shall no flesh living be justified," Ps. xix. 13, —
it is the upright moral striving, the sincere bent of mind earnestly
reaching after the fulfilment of the Divine law, on the existence of
which God graciously pardons many weaknesses. Righteousness
in this sense, forms as certainly a distinguishing feature of the
elect, an indispensable condition of Divine help, as that the true
religion bears throughout an ethical character, and that it ad
dresses to those, who dream of being able to find God with cold
feelings, the solemn admonition, " Be ye holy, for I am holy."
It is not less required in the New Testament, than it was in the
Old. John, indeed, says in his First Ep. i. 8, " If we say that we
have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us;"
but he says also, ch. iii. 6, " Whosoever abideth in him, sinneth
not, (leads no life of sin — sin being used there in the narrower
sense, just as righteousness here;) whosoever sinneth hath not
seen him, neither known him," and in ver. 9, " Whosoever is born
of God doth not commit sin ; for his seed remaineth in him ;
and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." That here the
righteousness can only be referred to the whole tenor of the
life, may be inferred already from the contrast in ver. 1 and 3,
with hypocrisy. To draw a more exact line of demarcation be
tween the righteousness of endeavour, and absolute sinlessness,
must have been all the more removed from the Psalmist's mind,
as, amid the deep consciousness of human guilt, which was pecu
liar to the Old Testament, the idea of the latter would just as
little occur to him as to his readers. As he here brings into

PSALM XVII. VER. 1. 261
view the one side, righteousness, because this alone belonged
to the case now in hand, so elsewhere he in like manner brings
the other distinctly forward, without thinking perhaps of the
one implying the exclusion of the other. There are times alsp
when the prayer : Hear righteousness, 0 God, is for us the only
suitable one, and others again, when the juste judex ultionis,
donumfac remissionis ante diem ultionis, rushes with power from
the heart. Besides, it is quite right what the Berleb. Bible says :
" The soul is never in a state to desire, that its righteousness
might be heard, it must already have lost all its own righteous
ness." The righteousness which the Psalmist here urges, is
righteousness merely in a germinating condition, but still it al
ways germinates out of the ground of pardon of sin, which pre
supposes the renouncement of all one's own righteousness.
Righteousness of life is the fruit of righteousness of faith, ac
cording to the Old Testament plan, as most clearly laid down in
Ps. Ii., as also according to that of the New Testament. Still,
we must not here, against the plain letter, put the righteous
ness of faith in the room of righteousness of life. The question
here does not respect justification, but has to do with help
against enemies, and deliverance from distress, which can only
be claimed on the ground of an already existing righteousness
of life.
The majority of expositors consider the second petition as
comprised in the words; attend to my cry, and the words: with
lips without deceit, as belonging solely to the third. According
to them we have a twofold ground, on which the Psalmist rests
his prayer ; first the righteousness of his cause, (or of his person),
— then his faith, which impelled him to seek help from God,
and would hot be ashamed of God. They maintain that the
first requisite could have existed without the latter. " It often
happens," remarks Calvin, " that even profane men justly boast
of having a good cause ; yet, because they do not consider that
God governs the world, they sink down into the region of their
own consciences, and, chafing at the rein, they bear injuries in
dignantly, and not patiently, seeking no consolation from faith
in God, and supplication to him." The Psalmist must then, in
the last member, have united both elements together. But it is
decisive against this view, that according to the whole tenor of
the first part, it is impossible for any other point besides right
eousness, to be brought out in a substantive form ; the oneness of

262

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

the discourse is broken, whenever the petition : attend to my
cry, is taken away from its connection with what follows. The
crying, like the prayer, is in place here, only in so far as it is
done by lips without deceit. That these words belong to both
the last petitions, is supported also by the accentuation, which
is against -the too close and exclusive connection with the third.
Every one has lips of deceit, who comes before God praying
and professing to seek for salvation, without being a righteous
person. For, as it is certain that salvation is bestowed only on
the ground of righteousness, that God only hears the righteous^
so in every prayer there is, at the same time, contained a de
claration of righteousness, whether it might be uttered in words
or not. Whosoever prays without being a righteous person, is a
hypocrite of the worst kind ; not content with deceiving men
thereby, he would also impose on the all-seeing God, imagining,
in the blindness of his folly, that God looks only on his appear
ance, and not on his heart ,
Ver. 2. Let my right go forth from thee, let thine eyes behold
uprightness. The fut. of the verb may be regarded as expres
sive, either of the wish or of the hope. Both are much alike as
to the sense. The emphasis, in each case, is upon the *ftSE?ft,
and on the D*7^*ft- Only upon the ground of his right and
his integrity, does he either expect or desire God's help. The
word : my right, (Luther, falsely : speak thou in my cause,)
stands opposed to partial favouritism : it is not this the Psalmist
desires, but only the salvation* which God, the righteous One,
has promised to righteousness : and because he desires only this,
only what God must necessarily grant, and cannot refuse, with
out denying his own nature, and the expression thereof in his
word, the prayer cannot possibly remain unheard, just as little
as it could have been heard, if it had not sprung from such a
root, if the Divine help had been looked for, as a reward of
merely saying, Lord, Lord. In the second member, the upright
ness is for being seen, as in ver. 1, the righteousness for being
heard. Because with a righteous judge, uprightness is to be re
cognised and delivered, it is said of God's perception, that he
does not see uprightness, when he allows it to be overborne.
We must reject the exposition of Hitzig and De Wette, who
taking D*712,*ft adverbially, render : thine eyes behold rightly.
The word signifies, not rectitude, but integrity, honesty ; it is
never used adverbially, not even in Psalm lviii. 1 ; neither in it-

PSALM XVII. VER. 2, 3. 263
self is it suitable, nor is it agreeable to the context, to say that
God, but that the Psalmist is upright, the uprightness lies in
one line with the righteousness, the lips without deceit, the
right. The words, " his countenance beholds the upright," in
Ps. xi. 7, are parallel. Luther remarks : " So that we see, how
everywhere zeal and hatred break forth against hypocrisy,
which the saints avoid with as great a horror in themselves, as
they bring accusations against it."
Ver. 3. The Psalmist had grounded his prayer for help in the
preceding context on his righteousness. That this indispensable
condition of salvation actually existed in him, that he does not
think merely of feigning righteousness before the eyes of short
sighted men, he will therefore (woe to him who cannot do the
same) appeal to the judgment of the all-seeing God, who knows
the purity of his heart, of which the inmost recesses are often
before him. Luther : " he had prayed, that the Lord would
regard his righteousness ; now he declares what sort of confi
dence he had to rest on, in begging this." Thou provest my
heart, thou examinest it by night, thou purgest me, thou findest
not, my thought oversteps not my mouth. The preterites of the
verb mark the past reaching into the present. The Psalmist re
fers to the result of trials already held ; God is constantly put
ting men to the proof; and there is no reason for our expound
ing, with some : when thou provest, &c, thou findest not, or
with others, to put a demand in the place of a simple declara
tion. The night is named as the time, when good and evil
thoughts in the soul of man spring up in greatest force, because
he is then free from outward business and occupation, and be
cause they have nothing to scatter them, and are not restrained
by any regard to, or fear of others. That the Psalm was an
evening song, is rendered probable by this alone, comp. on ver.
15. In the words: thou purgest, or purifiest me, reference is
made to the purifying of gold and silver. Pure gold and silver
is what can stand the trial without separating from it any dross.
Dereser expounds falsely : Thou purgest and purifiest me through
tribulations from defects. There is nothing here, of what else
where is often handled, of a purifying through tribulation.
God's proving is only in so far represented under the image of
purifying, as in both alike, a sure result is accomplished regard
ing the purity or impurity of the object, comp. Prov. xvii. 3.
Thou findest not, namely, anything that would show the affir-

264 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
mation I made of my righteousness to be untrue, or prove me
to be a hypocrite ; one who presents a fair exterior, but within
is full of ravening and unrighteousness. It is obvious, that the
purity and righteousness of heart, which the Psalmist here lays
claim to, forms no contrast to the testimony, that the righteous
falls seven times a day. This is clear, especially from the last
words, which show, that the Psalmist only asserts his freedom
from hypocrisy, and not from frailty. We take *nftT as inf.
from Qft*. The fem. form of the inf. in fll. according to this
form of verbs in ^ occurs in Ps., Ixxvii. 9, Ez. xxxvi. 3- It is
to be explained by the relation of verbs ^ and n7- The *niftl
is accus., the *3 nominative. That the common sequence of the
words is departed from, the object preceding the subject, arises
from this, that it was not the mouth, but the thought, the state
of feeling, which was the object of the divine search; comp. the
words : thou provest my heart; From the proving of his inter
nal disposition, the result is brought out, that the Psalmist's
mouth had not exceeded, when, coming before God, he gave
himself out as a righteous person. Luther, though he errs in
his translation, yet explains quite correctly in his comment. :
'' The mouth overpasses the thoughts, when it utters more, and
otherwise, than the heart thinks, so that the mouth and heart
do not correspond with each other." We must reject the other
expositions. Gesenius takes *nftt as the plural of nftT, which
T- *
must be of like import with nftT, and explains: my thoughts over
step not my mouth. But we conceive that this contains three
verbal difficulties — nftl never occurs elsewhere, the singular suffix
in TlftT would stand in the room of the plural *nftb the verb in
the sing. masc. would be joined to a noun in the plural fem. — and
the meaning, purchased at so dear a rate, is after all not suitable.
The question is not, whether the Psalmist thinks otherwise than
he speaks, but whether he speaks otherwise than he thinks, — nor
whether his feeling agrees with his words, but whether his words
agree with his feeling — comp. the expression, " not with deceitful
lips," in ver. 1. He appears before God asserting his righteousness,
and the proving of his heart shows that his mouth had spoken the
truth, Others take *nftl as the first person preterite. So Luther:
I have purposed to myself, that my mouth shall not transgress.
But this exposition is against the accents, according to which

PSALM XVII. VER. 3, 4. 265
the word has the tone upon the last syllable ; and the sense,
besides, is a quite unsuitable one: the transgressing of the mouth
is out of place here. Ewald, De Wette, and Koester, connect
*nftl with the preceding: Thou dost not find me thinking evil,
my mouth oversteps not. But the external authorities of the
accents, the Masorah, and the old translations, are all against it:
the expression : my meditating, for : that I meditate evil, is
hard : the 73y cannot, without some addition, signify to do
wrong, and the proving of the heart. has nothing to do with the
transgressions of the mouth. According to the connection, the
only thing here in question is, whether the declarations of the
mouth are confirmed by the condition of the heart. That the
heart, with its thoughts and inclinations, should here appear as
the proper seat of righteousness, and that the hope of salvation
was considered well grounded only where the heart did not
need to shun the sharpest divine trial, is decisive as to the moral
platform of the Old Testament, which, even in its original and
primary principles of duty, does not confine itself to word and
deed, but extends it over the whole region of thoughts and in
clinations. Ver. 4. As for the doing of man : by the word of thy lips I
observe the ways of the transgressor. The Psalmist protests that
he constantly keeps far away from the paths of transgressors,
while, at the same time, he points to what lay near him, the
treading of these paths, as the common bent of the corrupt
heart in all men, and to the guide, that he carefully followed
the word of God. 7 is not rarely used, especially at the begin
ning of a passage, in the signification of, " in reference to," " in
respect of," " as regards," see Gesen. Thes. p. 732. ni7yS
stands in its common meaning, doing, manner of acting, 2 Chron.
xv. 7, Jer. xxxi. 16, Ps. xxviii. 5. The doing of man is the course
of action that is natural to man, in whom the imagination of the
heart is only evil from his youth, and that continually, (Gen. vi. 5,
viii. 21.) who has been born in guilt, and conceived by his mother
in iniquity, (Ps. Ii. 5.) It is one of the strongest testimonies for
the natural corruption of man, that a corrupt line of action, a
walking in the ways of the transgressor, is here spoken of simply
as the doing of man. There is a parallel passage in 1 Sam. xxiv.
9, where David says to Saul, " wherefore hearest thou men's
words :" and in Hos. vi. 7, " and they as men transgress the
covenant," (Manger: more humano levitatis; Hitzig's exposi-

266

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

tion : like Adam, deserves rejection simply on the ground that
Adam did not transgress the covenant ; also, in Job xxxi. 33,
where hypocrisy is described without further explanation as
natural to man, " If I covered my transgressions as man, by
hiding mine iniquity in my bosom," and in Job xxiii. 12, where
the law of man, the course of life which his natural inclination
leads him to take, is marked as directly opposed to the law of
God, " More than my law I have respected the words of thy
mouth." We should, then, entirely mistake if, by the doing of
man, we were to think merely of the power of evil example,
which would also be against the parallel passages now adduced,
and likewise against the quite analogous declaration in Ps. xviii.
23, " And I kept myself from mine iniquity." The Psalmist
does not place himself in contrast to men, but comprehends him
self under them. That evil-doing is the doing of man, this is
what renders it so exceedingly difficult to restrain himself from
the paths of the transgressor, which one has not first to be at pains
to discover, but into which one is apt to slip quite naturally and
unperceived. Whosoever would shun them, he has not simply
to follow his natural disposition, but must deny it. Many ex
pound: by the doing of men; but this signification of the 7 is
doubtful, (comp. Gesen. Thes. p. 733,) and the sense is rendered
tame by such an exposition, as the Psalmist would then except
himself from the number of men. The exposition : in the word
of thy lips, has respect to the authority which the Psalmist fol
lowed in shunning the ways of the violent, to which natural in
clination drew him, or to that from which he received an impulse
in the better direction. The 3 >s that through which the re
lation of effect to cause is marked : in the word = upon the word.
7373 is used precisely in the same way in Numb. xxxi. 16,
" these taught the children of Israel upon the word of Balaam,
unfaithfulness to the Lord," — the word of Balaam the cause,
in which the effect abides, that from which the impulse pro
ceeds, the authority — 1 Chron. xxi. 19, " upon the word of God,"
comp. the 717 m^ft3, upon the command of David, on the
ground,, oi his command, in 2 Chron. xxix. 25. The word of
God is the only light upon the otherwise dark ways of men ;
from it alone can the good impulse proceed, through which we
keep ourselves unspotted from the world within and without us,
withstand the corrupt inclinations of nature, and the spirit of
the world, swim against the stream which, with gigantic and re-

PSALM XVII. VER. 4, 5. 267
sistless force, carries everything along with it. The contrast
here implied between men's natural inclination and the word
of God, is already supposed as the basis of the Decalogue. It
has given rise to the negative form which predominates in the
ten commandments. Everywhere is this forced on our notice :
whereto thy corrupt heart is prone, just as in a command in the
positive form there is this : consider, pointing to the tendency
toward corruption.
The *JN is used emphatically in opposition to the enemies, the
wicked, who, according to ver. 11, direct their eyes to turn
aside in the land. 7ft£J>, to observe, in connection with the
Way, commonly with the design of keeping it, comp. Ps. xviii.
21, Job xxiii. 11, only here with the design of shunning it. The
Psalmist places his observation of the way of the transgressor
under the guidance of the word of God, against the foolish
eagerness, with which the world blindly clings to it ; yet so, that
there is probably a sharp allusion to this current mode of expres
sion : I have, observing the ways of God, in order to keep my
self upon them, at the same time, observed the ways of the trans
gressor, in order to shun them — a reference which discovers it
self more plainly, as soon as we perceive a break in the thoughts
after *n7ft&5'- The verb |*73, to break through, is used in
Hos. iv. 2, of the breaking through of all the limitations of good
and right, and from it the term T**7S, the transgressor. Luther's
translation : I keep myself in the word of thy lips from the work
of man upon the path of the murderer, gives, upon the whole,
the true sense, only that for transgressor, the far too special and
gross name of murderer is substituted.
Ver. 5. My steps hold fast by thy paths, my feet slide not.
The paths of God, which the Psalmist held fast by, stand op
posed to the way of the transgressor, which he shunned. The
Psalm contains still, like the preceding one, a protestation of
the Psalmist's righteousness, and forms a suitable conclusion to
the whole section, ver. 1 — :5, which alone is taken up with that.
Exactly parallel is Job xxiii. 11, " My foot holdeth fast, ninK,
his steps; his way have I kept and not declined." " To the
protestation of his innocence," remarks De Wette, " the Psalm
ist adds, besides, a prayer, that tbat might be preserved, that
moral power might be given him." But the sense which this
exposition affords, is so unsuitable to the context, that any other
might be held equally valid ; we should then have an isolated

268 " THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
thought, a real ejaculation before us. The Psalm has certainly
nothing to do with a prayer for moral support. The object of
prayer with him is merely salvation from the enemies, grounded
upon his own righteousness already existing, and the wickedness
of his enemies. Then, the exposition is also objectionable in a
verbal point of view. The inf. absol., bringing out the simple
action, always receives its immediate determination from the
context. But this here points decidedly to the preterite, that
goes before, and follows in the parallelism. 7ftn, to seize, take
hold, never signifies, with 3, to hold up, but always to take hold
of, to hold to, to keep fast by, comp. Ps. Ixiii. 8, where phe idea of
holding fast ^.required by the parallelism, " My soul, cleaveth
to thee, thy hand holdeth me fast," Ps. xii. 12; Ex. xvii. 12;
Isa. xiii. 1.
Ver. 6. The prayer of the Psalmist, which had only been in
dicated before, comes out in full force now, when the right foun
dation has been laid in the righteousness of the Psalmist, as it
afterwards acquires a second foundation, that of the wickedness
of the enemies, which was for God a call to vengeance. / call
upon thee, for thou God hearest me, incline thine ear to me, hear
my speech. The *Jjyn is either : Thou wilt hear me, or : Thou
oughtest to hear me. The latter view is supported by the cor
responding words in next verse : Thou deliverer of those, &c.
Luther : " It comprehends both in itself, the past as well as the
future. The meaning of it appears to be this : I have confi
dence, that my words shall not be in vain, since I know how, ac
cording to thy grace, thou are wont to hear me. Hence the
compassion of God is celebrated, which consists in this, that he
hears when we cry. This moves us, and is the cause why we can
presume to call." By the exposition : Thou wilt hear me, the
Psalmist would refer to his righteousness, as set forth in the pre
ceding context. To this likewise points the *JX, I, the right
eous person.
Ver. 7. Single out thy loving-kindnesses, thou deliverer of the
confiding from the revolters, by thy right hand. Upon n/SH
to single out, separate, not to make wonderful, comp. on Ps. iv.
3. The tokens of favour which the Psalmist desires, must be
separated from the circle of common ones. This points to the
greatness of the danger. De Wette thinks, that this very pre
sumptuous-looking prayer, like the similar one following, should
be ascribed to the spirit of Hebraism, which still knew not the

PSALM XVIl. VER. 7. 269
resigned spirit of Christianity. But if this prayer be presump
tuous, so also is the prayer of the Canaahitish woman, who also
supplicated : " Single out thy mercies, have compassion on me,
0 Lord, for my daughter is tormented ;" and yet the Lord does
not appear to have regarded it so, otherwise he would not have
replied to her : " 0 woman, great is thy faith, be it done to thee
as thou wilt." If the Stoic resignation of De Wette were Chris
tian, then Christ's wonder-working activity were unchristian,
and the prayer also for our daily bread, in the Lord's prayer,
would be the same. Were a doctrine so inhuman Christian,
then the Old Testament, which places the whole human race in
a relation to God, would stand higher than the New. The
words: thou deliverer of those, &c, contain the ground of the
Psalmist's hope of being heard. Calvin : " As often as we draw
near to God, we ought first to bear in mind that we are not to
be afraid of God's being ready to help us, because he is not in
vain called the deliverer of those who put their trust in him."
The nDh is used in Prov. xiv. 32, absolutely, as here, without
any designation of what the confidence is placed on. With
those who revolt or rise, the object of resistance can be no other
than, with those who confide, the less so, as, in the latter case,
the person on whom the confidence is placed is not named. The
former, therefore, could only be revolters against God. Luther :
" By this he seeks to bring his enemies into great hatred, as
persons whose madness swelled against God." 7*3*ft3 is to be
coupled with y*E>1ft : thou who deliverest by thy right hand ;
it points to the plentitude of power with which God is provided
for the defence of his people. That we must not expound :
from those who rebel against thy right hand, as Luther, or :
who confide upon thy right hand, from those who oppose them
selves, appears by a comparison with Psalm xvi. 11, and v. 14,
here, and by what was already remarked by Venema : " The
pious are more properly said to be preserved by the right hand
of God, than enemies attacking the pious, to rise up against
it." Luther : " See how quickly affection makes an excellent
orator. He recommends to God his cause in the most favour
able light, he seeks to put himself in good terms with him, he
makes complaint against his adversaries, he tries to have these
made hateful, and this he does in very few and urgent words.
But he does so, not as if these were necessary for God, in order
that he might be prevailed on, but for the sake of faith. For

270

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

the more vigorous and fervent our faith is, the more always does
God work through it."
Ver. 8. Keep me as the apple of the eye, in the shadow of thy
wings hide me. That reference is made in the first member to
Deut. xxxii. 10, " he kept him (Israel) as the apple of his eye,
is the more probable, as there the similitude of the eagle caring
for her young ones, immediately follows. Upon J1£?*X, not the
dim. of man, little man, but the male, see my work, Balaam, p.
98. J*y n3, prop, the eye's daughter ; son and daughter, in
the Semitic dialects, are applied to what belongs to another, or
is dependent on him, for example, arrows are named, in Lam. iii.
13, " sons of the quiver." Luther : " In this verse he employs
many words to say one and the same thing ; since he magnifies
the danger, and through the affection of his deep grief would
give it to be understood as if he could not be kept secure enough
from the snares of the wicked. Therefore, in these words, there
is embodied the emotion of a person oppressed with fear, and
who flees from a very great danger ; such as we observe in little
children, who run to the lap of their parents, and hang around
their neck, when they are alarmed at danger." The figure in
the second member is found enlarged in Matth. xxiii. 37, pro
bably in allusion to this passage.
Ver. 9. From the wicked, who disperse me, mine enemies, who
against the soul compass me about. Many interpreters take
772J> in the Arabic sense of seizing hold, but the Hebrew one
is quite suitable, if it is only observed that the Psalmist repre
sents himself under the image of one scattered by the enemy,
or of a land laid waste. I^W is also used in Judg. v. 27, of a
slain man. £^333 prop, in soul, in the matter of life, so that it
is equivalent to life. Many expound it after the example of
Abenezra, by : in desire. But in doing so they overlook the re
ference which the words : deliver my soul, have to the ^533
here. " They think to destroy my soul," in Psalm, xl. 14, is
parallel. Ver. 10. Their fat they close up, with their mouth they speak
proudly. How the expression : their fat they close up, is to be
understood — that it is, q. d. they have closed it upon one an
other, wholly covered themselves in fat, appears from Judg. iii.
22, " the fat closed upon the blade." The fat here, however, is
not corporeal but spiritual ; it denotes the spiritual deadness,
and hardening, by which their whole mind was overlaid. In

PSALM XVII. VER. 10. 271
this sense fat is very often used. So, first, in the ground-pas
sage, Deut. xxxii. 15, " But Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked ;
thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered,"
where many quite erroneously think of an external condition, a
state of prosperity granted by God; a view which leaves the
sudden address and the threefold repetition altogether unex
plained. The discourse is rather of becoming fat internally,
which takes place in consequence of what is external. Then
Job xv. 27, " Because he covered his face with his fatness, and
made collops of fat upon his flanks," where the fat, from the
connection, can only be understood morally — for the verse con
tains the ground of a proud revolt against God — q. d. he resem
bles such an one spiritually who covers his bodily face, &c, he
is spiritually as devoid of feeling, as that person is corporeally ;
comp. Ps. cxix. 70, where the abbreviated comparison comes out
in a complete form, " their heart is as fat as grease." Finally,
Psalm lxxiii. 7, " Their eyes stand out with fatness." Modern
expositors, for the most part, suppose that the 37n» from the
contrastwith the mouth, must necessarily mean the heart. Rosen-
miiller, departing from the Hebrew signification of that word,
attributes to it, from the Arabic, precisely the import of heart.
Others leave to it its common and alone certain signification, but
maintain that your fat, &c, is as much as your fat, unfeeling
heart. So Ewald: " While from hardness they have closed their
unfeeling heart against compassion, their haughty mouth opens
itself so much the wider for reproach." But there is no ground
for such an interpretation, as, according to our view also, full
justice is done to the contrast with the mouth ; the closing in of
the fat, the covering itself in fat ; marks a state of heart and
mind. And, on the other hand, we can appeal to the parallel
passages which everywhere speak, not of unfeeling hardness to
ward brethren, but of spiritual indifference and hardihood in
general, also to the fact that the expression of enclosing the
heart, as a description of unfeeling hardness, is found nowhere
else in the Old Testament, and finally, to the consideration that
the enclosing of the heart in this connection is too tame. 1ft*3
like 1J7£?N in ver. 11, and 737n in ver. 13, the accusative, after
their mouth, with their mouth. The predilection for this sort
of accus. is one of the peculiarities of our Psalm.
Ver. 11. After our steps they compass me about now, they di
rect their eyes, to turn aside in the land. 1J7£?N> after our
steps, wherein we continually turn ourselves, everywhere our

272 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
enemies pursue us, and cut off from us all escape, take from us
every hope of deliverance. To take the word with some as nom.
absol., does not accord with the predilection just noticed, which
the Psalmist here shows for this sort of accusative. For the
more difficult reading of the text *J133D> explicable on the con
sideration that the speaker is the righteous person, so that he
can speak in the sing, of himself, not less than in the plural
(comp. the sing, in reference to enemies in ver. 12), the Masorites
have put 1J1330> they have compassed us about, corresponding
t :
to the suffix in 137£>N- The Psalmist has certainly conjoined
thus closely the sing, and the plural, on purpose to show that
behind the ideal one there was concealed a multiplicity. The
now points to this, that the greatest danger had arrived, and
consequently also the time for God to help. V7K3 niftJ? is
commonly explained : in order to cast down to the earth, or in
the land. This mode of explanation does not require us to sup
ply, with De Wette, me or us; but we must consider, as the ob
ject of the throwing down, all that which is high or stands erect.
Calvin : " The godless, as if they must fall, when the world
stands, could see the whole human race destroyed, and hence
they apply themselves with vigour to throw everything to the
ground." But it is against this exposition, that while nftJ can
properly enough be taken in the sense of bending or bowing,
comp. lxii. 3, " a bowing wall," yet, in the present connection,
that is too flat ; not so, however, to beat down, to throw to the
ground. The right exposition discovers itself by a comparison
with ver. 5. Whilst the righteous directs his eye to the object
of holding fast by the ways of the Lord, they are equally zealous
and bent on turning aside from God's ways, and hence are as
much the objects of God's punishing as the others of his saving
energy. ntOJ is employed to designate the turning aside from
God, from his ways and his laws, and to set up this as the very
drift of life, is to sin boldly and with a high hand, it is a mark
of the most thorough abandonment. Comp. for example, Job
xxxi. 7, " If my foot hath turned out of the way ;" 1 Kings xi. 9,
" And the Lord was angry with Solomon,' because his heart was
turned from the Lord God of Israel." Psalm cxix. 51, 157.
nE33 to turn aside, as here, is used absolutely for turning out of
the way, in Jer. xiv. 8. On V*7N3, not upon earth, but in the
land, in the land of the Lord, Ps. xvi. 3.
Ver. 12. He is like a lion greedy to tear in pieces, and a young

PSALM XVII. V)!R. 12 — 14. 273
lion, lying in covert. Luther : " But the pride and haughtiness
of Moab is greater than his strength. He undertakes more than
he can execute." The sing, suffix is here also to be explained
thus, that the whole host of wicked ones is represented in one
person. Ver. 13. Arise, 0 Lord, surprise him, cast him down, deliver
my soul from the wicked through thy sword. The presence is
named, because this threatened destruction to the Psalmist,
comp. the *JSft in ver, 3. D7p, to come before, then to surprise,
is used, as here, in Ps. xcv. 2, with Q*J3- The 737n, as to
thy sword, through thy sword. The Jewish expositors gene
rally : from the ungodly, who is thy sword ; and so also in the
following verse, where Luther joins himself to them by render
ing : from the men, who are thy hand ; overlooking, however,
the Psalmist's marked predilection for the accusative, and be
sides, disregarding the connection, which does not suit with such
a method of considering the enemies as that used in Isa. x. 5,
where Assyria is called the rod of Divine wrath. This trait
would have broken the strength of the Psalmist's prayer, which
leans upon his righteousness and the enemies' wickedness.
Ver. 14. From the men through thy hand, 0 Lord, from the
men of continuance, whose portion in life, and for whom with
thy treasures thou fittest their body ; they have sons the fulness,
and leave their overflowings to their children. The Psalmist be
lieves that he can the more confidently present the prayer
uttered in the preceding context, and hope with the greater cer
tainty for its fulfilment, since it does not consist with God's na
ture and word, that those who, in alienation from God, despise
him, and lift themselves proudly up against him, should be
richly endowed by him with goods, and become partakers of
the blessing which is promised to the righteous. This con
trast between the reality and the idea, must God, as certain
ly as he is God, remove by his judgment ; he must take away
the irregularity which is so very singular, of strengthening the
wicked in his wickedness, and letting the pious fail in his piety,
and which can only be regarded as a temporary and passing
state of things. Preparation is made for the contrast which is
here unfolded between the reality and the idea, by nftlp, stand
up, arise, of the preceding verse, which presupposes the exist
ence of such a contrast. The repetition of D*nftft is empha
tical, as was justly remarked by Calvin. The discourse upon the

274 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
contrast is interrupted by the sword. 77nft is in substance
•correctly expounded by Calvin : Qui sunt a seculo. By the
preposition, says he, David expresses, that they ha,d not raised
themselves as of yesterday, but that their prosperity had already
continued for a long series of years, which, however, must be
made to vanish in a moment. So also Venema, according to
whom, the 7~>nft C3*nft are those who have been formed by
flourishing and continuing in prosperity. That the primary sig
nification of 77n is that of continuance, appears from the Arabic.
Dscheuhari in Scheid. in cant. Hisk. p. 51, says : " 77H denotes
continuation of existence ; it is used concerning man, when he
abides and flourishes." From this primary signification, which
here obtains, flow in Heb. the two derived ones of life and the
world. Life is named continuance, as what usually belongs to
being, comp. Job xi. 17, Ps. Ixxxix. 47, xxxix. 5, in which two
latter passages allusion is made to the primary import ; in the
last : *77n, my life, which has its name from continuance, is as
nothing before thee.
The world bears the name of continuance, as the general,
abiding, while particular appearances are transitory. In Arabic
chytropodes, rupes et saxa dicuntur 77in> quia semper manent,
deleantur licet domuum, &c. vestigia, Dscheuh. by Scheid. So
in Ps. xlix. 1, 77n is used of the world. Hezekiah alludes
to the 77tt *3&?* there, the inhabitants of continuance, when
in Isa. xxxviii. 11, he calls the dwellers in Sheol 77n *3B'*,
inhabitants of ceasing, an allusion which presupposes that 777,
even when used of the world, retains its common signification.
Parallel to the expression here, " of continuance," is that in Ps.
x. 5, " His ways are strong at all times." — Most modern exposi
tors, after the example of Luther, render : of the people of this
world, i. e. as De Wette remarks, whose whole striving termi
nates on this temporal, perishable world, and does not pass over
into eternity ; 77n marks the temporal, perishing, sensible, as
opposed to what is eternal, above sense. But a false meaning
is forced by this exposition upon the word. It signifies neither,
as Gesenius maintains, vita eaque cito praeterlabens, fluxa et
caduca — for in Ps. Ixxxix. 47, xxxix, 5, the idea of fleetness and
transitoriness, which is not suitable in Job xi. 17, does not exist
in the word itself, but in the connection — nor hie mundus, cujus
res fluxae et caducae sunt. In order to obtain this signification,

PSALM XVII. VER. 14. 275
we must violently tear the Heb. 77n from the Arabic. Further,
a contrast between the temporal and the eternal, so sharply ex
pressed, and so' briefly indicated, cannot be looked for in the
Psalms. It will not do to compare the o! viol roS aiume rohnu, of
the New Testament, as the contrast here rests upon a clear re
cognition of a future state of being. In such a contrast also, we
should have expected the article. Finally, what follows the
words : whose part in life, cannot possibly be understood other
wise than of the prosperous condition of the ungodly. Accord
ing to this, however, the beginning of the verse must refer, not
to the disposition, but to the lot of the wicked. The verse is
miserably torn asunder, if this reference is overlooked.
tD**n3 Dp7n is better rendered than : whose portion is in
- life — who have their firm and secure portion therein, thus: whose
part in life is, so that life is the territory on which they obtain
their part, their fortune ; comp. p7n in this signification for ex.
in Job xx. 29, " This is the portion of the wicked man from
God," xxvii. 13, xxxi. 2, 3, " For what portion of God is there
from above ? and what inheritance of the Almighty from on
high ? Is not misfortune to the wicked, and misery to the evil
doers ?" which last passage especially serves to throw light on
the one before us, whose lamentation it responds to. Life
stands here in an emphatic sense for prosperous life, because a
disastrous one is rather to be accounted a death : their part is
that they live and prosper. Calvin : " I understand these words
to mean, that they are free from all discomfort, and riot in joy,
and therefore are quite exempt from the general lot as inverse
ly is said of the miserable man, that his part is in death." Ex
positors generally interpret it : who are of an earthly disposi
tion. The portion, according to De Wette, means the highest
good or aim, life being put in opposition to eternity after death.
But as both the preceding and the subsequent context refers to
the lot of the wicked, this word cannot possibly denote their
disposition ; and that t3**n by itself, can denote the earthly life
as opposed to the eternal, is destitute of all proof. Such a con
trast of necessity requires a more pointed description. — 72*354
for which the Masorites, without any necessity, would substitute
731SX, the part, pas., properly: thy concealed. " Calvin: The
concealed goods of God here mean rare and peculiar dainties,
since God often endows the wicked, not merely with , all
the common comforts of life, but also with such as are of a

276

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

singular nature. This is a strong temptation, when any one
estimates God's favour by earthly prosperity. But we must re
member, that by the complaint of the pious man, it is enlighten
ment that is sought, and not a murmuring against God, so that
we. here also learn to direct our sighs toward heaven." The
state of things in which the wicked, who lie under the Divine
anger, are replenished by him with goods and gifts, considered
as a permanent one, would be the perverse world, but on that
very account it cannot possibly be a permanent state. — iy3^*
03*33 is rendered by Luther : Who have children the fulness,
and he remarks: " This refers not merely to the great number
of children, but rather to their state and condition, quite cor
rectly, since it is only strong and healthful children that can be
considered as a token of prosperity. But according to the cur
rent exposition, 03*33 is to be .taken as the nominative, not as
the accus. : fullare their children; De Wette: They hunger
not, like the children of the poor, who cry for bread. The first
construction is the only right one. It is supported by the want
of the suffix, and the analogy of the declaration : I shall be sa
tisfied with thy likeness. It is further supported, by the parallel
passages, in which a blooming host of children is spoken of as a
reward for the fear of God, comp. Ps. cxxvii. 3, " Lo children
are an heritage of the Lord, the fruit of the womb is his reward;"
Ps. cxxviii. 3, 4, " Thy wife shall be as a fruitful vine by the sides
of thy house," &c. " Behold, thus shall the man be blessed
that feareth the Lord ;" or complaint is made, that this blessing
which properly belongs only to the righteous, is lavished on
the ungodly, comp. Job xxi. 11, " They send forth their little
ones like a flock, and their children dance," magna foecunditate
emittunt, (Michaelis) in contrast to the pious Job, who lost all
his children. — The expression, they leave their superfluity to
their children, can only refer to the outward appearance. For
God is even called upon to interpose against the parents them
selves, and bring on their ruin. That they leave theiroverflow-
ing abundance to their children, this does not appear from the
seemingly well-grounded prosperity of their house notwithstand
ing their confidence in this respect, andjthe reality which decid
edly favours it, for G°d has threatened the ungodly in his word,
that he would punish their sins in themselves and in their chil
dren even to the third and the fourth generation. That word
of God gives a fearful emphasis to the prayer of the Psalmist ;
Arise, 0 Lord.

PSALM XVII. VER. 15. 277
yer. 15. The prayer uttered in the preceding verses, already
contains in itself the kernel of hope and confidence, in conse
quence of the ground upon which it is raised, the contrast, in
which the reality, considered as a permanent one, stands to
God's word and nature. That kernel comes here into develop
ment. " The Psalmist raises himself on the wings of faith to
a serene repose, in which he sees every thing in order. He
mocks the proud boasting of the enemy, and although, as it
seemed, quite cast off by God, he still promises himself the en
joyment ere long of his confiding look." / shall behold thy face
in righteousness, satisfy myself when I awake with thy form.
The *JK with emphasis, /, very different from my enemies, for
whom the Lord is preparing destruction. Righteousness is
here, according to the common view, named as the ground upon
which the Psalmist rests his hope of seeing the face of God.
As matters then stood, his righteousness appeared to be of no
avail, as to God's making any thing out of it. But as certain
as it is, that God is righteous, such a state of things could not
be lasting, the Psalmist's righteousness must still bear its pro
per fruit. We must also expound : as a righteous, or justified
person, and it is in favour of this exposition that we should
have expected with the first to have found the suffix. Now
the Psalmist would represent himself through his condition as
an unrighteous person. But he trusts the righteous God will
represent him as the person he really is, as in point of fact
justified, so that the righteousness comes here into considera
tion as the gift of God. The words : / shall behold thy face,
refer to ver. 2, where the Psalmist wishes that his right might
come forth from God's presence, that his eyes might behold
uprightness. This wish he sees here fulfilled. For that he
beholds God's face, presupposes, that God's face is granted to
him, that God's eye looks on him and his uprightness. Just
as it is said of God, that he hides his countenance, when he
withdraws his favour and help, so is he said to grant his coun
tenance, when he shows himself gracious, — comp. Ps. xi. 7,
" His countenance beholds the upright." To see God, or God's
face, therefore, is nothing else than to enjoy the Divine favour,
to experience the friendship of God, to be assured of his love,
and thereby obtain deliverance from the hands of our enemies.
So unquestionably is the seeing of God used in the prayer of
Hezekiah, Isa. xxx viii. 11, "I said, I shall not see the Lord in

278 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
the land of the living." Precisely similar also is Ps. xvi. 11,
where the Psalmist expects fulness of joy in the presence of the
Lord ; so that the Lord sees him, and he the Lord. The ex
pression : when I awake — as the improper view, already adopted
by Calvin, according to which the person freed from suffering is
represented as one awaking, and as the exposition : as often as
I awake, every morning, is arbitrary — obliges us to suppose,
that our Psalm contains an evening prayer of the Psalmist, or
was designed by him to be an evening prayer for the faithful.
In the stillness of night, the righteous man on his bed com
plains to the Lord of his distress, and receives from him inward
consolation and the assurance of his help. At rest he now
sleeps, certain that on his awaking the Lord will grant him the
promised aid. That the custom of prayer at even, springing
from the very nature of things, was then also prevalent with
the righteous, is evident from Ps. iii. 5, iv. 8, passages which
plainly disprove every other explanation of the expression,
" when I awake," besides the one just given, as the existence
also of the custom of morning prayer distinctly appears from
Ps. v. 3. — n31ftn always signifies form. The Psalmist refers
here to Numb. xii. 8, where God, marking the confidential rela
tion of Moses to him, says, " with him I speak mouth to mouth,
and by sight, not in dark speeches, and the form of the Lord he
beholds." A like confidential relation to the Lord is here meant,
a like visible— namely, through the eye of faith — and felt near
ness to him, the form in opposition to image and shadow; God
must receive for the Psalmist flesh and blood, as it were, must
be apprehended by him in the most concrete, living manner.
The Psalmist consoles himself justly with the thought, that what
happened to Moses was a real prophecy for all righteous persons.
This hope of the righteous, of satisfying themselves with the
form of the Lord, grows out of the same feeling of need, which
the appearances of God under a corporeal veil in the time of the
fathers served to meet, and which had its highest satisfaction in
the Word being made flesh. There is so strong a craving in
tbe human heart for a near, human God, that anticipating the
incarnation of God, it figuratively transferred to him corporeity,
lent to him form, that it might love him very intimately, and
comfort itself with a place in his heart. The received exposi
tion of this Psalm we cannot deliver better, than in the words
of Luther, with whose translation ours agrees, only that he im-

PSALM XVII. VER. 15. 27?
properly connects TfiJIftn with V*pn3 : " when I awake after
thine image." " He sets these words over against what he had
said of the ungodly. These strive only after earthly things, are
full of children, and place their portion in this life ; but for me
this life is contemptible, I hasten toward the future, where I
shall behold, not in riches, but in righteousness, not these
earthly things, but thy face itself. I shall also not be satisfied
with children of flesh, but when I awake shall be after thine
image." In recent times this exposition has gained much cur
rency by having been espoused even by De Wette. Many
thought, that the reference to a blessed immortality must surely
be well grounded, which was admitted even by so great a scep
tic. Already, however, did Calvin designate this exposition as
one not supported by the text, as subtle. It has nothing, in
deed, on its side. The supposition, that the discourse is here of
the striving after the eternal, after eternal blessedness, and that
this appears from the contrast mentioned in the preceding verse,
in regard to the striving of the ungodly after temporal goods,
rests simply and exclusively upon a false exposition of that
verse. How it can be maintained, that the seeing of the Lord's
face, and being satisfied with his form, must necessarily be un
derstood of the seeing of God in the life to come, is not easily
perceived. A corporeal vision even in that life cannot have
place ; in either case the satisfaction with the form of God must
be figuratively viewed. The seeing of God in the present, and
the seeing of him in the future life, are different only in degree,
not in kind. This is rendered manifest by the declaration of
our Lord, " Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God,"
in which the promise, as in all others, is to be referred not less
to this life, than to the future one. But what thoroughly re
futes this exposition, is the circumstance that, according to it,
not merely'would there be expressed here a knowledge of eter
nal life more clear and confident, than we could almost expect to
find in a Psalm of David, but especially that the Psalmist would
declare his entire resignation in regard to earthly things, which
in that case he wholly abandons to the wicked, and directs all
his hope to what is heavenly. All the other matter of the
Psalm stands in direct opposition to this rationalistic, rather
than Christian sort of resignation, for a strong and healthy faith
in regard to a future recompense, always rises on the basis of
a present recompense. Nay, in ver. 13, we find the Psalmist

280

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

calling upon the Lord to deliver his soul from the ungodly by
his sword, and in ver. 14, making complaint of the temporal
prosperity of the wicked.

PSALM XVIII.
Full of thankfulness, David praises the Lord for having heard
his prayer, and delivered him out of great danger, ver. 1 — 3.
He delineates in ver. 4 — 19, the first part of his dangers and
deliverances, which are particularly mentioned in the super-.
scription, by a variety of elevated figures. He affirms, in ver.
20 — 27, that he had received the Lord's assistance only in con
sequence of the righteousness of his endeavours, and his de-
votedness to the Lord. As the deliverance from Saul had been
referred back to this ground, so the representation of the se
cond part of the Divine goodness in ver. 28 — 45, takes from it
also its leading point, the assistance which God had already
given him against foreign enemies, the opponents of his king
dom, and which he was still to give by means of his promise, both
to David personally and to his posterity. The conclusion in ver.
46 — 50, consists of praise to God for the whole of his wonderful
works. We have, therefore, five parts : the introduction, at the end
of which, in ver. 3, the theme is announced, " according to his
glory I call upon the Lord, and am delivered from mine ene
mies ;" the conclusion, a twofold representation of the wonder
ful works of God ; in the middle, a representation of the subjec
tive principles on which the Lord imparts his aid, connected
alike with what is behind and what is before.
That we have here an artificially composed whole, is obvious
from this view of the subject and the train of thought. No
traces of a strophe-arrangement are discoverable. We cannot
overlook, however, the respect had to the number three, point
ing to the Mosaic blessing, which in the Psalmist had met with
so remarkable a fulfilment. In the superscription, Jehovah is
thrice used ; and thrice also in the introduction, which consists
too of three verses. The names in ver. 2, in which the Psalmist
has brought together the entire fulness of the Divine grace, fall
into three divisions. The first and the third of these divisions
contain three names, whilst that in the middle only one. The

PSALM XVIII. 281
whole number of names is seven, so that the five times occurring
number of the blessing goes along with the number of the cove
nant. As in the introduction we are met by the number three,
so also in the beginning of the conclusion. It can hardly be
accidental also, that the whole is made up of fifty verses, five
decades, in correspondence with the five verses of the conclu
sion. The strongest scepticism has not ventured to deny here the
Davidic authorship. With the solitary exception of Olshausen,
in the " Emendations," it is generally recognised. Ewald urges
in support of it, that we have here expressed, with the greatest
clearness, David's nature, his mode of reflection, and his deep
consciousness, his experiences so peculiar in their kind. That
the Psalmist was a king, is quite manifest from ver. 50, as also
from ver. 43. The same confidence in the blessing of God, in
respect even to his latest posterity, discovers itself in the last
words of David, 2 Sam. xxiii. The particular words have quite
the Davidic hue. The recurrence in the books of Samuel, is
also to be regarded as an external ground, the more so, as all
the other songs which these books contain, as of David, are cer
tainly his genuine productions. Hitzig remarks : The author is
a warrior, who had often been pressed by the feet of death, by
his enemies, with their hostile armies, ver. 29. But Jehovah
had delivered him from them all, by reason of his piety, with
drew from them their superiority, and enabled him wholly to
subdue them. He not only brought him forth unscathed from
domestic wars, and set him upon the throne of Israel, but sub
jected to him also, far and wide, the heathen nations.
One of the most important indications of the hand of David,
is to be found in the relation, to be investigated afterwards, in
which ver. 28, ss. stand to the promise in 2 Sam. vii. Another
also will be pointed out in the course of our exposition.
In regard to the situation, we are told in the superscription,
that David sung this Psalm after that the Lord had delivered
him out of the hand of all his enemies. The Psalm is thus de
signated as not having arisen from some special occasion, but as
a general song of praise, for all the grace and the assistance
which he had received from God all his life long, as a collection
of the thanksgivings which David had uttered from time to time,
on particular occasions, a great halleluiah, with which he re
tired from the theatre of life. In the books of Samuel this

282 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
Psalm is expressly connected with the end of David's life, im
mediately before his " last words," which are presently after
given in ch. xxiii. With this design the matter of the Psalm
entirely agrees. In it the Psalmist thanks God, not for any
single deliverance, but has throughout, before his eyes, a great
whole of gracious administrations, an entire life rich with expe
riences of the loving-kindness of God.
Without foundation, Venema and others would conclude from
ver. 20, ss., that this Psalm must- have been composed before
the adultery with Bathsheba. That deed, though a dreadful
sin, yet being one only of infirmity, from the guilt of which
David was delivered by a sincere repentance, cannot be regard
ed as inconsistent with what he here says of himself, if his words
are but rightly understood.
In 2 Sam. xxii., this Psalm is repeated with not a few varia
tions. The supposition which is now commonly received, and
which has been specially defended by Lengerke1 and Hitzig, is,
that these variations have arisen from carelessness, discovering
itself in both forms of the text, though principally in that of
Samuel. But the following reasons may be advanced against
this view: 1. If such were a correct representation of the origin
of these variations, it would follow, that before the collection of
the canon, the text of the books of the Old Testament had been
very carelessly kept. For it is improbable that this particular
Psalm should have been singular in experiencing an unpropi-
tious fate. And in that case, conjectural criticism must have
a very large room assigned it. It must proceed on the expecta
tion of finding one, or even more faults, in almost every verse.
But even the rashest of our critics do not consider the text to be
in such a state, and the more judicious confine conjectural criti
cism within very narrow limits. 2. In other places, where simi
lar variations are found, where there are texts that come in con
tact with each other, these variations are uniformly not the re
sult of accident and negligence, but of design. So, for. example,
in Isa. ch. ii., comp. with Mic. iv., and in Jeremiah, comp. with
the numerous passages in the older scriptures, which he has ap
propriated. 3. The text in each of the forms is of such a nature,
that one would never have thought of regarding it as faulty in
any particular place, were it not for the comparison with the
1 Comment, de dupl. Ps. 18, exemplo.

PSALM XVIII.

283

corresponding place making it appear so. If negligence had
here played its part, it could not have failed to produce a multi
tude of passages, in which the fault was discoverable at a mo
ment's glance, and could be shown incontestably to be such.
4. A great number of the variations, nay, the greater part of
them, are of such a kind that they cannot be explained by acci
dent. This circumstance forbids the derivation from accident,
even in those cases where it might fairly be allowed to have had
place, since it is improbable that the variations should have
flowed from a double source. The proof of this will be found
in considering the particular variations. 5. It is not difficult to
discover certain principles by which the variations in the books
of Samuel are governed. That which has had the most power
ful influence, is the tendency already found in Ps. liii., as comp.
with xiv., to substitute for the simple, plain, and common, the
far-fetched, elevated, emphatic, and rare. Besides this, there is
also perceptible, the desire to explain what is dark. Such per
vading tendencies cannot be explained on the ground of acci
dent. It has been advanced in support of the view we oppose, that
the variation in a number of cases consists only in the change of
a single letter, and sometimes, indeed, of such letters as are,
either in form or pronunciation, similar to each other, for ex
ample, ver. 12, K77 and N7*1, in ver. 13, n3ETl and T\1W1,
&c. But this appearance is found even there, where the varia
tions have unquestionably arisen from design, and wherever a
text is much laboured ; the author of the variations was particu
larly desirous of expressing a different sense, by the greatest
possible similarity of form. The fact in question could only
have been of moment in the event of the sense being unsuitable
in one of the texts. But no trace of this is at all discoverable.
We derive the variations altogether from an after-polishing,
accompanied by design ; and as both the texts are prefaced by
the superscription of David, the design must have been con
ceived by himself. As to the object of the after-polishing, we
do not consider it to have been that of antiquating the earlier
form, but for the sake of producing variations, which should be
placed alongside of the original and main text. The text in
the Psalms appears to us to be this original and main one, partly
on the external ground, that this Psalm was given up by David
for public use, according to the expression, " to the chief musi-

284 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
cian," in the superscription, partly also on the internal ground
already noticed, that in a considerable number of variations in
the books of Samuel, the design cannot be mistaken, and finally,
on this account, that the text in Samuel, even apart from its
being justly regarded 'as a variation of the other, is decidedly
inferior to the text of the Psalms.
*, From this view we derive the advantage of being wholly de
livered from a line of procedure, the arbitrary and unbecoming
nature of which has sufficiently appeared from experience, ac
cording to which men constantly went about to extol the one
text at the expense of the other, and called up every thing
which might have the effect of representing one of them as de
serving of utter rejection.
What has been objected to this view by Lengerke, that such
an artificial mode of procedure was not to be expected of David,
rests upon that manner of contemplating the Psalms, which con
siders them as mere natural poetry, and the falseness of which
has been sufficiently proved by our previous exposition ; nor can
it have much weight, at any rate, in a Psalm like the present,
which was already designated by Amyrald as artis poeticae lu-
culentissimum specimen, and by Hitzig as " an unrivalled pro
duction of art and reflection."
To the chief musician, of the servant of the Lord David, who
spake to the Lord the words of this song, at the time when the
Lord delivered him from the hand of his enemies, and from the
hand of Said. In this superscription, the form of introduction
to the song of Moses, in Deut. xxxi. 30, seems to be imitated,
" And Moses spoke in the ears of all the congregation of Israel
the words of this song," — a supposition which is the more natu
ral, since, in the song itself, the reference to Deut. xxxii. is un
questionable, from which, in particular, David has borrowed the
designation of God as the rock, 71X, and since the introduction
to the last words of David in 2 Sam. xxiii. 1, rests in like man
ner upon the introduction of Balaam to his prophecies, in Numb.
xxiv. 3. Especially noticeable is the coincidence in the expres
sion, " the words of this song," for which, elsewhere, we find
simply, " this song," Ex. xv. 1, &c. Instead of: in the ears of
the congregation, we have here : to the Lord, which occurs also
in Ex. xv. 1. The expression, " of the servant of the Lord,"
points to the dignity and importance of the person, which con-

PSALM XVIII. 285
stitutes the ground-work of the deliverances granted to him, and
corresponds to the words in the conclusion : who makes great
the salvation of his king, as much as my salvation because I am
his king. In this dignity of the person, or his importance in
respect to the kingdom of God, is founded the ascription to " the
chief musician." A song so strongly marked by characteristic
traits of the individual as this is could only have been conse
crated to the public use of God's service, on the understanding
that its author and object represented the whole of the Church,
and that the one was blessed in the other. Every pious man,
in a general sense, is named the servant of the Lord, so Job,
in ch. i. 8 ; ii. 3, comp. also Ps. xix. 11, 13. Even in this gene
ral sense, the designation has respect, not merely to the sub
jective matter of obedience, but also to the dignity of him who
is thus denominated ; it is an honour to be received by God as
among the number of his servants who enjoy the support and
protection of their rich and mighty Lord. But the designation
is more commonly used in a special sense of those whom God
employs for the execution of his purposes, to whom he entrusts
the management of his concerns, and whom he fits for the ad
vancement of his glory. David, who is said in the Acts, xiii. 36,
to have " served the will (purpose) of God in his generation,"
was the first, after Moses and Joshua, who in that sense is
called the servant of God. He is so, not only here, but also in
the superscription of Psalm xxxvi., which is nearly related to
ours, and must consequently have proceeded from the author
himself, and again in his own words in 2 Sam. vii. Analogous
also is the description in the last words of David, " the man
who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob"
— a passage which fully justifies the remark of Venema, that
the designation is not one merely of moderation and humility,
which are to be recognized in it only in so far as David seeks^
his honour in what God gave him, not in what he had of him
self, but also and pre-eminently of honour. David, however, is
not acting presumptuously in assuming to himself such an
honourable appellation ; for the position which he vindicates to
himself belonged to him after unquestionable testimonies on the
part of God, both in word and deed, and in such cases it is only
false humility when one declines to appropriate to himself what
God has openly bestowed on him. With 031*3 the entire fol
lowing period stands in stat. constr., in the day of the Jehovah

286 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
delivered him ; for : in the day that Jehovah delivered him. To
the words : from the hand of all his enemies, and (especially)
from the hand of Saul, correspond those in Exodus xviii. 10,
" Blessed be the Lord who hath delivered you out of the hand
of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of Pharaoh." The de
liverance of David from the hand of Saul was too important not
to be specially referred to in the superscription and in the Psalm
itself. It was the first of the whole; it was by what he ex
perienced in these necessities that his faith first developed itself
in God's fatherly care, and in all his subsequent difficulties
David's mind always threw itself back upon those experiences
which formed the basis of his inward life. That deliverance was
for him the same as the redemption out of Egypt was for Israel.
The danger, besides, was of all the greatest for David. In later
times he stood as king against other kings, or his own rebellious
subjects; but here as a private man, without power or resources,
against the king, who employed all his power to persecute ;
never afterwards was he so much alone, and immediately thrown
upon God. This distinction is impressed upon the Psalm itself.
In the section which celebrates the deliverance from the hand of
Saul, David is represented, unconditionally, as a sufferer, the
hand out of the clouds lays hold of him and pulls him out of
great waters. On the other hand, in the section which is taken
up with his deliverance from the hand of the other enemies, we
behold him throughout active : God delivers him by imparting
his blessing to the use of the means which he had himself fur
nished. He is no more like a " flea," is no more " hunted like a
partridge upon the mountains," but as a warrior he places him
self in opposition to warriors, runs in the Lord upon troops, and
in his God springs over walls."1 He must first learn to read
with larger characters, and then the smaller shall become legible
to him. Finally, in no later delivprance did the height to which
David was raised form such a contrast to the depth into which
he had been sunk, nor in any later catastrophe was there such
a contrast, on the part of the enemies, in respect to the depth,
1 This important distinction was first noticed by Venema, whose remark, how
ever, appears to have been quite overlooked by later writers :, " in the former sec
tion he had ascribed his deliverance to God alone as a just judge, and had reserved
no part to himself; here, however, while he acknowledges God as the source of
power and victory, he yet represents himself as an instrument in the hand of Godj
whereby the enemies were subdued."

PSALM XVIII. VER. 1. 287
as compared with the former elevation : he, raised from tending
flocks to be the shepherd of a people — out of the deepest misery
to kingly power and glory; Saul, abandoned to despair and an
ignominious death, his family thrust down to a low condition.
One can only read with surprise the assertion of Lengerke, that
the words, " and from the hand of Saul," are a later addition.
It is justified as genuine by the division of matter in the song
itself, which handles the deliverance from Saul as a separate
whole, and invests it with a different complexion from the other
deliverances and gracious acts of God.1
The introduction occupies ver. 1 — 3, and in it the Psalmist
first declares his tender love to God, and then points to its
grounds, as well through the number of epithets applied to God
as in ver. 3, through an open representation of the continuance
of the action.
Ver. 1. And he said : Heartily do I love thee, O Lord, my
strength. Luther : ' ' Our sweet and joyful affection ought to im
pel us with great force to those to whom we owe it, that we
have been delivered from huge evil and misfortune. So says he
now : I have a sincere and childish longing toward thee. There
fore he confesses his warmest love that he has a desire after our
Lord God, for he has found his kindness to be unspeakable; and
from this constraining desire and. love it arises that he ascribes
to God so many names as here follow." Love to God is already
in Deut. x. 12, and in a series of other passages in the Penta
teuch, declared to be the sum of the whole law. The manifes
tations of God's love are designed to lead to him, but this aim is
1 That the superscription is not, as some have supposed, borrowed from 2 Sam.,
shows already its formal agreement with the introduction (the threefold number of
the names of God) which bespeaks its origin from the Psalm itself, and the same is
still more decisively proved by the internal composition of the superscription, in
particular by this, " and from the hand of Saul," compared with the matter. The
variations in 2 Sam. are just so many intentional changes. First, the words, " to the
chief musician," are left out, because here the song comes into consideration only as
the personal confession of David. Then this : of the servant of the Lord, is awant
ing, for no other reason than that in 2 Sam., in the superscription and introduction
the entire arrangement connected with the predominance of the number three is
abolished, by which these words were rendered necessary, and of the genuineness
of which one can scarcely doubt after comparing 2 Sam. vii. 23, 1 , and the corre
sponding, " his king and his anointed," of the conclusion. Finally, instead of va,
there is used, a second time spo, for conformity sake, while the original iin was
probably employed on purpose to distinguish the deliverance from the hand of Saul
more clearly from that out of the hands of the other enemies.

288

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

not accomplished in all ; many embrace the gifts, and thereby
forget the Giver — their hearts are the colder toward God the
more eminent his gifts are. Of Israel it is said in Deut. xxxii.
15, " But Israel waxed fat and kicked, he forgot, God that made
him, and lightly esteemed the Eock of his salvation." But with
David it was through the manifestations of God's love to him
that the flame of a corresponding love was kindled, and burned
always purer and brighter. 03n7, diligere ex intimis visceribus,
to love heartily, occurs in Kal only here ; Piel could not have
been used, for that always marks the tender love of the stronger
toward the weaker compassion. It appears that David had
made the word for himself, because no existing term was suffi
cient for the expression of his feeling. The word " my strength"
(pT!"l, also ««*£ Asy.) is referred by Luther to that strength " with.
which a man is clothed from above, and by which he is inwardly
strengthened and fortified, the firmness which braces weak and
delicate minds." This strength, he says, we have not, excepting
from God. For when it depends upon ourselves, we are quite
weak, in good as well as in bad times, and we melt like wax be
fore the fire. This view might be confirmed by 1 Sam. xxx. 6,
" David strengthened himself in the Lord his God." But that
" my strength" is at least not exclusively, or even not pre-emi
nently, to bo referred to such internal strengthening, is evident
from the following names of God, which all refer to the external
aid granted by God, and also from the entire sequel, which runs
out upon actual deliverances, and may be said to be embodied
in this one word.1
1 This first verse is altogether awanting in 2 Sam. Its internal character be
speaks its genuineness; the judgment of Lengerke: ina/nis est etfrigidw versiculus,
is characteristic only of him who uttered it, not of the declaration itself, and which
was the source of two of our finest hymns (this : fferzlich lieb hab' ich dich, 0 Burr,
and this : Ich will dich lieben meme starlce). The our. Xiy. om is a farther proof of
its originality ; and also the fact that the threefold use of the name Jehovah fails in
the introduction, if this verse is held to be of later origin. Finally, as an external
ground, the name of King Hezekiah, which, in all probability, was derived from
this verse. Against the opinion of Hitzig, that the words were dropt in 2 Sam. from
negligence, we would say that such a degree of negligence precisely at the com
mencement is scarcely to be conceived. But it is quite conclusive that this omis
sion goes hand in hand with the longer addition in ver. 3, which was manifestly de
signed to supply the place of what was omitted, and which therefore must have
been known to the author. If we should attribute to the author of the text in
2 Samuel the design of compressing our text in the additional words : my Saviour,
who savest me from violence, we must certainly hold him to have done it very ill.
But this was obviously not his design. He only wished to give a variation.

PSALM XVIII. VER. 2. 289
Ver. 2. The Lord, is my rock, and my fortress, and my de
liverer; my God is my stronghold, in whom I trust, my shield and
horn of my salvation, my height (or strong place). The first thing
to be considered here is, how the words in the middle, *71X *7tf
13 nDnN, are to be understood. Generally two names of God
are found here : my God, my stronghold, in whom I trust. We,
however, render : my God is my stronghold, in whom I trust, so
that only this : my stronghold, belongs to the series of appel
latives applied to God. This view is supported, first, by the
consideration that the quite general term : my God, interrupts
the series of appellatives, which all bear a special character •, in
the second place, that by the other view, in place of the number
seven, so significant, and so much loved by David, and which we
the rather expect here, as the number plays so conspicuous a
part in the superscription and introduction, the meaningless
eight would be found. In the third place, *7X does not stand
in a like series to the other names of God ; for which also speaks
the corresponding : my rock, God, upon whom I trust, in 2 Sa
muel. The author divides the seven names, with which he
would praise God, into three parts. The first and the third con
tain three names ; for the intermediate part only one remains.
But the mere *71U would have stood too isolated and cold ;
hence was the *7tf prefixed, and the 13 non^ added. — If we
must then render : my God is my rock or stronghold, it is cer
tain that the whole verse, precisely as ver. 3, comp. also Ps.
xlvi. 1, " God is our refuge and strength," must be spoken of
God, and that the current exposition, which regards it as a di
rect address, depending on the words : I love thee, is to be re
jected. So long a series of vocatives also would have something
formal and cold about it, and would not correspond to the calm
restraint which graces the introduction, and which is observed
in the two other verses. Our construction was already adopted
by the Vulgate.
The designations of God in this verse, as also that in the pre
ceding, of " my strength," contain not only an expression of
thankfulness for what is past, but also at the same time, ex
pression of hope in respect to the future ; not the Lord was, but
the Lord is my rock, &c. David's relation to God is a standing
one, out of which the future salvation will proceed, just as the
one already past has done. That the designations must be un
derstood in this manner, appears first of all from the expression

290 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
in next verse : I am delivered, not I was. . Then it is clear also
from the body of the Psalm, which refers not merely to the de
liverance already received, but also to the future, pointing in the
conclusion even to what David was to receive in his posterity.-—
The two first names, and also the last, are taken from the natu
ral state of Palestine, where the precipitous rocks, surrounded
by deep ravines, afford protection to the flying, — comp. " He sets
me up upon a rock," in Ps. xxvii. 5, for, he delivers me, Judges
vi. 2 ; 1 Sam. xxiv. 22 ; 2 Sam. v. 8. The predilection for this
figurative description of the Divine protection, which may be re
cognised, not merely in the three-fold repetition, but also in its
forming both the beginning and the end, enclosing all the others,
appears to have had its origin in the persecution of Saul. Then
David often had to betake to rocks for refuge. He grounded
the hope of his security, however, not upon their natural inac
cessibility, but his mind rose from the corporeal rock to the spi
ritual, which he beheld under the form of the corporeal. The
mode of contemplation, to which he then became familiarized,
would readily suggest such figurative designations of God, his
deliverer, as his rock, his fastness, his stronghold. Placed upon
this rock, he could say : non euro te Cazsar, with infinitely better
right than he who, according to Augustine, on Psalm Ixx. called
from a high natural rock to the emperor as he passed beneath.
The third designation, " my deliverer," the only proper one amid
others clearly figurative, must serve as an exposition of the two
first, pointing to their real substance. In the fourth designa
tion, " my stronghold, in whom I trust," it is not the height and
inaccessibility, as in the case of the rock, which comes into
view, but the immoveableness, and unchangeable firmness. It
points to the immutability of God, his constancy and inviola
ble faithfulness. The etymology also leads to this sense ; 71X
properly signifies, not rock, but stone. Such decidedly is its
import in the first passage, where it is used as a designation of
God, Deut. xxxii. 4. There it is manifestly equivalent to PUIttK,
fidelity, and the meaning of tutissimum asylum, does not at all
suit. That David borrowed the 71^ from this passage, which
with singular predilection he used in his last- words, is evident
from ver. 31. With a similar dependance upon that original
passage, 71U is found in Ps. xcii. 15, "To show that the Lord is
upright, my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him." The
Psalm celebrates God's love and fidelity, nJI&N, ver. 2. 71S

PSALM XVIII. VER. 2. 291
frequently occurs in close connection with Jehovah, the existing,
the unchangeable, (see my Beitr. Th. II. p. 244, ss.) and espe
cially in Isa. xxvi. 4. The name in Gen. xlix. 24, " the stone of
Israel," is analogous. This stone is the touchstone for the inter
pretation of 71X, showing what property it is in it that comes
into consideration. To suppose that this property here is the
inaccessible height, would only then be justifiable, if we could
take non with 3, in the sense of flying to, whereas it always sig
nifies to trust in. With the trusting exactly corresponds un-
changeableness and fidelity.— The epithet, "My shield," occurred
already in Ps. iii. 3. In Deut. xxxiii. 29, God is named the
shield, the help of Israel. — Horn of deliverance, is either as much
as, delivering horn — so Luther : It signifies an horn of salvation,
because it overcomes the enemies, delivers from the enemies,
and gives salvation — or the proper word *J*fc}>* is the explanation
of the figurative one J7p : my deliverance horn, q. d. my horn,
that is, my deliverance ,• his power affords me the deliverance,
which horns do for beasts. In that case, the image is taken
from the beasts, who defend themselves with their horns, and in
these possess the seat of their strength. We object to the ex
position of others, who take the word in the sense of height,
that this signification occurs only in one passage, that of Isa. v,
1, and even there it means not mountain-top, but hill, while it
is found in a great number of passages in the sense adopted by
us, with reference to beasts, whose strength resides in their
horns, comp. for ex. Deut. xxxiii. 27 ; 1 Sam. ii. 10 ; Job xvi.
15. It is a confirmation also of this view, that the epithet : my
high place, of the conclusion, can stand better separate, than,
my shield. For it only rounds off, and points back to the com
mencement. In Deut. xxxiii. 29, there are parallel with the
helping shield, the imperious sword, defence and offence.1
1 In 2 Sam. iS is added to iioSsa, my deliverer, which is neither with Len
gerke to be declared original, nor with others to be marked as wholly to be reject
ed. It hears the character of the unusual, which distinguishes so many of the vari
ations in 2 Samuel. It is found also in Ps. cxliv. 2, a passage grounded upon ours,
and cannot therefore be regarded as a corruption of late origin. Of the passages,
in which Lengerke has sought'to find a similar use of. the iS, Ps. xxvii. 2; xxxi. I,
the first is quite inappropriate, and the second uncertain. Instead of this: my God
is my rock, there is in 2 Sam, : my rock-God, '•ht'N 'l-IV, a variation, which is
shown to be intentional by ver. 47, where the designation : rock-God, again occurs.
Such a regularity is incompatible with an accidental origin. The solitariness of

292 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
Ver. 3. As on the glorious one I call upon the Lord, and from
mine enemies I am delivered. The fut. of the verb are to be
taken aoristically : as often as I call upon thee, I shall be de
livered ; so that the sentiment refers at once to the past, the
present, and the future. Luther : " He would teach us by this,
that there is nothing so bad, so great, so mighty, so long-con
tinued, which may not be overcome by the power of God, if we
only put our trust therein. Likewise, that we then pre-eminent
ly had cause to hope in the power of God, that it would then
be mighty in us, when many great, strong, and constant evils
forcibly press upon us, because it is a property of Divine strength
to help the little, the feeble, the dejected, not merely amid the
evils of punishment, but also of guilt. For what sort of power
were God's, if it could prevail over punishment alone, and not
also over sin in us ? So full is this passage of consolation ; be
cause the state of things it contemplates seems to be wholly
against nature, and that one must abandon all hope, when not
evil merely, but also great, weighty, and long-continued evil
breaks in." The first member is translated by many : I call
upon the Lord as one that has been praised, i. e. after that I
have already,praised him. So Luther : I will praise the Lord
and call upon him. " This doctrine," says he, " is in tribulation
the most ennobling and truly golden. One cannot believe what
a powerful assistance such praise of God is in pressing danger.
For the moment thou wilt begin to praise God, the evil also will
begin to abate, the consoled heart will grow, and then will fol
low the calling upon God with confidence. There are people
who cry to the Lord, and are not heard, ver. 41 . Why this ?
Because they do not praise the Lord, when they cry to him, but
go to him with reluctance ; they have not represented to them
selves how sweet the Lord is, but have looked only upon the
bitterness. But no one gets deliverance from evil by simply
looking upon his evil, and becoming alarmed at it ; he can only
do so by overcoming it, hanging upon the Lord, and having re
spect to his goodness. O doubtless a hard counsel ! And a rare
'QJEJ'D is in 2 ,Sam. relieved by the addition <D13D, my refuge. Then there is
also appended a fuller conclusion : my Redeemer, who redeemest me from violence.
It is impossible to account for such an addition by accident. Ow text maintains
here throughout the character of the ground-text ; hut considered as a variation,
that in 2 Samuel is quite unexceptionable. No one would think of bettering it, if
we had it alone.

PSALM XVIII. VER. 3, 4. 293
thing truly, in the midst of misfortune to conceive of God as
sweet, and worthy of being praised, and when he has removed
himself from us, and is incomprehensible, even then to regard
him more strongly than our present misfortune, which keeps us
from regarding him. Only let every one try it, and endeavour
at the praise of God, even though in little heart for it ; he will
presently experience an enlightenment. For all other consola
tion profits not, or it profits in a deceitful manner; in other
words, is highly injurious." Though the sense, however, is
given here with substantial correctness, yet the view taken of
77ni3 cannot be grammatically justified. To take : praised,
for : after that I had praised him, is hard, and everywhere else
the word is used in the Psalms as an epithet of God, praised =
glorious, Ps. xlviii. 1, xcvi. 4, cxiii. 3, cxlv. 3, comp. 1 Chron.
xvi. 25. So must 77713 be understood here also. It marks
that property of God which David vividly realizes to himself in
calling upon him, points to this, that it is not enough simply to
call upon the Lord, comp. ver. 41, but that the full knowledge
of his glory must be coupled therewith, which only dwells in the
heart that has undoubting faith, distinguishes the prayer of faith
from that of the doubter, who prays merely by way of experi
ment, and dares not hope, that he shall receive any thing, comp.
Jas. i. 5. 77nS stands in the accus., comp. Ewald, § 510, c„
and the position at the beginning, which has led many astray,
is to be explained from the design of giving emphasis to this
word. After the introduction, there follows now, in ver. 4 — 19, the
first part of the representation of the Divine help which David
had experienced amid the great necessities and manifold dangers
of his life, referring to the period of the persecution under Saul.
This is opened in ver. 4 and 5, by a description of the necessity.
Then comes, in ver. 6 — 19, the special development of the
truth, in regard to his calling upon the Lord as the glorious
one, and being delivered from his enemies.
Ver. 4. The cords of death compassed me about, and the waters
of mischief frightened me. Ver. 5. The cords of hell compassed
me about, the snares of death surprised me. The question first of
all arises, of what distress in the life of David does he here
speak ? The proper answer is, that David here brings all the
necessities of the Sauline period into one mass. This view is
justified by the superscription, which divides all the distresses of

294

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

David into twb great halves, the Sauline ones, and the others;
and also by the relation already pointed out of the two sections,
ver. 4 — 19, and 28 — 45, to each other, in the former of which
David is delivered by God, without his co-operation, while in
the latter he is represented as at once the instrument and the
object of the divine deliverance. The supposition that David
throws all the distresses of his whole life into one lump merely,
is discountenanced by the division of the matter into two parts ;
and the opinion of De Wette and Lengerke, viz. that the Psal
mist speaks of a particular danger and deliverance, (De Wette
is uncertain what, Lengerke thinks of David's escape from the
treachery of the Ziphites,) is not suited to the occasion and to
the general character of the Psalm ; and must proceed on the
idea, that the Psalmist had unduly filled his mouth, without
being able to explain why he should have given such promi
nence to one particular event at the expense of others. Instead
of cords, several have : the pains of death. *73n can certainly
signify that ; but the sense of cords, to which the compassing is
also more suitable, is decided here by the *^p1i0 parallel to
the second *73n, with which the first must accord in meaning.
Death is represented under the image of a hunter, from whom the
animal can no longer escape, when' the fatal net has been thrown
over it. Belial is taken here' by many expositors in the sense
of destruction. The brooks or waters of destruction must be a
figurative description of great misfortune, which in a manner
overflows a man. But Belial always signifies unprofitableness
in a moral sense, unworthiness. In this sense does it already
occur in Deut. xiii. 13 ; xv. 19. In that sense it was quite fa
miliarly used, especially in David's time, and is so used in the
last words of David, 2 Sam. xxiii. 6, which are so closely related
to this Psalm : unworthiness as abstr. pr. concr., or personified.
For the signification of misfortune, destruction, Gesenius pro
duces only, in addition to our passage, Nah. i. 11, where, how
ever, 7^**73 H?1* is explained by Michaelis : consiliarius Belial,
i. e. nequam, diabolicus, and according to chap. ii. 1, it must be
so rendered. If we follow the only certain meaning of the
word, as already the LXX. xii/ta^oi uvoplus, then by the brooks
of unworthiness we can only understand, with Muis and others,
the unworthy, (Saul and his company) who overflow as brooks.
This view is supported also by what follows. If Belial is ex
plained by destruction, there certainly fails every more definite

psalm xviii. veil 5, 6. 295
mark of distress. One might think, for example, that the Psal
mist had been death-sick. But that is against the conclusion
in ver. 17 and 18, where it is clearly expressed, that the troubles
proceeded from enemies. In this conclusion there is, farther,
as good as an express comment on the brooks of Belial. In
ver. 17, we find parallel with the preceding words, " he drew me
out of many waters," which refers back to the brooks of Belial,
" he delivered me from my strong enemy, and from my haters,
for they were too strong for me." Also in Ps. cxliv. 7, which
has reference to this one, " Deliver me out of many waters, out
of the hand of strange children," the waters are not the imago
of misfortune, but of its cause, the enemies. The fut. *Jinj*3*
is to be explained from the lively realization of presence. Q7p
is to surprise, comp. on Ps. xvii. 13.1
Ver. 6. In my distress I call upon the Lord, and cry to my
God, he hears out of his temple my voice, and my cry comes be
fore him, in his ear. Just as before the distresses had been all
united into one great distress, as is also done again at the com
mencement of this verse, so here and in the subsequent context,
1 In 2 Sam. we have first at the beginning of ver. 5 ii added. This addition
bears the character of an explanation. The ii marks precisely the relation in
which the just begun section stands to the preceding. Luther : " In what precedes
he had said and taught, that we must call upon the name of the Lord with praise
and love, if we would be delivered from the hand of our enemies ; and now farther
he relates, that he had done this, and relates his own history as an example of the
doctrine which he had taught." Then, instead of JiioiSsrv the cords of death,
stands, mo nawa, the waves of death. Thereby the first member is made
more conformable* to the second, and the repetition is shunned. But we are not
to conclude from this, that vnwo is the original. If it had been so, certainly no
one would have thought of substituting iban for it. By the reading iSan the two
verses are only made regular. If Belial denotes mischief, then there is the less
reason for wishing any thing exactly corresponding to iyu, the brooks. The re
petition of iSna has an analogy in ver. 12, and 13. The thought regarding the
cords has so peculiar an attraction for the Psalmist, that he unwillingly, as it were,
returns to it. Bound, entangled by death, a helpless victim of it, this is the most
suitable description of his case, and to this he returns again after that he has, by the
way, indicated another image, and by such indication has pointed to the source of
his deadly distress. From all which it is clear, that i-utt>o has only the import
of a good variation. The antiquity of the ,l»n is also secured by Psalm cxvi. 3.
Finally, for iJEQD the fuller and more sonorous poetic form, there is in 2 Sam. the
common V]3D- Tlle tw0 readings taken together correspond to vj^q 'OMD Q2
in Ps. cxviii. 11 . The ibd in 2 Sam. serves the purpose of pointing to the emphasis
that is in the 111330 here.

296

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

the manifold divine hearings and helps are united into a single
grand hearing and help. The futures of the verb are again to
be, explained from the lively realization of presence. Faith
knows no past and no future ; what God has done and will do,
is present to it. Stier would take 7X as the third person pret.
But as it unquestionably occurs in Job xv. 24, as a noun in the
sense of distress, we have no occasion to prefer here .the more
strained exposition : in the distress to me, for : in this my dis
tress. yi£>, stronger than Olp, denotes the cry for help, which
is uttered by him who is in the greatest danger and extremity.
On the expression " my God," Calvin remarks: " calling God
his God, he distinguishes himself from those gross despisers of
God and hypocrites, who indeed confusedly invocate a heavenly
power, when impelled by hard necessity ; but neither with a
pure heart, nor as on terms of intimacy draw near to God, of
whose fatherly grace they know nothing." By the temple of
God is here indicated his dwelling-place in the heavens, not for
the reason adduced by Theodoret, that the earthly temple was
then still unbuilt — for 73*n is used, as was formerly noticed,
also of the tabernacle, and it was only from this being named
the dwelling of God, that heaven was also named so — but be
cause by this exposition we obtainjja finer contrast : the servant
low down in the earth cries, and the Lord hears high up in the
heavens ; nay, the more highly he is enthroned, the better does
he hear, the more easily does he help ; because the following
context represents, how God comes down from heaven, in order
to help his servant ; and lastly, also, because pf the parallel pas
sage in Ps. xi. 4, " the Lord is in his holy temple, the Lord's
throne is in heaven."1 — Berleb. Bible : " has thy God now heard

1 In 2 Sam. there is here mpN instead of ywtt. This throws the emphasis
upon the inV»,j while the import of this does not come out so decidedly with
our reading, which, by the ascending : I cry, rather draws attention to the singular
intensity of affection and^the greatness of the distress. That it is well adapted for
thus bringing distinctly out the " my God," fixing the regard solely on that by em
ploying [a [similar verb, is clear as day. From this ground, that Jehovah was
David's God, springs the confidence of his prayer, and the whole result indeed
given inj the sequel. But that jilSf* is the original reading, is manifest from
inyip, by" which it is again resumed. The mn vobS is awanting in 2 Sam.
Our reading has the advantage of sensible representation, we see how the prayer
with winged speed travels the long way from earth to heaven, comes before God's
throne, and enters into his ear. The leading in 2 Samuel, on the other hand, has

PSALM XVIII. VER. 7, 8. 297
thee, 0 thou oppressed king, then let us know how it behoves
us to run to the same quarter, and with thy cry and prayer for
redemption." Ver. 7. Then the earth shakes and trembles, and the founda
tions of the mountains move and shake, because he is wroth. The
Psalmist's cry for help has penetrated from the lowest depth to
the most exalted height. He had, in his God, who took hold
of him, shown indignation against those who oppressed him ;
and, before the wrath of the Almighty, the earth heaves in
frightful anticipation of the things which are soon to come to
pass. The foundations of the mountains, for, their lowest base.1
Ver. 8. Smoke goes up in his nose, and fire out of his mouth
devours, coals burn from it. In the whole verse there is a far
ther expansion of the 17 n7n, prop, it inflames him, with
which the preceding verse had closed, (Michaelis rightly :
ascendit enim,) and so the Divine wrath is represented under the
image of a fire, just as, in Deut. xxxii. 22, xxix. 20, " Then the
anger of the Lord, and his jealousy, shall smoke against that man,"
Ps. lxxiv. 1. With the thunder-storm, smoke, and fire, and coals,
have primarily nothing to do here ; this is here only prepared.
The nose is named, because it is commonly considered the seat
of anger, the mouth because it consumes. That f|X signifies
nose, (LXX. : Ave&i xamhq h 6ayjj airou, Vulgate : in via ejus, so
also Stier,) is clear from the juxtaposition with mouth ; and that
1*Sfi is to be rendered by : out of his mouth, is clear from its
juxtaposition with nose. Quite falsely has the ascension of
smoke in the nose been placed in connection with the observa
tion that furious beasts, such as horses, lions, snort dreadfully,
and then Stier finds occasion, in the " unpolished, nay, horrific
nature of the image," for adopting his false exposition. Smoke
has nothing to do with snorting, it is the inseparable accompani
ment only of fire. The relation of the two to each other is dis-
the advantage of impressive brevity. Both reading's stand peacefully beside other,
and expositors in vain try to bring them into collision.
1 In 2 Samuel we have, instead of the foundations of the mountains, the founda
tions of the heavens, omitf niiDW. Our reading takes into view alone the shaking
of the earth, because this shows the directing agency of the Lord, which be
gins to discover itself here, in wrath. On the other hand, the reading in 2 Samuel,
with the view of marking very strongly the frightfulness of the wrath of the Al
mighty, causes the whole fabric pf the universe to move before him. This could
only be regarded as unsuitable if, by misunderstanding the whole verse, we should
take the discourse to be already here of a thunder-storm.

298 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
covered in Ex. xix. 18, " and mount Sinai was altogether on a
smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire." The nose is
appropriated as the fire of the Divine anger, after its smoking
quality, simply because, after its burning, consuming quality, it
is best, connected with the mouth. The devours stands pur
posely without an object, and we must not for this supply the
enemies. It is the burning power only which comes here into
consideration. The whole scene in ver. 7 and 8 still belongs to
the heavens. By the. coals we are not to understand lightning.
This is only the later product, comp. ver. 12, of the fire and
wrath-heat here first kindled. The suffix in 13£J3 refers to the
mouth. Coals burn out of it, is not, q. d. burning coals go forth
out of it, but, q. d. flames of burning coals dash out of it, as out
of a burning oven, £>K 713)1, Gen. xv.
The second point comes now, the manifestation of the anger,
the existence of which had been described in the preceding
verses. The wrath which burned in the heavens makes itself
felt upon the earth, which had called it forth, and embodied it
self in a storm upon the heads of the wicked, whose destruc
tion carries along with it the deliverance of the servant of the
Lord. Ver. 9. He bowed the heavens and came down, and darkness,
was under his feet. He, God, as burning lire. The heavens
appear to let itself down in the storm. Luther : " When there
is a clear heaven the clouds are high ; but when a storm comes
one feels as if it pushed against the roof." There seems to be
some allusion to this here. However, it is justly remarked by
Stier, that this in itself : he bowed, fitly accords also as a prepa
ration for the strong expression : he came down, with allusion
to Isa. Ixiii. 19. It is a proof of the living nature of faith when,
in times of judgment and help, one not merely sees the work
ing of a God far-removed, but his own self as in bodily manifes
tation. What is to be understood by the darkness we may best
learn from Ex. xix. 16, " And there were thunders, and light
nings, and a thick cloud upon the Mount," and Deut. v. 22,
" All these words spake the Lord unto all your assembly in the
Mount, out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the
thick darkness," 7S7J7PI- The Lord approaches, marching
upon the dark thunder- clouds. These are, to his enemies, an
indication of his anger, and a proclamation of his judgment.
Michaelis : " That tho wicked might not perceive his serene

PSALM XV1I1. VER. 10, 11. 299
countenance, but only the terrible signs of his severe anger, and
of his punishment."
Ver. 10. He rode upon the cherub and did fly, and he flew
upon the wings of the wind. " The cherub," remarks Baehr,
Symbolik,. Th.i. p. 341, who, of recent authors, has given the
most correct and profound investigation of the nature of the
cherub, and with which my remarks on Egypt, and the Books of
Moses, p. 154, ss. are to be compared, serving to supplement
his, — " The cherub is such a being as, standing upon the high
est stage of the creaturely life, and combining in itself the
most perfect kinds of creaturely life, is the most complete mani
festation of God, and of the Divine life. It is an image of the
creature in its highest form, an ideal creature. The powers of
life, which are divided amongst the creatures that occupy the
highest place in the visible creation, are in it combined and in
dividualized." That the Lord here wTas borne upon the cherub
must signify that he was coming in the whole fulness of his di
vine majesty and glory. In the passage, Psalm civ. 3, which
has respect to the one before us, the clouds are substituted for
the cherub : Who makes the clouds his chariot. That the ap
pearance of the Lord must not be measured by earthly things,
that he comes in the majesty of the Lord of the whole creation,
not in human weakness, to this also the second member refers :
he flew upon the wings of the wind.1
Ver. 11. He makes darkness for his covering, round about him
in his tent, dark waters, thick clouds. This verse is related to
the last words of ver. 9, precisely as ver. 8 is to the last words
of ver. 7. It gives a further expansion to the words : darkness
was under his feet, for the purpose of introducing, at ver. 12,
the description of the lightning, thunder, and hail, which broke
forth from these dark tempest -clouds. The Abbrev. fut. tW1
stands poetically in the sense of the common one. Thunder
clouds are named, just as here, the tent of God, Job xxxvi. 29,
comp. also Ps. xcvii. 2, " clouds and darkness are round about
him." Calvin : " God covers the heavens with darkness, that he
"¦ For Nin, he flew, hovered, there is, in 2 Sam. mil, aud he appeared, the
appearing of God, in contrast .with his concealment in the heavens. Quite fruitless
are the efforts made to represent this reading as unsuitable ; it offers rather a plea
sant variation. As nut frequently occurs, Deut. xxviii. 49, Jer. xlviii. 40, xlix. il,
the reading cannot be explained with Hitzig from the offence which was taken
against the rarer form.

300 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
may, in a manner, prevent men from beholding him, as when
a king, displeased with his people, withdraws and hides him-'
self." To " dark waters," and " thick clouds," we must supply :
he makes for his tent. Dark waters are a designation of thun
der-clouds. 0*pn&? *3J7) Prop- clouds of clouds, i. q.the most
dense clouds, such as are not scattered, but form one entire
cloud. Q*pn&$' denotes clouds more as a whole, compacted
together, hence it never occurs in the singular, as 35?> and
stands for the clouds of the entire heaven. There is a corre
sponding phrase in Ex. xix. 9, pjtfl 3J*, thick clouds. Gesenius'
improperly takes 3J?, in both places, in the sense of darkness.1
Ver. 12. From the brightness before him his clouds passed,
hailstones and coals of fire. The storm of the divine anger dis-'
charges itself. Amid frightful thunder, ver. 13, and from the
sea of fire, with which the Lord in his indignation is encompass
ed, comp. ver. 8, there shoot forth lightnings, dividing the'
clouds, and hailstones pour down, the weapons with which the'
Lord fights against his own and his servant's enemies, as hereto
fore against the Egyptians, Ex. ix. 24, comp. Ps. lxxxviii. 47,
48, and the Cahaanites at Bethoron, Jos. x. 11. The deep
floods under which the Psalmist lies buried, disperse themselves
under God's almighty hand, until the earth is laid open in its
inmost recesses, even to the chambers of the dead, and God's
hand reaching into the deep abyss, the yawning jaws of hell,
lays hold of his servant. The first member was quite correctly
expounded by Luther : " It is a description of lightning. When
he pleases, he rends the clouds asunder, and darts forth a flash,
such as the clouds cannot restrain ; it breaks through just as if
there were no clouds there. As we see that tbe whole heaven,
as it were, opens when there is lightning." In the second
member, the verb cannot be supplied from the first — 73J* does
not suit. " Hailstones and coals of fire" stands rather as an
exclamation, referring to the frightful nature of the unexpected
manifestation. Lengerke, whom De Wette follows, expounds:
From the brightness before him went forth his clouds, hailstones,
1 In 2 Sam. }~\ftQ is awanting, and for 1J-|2D stands nibD- An intentional
abbreviation. For r\WT\ stands the asrag. kty. jyiKm, according to the Arabic,
gathering. The rare and select ryiBTI is poetical in its form ; the n3ET» water-
darkness, for dark rain-clouds, is the same in its import.

PSALM XVIII. VER. 13, 14. '301
and coals of fire, the latter being taken as explanatory : but73J*
does not mean to go forth, and the clouds, which can never be
identified with lightning and hail, do not proceed from the
brightness, but cover it.1
Ver. 13. And the L,ord thundered in the heaven, and the high
est gave his voice, hailstones and coals of fire. In Ex. ix. 23, it
is said, " The Lord gave voices and hail, and the fire ran upon
the earth." The comparison with this ground-passage shows,
that the hailstones, &c, are still dependant upon |H*, and, at
the same time, confutes those who, following the LXX., would
set aside " the hailstones and coals of fire" as spurious, and
brought forward from the preceding verse. The repetition is
the more in its place, as the coals of fire, or the lightning and
the hail, are the very things by which the enemies of the Psalm
ist were annihilated, — the rest were but the circumstantials
which rendered the annihilation scene more frightful.2
Ver. 14. And he sent out his arrows and scattered them, much
lightning and discomfited them. The Lord is represented under
the image of a warrior who comes to the help of David. The
arrows which he sends upon them, are the lightnings and the
hail. The former are named in the second member as the most
destructive weapons. The suff. here also require us to under-
1 In 2 Samuel it runs merely : out of the brightness before him urn iSm iijn,
coals of fire burned. It is there more distinctly brought out, that these coals
of fire are the effect of the brightness. The variation cannot be accounted for by
accident, it is too great, and there are also analog, var. in the superscription and
ver. 6.
2 In 2, Samuel, instead of: in the heaven, there is: from the heaven, |8. Both
are equally good. Hitzig maintains, that own is to be rejected, especially
since", ver. 9, Jehovah is no longer in the heaven. But the Lord is perpetimlly
there, even when he comes down God is still said to be in heaven. Comp. Gen. xi.
7, where the Lord, after he had already come down, ver. 6, says, " Go to, we will go
down," &c. ; Gen. xviii. 21, where the Lord says, at the time he was walking upon
the earth, " I will go down;" and John iii. 13, " And no man hath ascended up to
heaven, but he that came down from heaven, the Son of Man that is in heaven,"
where the Son of God is said to have been in heaven at the very time of his sojourn
ing on earth. In 2 Samuel there is also awanting the words : hailstones and coats
of fire. The hail, therefore, altogether fails in 2 Samuel. The destruction of the
enemies is accomplished merely by lightning. This* constancy argues ¦ against those
who would derive the variations from accident. So also the fact, that the recension
in 2 Samuel remains uniform in its predilection for abbreviations. The text in Ps.
xviii. is proved to be the original by its closer approximation to the original passage
in Ex. ix.

302 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
stand by the brooks of Belial, in ver. 4, the enemies. For no
other designation of them had been given before. 37, ' the
pausal-form for 37, is either an adverb , enough, comp. Gen. xiv.
28, Ex. ix. 28, Numb. xvi. 3, 7, Deut. i. 6, or we may also render,
so that there is much of them, comp. 73, coll., multum, for
multi, Ex. xix. 21, 1 Sam. xiv. 6, Numb. xxvi. 54. The latter
exposition, according to which a comma is to be supplied be
fore 37, quorum multum erat, is the simplest. There is a cor
responding expression : from my enemy, strong, in ver. 17. It
requires a great predilection for strained expositions to drag
hither the verb 337, to shoot arrows, which occurs only in Gen.
xlix. 23 : he shoots out lightnings. On the B&iTIj and he dis
comfited, confounded them, Ex. xiv. 24 is to be comp.: " And
God troubled (confounded) tZTPI, the host of the Egyptians,"
the more so, as the confounding there also was by lightnings.
Further, Ex. xxiii. 27, " I will confound all thine enemies,
against whom thou shalt come, and give all thine enemies
against thee to the neck," which passage the Psalmist also, in
ver. 40, considers as a prophecy, that had now met with its ful
filment.1 Ver. 15. Then were seen the brooks of waters, and discovered
the foundations of the earth, before thy rebuke, O Lord, before
the blast of the breath of thy nostrils. The signification of chan
nel is quite uncertain in regard to p*£K; m Isa- v'h- 7, " And
he (Euphrates) goes over all his brooks, i. e. overflows all his
canals, the common signification is perfectly suitable, as also in
Ez. xxxii. 6, comp. xxxi. 12. The L3*J3 here is against that
signification. The brooks are in a manner invisible, so long as
their waters are not divided, and not discovered even to their
lowest bottom, in which the Psalmist lies buried. The becom
ing visible of their lowest depths, refers to the brooks of mis
chief, in which the Psalmist, according to ver. 4, lay sunk, comp.'
Ps. cxliv. 6, " Deliver me out of many waters, out of the hand
of strange children ;" on the other hand, the laying open of the
1 In 2 Sam. for his arrows, there is simply ?i.'^n > f°r lightnings much, the
simple n~Q ; for he discomfited them, merely, he discomfited. All these variations
have sprung from the disposition to impart an elevated character, by abbreviating
the discourse. The author of Ps. cxliv. had in ver. 6, at once the p-Q in 2 Samuel
and the ^p] of our Psalm in his eye. ,

PSALM XVIII. VER. 16, 17. 303
inmost parts of the earth to the cords of sheol, with which he
was bound, ver. 5. In the preceding verse, it was the vanquish
ing of the enemies here, and in the following verses, it is the
deliverance of the Psalmist from their bands, and from the mi
sery which they had prepared for him. The nose here also is
employed as the seat of anger-.1
Ver. 16. He sends from above, takes me, draws me out of
many waters. TOW* stands absolutely in Ps. lvii. 3, as here. In
Ps. cxliv. 7, the object his hand, left out here, as being suffi
ciently indicated by the words, " he took me," is expressly
given. That the many waters are an image of the enemies, is
evident from the explanation in ver. 17. That there is a refe
rence to Ex. ii. 10, " And she called his name Moses, and said,
because I drew him out of the water," that David marks him
self as the second Moses, is clear, especially from the use of
TWI2, which occurs nowhere else but here, and in that original
passage. Luther already called attention to this reference. It
is the more important, as Moses was a type of the Israelitish
people, the waters an image of hostile oppression, in conse
quence of which Moses was exposed, so that the transaction was
a prophecy constantly realizing itself anew under similar cir
cumstances. Ver. 17. He delivers me from my enemy, strong, and from
my haters, because they are too powerful. The discourse, as
Ewald remarks, passes on more quietly to a simpler representa
tion, after the exhaustion of the great image. That the enemy
is to be understood, not an individual, but an ideal person, who
through the individual Saul was only imperfectly represented,
appears from the parallel: my haters. The strong properly
forms an entire period, i. q. who was strong. This also appears
from the corresponding : because they are too powerful, which
proceeds on the supposition, that our weakness necessitates the
Lord to employ his almightiness in our behalf.
Ver. 18. They surprised me in the day of my calamity, but
the Lord was my stay. The words : in the day of my calamity
* Instead of Qi£, we have in 2 Sam. gi. In 2 Sam. the enemies appear under
T
the stronger image of sea-brooks. Then instead of -m"lMD> n*iy33, ana for
"IBS, 1SN'- The address to Jehovah is laid aside, in accordance with the preceding
and subsequent context, where Jehovah is spoken of in the third person. The
reading in 2 Samuel has the advantage of uniformity, the other of liveliness.

304 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
— as Amalek surprised Israel on the way, " when he was faint
and weary," Deut. xxv. 18, — derives light from the facts, such
as are recorded in 1 Sam. xxiv., where David, helplessly environ
ed, and feeling like a dead dog or a flea, ver. 15, is pursued by
Saul with three thousand men, and retires into the back part of
the cave, in the mouth of which Saul took up his abode.1
Ver. 1 9. And he brought me into a large place, he delivered
me, for he delighted in me, the righteous, comp. ver. 20 — 27,
while, on the other hand, mine enemies, by their malice, have
drawn on them his wrath.2
There follow, in ver. 20 — 27, as a further expansion of the
last words of the verse, the grounds which had moved God to
deliver David in so glorious a manner, set forth with the design
of showing, that the prophecy contained in this fact should not
be appropriated by those to whom it did not belong, and of
bringing the church of God to the conviction, that righteousness
is the only path of salvation. The arrangement of the section is
as follows: — The Psalniist first setsforth thethesis, that his salva
tion was the fruit of his righteousness. Then he goes on to prove
this thesis in ver. 21 — 23, by showing that he actually possessed
righteousness. He next repeats the principle, as proved in ver.
24, with the view of connecting therewith a general declaration
in ver. 25 — 27, followed out the didactive and admonitory de
sign, which he pursues throughout the whole section, and show
ing how, in the particulars belonging to himself, there was
realised a general law, so that every one possessing righteousness
is sure of salvation, while none without righteousness can com
fort himself regarding it.
Ver. 20. The Lord rewards me according to my righteous
ness, according to the cleanness of my hands he recompenses me.
David points, in order to set aside the least appearance of arbi
trariness or partial favour, and to represent what was done to
ward himself, as grounded on the eternal laws of the Divine
1 Instead of ]y£>£^> there is in 2 Sam. |J?EJ»iO- Excellently Schultens: hoc est
elegantius, illud vero simplicius. The use of p in such cases is certainly the common
custom. 2 In 2 Sam. ij-|S 3m» L XV'V The »j-|^ brings out the me more pointedly
quite suitably to the context ; here: he brought me into a large place, there : he
brought into a large place me. The ij-|{< belongs not merely to prose, but also to
poetry, though certainly rarer in it, see Ew., p. 593.

PSALM XVIII. VEIL 20, 21. 305
government, to that as existing in himself, which, according to
the faithful word of God, as already declared in the law of
Moses, in a multitude of passages, but most expressly in Deut.
xxviii., forms the indispensable condition of every exercise of
Divine help. Amid all the infirmities common to men, they still
fall into two great divisions, between which an immense gulf
is fixed, the wicked and the righteous, and it is the prayer only
of the latter that can be heard. The reproach of self-righteous
ness, we must not, with Calvin, endeavour to meet by the re
mark, that David had a peculiar reason here for proclaiming the
righteousness of his endeavours, in the manifold calumnies
which were circulated against him, whose injurious consequences
affected not his person merely, but the whole church and cause
of God; nor with Muis by the remark, that David attributes to
himself righteousness here, more with respect to his enemies,
than in reference to God ; nor yet with Geier, that he took into
account, not the righteousness of the person, but the righteous
ness of the cause. The legitimate removal of the objection rests
upon the three following remarks: 1. Righteousness forms a
contrast, not to infirmity, but to wickedness. 2. David owed
this only to his faithful and inward adherence to God, who kept
his servant from the ungodly, that they might not reign over
him. In both respects, this Psalm, as well as Psalm xvii., re
ceives its necessary limitation from Psalm xix., which, not with
out reason and design, immediately follows. 3. Finally, the
ground, on account of which David here so presses his righteous
ness, is not a bepraising of self, but the design of inspiring
others also with zeal for the fulfilment of the law. The re
proach of self-righteousness, were it just here, might also be
brought against a multitude of assertions in Christian songs.
Quite analagous, for ex., in the fine song of Anton Ulrich : Nun
tret' Ich wieder aus der Ruh, is the stanza : " Thus my heart is
refreshed, when 1 feel myself enclosed by the guardian care of
the Highest; still, while assured of this, I must live free from
sin, and walk in the way of God. My God will never go my
way, unless I go his way.' '
Ver. 21. For I have kept the ways of the Lord, and was not
' For ¦"P'IVXj in 2 Samuel inpTSC That the difference is not accidental, ap
pears from ver. 25, where the same variation again occurs. But it affects not the
essence of the idea: pis is, the being righteous, and np"IV, righteousness. X

306 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
evil against my God. 7fcK> , to observe, keep, stands opposed
to the reckless conduct of the ungodly. This becomes quite
clear from the corresponding expression in next verse, " all his
judgments were before me," also Psalm xvii. 4. *n/Xfi) prop.
from my God, so as to turn myself away in vile ingratitude from
him who is the guardian of my life. For wickedness, as Luther
remarks, is a departing and turning away from God. Calvin :
" The word which he employs denotes, not a single transgres
sion, but the revolt, which entirely alienates man from God.
But though David, through infirmity of flesh, had sometimes
fallen, yet never did he give up the labours of a pious life, or
abandon the warfare committed to him."
Ver. 22. But all his judgments were before me, and his com
mandments I did not put away from me. The *3 corresponds
to our but. The laying down of the one contrast, ensures the
denial expressed in the other. Whoever has all the commands
of God before his eyes = observes the ways of God, he cannot
be evil from his God.1
Ver. 23. And I was blameless toward him, and kept myself
from mine iniquity. With the first member is to be compared
Gen. xvii. 1, Deut. xviii. 13, and the Divine testimony for David
in 1 Kings xiv. 8, " my servant David, who kept my command
ments, and who followed me with all his heart, to do that only
which was right in mine eyes ;" and xv. 5, " David did that
which was right in the eyes of the Lord, and turned not aside
from any thing that he commanded him, all the days of his life,
save only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite." By the 1fiy,
prop, with him, David, in the opinion of some, opposes himself
to the hypocrites, whose care is to have themselves regarded by
men as unblameable. But that the expression is as much as
toward him, comp. 1 Kings xi. 4, " His heart was not upright
with the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father," ap
pears, 1. From the corresponding 17 in 2 Samuel ; and, 2. By a
comparison of ver. 25, 26, — grounds which are equally conclu
sive against the exposition of Venema : adhering to him, remain
ing with him. By the words : from mine iniquity, i. q. from the
iniquity into which I might so readily have fallen, which lies so
1 In 2 Samuel nSBO "I-1DK iib, 1 depart not therefrom. Ven. : rotundior et
facilior constructio in Ps. The reading in 2 Samuel is closely related to that in
Deut,, comp. v. 29; xvii. 11.

psalm xviii. ver. 23, 24. 307
near to me, David shows that he is not a spotless saint, but a
sinner, who had to defend himself by watchfulness and conflict,
that his indwelling corruption might not regain dominion over
him, and entangle him in guilt. He who was born in sin, Ps.
ii. 6, must call sin his all his life long, and be continually on
his guard against it. Ps. xvii. 4 is to be compared, where David
characterised sinful doing, as the doing of man. To suppose,
with De Wette and others, that the expression means, that
iniquity might not be mine, that I might not contract guilt, is
groundless, as the simpler exposition affords so beautiful a sense
and one so nearly allied to other declarations of David. Much
significance is cast on the words by the narrative in 1 Sam. xxiv.
David's cutting off the skirt of Saul's robe is to be regarded as
the first step in the course of death. This is clear from the
connection in which it stands with the speeches of David's com
panions about the killing of Saul, with which the act in question
is in immediate juxtaposition, and from ver. 5, which can only
be explained on this supposition, " And it came to pass after
ward, that David's heart smote him, because he had cut off
Saul's skirt." We see here how near the sin lay to him, but, at
the same time, how he kept himself from it. At the first step in
the course of sin, he starts back, and expels from his heart, with
abhorrence, the evil thoughts that arose in it. Certainly the
Psalmist had here, as also in the preceding verses, his conduct
toward Saul pre-eminently before his eyes, to whom he said in
1 Sam. xxvi. 23, 24: " The Lord render to every man his right
eousness, and his faithfulness; for the Lord delivered thee into
my hand to-day, but I would not stretch forth my hand against
the Lord's anointed. And behold, as thy life was much set by
this day in mine eyes, so let my life be much set by in the
eyes of the Lord, and let him deliver me out of all tribulation."
What he there confidently hopes for on the ground of his right
eousness, that he here marks as accorded to him on the same
ground.1 Ver. 24. Therefore hath the Lord recompensed me according
to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands before
1 In 2 Samuel ^ is used for l»y, a valuable explanation, as the false render
ings of 1»JJ show. Then we find there the forms njilKI and i11»ntM*>
The form with He occurs in the fut. with v. conv. in the Dav. Psalms, comp. iii. 6;
vii. 4.

308 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
his eyes. The Psalmist returns, according to the plan already
announced, to the principles set forth in the introduction, in
order to connect therewith, the following general statements.1
Ver. 25. Toward the pious thou art pious, toward the upright
thou art upright. Ver. 26. Toward the pure thou art pure, and
toward the perverse, thou art perverse. The transition here
from the particular to the general, q. d. : for so thou dost al
ways act, shows why David so pressed the particular, that he
had therein a didactic purpose in view, spoke of himself, not
from vain self-conceit, but rather self-denyingly, — had in view,
not his own honour, but God's honour, and his neighbour's edi
fication. The expression has something peculiar, which vanishes,
however, as soon as it is perceived, that the Psalmist here, in
order to give the most pointed expression possible to the
thought that God directs his procedure toward men, exactly
according to men's procedure toward him, so describes the con
duct of God toward the wicked, as it would appear apart from
the relation in which they have placed themselves toward him.
What considered by itself would be unloving, impure, perverse,
that appears to be done by way of reprisals towards the unlov
ing, impure, perverse, as alone worthy of God, as the necessary
manifestation of his holiness, the matter in itself considered as
perverse being the alone right. But to the sinner, who fails in
the sense of sin and its condemnation, the conduct of God,
which has been determined by sin, and finds therein its proper
justification, appears as really unloving, impure, and perverse.
He imagines God to be a hard, envious, and malignant tyrant,
and despot. Against such an imagination the whole of the 32nd
ch. of Deut. is directed. A similar cast of speech prevails in
Levit. xxvi. 23, 24, " If ye will walk perversely toward me,
then will I also walk perversely toward you." The 733 is the
rarer poetical form for 733- The Hithpael of all the four verbs
seems to have been first formed by David expressly for the pur
pose of painting in the most vivid colours the Divine jus talionis.
1 In 2 Samuel stands here, as in ver. 21, Tli51V3- We find HD"IV likewise in
] Samuel xxvi. 2n, in David's mouth. For: according to the cleanness of my
hands, there is merely in 2 Samuel: according to my cleanness, Vyjj. It also
would not have been placed there, if the more common vyi 133 had not been
used before in ver, 21. It is justified by the 133 in ver. 27, to which it forms the
TT
transition.

psalm xviii. ver. 26, 27. 309
The Hithp. of Ofin is found only once elsewhere, in Dan. xii.
10, and of the three other verbs nowhere else.1
Ver. 27. For thou helpest the poor people, and the lofty eyes
tlwu bringest down. The reason implied in for consists only in
the further enlargement. *JJ*, which always, and without ex
ception, consequently also here, means poor, not humble, meek,
receives its more exact determination from the preceding con
text, (Muis: " whom he had before called holy, innocent, clean,
he now names afflicted, intimating that it is almost the con
dition of the pious in this life to be afflicted with innumerable
evils,") and from the contrast, though it involves this in itself,
since only the righteous in the full sense are sufferers, comp.
the illustration in the introd. to Ps. vi. — H3J*, people, character
ises the Q**iJ* as a society, as an exclusive class of men, which
stands opposed to another class just as exclusive. The lowering
of the lofty eyes denotes the humiliation of the proud, who
carry themselves in their superciliousness above all, lift them
selves over all, in despite of the Divine law, treading upon their
neighbour with their feet. The general sentiment of our text
is best exemplified by the relation of David and Saul, which
was the particular case on which the general delaration is here
raised.2 ' In 2 Samuel instead of 135 stands 113), which is as little to be rejected, as
it is original. 1133 means only hero, and the other significations are to be deriv
ed from this, according to the pattern in Isa. v. 22, " Woe to the heroes in drink
ing wine." The expression : a hero, unblameable, denotes either such an one as
excels in unblameableness, or better, it points to this, that to the being unblame
able, hero-power in general belongs, as much as : with the unpunishable man, who
is to be regarded as a hero, who is a hero on the spiritual territory, — comp. in ver.
23 : from mine iniquity. Further there are in 2 Samuel the two forms 13Fin
and ?B)in. These forms, of which the last in particular can with difiiculty be
justified grammatically, are formed on account of goodness and similarity of sound,
the first with reference to 133, the second on account of similarity of sound to
T T
13Rn- If one reflects, that the Hithpael of these verbs does not occur else-
- T *
where, that the formation itself was already undertaken in the interest of the con
text, and that every uncertainty was thereby removed from the existing original
text, one shall be inclined to defend these readings from the attacks which some re
cent critics have brought against them.
> In 2 Samuel stands first, and thou deliverest, instead oi for thou- As 15 is
only ail explication, there was no way of avoiding its frequent repetition, as it
returns at the beginning of ver. 29 and ver. 30, but by substituting- the mere co
pulative * which is important for the exposition of the <3. Instead of simple

310 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
We come now to the second great representation of the Divine
grace and help, reaching from ver. 28 to ver. 45. This is con
nected with the preceding by for. David had marked his de
liverance from the hand of Saul as the consequence of his right
eousness, and was then led to rise from the particular to the
general, setting forth the principle, that righteousness is always
the ground of salvation. Here again he descends from the gene
ral to the particular, confirms the general principle from his own
experience, and shows how its truth had been manifested, and
would still further do so, in the Divine aid, which he had already
received in all his distresses, and which the Divine promise made
him sure of still farther receiving. In regard to the Divine favour,
which David celebrates in this section, a twofold view presents
itself. According to the one, the whole representation must refer
merely to the past, but according to the other, the past, present,
and future must here at once be taken into account : David must
be viewed as glorifying the grace, which, besides the deliverance
spoken of in the preceding section, from the hand of Saul, he had
already in part received, and partly also according to the Divine
promise, had still reason to expect, not only in his own person,
but also in his posterity. The last view is the only correct one.
It is supported, 1. By the uniform use of the future in this repre
sentation, marking, according to this view, the continued action,
which cannot be explained by the other view. 2. The nfi77K»
I will pursue, in 2 Sam. ver. 38, which at once determines as
erroneous the supposition, that the whole representation has
respect only to the past. 3. The express declaration of David
at the close of the whole in ver. 50, which alone might suffice,
affirming the object of his praise to be the favours which God
Oy there is in 2 Samuel DJJTIK. The flK draws attention to this, that
even without the article the word must have a determinate sense, comp. Ewald,
§ 524, the article being only left out poetically. The second number runs in 2
Samuel : 7£tffT\ E)ipT7J> TW, and thine eyes are against the high that thou
mayest bring them down; comp. Isa. ii. 12, " For the day of the Lord of Hosts
is upon every one that is high, Qi, that it is brought low, ^?W\," also ver. 17.
Here again in 2 Samuel, the select. Lengerke and Hitzig explain : thine eyes
thou lettest down against pride. But the deviations in 2 Samuel arc only varia
tions, having the same radical sense, a circumstance which decidedly contradicts
the accidental origin of the differences ; then the expression of making low the eyes
never occurs as a description of displeasure. Psalm cxiii. 6, to which Lengerke re
fers, has nothing to do with this, nor also Jer. iii. 12, Job xxxvi. 27, which Hitzig
appeals to.

PSALM XVIII. VER. 28. 311
manifests to David and to his seed for ever. There was the
more propriety in David's uniting the future with the past, as he
possessed, in reference to it, a sure word of promise, which ren
dered the future salvation just as certain as the past. If we
take this promise into account, and the deep impression which it
had made upon the mind of David, we shall feel it to have been
impossible for him to have wholly confined himself in this song
of thanksgiving to the past. The joyful confidence regarding
the fulfilment of the promises made by the Lord towards
David's house, he gives utterance to besides, in 2 Sam. xxiii. 5,
in his last words. Nathan in his address to David in 2 Sam. vii.
connects both together, the past salvation and the future, the
salvation of the person himself and that of his offspring, comp.
ver. 9, " And I was with thee whithersoever thou wentest, and
have cut off all thine enemies out of thy sight, and have made
thee a great name;" ver. 12, " And when thy days shall be ful
filled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers, I will set up thy
seed after thee, and I will establish his kingdom. How deep
root this announcement of the future salvation struck into the
mind of David, appears from ver. 18, 19, " Who am I, 0 Lord
God, and what is my house, that thou hast brought me hither
to ? And this was yet a small thing in thy sight, 0 Lord God ;
but thou hast spoken also of thy servant's house for a great
while to come," ver. 25, " And now, 0 Lord God, the word that
thou hast spoken concerning thy servant, and concerning his
house, establish it for ever, and do as thou hast said," ver. 28,
29, " And now," &c. By holding fast the right view in regard
to the object of the representation, it follows also, that it unfolds
a Messianic element. If it respects David and his seed for ever
more, it can find its complete truth only in Christ.
Ver. 28. For thou makest my lamp clear, the Lord my God
makes my darkness light. The shining of the lamp is an image
of prosperity, just as its extinguishment is an image of misfor
tune, comp. Job xviii. 5, 6, " The light of the wicked shall be
put out and the spark of his fire shall not shine. The light
shall be dark in his tabernacle, and his lamp shall be put up
on him," xxi. 17. The Lord had enlightened David's darkness,
raised him out of the state of inferiority, contempt, and misery,
in which he was found especially in the time of Saul's persecu
tion, to high honour and great prosperity, and the Lord will
further also enlighten David's darkness, by causing to shine up-

312 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
on him and his seed, amid every season of darkness and distress,
the light of his salvation.1
Ver. 29. For in thee have I rushed upon troops, and in my
God I spring over walls. Luther: "In confidence on thee I
am terrified at no assault^, contend against all kinds of enemies,
leap over all walls, and w'hatever else is opposed tome ; that is,
I who in myself am rweak, shall be invincible in thee, and as
Paul boasts in Phil. iv. 13, " I can do all things through him
who strengthens mes" and in 2 Cor. ii. 14, " God be thanked
who always makefhus to triumph in Christ." The 3 in both
cases retains its common signification, in. David was not in
himself, but in God, from whose fulness he drew power and sal
vation. The T*17 to run, is, as verbs of motion, construed with
the accus.
Ver. 30. The God, twhose way is perfect, the word of the
Lord is purified, he is a buckler to all who trust in him. The
7fc$n is in appos. with *7?K in the preceding verse. The
Psalmist describes more exactly what sort of God his God is.
Taking it as nomin. absol. the article remains inexplicable. In
the second member, there would then be no dependence upon
the preceding verse. But with that the whole of our verse
stands in the closest connection. What is here said of God,
explains and grounds the expressions there, in thee and in my
God ; the God whose way, &c. as much as: for he is a God,
&c. very different from the idol-gods, who feed their votaries
with wind and ashes ; comp. 2 Sam. vii. 22, " For there is none
like thee, neither is there any God besides thee." By tbe word
of the Lord is here specially to be understood his promises.
On the purified comp. Ps. xii. 6.
Ver. 31. For who is God save the Lord, and who is a rock
besides our God ? The for refers to the subject of the whole
preceding verse : The way of Jehovah, our God, is blameless,
he abides by what he has spoken, supports his own, for he is the
1 In 2 Samuel the verse runs, " For thou art my light, O Lord, and the Lord
makes my darkness light." The admissibility of »li flflX doubted by Hitzig
and others, shines out still more clearly than in Psalm xxvii. I, Job xxix. 3, from
2 Sam. xxi. 17, where David is named, the lamp or light of Israel. His people say
to him, " Thou shalt no more go out with us to battle, that thou quench not the lamp
of Israel." Probably these words occasioned the variation in 2 Samuel. David
gives God the glory which the} had ascribed to hiiu. If he is Israel's lamp, it can
only be by God being his.

PSALM XVIII. VER. 32, 33. 313
only true God, the one ground of salvation. Upon this also,
that Jehovah is exclusively God, David grounds his confidence
in 2 Sam. vii. For 71 X, comp. on ver. 2.
Ver. 32. The God, who girds me with power, and makes my
way perfect. A return is here made to the path which was left
in ver. 30 and 31, with a very close allusion, however, to what
immediately precedes. The 7K7 in appos. to 1J*n7K. besides
our God, the God, who, &c. That the Lord alone is God and a
rock, David confirms by this, that he manifests himself in his
dealings as such. To be girded with power, is simply as much
as, to be furnished with power. Verbs of clothing are frequent
ly used in the sense of allotting. As tD*ftn is always used in a
moral sense, we must not understand by the way of the Psalm
ist that, which he goes, but only that which he is led, his con
duct. For this also speaks, ver. 30, where the word is likewise
used in a moral sense, and refers to God, and the original pas
sage, Deut. xxxii. 4, " The rock, perfect is his work."1
Ver. 33. Who makes my feet like hinds, and places me upon
my heights. DW12, as also 7Jb7tt in the next verse, connects
itself with 7X7 : our God, who girds me, who makes me like ;
who teaches. Like the hinds, that is, as they are in. their feet.
That hinds, and not stags, are here mentioned, must have a real
or a supposed foundation in nature. They must be regarded as
the fleeter. For that the word denotes both sexes, is incorrect.
In the Egyptian paintings also, the hind is the image of fleet-
ness. Many, as De Wette, conceive that the discourse here is
of speed in flight. But this is against the connection — the
making him like hinds, &c. stands in the middle between his
being equipped with strength, and instructed for war, — against
the parallelism, and against the parallel passages, 2 Sam. ii. 18,
1 In 2 Samuel, the first member runs *>»n 'MJ7D 1XP, the God who is my
-t . T ¦• T
strong fortress. Before the ?»n a comma is to be supplied, precisely as fjf
'DIID in Ps. lxxi. 7- We are not to imagine, with Lengerke, a stat. constr. in
terrupted by a suff. The fiyo occurs precisely as in Psalm xxvii. 1, " The Lord
is the fortress of my life," Psalm xxxi. 4. Hitzig objects against this reading its
" meaningless generality," but it is not more general than the other, and, as a va
riation, certainly excellent. The second member is 1311 D'DJI 111*1, " and
the upright he leads his way." The iru=1in, which in Prov. xii. 26, oc
curs in the sense of leading, comp. Umbreit in loc. The suff. in 1311 is, on ac
count of the following 1^31 to be referred to the blameless, perfect. The Kri
,311 proceeds on a misunderstanding.

314 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
" And Asahel was light of foot as one of the gazelles that is in
the field, and he pursued, &c," and 1 Chron. xii. 8, where it
is said of those, who came out of the tribe of Gad to David, that
their look was like that of lions, and their swiftness of foot like
the gazelles on the mountains. Something figurative is to be
understood here in what is said of the fleetness, which becomes
quite obvious, when we take it along with the last member, and
compare it also with the reflected passage Hab. iii. 19. David
points to the quick and unrestrained course of his conquests, just
as already in ver. 29, his springing over walls, does not refer
simply to David's personal deeds, but to what he did also by his
army. In the second member, the heights are the hostile posi
tions, which David in the strength of the Lord surmounts. He
names these heights his in faith ; because he has the Lord for his
helper, he considers them all beforehand as his possession, none
is insurmountable. That we are not, with De Wette and others, to
understand bythe heights, places of refuge, is clear, not only from
the context and parallelism, but also from the original passages
in Deut. xxxii. 13, " he made him ride upon the high places of
the earth," and Deut. xxxiii. 29, " thine enemies shall be found
liars unto thee, and thou shalt tread upon their high places," in
which the discourse is not of secure flight, but of resistless vic
tory, as it is also in the passage, Hab. iii. 19, which has respect
to our verse, " The Lord is my strength, and he makes my feet
like the hind's, and he makes me to walk upon my high
places."1 Ver. 34. Who teaches my hands in the war, and a brazen bow
is stretched by my arms. That this verse also has in some mea
sure a figurative character, that the particular comes less as
such into consideration, than as tending to individualize and
render palpable the ground-idea, the invincible strength, which
the Psalmist receives from God, to resist all attacks of the ene
mies and gain the victory over them, appears from the respect
it fh part carries to the race. The N. T. parallel passage is 2
Cor. x. 3—5. The " not after the flesh," and " not fleshly"
there, are not peculiar to the Apostle, but belong also to David.
An external conflict with the enemies of God's kingdom is not
in itself fleshly, but can only be so through the feeling in which
it is conducted, just as a spiritual conflict is not in itself spiri-
1 The uSai, his feet, in 2 Sam., has been occasioned by the discourse concern
ing the blameless or perfect being in the third person.

PSALM XVIII. VER. 35. 315
tual, but only is so when it is fought with divine weapons, with
the power which the Lord imparts. Luther justly finds in this
verse the promise, that an " unfailing and invincible power to
overcome all adversaries is given to those preachers who have
learned of God himself." It is contained here, not merely in so
far as what is said of one believer holds good regarding all, but
also more directly inasmuch as David speaks here not of himself
alone, but of his whole race, which perfects itself in Christ ; so
that everything he says refers in the highest and fullest sense
to Christ and his kingdom and servants. The form nnnJ is
Pi. from nn^ to descend, to make to descend = to constrain, to
stretch, bend, because in the stretching the cord is brought
down. The fem. of the sing, is to be explained by this, that the
arms here are considered as abstr., comp. Ewald, p. 629. Also
the sing, of the masc. in 2 Sam. nnJI has no difficulty, as the
verb precedes. Brass was often used in antiquity for strength
ening arms. The arms of the Egyptians in particular were en
tirely made of brass. To stretch a bow of brass is a proof of the
greatest strength.
Ver. 35. Thou givest me the shield of thy salvation, and thy
right hand holds me up, and thy lowliness makes me great. The
shield of salvation is the shield, which consists in salvation.
ni^J* does not signify here simply goodness, as many expositors
suppose. Derived from nJJ* to be low — in this sense, certainly
of outward lowness, the verb occurs in Ps. cxvi. 10, Isa. xxv. 5,
— it marks first, lowliness, then the meekness and gentleness
which spring out of that. The idea of lowliness prevails in
Prov. xv. 33, xxii. 12, the idea of meekness, which, however, is
always to be considered as proceeding from humility or lowli
ness, in Zeph. ii. 3, Ps. xiv. 4. Here the idea of lowliness is the
predominant one. This is proved by the contrast with great
ness, and the parallel passage 2 Sam. vii. 18, " Who am I, Je
hovah, and what is my house, that thou hast brought me hi
therto ?" What our Lord says of himself, " Come to me, for I
am meek and lowly in heart," may equally be said of Jehovah.
He thus manifests himself to the lowly, to men at large, and to
those who are poorest among them, comp. Ps. viii., where, after
the description of God's infinite majesty, follows, " what is man,
that thou thinkest of him, and the son of man, that thou visit-
est him ;" and Isa. lxvi. 1, 2, where the Lord, who has heaven
for his throne, and earth for his footstool, is spoken of as

316 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
looking down on the poor and contrite in spirit. But that we
may become partakers in the manifestations of this humility
and condescension of God, it is necessary that we be, not exter
nally merely, but also internally low, that we feel ourselves to
be poor and needy. To any others it would be a profanation of
his dignity. But the lowly his lowliness makes great. That
this qualification was possessed by David, is evident from this,
that he derives all that God had done for him, out of his lowli
ness. Luther remarks : " Who then are we, that we should
either design and undertake to defend the truth and overcome
the adversaries, or should feel indignant if we do not succeed
therein ? It proceeds from the Divine meekness (lowliness)
and grace, if we are held up and honoured, not from our de
signing and undertaking; so that the whole glory remains with
God."» Ver. 36. Thou makest space to go under me, and my ancles
fail not. Thou makest large my step, &c. One takes small
steps, when many stumbling-blocks and hindrances are in the
way.2 Ver. 37. / pursue my enemies and overtake them, and turn
not again till I have consumed them. David's kingdom was, is,
and shall be for ever a kingdom of conquest. Any temporal
limitation also of this declaration is inadmissible, as David's ce
lebration of Divine grace cannot be narrower than this grace it
self, partly already bestowed on him, and partly held in promise,
which found its culminating point in Christ. That under Christ
the form of conflict and victory is predominantly, although by
no means exclusively different, makes no essential distinction ;
enough, that David also in him conquers and constantly will
conquer. Luther : " And this has been, and still is clone, in all
the victories of God's people, as at the beginning of the contest
1 In 2 Samuel " and thy right hand holds me up" is awanting. This is done out
of the uniform predilection for impressive brevity. For " thy lowliness" the infin.
is used inbV, thy being lowly,— Hitzig 's exposition, thy hearing, gives, according
to his own remark, " a very unpleasant and improbable sense". — which is the more
peculiar, as in the words : O my Lord Jesus, thy near being, this is more poetical,
than : thy nearness.
2 For Tinn there is in 2 Sam. *3nnr- The difference cannot be accidental,
as the latter is repeated in ver. 40 and 48. Here also in 2 Sam. the text is the
more select, 1. Because of the rare singular suf. with firm, see Ew. p. 504, and, 2.
Because of the insertion of 2, ib. p. 506.

PSALM XV1I1. VER. 38. 317
the enemies seem to be superior and invincible ; but when once
the onset is fairly made, so powerful is it that they flee and are
slain ; and then the church remits not to follow up the victory,
that has been won, until all the enemies are consumed.1
Ver. 38. I will dash them in pieces, and they cannot rise up
again, they fall under my feet." Ver. 39. And thou girdest me
with strength to the battle, thou bowest mine adversaries under
me. Calvin remarks, that it might seem as if David gave too
military an air to the whole representation, as if he gave to his
human passions too much space, and forgot the mildness which
should shine forth in all believers, from their likeness to their
heavenly father. But the matter becomes quite different, if
David is viewed not as a private individual, — as such he shrunk
from shedding a single drop of blood, — but in reference to his Di
vine calling and his Divine office. As king he has his sacred obli
gations to pursue the stiff-necked and obstinate enemies of God
and of his people, with the resistless might, which was given him
by God, and to spare only the penitent — just as Christ, his great
antitype, while he tenderly calls all to repentance, at the same
time shivers with his iron sceptre such as obstinately resist him
to the last. He then shows, how every one, even he who is not
properly called to fight for the kingdom of God against external
enemies, has to apply this representation to his edification and
strengthening in the faith : " As the victories of David are com
mon to us, it follows that an insuperable aid is promised to us
against all the assaults of the devil, all the snares of sin, and all
the temptations of the flesh. While, therefore, Christ obtains
1 The 1B11K in 2 Samuel, which can only mean, I will pursue, could only be
rejected, on the erroneous supposition that the whole description referred to the
past, and it is valuable as a sort of finger-post for the right understanding. For,
" and I overtake them," 2 Samuel has " and I extirpate them." In our Psalm
there is a progression in the thought, in 2 Samuel on the contrary, the parallelism
is simply a synonym. That in Ex. xv. 9, Ps. vii. 5, the overtaking is also coupled
with the pursuing, is a strong proof in favour of the originality of this form, al
though it does not in the slightest infer the incorrectness of the other text.
a In 2 Samuel there is at the beginning, a^DX', Mich, rightly: consumam inquam
eos ; and instead of: they could not stand up, they do not stand up, K? J-ID-lp'.
The expression " I extirpate them," indicates that this verse is an extension of the
thought: till they are extirpated, in the preceding, and implying that the extirpation
was seriously intended. Of an accidental origin we cannot think, as, with the add
ing, a throwing away goes hand in hand. The words : they stand not up, are to
be explained from the predilection for impressive brevity.

318 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
his peaceful kingdom only through war, it is matter of certainty
to us, that God's hand will be always ready for his support. But
we must at the same time learn here, with what arms we must
fight according to the will of God, with those alone which he
delivers to us."1
Ver. 40. Thou givest me mine enemies in the flight, and my
haters I extirpate. The first member we must either expound:
thou hast given them to me so, that they are only necks for me,
must turn the back toward me, or in respect to the necks, so
that ft77>? determines more precisely in what respect the enemies
of David were delivered up to him. The former exposition is
supported by the original passage, Ex. xxiii. 27, " and I will
give all thine enemies to thee as necks." The Psalmist recog
nises in his own case, the fulfilment of the promise which the
Lord here gave to his people.2
Ver. 41. They cry, but there is no helper, to the Lord, but he
does not hear them. The 7J? is to be explained thus, that Je
hovah is, as it were, the substratum of the crying, the person
upon whom the crying rests, comp. 1 Sam. i. 10, " She prayed
nin* 7j7," Ewald, p. 531. The words: to the Lord, add the
particular to the general, as much as, they cry in vain, even then
when their cry is addressed, not to false gods, but to Jehovah,
to whom even the heathens in their last extremities knew to
turn, Jonah ii. 14, or at least might possibly turn. The reason
why even Jehovah would not hear, is, that the particular prayer
had not its justification in the general relation toward God,
which alone could make it acceptable, that the persons address
ing it are without the covenant and the promises, are the ene
mies of God, who cannot pray to him in true faith, but only by
way of venture. The very ground of David's prayer being
heard, implies the exclusion of theirs from the privilege.3
1 In 2 Samuel, OltFll, with the omission of K, the rarer, and hence more poetic
form. 2 In 2 Samuel, for nDM there is the rare form nPlil. The \ is awanting before
*N3S5>£, and is placed instead"before the last word: my haters, whom I extirpate,
more poetical and impressive than the simple: my haters, I extirpate them; comp.
Isa. vi. 13; ix. 4; Dan. viii. 25.
3 In 2 Samuel, instead of 1JJ1PS they cry, we have .15Jt»>\ they look out. The
rarer and more select njflP is used precisely thus in Isa. xvii. 7, " In that day shall
a man look to his Maker, and his eyes shall have respect to the God of Israel." For
the ^sy the explanatory j?N is substituted.

psalm xvm. ver. 42, 43. 319
Ver. 42. / crushed them, as dust before the wind, as the dirt
of the streets I pour them out. As the dust before the wind is
not crushed, but carried away, so that we gain nothing by arbi
trarily inserting such words, as scattering, or driving away, yet
the meaning must be understood thus : so that they resemble
the dust, their crushing proceeds with as little hindrance as the
driving of the dust by the wind. The sense is : their crushing
is only a sort of pastime to me. Exactly analogous are the com
parisons in Job xxxviii. 30, "the waters disappear like a stone,"
xxx. 14; Zeph. i. 17. The like holds good also of the second
member. As the dirt of the street is not poured out but scatter
ed, so the expression: as dirt of the street, can only mean, so that
they resemble the dirt of the street, namely, in respect to the
contemptuous treatment which they suffer. This is always the
point of comparison which is aimed at in such a use of the dirt
of the street, Isa. x. 6 ; Zech. x. 5. In the expression ; 1 pour
them out, there is at bottom a second image, that of unclean
water, q. d.\ I have as little respect for them, I use as little
ceremony with them as with the offscourings which one treads
upon, unclean water which one pours out. In these words also
there is praise given to the grace of God, who strengthens the
Psalmist so completely to humble the enemies that he can treat
them in such a manner.1
Ver. 43. Thou deliverest me from the. strivings of the people,
thou settest me at the head of the heathen, a people whom I know
not serve me. By the people in the first member is meant here
the great multitude of enemies, in opposition to individuals.
1 In 2 Sam. the comparison stands otherwise, in both members. There we have
a fully expressed one, while here it is merely indicated. For : dust before the wind,
stands, dust of the earth, because this is the object of crushing. Comp. yist isy
in this sense, though denied by Hitzig in Gen. xiii. 16, xxviii. 14 ; Ex. viii. 12, 13 ;
Isa. xl. 12 ; Am. ii. 7. For: I pour them out, stands Qpix, I make them thin
or small, because the dirt of the street is the object, not of pouring out, but throw
ing away. (Against-Hitzig : ppn signifies in Hiph. not to crush, to rub down, but
everywhere to make thin, small ; also the dirt of the street, or street-filth, is not to
be thought of as necessarily fluid.) As this op"i« for DpiiN cannot possibly
be accidental, we may certainly infer design in the other deviations, which consist
only in the substitution of particular letters nearly related to the others in form or
in sound. The judgment of that man is not assuredly to be envied who would at
tempt to explain the whole of the ingenious alterations in both members, by acci
dent. Stamping upon them, is added to, making them small, and, indeed, with
out connection, agreeably to the whole character of the recension of 2 Samuel.

320 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
That the first member refers to the domestic adversaries of Da
vid (Saul and Absalom, with their adherents,) is evident, besides
the *' my people," in 2 Samuel, from the i*7, which has respect
more to contentions than to wars, comp. Ps. xxxv. 1, 1 Sam. xxv.
39. In the whole of the second part too, which chiefly respects
the heathen adversaries, the discourse is not of deliverance from
them, but of their being conquered and destroyed. On the
other hand, when domestic enemies are spoken of, the idea is
principally that of deliverance, comp. 16 — 19. Deliverance
from the strivings of his own people is brought into notice here
chiefly as a foundation and preparation for the supremacy over
the heathen. This comes clearly out in 2 Samuel, in the words:
thou keepest me for the head of the heathen. The whole con
text also shows it. Both before and after, and everywhere in
the second part, the discourse is of the heathen. That in the
ascending clause : a people whom I know not, serves me, the
knowing is to be taken emphatically, q. d. such as I have had
no nearer relation to, as, for example, the king of Hamath, 2
Sam. viii. 10, appears from the next verse. As David, ac
cording to ver. 50, speaks not of the kindnesses merely, which
were shown to himself personally, but of those also which
were to be shown to his posterity, various expositors, such as Cal
vin, have justly remarked that the complete fulfilment of this
aud the next verse is to be sought in Christ.1
Ver. 44. Who through the hearing of the ear are heard to me;
the sons of the stranger feign to me. De Wette remarks, that
" from this point the fut. appears to have the force of the pre
sent." But if they have it from this, they must also have it
throughout the whole section. For there is nothing to justify
us in supposing a change to take place just here. The words
are worthy of notice as a naive expression of an exegetical con
science. The first member is commonly expounded : at the
hearing, at the mere report, they obey me. But this exposition
1 in 2 Samuel stands i©3, my people, instead of QJ', » deviation of an expla
natory character, the more valuable as many expositors, such as Lengerke and De
Wette, who disdained his help, have failed. For : thou settest me, there is the
more select phrase: thou keepest me, *31»?t»>ri — again, an example of a charge
adhering closely in form to the original text, which cannot be explained from acci
dent, — which brings more distinctly into view the connection between the second
member and the first. Hitzig : out of this Jehovah delivered him, in order to pre
serve him for a future leader of peoples.

PSALM XVIII. VER. 44, 45. 321
is altogether inadmissible : J*fife? in Niph. can only signify to be
heard, — not to be made to hear, — and this cannot stand for: obey.
In the sense of being heard, the Niphal is also everywhere used.
More objectionable still is another exposition : upon what their
ear heard, upon the mere word, they obey me. For this takes
not only the 1J*fiE>*, but also the HX yfcvh, contrary to the
common usage. yft£?, hearing = what one hears, the heard,
stands both with and without J*tf specially of that, which one
receives through hearsay, through report, comp. for ex. Job xiii.
5, where JTX $*Dfc?7 in the sense of hearing merely through re
port, is opposed to seeing, uncertain and fluctuating knowledge,
to clear and determinate. The variations in 2 Samuel also are
against both interpretations. One must either translate as
we have done above, or : they, the people who serve me,
are heard of me by the hearing of the ear, I know of them
merely by report. The paral. is by the latter rendering only
apparently lost. For : by the hearing of the ear, &c, is from the
connection- as much as, shall serve me those, &c. The first of
these expositions, however, as it is more congruous to nature,
so it is more favoured by the text in 2 Sam. The expression :
they feign to me, is as much as, far distant people, of whom I
hitherto have known only through hearsay, testify to me. their
subjection, from fear, in the most humble terms, although they
hate me in heart, and would fain shake off my yoke. Such an
external and constrained obedience — just on account of its bear
ing this character, the power which God manifested in behalf
of David, is made more conspicuous, for how great must this be,
when the fear it awakened overcame the strongest aversion, —
is denoted by £JTD in the original passage, Deut. xxxiii. 29,
" And thine enemies shall feign to thee," to which David here
refers, — as having met with its fulfilment in him, comp. also Ps.
lxvi. 3 ; lxxxi. 15.1
Ver. 45. The sons of the stranger fade away, and tremble out
1 In 2 Samuel : " The sons of the stranger feign to me, who, through the hear
ing of the ear, are heard of by me." The sense is made clearer by the inversion.
By placing : the sons of the stranger in the front, it is signified that what follows,
who through the hearing, &c, is » mere description of them. The yioK^!, mf.
used instead of the less obvious noun, has also the character of an explanation.
How necessary this explanatory style is in the variation, appears from the fact that
those who have not availed themselves of the key offered by it have quite failed to
Y

322 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
of their close places. For the «t. Xey. J7n — in Chal. KJ7H,
terror — we have in Mich. vii. 17, M7, *° shake, in a precisely
similar connection.1
In the closing verses, which now begin, the subject of the
whole is recapitulated.
Ver. 46. Living is the Lord, and praised be my rock, and ex
alted is my salvation- God. That the threefold praising of God
here has respect to the Mosaic blessing, we remarked before. The
living Jehovah can neither be explained, living is, nor living be
Jehovah. Recent expositors mostly follow the latter rendering :
they conceive that the usual acclamation to the king is here
transferred to God. But as the expression : he lives, presup
poses the possibility of dying, and is always used in reference to
the mortal, such a transference is scarcely to be thought of, the
form for the king is a different one, 77,537 *i7*> 1 Sam. x. 24,
2 Sam. xvi. 16, 1 Kings i. 25, 2 Kings xi. 12, and finally, what
of itself is enough to decide the matter, the nin* *n is familiar as
a form of oath, and in that use always means : living is the Lord.
These passages are decisive for the exposition of ours, the only
one where the expression occurs not as an oath. The ground
derived from the analogy of the following doxologies is withput
any meaning. The expression : living is the Lord, is also doxo-
logy, and so accords with that in 1 Tim. vi. 16. " who alone has
immortality." To praise God, means nothing else than to as
cribe to him the glorious perfections which he possesses, for we
can only give to him what is his own. The exalted also is a
mere declaration, he is, not let him be, exalted. If it were a
wish, then the verb would have been the fut. apoc. The Lord is
named living in contrast with the dead idols, who can do no
thing, leave their own without support, given up to destruction.
That David was living, exalted, and blessed, showed that his God
discover the true meaning. But our text is shown to be the originahandmain text,
by the circumstance that the words : " who through the hearing," &c, are imme
diately joined to the others : " a people that I know not," the im »J3 being moved
onwards to the next verse, in which it is again resumed.
1 In 2 Sara. .Hjpi'1, they gird themselves, namely for going forth. Hitzig ex.
pounds according to the Syriac : they limp out of their close places. But it is quite
unjustifiable to take a word of such common use in the Hebrew in a signification
so peculiar. The girding for departure, Ex. xii. 11, and especially 2 Kings iv. 29.
As a variation, the reading is quite good, but certainly that in our text is the ori
ginal one.

psalm xviii. ver. 47, 48. 323
was also living, exalted, and to be blessed. He is himself the
living proof of his vitality, exaltedness, and title to be praised.'
Ver. 47. The God, who gives me amends, and constrains the
people under me. This and the following verse stand in close
connection with what is expressly represented in ver. 4 — 19 and
ver. 28—45, and point to the ground of the praise of God,
ascribed in the preceding verse, the facts which declare him to
be living, exalted, and worthy to be praised. It is as if this
verse had begun with a/or. Revenge is justly sweet to David,
because he does not execute it for himself, but God does it
through him. Where the individual is the bearer of a right con
ferred by God, then it were sinful not to seek revenge, not to
withstand the alienation of the right, not to strive, that the un
just proceedings of those who have committed them, should re
turn upon their own head, and might not enjoy what they do of
evil.* Ver. 48. Who deliverest me from my enemies, thou also liftest
me up from my adversaries, from the man of violence thou deli
verest me. As in the second member there is no positive indi
cation either in the verb or in the noun of an ascent, the MR
cannot be used as marking a gradation, but, as very commonly
in the Psalms of David, for the purpose of connecting and add
ing ; and the and in 2 Sam. approves itself as the right exposi
tion. If we seek for an ascent in the noun, then the *fip puts
us in perplexity ; if we seek it in the verb, we are again perplex
ed by the deliverest in the third member. The expression : thou
liftest me up from my adversaries, is constr. praeg. : exaltas me,
hostibus meis ereptum. The man of violence is indeed primarily
an ideal person, as the strong enemy, in ver. 17, comp. Ps. cxl.
1, 4. Still the reference to the superscription shows that the
Psalmist had Saul specially in view.3
1 In 2 Samuel we have, for my salvation- God, the rock-God of my salvation, i. e.
the rock-like God, who grants me salvation. Comp. the expression : my rock-God,
in ver. 2. The inserted -fl^ is used, like so many other deviations in 2 Samuel,
for the purpose of strengthening.
s In 2 Samuel for i^m, with the view of making plain, iHio-l, and brings
down. The TOin in the sense of driving, only elsewhere in Psalm xlvii. 3.
3 In 2 Samuel stands instead of ifj^SD the more select »X'SiD, pointing to ver. 19.
Farther, instead of DDH B^N there is the stronger phrase D'ODD tJ>»K, Which also
occurs in Psalm cxl. 1, 4.

324 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
Ver. 49. Therefore will I praise thee among the heathen, 0
Lord, and sing praises to thy name. The mention of the hea
then indicates, that David's experienced mercies were too great,
that the praise of them should be confined within the narrow
bounds of Palestine. He can only have a proper auditory in the
nations of the whole earth. Paul brings forward, in Rom. xv. 9,
among Old Testament passages, showing that salvation was ap
pointed also for the heathen, this verse, in connection with the
similar passage, Deut. xxxii. 43, " rejoice ye heathen, (rejoice)
his people," i. q. with his people, Ps. cxvii. 1. These passages
are quite adapted to prove what they are selected for. If the
heathen are interested in that, which Jehovah does by Israel, if^
they also belong to the auditory in which his great deeds are to
be celebrated, then God must be the God, not merely of the
Jews, but also of the heathen, and consequently must make
himself known as such through the offer of his salvation. Our
verse and the similar passages present a decided contrast to the
wretched particularism which Paul combats. The variations in
2 Sam. are unimportant.
Ver. 50. Who gives great salvation to Ms king, and does good
to his anointed, to David and his seed for evermore. Who gives
great, is as much as, for he gives great. The pi. niJ'IBJ'* points
to the rich fulness of the salvation. The Epexegesis to m*K'l!3
is not merely 7177, but 1}*7n>1 7177. There is an evident, re
ference to 2 Sam. vii. 12 — 16, where it was promised, that God
would show favour to the seed of David even to eternity ; the
J*7b 7Dn, and Q71J* 7J*, all occur there too. By this refe
rence, and by their necessary use as a sort of finger-post for the
exposition of ver. 28 — 45, the words : to David and his seed for
evermore, are justified as genuine. Elsewhere too David has in
terwoven his name in his song and prayer, comp. 2 Sam. vii. 20,
26 ; xxiii. 1. Similar to our Psalm is Ps. Ixxxix., where likewise
the favours of the Lord to the seed of David, both past and fu
ture, are celebrated ; comp. also Ps. xxi. These Psalms are dis
tinguished from those, which may more strictly be called Mes
sianic, Ps. ii. xiv. lxxii. ex., only by this, that in the latter the
Messiah exclusively is brought into view, while here he is pre
sented to our notice only as a member of the seed of David.

psalm xix. 325

PSALM XIX.
God manifests himself in creation, and his works in the hea
vens attest his glory, unceasingly, mightily, over the whole earth,
especially the most glorious object in them, the sun, which ma
jestically performs his long course, and fills everything with his
warmth, ver. 1 — 6. The law, which has been given by this
world-God, possesses all the features which are essential to it
as deriving its origin from such a source ; it gives to man a sure
and unerring direction, how he has to employ his life, and fills
his heart with joy, by bringing his painful uncertainty in this re
spect to an end, ver. 7 — 10. With internal gratitude the Psalm
ist acknowledges the enlightenment which he has' received
from this law, which, as surely as it is the pure expression of the
will of the Almighty, so surely does it promise a rich reward to
those who keep it. But that he may actually attain to this re
ward, he stands in need of a double benefit, the grace of for
giveness for the manifold sins of imperfection, which even in the
servant of the Lord spring from the corruption of nature, and
the grace of preservation from the heinous transgressions, which
would cause him to forfeit his place as a servant of God, and
therefore he begs, that the Lord, as his true Redeemer, would
grant such tokens of kindness to him, ver. 11 — 14.
According to this representation of the subject, the descrip
tion of the glory of God in creation, is only an introduction to
the praise of the glory of the law, and this again serves the
Psalmist only as a ladder to reach his proper aim, the prayer for
pardon and for moral preservation.
The relation between ver. 1 — 6, and 7 — 10 i3, by some of those
who recognise the introductory character of the first section,
construed thus : God has manifested himself indeed in creation,
but he has done so far more gloriously in the law. But if this
relation had been marked, the pre-eminence of the law above
nature, as a manifestation of God, would have been brought out
far more emphatically than is done by the employment of Je
hovah in the second part, instead of the general name, God, in
the first. If the introduction were intended to raise the higher

326 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
by comparison with the lower, in the manner of Deut. iv. 19, 20,
the latter must have been marked more decidedly as such. The
design of the introduction must rather be only to point out the
glory of the lawgiver, to give to Jehovah, the God of Israel,
who made known his will through the law, the basis of Godhead,
and so, to bring the mind from the veryfirst into the fight posi
tion toward the law. The thought, that he who gave the law
is he whose praise the heavens declare, whose greatness as the
Creator is manifested by the sun, must fill the mind with holy
reverence before him, and with internal love toward him. The
first part, therefore, serves the same design, as elsewhere is done
by placing together the names Jehovah Elohim, which is al
ways done as a contrast to the particular representations of Je
hovah, with the view of displacing the imagination, that Jehovah
was only the God of Israel, (comp. my Beitr. Th. II. p. 311, ss.)
the very same view, which led to the use of Jehovah Elohim and
Sabaoth in the discourse of David himself, 2 Sam. vii. 22, 25, 26,
27 ; for there he constantly recurs to the thought, that Jehovah.
who had given him so glorious a promise, was no other than that
very God, who was Lord of heaven and of earth, in order to
strengthen himself in faith on this promise. Especially instruc
tive for the relation of our two sections to each other is ver. 28.
there. " And now, 0 Lord Jehovah, thou art God, and thy words
are truth." There, as here, the consideration of Jehovah's being
God, the conviction of the truth and infinite preciousness of the
Divine word, serves to admonish us how, if we would obtain the
right blessing from reading the holy word, we must keep vividly
before our eye, that he who speaks in it is no other than the
Creator of heaven and of earth.
The plan of the Psalm is quite mistaken by those who, as still
lately Hitzig and Maurer, make it fall into two closely connected
halves, the first containing the praise of God from nature, the
second from the law, or generally revelation. On the other
hand, the practical conclusion of the Psalm, which refers only to
the law, is decisive against this. If the first part possessed an
independent signification, the manifestation of God in creation
must necessarily also have been placed in an ethical light toward
man, for the purpose of declaring what feelings it should awak
en in him, what obligations it lays upon him. What is the only
aim, the proper kernel of the Psalm, comes out so pointedly in

PSALM XIX.

327

the concluding verses, that it is inconceivable how it could be
overlooked. This misapprehension as to the plan of the Psalm has given
rise also to the hypothesis of De Wette, Koester and others, that
it has been made up of two originally distinct songs ; against
which Hitzig remarks, that ver. 6 forms no proper conclusion,
that the discourse proceeds to its greatest height towards the
end, that the conclusion, is for the second half alone, too extend
ed and solemn, and shortly and ably sets aside the only appa
rent ground almost for this hypothesis, as follows : " The more
quiet tone, the more equal movement in the second part is to be
explained from the less spirited object, not belonging to the ter
ritory of vision. What is besides advanced by De Wette, that
the poet, who began with such an elevated contemplation of na
ture, could scarcely close with the feelings of a bruised heart,
falls at once to the ground, since the conclusion is just as full of
joy as the beginning — what can be more joyful than for one
to be able to name the Lord his rock and his redeemer ! — and
since even in the middle there is no trace of a bruised heart, the
mind rising under a sense of human weakness, easily and with
out a struggle, to the blessed hope of Divine forgiveness, and
sustaining grace.
It, is also matter of surprise that Ewald could not rise above
the common division, as he still feels himself obliged to re
mark, that the two halves are not in themselves complete ; the
first not, because if viewed as independent, the song would be
without all doctrine and application, without any intimation as
to how man should praise God, or imbibe that praise of the hea
vens, and so should appear as a torso, unsatisfactory and unani-
mating ; the second not ; for ver. 7 is too cold as a commence
ment. We might still farther add, that the commencement
would be an awkward one, the Psalmist would stumble at the
gate into the house. So that the strange supposition must be
resorted to, that the conclusion of the first half has been lost,
and that a later poet has added to the fragment a new, unsuit
able conclusion.
For the integrity of the Psalm there is also to be mentioned
the evident intention through the whole in the use of the names
of God. In the first part, which speaks of the general manifes
tation, of God in nature, the general name of God is employed,

328 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
El ; immediately with the change in the manifestation begins the
name Jehovah, the occurrence of which just seven times itself
shows, how much of design there is in the use made of the names
of God. As a farther proof of integrity, is to be noticed the pe
culiar prominence given to the sun in the first part, and indeed
particularly toward the close. Corresponding to it in the second
part the law is held up as the spiritual sun, comp. the predicates,
clear, pure, heart-quickening, eye-enlightening, also 77T3 in ver.
11. Finally in Ps. viii., as here, the heaven appears as the pro-
claimer of the praise of God, and there also this representation
has no independent meaning, but serves merely as a stepping-
stone to the second part.
Of the Davidic authorship there can be no doubt, after the su
perscription, and the respect, already noticed, which it bears to
Ps. viii., and 2 Sam. vii. An indication has been sought, though
without foundation, of the Psalmist's relations in ver. 13. The
denomination, " thy servant," must be appropriated by every
one, who recognises in the Psalm the expression of his own feel
ings. The Psalmist speaks from the soul of every pious man,
and we have before us a truly popular song.
Ver. 1. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firma
ment shows forth his handiwork. Calvin: " Nothing certainly
is so dark and despicable in the smallest corners of the earth, as
that we might not there discover some traces of Divine power and
wisdom, but because a more expressive image is imprinted in the
heavens, David made choice of these especially, as their light
guides us to the observation of the whole world. For if any one
has known God from the contemplation of the heavens, he can
not fail also to recognise and admire his wisdom in the smallest
plants." In the east, the consideration of the heavens is pecu
liarly adapted to give a deep impression of the greatness of God
as Creator. When C. Niebuhr, many years after his return
from the east, lay in bed under the blindness and exhaustion of
old age, " the glittering splendour of the nocturnal Asiatic sky;
on which he had so often gazed, imaged itself to his mind in
the hours of stillness, or its lofty vault and azure by day, and in
this he found his sweetest enjoyment." The heavens and the
firmament are personified, and the announcement of the glory of
the Creator is attributed to them, which is apprehended in them
by the pious mind. This personification is chosen with reference

PSALM XIX. VER. 2. 329
to the actual manifestation of God in the words contained in ver.
7— 10. Instead of " the glory of God," Paul, in the passage, Rom.
i. 20, which alludes to this here, has " eternal power and God
head." That the firmament is identical with the heavens, ap
pears from Gen. i. 8. It is the vault of heaven, in which are sun,
moon, and stars, Gen. i. 14, ss., the shining witnesses of God's
glory, in reference to which he bears the name of Sabaoth, God
of hosts. The word, which occurs only once again in the Psalms,
cl. 1, points back to the history of creation. Many, as De Wette,
render 7*jn by praising, extolling, and the expression n&J^fo
1*7* : what he can make and do by means of his almightiness and
wisdom. Both, however, are, inadmissible. The former can
only signify announce, show forth, as both the usage and the
paral. with 7£D, show, and 1*7* Ity^fo, only : the work of his
hands. The firmament, while, from the nature of things it is
only an announcement by matter of fact, of what God has made,
testifies, at the same time, (since doing proceeds from being,) of
the Creator, what he is, concerning his glory. It was justly re
marked by Venema, that in substance, the two members are to
be regarded as running into one another, q. d. : the heavens
make known the work of God's hands, and thereby his glory ;
or, the heavens as the work of God's hands, make known his
glory. So also, already Paul in Rom. i. 20, " For the invisible
things of God, from the creation of the world are clearly seen,
being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal
power and Godhead."
Ver. 2. Day unto day pours forth speech, and night unto
night shows knowledge. The naked thought is this, that the
heavehs, with their starry host, unceasingly testify of God's glory,
since, by day, the sun constantly shines, and by night, the moon
and stars. Hence the Psalmist expresses the thought so, that
he makes every day and every night under-heralds of God's
glory, communicating to their successors what they had learned
from the heavens and from the firmament. The speech of the
day can only be the echo of the speech of the heavens, and the
knowledge of God's glory (nj*7 signifies only knowing, percep
tion, insight, never telling) which the night shows, is only such
as has been furnished it by. the heavens. This is evident from
the roference of the 7J3X to the Q*75Dfi the resumption of
723K in ver. 3, and the suffixes in ver. 4, which unquestionably

330 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
refer back to the heavens, and which exclude all interruption of
the reference to the heavens. The connection is destroyed by
the remark of Stier : " We are to understand not merely what
we see by day and night in the heavens, but, as the expression
naturally imports, (that is, if viewed without respect to the con
nection) the whole that is done by day and night under the hea
vens." Here, as also in Ps. viii. the discourse is merely of the
testimony of the heavens. J**^7, to cause to sputter forth,
marks the rich fulness with which the testimony on all hands
breaks forth.
Ver. 3. There is not speech and there are not words, their
voice is not heard. y&JJO is pointed as partic. : is not one
heard, their voice is not among the number of the heard. The
suff. in Q71p refers to the heavens and the firmament, and
these are the very things of which speech and words are denied.
The author points to the powerfulness of the testimony which
the heavens deliver of God's glory. How strongly must the
traces of God's glory be impressed upon them, when they need
no speech to make him known as their Creator, when they need
only to be dumb-heralds of the Divine greatness, and still they
declare and show forth. It is commonly supposed by those who
follow this exposition, that the sense is first completed by the
addition of the following verse : they are indeed speechless, yet
still their preaching is understood throughout the whole earth,
so loudly do they proclaim by their mere existence the glory of
God. But this supposition is not a necessary one ; just as well
and even better indeed, we can say, that here the powerfulness
of , the testimony is represented, and there the wide compass of
its territory. The more definite Q*717 is added to iQa, which
admits of a more general construction, in order to signify, that
the matter is here of a discourse in the more restricted sense.
Luther, Calvin, and others expound : There is no speech and
discourse where their voice is not heard. Calvin : " He extends
through a silent contrast the efficacy of this testimony which the
heavens give to their Creator ; as if he said : Although the na
tions are very different in language, yet the heavens have a com
mon speech for instructing all in like manner, and nothing but
carelessness prevents all from being taught at the mouth of this
common teacher." But it is to be objected to this exposition,
that it takes 7£X and Q*727 in the sense of dialect, language,

PSALM XIX. VER. 3, 4. 331
in which the first certainly never occurs, nor is Gen. xi. 1 suffi
cient to establish it as properly belonging to the latter ; that the
speech and language would not be very fitly connected with the
hearing ; that it requires 7&K to be taken in another sense than
it was in ver. 2, and forcibly separates between Q*7SDD and
yifo in ver. 1 ; and, finally, that it destroys the parallelism
which is manifestly formed between the expressions : there is not
speech, and there are not words, and: their voice is not heard.
— Others expound, after Vitringa : there is, what day and night
announce, no speech, and no words, whose voice one may not
perceive, supplying 7J^X before *72- But this gives a very
tame sense; it destroys, like the other, the parallelism, and
draws the whole into a single protracted period ; to which it
may also be added, that, according to it, the suffix in E37li7
must be referred to speech and words, while the analogy of the
suffixes in the following verse decides for the reference to the
heavens and the firmament, from which also the discourse and
the knowledge proceed, which day and night deliver to each
other. Ver. 4. Their line goes out over the whole earth, and their
words even to the farthest bounds of the earth, he has made for
the sun a tent in them. The first member has occasioned great
trouble to expositors. But the difficulty is less an inherent
than a derived one. It immediately vanishes, if we simply and
faithfully abide by the established usage, and then only consider
how the meaning thus acquired suits with the context. The
suffix in Q1j7 refers, as that in B"Q unquestionably shows, to
the heavens and the firmament, )p signifies a measuring-line.
Such a line is useful only for determining the limits, the com
pass of the territory which any one has to receive ; comp. for ex.
Isa. xxxiv. 17, " His hand has divided it (Idumea) to them, (the
wild beasts,) with the measuring-line ; they shall possess it for
ever ; from generation to generation shall they dwell therein,"
Ez. xlvii. 3 ; Zech. i. 16. The measuring-line must extend as
far as the territory is to reach, comp. the XX* in Isa. xv. 3, ss.,
and especially as connected with )p, Jer. xxxi. 39. , Accordingly
the only legitimate translation is this : their measuring-line goes
out over the whole earth ; and the only legitimate exposition :
the whole earth is their portion and territory. In what respect,
is evident from the whole context, according to which the

332

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

heavens can come into consideration merely as the heralds of
the Divine glory; and all doubt is removed by the second mem
ber, which serves to explain the first, expressly pointing to this
reference : their proclamation of the Divine glory limits itself
not to some one region, but reaches as far as the earth itself. —
How untenable the current expositions are, is obvious from this,
that Olshausen and Gesenius, finding no satisfaction in them,
would read E37lp for 0)p, their voice. The sense of sound^
speech, which many ascribe to ID, it never has, nor can they with
certainty appeal for it to the authority of the old translators, as
it is doubtful whether these did not merely give a free render
ing according to the sense. The signification of string, to which
some would draw it over from established usage, to what the
context is here supposed to require, is inadmissible, as 1p never
signifies string, but always specially measuring-line. Conse
quently the exposition of Hitzig is also to be rejected, which
imagines an uninterrupted chain of hymns of praise, with which
day and night, or more properly the heavens and firmament,
span the earth, as we speak of the thread of a discourse.
Ewald commits himself to still greater arbitrariness in the ex
planation of 1p. There are some who, as Stier, abide by the
received signification of 1p, and explain: as their expanse
reaches over the whole earth, so also, in like manner, their
' words. But this exposition destroys the parallelism, and un
derstands the outgoing of the measuring-line of mere extent,
whereas it must be regarded as designating the compass of the
territory. In the third member the Psalmist makes special mention,
among the heavenly works of God, of the sun, because that
is the most glorious of them, and also from a respect to the
law as the spiritual sun. The suf. in D7^> which refers to
the heavens and the earth, shows beyond all doubt, that we
must consider the discourse and knowledge, which accord
ing to verse 2, day and night proclaim, as communicated to
them by the heavens, and that the suf. in tD7lp in verse 3 must
be referred, not with many, to day and night, nor with others, to
the discourse and the words, but to the heavens, that not to day
and night, but to the heavens must the 7DX, in its more restrict
ed sense, as far as it is synonymous with Q*7!37, be referred,
and that also in the two first members of our verse the suffixes

PSALM XIX. VER. 4. 333
must refer to the heavens. In a perfectly unwarrantable man
ner has De Wette sought to remove the invincible difficulty,
arising from the reference of the suf. to a distant noun, by
remarking, that the sun, as to thought, is comprehended in
the preceding words : to the end of the world. For this were as
much as : to the end of the heavens, where the sun had been
thought of. But 7^n, according to its derivation, (prop, the
bearing, fruit bearing,) signifies earth, not world, and is synony
mous with the parallel ym. Then one does not see how there
should have been a plural suf. De Wette's supposition, that it
is used indeterminately, is a mere shift; Ps. xxxix. 6, cannot be
compared, as there what is to be supplied is clearly given in
the context. But to suppose with Maurer, that here the tent
Cf the sun must be placed in the extremity of the earth, is
much less to be admitted, since the end of the earth in common
speech, and according to the parallel in the preceding context,
is still a part of itself; but no one has ever ascribed the sun to
the earth, and here, in particular, it is represented as the most
glorious object in the heavenly regions. The tent of the sun is
not to be considered as the place of his nightly repose ; against
this Stier justly remarks, that it is not suitable to the first
mention of the sun in the heavens; it must be conceived of as not
a temporary and concealed one, but as his dwelling-tent.1 The
expression : he has set a tent for it, is substantially the same as
he has prescribed a place for it. With the words of the two
first members of this verse, Paul describes in Rom. x. 18, the
spread of the gospel over the whole earth. This led many of
the older expositors into the quite false supposition that ver. 1
— 6, contained a direct prophecy of Christ and the gospel. But
not less objectionable is tbe supposition, that the Apostle used
the words of our verse merely as an accidental reminiscence.
The reference has a deep ground. The universality of God's
manifestation of himself iii nature, is a prophecy in fact of the
universality of the proclamation of the gospel. If the former is
not accidental, if it is grounded in the Divine nature, so must
this also spring from the same Divine nature. The revelation
1 Quite correctly already Ven. : singulis sideribus dantur tentoria tensa cum
apparent, et detensa cum disparent, quae tentoria eorum stationem in campis sethe-
reis designant.

334 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
of God in nature is for all his creatures, of which as such they
form a part, a pledge that they shall also one day be made to
share in the higher and more glorious revelation. It was a
surety for the heathen, that the temporal limitation of salvation
to Israel, was not a hinderance, but a means towards the removal
of the limitation.
Ver. 5. And he is as a bridegroom who comes out of his cham
ber, rejoices as a hero to run a race. The point of comparison
in the first member, is neither the delight beaming from the
countenance of the bridegroom, nor his ornaments, (Isa. Ixi. 10),
but his vigour, power, or feeling of strength. This appears
from the words : he comes forth from his chamber, prop, e thoro,
or, thalamo suo, (falsely, therefore, Michaelis: ad sponsam v. ex-
cipiendam, v. domum ducendam), and likewise from the second
member, which gives equal prominence to the energetic power
of the sun. In German the comparison loses in both members,
from the sun being feminine.
Ver. 6. He goes forth from the end of the heavens, and runs
about even to their end, and nothing is concealed from his heat.
Upon N¥1& comp. Christol. P. III. p. 300. The 7J* is to be
explained by this, that the going round at last touches, reaches
the ends of the heavens. The 7fiD3 ?*& prop, not ia concealed,
there is not any thing which can be concealed. The heat is
not to be considered as the opposite to light, as Venema and
others think, according to whom the " concealed" must refer
only to the light ; but as its inseparable accompaniment, q. d.
before its warming light. These last words also have respect to
the mighty power of the sun, so that the Psalmist has this,
through the whole representation, before his eyes.
There follows now, in ver. 7 — 10, the praise of the law which
has been given by this God, whose glory the heavens proclaim,
and from whom, on this territory also, nothing but what is glo
rious and perfect can proceed. An artful arrangement in this
praise is not to be overlooked. In the three verses, ver. 7 — 9,
twelve marks of praise are ascribed to the law. These fall into
six pairs, in which the second always stands to the first in the
relation of effect to cause, a relation which is intimated through
the regular want of the copula in the second, and the occurrence
of Jehovah only in the first member. So, for example, in ver.
7 : the law of the Lord is perfect, (and hence) it quickens the

PSALM XIX. VER. 6, 7. 335
soul, the testimony of the Lord is sure, (and hence) makes the
simple wise. In ver. 7 and 8, the effects are uniformly a pro
duct, which the law operates in the mind of man, according to
the quality indicated in the preceding member. In the con
cluding verse, ver. 10, the glory and preciousness of the law
thus constituted, is celebrated as a whole. To the sixfold use
of tho name Jehovah here, there is added a seventh at the close
in ver. 14,
Ver. 7. The law of the Lord is perfect, quickens the soul, the
testimony of the Lord is sure, makes wise the simple. To silence
those who, after the example of Cocceius, would understand by
n7in the gospel, many expositors maintain that it stands here
in its original meaning of instruction, and comprehends the
whole idea of religion. But this notion is altogether untenable.
n7in> although certainly it meant instruction generally, is al
ways used in the whole of the existing usage, which was formed
under the influence of the Pentateuch, only of that instruction
which stands in commands, always means law, not excepting
Isa. i. 10, viii. 16. But, even if its meaning were doubtful, the
following synonyms would be sufficient to remove all doubt.
Occasion was given to this false view by the consideration that
such high terms of praise could not be employed of the law by
itself, after the declarations of the Apostle, and the testimony of
experience. This consideration, however, is set aside in a legi
timate way by the remark, that David only speaks of what the
law is for those who, like himself, are in a state of grace, and in
whom, consequently, the inmost disposition of the heart coin
cides with the law, of that, therefore, which theologians call the
third use of the law, or its use to the regenerate, (comp. Me-
lancthon at the close of his Loc, de usu legis, Calvin Inst. L.
ii. c. 7, § 12. Nitsch, System. § 155.) In this respect it is a
source of internal joy, that he has in the law a pure mirror of
Divine holiness, a sure directory for his actions. But Paul, on the
other hand, has to do with the relation of the law to the fleshly,
those sold under sin. That here the discourse is only of what
the law is to believers, is manifest from the connection in which
it stands with God, who primarily speaks in his own name, also
from the expression, " thy servant," in ver. 11, which implies
that the speaker was already in a gracious relation to God, from
his naming the Lord " his rock and his redeemer," in ver. 14,

336 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
and from ver. 12 and 13, where he indeed brings into view the'
Divine forgiveness for many sins of imperfection, but confesses
himself to be free of the presumptuous and daring violation of
God's commands, and prays that, through God's grace, he may
be able to remain free from such. All these are marks of a state
of grace. The right view was already taken by Luther, who
says : " The prophet represents to his view those, who through
the word of faith have received the Spirit, and have thence be
come joyful, and have conceived a desire to do that which is
according to the law. Thereupon he proceeds to teach, how
holy, how righteous and good the law is, which appears grie
vous and hard to those, who have not the spirit, the blame, how
ever, being not in the law, but in the inclination. Moses was
in fact the meekest man upon earth, Numb. xii. 3, though they
did not know it. And so also is the law of the Lord very ex
cellent ; only the wickedness of our heart understands it not,
till the voice of the bridegroom takes away from his own the
wickedness, and he gives the Spirit, and then the law is under
stood and loved. The law does nothing of this sort by itself,
but it becomes such a law through the heat of the sun, which
breaks forth through faith on the word." The law is named
perfect, as being a pure expression of the will of God, and in
contrast to the imperfect results of human thought on this terri
tory, even on the part of the well disposed. Because it is in itself
perfect, it makes those also perfect who follow it ; comp. 2 Tim.
iii. 15, 16. The consequence of the law's being perfect is, that
it quickens the heart, namely, by its putting an end to painful
uncertainty in reference to the will of God and the means of
pleasing him, which but for the law would still in some measure
continue even with believers, and such as are brought to par
take of the gifts of the Spirit, and by opening up a perfectly se
cure way, by which one may attain to righteousness before God,
and the peace of a good conscience, and consequently to a joy
ful hope of salvation. That the perfectness of the law is in so
far the cause of the quickening, appears from the following,
" makes wise the simple," which more definitely points out the
way and manner in which the law produces quickening. Many,
and recently Stier, expound : converts the soul. But this is in
admissible as to the fact, — conversion has nothing to do here,
for the law cannot work it, the subject of discourse at present

PSALM XIX. VEIL 7, 8. 337
is simply what the law is for believers, those who have already
been converted, — and so it is also in a verbal point of view.
The expression, placed so absolutely, as here without a terminus
ad quern, uniformly denotes quickening, refreshment : the soul
is as it were escaped from the pain and misery in which it was
imbedded, comp. Lam. i. 11, 16 ; Ruth iv. 15 ; Psalm xxiii. 3.
Testimony, ni7J*, the law is named, not as being a kind of so
lemn declaration of the Divine will, but because it testifies
against sin, comp. my Beitr. Part iii. p. 640. Sure, certain the
testimony is named, in contrast to the uncertain, vacillating,
shifting knowledge of reason in matters of this nature. By rea
son of this very sureness the law is fitted to make the simple
wise, (soipiaai 2 Tim. iii. 15.) The expression simple, does not
denote a particular class among believers, as if there were others
who knew enough of themselves, but it is a common predicate
of all believers viewed as apart from the Divine law. Believers
are also simple still ; for they are even yet deficient in their best
estate as to a complete knowledge of the Divine will ; but they
are only simple, while others are blind fools, ED*7^3- The ex
position of Stier and others : the susceptible, open, is refuted
by the contrast with wise, comp. also 0**H£ ^212 in Psalm
cxix. cxxx. On the other hand, Luther's : silly, is too strong.
ViS marks only a deficiency, a want, not a positively perverted
disposition, an ignorance, which has its root in the region of the
understanding, not such as springs from an ethical ground.
Gesen. in his Thes. : dicitur de ea stoliditate, cujus fons est in
inopia consilii, prudentiae, disciplinae et rerum usus, qualis
puerorum et adolescentuloriim est pellectu facilium, licet non
malorum et noxiorum. t
Ver. 8. The. commandments of the Lord are right, rejoice the
heart, the statute of the Lord is clear, enlightens the eyes. The
law receives the name of Q*7pS, in so far as it delivers to man
charges, which he has to execute, the name of niX/b, in so far
as it prescribes to him what he has to do. That the law of the
Lord rejoices the heart, appears as the effect of its rectitude,
just as its quickening the soul was represented as the effect of
its perfectness. The believer acknowledges with heart-felt joy
and gratitude that he knows the will of God from the revelation
he has given, and that he is thereby delivered from the deceit
of his own imagination, and of his own heart, and has obtained
z

338 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
a sure guide through life. The enlightening of the eyes is refer
red by many to the communication of the light of Divine know
ledge. In that case : enlightening the eyes, would stand relat
ed to : rejoicing the heart, just as in ver. 7: making wise the
simple, does to : quickening the soul. There : it is perfect and
sure, and therefore quickens the soul, while it makes wise the
simple. Here: it is right and clear, and therefore rejoices the
heart, while it enlightens the eyes. However, as the expres
sion : enlightens the eyes, so commonly occurs in the sense of
making brisk and joyful, — pain and misery make the eyes dim,
heavy and dull, comp. on Psalm xiii. 3, — it will be well for us
also to adopt this signification here. Accordingly the words :
" enlightening the eyes," correspond precisely to those : " re
joicing the heart," and in the preceding verse, not to the " mak
ing wise the simple," but rather to the, " quickening the soul."
Ver. 9. The fear of the Lord is pure, continues for ever, the
judgments of the Lord are truth, righteous altogether. The fear
of the Lord here marks the instruction afforded by God for fear
ing him, Psalm xxxiv. 11 ; Prov. i. 29 ; ii. 5 ; xv. 33 ; the law,
which, according to Deut. xvii. 19, should serve the purpose of
leading men " to fear the Lord their God." That the word,
fear of God, is thus without anything further consigned here to
its legal rule, points to the internal connection between the two,
to the circumstance, that every apparent act of godly fear, which
as to its substance is fashioned after men's own notions of good,
is rather a dishonouring of God. The consequence of the purity
of the law, which excludes all purification, all complete or partial
reform, is its perpetual continuance. This is naturally to be
referred to the substance of the Old Testament law, and indeed
to the whole of it — for the limitation to the so-called moral law
is an arbitrary one — in reference to which the Lord also says,
that he had come, not to destroy the law, but to fulfil it, Matt.
v. 17. The destruction as it has taken place under the New
Testament, respects only the form. In regard to its substance
the law is so unconditionally eternal, that according to another
saying of our Lord, not one jot or tittle of it shall perish, Matt.
v. 18. The truth oi the Lord's judgments consists in this, that
they do not assert themselves to be judgments of the Lord, but
really are judgments of the Lord ; and since nothing can pro
ceed from the Lord but what is righteous, they are righteous

PSALM XIX. VER, 9 — 11. 339
altogether, without any exception, The truth stands opposed
to lies, to deceit. If by truth is understood not the formal,
but the material, then the expression : they are righteous alto
gether, passes from the relation of effect to that of cause, and
is merely co-ordinate with the other : they are truth.
Ver. 10. They, more precious than gold, and much fine gold,
and sweeter than honey and the honey- comb. Calvin : " Here
again it is clear, that the discourse is not of the naked precept
and the mere dead letter, (more correctly : of the relation of
the law to the faithful and spiritual, not of its relation to the
fleshly and such as are destitute of faith.) For if the law when
merely commanding terrified, how then could it be deserving of
love ? certainly, if it is separated from the hope of forgiveness
and from the spirit of Christ, it is so far from the sweetness of
honey, that it rather by its bitterness kills the poor soul." Lu
ther : " This is a great wonder of the Holy Spirit and of the
judgments of the Most High, that they change everything,
rendering that most acceptable, which before was most distaste
ful. For what do men seek more eagerly than riches and plea
sures ? and yet the spirit has far greater delight in the law of
God, than tbe flesh can have in its goods and pleasures."
The third strophe, ver. 11 — 14 : the law in relation to the
Psalmist, as to every individual, who finds in it the fitting expres
sion of his feelings.
Ver. 11. Also thy servant is enlightened by them, whosoever
keeps them, has great reward. The participle 7713 is indicative
of this, that the enlightening, or reminding, through the law is
one that is continually proceeding, abiding, comp. Ew. § 349.
The expression : Whosoever keeps them, is, when viewed in re
gard to the context, as much as, the keeping of them, as to all,
so also to me, brings great reward : I also have received instruc
tions from thy law, as to how my life should be directed, and if
I continue to act agreeably to this knowledge, great reward.
How the Psalmist recognised the truth of this principle from his
own experience, is shown by Ps. xviii. 20—27. This declara
tion, at the same time, draws the Psalmist on to the following
prayer for the removal of the hindrances which threatened to
deprive him in whole or in part, of the reward which attends the
keeping of the law. He, also, who stands in the faith needs par
don for the sins which are the offspring of infirmity, if he is to

340 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
come to the full enjoyment of this reward, ver. 12. He needs,
moreover, the constant preservation of God through his Spirit,
from presumptuous transgressions of the law, from prevailing sin,
which threatens wholly to bereave him of the reward. We are
not to conclude from the Psalmist's expectation of the reward,
tbat he was a hireling. We should otherwise have to throw
away also the New Testament on account of 1 Tim. iv. 8, and
many other passages which enjoin a seeking of the reward. The
Psalmist's really impelling principle to the keeping of the law,
is the love of God ; the reward he takes with a grateful heart as
an agreeable addition, as a declaration of God, that the service
rendered was well pleasing to him. Luther : " This is said for
the consolation of those who take pains not to have their desire
for reward gratified, as is wont to be the case with hirelings and
servants ; I mean those who, by their little bits of work, would
make God I know not what sort of merchant, because they would
take no pains in doing the judgments of the Lord. Therefore
does Paul, in 1 Cor. xv. 58, console those who labour in the ser
vice of God, exhorting them to be steadfast, immoveable, and
always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as they
know that their labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. For
the servants of the Lord must know, that they please God in
their work, so that they must not languish, nor sink into despair;
since God desires to have willing and cheerful labourers. But
if they please God, there will infallibly come a great reward,
though they do not seek it, because God cannot deny himself,
who said to Abraham, ' I am thy exceeding great reward.' "
Ver. 12. Errors, who can mark them ? From those which are
secret acquit me. The first member discloses the depth of
human depravity, which draws even believers into many failings,
Berleb. Bible : " Who can mark them ? Who knows them all
and is able to number them ? Who can keep so sharp a watch,
as to mark how often something of the old proud disposition
springs up against the new nature of the spirit of faith ?" — The
second member grounds upon this the prayer for forgiveness, the
necessity for which rests upon the fact, that sin everywhere
cleaves to us, while it appears in forms scarcely discernible by
the finest human eye, in many ways conceals itself, and assumes
the appearance of good. Did sin possess only a gross character,
we might satisfy ourselves with a simple " lead us not into temp-

PSALM XIX. VEK, 12, 13. 341
tation ;" but as if also knows how to refine itself, and become
invisible, we need besides to pray, " forgive us our transgres
sions," — It is not sins generally, but a special kind of sins, for
which David begs the Divine forgiveness, those which cleave
even to believers, and consequently persons well inclined, sins
of infirmity. nX*3£> is = ni1£J> of the law, for ex. Lev. iv.-2,
error, peccatum per imprudentiam commissum, and H17nDJ>
concealed sins, are such as have no gross corpus delicti connect
ed with them, belong mainly to the territory of the spirit, the
thought, the feeling, and withdraw themselves from the obser
vation of others, and more or less also from one's own. That
these are mainly to be thought of, is evident from the respect
which the f\17HDi carries to j*^* *£, q. d. : since the failings
are so numerous and delicate that no one can mark them all,
do thou free me from those concealed sins, which by their very
fineness, render their entire extirpation impossible. *JpJ, ac
cording to Stier and others, must signify not only forgiveness,
but also internal purification. But it was justly remarked al
ready, by S. Schmidt, that " it is a judicial term, and means ac
quittal. For the sin of nature is not extirpated in this world,
but forgiven. ,7p3 always signifies to declare innocent, to ac
quit, never to make innocent, nor can it possibly do so, for one
may well indeed be blameless, (ver. 13,) but cannot be made so
otherwise than in the sense of being acquitted.
Ver. 13. Also from presumptuous ones keep thy servant, let them
not have dominion over me ; so shall 1 be blameless, and remain
innocent from great iniquity. From sins of infirmity the Psalm
ist passes on to sins of deliberation. As for the first, he entreats
the Divine pardon, so in regard to these he asks the Divine pre
servation. To the preceding verse the petition, " forgive us our
sins," corresponds, and here it is the petition, " lead us not into
temptation." Our Psalm shows us, what internal connection
subsists between the decalogue and the Lord's prayer. That
the verb 71b with its derived nouns, conveys the idea of inten
tional, presumptuous, and daring sins, in opposition to such as
spring from infirmity, is clear from Ex. xxi. 14, Deut. xviii. 22,
xvii. 12, 1 Sam. xvii. 28. Q*7T is the standing designation of
those who raise themselves proudly and rashly against God, de
spise his word, and break his law. The contrast between tD*7T

342 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
and ft1K*J|fcJ> here, is precisely the same as the contrast between
PlJJE'l and n£7 7*1, sinning with a high hand, i. e. openly,
freely, and boldly, in Numb. xv. 27 — 31, a passage which forms
the basis of the New Testament doctrine of the sin against the
Holy Ghost, comp. Heb. x. 26 — 28. Just as here, the prayer
for .forgiveness is confined to the niX*3EJ>> while the Psalmist
prays to be kept from the tD*7T> which would have the effect of
placing him beyond a state of grace, so these sacrifices are to be
offered only for those who had sinned niJSJ'l ; he, on the other
hand, who had sinned 1t21 7*1, is to be cut off from his peo
ple, " because he hath despised the word of the Lord, and broken
his commandment." An example of a sin jHD, or 1121 7*1
is the transgression of him who gathered wood on the Sabbath-
day, Numb. xv. 32, ss. He was without mercy punished with
death. But the sin which, under the Old Testament dispen
sation, bore so frightful a character, that whosoever committed
it, he forfeited his earthly life, unless he received mercy from
God, attained first under the New Testament to its proper com
pletion, in which it inevitably draws after it eternal death. For
the greatness of the punishment is determined by the greatness
of the internally and externally offered grace. — Presumptuous
sins are here personified as tyrants who strive to bring the
servant of God into unbecoming subjection to them. That the
Lord alone can keep from this servitude, discovers the depth of
human corruption. We are not with many to take 0*7? with
out any thing farther in the sense of superciliousness, or of de
termined sinning, as appears from the usage according to which
the word correctly denotes persons, as also from the words: " Let
them not have dominion over me," which points to real or sup
posed persons. But just as little must we, with others, under
stand by D*7b real persons. Palpably false is this exposition,
when by such persons are apprehended the national enemies,
and by the dominion an external supremacy. In that case, too,
the following words, " then shall I be perfect," &c, yield no
sense, and the idea in this connection is quite foreign. It is a
more tolerable exposition, which takes the dominion in a moral
point of view: keep me from the influence and seduction of
daring sinners. But though by this exposition the contrast, so
pointedly indicated through the DJ and the double ffi, between
sins of infirmity and presumptuous sins, is not entirely destroy-

psalm xix. vicu. 13, 14. 343
ed, yet it is less directly put and cast into the shade ; the domi
nion would be something out of the way, (comp. what is said of
sin in Rom. vi. 14;) and 7fc?n at least nowhere else occurs of a
keeping from bad company, while it certainly does so twice of
keeping from what is sinful, Gen. xx. 6, and 1 Sam. xxv. 39,
" and hath kept his servant from evil." To the then there is
commonly added : If I obtain these two. But this.is opposed by
the J*£?S, which exclusively refers to the sins described in our
verse. It marks the greatest sins, prop, apostacy, revolt, such
as D*7T> bold despisers of God commit impieties, Job. xxxiv. 37.
This exposition is also opposed by the Dfifii which is properly
used only of inherent innocence. The DH*K is 1 pers. fut. of
\2121, comp. on the *, Ewald, p. 466, Small Gr. § 270". An in
nocent, blameless person is the Psalmist, notwithstanding his
sins of infirmity. *H*pl3 points back to *JpJ, in the preceding
verse : to be made blameless, and to remain blameless, these are
the two conditions of salvation. But the realization of the latter
also can only proceed from God. In the expression, from much
or great iniquity, there is applied the further idea; into which
I shall otherwise inevitably fall. The J*£?S stands in contrast
to the unavoidable smaller transgressions spoken of in the" pre
ceding context.
Ver. 14. Let the words of my mouth be acceptable to thee, and
the meditations of my heart before thee, O Lord, my rock aiul
my redeemer. The Psalmist prays for the favourable reception
of his song, not in regard to it as a production of sacred art,
but in regard to its substance and matter, in reference to the
two petitions in which it runs out ; or, it is not as a poet, but as
a suppliant, that the Psalmist takes the Divine acceptance into
account. This clearly appears from the two predicates of God,
on which the Psalmist grounds his prayer, and which led him
confidently to hope for the granting of it. In seeking that the
Lord would be well pleased, the Psalmist seems to use a sacri
ficial term, perhaps the very words which were spoken by the
priests at the presentation of the sacrifice. At least the expres
sion does stand in respect to offerings, comp. Lev. xix. 5, 7 ;
xxii. 19, 20, 29 ; xxiii. 11 ; Isa. lvi. 7; Ix. 7; Rom. xii. 1. Such
a transference of language was the more natural, as sacrifice
i itself was an embodied prayer. The words: before thee, are not
so well connected with the ivell pleasing, which is else whore

344

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

commonly used without any farther addition, and only in Ex.
xxviii. 38, is coupled with : before the Lord, and from which
they are too far separated ; it is better to connect them with the
meditation of the heart. The expression, my rock, denotes here
also faithfulness, certainty, according to which the Lord does
not leave his people, see on Ps. xviii. 2. He would deny his
rock-nature, if he would not pardon their sins of infirmity, and
keep them from flagrant misdeeds.

PSALM XX.
The people wish for their king, that the Lord, the God of
Israel would be with him in the impending battle, and grant
him the victory, ver. 1 — 5. They declare their firm confidence
that the Lord will protect his anointed and his kingdom, ver.
6 — 8. They conclude with the prayer that the Lord would do
as he had inwardly promised, ver. 9.
That the Psalm is not in the general, " a song of Israel for
and in behalf of its king, as we have in our song-book songs in
which there are prayers for kings and rulers, and honour is done
to their office," that Israel rather presents in it a special entreaty
for help to his anointed, in the immediate prospect of battle,
and utters his firm, triumphant confidence therein, is evident
from the " in the day of distress," mentioned in ver. 1, as com
pared with ver. 7, 8, which determine more exactly the kind of
distress as a warlike strait. According to ver. 3, the Psalm was
sung along with the solemn offerings which the king presented
at his going out to battle.
Many expositors conceive that the Psalm refers to a par
ticular occasion. Several follow the Syriac in connecting it
with the Ammonitic-Syrian war. But no ground exists for any
such special reference ; there appears in it, indeed, no indivi
dualising trait, nothing to conduct us over the general applica^
tion to the troubles of war; and this generality of its aim is
specially countenanced by " the day of distress" in ver. 1, and
" the day of our calling" in ver. 9. The beginning and conclu
sion both seem to indicate that the Psalsm was to be sung as
often as the troubles of war required the people to apply to God
for help.

PSALM XX. VER. 1. 345
If we hold the Psalm to be thus general in its character, we
must also admit that it carries a respect to Christ and his king
dom, that the Christian Church justly appropriates it as an ex
pression of her longing for the triumph of her cause, and of her
confident hope. For the kingdom of David, to which it refers,
culminated in Christ. He is in the full sense " the anointed of
the Lord." On the other hand, the Psalm refers to Christian
kings only when they are his servants, and in so far as they
are so.
It has been objected to the composition of the Psalm as
David's, which is affirmed in the superscription, that he does
not appear as the speaker, but the people. This objection,
howeyer, is of no force. The person addressed is not David in
particular, but the anointed of the Lord in general ; the speaker
at any rate is not the Psalmist, but he speaks in the name
of the people ; and if so, of whom might it be more readily ex
pected that he should stand forth as an interpreter of the feel
ings of the Lord's people in this respect, than of David, who al
ways lived in and with the church, always served it with his
poetical gift, identified himself with its, circumstances, and cared
for its wants. It is only by paying too little heed to this, that we
can here entertain any doubt of the correctness of the state
ment made in the superscription. Besides, the Davidic author
ship is confirmed by the numerous allusions to the Psalms of
David, which shall be noticed in the exposition. Then, what
ever witnesses for the Davidic authorship of Ps. xxi. also makes
for this, for they are connected as a pair. The great simplicity,
lightness, and transparent clearness of the Psalm, which have
been urged against its ascription to David, are to be accounted
for from its character ; these are the properties of a national
song. Luther says briefly and well : " It seems to me as if David
had composed this Psalm, that it might serve as a devout and
pious battle-cry, whereby he might admonish himself and the
people, and draw them to prayer."
Ver. 1. The Lord hear thee in the day of distress, the name
of the God of Jacob exalt thee. That we are not with Hitzig to
expound : will hear thee, but : may he hear thee, and that the
following futures are also to be taken so, appears , from njfcJHS
he declares for fat, he favourably accepts, in ver. 3, from the
!"|J}73, in ver. 5, and the expression : the king hear us, at the

346 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
close, which refers back to the beginning. 2%W means to lift
up, to exalt, in the sense of delivering, to transfer to a high and
secure place, comp. lix. 1 ; xci. 14, and xviii. 2, where David
names God his height. God's being called the God of Jacob, is
q. d. the God, who was and is the God of Jacob, in his person,
and that of his posterity, and points to the relation which form
ed the ground of the hearing, and the elevation upon which the
joy and security of the prayer rests. The expression : the name
of Jacob's God, imports either, God, who manifested himself as
Jacob's God, or Jacob's God, who manifested himself as such in
a fulness of deeds. God is not merely the God of Jacob, he is
also named so, has disclosed himself as such, and made for him
self a name. His election is not a dark one, but manifest, con
firmed by facts. Without such facts the God of Jacob would be
nameless, his name would be a nomen vanum.
Ver. 2. Send thee help from the sanctuary, and out of Zion
support thee. Here also is the help of God sought on the
ground of his covenant, his relation to the church. This is im
plied in the words : out of the sanctuary, out of Zion, comp. on
Ps. xiv. 7. ,
Ver. 3. Remember all thy meat-offerings, and accept thy
burnt-offerings. That we are here to think, not of the sacrifices
of the king generally, but specially of the festive oblations
which were presented at the going forth to battle, (comp. 1
Sam. xiii. 9, ss., where Saul offers such a sacrifice, with the view
of entreating God's favour, and making him gracious toward
him,) appears from the Selah, which can only be explained on
the supposition, that between this verse and the following one,
the work of offering the sacrifices intervened, during which
there ensued a solemn pause. The word : remember, seems to
allude to the name 7711^, which in the law,' imports what of
the meat-offering was burnt on the altar, because it put God as
it were, in remembrance of the offerer, comp. Lev. ii. 2 ; vi. 8,
&c. The remembering stands opposed to forgetting, or indif
ferent reception. The expression is likewise used in the New
Testament, comp. Acts x. 31. According to the entire spiritual
point of view, from which the Psalraist^speaks, it is of course to
be understood, that the sacrifices are here considered, not in re
gard to the body, but in regard to the soul, which inspirits
them, and that their well pleased reception by God, was hoped

PSALM XX. VER. 3 — 5. 347
for only on the ground of there being already there the internal
aim and disposition, which were embodied in them. In the
symbolical transactions of the law, the presentation of the
burnt- offering expressed the consecration and yielding up of
self. Whoever presented the meat-offering, which was essen
tially connected with the burnt- offering, vowed that he would
present to God the spiritual increase due to him, good works.
Where such profession is made in truth, there is an agreement
to be found with the subjective conditions on which the dispen
sation of salvation proceeds, then God cannot do otherwise than
give to the suppliant according to his heart, and fulfil all his
counsel. Luther remarks : " Just as in the new law, there are
other persons, other matters, other times, other places, so are
there are also other sacrifices ; though still there remains one
faith and one spirit ; the external only has changed, the inter
nal remains the same. — Wherefore, our sacrifice, which we must
present to God in the time of trouble, is a broken heart, and
the confession of sin, and this we do when we sigh after God,
in the time of trouble, recognise our distress as righteous, bear
patiently tbe mortification of self, and yield ourselves up to God,
as ready to do his will." — |£J?7 signifies to make fat, Ps. xxiii. 5,
and then to declare fat, good, to accept with satisfaction. The
7 is the n of striving, comp. Ew. § 293.
Ver. 4. Give thee what thy heart desires, and fulfil all thy
counsels. The discourse is not of the desires and counsels of the
king generally, but only of those which relate to the present ne
cessity. Ver. 5. May we rejoice over thy salvation, and through the
name of our God be lifted up ; the Lord fulfil all thy petitions.
Various expositors render : then will we rejoice, &c, but this
construction is inadmissible, partly on account of the form which
discovers itself to be the optative through the appended 7,
partly on account of the last member, which, like the preceding
context, still contains the expression of a wish. We must,
therefore, expound ; may we rejoice, &c, q. d. may occasion be
furnished us, through thy salvation, for rejoicing. The name of
God stands here emphatically, as in ver. 1. The explanation of
7373 is uncertain ; the supposition that it is denomin. of 737,
banner, is opposed by Cant. v. 11, where the part. per. occurs in
the sense of exalted, or distinguished. Probably the verb is

348 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
related to 773. The LXX. already rendered, as we have done,
tMya\u\iGriG6i*t&a., and the Vulgate, magnificabimur.
Ver. 6. Now know I that the Lord helps his anointed, he
hears him from his holy heaven, through his right hand salutary
exploits. Till now the people had spoken in the plural, here
they speak as an ideal person in the singular. That there is
here a great turning-point, is also indicated by this, that the dis
course is no more addressed to the king, but is spoken of him.
The now is to be explained thus, that the suppliants suddenly
obtain confidence of being heard. This now also, while it shows
that the transition from prayer to confidence is first made here
in a quick and immediate manner, precisely as, for example, in
Ps. vi. 8, speaks against those who would draw even ver. 5 into
the second strophe. The now I know is quite misunderstood by
those who, with Maurer, would refer it to a just won victory ; it
refers to an internal fact, and Luther has quite correctly ex
plained it : " Henceforth the prophet is full of sure hope, and
converts into a promise what he had hitherto been praying for.
For in such a manner is the affection produced, which rests its
full confidence in God, doubts not that what has been prayed
for shall infallibly be done. Faith, if it is truly in the heart,
takes such a firm hold of that which it believes, that it can
speak of nothing as more certain, and it knows it, indeed, to be
as certain as if it had actually happened. Therefore he does
not say here : I conceive, I think, but I know." The deliverance
is here expected from heaven, as in ver. 2, from Zion. The two
together, that God dwells in Zion, and also in heaven, consti
tute the sure ground of hope. The first proves that God will
help, the second that he can help ; the first secures God's love,
the second his almightiness. That the heaven is marked as
holy, strengthens the reference to the former, as the proper ma
nifestation of his holiness is his fidelity in keeping promise. On
the expression : from his holy heaven, see on Ps. xi. 4 ; the right
hand of God is mentioned in the same connection in Ps. xviii.
36 : }*£?* occurs also in Ps. xii. 5.
Ver. 7. Some chariots and some liorses, but we make mention
of the name of the Lord our God ; ver. 8. They stoop and fall,
but we rise and stand upright. As the object of confidence in
the world and in the church is different, so is also the fate ;
there from height to depth, here from depth to height. 7*2*7

PSALM XX. VER. 7 — 9. 349
always signifies to make mention, never to praise, (where the
latter signification is adopted it rests on a false meaning) ; and
this signification must here be the more firmly held, as it exists
also in the radical passage, Ex. xxiii. 13, " the name of other
gods ye shall not make mention of," as appears from the parallel,
" neither let it be heard in thy mouth." That the mention is in
the way of praise, does not stand in the word itself, but in the
constr. with 2, pointing to the feeling of confidence with which
the person mentioning rests in the object. Parallel to ver. 7 is 1
Sam. xvii. 45, where David says to Goliath, " thou comest to me
with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield, but I come to
thee in the name, of the Lord God of Hosts," Ps. xxxiii. 17, Isa.
xxxi. 3. By the chariots, chariots of war are to be understood.
The contrast lies between human means of help, and the assis
tance of God. The preterites of verse 8 are to be explained by this,
that the people in faith see the enemies as already conquered,
Luther : " Faith alone which commits itself to God, can sing the
' song of triumph before the victory, and raise the shout of joy
before help has been obtained ; for to faith all is permitted. It
trusts in God, and so really has what it believes, because faith
deceives not ; as it believes so is it done." Before the catas
trophe here described the enemies had the upper hand, and the
people of God were put to the worse. This especially appears
from D*p. which means, not to stand, but to stand up. Lu
ther: "At the commencement of the attack the ungodly, in
deed, appear to stand firm, while they confide in their chariots
and horsemen ; on the other hand, the pious who trust in the
name of the Lord, appear to them to be far from strong. But
faith argues thus ; although those stand, and we seem to be
weak and to fall, yet we are sure of this, that presently shall
matters be entirely reversed, and they shall fall; but we shall
be raised on high and stand, nay, we are already lifted up and
stand erect. 0 what a noble pattern of faith is this !"
Ver. 9. Lord help, the king hear us when we call. The last
strophe, that of the renewed prayer, stands in close relation to
the preceding context. The help has respect to, he helps in ver.
6 ; the hear us points back to, he will hear him, in the same
verse. The prayer springs from the promise : the Lord is en
treated to keep what he has promised. By this reference to the
promise, the prayer at the end distinguishes itself from that at
the beginning. The expression : hear us, here is much more

350- THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
impressive than that there : hear thee, which is now resumed again.
A special emphasis rests on 771537; Luther: " Hear thou us, thou
who truly art our king. For David, who serves thee, is not king,
and governs not his, but thy kingdom. With which thought he
vehemently moves God, that is, he teaches us to move God, as
one who then is moved, when we ourselves are so. For how
should he not hear when his kingdom, his interest, his honour is
in danger ? In other words, we then pray most earnestly when ,
we have confidence that we are God's kingdom and his heritage.
For then we seek not our own, and are certain that he will
not abandon a cause which belongs to him, and a kingdom which
is his, especially when we call upon him for this." As king of
Israel, God appears already in Deut. xxxiii. 5, comp. Ps. xlviii.
3. Without ground several expositors, following the LXX. and
Vulgate : domine salvum fac regem, leave the accents, and con
nect " the king" with the first member. By this exposition
the sense of the first member is weakened ; the simple : Lord
help, is more impressive ; then, in the second member, the de
signation of God is awanting, which grounds the prayer for help;
and what is the chief point, the transition from the address to
the third person is then deprived of all occasion, on which ac
count also the Vulgate, on its own authority, makes the address
here : et exaudi nos. The expression : in the day of our calling,
refers to Deut. xv. 2.

PSALM XXI.
The people testify their joy at the rich benfits which the
Lord has bestowed upon his king, ver.T — 6, express the hope,
that through God he would destroy all his enemies, ver. 8 — 12,
and conclude by praising the Lord, ver. 13.
The speakers ascend first to the Lord — 0 Lord what hast thou
done to the king, ver. 1, ss., then come down to the king, first
speaking of him, ver. 7, then to him : 0 king what wilt thou do
in the Lord, ver. 8 — 12 ; finally again ascend to the Lord, ver.
13, praising the Lord for what he has done to the king, and what
the king has done in him.
In the address to God the benefits are more comprehensively
and generally described: perpetual continuance of dominion,
salvation, strength, honour ; on the other hand, in the address to

PSALM XXI. 351
the king, a particular point is specially brought out, namely, how
through God's help he will become superior to all his enemies.
Various expositors, in particular Kaiser, Hitzig, Koester, sup
pose that our Psalm holds a closer relation to Ps. xx. than that
the people in both present themselves, before God under the dis
tresses of their king ; that in Ps. xx. the king's proceeding to war
is delineated, here his return home ; that what is there wished,
is here thankfully acknowledged, the salvation desired in the
one, being spoken of as having been found in the other, Ps. xxi. 1,
and the wish here mentioned in ver. 2 as obtained, being that
which was expressed there. But this supposition is quite
groundless. Our Psalm does not give thanks for any particular
victory granted to the king, but for strength and salvation in
general, for dominion received, " thou settest a crown of gold
upon his head," and what is perfectly decisive, for " length of
days for ever and ever," ver. 4.
According to De Wette the Psalm must be a wish for prospe
rity in behalf of the king, while the battle was impending, with
an introduction in ver. 1 — 7, in which the deliverance just about
to be afforded to the king, is celebrated. But then we cannot
explain the conclusion in ver. 1 3, where the Lord is thanked for
what has already been obtained, as appears from this alone, that
De Wette feels himself obliged, from love to his hypothesis, to
change thanks and praise into " a prayer for Jehovah's help."
The only correct view is this : The Psalmist expresses the
thanksgivings of the people for the promises given to David in
2 Sam. vii. and their joyful hope in regard to the fulfilment of
these. It is only by this view that we can explain Ver. 4, ac
cording to which an eternal duration of life is guaranteed to the
king, and ver. 6, according to which he has been advanced to
eternal blessing — passages which exclude all reference to any
single royal individual as such. The supposition of a hyperboli
cal mode of speech, which in itself is to be rejected, appears the
more objectionable when we compare the promise in 2 Sam. vii.,
and the other Psalms, which have their foundation in it, Psalms
Ixxxix. cxxxii. ex.
This Psalm forms a side -piece to Ps. xviii., from which it is
separated only by Ps. xix. and Ps. xx. which with this is united
into a pair. In Ps. xviii. David presents to the Lord, in presence
of the church, thanks for the glorious promise, which was already
delivered in 2 Sam. vii., here he utters in the name of the people

352

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

grateful joy for the same promise. His aim is to call forth and
quicken in the mind of the Church a feeling of gratitude toward
the Lord, of love toward his anointed, of immoveable confidence
in the prospect of danger.
Precisely as here, David, in his last words, as recorded in 2
Sam. xxiii. finds in the promise of the Lord, 1. The pledge of
salvation for his house, ver. 5 ; and 2. The pledge of destruction
in regard to his enemies, the sons of Belial, ver.' 6, 7.
The exclusively Messianic exposition, which has been defend
ed by many of the older commentators, and latterly by Rosen-
miiller, in his 2d ed., is deprived by our view of the foundation
which it conceived it had formed in ver. 4 and 7. , It is opposed
even by the undeniable reference, which the Psalm carries to
2 Sam. vii. This admits of the application to Christ only in so
far as the promise found its last and highest fulfilment in him,
in whom the royal stem of David culminated, but at the same
time imperiously demands the reference to Christ in this sense. ,
Apart from Christ the words : thou givest him length of days
for ever and ever, and : thou settest him for blessing for ever,
are nothing but a dream of enthusiasm.
The testimony of the superscription in behalf of the Davidic
authorship is confirmed by characteristic allusions to the Davidic
Psalms, many of which have been noti6ed by Hitzig. Then the
sprightly, confidential tone of the Psalm points to the times' of
David, which shows that the idea had still come into no conflict
*,
with the reality, as it did latterly in so important a manner
through the degeneracy of the line of David. How entirely
otherwise" does Ps. Ixxxix. sound, which was composed after the
beginning of this conflict.
First in yer. 1 — 6 we have the blessing in relation to the
blessed, the general principle in ver. 1, the expansion of it in
ver. 2—6.
Ver. 1. 0 Lord, the king rejoices over thy strength, and how
greatly does he rejoice over thy salvation! Properly in thy
strength, in thy salvation. The in stands for our over, accord
ing to another mode of contemplation. There the joy rests in,
here upon its object. The strength, the salvation of the Lord,
are the things promised by the Lord, and in consequence of the
promise to be granted by him. For 7*3*,' the Masorites would

PSALM XXI. VER. 2, 3. 353
without ground read b% the fut. apoc. with abbr. vowels on ac
count of the transference of the tone to the first syllable. Ew.,
p. 415.
Ver. 2. Thou gavest him the wish of his heart, and the desire
of his lips thou didst not withhold from him. The wish does not
simply denote here the wished-for thing — this is opposed by the
parallel: the desire of his lips— it is rather to give the wish,
i. q. to grant, or fulfil to him. The silent wish, and the spoken
prayer, stand in contrast. Luther : " The arrangement is cer
tainly fine here, namely, that the prayer of the heart must go
before, without which the prayer of the lips is an unprofitable
bawling." By connecting this with the preceding context,
which begins to be expanded here, the desire comes to be more
exactly determined, as one after deliverance and strength, and
also, by connecting it with what follows, much more strictly, as
onekafter continuance of dominion in his line, honour and glory
in his posterity. De Wette's affirmation, that it is " general,
andiiotto be understood of any determinate wish," is clearly
refuted by ver. 4, which is linked to ourr ver. by the words: he
desired life of thee. — That the promise in 2 Sam. vii. was a hear
ing of prayer for David, is not expressly said there, but it may
be regarded as self-evidently implied, as certainly no king is
without thought for the future state of his offspring, as under
the Old Test, the interest taken in the offspring was peculiarly
lively, and as the fate of David's race must have lain all the
nearer to his heart, that he had constantly before his eyes the
mournful fate of the family of Saul. If the promise had not
met the ardent wishes and prayers of David, it could scarcely
have made so deep an impression upon him, or filled him with
such triumphant joy and inward gratitude. — The preterites of
this verse are falsely taken by many expositors aoristically with
reference to the following futures. David's desire after the per
petuity of his kingdom, and salvation for his seed, was already
satisfied by the promise. The discourse is here of a fact already
past and concluded. — The Selah stands suitably between the
indication and the farther expansion, admonishing us before the
latter to consider the grace of God, which brought satisfaction
to the wish of his servant.
Ver. 3, For thou surprisest him with the blessings of prosperity,
thou settest upon his head a crown of gold. In reference to the
2a

354

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

Connection with what precedes, Luther says excellently : " But
what has the heart desired? What have the lips wished? This
comes next." Q7p, to surprise, comp. on Ps. xvii. 12 ; xviii. 5.
The character of joyful surprise appears throughout the whole
of that prayer of David, which he made after receiving the pro
mise, in 2 Sam. vii. The " blessings of the good," as much as
standing in good, or prosperity, denote the entire idea of the
benefits which the Lord promised to give to David's posterity.
The closer description of these benefits is given in what follows.
The setting on of the crown marks the bestowment of dominion.
David was crowned, as it were, anew, — or even for the first
time, for the earlier crowning did not come, in this respect, into
consideration, — when he received that great promise of the ever
lasting supremacy of his offspring. He then, for the first time,
became king in the true and proper sense. The kings of the
Philistines, to distinguish themselves from, the poor elective
kings, took the name of Abimelech, king's-father, and here was
unspeakably more than there ! That respect could not be had to
David's first crowning, or to the conferring on him of the kingly
office in general, is shown by tbe following context, which is to
be regarded as a farther enlargement of the words before us.
Ver. 4. He asked of thee life, tliou gavest him long life for
ever and ever. God has so far placed a golden crown on David's
head, as he gives him to reign perpetually in his posterity. Cal
vin and many other expositors think that a comparison is here
made between David's earlier time, when, surrounded as he was
by pressing dangers, he must have regarded it as a special fa
vour if he was delivered from immediate death, and the later
time, when, so far above his boldest wishes, he obtained from
God the promise that he should for ever live and reign in his
posterity. But the reference of the words : for life he asked of
thee, is better made to the wish of Davjd to have his life con
tinued in his posterity, a wish which, as is said in the second
member, was more than fulfilled by God. Then the asking of
life comes to be in perfect correspondence to the wish of the
heart, and the desire of the lips in ver. 2, and the life which
David asks for himself runs on the same line with the length of
days which was granted to him. With the " length of days for
ever and ever," is to be compared 2 Sam. vii. 13, " I will esta
blish the throne of his kingdom for ever," and ver. 16, " and thy
house and thy kingdom shall be established for ever before thee,

PSALM XXI. VER. 5 — 9. 355
thy throne shall be established for ever;" Ps. Ixxxix. 4, " thy
seed will I establish for ever, and build up thy throne to all ge
nerations." Ver. 5. Great is his honour through thy salvation, glory and
majesty thou layest upon Mm. David will rejoice in his seed
being perpetually continued in the full enjoyment of the kingly
honour and glory. Ver. 6. For thou settest him for blessing for
ever, thou makest Mm bright with joy before thy countenance.
Thou settest him for blessing — the plural points to the rich fat
ness of the blessing — for, thou blessest him so that he seems to
be blessing itself, comp. Gen. xii. 2. The joy with the Lord's
countenance (the very peculiar expression, with thy countenance,
is used in the very same connection also in Ps. xvi. 11,) is the
joy which arises from David's being in fellowship with the Lord's
countenance, having this graciously directed toward him, there
fore in substance the same as through thy favour. He does
not mean the joy which is experienced from " consciousness of
the divine favour," but which the enjoyment of this gives.
Ver. 7. For the king trusts in the Lord, and through the love
of the highest he shall not be moved. This verse, which speaks
of the king and of the Lord, forms the transition from the first
part, the address to God, to the second, the address to the king.
The connection with the preceding is falsely given by De Wette
thus : " the king Reserves it through his confidence in God."
Confidence comes here into consideration not as an affection, but
in respect to its object. This is shown by the parallel: he shall
not be moved. The expression : he trusts in the Lord, is as
much as, the Lord is his ground of hope, his Saviour. Calvin :
" Though the world turns round like a wheel, whence it happens
that those who are elevated to the highest point are suddenly
brought down again, yet the kingdom of Judah, and its antitype,
the kingdom of Christ, form an exception."
The people now tejl the king what he has to hope for himself
and his posterity, in consequence of the divine promise.
Ver. 8. Thy hand shall find out all thine enemies,, thy right
hand shall find^out thy haters. Ver. 9. Thou wilt make them
like a fiery oven, when thou lookest on them ; the Lord in his
anger will destroy them, and the fire will devour them. In the
words, " like a fiery oven," the comparison, as often happens, is
merely indicated, q. d. thou wilt put them in such a condition
that they shall be as if they were in a fiery oven. We reject

356 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
the supposition of a reference to Sodom and Gomorrah; we
must rather compare such passages as, Mai. iv. 1, " Behold the
day comes that shall burn' as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and
all that do wickedly, shall be stubble, and the day that cometh
shall burn them." Hupf eld's exposition, " thou wilt treat them
as a fiery oven," is inadmissible. For n*£? does not signify, to
treat. The expression : at the time of thy countenance, as much
as, as soon as thou turnest to them thy countenance, lookest on
them, carries a reference to this : with thy countenance, in ver.
6. Because the Lord's countenance is turned toward the king,
it is frightful to the enemies. That what has hitherto been
spoken of is ascribed to the king only as an instrument of God,
is to be referred to God in the king, and to the king in God, is
put beyond a doubt by the two last members.
Ver. 10. Their fruit thou wilt extirpate from the earth, and
their seed from the children of men. The sense is : thou wilt
entirely uproot them. Fruit and seed denote posterity, ver. 11.
For they intended evil against thee, tliey conceived designs, yet
they are not able for it. According to many expositors, the
wickedness of the godless must here be announced as the cause
of their destruction. But then it would be unsuitable to say :
they are not able for it. We must rather make out the connec
tion thus : for though they threaten destruction to thee, yet
they cannot execute their designs, these shall rather turn out to
their own destruction, as certainly as God has secured perpetuity
to the kingdon of David. The relation of the pret. and fut.
here, refer to the distinction of earlier and later in the future.
The attempt is expressed by the pret., the result by the fut.
Several expound : they span against thee evil, supposing the
image to be taken fiom the spreading out of the net. But 7£33
is never used of this. We must rather expound: they inclined,
bend evil upon thee, in order to throw it down on thee. nt33>
in this sense in Ps. lxii. 3, and in the same kind of connection in
1 Chron. xxi. 10, " three things I bend over thee," where, in
the parallel passage, 2 Sam. xxiv. 12, the corresponding, 71313,
I heave, is used. — In the expression : they canrlot, are not able,
what they are unable to work or accomplish, must be supplied
from the context.
Ver. 12. For thou wilt make them for shoulder, thy strings
fill against their presence. The first member : thou wilt trans
plant them into a condition, that they shall be altogether

PSALM XXII. 357
shoulder, thou wilt chase them in flight, comp. on Ps. xviii. 40,
where, instead of shoulder, there is neck. The then refers to
the last words of the preceding verse, which assert the impo
tence of the enemy, and which contain the leading idea of this.
J31D signifies not to aim, but to load, comp. on Ps. vii. 12 ; xi. 2.
Luther : " the troubles stimulate them to flight, and the bow
meeting them in the face, compels them to retreat, so tha.t they
find themselves in a strait, and in seeking to escape the rain, go
under the eaves-droppings."
Ver. 13. Praise to thee, 0 Lord, for thy strength, we will sing
and extol thy might. The Psalm is not, according to the
common supposition, closed with a prayer, but with the praise
of the Lord, for the great grace which he has manifested to his
king and people, through the promise and its fulfilment. n*3l7
not : raise thyself, or show thyself raised, — this were against the
usage, comp. Ps. lvii. 5, 11, against the parallelism, and against
the analogy of the conclusion of Ps. xviii. ver. 46, ss. — but : be
exalted in our consciousness, i. q. praise to thee. God's power
and strength is what he unfolds when he gives power and
strength to his anointed, comp. on ver. 1.

PSALM XXII.
The Psalm contains the prayer of a sufferer. It begins with
the cry, " My God, why hast thou forsaken me," ver. 1, 2, and
•then developes, as it proceeds, how completely anomalous it
would be, if God, according to every appearance, intended to
forsake him : thou art the Holy and the Glorious One, in all time
past the faithful deliverer of thy people, ver. 3 — 5. In singular
contrast to this stands my misery, my condition, to all appear
ance completely desperate, which loudly proclaims, that thou
hast forsaken me, ver. 6 — 8 : — a contrast all the more singular
that thou hast manifested thyself as my God from my early
youth, so that the explanation of the difficulty cannot be found
in this, that thou art not my God as well as theirs, ver. 9, 10.
The prayer, ver. 11, " be not far from me," flows out of the
demonstration as to how completely anomalous the desertion
would be, in which to the exclamation, " why hast thou forsaken
me," there is nothing left but the single answer, " I have not
forsaken thee," and the argument, or basis of this prayer, " for

358

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

trouble is near while there is no helper," leads on to a detailed
description of the trouble, after which the prayer returns deve
loped and strengthened. The whole description of the trouble,
ver. 12 — 18, is directed to show, that it had come to the very
last extremity with the sufferer, that now to be far away, that
now not to help, would be generally and completely to for
sake, which, according to ver. 1 — 1 0, is impossible, inasmuch as
it would involve God in opposition to himself: the sufferer is
now hovering between existence and non-existence, he is in
articulo mortis, the next moment he will no longer be an object
of the Divine assistance at all ; surrounded by powerful and fu
rious enemies, in a state of complete exhaustion and relaxation,
wasted away and emaciated, a living corpse, the sufferer is
awaiting the stroke of death, while those around, breaking all
connection between him and life, are employed in taking off and
dividing his clothes. The prayer, which, after that the last basis
has been given to it in this representation, (God cannot forsake,
ver. 1 — 10, he would forsake, if he did not help now, ver. 12
— 18) breaks out in an expanded form in ver. 19 — 21, passes on,
at its conclusion, to the confident assurance oi an answer, which
can never fail to be granted, when prayer rises on such a solid
foundation. In the last part (from ver. 22 — 31,) the sufferer depicts the
happy consequences oi his deliverance, which he anticipates in
faith, and lifted up in spirit above the present, beholds, as if it
were present. These truly great consequences will extend to all
without distinction. First, the greatest of all distinctions, that be
tween Israel and the heathen, will, in reference to these, be abolish
ed. Among Israel, (ver. 22 — 26), the manifestation of the glory
of God, in the deliverance of his servant, will greatly strengthen
faith, and will fill all believers with adoring wonder at such a God,
and with animation and joy: their heart shall live for ever through
this great proof of the life of their God. The heathen, ver. 27, 28,
from the one end of the earth to the other, as they seriously
ponder this glorious manifestation of Jehovah, will turn to him
with adoring hearts, as the only true God, so that he who is the
king of the earth will be recognised as such over it all. In the
next place, the distinction of individual circumstances will be re
moved : rich and poor, high and low, happy and miserable, will
take part in blessing this publication, and with devout feelings
will thank him for it. Finally, in ver. 30 and 31, the distinction

PSALM xxu. 359
of time will be removed : not only at present but also through
out the distant future, will the praise and the worship of God
be extended through this manifestation of his righteousness and
faithfulness. The Psalm naturally divides itself into three strophes, each
containing a distinct subject of its own, of the same length, and
consisting of ten verses, ver. 1—10, ver. 12—21, ver. 22—31.
Between the first and second strophe a verse is thrown in, which,
connecting the two together, leads on from the one to the other.
De Wette and Koester's division into strophes of five members
cannot becontinued throughout, without breaking the connection.
The three and the ten play a conspicuous part in several of the
Psalms of David. Compare, for example, the 18th Psalm.
David is named in the title as the author of the Psalm, and
even De Wette is obliged to concede that nothing decisive can
be urged against this view.
Hitzig would have Jeremiah acknowledged as the author of
thePsalm, but the grounds of his opinion are not such as to call
for a formal refutation. " The somewhat copious and flowing
style of Jeremiah" is more or less common to him with all who
are in deep distress, and with those who speak from the souls of
such. The entire originality of our Psalm does not at all corre
spond to Jeremiah's style. There are no characteristic passages
in which Jeremiah agrees with our Psalm, and though there
were, it would not be sufficient to prove the point. We would
only have to assume that Jeremiah, according to his usual
practice, borrowed from the older scriptures.
The determination of the subject is a much more difficult
point than the determination of the author of the Psalm. Many,
going on the supposition that whoever is brought forward as
speaking can be no other than the author, have assumed that
David is the sufferer of the Psalm. Against this idea there are
many insuperable objections drawn from the first part, (ver. 1-21.)
David never was in such great trouble as is here described ; his
enemies never parted his clothes, or cast lots upon his vesture ;
even in the greatest heat of the conflict with Saul, to which alone
we can look, he never was in that state of exhaustion, weakness,
and emaciation, which meets us in the subject of this Psalm. In
addition to this, we must observe, that while in the picture of
the sufferings, there is much which does not correspond to David,
we do not meet on the other hand with one expression, by which

360 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
we could single out any circumstance in David's history, to which
this prayer could be referred. This hypothesis, moreover, ap
pears completely untenable, when we look at the second part.
Such consequences as are there spoken of — among others, the
conversion of all the nations of the whole earth to the true God,
the fulfilment of the great promise made to the Patriarchs-
David could not possibly expect to flow from his deliverance.
The objections urged against David apply with equal force
against any other Israelitish individual — against Hezekiah,- ac
cording to Jahn, and Jeremiah, according to Hitzig — supposi
tions which are, moreover, rendered untenable by the words'of
the title,
That the reference of this Psalm to David, or to any other
member of the Jewish nation, is untenable, appears from the ef
forts made by all who maintain it by an arbitrary interpretation
to get quit of the matters of fact referred to in the Psalm.
What havoc, for example, must Hoffman make (Prophecy and
its Fulfilment, Part, I. p. 156) to uphold his hypothesis, accord
ing to which the Psalm refers to David, in the circumstances
narrated at 1 Sam. xxiii. 25, 26. In the first part there is con
tained, according to him, in strange medley, matters of fact, and
matters of imagination, distinguished from each other by no
rule, except as they best suit the convenience of the maintainer
of this hypothesis. In the first strophe, the first and second
verses contain matters of fact, the seventh and eighth matters
of fancy : " how they will insult the prisoner, and mock at his
trust in God." In the second part, from verse 12 to verse 15,
the subject-matter is historical; from verse 16 to verse 18, the
circumstances are hypothetical : (which, however, will not cor
respond to the supposed condition) ; " he sees, now that he is in
their possession, how they will rejoice over his wasted body, and
after he is dead, will part and cast lots for his clothes." A very
singular way, assuredly, of determining the situation. One,
according to it, would need to have a very free hand, and to have
a peculiar taste for following every sudden idea. In the second
part, the conversion of the heathen is violently separated from
its cause and occasion : " the time will come when the people will
again think upon Jehovah, and turn to him." The whole passage,
from v. 26 to v. 31, will merely show : " what a God he must be
who has listened to such a prayer, and to whom such praise will
be rendered." Against this the last verse is quite sufficient:—

PSALM XXII. 361
they shall make, known his righteousness, and that he hath done
this. At the expression, " they eat," v. 29, there will have to be
supplied " the good things of life,"— sufficiently arbitrarily (for
the object to be eaten must be determined from the preceding
context), and in opposition to ver. 26.
Other attempts to set aside the actual condition by exposi
tion, I have already adverted to in my Christology. Among
..these we reckon the assertion, which, after the example of Ve
nema, has been frequently brought forward, that the sufferer in
the Psalm is not in the power of his enemies, but only threat
ened by them. The passages which are brought forward for
the purpose, viz, 11, 12, 20, 21, do not prove it: for the near
ness of the trouble in ver. 11, is not in opposition to its pre
sence, but in opposition to its distance ; trouble is near to him
who is in the midst of it ; the expression : many bulls have
compassed me, &c. corresponds to a victim which has been seized,
and, to cut off every hope of escape, has been surrounded by
ferocious enemies, for the purpose of inflicting the death stroke;
and the 20th and 21st verses only show, what of itself is obvious,
that this has not yet been inflicted. The 17th and 18th verses
prove the contrary: — his enemies have stripped the sufferer quite
naked, so that his emaciation lies exposed to his own eyes and
to theirs, while they are enjoying the miserable spectacle, and
dividing his clothes among themselves. To refer, with Rosen-
miiller and others, the 18th verse merely to the proposal to di
vide the clothes, will not do, irrespective of every other con
sideration, on account of the connection with the 17th verse,
where the sufferer is represented as already stripped naked.
Those who propose to understand the 18th verse as figurative,
appear to be at a loss what to say in their embarrassment.
The hypothesis of Jarchi, Kimchi, and others, is much more
tolerable, viz. that by the sufferer we are to understand the peo
ple, or the pious part of the same. It will afterwards come out
that this hypothesis, and in a certain measure also, the one which
refers the Psalm to David, has truth for its foundation. But if
we apply the Psalm to the people directly and exclusively, we
shall meet with insuperable difficulties. On the supposition that
the sufferer is the whole people, it will clearly be necessary to
understand that by the troop of evil-doers, the dogs, the liars,
and the bulls, the heathen are especially and exclusively meant,
for which idea the Psalm does not furnish one single particle of

362

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

evidence. The opposition everywhere, is between wickedness
and uprightness : and it is quite arbitrary here, as in all similar
cases which are so frequent in the Psalms, to turn a purely
moral into a national distinction. Farther, if we suppose the
whole people, or the pious part of the same, to be the sufferer,
how could he say he would make known the name of the Lord
among his brethren, that he would praise him in the midst of the
congregation, that from him would go forth his praise in the
great assembly, that he would pay his vows before them that.
fear him ? How could he exhort the fearers of God, the whole
seed of Jacob, the whole seed of Israel, placing himself in op
position to them, to praise the Lord for what had happened to
him ? How could he promise to the meek, to those who seek
the Lord, nothing more than sympathy in a salvation which con
cerned himself peculiarly, and nothing more than the strength
ening of their faith from the same ? The whole passage, from
22d to 26th verse, is, on that hypothesis, altogether inconceivable, :
it is fatal to every view which removes the contents of the Psalm
entirely from the domain of individual application. Such views
also are contradicted by the strong prominence given through.
out the Psalm to what specially belongs to an individual person:
the sufferer speaks of his mother, his heart, his tongue, his skin,
his hands, his feet, &c. — a form of speech which can lose its
proper application only when well defined marks show that the
term employed is a collective one.
The view which has*always obtained throughout the Chris-?
tian church, is, that which refers the Psalm directly and ex
clusively to Christ. The author by no means regrets that he
adopted this view in the Christology. It was the easiest and
the most natural of those which were then before the world,
to which his attention was more immediately directed; and he
would not even now hesitate for one moment to adopt it, were
he limited to making a choice among these, as he supposed he
was, — having as yet advanced hut a little way on an independent
footing into the depths of the Old Testament. In addition
to the views already mentioned, there was still another, held by
Calvin, Melancthon, Amyrald, and others, and advocated in
modern times by Stier and Umbreit, — the typical-Messianic.
David, it is maintained, according to this hypothesis, in fleeing
to the Lord on the ground of a particular case of distress, trans
fers, elevated by the spirit of Messianic prophecy, his own being

PSALM XXII. 363
into the extreme sufferings of the hoped-for Messiah, and speaks
as the present type of the coming deliverer. Although the
author acknowledges that in this attempt justice is done to
those considerations which may be pleaded in favour of oppos
ing expositions, yet he cannot but regard it as an unsuccessful
attempt at reconciliation. Such a view of the way in which the
Psalm was produced appears to him as psychologically alto
gether inconceivable. How David could extend his own con
sciousness to that of his offspring, cannot be conceived, without
confusion of the life of souls, and destruction of personal iden
tity. Meantime, the direct and exclusive reference of the Psalm to
Christ, presents such difficulties, that one cannot feel at perfect
liberty in adopting it, but feels rather inclined to look round
for some other interpretation, which may satisfy the mind. We
cannot, without violence, suppose the Messiah to be introduced
speaking, without one single expression specialising his person,
— compare for example, our remarks on the 16th Psalm. The
Psalm, moreover, is so nearly related to a number of others,
which have the sufferings of the righteous one generally, for
their subject, that it appears very difficult to break its connec
tion with them, and to isolate it too much. Finally, what is
said, in the second part, of the consequences of the deliverance
of the sufferer, is truly far too magnificent to allow of its
application to any one Israelitish individual, and far too per
sonal to allow of its application directly and exclusively to the
people; and, on the other hand, the mind cannot reconcile itself to
set aside all other realizations of the idea, that nothing will more
promote the glory of God, that nothing will more poiverfully tend
to awaken and draw on the spirits of men to serve him, than the
deliverance of suffering righteousness, whether as regards the ex
perience of individuals, or that of the church at large, and to
confine the idea entirely to Christ. The mighty influence, for
example, which the very wonderful deliverance of David from
the hand of Saul must have had in quickening the fear of God,
the events also which are recorded in Exodus xviii. 19, " And
Jethro rejoiced for all the goodness which the Lord had done to
Israel, whom he had delivered out of the hand of the Egyptians ;
and Jethro said, blessed be the Lord who hath delivered you out
of the hand of the Egyptians : now know I that the Lord is
greater than all gods :" — in 2 Chron. xxxii. 23, " And many

364 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
(after the Lord had glorified himself in the deliverance of right
eous Hezekiah from his enemies,) brought gifts unto the Lord
to Jerusalem, and presents to Hezekiah, king of Judah, so that
he was magnified in the sight of all nations henceforth," and
those in Daniel iii. 28, come so obviously within the domain of
the second part, that one can scarcely rest satisfied with any in
terpretation which places them altogether out of connection
with it.
While, all existing interpretations are thus encumbered with
serious difficulties, we make our escape at once, and completely,
from the region of embarrassment and constraint, if we consider
the Psalm as referring to the the ideal person of the Righteous One,
— a character which is introduced more frequently through
out the Psalms than any other, so that nothing but ignorance
can object to this interpretation, that it is an arbitrary one.
In this interpretation, justice is done to that truth which lies
at the foundation of every one of the existing views, while,
at the same time, the difficulties which stand in the way of
every one of these are avoided. The exposition may be thus
stated : David composed this poem for the use of the church,
like most of his other productions, on the ground-work of his
own experience, which, in this respect, had, from the beginning,
been so peculiarly rich. How the righteous man in this world
of sin must suffer much, and how the Lord, when it comes to
the last extremity, gloriously delivers him, and how his suffer
ings, through the manifestation of the Divine glory in his deliv
erance and in his victory over an ungodly world, subserve the
honour of God, and the sanctifying of his name, and accelerate
the approach of his kingdom — this is the theme. Every parti
cular righteous man might appropriate to himself the consola
tion of this Psalm, might expect,- in his own experience, the real
ization of the hopes expressed in it, in so far as the reality in
him corresponded to the idea, — in so far as he embodied in his
own person the ideal righteous man. In like manner also might
the community of the righteous, the people of the covenant, in
all public troubles, draw from it comfort, — the confident assurance
that the extremity of trouble must at the same time be the
turning-point, and that the seed of tears must usher in a rich
harvest in the way of .advancing the kingdom of God. With all
this the Psalm retained, till the coming of Christ, in all, and
throughout, the character of an unfulfilled prophecy. Accord-

PSALM XXII. / 365
1
ing to the proportion of righteousness was the proportion of de
liverance, and of the blessed results upon the kingdom of God.
Every previous fulfilment pointed forward to a perfect one yet to
come. By those in whom hope in the Messiah was in all circum
stances a living one, this could be expected only in him. The most
perfect righteousness belongs so necessarily to the idea of the Mes
siah, that he cannot be present to the mind without the most dis
tinct recognition of it. Now, in this Psalm we find righteousness
representedasnecessarily connected with theseverest and deepest
suffering, springingout of the natural enmity of theungodly world.
Consequently, the inference is clear that the Messiah, if a righte
ous, must also be a suffering one. And, further, as here we find
bound together suffering righteousness and such exalted deliver
ance, we infer that this salvation in the highest and fullest sense
must be the lot of him who should be the first to realise in per
fection the idea of suffering righteousness. Lastly, as the glory
of God will be in proportion to the salvation vouchsafed, it must
be in the time of the Messiah that this will for the first time ap
pear in all its extent and depth, as here described.
That, according to this view, justice is done to all the refe
rences which occur in the New Testament to our Psalm, (com
pare Matth. xxvii. 39, 43, 46 ; Mark xv. 34 ; John xix. 24 ;
Heb. ii. 11, 12 ; and on the passage, the Christology, page 176,
„&c, and besides also Matth. xxviii. 10, and .John xx. 17,
where our Saviour, after his resurrection, in marked reference
to verse 22, calls his disciples his brethren,) is clear as day,
and becomes particularly obvious, when we direct our atten
tion to the other quotations from the Psalms in the history
of our Saviour's sufferings. Not one of them refers to a Psalm
which directly and exclusively is of a Messianic import. The
69th Psalm, which, next to the one now under consideration,
is the most remarkable, contains features which will not apply
to Christ, — (the strong prominence, for example, giveu to
the sinfulness oi the sufferer) and which exclude the idea that
our Lord and his apostles have given it a direct and exclusive
Messianic interpretation. Still, it is necessary to observe, that
the providence of God so directed the circumstances, that the in-
.ward conformity of the sufferer of our Psalm to Christ should
be outwardly visible. The Psalm would have been fulfilled
in Christ, even although the passers by had not shaken the
head or the mockers quoted its very words; even although there

366

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

had been no dividing of his garments or casting lots upon his
vestures. But the striking resemblance in these particular cir
cumstances must be considered as an index pointing out a re
semblance of an inward character. The same object subserved
by this secret guidance of Divine providence, Christ also had in
view, when he borrowed, in his first exclamation on the cross, the
opening words of the Psalm, and referred in his last expression,
to its closing sentence, thereby impressively intimating, that the
whole Psalm was now in the way of being fulfilled.
The question may very naturally be asked, what is it that has
brought such honour to our Psalm, (which even Strauss, though
without any good intention, has entitled the programme of the
crucifixion of Christ) what is it that has led to its being ex
alted above so many similar Psalms by which it is surrounded,—
Psalms which, while they celebrate the contest of the righteous
in this world of sin, and the deliverance which the Lord
vouchsafes to them, are also indirectly prophecies of Christ,
inasmuch as he was foretold by every suffering that fell to the
lot of a righteous man because of his righteousness, and by every
deliverance which a righteous man obtained because of his right
eousness ? To this question a threefold answer may be given.
First, as has been suggested by Umbreit : — Among the many
Psalms which speak of the persecutions of the righteous by their
enemies, there is not one other Psalm which so expressively
and powerfully collects together, and concentrates on one indi
vidual figure the accumulated pains and tortures of the sufferers
in the contest with an ungodly world. Second, those Psalms
which originally refer to one particular individual sufferer,
stand one degree more remote from direct application to the
Messiah, than this one, which needs no preceding developement
of its idea in the history of any one individual. In like manner,
the reference to the Messiah is less prominent in those Psalms
in which the righteous man is introduced speaking in reference
to his own failings and weaknesses. Of these no mention what
ever is made in this Psalm. Lastly, in no Psalm are the con
sequences which flow from the deliverance of the righteous
man painted in such prominent' and comprehensive colours as
they are here. •
Title. To the chief musician — on the hind of the morning-
twilight — a Psalm of David. The expression, 7l"lJJn HTN /J*
has been very variously interpreted. The simple remark, however,

PSALM XXII. 367
that n?sa, wherever it occurs, always signifies a hind, and that
it would be perfectly arbitrary to give it any other interpretation
here, so decidedly sets aside a whole host of expositions, that it
is unnecessary even to quote them. The interpretation of 77GJ>
is in like manner ascertained : all expositions which would not
translate it by the morning-twilight, must at once be thrown aside.
Those who keep by the ascertained sense of the words, are
generally of opinion that these words are either the beginning of
a song, or a passage from one, the tune appropriate to which is to
be sung to this Psalm: like, " The hind of the morning." These
again are divided, as to whether the expression must be under
stood as denoting a proper hind, or (according to Gesenius in
the Thes.) as the poetical phrase for the rising sun. This last in
terpretation is without any analogy in the Hebrew language,
and has very insufficient ground to rest on, — the application
of the figurative term, roe, in the Arabic poets, to the rising
sun, and the practice of the Talmud, which, however, is not un
connected with the passage before us, but obviously flows from
it. This whole exposition, however, has this against it, that
there is not one single ascertained case,in which a poem is quoted
in the title, the appropriate tune of which is to be sung to the
Psalm. Only in a case of utmost necessity, therefore, could we
come to the resolution of adopting such an interpretation. Es
pecially, before adopting it, would it be necessary for us to
investigate whether it be not possible to interpret the words as
indicative of the object of the Psalm. On a close examination of
similar dark and enigmatical superscriptions, especially of such
as are introduced with 7J*, it always appears that they demand
such an interpretation. More especially in those Psalms of which
David is the author, such a reference is one which might a
priori he expected, as David was particularly fond of indicating,
by such enigmatical superscriptions, the contents and object of
his Psalms. It will be very readily admitted that the hind is a
very appropriate emblem of the suffering and persecuted righte
ous man who meets us in the Psalm. On the one hand,
the stag, or the hind, and the roe, are frequently employed
as emblematical of one persecuted or put to death. For exam
ple, 2 Sam. i. 19, David himself says of Jonathan, " the roe, 0
Israel, is slain in the high places ;" — on which clause Michaelis
makes the following remark, " comparatur Jonathan cum caprea
a venatoribus confossa :" Prov. vi. 5, " deliver thyself as a roe

368 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
from the hand of the hunter, and as a bird from the hand of the
fowler," Isaiah xiii. 14. And, on the other hand, the hind and
the roe are used as emblems of loveliness, Genesis xlix. 21,
Prov. v. 19, Song of Solomon ii. 7, 9, viii. 14, and by the
Arabians as emblems of innocence, especially on the part of the
persecuted. In Meidani (Freytag. Th. 1, N. 148,) there occurs
the proverb, eum invadat malum, non dorcadem," him — not an
innocent or a righteous person : and Ferazadak (in Freytag on
the passage) says, on receiving intelligence of the death of one
of his enemies: " dico ei, cum mors mihinunciata esset : ei non
dorcadi albae in arenarum tumulo (accidat)." There is the less
reason for hesitating as to this interpretation, if we remember
that David, in other places, draws from the animal creation
emblems of the sufferers and the persecuted : 1 Sam. xxvii. 20,
" The king of Israel is come out to hunt a flea, as when one doth
hunt a partridge on the mountains ;" xxiv. 15. " After whom is
the king of Israel come out ? After whom doest thou pursue ?
After a dead dog, after a flea?" and, in the title to the 56th Psalm,
" on the dumb dove of those afar off," which bears a remarkable
analogy to the passage before us. The reasons already adduced
show, that it is at least exceedingly probable that the hind may
be a figurative expression significant of suffering innocence. And
it is put beyond a doubt by the fact, that the wicked and the
persecutors in this Psalm, whose peculiar physiognomy is marked
by emblems drawn from the brutf creation, are designated by
the terms dogs, lions, bulls, and buffaloes. In the title of such
a Psalm, we might, a priori, expect to find such an appellation
of the sufferer as should correspond to that of the persecutors,
especially as no such appellation occurs in the body of the Psalm.
A special argument in favour of this interpretation is furnished
by the term *H17*N, my strength, ver. 19, a word which occurs
nowhere else in Scripture, and which seems to have been formed
for the sake of the allusion to the title. The 77*X, (hind) has
the name of strength, but the substance it has not :— a creature
without strength, it is the natural prey of dogs, lions, buffaloes.
But the strength which it has not in itself it has in the Lord,
who must hasten to the help of the weak. On every other in
terpretation, the reference of ni7*N to H7*X, which is so mani
fest, remains unexplained. Finally, this reference shows at the
same time that the title came from the pen of the author of the
Psalm, and goes far to establish the originality generally of the

psalm xxii. 369
titles. We are led to the same result by the manifest connection
between n7*tf, and the expression *7tf, *7tf, properly, my
Strong One, at the very opening of the Psalm, and also by the
circumstance that the symbolical designation of the sufferer in
the title exactly corresponds to those of his enemies in the
Psalm itself. All these references are so strong and significant,
that they must have proceeded from the author himself. Hi
therto we have been discussing only the term " hind," and
have left its adjunct, " morning," out of sight. The generality
of those who consider the title as indicating the contents of the
Psalm, trace the connection, which the hind has with the morn
ing, to its being early hunted. But this reference is too remote
to admit of its being intended by such a short expression. The
only legitimate exposition is that which is grounded on the ge
neral figurative use of the morning. That the morning is used
in a figurative sense, we are entitled to expect from the analogy
of the hind. Now, the common idea conveyed by the figurative
use of the morning, is that of " prosperity coming after misfor
tunes." Hence in Isaiah lviii. 8, " then shall thy light break
forth as the morning," 10, " then shall thy light rise in obscuri
ty, and thy darkness be* as the noon day:" Isaiah xlvii. 11,
" there shall evil come upon thee, the morning whereof thou
shalt not know:" viii. 20. Hos. vi. 3 ; x. 15. 2 Sam. xxiii. 4.
The expression will thus indicate the prosperous termination of
the sufferer's condition : the suffering righteous man to uihom sal
vation is imparted, — a title, as suitable, as exactly corresponding
to the contents, as can well be conceived. The fact so carefully
brought forward by the Evangelists, that Christ rose at the day-
dawn, — a circumstance by no means unimportant, — points to the
" of the morning."
The first division of the first part begins, in the 1 and 2 verses,
with the complaining question, and the interrogative complaint,
" My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ?" In grounding
this complaint, it is shown first, ver. 3—8, that God is acting to
wards the sufferer, whom he is giving over to destruction, in a very
different manner from the way in which he had manifested him
self, in^all time past, in the experience of his people ; and then,
ver. 9 and 10, that God is as really the God of the sufferer as
he had been theirs. To this detail the prayer is next appended,
ver 11 that God would remove the anomaly thus demonstrated
voi. xi., 2 b

370 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
to exist, that he would not be far from the sufferer, that he
would not forsake him.
Ver. 1. My God, my God why hast thou forsaken me, far
from my deliverance, far from the words of my groaning. In
the first clause every thing depends upon defining the idea of
forsaking. This term can here signify nothing less than an en
tire and complete giving up. For the trial is completely at an
end, as soon as God reveals to the sufferer that now his sufferings
shall have an end. As soon as he can say, thou hast heard me,
he sees that everything is right. The trial also does not consist in
temporary suffering, considered as such — this the sufferer knows
that he must lay his account with — but in the supposition that
he has been given up by God altogether, and for ever. Hence
therefore the cry, " thou hast forsaken me," does not refer to
a real fact, but it depends only upon a conclusion which the suf
ferer draws from his apparently thoroughly desperate condition,
and upon the feeling of 'Ms flesh, which cries, that now, when there
is but a hair between him and death, every thing is utterly lost.
To get free from this conclusion and this feeling,i is the point
of difficulty with which the sufferer has to contend. After he
has honestly done his part, and laid hold of those truths, which
render the forsaking altogether impossible, he receives from God
the only answer which can be given to his complaint, " why hast
thou forsaken me ?" " I have not forsaken thee, in spite of ap
pearance and feeling." From this exposition, it is evident that
these words, so far from being expressive of despair, are much
rather to be regarded as counteracting despair — as tearing it up
by the roots when it is like to steal over us. From it also, it is
evident that the assertion of the Berleb. Bible, that these words
are strictly suitable only in the lips of Christ, is altogether erro
neous. " Among us," it is there said, " no man may, in his suffer
ing, ask God why hast thou sent this or that affliction ? for we will
at all times find sufficient reason why we have deserved this, and
much Biore. All that a suffering man can say is, O my God
forsake me not." The sufferer before us, does not ask why God, in
general, allows him to suffer, but why he hasforsaken him. To
thiawhy, everyone has a right, who can,in truth, call God his God,
notwithstanding his manifold failings. For " God has forsaken no
one who trusts in him at all times," and God can forsake no such
one. In short, the expression, forsake me not, which alone it would

PSALM XXII. VER. 1. 371
appear is admissible, is not essentially different from the excla
mation, why hast thou forsaken me, and must rest on precisely the
same ground. He only who can ask God, " wherefore hast thou
forsakenme,"canpraywith confident assurance, "forsake me not."
—The previous appellation, My God, my God, contains the
ground of the wherefore, the right to put such a question. He
who cannot call God his God, he, who is without the covenant
and without the promises, he, who has obtained no pledges of
the grace of God, inasmuch as for him to be forsaken is
altogether in order, has no ground to implore of God, that
he would show by the result that it is with him altogether
a matter of appearance and feeling. Nay more, the greater the
right is which any one has to call God his God, the greater is
the confidence and decision with which he can utter the why.
Thus it is evident that the most complete right to the why is re
served for one, viz. Christ, who, in the full sense, can call God
his God ; at the same time, a sufficient right belongs also to all
believers. The expressive repetition of the expression My God,
shows how firmly the sufferer clings to this his only ground of
hope, how thoroughly conscious he is that it is here that he is to
find an antidote to despair, that it is from this point that there
must go forth a reaction against present appearances. The ex
pression, My God, occurring three times here and in verse 2, is
assuredly not accidental. — The following remarks are Luther's,
" Yf herefore, let us shut up these words in our hearts, and let us
keep them carefully there, till the proper time comes when we
shall need them. Whoever cannot comprehend them, let him re
main with the people on the plain, in the field below, and allow
the disciples to go to Christ to the mountain. Luke vi. 12, 17.
For all the sayings of this Psalm are not enunciated for each
and every mau, since all have not the same gifts, and all have not
the same sufferings. The Scriptures, according to the circum
stances of individuals, have milk for sucklings, and wine and food
for the strong, so that there is consolation not only for the weak,
but also for the strong and for those who are enduring great suf
ferings." — The second clause most interpreters, after the exam
ple of the Septuagint and Luther, (I cry, but my lielp is far)
translate ; " far from my deliverance are the words of my la
mentation :" there is a great gulf between the cry for help, and
the help itself, which, now that matters are at the very last ex
tremity with the sufferer — now that he stands with one foot in

372 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
the grave, — ought to stand in close contact with each other.
" Others translate : "far from my help, from the words of my la
mentation." This translation is undoubtedly to be preferred.
Were we to refer pin7 to *717, the plural would be required,
and what is still more decisive, the reference of the p177to God
is rendered necessary by the expression p77H 7K in the 11th
and 19th verses. The cry in these verses, " be not far," grows
out of the address here " thou art far," after that the imposibi-
lity of his continuing longer in existence had been shown. God
is far from the deliverance which he does not work out, and from
the complaint which he does not hear. This is all the more
painful that the time for deliverance is just expiring, and that
the man from whom the complaint proceeds, is at the very gates
of death, so that not to help now — -not to hear now— appears to ,,,,,,,,
be to give up altogether. It is impossible, however, to adopt the
view of most of those who follow this exposition, and translate,
" thou art far." This would require the pronoun to be repeated :
p177 is in apposition to the pronoun in *3niTJ*. The term
73X2^ signifies primarily, " roaring," or " bellowing," and, se
condarily, " loud complaining."
Ver. 2. My God, I cry in the day time, and thou answerest not,
and in the night time, and I am not silenced. In reality, the
" why" is to be supplied here also. To be able to call God his
God, and, in extreme distress, to cry continually without being
heard is a striking contradiction, which imperiously calls for re
moval by God at length hearing. The last words are translated
by many, and I have no rest. But the term n*£3l7 always sig
nifies silence, and this translation is particularly necessary here,
in consequence of the opposition between the term and the
" cry" of the first clause. The sufferer can be silent when his
cry finds an answer, when he gets assurance of being heard and
helped : so that thus / am not silenced is exactly parallel to thou
answerest not.
Ver. 3. Ami thou art holy, sitting enthroned on Israel's praise.
There is no reason for substituting and yet in room of the simple
and ascertained and. The contrast between the supposed reality
and the idea — between the apparent personal and the general ex
perience — is not here indicated in relation to the first and second
verses, but is drawn for the first time in ver. 6 — 8 in relation to the
contents of ver. 3 — 5. The import is : that I may lay down a more
extensive basis on which I rest my right to utter the complaint,

PSALM XXII. VER. 3. 373
" why hast thou forsaken me." — Thou art holy, and hast always
taken an interest in thine own people, hast never forsaken any one
of them, but I appear to be altogether forsaken by thee. For thou
takest no interest in me, although I am now sunk to the very
depth of misery. — The idea of holiness in Scripture, embraces in
it the idea meant to be conveyed by theologians when they
use the term ; viz. " the highest purity in God demanding the
same purity on the part of the creature." This is evident:
" Be ye holy, for I am holy," and Isa. vi. 5, where the thrice
repeated " holy" of the seraphims awakens in the prophet a
consciousness of his own impurity. But the two ideas are by-
no means identical : the scriptural one is much more compre
hensive than the other. Holiness in the Scriptures comprehends
majesty, as well as holiness in the limited sense. God is holy,
in as much as he is separated from every created and finite
being, and lifted above them, particularly above sin, which can
establish its seat only within the domain of finite beings. The
opinion of Gesenius (Thes.) and of Nitzch, (Sys. 77) who would
identify the scriptural with the theological sense, is negatived by
that passage, the sixth chapter of Isaiah, where the Divine holi
ness is placed in peculiar contrast to human .sinfulness, and where,
at the same time, the thrice repeated cry of " holy" is immediately
followed up by the expression, as if intended to develope its im
port, " the whole earth is full of his glory ;" and is accompanied
by the description of the prophet, " seated on a throne, high and
lifted up," and " mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord, the
Lord of hosts." In like manner also, we have in Isa. lvii. 15, the
holiness of God placed in juxtaposition with " high," and " lift
ed up," and in contrast to, " of a contrite and humble spirit,"
" Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity,
whose name is Holy, I dwell in the high and holy place, with him
also that is of a contrite and humble spirit." In Isaiah xl. 25,
and 26, we find the " holiness" of God mingled up with his power,
as displayed in the creation of the world, in a way which would
be utterly unintelligible in the theological sense : " to whom
will ye liken me, or shall I be equal, saith the Holy One : lift
up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these
things :" to whom will ye compare me, who am lifted up above
all created and finite beings, as their Creator, from whom I am
separated. In Hab. iii. 3, the holiness of God stands in connec
tion with his glory and his praise. " God came from Teman,

374 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
and the Holy One from Mount Paran : his glory covered the
heavens, and the earth was full of his praise." In the 99th
Psalm, the holiness of God, into which his whole praise is re
solved, separates him not only from sin, but from everything
earthly and human. In the third verse, it is parallel to : " great
and terrible." (X713)- With the latter of these terms it stands
also in intimate connection in Ps. cxi. 9, " holy and reverend
(X713) is his name." The signification of purity then, so far
from being the only one of &)1p, cannot be considered even as
the fundamental one. Nothing can be said in favour of this, for
the remarks made by Gesenius, for the purpose of proving that
the fundamental idea of SJ'Hp, is that of physical purity, depend
upon a mistaken view of the symbolical character of the pre*
cepts, in reference to the outward purity required by the law : —
and that the idea implied in £J>17pin such passages, is that of holi
ness, and not that of outward purity, is evident simply from the
motive appended to the exhortation, " be ye holy, for God is
holy." On the other hand, the position for which we are argu
ing, is confirmed by the circumstance, that &)1p is much more
frequently used in reference to the distance generally between
God and all created beings, than to the distance specially be
tween him and sin, — a circumstance which does not admit of
explanation, on the supposition that the theological sense is the
fundamental one. — In so far as the term is used in reference to
God, these explanations are altogether to be rejected which im
ply the idea of God separating himself from all other nations,
and consecrating himself as the God of Israel, or (Menken and
Stier,) as one who lets himself down in self-denying love. — Even
in the passage before us, £>17p stands in opposition, not only to
what is sinful, but also generally to whatever belongs to the
creation, to the earth, to the human family. It indicates that,
in reference to God, every thought of inability or unwillingness,
where he has promised, as proceeding from unfaithfulness, must
be excluded. God has always manifested himself as holy, in
asmuch as he has delivered his people through the mighty deeds
of his right hand, has maintained his covenant, and has glorious
ly fulfilled his promises. He shines like a clear bright sun, un
sullied by the spots of weakness or falsehood of the human race,
which is wholly covered overwith these spots, and presents points
of light only where it is illuminated by this sun. That the holi
ness of God here undoubtedly comprehends his faithfulness, is

PSALM XXII. VER. 3—5. 375
obvious from the term, " his righteousness," in the 31st verse.-—
In the second clause, the praise-songs of Israel como into notice,
in so far as God, from the proofs which he has given as to his
being the Holy One, has given ample occasion to praise him.
There is, in all probability, an allusion to the frequent expres
sion, D*H7in !&?!* ; at least on comparing this it becomes
evident that the praises of Israel are here to be regarded as
the throne, the seat of honour, of God : enthroned on the praise-
songs. The exposition of De Wette is unsuitable: " Inhabitant
of the praises." 2W1 does not signify to inhabit, but only to
sit, to dwell, to be enthroned. Gesenius regards 2WY as used
in a transitive sense — and dwelling among the praise-songs of
Israel, viz. in the temple in which the praises of Israel are
heard. But 1JJ>1* is never construed with an accusative. Of
the three passages which Gesenius adduces for this construction
in the first, Gen. iv. 20, it is not admissible, and in the other
two, Is. xiii. 11 and xliv. 13, it is not necessary.
Ver. 4. Our fathers trusted in thee; they trusted, and thou de
liver edst them. Ver. 5. They cried to thee, and were delivered;
they trusted in tliee, and were not put to shame. Luther remarks:
" These words look very like as if they were spoken out of envy
and vehement indignation against God. For although he is the
same God, yet he has heard and delivered the fathers who have
hoped in him and cried to him, but from this sufferer here^ who
also hopes and cries, he turns away and forsakes him. For it is
really a hard matter, and one which tempts a person sorely to
, despair and to blaspheme, that the same God should act differently
towards one from what he does to another, without any fault on
his part. Whoever has been engaged in such a contest has felt
such unutterable distress in his mind." Assuredly the pain of
the sufferer must be greatly augmented by the singularity of his
condition, provided he had decidedly concluded that he was en
tirely forsaken. But this is not the case with our sufferer. Al
though appearances, and his own feelings, say that he is forsak
en, yet, even from the beginning, faith is in the back-ground,
and by and by it gains a complete victory over sight and sense.
What at the first glance strengthens the complaint, becomes
when more deeply pondered, the transition to hope: for whoever
is fully persuaded that God has at all times, and without any
exception, manifested himself as the Holy Oile, the deliverer of
his people, cannot but come gradually to know that there must

376 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
be a mistake as to the assumed single exception. The expres
sion, " thou art the Holy One," is a corroding element, which
must by and by entirely consume the other, " Thou hast for
saken me." — The deeds of the Lord, to which the speaker refers,
are peculiarly those which took place when the Israelites were
delivered from Egypt, and were put in possession of the pro
mised land. The expression our fathers, of which the natural
counterpart is, " we, their posterity, thy present people," would
seem to lead to the conclusion, that the speaker is not an indi
vidual but a personified community. At least, in all similar pas
sages, it is not an individual, but the church of God, that is intro
duced complaining of the difference between the present and
the past, praying for its removal, and grounding hope for the fu
ture, on the early deliverances vouchsafed by the Lord to his
people : compare, for example, Ps. xliv. 2 ; " 0 God, we have
heard with our ears, our fathers have told us what thou hast
done in their days, in the days of old," and also Ps. lxxviii. 12,
&c. ; Is. Ixiii. 7, &c. ; Hab. iii. I. Still the reference to the com
munity of the righteous is designedly of the most indistinct cha
racter, in order that the single suffering righteous man also may
appropriate to himself the contents of these verses. — The repeti
tion of )1\22 in the second clause of the 4th verse, is intended to
bind together, as inseparably as possible, the trust and the de
liverance, with the view of showing that there is the most inti
mate connection between them ; the trust is always succeeded
by the deliverance. The occurrence of the expression three times
is assuredly not accidental. — Stier refers 1JJ71 to the being
ashamed before the world, to the reproach of the ungodly,
which is more painful than any disappointment of one's own.
But there is no reason for making this special reference, for £>13
is constantly used in the sense of to be ashamed, to be disap
pointed of one's hope.
Ver. 6. But I am a worm, and no man, a reproach of men,
and one despised of the people. All that is brought forward in
this and the two following verses, appears evidently designed to
produce the impression that the sufferer is entirely forsaken
by God ; and it is only in this view, that it is here brought for
ward. It is not suffering generally, but the deepest and ap
parently irremediable depth of suffering that is placed in oppo
sition to the deliverance of the fathers. The term *!3tf1 is ex
pressive of emphatic contrast — it is altogether otherwise with

PSALM XXII. VER. 7. 377
me, I am a worm, &c. Man is compared to a worm in Job xxv.
6, on account of the nothingness of his existence. The worm,
in the passage before us, as in Isa. xii. 13, is indicative of
nothingness within, as well as nothingness without : " fear not
thou worm Jacob." The passage 1 Samuel xxv. 15, is analogous,
where David describes himself as a dead dog or as a flea. To
the clause, and no man, corresponds t3*&J>*N 777 in Isa. liii, 3,
properly ceasing from among men, no longer belonging to them.
The term a reproach of men, properly of the human race, in
dicates that the domain of the reproach is so extensive, that
the whole human race may be said to reproach. One despised
of the people, is one despised by the people. The people
stands in opposition to one individual. The reproach is not
that of an individual, it is of a popular character. The reproach
and the contempt are brought under our notice, not so much
in themselves, as in reference to the ground on which they
rest, — the deep misery of the sufferer, whose condition is such
that it is reckoned by all men as altogether desperate.
Ver. 7. All who see me laugh me to scorn : they open wide the
lips, they shake the head. The 2 in 732^1 indicates that the
lip is the instrument of the opening. A parallel passage
Ps. xxxv. 21, " they open their mouth wide against me,"
and Job xvi. 10. Instead of " they shake the head," the
later commentators, after the example of Lackemacher, whose
renderings are always somewhat suspicious, have, " they nod
the head," adducing as the reason, that it is not the shaking of
the head, which is a gesture of denial, that is here suitable, but
the nodding of the head, which is a gesture of assent, and in the
face of the sufferer a gesture of satisfaction. But this exposi
tion is etymologically inadmissible : the word J**3n is altogether
identical with our shake, and to shake the head is exactly the
import of £J>N7 y3!"l> the phrase which occurs always in a simi
lar connection, and also of xmTv rfy x.ttpa'krjv oi the Septuagint and
of Matthew. And the reason above adduced for departing from
the only correct rendering in an etymological point of view, is
at once set aside by the remark, that the denial does not here
refer to the suffering, but to the existence of the sufferer. This
they deny him on the ground of his irremediable misery. The
idea is this : they shake the head, in connection especially with
what follows, where they announce his condition to be complete
ly desperate, and him to be wholly forsaken of God. This con-

378 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
nection is all the more significant, that the following expression
from the omission of the 723X7, clearly indicates itself to be a
mere commentary on the gesture : after the pantomine of it is
all over with him, there follows the verbal utterance.
Ver. 8. " ' Devolve upon the Lord,' (he has said,) Now let
him rescue him, let him deliver him, since he has delight in him."
The reproach and contempt grounded on the great depth of the
sufferer's misery, and illustrative of it, — the whole world has
given him over for lost, — we have intimated to us in general in
ver. 6th ; in ver. 7th, we have its expression by gestures, and in
the verse before us, in words. How sure the mockers are of the
destruction of the sufferer, — howcompletelyimpossible it appears
to them, that God should deliver him, — is evident in the clearest
manner from this, that they express, in the form of a wish, what
if it should really happen, would be fatal to them in the highest
degree. Had they entertained a single thought of deliverance
they never would have uttered the expression, " let him deliver
him." 73 is, according to most, an infinitive. Some under
stand it as used in the sense of an imperative, — let him trust in
the Lord. But this is inadmissible, for, in such a case, the abso
lute form 7173 must have been used : compare Ewald, Sm. Gr.
355, 56. The infinitive, moreover, is not simply and every
where used for the imperative ; and there is no reason here for
the substitution. Finally, let him commit, is altogether unsuit
able to the connection ; for nin* 7K 73 must correspond to
11 Y5)1, and can therefore refer only to the relation in which the
sufferer has hitherto stood to God, not to that in which he is
now to stand. According to others, the infinitive is used instead
of the preterite tense. But in this case also, the absolute form
would be necessary : moreover, the infinitive cannot be used ge
nerally for the preterite, but only in certain cases, (see Ew. 355,)
of which the passage before us is not one. Those who; in conse
quence of these difficulties, give up the form of the infinitive
altogether, either like Ewald, change 73 into 73, or take it as a
preterite in an intransitive sense, he depended. But this alte
ration is altogether an arbitrary one, there is no trace anywhere
of the form 73 in the preterite, and there is not one single ex
ample of the verb being used in an intransitive sense. Besides,
the preterite is unsuitable to the parallel : 12 T*£n would, in
that case, refer to the sufferer, not to God, he has trusted in God,

PSALM XXII. VEK. 8. 379
let Mm deliver him, let him rescue him, since he loves him. But
that this will not, answer, will be shown immediately. — The form
7J.is, in other passages, always used as an imperative. Com
pare Prov. xvi. 9, and Ps. xxxvii. 5. And this last passage
makes it evident that it must be understood as such in the pas
sage before us. But we must not, on this account, suppose with
Gesenius, that the imperative is used here olliptically in the third
person: — devolvat. " Devolve upon the Lord," had been the
motto of the sufferer. This the mockers call out to the sufferer
in an ironical manner, so that we must read the words with
double marks of quotation. As the ungodly are introduced
speaking, without any note of preparation, it can make no diffi
culty that they introduce the sufferer speaking in the same way.
" Trust in God is his motto, now let this God deliver him."
The " he has trusted," — the " itiiruitt" of the Septuagint, and of
Matthewafter the Septuagint, is contained, accordingto this expo
sition, in these words. To the " devolve" is, according to Prov. xvi.
3, Psalm, xxxvii. 5,and 1 Pet.v.7, to be supplied "thy way," " thy
circumstances," " thy cares," or something similar. The idea is
taken from those who lay a burden on the shoulders of others
which is too heavy for them to bear themselves. — The subject in
11 T*Sn is the Lord, not the sufferer, as was seen by the Septua
gint in Ssas/ airoii, and by Matt. si ^'ika abrw, \2 T*Sn is fre
quently used as applicable to the complacency with which the
Lord regards his people : nin*l fSn nowhere occurs. This ex
position is also demanded by the ninth verse. Trust on the
part of man, and delight on the part of God correspond : the
conviction of being the object of delight to God, is the ground
of the confidence ; — it is because the righteous man knows that
God delights in him, that he commits to him all his cares. The
mockers see in the condition of the sufferer, (considering it as
they do as utterly hopeless,) an unqualified reproach of his con
fidence — a practical denial of his conviction of being delighted
in by God. — Finally, the mockers here, without intending it,
bear testimony, and a testimony of all others the most beautiful,
to the righteous man, that he has trusted in the grace of God,
that he has cast himself, with his whole existence, upon God —
and thus the insulting words " let him rescue him, let him de
liver him," although, in their view, deliverance, in the circum
stances of the case, is altogether impossible, contain an unde-

380

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

signed prophecy. God ordained it so, that the mockers at the
cross of Christ, from an unconscious recollection, should utter
these very words, and thus point out themselves as the ungodly
in reference to the righteous one.
Ver. 9. But thou didst take me out of my mother's womb, thou
didst permit me to trust when on my mother's breasts. The suf
ferer had hitherto, while complaining of it being altogether ano
malous, that God had forsaken him, silently taken it for granted,
that he was entirely in the same relation toward God, as those
who had been gladdened by deliverances vouchsafed by God..
What had hitherto been taken for granted, is here, and in the
10th verse, expressly asserted and defended : God is the God of
the sufferer, as he has been the God of tbe fathers, — he has al
ready shown himself as such in his helpless infancy, — he has
given him good ground for exercising that confidence which is
always followed by deliverance. Thus every other answer to
the complaint, why hast thou forsaken me, is cut off except this,
I have not forsaken thee : and full preparation is made for the
prayer, ver. 11, be not far from me. The verse before us is in
point of form an appendage to the last clause of the preceding
one : he has delight in him : this is true ; for thou, 0 God, hast
given me the richest proof of thy delight. This connection is all
the more suitable, when we observe that the mockers took, " he
has pleasure in him," out of the lips of the sufferer, and spoke it
out of his soul, — what they in contempt upbraid me with, I
have with perfect truth asserted, for thou, Src. It appeals at first
sight remarkable, that the righteous man, in leading proof for the
position that God is his God, should give such prominence to what
is common to all. Still this thought loses much of its weight
through the remark of Calvin : " this wonder has, through its
frequency, become common, but if it were not that ingratitude
had blinded our eyes, every birth would fill us with amazement,
and every preservation of a child in its tender infancy, exposed
as it is, even at its very entrance into the world, to death in a
hundred forms." The following passage from Luther is of a
similar import : " Augustine, in the first book of his Confes
sions, finds great enjoyment and consolation in similar reflec
tions, where he praises God with devout admiration for his crea
tion and birth, and extols the Divine goodness in taking him
up, and committing him to the care and attention of his mother.
Although thoughts such as these may appear childish, effemi-

PSALM XXII. VER. 9. 381
nate, and unseasonable, for those who are in such pain and con
flicts, yet experience here teaches us to think upon these tender,
cheerful, lovely works of God, to seek a place of refuge when suf
fering the hard bites of the wrath and of the rod of God, and to en
joy the sweet and pleasant milk of our mother's heart, and all these
other acts of mercy which were unfolded during the years of infan
cy. Thus shall we, when broughtinto trouble, be ledtothink,(aswe
are commanded todo,)onthedaysofhappinessgone by: when dis
tress and suffering are upon us, we shall remember the great
grace and goodness of God manifested to us in early youth, and
when we suffer as men, we shall reflect on what we enjoyed when
children  Try and you will then understand what it is to see
the Divine majesty employed and taken up with childish, that
is, with small, insignificant, yea contemptible works." If any
difficulty is felt after this, it may be removed by the assump
tion, that while the words were designed to suit the indivi
dual who belongs peculiarly to this Psalm, the Psalmist had im
mediately before his mind the community of the righteous, and, on
this account, gave peculiar prominence to the grace of God
manifested at the beginning of its existence, because then (that
is at the deliverance from Egypt, &c.,) this grace was most
gloriously manifested. Still we cannot go further, we cannot
apply the verses directly and exclusively to the church, because
they are constructed with so much of individuality, that the in
dividual reference cannot be given up. This also is evident, as
was seen in the introduction, from the passage, 22 — 26. — The
term *n3 is difficult. The still darker expression **13, in the
borrowed passage, Psalm lxxi. 6, gives us no assistance. It can
not be the participle, " my drawer out," for |"I13 signifies always,
and even in Micah iv. 10, to break out ; this form of the partici
ple, moreover, is always intransitive, Ewald, § 140. We must,
therefore, just consider *n3 as the infinitive, — " my breaking
out." God may be called " the breaking out," because it was by
his power alone this took place, just as he is in other places
called the covenant, the salvation, the blessing, the joy, &c. be
cause all these depend on him. *n*t3lfi refers back to mt3l< in
verses 4 and 5 : — to make or permit to trust, is to give ground
to trust, to warrant to do so ; — and this God had done to the
sufferer, by protecting him in his early youth. Now, whoever is
entitled to trust, in circumstances in which nothing depends
upon whether a man is yet capable of trusting, is also entitled

382 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
to help. For trust and help have always, in times past, been iu-
separably connected.
Ver. 10. Upon thee was I cast from my mother's womb, from
my mother's lap thou wast my God. In the first of these clauses,
there lies at the bottom, a reference to those who receive the
child at the birth. Compare Genesis xvi. 2, Job iii. 12, " why
did the knees receive me ?" and Ruth iv. 16. The clause maybe
thus paraphrased: " thou hast received me when I was helpless,
under thy mild protection ; I fell as it were into thy lap, which
was stretched out to receive me at my birth, and from having
been fostered and cared for by thee, I have retained my life,
whereas, otherwise, I would most assuredly have been the prey
of death :" compare, in reference to the whole church, Ezekiel
xvi. 5. The word *ni7fc?n is wholly passive ; and the exposi
tion of De Wette is altogether inaccurate, " 1 have trusted in
thee," and Stier remarks, " this would be indicated by some sig
nificant action, as was the case at the ancient ceremony of bap
tism." Here, as in all the other clauses of these two verses, the
language is not applicable to the state of feeling of the sufferer,
but to the mercy of God actually manifested in deeds towards
him. The clause, thou art my God, implies, thou hast mani
fested' thyself as such. The first part of this Psalm thus returns
at its close to the point at which it opened, — my God, my God.
The sufferer's right to use this address, and consequently to put
the question flowing from it, why hast thou forsaken me? has its
foundation assigned to it in the two closing verses. Thus it is
that every other answer to this question is cut off except this
one, I have not forsaken thee.
Ver. 11. Be not far from me, for trouble is near, while there
is no helper. From the demonstration given in the first part,
that the forsaking would be completely anomalous, flows here
the prayer, " be not far," in laying down the basis of which it is
shown, that to be far away at such a time would mean entirely
to forsake. The prayer has its basis assigned it here, in the very
short expression, for trouble is near. This is much more accu
rately explained by Luther than by most modern expositors :
" we are not to understand, that when the Psalmist says, trou
ble is near, he has any reference to time, as if it were now in his
neighbourhood, and would fall suddenly upon him ; but we are
to understand him as speaking of the strength, the might and
the power of the trouble which, even now, is upon him, and
under which he complains that it is not taken away." That

PSALM XXII. VER. 12 — 14. 383
thus the expression " trouble is near,"— (the sufferer says trouble
is near, instead of it is there, in opposition to the distance of the
Lord), is only to be understood of a trouble which had already
been really inflicted, is evident from the expression which con
tains its basis, " for there is no helper," i. e. for I have been de
livered over in a state of helplessness into the power of my ene
mies, (the man with whom this is the case must assuredly find
himself in the midst of the very deepest trouble) : ver. 12 — 18
is to be considered as its more extensive development.
Ver. 12. Many bulls surround me, the strong ones of Bashan
encompass me. In applying the term bulls to his enemies, the
Psalmist has an eye to their strength and fury. In" the bulls
of Bashan," — " the strong ones," that is, " the strong bulls," —
both properties are brought vividly before us — the first by their
excellent pasture, the second by their feeding on mountains,
and in forests, and being thus far removed from men, and un
tamed in all their habits.
Ver. 13. They open their mouth wide against me, — a tearing
and roaring lion. The enemies are not only like lions, they
are a lion, or lions themselves, in a spiritual sense. The lion
roars chiefly when he looks at his prey, and is about to fall upon
it. Compare Amos iii. 4; Ps. civ. 21.
Ver. 14, / am poured out like water, and all my bones are
separated, my heart has become like wax, melted in the midst of
me. The sufferer turns now from describing his outward trou
ble, (in the 12th and 13th verses) to lay open in this and the
15th verse his inward state thereby induced, which in like man
ner loudly proclaims, that now to be far away would mean
utterly to forsake. " The picture of inward dissolution hastily
sketched here in a few particulars," remarks Ewald, '< is a very
terrible one." The pouring out of water is here, according to
the parallel clause, " my bones are separated," not descriptive
of fear or dejection, but of the most complete dissolution of all
strength and of powerlessness. The parallel passages, therefore,
are such as Psalm lviii. 8; 2 Sam. xiv. 14, " for we die, and are like
water poured out on the earth," and especially 1 Samuel vii. 6,
where the idea is embodied in a symbolical action, — the Israel
ites, when oppressed by the Philistines assembled at Mizpah,
drew water and poured it out before the Lord, and cried out to
him by symbolical signs, " we are poured out like water."
Passages such as the following are not parallel, Jos. vii. 5,
" and the heart of the people melted and became like water,"

384 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
or Lamentations ii. 19. The reference in them is chiefly to the
heart, and they are rather to be considered as parallel to the last
clause of the verse before us. As emblematical of moral help
lessness or mental imbecility, the figure occurs in Genesis xlix. 4,
*' unstable as water, thou shalt not excel." — " All my bones are
separated," implies, in like manner, complete powerlessness and
exhaustion. Muis : non secus vacillat totum corpus quam si
omnia ossa luxata sint et a suis quaeque avulsa locis. Compare
Daniel v. 6. — The heart melts, when a person sinks into despair
when in extreme irremediable distress. Luther: "Those who
have good hope and are cheerful, are said to have a fresh, strong,
confident, hard, good heart, which stands immoveable like a
hard rock. And thus also, on the other hand, those who are
cast down and terrified, are said to have a soft and feeble heart,
which dissolves and melts like wax." Such melting sometimes
befals even those who, like David, have the heart of a lion.
Compare 2 Sam. vii. 10.
Ver. 15. My strength is dried up like a potsherd : and my
tongue cleaves to the roof of my mouth: and thou bringest me to
the dust of death. As ni always signifies strength, and cannot
be translated moisture, the &y must be understood as used in
an improper sense : — my power is entirely wasted away like the
moisture out of a dried potsherd. There are other instances of
similar abrupt comparisons : Ps. cii. 4, " My heart is smitten and
withered like grass," i. e. is as much destroyed as withered grass
is. — The cleaving of the tongue to the roof of the mouth is
the consequence of pain and anguish ; — compare Job xxix. 10.
Luther : " it is incredible how this inward anguish, and terror,
and dismay, withers and dries up completely and suddenly the
whole moisture of all the parts of the body, and makes them
weak and good for nothing, especially the moisture of the tongue,
with which we chiefly feel this thirst and drought." On the ac
cusative *nip?23 compare Ewald, p. 588. — In reference to the
last clause Luther remarks, " he puts down this as the sum and
final conclusion." The 7£y?, when taken exactly, is not " into
the dust," but, " so that I belong to the dust." The dust of
death is the dust which has reference to death, that is, the dust
of the grave. The future stands in the sense of the present—
the sufferer is already more dead than alive. Every thing that
belongs peculiarly to life has already disappeared — all vital spi
rits, all vital strength, — so that when what is commonly called

PSALM XXII. VER. 16. 385
death comes, which the sufferer sees immediately before his
eyes, it finds almost nothing left for it to take. The expression,
" thou bringest me," is deserving of observation. The sufferer
considers every thing only as an instrument in the hands of
God. Hence, on the one hand, his pain was augmented ; but
hence also, there was laid for his hope its necessary basis. He
who cannot trace his sufferings to God alone, cannot with a full
heart look to him for deliverance. He only who sends it can
remove it, and he must remove it in cases similar to the present
one, even when all prospect of deliverance appears to be gone.
Calvin : " as often as this darkness befals the spirits of believers,
there are always some remains of unbelief, which prevent them
from rising into the light of the new life. But in the case of
Christ, there existed together in a wonderful manner both terror
from the curse of God, and patience from faith quieting all
inward emotions, so that these were kept at rest under the
power of God."
Ver. 16. For dogs compass me, the band of the wicked besets
me, like lions on my hands and feet. The sufferer calls his ene
mies here dogs, on account of their fury and bitterness. Compare
on the savage ferocity of Eastern dogs Oedmann's Collections, 5,
p. 21, 2, and Laborde's Geographical Commentary on Exodus
and Numbers, p. 59. — The first word of the last clause is read
differently : *7K1 (in the received iext,) *7X1 17K1 and TO-
If we pay regard to external evidence, there can be no doubt that
*7X1 is the true reading, and it would be to abandon every
thing like certainty in criticism, and along with this, criticism
itself, were we to reject this reading, and to substitute instead
of it, with Ewald, the reading 17X1- The external evidence for
the other readings is as good as nothing. 17X1 is found
only in two unsuspected Jewish manuscripts : 171 not even in one
at first hand, and only in a few cases written on the margin. The
received text, besides having on its side the whole weight of the
MSS., is also supported by the Masora. None of the old transla
tors are against it, for these, without following any other reading,
might, like many of the later expositors, draw out the sense which
they express from the received text, and even although, in some
few instances, *7Nlmaynotlieat thefoundationof the translation,
this would not imply any other variety of reading than a conjec
tural emendation, caused by the difficulty felt in interpreting the
passage. Assuredly, if the old translators had found any variety
2 c

386

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

in the text, some traces of it would have remained in their
translations. Further, though the reasons of an external kind
were equally balanced on both sides, considerations of an
internal nature would lead us to decide in favour of the received
text. For it is from the more difficult reading that the others
may be conceived to have arisen, and not the contrary. — In re
gard to the explanation of *7K1, thus determined to be the true
reading, most interpreters proceed on the supposition that it is
the plural of a participle, the rare plural- form instead of Q*7K1,
from the root 711- The participle is properly 71, but the inser
tion of N is not without example in other passages : (See Gese
nius' Lehrg. p. 401.) If we adopt this view as to the form,
which for a long time' was the very generally prevailing one,
we must adhere to all the points adverted to in the Christol. I.
i. p. 180 : we can neither translate it " they fetter," as was
usually done at the time of the publication of the Christology,
nor " they disfigure," but only " they pierce," after the ex
ample of the Septuagint, the Vulgate, and the Syriac. It is
also obvious that if we adopt this view, the words must have a
gpeeialreferenceto Christ, for the mention of thepiercing of hands
and feet here cannot otherwise be accounted for, and the idea of
Gesenius, that the hands and feet may poetically denote the whole
body, is altogether untenable. What was brought forward in
the Christology to prove, that not only Christ's hands, but also
his feet were literally pierced, has been presented more in
detail by Bahr, in a paper specially devoted to this purpose,
and in a defence of the same against the objections of Paulus
which appeared in Tholuck's Literary Anzieger for 1833. But
we must not forget that the supposition that *7N1 is a plural
participle, which was commonly entertained at the date of the
publication of the Christology, is encompassed by so many diffi
culties, that it can be adopted only at the very last extremity.,
When three irregularities occur in the same word, as in the pre
sent instance, 1st, The use of the plural form in *, which, at the
best, is extremely rare, and indeed occurs only in one single
well ascertained instance ; 2d, The participial form with $ ; and
3d, The use of 711 in the sense of 771, they acquire a force,
when united, very different from what they would have if they
occurred apart. Besides, let it be remarked, these words, ac
cording to this interpretation, have a special reference to Christ,
whereas, on the grounds adduced in the introduction, it is evi-

PSALM XXII. VER. 16. 387
dent that the Psalm has reference to him only as embodying the
perfect idea of the righteous man, — a supposition which would
render unsuitable anything having reference exclusively to
Christ. Last of all, had the New Testament writers approved
of the correctness of this interpretation, which was put into
their hands by the current translation of the, Septuagint, aijug-
av xtfpus (lbv xai ir6&ae, — so eagerly made use of by all the Christ
ian fathers — how comes it that they should, not have pointed to
the fulfilment of this very characteristic feature in Christ, and
that, when they obviously had this Psalm before their eyes
throughout their whole narrative of Christ's sufferings, they
should have quoted, what assuredly was not so characteristically
and individually fulfilled in him. So far are they, however, from
applying this clause to Christ, that they do not seem, in writing
their narrative, to have even distinctly thought of the piercing of
his feet at all. Thus this view can be adopted only in the very
last extremity ; and this is not the case here. There is another
view which can be suggested, in which every anomaly of form
disappears, without introducing any impropriety in regard to
the sense. The 2 is the particle of comparison : The *7K is the
same as 7*7X, a lion. The *7X1, written exactly as it is here,
occurs in the sense of lion-like in Is. xxxviii. 13. Tho Masoret-
ic mark is not of so much importance as that the *7K1 here
should have a different sense from s the *7N1 there, any
more than the Keris of the Masora, which, throughout, are
obviously false. The *7371 *7* is the accusative, as commonly
used in naming any part or member of the body to which re
ference more immediately is made, (comp. Ewald, 512) — thus :
" they beset me, lion-like, on my hands and feet." The mention
oi lions cannot but be regarded here as extremely natural, as em
blems drawn from the brute creation run throughout the whole
Psalm, as the enemies had already been represented in the 13th
verse, under the emblem of a tearing and roaring lion, as the suf
ferer, the poor defenceless hind, prays in the 21st verse, " deliver
from the mouth of the lion," and finally, as the connection between
the lions here and the dogs introduced in the first clause of the
verse before us, is exceedingly appropriate. The objections urged
against this interpretation, — an interpretation which Luther re
cognised as decidedly required by the grammar, but which, as
he most unaccountably thought, must give way to the theology
of the case, — are only of importance, in so far as they show in

388 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
what way the old translations, the Masora, and a few Hebrew
manuscripts, were induced to give up the true interpretation or
reading, and thus prove that'they cannot be regarded as having
any authority whatever. It is said that to surround will not
apply to lions, who spring upon their prey. But the surround
ing is not here said of the lions, but of the band of evil-doers,
and the point of comparison between them and the lion is not
this, but their wild fury. It is farther objected, that the singu
lar, " like a lion," is not at all appropriate. But this objection
can be urged as of force, only on the supposition that the point of
comparison is the surrounding. Except on this supposition, the
singular is as suitable here as it is in ver. 13 and ver. 21, and
the fact that the singular is used in both these passages, tends
very much to give our interpretation more of an appearance of
certainty : — compare also the singular XO in ver. 20. Besides
the expression is not asalion, but as the lion. The Kametz shows
that the word has the artiale : — otherwise it would have had the
Patach ; — compare Ewald, 464. The term, " the lion," indicates
the species, and must be viewed as referring not to the num
ber, but to the disposition and nature. Further, that the *7*
*/371, as there is already an accusative in *31S*p7, requires an
other verb, or renders an extraordinary ellipsis necessary, could
be maintained only before the relative form of the accusative
had been sufficiently examined. Last of all, " hands and feet,"
are by no means superfluous. The hands are the instruments of
defence, the feet the means of escape : — my furious foes have so
beset me, that I can stir neither hand nor foot. These are the
objections of Stier. Ewald remarks that the figure of lions is
not at all appropriate in this connection, for it is only the shame-
lessness that is intended to be depicted. But this objection is
wholly futile. It is not the shamelessness, but the wild fury,
that is the point of resemblance in the comparison pf dogs. The
designation of the enemies as " evil-doers," and the connection
of this verse with the two preceding ones — assigning as it does,
the cause of the effect described in them — show that in this
case he has made a great mistake.
Ver. 17. 1 count all my bones; these men look, they stare at me.
The furious enemies have already dragged out the dying sufferer,
andareenjoying thesad sight of his completeemaciation,— a sight
which fills him with pain. The 72DK is generally rendered, " I
could count." Against this flat rendering we have the analogy be-

PSALM XXII. VER. 17, 18. 389
tween }&y and 1N7*— / count, they look,— and»of the other fu
tures both preceding and following. The sufferer, sinking painful
ly under his complete emaciation, counts the bones of his naked
body, every one of which necessarily draws upon itself painful
attention : here one and there one, and all stripped of their flesh
from the first to the last, every one of them. Job xxxiii. 21, is
parallel. Of the enemies it is said ; first, that they are spectators
of a miserable sight, from which every feeling man would turn
away and shut his eyes, feeling his soul pierced by the sight of
such suffering in a brother ; and next, that they look upon this
sight, not only with rude unconcern, but even with inward joy.
The 7N7 with 2, signifies to look at any thing to which one has
a strong inclination, in which he has delight.
Ver. 1 8. They part my garments among them, and on my ves
ture they cast the lot. Clothing is the necessary condition of life;
without clothes no man can be seen in public. When one's
clothes are taken away, and, what is worse, disposed of, that per
son, if he is not dead, must be considered as being, with perfect
' certainty, at the very point of death. The sufferer, in this view,
in concluding the description of his distress, and when on the
very threshold of his prayer, declares that he is now at the very
last stage, — that his enemies are even ready to give him the last
stroke, now that he is, apart from this, more dead than alive. — It is
impossible hereto think of thecustom oi spoiling enemies, for the
distress throughout the Psalm is not of a warlike character : —
the sufferer is completely helpless, his situation corresponding
entirely to that of Christ. Moreover, it is a slain enemy, not a
living one, that is spoiled. Neither can we render the clause :
they are about to divide my clothes among them, or they are
thinking about doing it. For 1p77* and I7*fl*, like the other verbs,
must refer to what is going on as present. The idea of nakedness
is indeed implied in the preceding verse also. We have not only,
" I count all my bones," but " they look, they stare at me," i. e.
" they enjoy themselves in looking at one disfigured to a skele
ton." The connection would be broken, were we to consider
the looking only in reference to distress in general. Lastly, we
cannot suppose that a figurative expression is here used, for this
trait, like the rest of the painting, should tend to individualize
the subject of the Psalm, which, as we have already seen, is the
ideal person of the Righteous One. The situation of such a one,
with death immediately before him, might have been described

390 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
also by other expressions.— -How exactly the whole contents of
this verse were fulfilled in Christ is rendered very clear, if we
keep in view an observation, which Luther, with manifestly good
reason, makes on the dividing of the clothes : " I hold that the
soldiers did not divide the clothes from need, or for gain, but in
the way of jest, and for the purpose of enjoying a laugh, and as
a sign that it was now all over with this Christ, that he was utter
ly ruined, destroyed, extirpated, and never more to be heard of."
— D*731 is clothes in general, fcj>117 is specially the principal
article of dress, the long robe, without which the person is alto
gether naked. There is thus a gradation in the clauses : com
pare Job xxiv. 7 — 10 ; Ps. xxxv. 13 ; Es. iv. 2 ; John xix. 23, 24.
The sufferer had shown, first, that it would be completely
anomalous if God intended to forsake him ; second, that for God
not to help him at present would be to forsake him ; and now
the prayer breaks forth with full power, ver. 19 — 21, that God
would help him now, which, towards its conclusion, passes on to
the confident expectation of being heard.
Ver. 19. And thou, O Lord, be not far from me, Omy strength,
make haste to my help. Stier well remarks that *ni7*N looks
very like as if it were an etymological explanation of the *7X in
the commencement of the Psalm. The reference to the n7*X of
the title has been already pointed out. The expression, make
haste to help me, refers us back to the eleventh verse, there is none
to help.
Ver. 20. Deliver my sold from the sword, my lonely person
from the dogs. Calvin : " Should any one ask, how can this ap
ply to Christ, seeing the Father did not deliver him from death ;
I answer, in one word, he was more mightily delivered than if
the danger had been averted, just as much more so, as to raise
from the dead is a mightier act than to heal from sickness.
Wherefore the death of Christ did not prevent his resurrection
from testifying that he was delivered." His death might well
be called no death, but a simple passage to life. — The sword is an
individualising expression for whatever is an instrument of death.
Compare 2 Sam. xi. 25, and ver. 24. The 7*J>3 cannot, from
what follows, — from the mouth, from the horns, — be with proprie
ty considered as equivalent to the simple jft ; the Psalmist is
here speaking of dogs who have hands. On the Tl7*n* Luther
remarks : " He wishes to say my soul is alone and forsaken by
every body, there is no one who enquires after it, cares for it,

PSALM XXII. VER. 21. 391
or comforts it." In like manner, at Ps. cxlii. ver. 5, he says:
«* Look on the right hand, see, there no one will know mo, I can
not escape, no one cares for my soul." Most interpreters, like
Gesenius, consider the sufferer as saying that he has only one
life to lose. But the view given above by Luther is to be pre
ferred, because, according to it, the word forms part of the de
scription of the condition given in the preceding verses, and agrees
with the parallel passages, Ps. xxv. 16 ; xxxv. 17 ; Ixviii. 7. The
other idea does not occur in any similar passage.
Ver. 21. Deliver me from the lion's mouth, and from the horns
of thebuffalo, — thouhearestme. Luther: "Therageofthefurious
devil is so great, that the prophet does not consider it enough
to have represented it by a sharp sword, but introduces further,
for the same purpose, the tearings of raging furious dogs, the
mouth of the greedy and hungry lion, which stands already open,
and is ready to devour, and the dreadfully fierce wrath of the rag
ing terrible unicorn (buffalo). The 73J*is veryfullof meaning.and
containsinit the idea of deliverance. Therecan beno grammatical
objection made to thecommon rendering, " hear me." When the
preceding verbs are imperative or optative, the succeeding ones
are veryfrequentlysimply descriptive. But, on theother side, and
in favour of the word being considered as expressing the idea of
confidence of being heard, the circumstance of its standing at the
end of the prayer, the following verses, which take it for grant
ed that something must have been previously said expressive
of confidence, and, lastly, the reference which is implied to the
H3J*n ab of verse second, are of considerable weight. Thou
hearest me not, there, corresponds here at the close of the conflict
to thou dost hear me. In a prayer of this kind, which rests on
grounds such as those on which the sufferer rests, the transition
to confidence is a very easy one. In such a Lord come, there
must always be a slumbering here Son ! We may consider
0**17 *37p/b and *3n*3J* as separated by a small pause. The
sufferer had O do thou save me upon his tongue : but im
mediately he becomes able to entertain the confident expecta
tion of being heard, and thus passes suddenly from the prayer
to the expression of assured confidence : and from the horns of
the buffalo — thou hast heard me.
Having thus become assured of his deliverance, the sufferer
next paints the happy consequences which were to flow from it.
First, from ver. 22 — ver. 26, in regard to Israel.
\

392 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
Ver. 22. I will make known thy name to my brethren, in the
midst of the assembly I will praise thee. The name is the focus
in which all the rays of the acts converge, so that, to make known
the name of the Lord, especially in a situation defined by the
preceding description, is to make known what he has done.
The address in the 23d verse shows whom we are to understand
by the brethren : they are the whole posterity of Israel. The
deliverance vouchsafed, is important not only to the sufferer, and
perhaps to a few of his friends : — all his brethren, the whole
people of the covenant, (compare our fathers, ver. 4,) shall par
ticipate in it, and shall be led by means of it to see the glory of
God. We find the heathen in ver. 27, opposed to the brethren.
The false seed exclude themselves from sharing in this blessing.
The assembly is not aNsmall circle of friends, but it consists of
all the brethren of the sufferer — the whole seed of Israel : com
pare " the whole assembly of Israel," in Leviticus xvi. 17, and
Deut. xxxi. 30. But this assembly, which also is meant in these
parallel passages, Psalm, xxxv. 18; xl. 10; xlix. 1, is here in a
twofold sense, an ideal one. First, every public assembly in
the temple was considered as an ideal assembly of the whole
people, inasmuch as, though from accidental causes all the
members could not really be present in person, those present
represented the whole people. Compare 2 Chron. xx. 3 — 15 :
" And Jehoshaphat proclaimed a fast over all Judah : and all
Israel assembled to pray to the Lord : and Jehoshaphat stood in
the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem in the house of the Lord :
— and the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jehaziel in the midst of
the assembly, and he said, hearken ye, all Judah and ye inha
bitants of Jerusalem." Second, we are not to consider, that here,
or in the parallel passages, the Psalmist considered a literalassem-
bly of the people to be necessary to realize the idea meant to
be conveyed. It is unlikely that every one, who should obtain
deliverance, could have ah opportunity to come into the public
assembly for the worship of God, with the praise upon his lips
of the delivering grace of God. The kernel is only this, that
the grace imparted to an individual member of the church
would tend to the good of the whole. The form, in which the
salvation comes from the individual to the whole church, is an
accidental circumstance of minor importance. The Psalmisthere
makes choice of that form which is most conspicuous, and has
in it most of a poetical character, without, in reality, intending

psalm xxii. ver. 23, 24. 393
it more than others, as an example of the way in which the
Lord should realise the contents of the passage before us, — viz.
a festive assembly of the whole people in ¦ the sanctuary, and
the delivered sufferer glorifying God, and singing praise in the
midst of this great assembly. — The observation of De Wette is
altogether incorrect : " we are to consider the brethren, the as
sembly as sharing the same lot with the poet," (the righteous
one.) There is no trace of this in what follows. The salvation
vouchsafed to the single individual extends in so far to all, whe
ther they be in the same situation or not, as the glory of God is
reflected in it, advancement in the knowledge of which is salu
tary and quickening to all.
There follow in the 23d and 24th verses the words, in which
the sufferer now delivered, intends to make known the name of
God, and to praise him in the midst of the assembly.
Ver. 23. Ye who fear the Lord praise Mm, all ye of the seed
of Jacob glorify him, and be afraid before Mm, all ye of the seed
of Israel. Not without good reason does the Psalmist begin
with, ye who fear God. He thereby intimates that he has to
do, not with the seed of Jacob as such, who are united together
only by a carnal covenant, but with those whose souls are ani
mated by one common spiritual principle. In point of form the
address is directed to the whole church. Those who are not of
the church, though they are in the church, are overlooked. As
intruders they are ignored ; as such they are, however, sufficient
ly indicated even in the words, ye who fear God. The " fear,"
the " glorify," and the " be afraid," especially the last, show evi
dently that the delivered sufferer is not merely taken up with
those who are in a situation similar to his own. To those he
would have cried out before every thing else, put your trust in
him. The " be ye afraid," shows that he who is great in grace
must also be great in wrath, against those who despise. God is
as omnipotent in all respects, as he is in one.
Ver. 24. For he did not despise nor abhor the affliction of the
afflicted, neither did he hide his face from him, and when he
cries to him he has heard. Luther : " this makes God exceed
ingly lovely, so that all the godly love him, and must praise him,
that his eyes alone see and are turned upon the afflicted and the
poor: and the more despised and rejected a man is, so much the
more is God near and gracious to him. As if he said, ' see and
learn from my example, I, who have been the most despised and

394 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
rejected of all men, have been regarded, cared for, and heard in
the most friendly manner.' " The ni3$* is explained erron
eously, by the old translators, by prayer.
Ver. 25. Of thee shall my praise be heard in the great congre
gation ; I will pay my vows before them that fear him. Of theeis
my praise : — not : thou hast given me occasion to praise ; but :
thou art the subject of my praise. Calvin : " David canendi ar
gumentum ex deo petit." According to the connection and the
parallel, the speaker does not refer to what God has done to
him, but to how he is to thank God, what blessed consequences,
as regards the things of God, are to flow from his deliverance.
The my praise refers back to the praises of Israel in ver. 3. The
grating discord, caused by the groanings of the sufferer being
heard mingling with the praises of Israel, is now at an end. —
In the second clause, and in the following verse, which is inti
mately connected with it, the representation is of a figurative
kind. It was customary, in circumstances of great distress, to
make vows, which were wont to consist of a promise to offer a
certain number of sacrifices. After deliverance had been ob
tained, it was customary to invite to the feast connected there
with, the widow, the orphan, and the poor, (comp. Deut. xii. 18;
xvi. 11,) and to make them partakers of the salvation which, on
no occasion, was ever imparted to the individual merely for
himself, sharers of the joy. In such cases the enjoyment
throughout was not merely of a sensual kind ; the guests en
joyed at the same time the friendship of the master of the
feast. The soul of the feast was admission into the commu
nity of thanks and prajse. And hence, in the passage before
us, when the gratitude of the delivered sufferer expresses it
self under the emblem of paying a vow — the usual expression,^
of gratitude, — it is exceedingly natural that others should be
invited to share in the blessing and the thanksgiving, under
the image of a great sacrificial-feast given by him, in which
all that fear God take part. — Hoffman denies that the idea of
a feast is at all implied in the passage. He interprets the
paying of the vows as expressing nothing more than the giv
ing of thanks. But the vow always refers to something out
ward — to something more than feeling, or the expression, in
language, of feeling. Throughout, the usual kind of vows are
offerings: compare Lev. vii. 16 : and especially Ps. lxvi. 12 — 15 :
Michaelis on the Law of Moses, part iii. p. 145. In Ps. 1. 14 ;

psalm xxit. vek. 26, 27. 395
lxi. 9, to which Hoffman appeals, there is such a figurative re
presentation. That by the vow here we are to understand lite
rally promised- thank-offerings, which in reality are identical with
thanksgiving and praise — for the sacrifice is altogether a figure,
as in Hos. xiv. 3, Heb. xiii. 15, and other passages, — is evident
incontestibly from, they shall eat, in the following verse; compare
also I7ltf, in verse 28.
Ver. 26. The meek shall eat and be satisfied, praise the Lord ye
that seek him, let your heart live for ever: The let live includes
within it, shall live, and expresses, that this is agreeable to the
wishes of the speaker. The heart dies in trouble, care, pains,
(Ps. cix. 22; 1 Sam. xxv. 37,) and especially when it has become
perplexed in reference to God. The for ever paints the opposi
tion to a transitory or short-lived quickening, which any inferior
manifestation of God would give. He has here made himself
known in such a glorious manner, that whoever has incorporated
into his soul this his manifestation, will henceforward stand in need
of no other spiritual food, but on the strength of it will live forever.
From Israel the righteous man now turns to the heathen.
Ver. 27. All ends of the earth shall ponder and turn to the
Lord, all the tribes of the heathen shall worship before him. The
12\ very frequently signifies, not to remember, but to ponder, to
lay to heart. The object of this pondering is in reality identical
with the object of the eating in v. 26 and 28 — the thanks and
the praise of the righteous man for the glorious deliverance
wrought out for him, and hence with the deliverance itself:
compare mp7¥ in v. 31. The salvation of the Lord is so great,
that it awakens the whole heathen world out of its stupid insen
sibility. Hoffman refers the Y\2V to Jehovah : they will think
upon Jehovah. But this exposition proceeds only from the attempt
to disjoin the conversion of the heathen from the deliverance of the
speaker. And the circumstance, that this connection is obscured
by this interpretation, is against it. Besides, let us compare
with the 171N* of v. 26, and the 171N of verse 29, (to which
they worship stands in the same relation as the 11W* does to the
1711* in the passages before us), the 7SD* of the 30th verse,
which refers to the salvation imparted to the speaker, and the
nSJ>5) of the 31st verse, and we must feel compelled to reject this
exposition, and the whole view of the Psalm with whichitis connect
ed, which requires such forced assistance. — In the 1H£»/* it is not
at all implied, as Umbreit remarks, that the heathen originally

396 THE BOOK OF PSALM8.
possessed the truth. The word means properly to turn round
(here, from idols), and to turn back, is the secondary sense.
— The second clause alludes to the promises made to the patri
archs, and especially to Gen. xii. 3; xxviii. 14.
Ver. 28. For the kingdom is the Lord's, and he rules among the
heathen. The verse grounds the announcementgiven in the pre
ceding one, that, at a future time, the heathen shall do homage to
the Lord, on this, that he alone is the lawful king of the earth.
To be in reality, and not to be acknowledged, can be separated
only for a little. The Lord is the King of the whole earth, and
he must at some future time be acknowledged as such — a result
which will be brought about through the manifestation of the
Divine glory seen in the deliverance of the righteous man. The
parallel passages are not Zech. xiv. 9, or Obad. 21., butPs. xcvi.
10; xcvii. 1 ; and xcix. 1.
The removal of the distinction between Jews and Gentiles is
succeeded by the removal of the distinctions of conditions and
circumstances. Ver. 29. All the fat ones of the earth eat and worship, all who
go down to the dust, and those who^ respited not their lives shall
bow down before him. The image of the feast is here resumed.
There is, however, a contrast to the ordinary sacrificial feasts,to
which the poor more especially are invited. This groat spiritual
feast, (and it is proved even by this verse itself to be a spiritual
feast), is not unworthy of the presence even of those who live in
the greatest abundance: it contains a costly viand, which all
their plenty cannot give — a viand for which even the satisfied
are still hungry : and, on the other hand, the most needy and the
most miserable are not excluded. It is a feast at which all
earthly distinctions are removed, because here, all guests are
poor, and here God is rich for all. The idea, that "to eat," maybe
interpreted by "to worship/' requires nothing to be said against
it. The "eat" belongs in reality also to the second clause: the
" bow down," corresponding to the "worship," is the thanks for
the entertainment. The *3£JH, from the adjective W1,fat, de
notes the satisfied fulness of the being. The 7SJ* *771* is not a
general reference to misery, but especially to death, in opposition
to Q**n in the emphatic sense, and denotes one who may be
said to be dead, though he has still the appearance and the frail
est tenure of life. This is clear, first, from the reference to the
clause of the 15th verse, " thou layest me in the dust of death,"

PSALM XXII. VER. 30. 397
according to which the dust here can mean only the dust of the
grave, for which 7SJ* is very often used : compare the Lexicons.
The same person who had to complain that he had fallen into
the possession of death, shall be the fountain of life to all
who may be in similar circumstances. Second, from the paral
lel, who respited not their lives. Third, from comparing the
frequently occurring phrases, f\V2 *TTI\ 711 *771*> 7l«^ *TTl\
which at the same time show that the language does not refer
to those who go down, but to those who are already gone down.
—The last clause, literally, who made not alive his own soul, must
mean, who could not deliver themselves from that death, into
whose hands they had fallen.
The last barrier that is removed, is that of time.
Ver. 30. Posterity shall serve him : it shall be told of the Lord
to the generation. Several interpret: the seed which shall
serve him shall be reckoned to the Lord for a generation. But, ac
cording to this view, the whole is thrown into one, and the
parallelism is destroyed. This interpretation also is opposed by
the following verse, in which the idea expressed here is more
fully brought out, viz. that the deliverance shall not, like others
of inferior moment, be ever forgotten, by the correspondence
between the removal of differences in point of time here spoken
of, and the removal of those of nation and condition adverted to
in the preceding verses, and, lastly, by the reference of the7SD1
to the n7SDX of verse 22. The J*7t seed, is defined by its con
nection with what precedes to be the posterity of those there
spoken of. *37K7 is properly in reference to the Lord. The
thing to be made known, that, viz. which the Lord has done to
the righteous man, is not expressly mentioned, because suffi
ciently clear from the preceding context.. In like manner, there
is understood immediately after, " shall serve him,"' " because of
this glorious manifestation." The generation here, is the J177K
717 of Psalm xlviii. 13, lxxviii. 4. The generation which tells,
is the present one, and the generation to which it is told, is
the future one. In like manner, in Psalm lxxi. 18, the
generation is defined from the connection. 717 is never used
in a collective sense. That it indicates here the succeeding
generation, is evident from ver. 31. The revelation of the Di
vine glory goes forth from the present to the next, and from
that again to the one which follows it.
Ver. 31. They shall come and make known his righteousness to

398 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
the people which then have been born, that he has done it. The
subject is the seed and the generation of the former verse. The
succeeding generation will not allow the knowledge commited
to them to lie dormant. It will, from its excellence, get life
among them, and from them it will be handed down again to
the next generation. They shall come, is, they shall go forth on
the theatre of the world : comp. Ps. lxxi. 18. The righteousness
of God embraces his faithfulness to his covenant and to his pro
mises, which he has so gloriously manifested in the deliverance
of the righteous man. There is no reason why we should trans
late 7713 DJ*, the people which shall yet be born : compare on the
use of the participle for the future, Ewald, p. 534. The obvious
interpretation, the people which has been bom at the time when
the next generation are qn the field, gives a very suitable sense.
In like manner the X713 DJ* in Ps. cii. 18, is the people which
has been then created. We must supply the object from the
preceding context to the nfe^J*. viz. what has been previously de
scribed : as was the case with iSlX* in ver. 26, 173J* in ver. 27,
and 171N in ver. 29. It will not do to suppose that nB'J* is
used in an absolute and emphatic sense, he has acted, i. e. mani
fested himself gloriously. Whenever it is used in the way in
which it is in the verse before us, the object always lies concealed
in what had previously been said. The last word of our Saviour
on the cross, TtrtXearai, evidently refers to this n£?}*, as his first
exclamation is taken from the beginning of the Psalm: — the
surest key to the right interpretation of the whole, as well as of
the variously misinterpreted word of our Saviour. According to
this view we are to regard the work of God as that which was
finished. The last moment of suffering is the first of deliverance,
and the expiring Saviour here indicates that this is now at hand ;
that he has now received an answer, not in words but in deed,
to the question, why hast thou forsaken me ? and that the morn
ing twilight now succeeds the dark night. The Resurrection
realizes the exclamation; it is finished.

PSALM XXIII.
The first verse — the Lord is my shepherd I want for nothing,
— contains the fundamental thought of the Psalm. This thought
is merely expanded from ver. 2 to ver. 5 : for he affords delight-

PSALM XXIII. 399
ful rest to the weary, ver. 2 ; refreshment to the languid, and de
liverance to the miserable, ver. 3; protection and defence in the
midst of danger, ver. 4; food and drink to the hungry and
thirsty, ver. 5; thus everything which human necessity requires.
The conclusion assumes the general form of the introductory
clause, with this difference, that the figure employed there be
comes a reality here.
According to the common view, the goodness of God towards
his people is represented in this Psalm by a mixed metaphor:
first, that of a shepherd, (ver. 1 — 4), and, second, that of the
master of a household, (ver. 5). But this view, which destroys
altogether the unity of the Psalm, depends only on the gratui
tous supposition, that the Psalmist must always speak of the
spiritual shepherd, in terms which have been taken from the
relations of the temporal shepherd. That the Psalmist paid
1 very little attention to any such rule of criticism, but made
a free use of his figure, is evident from the third verse, which
on this view, it would be impossible to explain. But, in reality,
even the fifth verse praisesthe shepherd-faithfulness of God. It is
because he is faithful to his charge as a shepherd, that he pre
pares a table before the Psalmist. In this he does in reality no
thing more than what a good shepherd would do for his irration
al sheep. But what is altogether decisive against this view, is,
that on the idea that the praise of the good shepherd termin
ates at ver. 4, the main indispensable feature, (John x. 9), that
he provides nourishment, is altogether wanting. And that there
is no trace of this in the 2d verse, according to the common
view, will be evident from our exposition.
That David is the author of this Psalm, admits of no doubt,
and the attempt of Hitzig to- attribute it to Jeremiah, will be
always welcome to those who would characterise his critical
ways. The Psalm requires, and will bear, no historical exposi
tion. The opinions which have been advanced on this subject,
such as those of J. D. Michaelis, Maurer, and others, that David
composed it when, on some occasion when his provisions were
exhausted, there was sent to him, in the fields, a plentiful sup
ply of food, only show how far this predilection for historical
interpretation will lead, and that the abettors of it, as is plain
in almost every instance, are unable to steer their course aright,
when they get fairly within the domain of spiritual truth, or to
understand figurative language when applied to spiritual things;

400 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
It is evident, generally, from the spirit and tone of the Psalm,
that it was composed at a time when David was not disturbed
by any sufferings or dangers in his enjoyment of the grace of
God, — at a time of quiet and restoration, which he knew so
beautifully to describe. It shows us that David not only took
God for his refuge in distress, but that in a season of prosperity
he did not forget the Giver amidst the gifts, but made these, (as
Calvin expresses it,) a ladder by which he might ascend conti
nually nearer to God. Some have expressed a wish to dispense
also with this limitation. "Why," says Stier, "should he not for
once, even in trouble, be thus confident and quiet ?" But the
unanimity with which other expositors of spiritual experience
express their conviction, that this Psalm was sung by David
at a time of revival, renders us exceedingly distrustful of this
idea. The expression in the 12th chapter of the Epistle to the
Hebrews, that no affliction for the present seemeth to be joyous,
but grievous, holds unexceptionably true. The sufferer may, even
in the midst of severest trials, maintain a certain degree of joy
ful confidence, but for all this, the sun will be only, as it were,
shining through clouds, the pain and the distress will never be
looked upon as at so great a distance, will never be so complete
ly triumphed over as they are in the case before us. — Finally,
the confidence to which expression is here given, is not that of a
child, is not that of one who goes forth to meet the pains and
troubles of life, of which he has had no experience, with a clear
joy, flowing from consciousness of communion with God: it is
that of an experienced combatant, one who has come through
many troubles, who knows what it is to have to do with them,
and who has richly experienced how the Lord comforts in them,
and delivers out of them. The praise of the rest, which the
Lord imparts, lets us see in the Psalmist a weary pilgrim; the
thanksgiving for refreshment shows us one worn out ; the ex
pression, "when Iwalk throughthe valley of the shadow of death,"
&c, brings before us one who had already had experience of the
dark ways of suffering, and who had yet to walk in them. The
expressions, in sight of my enemies, ver. 5, and shall follow me,
ver. 6, show that we have here to do with one who, like David,
had fought hard with enemies. Every where, it is not the sun
burnt shepherd boy in the midst of his peaceful lambs, that
meets us here, but the man David, who had experienced the
hardships of the days of Saul. And yet it is from the recollec-

PSALM XXIII. VER. 1. 401
tions of this peaceful season of youth, that the figure of the Good
Shepherd is drawn, which meets us for the first time in this
Psalm in a full form.
The absence of everything like exact personal reference, ren
ders it exceedingly probable that David sung this Psalm as it
were from the soul of every believer, and that he expressed in it
his own personal joy, with the design of strengthening bis bre
thren, and embodying their feelings in language. The reference
made by the Jewish commentators, of the Psalm to the whole
people, may be decidedly rejected only if placed in opposition to
an individual interpretation As David undoubtedly designed
the Psalm for the public worship of God, the thought could not
be far distant from his mind, that its contents must be applica
ble no less to the whole body of the people than to each indivi
dual. The whole body of the people is the less to be lost sight
of, as in all the other passages of the Old Testament, the figure
of a good shepherd is used in reference to the faithfulness which
God manifests towards the church.
It has been frequently maintained (latterly by Umbreit),
that the contents of the Psalm peculiarly surpass the Old Testa
ment, that they stand especially opposed to the Mosaic law, with
its jealous God, who visits the sins of the fathers upon the
children to the third and fourth generation. This idea,
however, is decidedly incorrect. It proceeds altogether from
looking upon God exclusively as he stands revealed in his re
lationship to sinners under the law, and from not observing the
aspect of grace which even there he presents. It is in the
books of Moses that God is first represented as the Shepherd
of Israel, Gen. xlviii. 15 ; xlix. 24, and nowhere do we find such
touching proofs of the shepherd-care of God as in the lives of
the patriarchs. The description of the tender care of God for
his people, in Deut. xxxii. 6—1.4, forms a remarkable parallel
to the Lord is my Shepherd : and the care of God for his people
during their sojourn through the wilderness, as detailed in
the law, is described in Psalm lxxviii. 52, as that of a faithful
shepherd. Ver. 1. The Lord is my shepherd, I want for nothing. Of all
the figures that are applied to God in the Old Testament, that
of a shepherd is the most beautiful. " The other names," says
Luther, " sound somewhat too gloriously and majestically, and
bring, as it were, an awe and fear with them, when we hear

402 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
them uttered. This is the case, when the Scriptures call God
our Lord, King, Creator. This, however, is not the case with
the sweet word shepherd. It brings to the godly, when they
read it or hear it, as it were a confidence, a consolation or secu
rity like the word father. We cannot better understand this
consoling and lovely word, than by going to nature, and learning.
carefully from her, what are the dispositions and the properties
of the sheep, and what the duty, the labour, the care of a
good shepherd. A sheep can only live through the help, protec
tion, and care of its shepherd. As soon as it goes astray, it is
exposed to dangers of every kind, and must perish, for it cannot
help itself. The reason is, it is a poor, weak, silly creature.
But, weak creature though it be, it has the property about it,
that it keeps by its shepherd with all diligence, depends upon
his help and protection, follows wherever he leads, and, if it can
only be near him, it cares for nothing, is afraid of no one, but
feels secure and happy, for it wants for nothing." It is to be
observed, that in both the cases in which the figure of the shep
herd is first used in Scripture, the speakers, Jacob and David,
were led to employ it from their own personal experience. Hav
ing been introduced by them, the figure was made use of by
other writers, who were not led tp make use of it from their own
history. This is the case particularly with Isaiah (xl. 11,) and
Ezekiel (xxxiv. 13,) who comforts the poor, dispersed, neglected
sheep of Israel during the time of their captivity, by referring to
the shepherd-faithfulness of God. See also Micah vii. 14, and
Ps. lxxx. 2, and xcv. 7. It is in obvious reference to these Old
Testament passages, that our Saviour calls himself the Good
Shepherd (John x.), and is also so called by the Apostles,
1 Peter ii. 25 ; v. 4 ; Heb. xiii. 20. All that Jehovah, under the
Old Testament, does to his own, he does through his Angel and
Mediator ; this is his common aspect to his church. He — the
Xoyos — appeared in flesh in Christ. Hence, whatever in the Old
Testament was said of Jehovah and his Angel, is immediately
transferred in the New to Christ. See the Christology, I. i. p.
247. The connection between the Old and New Testament, as
regards this subject, is especially laid open in Zech. xi. and xiii.
7, where the angel of the Lord is spoken of as the Shepherd of
Israel, and his future incarnation in the midst of his sheep is
mentioned. Compare the Christology on the passage, P. 2. —
Still the question remains, On what foundation does the idea

PSALM XXIII. VER. 1. 403
expressed in the words, the Lord is my Shepherd, depend, in so
far as the Psalm is in the first instance the expression of the
feelings of the author, and of individual believers ? The answer
is this : — The general foundation for this conviction lies in the
covenant of God with Israel, the promises of which every true and
living member of the church is entitled to apply to himself. The
special foundation lies in personal experience, such as that which
was enjoyed by David in such abundant measure. How often
did he experience this shepherd-faithfulness of God ! How often
did he enjoy from him quiet, quickening, protection, and bless
ings ! — It will not do to translate, I shall not want. The correct
translation is, 1 want nothing. This, among other reasons, is ob
vious from the use of the preterite n3£?7 in verse 5. The de
velopment of an idea can give nothing except what is contained
in the general statement. / want nothing, excludes want gene
rally, and not merely that of food : compare the expansion of the
idea, ver. 2 — 5, 727 fi7D7 N7, Deut. ii. 7, thou hast lacked no
thing, Deut. viii. 9, thou wantest nothing at all in it, to which the
Psalmist appears especially to allude, and Ps. xxxiv. 10, they
who seek the Lord shall not want any good thing. This is evident
also from the concluding verse, where the affirmative, goodness
and grace follow me, corresponds to the negative here, / want
nothing. We must not, on the other hand, extend arbitrarily
the sphere of I want nothing, but must limit it as directed by
the development of the expression, in which we read only of the
blessings of life, and not of deliverance from spiritual trouble.
We must not forget that the Psalmist (ver. 5,) sings in presence
of his enemies, and consequently that he is congratulating him
self only on such good things as these designed to deprive him
of. The following is Luther's paraphrase : " The Lord is my
shepherd, I shall assuredly want nothing. I shall eat and drink,
and have abundance of clothes, food, protection, peace, and ne-
'cessaries of every kind which contribute to the support of life ;
for I have a rich shepherd, who will not allow me to suffer want.
But he speaks particularly of spiritual blessings and gifts, which
the word of God brings," &c. This, on the principles of strict
grammatico-historical interpretation, is correct only till he comes
to say, " But he speaks particularly," &c. The theological inter
pretation, however, will in this case undoubtedly break down the
boundaries which the grammatico-historical has set up. For the
view to which the Psalmist for a moment confines himself un-

404 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
doubtedly implies, that he who has made such abundant provi
sion in lower matters, will not suffer any blessings of a higher
kind to be withheld. Still we must not, like Umbreit, who finds
at once that the words, I want nothing, express deliverance from
all spiritual troubles, mingle up the results of the grammatical
interpretation with the theological exposition. By so doing, we
lose altogether an insight into the train of thought and struc
ture of the Psalm, and rob it even of that practical power, from
a false regard to which it is that such attempts are made. — The
paraphrase of P. Gerhard forms the best commentary on the
verse before us. " The Lord, who rules all the ends of the earth
with his power, the fountain of eternal good, is my shepherd
and guardian. So long as I have him, I am in want of no bless
ing, the riches of his fulness most completely replenish me." —
Those who, on reading the words, the Lord is my shepherd, lam
in want of nothing, are inclined to say, " How shall I know that
the Lord is my shepherd ? I do not find that he acts so friendly
a part to me as corresponds to what the Psalmist says ; nay, I
have ample experience to the very contrary ;" are directed by
Luther in the following words into the right way : " The prophet
has not at all times been so happy ; he has not been able at all
times to sing as he does here. He has at times been in want of
much, yea almost of every thing. He has felt that he possessed
neither the righteousness, nor the consolation, nor the help of
God, but only sin, the wrath of God, terror and dismay, as he
complains in many of his Psalms. Still, as often as he turns
him from his own feelings, and lays hold of God by his promises,
and thinks, " It may be with me as it may, yet this is the com
fort of my heart, that, I have a gracious, a compassionate Lord
for my shepherd, whose word and whose promises strengthen
and comfort me, therefore I shall be in want of nothing." And
he has written this and other Psalms for the very purpose of as
suring us that in real temptation there is no council, help, or
comfort to be found, unless we have learned the golden art of
holding firm by the word and promises of God, and deciding by
them, in opposition to the feelingB of our own hearts. Thus
assuredly shall help and comfort follow, and we shall be in want
of nothing."
Ver. 2. He layeth me down on the green meadows, he tendeth
me by the waters of rest. Luther: " The prophet has shortly
expressed, in the first verse, tho import of the whole Psalm, viz.

PSALM XXIII. VER. 2. 405
that whoever has the Lord for his Shepherd shall be in want of
nothing. He attempts nothing more in the whole Psalm than to
expand in fine glowing words and comparisons, how well it is
with those who are the Lord's sheep," According to most in
terpreters, the green meadows, which are properly grass-pas
turage, are introduced here in connection with the good pas
ture which they afford. But this view is opposed first, by, he
layeth me down, second, by the parallel in the second clause,
which speaks of rest for the weary ; and, lastly, by the circum
stance, that another verse, viz. the 5th one, is devoted to the
care of the shepherd, as regards the providing of food. The
green meadows serve another useful purpose beside that of pas
turage ; they form a pleasant place of repose, where the Eastern
shepherd at noon, when the heat is at its height, permits his
weary flock to lie down. Compare Song of Solomon, i. 7.
Jacob (Gen. xxxiii. 17) made booths for his sheep, when they
were wearied with the long and severe travelling ; in like man
ner the heavenly Shepherd gives delightful rest and repose to his
spiritual sheep, when they are worn out with wandering under
the burning heat of this world's sufferings and temptations. He
sends to them times of health, that they may recruit their
strength for wandering through the rough paths of life, fill
at last they are brought to that eternal rest, of which every
season of temporary repose is, both to individuals and to the
church as a body, a foretaste, a pledge, and a prophecy. — In
the second clause, the waters of rest are generally interpreted
as meaning quiet or still water, — " water which is not agitated,
and therefore not dreaded by the sheep." Claus, however, has
very improperly impugned this interpretation. The plural, cer
tainly, is remarkable. Then the question occurs, can rest be
attributed to water ? There is at least no parallel passage. The
parallelism with, he layeth me down, favours another interpreta
tion : waters of rest = waters at which rest (properly rests) are
enjoyed, — the plural indicating that the rest imparted is of a
manifold kind, and respects not one gift, but a whole train of
gifts. The Psalmist, as was perceived by the Septuagint trans
lators, who have rendered nmi3£3 by uvavravatois, and by the Vul
gate, who give " ad aquam refectionis," is speaking of the re
freshing rest which shepherds, at the noon of a hot summer day,
give to their wearied flocks at the side of a shady brook to which
they have led them to drink. Compare Bocart, Herioz. i. p.

406 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
529. Luther: " David here speaks of this matter after the man
ner of the country. The country on which so many praises
have been lavished, is a hot, dry, sandy rocky country, which
has many deserts and little water. In our part of the world, we
know nothing of this, for we find, everywhere plenty of water.
Hence David has seen, and he extols it as a great blessing, that
he is under the protection of the Lord, who not only pastures him
on green meadows, but also leads him during the heat to refresh
ing water." Hence, according to this view, the rest conveys the
same idea as it does in all other passages : for example, 2 Sam.
vii. 1, " when the king sat in his house, and the Lord had given
him rest round about from all his enemies :" 1 Chron, xxii. 9,
" Behold, a son shall be born to thee, who shall be a man of
rest ; and I will give him rest from all his enemies round about:"
Jeremiah xiv. 3, " I fainted in my sighing, and I find no rest,"
where the prophet complains that he could not find that which
David here promises to all believers. Israel was led to waters
of rest in the wilderness, when at the command of the Lord, re
pose and refreshment were granted them in some one of its more
favoured spots : " the ark went before them, (Numbers x. 33,)
to search out a resting place for them." The expression before
us was fulfilled much more completely in Israel, when they
were privileged to rest in Canaan from the hardships of their
long wandering. Compare Deut. xii. 9; Psalm xxii. 11. Da
vid was led to waters of rest after the ruin of Saul, after his
victory over his Gentile enemies, and after the suppression of
Absalom's conspiracy. And it was fulfilled in the most com
plete manner in the case of Solomon, whose reign was a type of
the rest of heaven to be enjoyed by the church triumphant.
Innumerable times might David say, as he did in Psalm cxvi. 7,
" Return unto thy rest, 0 my soul ; for the Lord hath dealt
bountifully with thee." — The 7n3 in Pihel should, according
to the common acceptation, mean " to lead." Doubts on this
point are raised by the use of the 7£* here, and in the parallel
passage, Isaiah xlix. 10. In Isaiah xl. 11, the idea of leading
is scarcely suitable, and in 2 Chron. xxxii. 22, and in Genesis
xlvii. 17, it is, wholly incongruous. The sense of tending, in this
passage absolutely necessary, is to be retained in all passages.
In Ex. xv. 13, which alone appears to contradict this, thou lead-
est through thy grace ihe people whom thou hast redeemed, and
tendest them through thy power by thy holy habitation, is to be

PSALM XXIII. VER. 2, 3. 407
explained, thou leadest them to thy holy habitation, and watch-
est over them there. This interpretation is demanded by the
7J*. In Genesis xxxiii. 14, the Hithpael form is used in the
sense of to take care of one's self. — The import of the verse is
therefore this : — the good shepherd, with tender care, imparts
sweet respose to his weary sheep. To the rest which, according
to our verse, is given to the weary, there is added the revival,
suitably following in the next verse, which the good shepherd
imparts to the exhausted — to the fainting. The extreme impor
tance here attached to rest — its having assigned to it the first
_ place in the enumeration of the good deeds of the good shepherd
—indicates how severe the journey through this world is, how hot
is the sun which shines over the righteous, so that the need for rest
outweighs every other, and the righteous man is not more truly
thankful for any blessing than for this one. The outward rest,
moreover, of which our verse more immediately speaks, is, in
reality, a blessing to him only who has been previously brought
to that inward peace which, like an unperishable possession,
accompanies the believer amid all outward distresses. This in
ward rest — this peace of the soul in God — gives a title, which
never fails to be acknowledged by God, to the outward peace.
Ver. 3. He revives my soul, he leads me in the paths of right
eousness for his name's sake. On the first clause compare Ps.
xix. 7 : the import is — when my soul is exhausted and wearied,
he revives me, as is the custom of the good shepherd, who not
only cares for the sound sheep, but also and especially attends
to the weak and the sick. The import of the second clause, is,
he sends me salvation, when, wearied with the rough paths of life,
I am pressed down with suffering. Several interpreters read it :
" he leads me in an even path." But pit never stands in a
physical sense, for straightness ; it means always righteousness.
And this signification could only be considered as unsuitable from
assuming the false position, that the Psalmist everywhere
must use expressions that are borrowed from the relations con
nected with the figure which he is, for the time, employing in il
lustration of spiritual matters. This, however, is by no means
a principle observed by the sacred poets in their use of figura
tive language. They are often satisfied with a very slight al
lusion to the natural relations. In the present instance, the
corresponding idea is undoubtedly that of leading in even and
quiet paths, in opposition to among thorns, and over stones

408

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

and* cliffs. The righteousness is not to be understood, as Mi
chaelis would have it, in a moral sense — that I may lead a holy
and a pious life in this world — but it is to be considered as a
gift of God, which he imparts to his own — that practical justifi
cation or clearing up of the character which forms a part of the
salvation. Salvation itself is never indicated by pit, so that the
exposition, he leads me in the path of salvation, must be rejected
as not sufficiently exact. The clause, for his name's sake, is
equivalent to, for the sake of his glorious being, because He is
the Holy One, in the scriptural sense, (Ps. xxii. 3,) only so that
at the same time it is shown that his glorious being has not re
mained concealed, but has been made fully known by deeds. The
product and echo of these is the name : — so that the expression
is the same as, for the sake of his actually illustrated glory, which
forms the foundation on which rests the confidence of the Psal
mist, that the Lord leads him in the paths of righteousness. The
name of God is thus always used as the product of the develop
ment of the Divine being, as the concentration of the deeds of
God. Thus, for example, Joshua ix. 9 : " And they said unto
him, From a very far country are thy servants come because of
the name of the Lord thy God, for we have heard the fame of
him, and all that he did in Egypt, and all that he did to the
two kings of the Amorites :" 1 Kings viii. 41, 42 : " that cometh
out of a far country for thy name sake : for they shall hear of
thy great name and of thy strong hand, and thy stretched out
arm :" Isaiah Ixiii. 12 : " who led them by the right hand of
Moses, with his glorious arm dividing the waters before them to
make to himself a glorious name." The exposition of Aben-Ezra
and others, "that his namemight be praised throughout the whole
world, is to be rejected; as also that of Stier, " not for any merit
of mine, but out of free grace." What the Lord is and has done,
gives the Psalmist a warrant to something which he is to do for
him. He has at all times cleared up the character of his people,
for example in Egypt, when he caused the sun of his salvation
to shine upon the darkness of the misery of his people. In like
manner, he put matters right with Joshua, when he gave him the
victory over his enemies, and he will not deny himself towards
this his servant. For his name's sake, has a much more extended
import for us than it had for David. For the name of God,
during the lapse of time, has become infinitely more glorious.
Between us and David there lies a long succession of glorious

PSALM XXIII. VER. 4. 409
developments of the being of God, in imparting salvation to' his
own, both as individuals and in their collective capacity, every
one of which gives us a new warrant.
Ver. 4. Even when I walk in the valley of death-darkness, I
fear no calamity: for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff,
they comfort me. Calvin : " As a sheep, when it wanders
through rugged deserts and dark valleys, is secured by the mere
presence of its shepherd against the assaults of wild beasts and
other dangers, so does David here testify, that as often as he is
in a situation of danger, he has a sufficient protection in the
shepherd care of God. But now that God, in the person of the
only begotten Son, has manifested himself as a shepherd, in a
far clearer and more glorious manner than he did formerly to
the fathers under the law, we do not sufficiently honour his pro
tection, unless, with eye directed towards it, we trample all fear
and danger under foot." Venema supposes that David over
values here his confidence: his despondency at the time of Ab
salom, shows that his firmness was by no means so unwavering.
Psalm xxx. 6, 7, might be adduced here, where David accuses
himself of high-minded confidence. But this idea proceeds alto
gether upon a misunderstanding. David is not here praising
himself: he is praising the Lord. In reality, I fear no evil, is
identical with, /dare fear no evil: and the Psalmist expresses
himself in these words, only because for the moment his feeling
corresponds to the reality. It is not on the feeling that he lays
stress, but on the cause which had called it forth. The Q3 is :
" even when in circumstances in which the shepherd care of God
seems as if it had come to an end." We cannot, with most ex
positors, translate it, though I even wandered, but only even, when
Iwander. The analogy of the other futures, and a glance at
the history of the author, who had been obliged so often to wan
der through the valley of the shadow of death, show that the
author is speaking, not of something imaginary, but of some
thing real. Hitzig's version, though I even wandered I would
fear no evil, brings us at once in an unpleasant manner out of
the domain of experience in which the whole Psalm moves. The
death-darkness is darkness of the thickest kind, such as prevails
in the grave or in sheol. The expression is too strong to allow
us to think of a valley surrounded by thick forests, and over
hung by high hills : the darkness is that of midnight: — compare
Jeremiah xiii. 16, " Give glory to the Lord your God, before he

410 THE book of psalms.
cause darkness, and before your feet stumble on the dark moun
tains, and while ye look for light, he turn it into the shadow of
death :" — all the more suitable1 that it is at night when the
beasts go forth to their prey. The valley is particularly men
tioned on account of the wood -clad surrounding hills, in which
these beasts live.. To such a valley of death-darkness there cor
respond to the,spiritual sheep, seasons of great trouble, danger
and severe suffering. Compare Jeremiah ix. 1; Psalm xliv. 19.
Luther: " As once our friends wandered, in the valley, at Augs-
burgh." The J*7, properly evil, indicates, according to the con
nection, some fatal misfortune. This befals the wicked only.
The sheep of the good shepherd stumble, but they do not fall.
On the words,_/B»" thou art with me, Luther remarks, " this pre
sence of the Lord cannot be discerned by the five senses, but it
is seen by faith, which is confident of this, that the Lord is near
er to us than we are to ourselves." The rod and the staff, ac
cording to many interpreters, are to be regarded as the weapons
with which the shepherd drives off the wild beasts'. But they
do not suit this purpose, they are too peaceable. They are ra
ther here, as usually, to be considered as the instrument for
guiding the sheep. In the dark night of suffering, the trem
bling soul derives comfort from the thought, that it is under, the
guidance of the Lord, that he has led it into its salvation, that
he protects it there, and that he will bring it out at his own time.
A look at the shepherd-staff of the Lord fills the soul with joy
in the midst of pain. The following remark of De Wette is im
portant : " the somewhat copious language, (two synonyms and
the pronoun,) is intended to depict the repose of confidence."
Luther : " David prescribes here to all Christians a common rule,
that there is no other way or plan upon earth by which a man
may be delivered from trouble of every kind, than to cast all his
care upon the Lord, to lay hold of him by his word of grace, to
hold this fast, and by no means to let it go. Whoever does this,
shall be happy, be he in prosperity or adversity, be he in life or
in death ; he shall hold on to the end, and gain the victory over
all — the devil, the world, and misfortune."
Ver. 5. Thou spreadest before me a table in sight of mine ene
mies, thou anointest my head with oil, — my cup overflows. The
Psalmist had hitherto spoken of the provident care of the good
shepherd, in removing the manifold miseries, pains, and suffer
ings, which this life brings with it — of the rest, the refreshing,

PSALM XXIII. VER. 5. 411
the consolation. All this is decidedly of a negative character.
His language now rises higher. God not only helps his people
in suffering, and out of suffering, he also bestows upon them a
rich fulness of joy, he satisfies his children with the good things
of his house. To these positive blessings, there corresponds, in
the temporal shepherd, the provision of fodder and water made
for the sheep. This, however, would have been too prosaic.
The Psalmist hence depicts the shepherd-care of God in this re
spect by another figure, yet so as to keep as near as possible to
the corresponding idea of the figure already employed. The
blessings with which God satisfies the desires of his needy peo
ple, appear under the figure of a rich feast prepared for them.
VTOW is not a table of any kind, but only one on which viands
are spread. In sight of my enemies, is a very picturesque trait.
They must look on quietly, how the table is spread, and how the
Psalmist sits down at it. The grace of God towards his own,
appears all the more glorious, that it breaks through all hin
drances, makes its way through all the hostile efforts that are
directed with a ruinous design against the righteous one, and
leaves nothing for the enemies but a tormenting sight. The
anointing with the oil of joy, Psalm xiv. 7, that is, the oil which
is the symbolical expression of joy, is one of the necessary ac
companiments of a festive and joyful entertainment.
Ver. 5. Only goodness and love follow me all the days of my
life ; and I dwell in the house of the Lord for ever. The conclu
sion assumes the general form of the introductory clause, and
explains the figurative language employed, throughout. The
7X has its customary import, only goodness — nothing else.
There is an implied 0 antithesis in they follow me. Stier: "as
the enemies, out of malignity, so the goodness of God follows all
my steps with blessings." Compare Psalm xxxiv. 14. The
*mtJ> is, according to several interpreters, I turn back. But
lit? with 2> never signifies to turn back, neither in 1 Kings ii.
33, nor in Hosea xii. 7 : compare on the passage Ch. B. Michaelis.
The character which is general throughout, and continues to be
so in the first clause of this verse, and the joyful tone of the
same, are also unfavourable to this view, which assumes that
David composed this Psalm when excluded from the services of
the sanctuary. And, finally, this view is opposed also by the
parallel passages, particularly Deut. xxx. 20, and xxvii. 4. These
parallel passages show also that the *j71K>, notwithstanding its

412 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
Patach, instead of Chirek, must be taken as an infinitive, my
dwelling, and not (as is the view adopted by others) as a preterite
instead of TllS^* — an anomaly besides of much greater conse
quence than the one implied in the other interpretation.
Dwelling in the house of the Lord is commonly understood as
being equivalent to undisturbed abiding in the temple. But it is
impossible that the expression can be applied to literally abiding
in the external temple, and it is altogether arbitrary to substi
tute, as Gesenius does, frequenting, (frequentem adesse) instead
of abiding. Moreover, the possibility opened up by God of fre
quenting the temple, if occurring at all in a Psalm which extols
so well what is great and glorious in God, is least of all to be
expected at the conclusion, where there ought to have come in
some comprehensive significant expression, and where it serves
no other purpose except to weaken the impression of the whole.
As parallel to goodness and love follow me all the days of my
life, the words, I dwell in the house of the Lord for ever, sound
exceedingly feeble and cold, if they relate to a frequenting of
the sanctuary. Finally, by adopting this exposition, we disjoin
the expression from the fundamental passage, Deut. xxx. 20,
" that thou mayest love the Lord thy God, and that thou may
est obey his voice, and that thou mayest cleave unto him;
for this is thy life and the length of thy days, that thou dwell,
nifc^A in the land, which the Lord sware unto thy fathers ;"
according to which we should expect such a designation of the'
enjoyment of the grace of God as should be as expressive and
general as the dwelling in the land of the fathers. The foun
dation for the right exposition has been already unfolded at Ps.
xv. We there saw that, according to the usage in the Psalms,
to dwell in the house of the Lord is a figurative expression for
confiding dependance on God, and for enjoyment of his favour,
and that the righteous always dwell in the house of the Lord,—
even when they are far absent from it in the body, — a figurative
expression which has its foundation in the law, in which the
holy tabernacle is designated as the tabernacle of meeting, of
intercourse between God and his people. Thus interpreted, the
words before us form really the focus in which the rays of the
whole passage are concentrated. In reference to the whole
church, they admit of being applied with truth even when it can
be said " your house is left unto you desolate," Matt, xxiii. 38.
For those, who at that time were thrust out of the house of God,

PSALM XXIV. 413
or rather were left alone in a house which had lost the indwell
ing of God, were those souls only who had been cut off from
their people. The true members of the church remain always in
the house not made with hands, the church, members of the
household of God, Eph. ii. 19, and in the enjoyment of all the
blessings of God's house.

PSALM XXIV.
Most interpreters suppose that the Psalm was composed by
David at the time when he brought the ark of the covenant
to Mount Zion. Compare 2 Sam. vi, 1; 1 Chron. xv. Several Jew
ish interpreters, on the other hand, to whom Stier may be added,
have supposed that David composed this Psalm for future use
at the dedication of the temple, after he had received the reve
lation as to its site. De Wette has proposed an extension of
this idea, viz. that the Psalm was composed at the dedication of
the new temple under Solomon. But against this view, and in
favour of the one first mentioned, the following weighty reasons
may be urged. 1. The superscription assigns the Psalm to
David. 2. If the Psalm be supposed to have reference to the
dedication of the templeunder Solomon, by the everlasting gates
we can understand nothing else than the gates of the temple,
for into none other did the ark of the covenant at that time en
ter. But the gates of the newly built temple could not possibly
be called everlasting gates. The only expedient in this diffi
culty is to suppose that the everlasting refers to the future con
tinuance of the gates. But no one would apply, simpliciter, the
term everlasting to new gates which it was hoped would last for
ever; the hope of everlasting endurance which Solomon (1
Kings viii. 13) expresses in reference to the whole temple can
not be thus simpliciter referred to any particular part of it; the
connection requires that the predicate denote an already exist
ing, a generally acknowledged excellence. As soon, however,
as we refer the Psalm to the entrance of the ark of the covenant
under David, every difficulty vanishes. The gates are then those
of Mount Zion. These might correctly be called ancient, for
Jerusalem, with its strong Mount Zion, was already in the time
of Abraham a city of the Canaanites. With the Psalmist, how
ever, whose object it was to extol the worth of the gates, for the

414 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
purpose of enhancing the glory of the entrant, of whom, after
all, the gates were unworthy, the idea of antiquity would easily
expand in feehng into that of eternity. 3. In the appellations
given to God, the Lord strong and a hero, the Lord a warlike
hero, we clearly discern the voice of the warrior and the con
queror, David, who had so often, in the heat of battle, sought
and obtained help from the Lord. Solomon would have chosen
some other mode of expression, inasmuch as God had stood pro
minently forth on his behalf, under other aspects. 4. The fif
teenth Psalm is so strikingly allied to the one before us, that the
grounds which were there sufficient to establish, without a doubt
the authorship as that of David, particularly the expression " in
thy tabernacle," are of equal weight here. The nineteenth
Psalm also, which was composed by David, is allied to the one
before us. There, as here, the greatness of God, as the Lord of
the world, serves in the introduction only as the ground-work of
what forms the peculiar object of the Psalmist. — Lastly, the idea
that this Psalm is to be considered as a song of victory for the
return of the ark of the covenant from a battle, is to be utterly
rejected. This view would scarcely harmonize with the second
part, for there the language employed refers to the coming, not to
the returning of the Lord, and the call to the gates to open, pro?
ceeds on the supposition that the Lord is entering in through
them for the first time, and appears unsuitable if he had fre
quently gone out and in on former occasions. But the first part'
is wholly unintelligible on this supposition. The question, who
will ascend to the hill of the Lord, and who will stand in his holy
place ? would, on any such occasions, be altogether out of place,
while, on the occasion which we have supposed, it would be highly
suitable. It served at the commencement of a new state of things
to fix the fact of the change, and to bring it before the minds of
the people ; it served to furnish a counterpoise to the outward
pomp which accompanied the bringing in of the ark of tbe cove
nant; it served to indicate that real, not mere outward, fel
lowship with a God such as this, the Lord of the whole earth,
and participation in his blessings, are to be obtained only in
one way, that of true righteousness : it, served to indicate to the
people the high seriousness of the claims upon the subjects, as
seen in connection with the glory of the King who is entering
in. This Psalm, which according to ver. 7 — 10, must have been
sung at the entrance itself, is the first, in point of date, of

PSALM XXIV. 415
the sacred songs which were composed with this view. The fif
teenth followed at a later period.
The contents are as follows: Jehovah is God in the full sense,
the Lord, because the Creator, of the whole earth, v. 1, 2. Who
then will, in truth, ascend the hill of the Lord, and stand in his
holy place ? Who will dwell spiritually beside him, in the new
ly-erected holy place, and receive from him blessing, salvation,
and righteousness ? Not at all the posterity of Jacob according
to the flesh, as such, — this would be a wretched family for such
a King and God, — but only he who, in thought, word, and deed,
is pure and without spot. It is only those, who bear this cha
racter, that constitute Jacob, — the true people of the Lord, —
and not the rude crowd who falsely bear this name, v. 3 — 6.
The ark of the covenant has now approached the gates. These,
poetically personified, are commanded to open, that the glorious
* King, that the Lord, rich in help for his people, that the God of
the world, may enter in, ver. 7 — 10. '
Ewald has advanced the hypothesis, that the Psalm is made
up of two odes originally distinct, v. 1 — 6, and v. 7— -TO. But the
chief reason which led him to adopt this hypothesis, namely, the
want of connection and unity between the two parts, disappears
entirely on closer investigation. The glory of the approaching
Lord is, in both parts of the Psalm, the fundamental idea.
From this proceeds, in the first part, the demand for holiness,
and, in the second, the command, addressed in form to the gates,
but in reality to the hearts of his people, to open. The original
connection of the two parts with each other is seen in this, that
the Psalm concludes as it began, with the praise of God as the
God of the whole earth, and assuredly therefore in this, that
the beginning and the conclusion mutually supplement each
other v. 1, Jehovah, the Lord of the whole earth, in v. 10, Je
hovah, the Lord of the heavenly hosts.
The coming of the Lord of glory, the high demands upon his
people proceeding from this, the absolute necessity to prepare
worthily for his arrival, form the subject-matter of the Psalm.
It admits of applications far beyond the special occasion which
called it forth. The Lord may be conceived of as constantly
coming, in relation both to his church collectively, and to his
people individually. And his people therefore ought to be con
tinually preparing to give him a suitable reception. Hence it
follows that the Messianic interpretation, which in former times

416

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

was so very prevalent, has an important element of truth in it.
The coming of God to his kingdom took place in a manner in
finitely more¥ real at the appearance of Christ than it did at the
entrance of the ark of the covenant. That lower occurrence was
only the shadow, but the body was in Christ. At this truly real
coming, which has different gradations, — the coming in humili
ty, the coming in spirit, and the coming in glory,^the demands
rise in proportion to the greater reality. The question, " who
shall ascend to the hill of the Lord, and who shall stand in his
holy place i"' becomes more solemn, and the command, " Lift up
your heads, ye gates," is given in a louder tone.
Venema saw clearly that the idea that the Psalm was sung
by alternate choruses is altogether without foundation. The
questions, (ver. 7 — 10,) on which alone this idea rests, like the
question in ver. 3, and in Ps. xv. 1, are to be considered simply
as interrogatory clauses.
The reason why this Psalm has been placed in immediate
juxtaposition to the 23d, will appear on comparing ver. 3 here,
with ver. 6 there. The 23d Psalm concludes with the hope of
dwelling for ever in the house of the Lord, and the Psalm be
fore us begins, after some clauses of a preparatory and intro
ductory nature, with the question, " who is qualified to dwell
with God on bis hill, and in his holy place ?" The connection
between the two Psalms is so interwoven with the sense, that
their juxtaposition cannot be attributed to the collector. The
probability is exceedingly strong, that David, from the begin
ning, united them as one pair, and that the 23d Psalm also was
composed on the occasion of the removal of the ark of the cove
nant. For the purpose of preventing the hypocrites from appro
priating to their use what does not belong to them, he follows
up his expression of inward confidence in God, with a represen
tation of those demands of a moral nature which God makes
upon his people. The Shepherd of Israel is also the Almighty
God. Wo to him who trusts in his grace without being holy as
he is holy ! We have already shown that the 1 5th Psalm, which
is closely allied to the one before us, stands in a similar relation
to the 14th.
Ver. 1. The earth is the Lord's, andthatwhich fills it, the' world
and those who dwell upon it. The God, who is in a peculiar sense
the God of Israel, is, at the same time, the Lord of the whole
earth, and the sovereign proprietor of all things. With what

PSALM XXIV. VKR, 1, 2. 417
holy reverence must tho subjects of such a king be filled ! What
high demands must be made upon them ! With other gods there
may be an animal love and a favouritism for their own worship
pers, without regard to their hearts and lives, but the God of
Israel, — who is God in the true sense of the word, — cannot,
without absurdity, be spoken of as having connection with any
except with such as are of a pure heart. The exhortation in
Deut. x. 14, to circumcise the heart, is like the one before us,
enforced by the consideration that Jehovah is, the Lord of hea
ven and earth, and that he regardeth not persons, nor taketh
rewards. T»7K denotes the earth in general : 7lj7 properly the
bearing, — the third fut. of 7^, it bears, — the fruit-bearing part
of the earth, the oixov/j,'svri. Hence ihe fulness is properly applied
to the earth, and the inhabitants specially to 720-
Ver. 2. For he has founded it above the seas, and made it fast
above the floods. That the earth, with all that fills it, and with
its inhabitants, is the Lord's, is founded on this, that he alone
has made it a dry, fruitful, inhabitable earth, and that he pre
serves it such. Without him, the waters would yet or again
cover it as they did at the beginning. " Above the seas," " above
the floods," imply that it stands at a higher level, so that it is not
immersed below the sea. Compare the examples of Sj* in simi
lar connections in Ges. Thes. p. 1026. Many expositors apply
" the seas," and '' the floods," to the great subterraneous cavi
ties which stand in connection with the mundane sea, — to the
great deep, which, according to Gen. vii. 11, was broken up at
the deluge. " Nothing but the almighty power of God could
found the earth on such weak materials." But these interpre
ters do not observe, that at ver. 1 it is only the inhabited and
replenished earth that is spoken of, and, consequently, that it
can only be such an act of God, as has made and preserves the
earth fruitful and habitable, that can be referred to here : the
earth, with its fulness and its inhabitants, belongs to theJLord,
for he has made it habitable and fruitful, and he preserves it in
this condition. The reference to an occult doctrine of a physi
cal character, to which allusion is made only in one single pas
sage of Scripture, and that too in a very obscure and doubtful
manner, would not be at all suitable in this passage. The Psal
mist evidently refers to some act .of God, generally known, and
frequently spoken of in Scripture. Further, it may be objected
2e

418

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

to this view, tbat Q*D* is seas, and 711773 floods, and that
though the singular Q* might denote the subterraneous water,
the plural, as Luther has observed, cannot, Finally, it will not
do to tear the passage from its connection with the fundamental
passage, Genesis i. 9, 11, to which it manifestly refers, and from
the parallel passages, Ps. cxxxvi. 6, " who stretches out the
earth above the waters," where everything preceding and follow
ing stands in obvious reference to Genesis i., Psalm cvi., where
in like manner the dividing between the land and the sea comes
in, in exact accordance with Genesis and Job xxxviii. 8, where
it is mentioned as one of the most wonderful works of God, that
" he hath set for the sea bars and doors, and hath shut it in
within firm bounds." These observations will, we think, be
sufficient to set aside for ever the idea of the subterranean
waters. — The change of the mode is not unworthy of notice:
77D* refers to the creation, 73311* to the preservation. Luther : ."
" for it proceeds from the great power of God, that those cities
and countries which are situated on seas and rivers, are not
destroyed and torn to pieces." He has founded it above the
seas and floods, and he keeps it fast above them.
Ver. 3. Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord, and who shall
abide in his holy place ? This question has for its foundation,
the statements of ver. 1 and 2, and the sense is correctly given
by several interpreters : " who, then, shall ascend ?" " Is the
Lord such a mighty One ?" ¦¦ Who, then, can well be admitted
into his holy and glorious presence ?" The common translation
is, who dare ascend into the hill of the Lord, who is worthy to
do so ? But, on comparing Ps. xv., it becomes obvious that we
must keep to the usual sense of the future. Zion is not for all
the hill of the Lord ; the temple is not for all his holy place.
To Zion, to the outward temple, all might get who had good
bones, but to the hill of the Lord, to his holy place, as sure as
he is Lord of the whole earth, pone get except those who are of
a pure heart. These dwell there, always with him, even when,
in a bodily sense, they are absent. On the other hand, the un
godly, even though they can boast of being the seed of Abra
ham, even though they are indefatigable in their observance of
the ceremonies, are, even when present, nevertheless absent: —
they walk only on the earth and the stones; God shuts
them out from his holy presence. That we must interpret the
passage in this way, and that the ascending of the hill of the Lord,

PSALM XXIV. VER. 3 — 5. 419
and the standing in his holy place, are only figurative expres
sions of gracious relationship to him (Mich. : " as a true member
of the holy church, and a denizen of his kingdom,") is evident
from the parallel, ver. 5. The " who shall receive the blessing
from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation,"
is expository of " who shall ascend." To ascend the hill of God
is to begin to walk with God, to abide in his holy place is con
stantly to remain in his presence. Qlp is not " to stand :" — that
is Ity} : the passages which Gesenius adduces to prove this are
not sufficient — but " to abide." — Luther : " to this question the
haughty self-righteous return answer at once, we, we are worthy,
especially the Jews. For from the beginning of the world there
have been two kinds of those who profess to be seeking after
God, yea, there still are and there will be till the end of time.
The first are those who serve God without heart, without grace,
without spirit, and only by external works, ordinances, sacrifi
ces, and ceremonies. Thus Cain offered his gift, but kept back
his heart and bis person." The design of the Psalmist, however,
is to repulse hypocrites, and to bring the self-deceivers to se
rious thought, while he answers the above question, by declaring
that as sure as the God of Israel is the God of the whole earth,
is God in the true and full sense of the word, so sure can only
the pure in heart and conduct stand before him. Luther, in the
style of true theological exposition : " It is not he who sings so
well or so many Psalms, nor he who fasts and watches so many
days, nor he who divides his own among the poor, nor he who
preaches to others, nor he who lives quietly, kindly, and friend
ly ; nor, in fine, is it he who knows all sciences and all lan
guages, nor he who works all virtuous and" all good works that
, ever any man spoke or read of, but it is he alone, who is pure
within and without."
Ver. 4. He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who draws
not his soul unto falsehood, nor swears deceitfully, ver. 5. He shall
draw the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from God his
Saviour. The import is this ; he, and he only, shall ascend the
holy hill of the Lord, and abide in his holy place .-—this is what
is meant by, shall draw the blessing, fyc— The Psalmist unites
cleanness of haiids and purity of heart. The hands are the in
struments of action, the heart the seat of feeling. God's de
mands upon his people go beyond the domain of action. Those
only see him, (and that is altogether the same as what is im
plied here, in ascending the hill of the Lord, and abiding in his

420

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

holy place,) who have a pure heart. The Psalmist in the first
clause ascends from outward deeds to the heart, and in the se
cond he descends from the heart to the tongue, — he who shuns
sin in thought, word, and deed. We have here the same three
fold division which obtains in the decalogue: deed, " Thou shalt
not kill," " Thou shalt not commit adultery," " Thou shalt not
steal ;" word, " Thou shalt not bear false witness ;" thought,
" Thou shalt not covet." But the heart is put here in the se
cond place, for the purpose of showing that everything ultimate
ly is dependent on it,— that purity of hands and tongue has its
root in purity of heart, and is important only in so far as it is
rooted there. The expression £J>£3 Nfe?3 is not of rare occurrence;
it occurs, for example, Deut. xxiv. 15, Prov. xix. 18, Ps. xxv. 1,
Ixxxvi. 4, cxliii. 8, with this difference, thatitis construed in these
passages with 7&, and here with 7. The construction with 7
here isof importance for determiningthe signification of the phrase.
The common translation is, " to lift up the soul." But for this
sense the 7 is not suitable. We cannot say, " to lift up his soul
to falsehood." The 7 rather demands the signification, to draw,
to draw to, — " where your treasure is, there will your heart be
also," — and on comparing Ex. xx. 7, and the KK'* in verse 5, it is
evidentthatthisisthetruerenderingof our passage, — he who does
not draw his sold to falsehood, he shall drawdown, andat the same
time in all other passages. Several interpreters render KW hy
" vanity" or " wickedness;" Meyer, " bad ways;" Stier, " every
thing which the heart makes an idol of instead of the true
God;" and some, " idols" in the proper sense. But if we ob
serve the relation in which K1&5>7 stands to 7J17D7, it will ap
pear obvious that we can only translate " to falsehood and de
ceit." This translation also will be at once recognized as the
correct one from Ex. xx. 7: — " who hath no love for falsehood and
deceit, and who, in consequence of this, does not swear deceitful
ly." — After the example of Stange, many interpreters render,
" who does not utter his person to a lie," that is, '¦' who does not
misuse the name of God to confirm a he," and refer to Ex. xx. 7,
aWb yrfa* nin* DB> T\a aWI «7. which they render " thou
shalt not utter the name of the Lord thy God to confirm a lie."
But this interpretation depends upon the marginal reading, *5J>£3,
my soul, which is decidedly to be rejected, as God is not introduc
ed speaking throughout the whole Psalm. It is now, therefore,

PSALM XXIV. VEIL 5. 421
very easy to dispose of this view: and, on tho other side, it may
be observed that the soul of the Lord cannot stand for his per
son, nor this for his name; the phrase £*/33 K£2>3 has constantly
the sense of " to draw the soul :" tfSJO here, from the &£>* in
verse 5, must signify " to draw," and never signifies " to utter"
(compare on Ps. xv. 3) ; the connection between 1^&3 and 217,
and the obvious opposition between the soul and the tongue, ren
der it impossible to refer 1fcJ>33 to God. It is now more than
time to point out the truth from which the false reading and ex
position have proceeded. This is the position, that the words
before us have a reference to Ex. xx. 7. The resemblance is so
striking, that any exposition which would tear asunder the con
nection between the two cannot possibly be recognised as the
correct one. According to our interpretation, however, this con
nection becomes most manifest, as soon as the passage in Exodus
is correctly translated. It must be translated: " thou shalt not
draw down the name of the Lord to a lie," i. e. thou shalt not
mix up his name with what is false, thou shalt not utter it to
confirm a lie. The Psalmist, by the verbal reference which he
makes to this passage, indicates that this bringing down of one's
soul to a lie — the having a pleasure in it — is the ground and
fountain of bringing down God's name to a lie, and that this last
sin is the natural consequence of the first. The only sure pre
servative against the fearful sin of perjury, is heart-abhorrence
of deceit and falsehood. — In ver. 5, he shall draw down the bless
ing, we may find, with Amyrald, a contradiction of the idea, that
there is something of efficacy in the priestly and the royal bene
diction, apart from the moral condition of those upon whom that
blessing was pronounced. When the ark of the covenant was
brought in, David blessed the people in the name of the Lord of
hosts (2 Sam. vi. 18). The righteousness, in parallel withthebless-
ing, is the blessing itself, inasmuch as it is the clearing up of the
character grounded on fact, the answer of God to the subjective
righteousness of the worshipper : compare 1 Kings viii. 31, 32.
This righteousness, as the gift of God, is carefully to be distin
guished from justification. The justification of a sinner before
God goes before holiness, the righteousness here spoken of follows
it. Finally, the purity which the Psalmist here speaks of as the
indispensable condition of salvation, is not to be understood as a
perfect, spotless holiness. It is enough that the innermost in
tent of the soul— the spiritual eye of Matt. vi. 23,— bo pure.

422 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
But, assuredly, as the condition of salvation is always imperfect
in this life, so is the salvation itself in like manner imperfect.
Ver. 6. Thisis the generationwhichreverenceshim, who seek thy
face, are Jacob. The Psalmist having defined those to whom access
to Godhas been opened up, brings prominently forward once more
the truth that they and they only, are real worshippers of God,
and therefore partakersof hisfavour, membersof his church. The
name, those who seek the Lord, (the textual reading 1BH7 being
obviously a contraction for the marginal VBH7> which ought to
be rejected),circulated, as it appears, like a coin, and the whole
people were wont to apply to themselves this name. But the
Psalmist claims it for those to whom it belongs. That man
only deserves this name, who fulfils the law of God. That
only can be called a reverencing of God, which is concerned
about purity of heart. — To see the face of the Lord, is to be
a sharer in his favour; and, therefore, to seek the face of the
Lord, is to be concerned about his favour, sincerely to strive to
pleasehim. Andthisstrivingismadeknownin earnest endeavours
to obtain purity of heart, as the only means of seeing God, of
pleasing him. Jacob stands for the generation of Jacob. The
reason why Jacob and not Israel is used, is obvious from the op
position implied to the prevailing opinion of the times. The
people put great stress upon their descent from Jacob, and sup
posed descent from Jacob according to the flesh, and incorpora
tion with the people of the covenant to be identical. In oppo
sition to this, the Psalmist remarks, that only those who are
earnest in their pursuit after holiness, according to the good
pleasure of God, are the true posterity of Jacob, and form the
people of the covenant, who are under the dominion of grace.
The others, notwithstanding their descent from Jacob, belong
not to Jacob, but are heathen, and thus children of wrath. We
may compare, on this point, those passages in which the ungodly
members of the church, in contempt of their pretensions, found
ed on mere external relationship, are addressed as heathen, as
uncircumcised, or specially as Canaanites, or by the name of
some other of the heathen nations: Jeremiah iv. 4; ix. 25; Isa.
i. 10; Ez. xvi. 3, see also the Christol. Part 2, p. 398. In the
New Testament, Rom. ix. 6, 7 is exactly parallel: " for they
are not all Israel which are of Israel." The sudden address
directed to God, who seek thy face, gives additional emphasis

PSALM XXIV. VER. 6, 7. 423
to the declaration, which is uttered as it were in the presence
of God. — According to Stier and others, the true Israel are
here put in the room of those who are descended from Jacob,
according to the flesh : — " whoever, among all nations, inquires
after God, receives the blessing of Abraham, and belongs to
Jacob." But, in reality, we have here nothing more than a pre
liminary step to the idea, " among all nations this is the genera
tion," &c, — we have not yet that idea itself. The only dis
tinction drawn is one among the natural descendants of Jacob,
and the only opinion refuted is this, that the grace of God
is given along with descent from Jacob, and to every one of
his lineal posterity. — The exposition which, to the destruction
of the parallelism, understands Jacob as in apposition, is to
be rejected as harsh and forced : " this, the generation of his
worshippers, those who seek thy face, Jacob, that is, the true
descendants of Jacob :" — the address to God is here render
ed altogether intolerable. The same remark may be made on
the interpretation, " who seek thy face, 0 Jacob, i. e. 0 God of
Jacob," and on the supposition which has been made, that
\77tf has dropped out of the text,
Ver. 7. The procession, with the ark of the covenant, has ap
proached Mount Zion. The Psalmist addresses its gates, and
commands them to open, that the glorious king may enter in.
Lift up ye gates your heads, and be ye lift up ye everlasting doors,
that the King of glory may come. The King of glory is the glo
rious, majestic king. What, in the first instance, is only a poe
tical figure, becomes, within the spiritual domain, a reality.
What the external gates would have done if they had been en
dued with reason, will in reality be performed by hearts which
are capable of comprehending the majesty and the glory of the
approaching king. Here the doors and gates will in reality
open. They will give to the king that wide and ready entrance,
whichformerly they gave to the world and to sin. This application,
which indeed is more than an application, — is really an exposi
tion, — is pointed out by the circumstance, that the command to
open is referred back to its why given by the Psalmist himself.
— Along with the ark of the covenant, the Lord also came in all
the fulness of his glory, and with all the riches of his grace and
justice: compare in reference to the import of the ark of the co
venant, Num. x. 35, 36; Christology, P. 3, p. 523, &c. ' It was
not the mere change of place of a symbol that was then cele-

424

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

brated : it was the bringing in of a new era in the relationship of
God to his people; and the Psalmist took occasion to exhort the
people to know the time of their visitation. Long had the ark
of the covenant been, as it were, resting in the grave: compare
the Beitr. P. 3, p. 48. And now that it rose out of it, now that
the Lord intended to make his habitation among his people, it
was of great consequence for them to receive him in a worthy
manner, that so his arrival might bring upon them not a curse
but a blessing.
Ver. 8. Who is he, the King of glory ? The Lord, strong and
a ivarrior, the Lord mighty in battle. It is certainly more natu
ral to suppose that a second chorus here falls in with the ques
tion, than with others that the Psalmist leaves the gates to put
the question. Even this supposition, however, is unnecessary.
The question is of the same kind with those in verse ,3, and
Ps. xv. 1, and is equivalent to, " Askest thou who he is?" It
is intended merely to awaken attention. Venema : " the in
habitants of Zion were thereby instructed to contemplate with
deep seriousness the properties of the king." The 7? in the
question has, according to several interpreters, the character
of an adverb, " who is there?" and therefore it stands without ¦
the article, and forward, Compare Ewald's Small Grammar, §
446. Others again consider it as a real pronoun. In reference
to the answer, Calvin has the following very important remark:
" the glorious appellations by which the Psalmist extols tho
power of God, are intended to show to the people of the co
venant that God does not sit idly in the temple, but that he is
prepared to help his people, and to stretch out his strong hand
to preserve and to save them." Israel, surrounded by mighty
nations, and as yet a small people, could found his hope of safety
only on the help of his heavenly conquering king. Compare
Ex. xv. 3, Numb. x. 35, 36, and 1 Sam. xvii. 45, where David
says to Goliath, " I come to thee in the name of the Lord of
Hosts, the God of the armies of Israel," and ver. 47, " the battle
is the Lord's, and he will give you into our hands."
Ver. 9. Lift up your heads, ye doors, and lift them up ye ever
lasting gates, that the King of glory may come." The demand is
repeated, with little alteration, for the purpose of bringing after
it a second question, as the first answer has not been sufficient,
has represented only imperfectly themajesty of the King of glory.
Ver. 10. Who is he, the King of glory? The Lord, the Lord

PSALM XXIV. VER. 10. 425
of Hosts, he is the King of glory. Several interpreters, and lat
terly Koester, interpret the Lord of Hosts as equivalent to the
God of battle. But the parallelism to which they appeal in fa
vour of this entirely arbitrary exposition, is decidedly against it.
The " Lord of hosts" must necessarily go beyond the contents of
ver. 8. For otherwise, no reason can be assigned for the repe
tition of the question. The new idea in the contents of verses
9th and 10th, is, that the God who, in the 8th verse, is represent
ed as the hero of the earth, as the God of the earthly hosts,
(Israel had been, even in the pentateuch, spoken of as the host of
God, nin* niNlS, Ex. xii. 41,) is also the God of the heavenly
hosts. He cannot be the first, in the right and full sense, unless
he is also the second, just as he cannot in the full sense be the
God of Israel, unless, he is also the God of the world. What
God is on earth depends upon what he is in heaven. If he has
any who are equal to him there, he is not in the full sense the
King of glory upon earth. The conclusion thus comes back to
the opening strain of the Psalm, where the Lord, in like man
ner, had been praised as the God of the world : and the whole
Psalm, which was intended to call forth in the church a living-
view of the glory of her approaching God, concludes with
that appellation of God which reflects this glory most clearly :
Michaelis: plus enim et majus et brevius quid dicere de eovobis
non possum. — The hosts are always heavenly, and not created
things generally. For in the passage Genesis ii. 1, the heaven,
and the earth is especially to be regarded as equivalent to the
whole world, and the hosts belong to it, according to that passage,
only in one of its two parts. The phrase, heavens and the earth
is unquestionably used in the sense of the universe in Gen. ii. 4,
where man is spoken of as the product of the heavens and the
earth. Just as in the second passage we find attributed to the
heavens what belongs exclusively to the earth, so in the first
mentioned passage, there is attributed to the eartli what belongs
only to the heavens. The heavenly hosts are divided into spi
ritual hosts — the angels, and material — the stars. No one
passage represents the angels as in closer connection with the
stars, than what implies that they together make up the heaven
ly hosts, and the confident assertion of Gesenius: " quippe quas
(the stars) ab angelis geniisque ccclcstibus habitatas esse exis-
timaront," must be rejected as altogether without foundation.
This appellation is, throughout, peculiarly and usually connect-

426

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

ed with the sun, moon, and stars, on account of the opposition
implied to the prevailing Sabeanism, — which contributed very
much to raise the name Jehovah Sabaoth to this sense. — We can
not translate with Gesenius and others, Jehovah of hosts, but
Jehova, of hosts: the general idea God must be drawn out from
the Jehova, as has been adverted to in the Christology, P. 3, p.
218. The reasons are these, 1. nm* is never used as a proper
noun in the status constructus. 2. niNIX 0*77X l"I*n* occurs
in several passages, as Ps. lix. 6 ; lxxx. 5. 3. filtflX *37K oc
curs in Isa. x. 16. 4. K6o/oc, tf<z/3awS occurs in the Septuagint,
and in Rom. ix. 29, and James v. 40, which shows that in a cer
tain manner the niXl!£ was regarded as standing by itself. On
the other hand, those who would isolate Sabaoth completely, and
maintain that it is to be considered just as a name of God, as
Baumgarten has recently done, require to be reminded that it
never occurs except in connection with one of the names of God.
— In the Pentateuch (Gen. ii, 1) there is to be found the origin
of the appellation, but not the appellation itself. That this is not
to be attributed to design on the part of the author, (as might
be said in the case of Ezekiel and Job,) but is to be explained
by the assumption that the word had not yet come into use, is
evident from the fact that it does not occur either in Joshua or
Judges. It would certainly be a very singular circumstance
that the word should be omitted designedly in the three most
ancient historical books.

PSALM XXV.
The Psalm begins and concludes with the prayer for deliverance
from enemies : and this is to be considered as its peculiar theme.
The forgiveness of sins which the Psalmist frequently speaks of
in the middle, is introduced as the ground of the deliverance.
But of moral strength there is no mention made throughout the
Psalm. There are no traces in the contents of any particular occasion
for which the Psalm might be composed; and the prayer on be
half of Israel at the close, is altogether unfavourable to any
such. For the transition from the individual to the whole body
is much easier when the Psalm has, for its object beforehand, to
awaken the godly, when they are pressed hard by their enemies,

PSALM XXV. 427
to hope in the guidance and protection of God. Lastly, the
form in which the Psalm is composed is decidedly against any
particular reference. The alphabetical arrangement, which ob
tains here as in Ps. xxxiv. xxxvii. cxi. cxii. cxix. cxlv., is
throughout adopted in Psalms which are general in their cha
racter, and seems, from its nature, to be suitable only for such.
The superscription announces that David is the author, and
with this announcement the contents of the Psalm are fully ac
cordant. David was peculiarly exposed to sufferings, arising
from enemies, throughout a great part of his life ; and he always
treats this subject with peculiar delight, regarding it, as he seems
to have done, as the main duty of his life to comfort others with
the same consolation wherewith he himself had been comforted
of God. But the alphabetical arrangement has been pleaded as
furnishing some ground for doubt on this point : " this conceit
belongs to a later age of degenerate taste." This might with
as much propriety be said of such poems as " befiel du deine
wege" of P. Gerhardt, and " wie schon leucht uns der Morgen-
stern" of Nikolai, because these poems are characterised by-
such conceits as might not have been expected in such eminent
and powerful writers. One single superscription, assigning an
alphabetical Psalm to David, is entitled to more weight than
this a priori assertion. And there are. several such superscrip
tions. And, besides, there are at least two alphabetical Psalms,
the ix. and x., which, from internal evidence of the strongest
kind, we know were composed by David. Lastly, we deny that
. the alphabetical arrangement ought to be termed " conceit."
It belongs in general to those means which have been adopted
for the purpose of giving to poetical compositions' that character
oi compactness which so essentially belongs to them, and it stands
on the same footing exactly with the parallelism of clauses,
and the strophe arrangement.- It can deserve to be called a
conceit only when it is forced upon resisting materials, (its use be
ing, from the nature of the case, confined within a narrow compass,)
orwhen it is employed in a composition which requires a strict pro
gression of thoughtandfeeling. It occurs, however, at least when
strictly adhered to, only in a particular class of Psalms, those,
namely, in which the effort is obvious to arrange a collection of
individual sayings, which, from beginning to end, bear upon the
same subject, but are presented in different aspects, and always
with new additions. For such Psalms, the alphabetical ar-

428 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
rangement, the procession of thought throughout the whole al
phabet, the symbol of completeness and compactness is exceed
ingly natural. De Wette indeed maintains that the want of
connection is the consequence, not the cause of the alphabetical
arrangement. But on this supposition there are certain obvious
matters of fact which are not explained : the alphabetical ar
rangement does not so completely stand in the way of the con
nection, as to render abortive every attempt, however zealous,
to unite them together. But in the Psalms no such effort is at
all conspicuous. The writers of the Psalms were under the less
necessity of sacrificing the connection for the sake of the alpha
betical arrangement, that they make a much freer use of it than
is observed to have been done among other nations. From this
fact the objection of conceit or constraint may be the more
easily set aside. Even within its own peculiar province, the al
phabetical arrangement is pursued only in so far as it can be
done without any constraint. How little force then there is in
what has been said of the alphabetical arrangement, that it cor
responds to a marked deficiency, is evident from the fact, that
we find it adopted by very different nations, and always in poetry
of a particular kind.
Nothing beyond this, of any consequence, has been adduced
against considering David as the author of the Psalm. For ex
ample, it has been said that the prayer at the close of the
Psalm, for deliverance for Israel out of all his troubles, does not
correspond to the time of David. But it need scarcely be re
marked, that at all times, even the most prosperous, there is ,
enough of trouble, and that our assuming David to be the author
of the Psalm, does not necessarily imply, that we limit its appli
cation to the circumstances of his day.
The low opinions which have been formed as to the merits of
the Psalm, proceed from misunderstanding its peculiar charac
ter and design. As an alphabetical Psalm it is beautiful, and
whoever reads it in the frame of mind in which an alphabetical
Psalm ought to be read, will find it to be both beautiful and edi
fying. The alphabetical arrangement in our Psalm is not strictly ad
hered to. The second verse begins, like the first, with K.and the
2 follows at the second word. The 1 is either omitted, or it oc
curs, not at the beginning, but at the middle of the verse. The
p is altogether wanting. On the other hand, there are two

PSALM XXV. 429
verses which begin with 7. After the last letter J-|, there is a
verse beginning with £), A great many critics, up to Hitzig and
Ewald, have considered it necessary to remove these irregularities
by emendations. But there are many very weighty reasons to be
urged against every such attempt. I. Err6rs of this kind in
alphabetical Psalms are extremely unlikely to occur : the oppo
site may be expected, viz. alterations made by transcribers, with
a view to remove irregularities. 2. Such irregularities occur in
all the alphabetical Psalms without exception. 3. There are
gradations among the deviations in particular Psalms: first, there
are cases in which only a single irregularity occurs, and where,
of course, a critical emendation might, with some appearance
of propriety be made.; second there are cases, such as Ps. ix.
and x., in which nothing more than an attempt at alphabetical
arrangement seems to have been made, and which utterly defy all
efforts of emendatory criticism ; and, lastly, there are cases in
which the alphabetical arrangement is directed, not so much to
the first word as to the number of the verses. The extensive
deviations indicate, that the minor ones are original, and to be
attributed to the author himself. 4. There are special reasons in
the Psalm before us, why no alterations should be attempted.
The omission of the ft is evidently not accidental, as its place is
occupied by 7, the letter following it in the alphabet: the author
did not succeed to his mind either with the p or the 7, and it is
as clear as day that he sacrificed the form to the sense. The
first and the last verses are peculiar, inasmuch as they consist
each of only one clause, while all the other verses contain two ;
they thus stand out, as it were, from the train, for the purpose
of being recognised as the beginning and the end. And it is
natural that they preserve this character, also in reference to
the alphabetical arrangement. The X, although it begins verse
1st, yet as if this were treated in a certain measure, as acciden
tal, is repeated at the beginning of the proper series, in verse 2,
in such a manner, however, as that while it gets, as it were,
what is its due, it has not a whole verse devoted to it, for 2 fol
lows in the second word; the last verse again, which begins with
its 3, (instead of which any other letter would have answered
equally well,) stands altogether out of the alphabetical arrange
ment. Hitzig's attempt to join the *77X of verse 2 to verse 1st,
proceeds from an entire misapprehension of this correspondence
between the beginning and the end of the Psalm ; the same

430 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
remark may be made on his singular hypothesis in reference to
the S.
Ver. 1. To thee, O Lord, I draw my soul. The drawing of
the soul to the Lord, — £^3 NC3, means always to draw the
soul, to draw towards, never to lift, compare Ps. xxiv. 4, and
Deut. xxiv. 15, — signifies the longing of the heart after him.
The soul is wherever the object of its regard is. The more im
mediate object which the Psalmist has in view becomes obvious
in the following verse, where we find him speaking of seeking
help from the Lord. Hence the longing after God, here spoken
of, is the longing after him, as the Saviour, the helper in all
trouble : compare Ps. cxliii. 8, where the drawing of the soul to
God stands in parallel with trusting in him, " Cause me to hear
thy loving-kindness in the morning, for in thee do I trust, cause
me to know the way wherein I should walk, for I draw my soul
to thee." The Psalmist says, that when in distress, he does not,
like the ungodly, draw his soul, at one time, in this direction,
and at another time in that, that he does not seek to catch now
at this, now at that ignis fatuus of human help, but that hegoes
straight with all his desire to God, and that he rests in his pro
tection. In the form of an affirmation there is in reality an ex
hortation expressed : I draw, which is put into the mouth of the
sufferer, in whose name the Psalmist speaks, contains draw in
it. The lively and undivided desire for the help of the Lord, is
the indispensable condition, and at the same time the sure
ground of deliverance.
Ver. 2. My God, I trust in thee, may I not be put to shame,
may not mine enemies rejoice over me. The import is, " there
fore, may I not," &c. The trust in God of this verse corre
sponds to the drawing the soul to him of the preceding verse.
The Psalmist grounds his prayer for deliverance on the general
truth, that that man shall not be put to shame who hopes in
God : the maxim, " that whoever puts his confidence in God
shall not be forsaken," is the ground of his hope, his confidence,
and his joy. This maxim, from which he draws an inference,
applicable to his special case, is expressly announced in ver. 3.
Ver. 3. Yea, all who wait on thee, shall be kept from being put
to shame, those shall be put to shame who act perfidiously without
cause. The waiting corresponds to the drawing oi the soul to
the Lord, and to the trusting in him of the preceding verses.
The yea, which, from superficial observation, many have supposed

PSALM XXV. VER, 3. 431
to be dragged in for the sake of the alphabetical arrangement,
indicates that the sufferer makes mention of nothing peculiar
for himself, but only of what is common to all who are in the
same circumstances. It is only when this " yea" can be uttered
that the prayer has a solid foundation. The futures are not, ac
cording to many interpreters, to be considered as optatives, (this
would give to the verse a very insipid character); they give ut
terance to a general truth. The 732 has its usual sense, to act
perfidiously. The perfidiousness is such as is perpetrated not
against God, but against our neighbour. Perfidiousness compre
hended every violation of duty towards one's neighbour. For
there existed a brotherly relationship among all the members of
the church of God, all were descended from the same bodily
and spiritual race, all were interested in the covenant, and
all had vowed not only love to God, but also love to each
other. And perfidiousness was the want of this due and pro
mised love. Perfidiousness, moreover, might be seen in the
violation of some particular relationship arising out of what was
general in its origin. Compare Ps. xii. 9. The highest degree
of the wickedness is here spoken of, where fidelity is violated with
out a cause, — D*P7> without any provocation on the other side, —
where perfidiousness is practised against the faithful. — Many ex
positors have been led to adopt a false meaning, from the idea
that, as there is no suitable contrast between those who wait on
God and the perfidious, the perfidiousness must be that which
has God for its object. But there is nothing in this : for hope
in God is grounded on a good conscience, — the man who is not
faithful to his neighbour cannot trust in the help of God, — as
often as he attempts to do so, he meets with the terrible reply,
" Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity." We are prevented
from considering God as the object of the perfidiousness, by the
expression, " without cause," which is properly " empty," and
secondarily, " without ground," as when we speak of " empty,"
that is, " groundless excuses," and stands in the same connection
as it does in those clauses which speak of the unprovoked viola
tion of duty towards a neighbour in Ps. vii. 4 : compare the cor
responding D37 *N3EJ> in Ps. Ixix. 4. In these passages, " with
out a cause,"cannot refer to God — the expressions there explain
themselves. Q*p7 signifies " thoughtless," "wicked," or, "in
a vain worthless way," and may be taken as a verbal proof of
the Davidic origin of our Psalm, as it occurs nowhere else in a

432 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
similar connection except in Ps. vii. 4. The expression, " mine
enemies," in verse 2, is decisive as to the reference of the'clause,
who are " perfidious without a cause :" let me who trust in thee,
not be ashamed, for all who wait on. thee are kept from being
put to shame ; let mine enemies not triumph over me, for all,
who, like mine enemies, are perfidious without a cause, are de
barred from triumphing, and shall be put to shame : and it would
be a turning of the tables if thou wert to permit them to tri
umph and me to be put to shame. Finally, the expression at
the 19th verse, " they hate ine with cruel hatred," is all the
more deserving of being compared with the one before us, that
it is impossible to fail to observe the correspondence between
the beginning and the conclusion of the Psalm.
Ver. 4. Make known to me thy ways, O Lord teach me thy paths.
Expositors generally understand by " the ways and paths of the
Lord," " that manner, of life which is well pleasing to him." The
Psalmist on this supposition, prays for instruction and 'guidance
tbat he may walk worthily in these ways. But it is much more
correct to suppose that the Psalmist is here repeating in other
words the prayer which he had already uttered in the preceding
verse, and that the ways of God are the ways of deliverance
which he makes known to his own, that they may walk in them
— a limitation which results from the person of the speaker : the
Psalmist is not speaking of the ways of God generally, but only
for godly sufferers, and these, according to his being and
word, can be none other than the ways of deliverance.
That this interpretation is the correct one, is clear 'from
the connection, which would be broken in an unpleasant man
ner by the prayer for moral guidance — also from the circum
stance, that in the xxxiv. Psalm, which is nearly related to
the one before us, the prayer is only for the protection of God
in trouble. It is still further clear from the for in the 5th verse,
" teach me thy way, and lead me in it, for thou art the God of
my deliverance." It is impossible to do justice to this for in
any other way than by supposing that the making known of
the ways and the guidance in them, indicate nothing else than
safety and deliverance. How strong this proof is, is evident
from the remark of De Wette : " that the second clause of this
verse is not strictly connected (according to his exposition) with
what goes before, (and yet the *2 shows that such a connection
must necessarily exist), and that we must not give to ' my God of

PSALM XXV. VER. 5, 6. 433
salvation' too exact an interpretation !" Further, the tenth verse
is in favour of this exposition, where, as is undeniable and gene
rally allowed, " the ways" are " those in which he leads his own."
Compare " all his ways are truth" in Deut. xxxii. 4. In like
manner also ver. 9. >
Ver. 5. Lead me in thy truth and teach me, for thou art the
God of my salvation, I wait on thee continually. Most exposi
tors consider " in thy truth," as equivalent to " in true godliness,
which is well pleasing to thee," or even (Hitzig) " in fidelity to
thee." But this view is opposed, in the first place, by the *1,
to which we have already adverted in exposing the false. inter
pretation put upon the preceding verse. Secondly, n*n* T\l2a
is always, " the truth and faithfulness which belongs to God,"
and never, " the truth which he desires, and which is well pleas
ing to him," or " faithfulness towards him." Compare Ps. xxx.
10 ; lxxi. 22 ; xci. 4. Lastly, this exposition is opposed by the
9th verse : " all the ways of the Lord are grace and truth."
Here, as in the above-mentioned, and in all other passages, " the
truth of God" is " his faithfulness in fulfilling his promises." In
so far as this should be exhibited in the experience of the Psalm
ist, he represents it as the way in which he prays that God would
lead him, (the 7777 generally with the 2 of the way in which one
is led,) just as he says in ver. 9, " the meek God leads in
righteousness, in the paths of the same." Compare also Ps.
xxvi. 3. After the words " teach me," we must supply " thy
truth, let me know it in my experience." It appears that
the 1 here stands instead of a vau at the beginning of a verse,
where it could not have been conveniently placed, and that the
Psalmist, for the purpose of rendering this obvious, repeats a
word which he had already used, and introduces it in an abrupt
manner : the strange appearance of the *7J37 is certainly fitted
to lead us to suppose that it has its place here from regard to
the alphabetical arrangement. The reason assigned in the se
cond clause of the verse, applies equally to the preceding verse,
as to the first clause of this one. God must undertake for the
Psalmist, because he is his Saviour, and the only ground of his
hope. Ver. 6. Remember thy tender mercies, O Lord, and thy
favours, for they are from eternity. God cannot be unlike him
self, he cannot renounce his character. Love and goodness have
been his attributes from eternity, he has always had compassion
2 F

434 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
on his own people, as a father has on his children, and therefore
he cannot do otherwise than make the Psalmist, who is one of
his children, partaker of his love and pity.
Ver. 7. Remember not the sins of my youth, and my transgres
sions, according to thy grace remember me for thy goodness sake,
O Lord. Calvin explains as follows, the connection with the
preceding verse : " Because our sins raise up a partition wall
between us and God, so that he does not hear our wishes^
or stretch out his hand to help us, David now takes this
obstacle out of the way. He acknowledges that he cannot
otherwise, than by having his sins forgiven, be made partaker
of the favour of God." But the forgiveness of sin is rather that
in which God first makes known that favour and pity, for the
manifestation of which the Psalmist had prayed in the preced
ing verse. If he has really become partaker of this, salvation
and deliverance will follow as a matter of course. God remem
bers his tender mercies, for he cannot do otherwise, since they
have dwelt with him from eternity, and therefore he cannot re
member the sins of the Psalmist's youth, for to remember them
would be to give scope to his strict justice, and not to his tender
mercy. The Psalmist makes mention of his sins of youths not
as if he were now an immaculate saint, but because in youth the
power of original corruption is particularly strong : my sins, in
which my youth particularly was so rich. Luther : " For youth
is not fit for virtue, or for anything that is good, because the
blood is still too young and fresh, it cannot govern itself, or
think of anything that is useful or good. For if any one will
allow a youth to grow up, and do as he likes, he will become
quite a devil before one is aware what he is doing, as has been
already experienced." Compare Job xiii. 26; 2 Tim. ii. 22. That
the temptations to sin are strong in youth, is obvious, not only
in the case of individuals, but also in that of nations. Moses re
minds the Israelites, (Deut. ix. 7), that they had provoked the
Lord from the day that he had led them out of Egypt, and then
represents to them, in detail, the sins of their youth. It is all
the more important to make this remark, that the Psalm* ac
cording to its conclusion, is intended not only for individual
members, but also for the whole body of the church. The
" transgressions" is a stronger word than " sins;" the climax
implies that the Psalmist acknowledged the whole magnitude,
and all the aggravations of his transgressions. In the words,

PSALM XXV. VER. 8. 435
" think on me according to thy grace." The Psalmist prays not
that God would act towards him in an arbitrary manner, but,
like every pious suppliant, that he would act according to the
necessity of his own being. The strict and inexorable right
eousness of God comes into operation in regard to those only who
are without the covenant and the promises. God must remem
ber his own children, according to his grace. " For thy good
ness' sake," points to this necessity in the being of God. This
is the ground in God from which the fulfilment of the prayer
proceeds; because thou art good, and therefore canst not be
severe and relentless towards the weakness of thy people. If
God were not good, it would be in vain to offer up to him such
a prayer as this.
Ver. 8. Good and upright is the Lord, therefore does he teach
sinners the way. The Psalmist, in the passage from ver. 8 — 10,
in following up " for thy goodness' sake," enters upon the con
sideration of the Divine perfections, for the purpose of obtaining
thereby renewed confidence in God's compassion, and new zeal
in prayer. The principles on which the early petitions depend,
are here developed. Vitringa, at the fundamental passage, Deut.
xxxii. 4, has some very important observations upon 7C*, UP~
right, in so far as it is used in reference to God. It denotes
agreement between the Divine being and actions on the one
hand, and the idea of what is good or Divine on the other, per-
inde ac architectis rectum dicitur quod exactum est ad librarn
aut calamum. Vitringa observes, that in this 7^* there was
made known the true idea of God, which the popular and my
thic theology of tbe Gentiles had corrupted, and remarks, " that
in speaking of the operations of Divine providence, we ought to
take great care lest we entertain of God the blasphemous and
absurd idea that he can do anything which is inconsistent with
right reason, equity and purity." God because not good, would
not even be upright, were he to fail to assist his own people in
spite of their sins of infirmity. The clause, he teaches the way,
properly he instructs in the way, (which explains the construc
tion with 2> which occurs instead of the usual construction with
the accusative also in Ps. xxxii. 8), is equivalent to, he is their
leader in the path of life, their helper, their protection. We can
not, as most interpreters do, consider the words as having any
reference whatever to moral instruction. This idea is opposed
by the relation in which they stand to what gpes before, and to

436 THE BOOK OF PSALMS. i
what follows. The Psalmist merely expresses in this verse in
the form of a general affirmation, that the regular course of God's
procedure was to grant what he had there besought from God
for himself, and which he will still, beseech from him. The
verse before us stands in the same relation to the passage ver.
4 — 7, as ver. 3 does to ver. I and 2. But in ver. 4 — 7, the
language is not concerning moral instruction, but concerning
forgiveness of sin and salvation. God'helps sinners; that is, he
helps his people though they are sinners : the expression is not
the sinners: there is also an important difference between Q*Nt37
and 0*yS2>5 or 0*tf£J>7 : the import of the whole is this, " there
is a necessary out-going of the goodness and righteousness of
God towards his own people in spite of their sins; and this tends
to the praise of these attributes."
Ver. 9. He guides the meek in righteousness, and teaches the
meek his way. Calvin misinterprets this clause : " He speaks
here of the second favour which the Lord imparts to his believing
people, after that they have become the willing subjects of his
kingdom." According to the correct exposition, the Psalmist
speaks here of the same favour of which he had spoken in the
preceding verses. There, as here, the subject is the imparting
of help and salvation. The meek here, are the sinners of the
preceding verse, from which again it is evident what sort of sin
ners it is that we are to think about, those, namely, who are at
the same time meek. He leads them in righteousness, that is,
he gives to them, who do not oppose might with might, justice
against their oppressors. The righteousness appears here like a
road along which God leads his people, like the truth oi the 4th
verse. The abbreviated future 777* stands in the sense of the
usualform. The whole verse ex presses the truth on the foundation
of which the prayer of the 4th verse rises, and as it is evident that
it refers to what takes place, or whathappens to one. that it is altoge:
ther inadmissable to think of moral instruction and guidance there.
Ver. 10. All the ways of the Lord are grace and truth to those
who keep his covenant and his testimonies. Calvin : " The sum
is, God acts in such a manner towards his faithful people as that
they experience him, at all points, to be gracious and true."
The keeping of the covenant and the testimonies stands, accord
ing to the 8th verse, in opposition to bold and wilful transgres
sions. Sins of infirmity cannot deprive a man of interest in the
promises of the covenant. The covenant itself provides for them

PSALM XXV. VER. 11—13. 437
the means of expiation and forgiveness, when they are confessed
and repented of.
Ver. IL For thy name's sake, O Lord, thus wilt thou forgive
mine iniquity for it is great. The 1 in *n77D1 is what is term
ed the vau conversivum of the future, or, according to Ewald,
p. 551, Sm. Gr. 613, the vau relative of the first mode. " On
account of thy name " is " on account of thy being." The
name of Jehovah, — grown up out of his manifestations, — brings
before the mind for contemplation all that Jehovah is, renders
present his whole historical character. It is the goodness and
righteousness of God, according to ver. 8, that comes here par
ticularly into notice, according to which, he cannot do otherwise
than open up to his own people the fountain of forgiveness.
Luther : " We have a throne of grace for sin, so that our Lord
God must straightway shut his eyes and say, as it stands in Ps.
xxxii. 1, Blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth not his
sin. This is our theology, as we pray in the petition of the Lord's
prayer, forgive us our sins; from this we know that we live only
under grace. Grace, however, does not only take away sin, it also
bears with it and endures it; this is the import of the throne of
grace." De Wette is mistaken : " an opposition, — -not for my sake,
not on account of any merit of mine." The Psalmist cannot be ex
cluding his own merit as the ground of forgiveness of sin, for he
is not thinking about it. The opposition is rather this: because
thou art good and upright, do not take vengeance on mine ini
quity with inexorable severity, but forgive it. The words, " for
it is great," form the ground of the Psalmist's prayer for forgive
ness. His iniquity is so great that he must be irremediably lost
if God were to deal with him according to his works.
Ver. 12. Who is the man who fears the Lord ? He teaches him
the way which he may choose. The " who is the man," ex
presses the sense that wherever there is such a one, he shall
not fail of the gracious guidance of God, and that the fear of
the Lord and deliverance axe inseparably, and without exception,
bound together. The way here also, as what follows suffi
ciently shows, is not to be understood in a moral sense. The
fearers of God have in their journey through life a faithful lead
er and guide ; the Lord points out to them the way of deliver
ance. The ungodly, on the other hand, left to themselves,
choose the way of destruction ; they run upon their own ruin.
Ver. 13. His soul spends the night in good, and his seed pos-

438 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
sesses the land. The soul of the God-fearing man, is his own
person in opposition to his posterity. To spend the night in
good is to enjoy an enduring prosperity. The second clause al
ludes to those passages in the law in which the Lord promises to
his people lasting possession of Canaan, provided they continue
in the fear of God : compare, for example, Ex. xx. 12; Lev. xxvi.;
Deut. xxviii. While the ungodly, with their posterity, are root
ed out from among their people, the promise is fulfilled to the
godly and to their posterity who resemble them. The |*7K, with
the poetical omission of the article, stands for the land of Canaan.
As the land is here used only as an example individualizing the
Divine blessings attendant on faithfulness to the covenant, it is
easy, to separate, without any fear of misunderstanding, the
general substance of the thought, — the enjoyment of Divine
blessings, of salvation, — from its special Old Testament dress.
Our Lord quotes the passage in this way in Matt. v. 5.
Ver. 14. The friendship of the L*ord is with them that fear him,
and he makes known to them his covenant. At the first clause
compare Prov. iii. 32 : " The ungodly is abomination to the
Lord, but his intimate friendship is with the righteous;" mt3
Job xxix. 4. The second clause, literally, " his covenant is,for
to make known to them," is " designed to be made known to
them." Comp. on the infinitive with 7 Ewald, p. 621, Sm. Gr.
544. Or it may be thus expounded: " his covenant is for the
fearers of God, that he may make it known to them." The
making known of the covenant is not inwardly, it takes place
in matters of fact, through the events of their history, in which
the covenant-relation is realized. Several expositors, in oppo
sition to the parallelism, the connection, and the usage of the
terms, suppose the Psalmist to be speaking of insight into the
meaning of the law.
Ver. 15. Mine eyes look always towards the Lord, for he takes
my feet out of the net. Compare Ps. ix. 15.
Ver. 16. Turn thyself to me, and be gracious to me, for I am
lonely and miserable.
Ver. 17. The troubles of my heart they enlarge, bring me out
cf my distresses. The 77X is properly " narrowness." We
cannot take 11*777 in an intransitive Sense. The many who
oppress the Psalmist, stand over against the one from whom he
can hope for deliverance. In reality, the enemies and haters
(comp. the 19th verse) are the subject ; but the circumstance

PSALM XXV. VER. 18—22. 439
that they are not named expressly as such, increases the em
phasis. All were sworn against the Psalmist ; compare the 7*7*
of the preceding verse, out of which the subject is to be taken.
Several interpreters, and lastly, Hitzig, would alter the text.
They take the ) from the end of 11777, and join it to the next
word, and point 1777 : make wide the straitnesses of my heart.
But one does not see how the more easy could ever be supplant
ed by the more difficult reading. There is in the mere descrip
tion of the greatness of the trouble in the first clause, a stronger
cry to God for help, than if the cry had been at the same time
expressed. The first clause of this verse corresponds exactly to
the second of the preceding, and the second to the first. On
an attentive consideration, it is obvious that this arbitrary alte
ration will not give a suitable sense, as the troubles do not ad
mit of being enlarged.
Ver. 18. See my misery and suffering, and forgive all my sins.
The 7 is not the mark of the accusative, but is properly to be
tran slated forgive, grant forgiveness to all my sins.
Ver. 19. See my enemies for they are many, and they hate me
with unrighteous hatred. God sees first, and therefore he can
not but help : but that he should see and not further overlook,
is rendered necessary from their great numbers and malicious
wickedness. Ver. 20. Keep my soul and deliver me, let me not be ashamed
for I trust in thee. Muis: " An important ground: — otherwise
I would have trusted in thee in vain. The glory of God de
mands that he help."
Ver. 21. Blamelessness and uprightness shall preserve me, for
I hope in thee, who helpest the upright. Otherwise the expec
tation that salvation shall follow uprightness would be a foolish
one. Luther : " simple and right, i. e. because I am upright
and without blame in my life."
Ver. 22. Redeem, O God, Israel out of all his troubles. This
verse, which Rosenmiiller supposes to have been added at a la
ter period, is obviously intended to be a closing verse, from the
circumstance of its containing only one clause. It has this in
common with the first verse, which, in like manner, stands out
of the alphabetical arrangement, as the second verse also begins
with K- The first verse begins with a, that the Psalm might
have, as it were, the signature of an alphabetical one on its fore
head, and inasmuch as the X gets thus only a part of its rights,

440

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

it has assigned to it the first word of tbe second verse. The
transition from the prayer, in regard to the necessities of the in
dividual, to one on behalf of the whole church, is all the more
easy, that the Psalm throughout has no special application,
There is a similar conclusion in Ps. xxxiv. 23. — Elohim, the
general name of God, is used here, although Jehovah had been
used throughout the Psalm, because Israel is destitute of all
human help. The opposition which this called forth is expressly
announced in the preceding context.

PSALM XXVI.
The Psalmist begins at ver. 1, with the prayer to God for help
in trouble, which he grounds on his active moral aims, and his
unfeigned piety, especially his trust in God. He then turns
first, in ver. 2 — 8, to expand this basis of his prayer : his heart
is pure, and need not fear the strictest scrutiny, for (as the
expansion of, l.have trusted in the Lord) he has had the love of
God and the faithfulness of God always before his eyes and in
his heart, and in regard to them, (/ have walked in mine inte
grity), he has shunned every intercourse with the wicked in their
wickedness : towards his neighbour he has acted blamelessly,
and towards God his heart is filled with fear and love. After
this, the development of the prayer concludes the Psalm :
that God would not, as regards community of outward events,
join him with those from whom he has been inwardly separated:
that he would not give him over like the wicked to death. He
obtains, in ver. 12, the confidence of being heard in this prayer,
so that, at the conclusion, he is able to give utterance to a pur
pose expressive of the most assured confidence of salvation — to
thank God.
We have thus an introductory and a concluding verse, and two
main divisions. All the remarkable numbers of the Old Testa
ment we here find brought into use. The whole Psalm has
twelve verses, the main body is complete in ten, the first divi
sion of this main body, containing the description of the fulfil
ment of the duties of the covenant, (comp. Ps. xxv. 10, such as
keep his covenant,) in seven, the number of the Covenant, and the
second division, containing the prayer for the blessing of the
covenant, in three, the number of the Mosaic blessing.

PSALM xxvi. 441
The situation of the Psalmist, and the import of the Psalm,
have been completely misunderstood by the recent expositors.
Thus De Wette remarks: " the prayer in ver. 9 has no special
reference, but merely means, that when God sits in judgment
and inflicts punishments, that he will exempt the Psalmist from
these;" and Ewald concludes from the same verse, " that the
Psalm was composed on the occasion of a pestilence." The situ
ation is not that of one who fears misery, it is that of one who
finds himself already in misery; the prayer is not one for protec
tion before misery, but for deliverance out of misery, and for
defence against utter destruction, against those annihilating
punishments which belong only to the wicked, while of the
righteous it is said, " God afflicteth me sore, but he does not
give ine over to destruction." There is not a word throughout
the whole Psalm of general judgments or pestilences. That this
is the correct view, is evident from the first word judge me, that
is, " interpose to give me justice, deliver me from a condition in
which, if it were to be regarded as permanent, it would be un
righteous to suffer me to remain." The prayer for the judgment
of God always proceeds from such as are already in misery. It is
still further evident from the 11th verse, deliver me, or redeem
me, after which De Wette inaccurately supplies the words, from
threatened judgment, and also from the clause, have mercy on me.
The same use may be made of the first clause of the concluding
verse, my foot standeth in an even place, which implies that
hitherto the Psalmist had been standing on difficult and dange
rous ground.
All attempts to find out an individual application for our
Psalm, or to mark out any historical circumstances, with which
it may be connected, have utterly failed. Thus Ewald, from
the strong language used in drawing the contrast between the
wicked and the righteous, is of opinion that it was composed at
a late period, and from ver. 6 — 8, that it was composed in the
temple. The circumstance, that it has been found impossible
to define the trouble, and that the language used is manifestly
and designedly as general as it could possibly be, is sufficient to
show that the Psalmist speaks in the name, and out of the soul
of the righteous man. If this be established, it is also clear that
the Psalm is of a hortatory character. The theme is this :
" Only he who can with truth say, / have walked in mine inte
grity, and I have trusted in the Lord, may depend upon Divine
aid in trouble, but he may do so with full confidence." The

442 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
general tendency is also clear from the connection with Psalm
xxv. In pointing out the general character of our Psalm, we also
remove an objection which Koster has drawn from the graphic
descriptions, and from the uniform division of the verses into two
parts, against its Davidic origin. Its origin is fully confirmed,
not only by the superscription, but also by its manifest relation*
ship to Ps. xvii., xviii. 21, xv. and xxiv.
The manifest resemblance between the clause, judge me, 0
God, for I have walked in mine integrity, at the beginning of
our Psalm, and the one, integrity and uprightness shall pre
serve me near the close of Ps. xxv., is sufficient to lead to the
idea, that the two Psalms are very nearly related to each other.
This idea is confirmed by the similarity between them as to for
mal arrangement; in Ps. xxv. we have, 1. 20. 1., — an introduc
tory verse, two decades, and a concluding verse, — and in the
Psalm before us, 1. 10. 1. Perhaps also in the 25th Psalm, the
effort not to go beyond the number 20, may have been the cause
why the 1 and the p were omitted. Along with this outward
similarity, there is an inward resemblance of the closest kind.
The contents of the one Psalm supplement those of the other.
In the one Psalm, the suffering righteous man is directed to
seek refuge in the Divine compassion, which secures forgiveness
for manifold sins of infirmity: in the other, again, he is led, from
a consideration of the Divine righteousness, which must make a
distinction between the righteous and the wicked, to entertain
the firm hope of deliverance. We have, therefore, before us a
pair of Psalms, which point to the compassion and the right
eousness of God, as the two foundations on which the Lord's
people may rest a confident hope of deliverance. The two are
connected, as it were, by a bridge; the idea which occupied a
subordinate position near the conclusion of the one Psalm, being
brought prominently forward, and having the first place assigned
to it in the other.

Ver. 1. Judge me, 0 Lord, for I have walked in mine integri
ty; and I have trusted in the Lord, therefore may I not slide.
The two members of this verse are parallel to each other. /
walk in mine integrity, corresponds to, I trust in the Lord: and
judge me, to may I not slide. < In each member there is contained
the description of a subjective condition, and a prayer grounded

PSALM XXVI. VER. 1. 443
on that condition. This manifest parallelism would be destroyed,
were we, with most recent expositors, to translate: " and I trust
in the Lord without sliding." Against this interpretation,
moreover, we may urge : 1st, That to slide occurs frequently in
the sense of to fall to the ground, Job xii. 3 ; Ps. xviii. 36 ;
xxxvii. 31, while there is no such expression any where else, as
to slide in trusting in God. 2d, I have trusted in the Lord, is
not at all a suitable expression in an address to God. 3d, My
foot standeth in an even place, at the close of the Psalm, an
nounces that the prayer, may I not slide, has been heard, just
as, I shall praise the Lord, implies that an answer has been re
ceived to judge me, O God.— Judge me is in the mouth of a
righteous man equivalent to help me. For if God takes up the
cause of such a one, he must decide it in his favour. Only he
can say, help me, in confidence of being heard, who can with a
good conscience also change help me into judge me. That the
Dn is more than openness or sincerity, that it denotes moral
blamelessness, and purity in all its extent, is evident from its
development (4 — 6), and from its opposite in verse 10: compare
also the similar Psalm ci. This is also the fundamental mean
ing. In 1 Kings xxii. 34, the word is used in an improper or
popular sense. To walk is to act. The blamelessness of the
Psalmist, is that in which his conduct rests, the guiding princi
ple of his life. The blamelessness of the Psalmist is the pro
perty, the character, the walk, the experience marked by it. ,
Hence it appears that the suffix in mine integrity is by no means
superfluous, as it must be considered as equivalent to, in thein-
tegrity to which I have been accustomed. — To walk in integrity
has reference to the commandments of the second table, and to
trust in the Lord to those of the first. To walk in integrity is
co-ordinate with to trust in the Lord, only in the sense in which the
commandment to love our neighbour is co-ordinate with the com
mandment to love God, in Matth. xxii. 39. Trust in God is the
fountain of integrity. Whoever places his hope in God need not
seek to advance his worldly interests by violating his duty to
wards his neighbour: he waits for every thing from above, and is,
at the same time, always determined that he will not be deprived
of the favour of his heavenly Father through violating his com
mandments. There follows now, in verses 2 — 8, the development oilhave
walked in integrity, and trusted in the Lord. The Psalmist first
affirms the cleanness and the purity of his heart, verse 2; then

444 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
he grounds this affirmation, verses 3 — 8, in which he first'
descends from piety to morality, verses 3 — 5, and then comes
back again from morality to piety as at verse 1. The first
division of the Psalm, which is complete in seven verses, has thus
a threefold division within itself, an introduction, and two
strophes, each of the latter consisting of three verses. The
thrice-repeated name of Jehovah is in unison with this.
Ver. 2. Prove me, 0 Lord, and try me, for my heart and my
reins are purified. The Psalmist had, in the preceding verse,
grounded his prayer for help on his trust in God, and on his
integrity. But these could form a good basis for prayer, only
if they were true, unfeigned, heartfelt ; for as every thing de-,
pends on the heart, it is at it that the law points .expressively.
In order, then, to represent them as such, the Psalmist calls upon
God to try his innermost heart, and affirms that this trial will'
be most satisfactory in its results. Ps. xvii. 3 is exactly par
allel. The reading in the text is 7£17¥, the part, paul., my
reins and my heart are purified. The union of the feminine
singular with the plural is quite common : compare Mich. i.
9, Ew. Sm. Gr. p. 568. The connection with the first clause
may either be thus explained: the Psalmist confidently exhorts
God to make trial: — for his heart has been purified, so that the
trial cannot but be satisfactory to him, — when thou makest the
trial, thou shalt find, &c. Or we may consider the two clauses
as simply co-ordinate, and the first, in this sense, / need not fear
the strictest scrutiny. The reading on the margin, 737X, the
T : t
imperative is a mere conjecture, and is indebted for its exist
ence only to the effort to effect a conformity between the two
clauses. The textual reading is favoured by the for at the be
ginning of the following verse, which, with the marginal reading,
could not be so easily explained.
Ver. 3. For thy loving-kindness was before my eyes, and I
walked in thy truth. The for refers, not only to our verse, but
to the whole section, verses 3 — 8, the object of which is to esta
blish the assertion of the Psalmist that he did not fear the
strictest scrutiny, because (or, and that) his heart is puri
fied. To a purified heart there belongs first sincere piety ;
this the Psalmist claims for himself, here and towards the end of
this section, in the second half of verse 6, and in verses 7 and 8.
The second part of purity of heart is true righteousness ; this
comes into notice in verses 4, 5, and the first half of verse 6.

PSALM XXVI. VER. 4. 445
The copiousness in regard to piety in the second strophe, corre
sponds to the brevity on. the same subject in the first. The
•Psalmist designedly begins and ends with piety : the righteous
ness, which is in this way enclosed within it, proceeds from it,
and is its outward manifestation. The import of I have walked
in thy truth, is obvious from the parallel, thy love was before my
eyes, i. e. I have always kept my eyes fixed upon thy love. Hence
the truth of God, — his faithfulness to his promises, — is the do
main within which the Psalmist spiritually moves, — the territory
on which he walks: — I continually thought upon the truth.
The inward connection between morality and piety is here laid
open. Whoever has the love of God before his eyes, and his
truth in his heart, or, in one word, whoever trusts in God, (for
vour verse is only the development of I have trusted in the Lord,
ver. 1,) will not sit with men of falsehood, &c. Wherever the
consciousness of the grace and faithfulness of God rules the
life, the man will quietly expect from on high that which one
living without God in the world, and acting under the impulse of
his own strong natural desire for enjoyment, will endeavour to
take at his own hand, and through the violation of the holy
commandments of God.— Expositions such as those of Hitzig,
for love of thee was before mine eyes, and I have walked in faith
fulness to thee, disappear of themselves, as soon as we get a real
insight into the strophe arrangement of the Psalm. Besides,
H!3X is not faithfulness, 7in* 7D7 is always the love of God
never love to God, (compare Psalm v. 8,) and nin* Itia is al
ways the truth of God, compare Psalm xxv. 5. It will not do,
with Maurer and others, to understand by the truth of God, his
commandments, because 7D7 and fifiN always refer, when used
in this connection, to the love of God, and to his faithfulness in
keeping his promises. Lastly, we cannot translate with Muis :
" I have thy love and truth always before me as an example."
For the love and the faithfulness of God are never brought be
fore us as a pattern or example, but always only as a ground of
confidence.
• - Ver. 4. I sat not with men of falsehood, and with dissemblers
I do not come. The change of tense is to be carefully observed.
The preterite indicates what the Psalmist had hitherto done, the
future, what he would take care to do. It is not without de
sign that the Psalmist begins with falsehood. The conviction of
the truth of God removes from him all temptation to be untrue.

446 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
This reference to the preceding verse clearly requires us to un
derstand the X1fcJ> in its usual sense of " lying," " falsehood."
We cannot, therefore, with Hitzig, translate it by crime, nor
with others, by vanity, worthlessness : the parallel term is also
against all such renderings, Q*/l75*3 dissemblers, qui frontem
aperiunt, mentem tegunt. After / do not come, we are to under
stand, to their meeting or assembly, which is very easily supplied
out of the first clause. Compare Genesis xlix. 6.— Ver. 5. 1 hated
the assembly of the evil doers, and with the wicked I do not sit.
The import is: "I take no part in the assemblies for the ruin
of others." In ver. 4 also, the " sitting," and the " coming," do
not refer to intercourse and conversation generally, but to some
one common subject.
Ver. 6. I wash mine hands in innocency, and I shall compass
thine altar, O Lord. The threefold Jehova of the section is so
divided, that it opens it, and concludes it, and stands here in
the first verse of the second strophe,— the strophe of the ascent
from morality to piety. The hands come in, in the first clause,
as the instruments of action : the innocence is the spiritual wa
ter, compare Psalm lxxii. 13, where the washing of the hands in
innocency, corresponds to cleansing the heart, Job ix. 30, where,
instead of innocency, there stands snow-water, and Deut. xxi. 6,,
and Matt, xxvii. 34, where the hands were washed in protesta
tion of innocence. The Psalmist describes himself as one inte
ger vitse scelerisque purus. — The second clause is translated by
Gesenius and others : " I go round about thy altar." But HID
never occurs in the sense of " to go round any thing." And be
sides, we know nothing about going round the altar. Luther
seized the true sense: " I hold fast by thine altar, 0 Lord." To
encompass, is used of a single individual, in the sense of connec
tion with, or strong attachment to: compare Jer. xxxi. 22: see
on the passage the Christology, P. III. p. 567. The altar of the
Lord, which the Psalmist approaches, is placed in opposition to
the assembly of the wicked, which he shuns. The fut. parag.
may very suitably be taken in its usual sense : " I will encom
pass." As the Psalmist had done it hitherto, so is he deter- •
mined to continue to do it in future. The changes of the pre
terite, of the commoh future, and of the paragogic future, are
assuredly not accidental, and must not be overlooked. — De
Wette does not seem to have had a correct view of the contents
of this verse: "next to pure morality, the poet is a zealous ob-

PSALM XXVI. VER. 7, 8. 447
server of religious rites." To this it may be replied, it is not
the outward worship of God, as such, that is referred to in the
clause, I have trusted in God, of which the passage before us is
merely the development. The verse, moreover, is connected
with the one following, and from that verse it is obvious that the
object which the Psalmist has in view in coming to God's altar,
the thing which brings him there, is not that he may offer out
ward sacrifices, (this, as a matter of inferior moment, is assuredly
not thought of) as if they were meritorious in themselves, but
that he may bless and praise God, and may express his trust in
him in the place consecrated to his service, and in the presence
of his church. Thus the expression, / encompass thine altar, is
very suitable after my heart has been purified, and stands related,
as is obviously designed by the Psalmist, as cause to effect, to /
wash my hands in innocency.
Ver. 7. That I may cause the voice of praise to be heard, and
may make known all thy wonders. There is no reason for trans
lating $**23t2>7, contracted for J**23^n7} contrary to the usual
import of the infinitive with 7, by while I sound. Though the
construction of J**J32?n, followed by 2, cannot without difficulty
admit of the sense of sounding, there is no objection here, as in
Exodus xxvii. 30, to take the sense of to cause to be heard, to
cause that others hear, with 2 as the instr. 2- The wonders of
the Lord, the manifestations of his glory in guiding Israel, and
especially the Psalmist, form the subject of the praise. Only
he whose heart is so full of these wonders, that his mouth can
not refrain from uttering them, can offer up, in a manner worthy
of being heard, the prayer, judge me, 0 Lord, and shall be made
to share in new wonders. For wonders are designed onlyfor trust,
and trust calls forth praise and thanks.
Ver. 8. 0 Lord, I loved the place of thine house, and the place
where thine honour dwelleth. The Psalmist proceeds to show
that he has approved himself, through fulfilling the command
ments of the first table, as one to whom the help of God belongs.
The" sum of this in the law is love to God, and this love is direct
ed not to a distant and abstract God, but to one made known
to his people, and dwelling in the midst of them: just as
a Christian can love God only in Christ, so under the Old
Testament, love to God was at the same time love to the
place of his house. The honour of God is his glory, which
is wherever he is, for he is the glorious God -.—where thou dwell

448 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
est, the glorious God, compare Ex. xl. 34, 35 ; Num. ix. 15, 16.-^
De Wette maintains, that the circumstance of so much import
ance being attached to repairing to the scantuary, betrays the
late period of the writer. But there is assuredly nothing said of
repairing to the sanctuary, and the idea, that as there is but one
Lord, so there is but one sanctuary, is exceedingly suitable to
the time of David. It is shown in the Beitr., P. 3, p. 54, &c,
that even during the period of the judges, the ark of the cove
nant, which had its place at Shiloh, was considered, as it ought
to have been according to the law, as the heart, the spiritual cen-
trepoint of the nation, and the Lord and the ark were viewed as
^separably connected together. As a proof that in David's time
the ark of the covenant, which was brought by him to Mount Zion
(compare for example Ps. xv. 1) occupied the same position, it is
sufficient to referto 2 Sam.xv.25: " and the king said unto Zadok
carry back the ark of the covenant into the city ; if I shall find
favour in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me again, and show
me both it and his habitation." The ark and the Lord appear here
as inseparably connected: to see the dwelling-place of the Lord
is, at the same time, to see himself. In full accordance with
this, are those Psalms manifestly of Davidic origin, in which the
expression of hope oihelp from Mount Zion so frequently occurs :
compare, for example : Psalm xiv. 7 ; xx. 3.
The development of I have walked in mine integrity, and
trusted in the Lord, is followed by the development oi judge me,
and may I not slide.
Ver. 9. Take not away my soul with the wicked, and my life
with men of blood. The QJ* here stands in significant reference
to the QJ* of ver. 4, 5. The Psalmist prays that God would
not, in contradiction to his own being, and his word grounded
on it, bind him up in community of outward condition with those
with whom he had always avoided having any communion in
thought and action, that he would not visit one, who was already
in a suffering condition, with that irremediable ruin which is
the portion of the wicked — the penalty oi daring sin, not the fa
therly chastisement of infirmity : compare Ps. lxxxvi. 1, 2, " bow
down thine ear, 0 Lord, hear me, for I am poor and needy, pre
serve my soul, for I am holy, 0 thou my God, save thy servant
who trusteth in thee." Calvin : " It might appear, at first
sight, an absurd prayer, that God would not involve the righte
ous in destruction with the ungodly, but God, in the exercise of

PSALM XXVI. VER. 10 — 12. 449
his fatherly indulgence, permits his people to give such free ex
pression to their feelings, that they may, even by the exercise of
prayer itself, alleviate their care. For David, while he gives
utterance to this wish, sets the righteous judgment of God before
his eyes for the purpose of delivering himself from care and fear,
inasmuch as nothing can be more strange to God than to blend
together good and evil." There is an allusion to Gen. xviii.
23, &c.
Ver. 10. In whose hand is crime, and whose right hand is full
of bribery. Compare for the first clause, Ps. vii. 3; and for the
second, Ps. xv. 5.
Ver. 11. But I walk in mine integrity, redeem me, and be mer-
cifulunto me. The reason why the Psalmist, in this second part,
makes mention only of duties of the second table, is because
these are more tangible, deception as to what is right and wrong
is not easy here, and the opposites are clear, and cannot be mis
taken for each other.
Ver. 12. My foot stands in an even place, in the assemblies
will I praise theLord. Then7U3J*is the prophet, preterit^. The
Psalmist in faith sees his deliverance as already present. It is
clear as day that the first clause refers to this, and not to right
eousness. This is required by the connection, by the parallel
ism, by the relation in which the words stand to may I not slide,
ver. 1, (whose fulfilment they announce), by the ordinary use of
the term, Ps. xxvii. 11, cxliii. 10, and by the analogy of the
preterites in the conclusions of the Psalms which are generally
prophetic. The even place stands in opposition to a difficult ter
ritory, full oi steep cliffs and precipices. — The second clause ex
presses in like manner, the confident expectation of being heard
and delivered : — the Lord will give me opportunity to praise him.
The assemblies are not private meetings of the faithful for edifi
cation, but assemblies for the public worship of God in the tem
ple: compare ver. 6 and 7, and Ps. xxii. 26. I shall praise the
Lord, makes known the fulfilment of judge me, 0 Lord. The
" Jehovah" completes the threefold repetition of the word in the
conclusion and introduction, which, in this respect, correspond
to the main body of the Psalm.
At the conclusion of the exposition it is necessary to ad
vert to the charge of self-righteousness. The older expositors
had already adverted to this point. Amyraldus remarks: " Da
vid speaks in such high expressions of his innocence and piety,
w G

450

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

that the Psalm can be fully interpreted only by considering
David as a type of Christ, and by taking it for granted that he
had not so much himself as Christ before his mind when he
composed it." And De Wette has openly taken notice of the
subject in the way of an objection to this Psalm. The poet, he
supposes, speaks with so much self-complacency and confidence,
as to let it be seen that he fully considers himself as entitled to
a better lot than what is assigned to other men. We, whose
minds have been enlightened by the teaching of the New Testa
ment on the subject of the righteousness of faith without works,
are very strikingly reminded, by such language, of the prayer of
the Pharisee. The ground of this error lies in the prominence
given to legal observances among the Hebrews: to these there
was more attention paid than to the requirements of morality.
But that this whole charge is founded upon a complete
mistake, is evident from what has been said at Ps. xvii. 1,
xviii. 20, and, in the introduction to the Psalm before us, on
its didactic tendency, and its connection with Psalm xxv., which,
according to De Wette, " is distinguished for the most beautiful
humility and acknowledgment of unworthiness." To all this
the following observations may still be added. — That the
Psalmist is very far from representing himself as a spotless
saint, and that the righteousness and piety of which he speaks,
is as yet to be formed, and consists in nothing more than in fun
damental rectitude of soul, and does not exclude manifold sins of
infirmity, is evident, irrespective of the connection of our Psalm
with the preceding one, (a connection, however, which it is im
possible to disregard), from the circumstance, that the Psalmist
acknowledges, as right in itself, the suffering to which he is ex
posed : it is destruction only, not chastisement, that he deprecates,
— this he knows to be perfectly right in itself, and to have been
fully merited by him. Righteousness in this sense is, even in the
New Testement, spoken of as the indispensable prerequisite of
salvation. It is thus that we read, " blessed are the pure in
heart, for they shall see God," that is, they shall experience
him to be gracious. Our Psalm is a commentary on this state
ment, and indeed, generally on the beatitudes of the Sermon on
the Mount. Of this righteousness we are by no means com
pelled to say that it must, by all means, be in existence, yet it
must not, on any account, be the object of consciousness : false
humility is really a lie, and cannot be acceptable to a God of

PSALM XXVII. 451
truth. Such a consciousness is not incompatible with the doc
trine of the righteousness of faith, except when that doctrine is
misemployed as subservient to the purposes of rationalism; ought
and am are separated by an immense gulf: the righteousness of
faith, in the scriptural sense, is the parent, not the enemy of in
tegrity of life. Assuredly the Christian poet sings, that he who
has washed away bis sins in the blood of Christ, cannot but
maintain a holy walk. — The prayer of the Pharisee has nothing
to do with our Psalm : the righteousness there is imaginary,
here it is real, there it consists in the careful observance of rites
and ceremonies, here it is inward piety and outward morality,
there itis absolute, here it is limited. — Finally, though there were
here the expression of inordinate self- complacency, it could not
well be traced to the prevalence among the Hebrews of superior
regard to the ceremonial over the moral law. For how can the
Psalmist be conceived to refer to ceremonial observances, when
his whole language has reference to his trust in God, to his love
to God, and to the blamelessness of his walk as the outward
expression of the purity of his heart ?
Instead of bringing forward such an unwarrantable charge, it
would have been much more becoming to have expressed ad
miration at the, high purity of the moral and religious feelings
which pervade this Psalm, at its entire freedom from every false
peculiarity, at its living insight into " be ye holy, for I am holy,"
and at its decisive opposition to everything approaching to
Pharisaism, whose fundamental error is the separation between
religion and morality, accompanied with completely raw concep
tions as to the former.

PSALM XXVII.
The Lord is the Psalmist's light and salvation ; therefore he
may not fear though in the midst of the greatest dangers. If
he only remain an inmate in the house of God, in possession of
the favour of God, he is hid; for God protects his own. There
fore though he is in the midst of the oppressions of enemies, he
is sure of deliverance and victory, ver. 1 — 6. The Psalmist had,
in the first part, risen to heaven on the wings of faith, and looking
down from thence on tbe trouble and danger deep below upon
the earth despised them. Now he descends again, with the power

452

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

which he had there acquired, to conflict actually with the
troubles and oppressions of earth. The tone of triumph now
disappears, but there still remains so much of joy, that the Psalm
ist, even in the midst of his melancholy and complaint, can still
pray, in the second part, with heartfelt confidence, ver. 7 — 12,
that God would take pity npon his trouble, and would deliver
him out of the hands of those who, through artifice and force,
seek his ruin. After these two strophes,— the one that of con
fidence, the other that of prayer, — the one that of the descent
from God to trouble, the other that of the ascent (thereby ren
dered possible) from trouble to God, there follows the conclusion
in ver. 13 and 14, which brings together, within a short compass,
the contents of the whole Psalm, and points out what is really
its scope : if the Psalmist place not bis trust in God, he must, —
so great is his danger, — necessarily despair. Hence he exclaims
to his soul, expressively and repeatedly, " wait on the Lord,"
which forms the essence of the whole Psalm.
It will not do to subdivide the two chief divisions of the
Psalm, each into two strophes of three verses, though the 4th
verse would seem, at first sight, to lead us to make such an at
tempt. For the 6th verse draws the conclusion which it con
tains, not only from the 4th and 5th verses, but also from the
whole preceding paragraph : and in the second part there is no
break in the sense at ver. 9.
The Psalmist has evidently paid particular attention to the
numbering of the verses. The main body of the Psalm is com
plete in twelve, — the number of the people of the covenant.
The whole Psalm contains twice seven, — the signature of the
covenant. The word Jehovah is repeated six times in the first
half, in manifest accordance with the six verses in, each of the
two chief divisions, and in reference to the twelve verses of the
whole main body of the Psalm. In accordance with the doubled
seven of the verses of the whole, the word Jehovah occurs
seven times in the second half, the second strophe (7 — 12), and
the conclusion together. If we count up the number of times
the word Jehovah is repeated in the first strophe and tho
second together, we find it amounts to ten, — the signature of
completeness. The names of God occur in the conclusion three
times, — the signature of the blessing. — That the position of the
name of Jehovah was designed, even as to most minute particu
lars, is evident also from the circumstance, that it begins and

PSALM XXVII. VER. 1. 453
concludes the Psalm, and that it also marks where the first
strophe ends, and the second begins.
The situation referred to in the Psalm, is that of one who is
completely surrounded by enemies, ver. 6, who in every way
seek his ruin (which is the most earnest wish of their hearts),
ver. 12, who is destitute of all human help, ver. 10, and who,
unless God interpose, is utterly ruined, ver. 13.
The intimation given in the title, that David is the author of
the Psalm, is confirmed by internal evidence. It is im possible to
refer the Psalm to a later age than that of David, because at
verse 5 the author speaks of God hiding him in his pavilion,
and in his tabernacle, and in the sixth verse, of offering unto
God sacrifice in his tabernacle. While it is evident that the
71*7, from the use of which in the 4th verse, an attempt has
been made against the Davidic authorship of the Psalm, was
applied to tbe holy tabernacle, as is proved by what has been
said on the 5th Psalm, there cannot even be the shadow of a
proof adduced to show, that, under Solomon, the temple was
still called a tabernacle or pavilion. And in proof that David
was the author of the Psalm, it may be said, not only in general,
that among the manifold kinds of troubles, there is here, in re
markable correspondence with his experience, peculiar promi
nence given to distress, arising from the oppression of enemies,
but also in particular, that the Psalmist speaks like a warrior
borne down by hostile armies, and that the idea uppermost in
his mind is that of a battle that has been waged, and of a
camp that has been pitched against him.
All attempts to find out any particular event in the life of
David, to which the Psalm may more especially be referred,
have failed. And from the failure of these, we may draw the
inference, either that David originally uttered the Psalm from
the soul of the oppressed righteous man, or, that if he wrote it
in reference to a particular occasion, he generalized his own
experience. Ver. 1. The Lord is my light and my salvation : whom shall I
fear ? The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be
'afraid ? Calvin : " David, in laying, as it were, in the balances
all the power of earth and hell, considers the whole as lighter
than a feather, while God alone infinitely outweighs it all."
He represents misery and trouble under the figure of darkness,
and the Lord, who graciously sends help, under that of

454

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

light, which enlightens the darkness : compare Micah vii. 8,
" If I sit in darkness, the Lord is my light." What, therefore,
he first expresses figuratively by " my light," he immediately
expresses in proper language by " my salvation." The
Psalmist recognises God as his light and his salvation, first,
from his word, from the promises of divine aid which are held
out in the law to the righteous, directly and indirectly, under
the form of history, in the experience of those who stand on the
same ground with himself, particularly the Patriarchs ; and
second, from his own personal experience : every case in which
the Lord had manifested himself as the Psalmist's salvation, has
strengthened his conviction that he is so. The question, " whom
shall I," &c, throws aside, as it were, with indignation, every
cause of fear. The Psalmist calls God the strength of his life,
because he (protects his life, of which his enemies seek to rob
him, as surely as the strong walls of a fortified town defy the
assaults of an enemy, and afford protection to the inhabitants.
Ver. 2. When the wicked wretches come near against me, to
eat my flesh, mine opponents and my enemies against me: they
stumble and fall. The case is, in the first instance, as it is also
at ver. 3, a supposed one. But it is evident from the 6th' and
12th verses, that the Psalmist really was in a situation very
analogous to this supposed one. While the Psalmist rises above
possible dangers, he, at the same time, rises above those also
that are real, which he hence sets before the eye in a stronger
and more defined manner, because an overhasty glance at them,
which easily assume an unreasonable importance, might have
disturbed the view of the real relations of things. Luther not
wholly correctly connects this verse with the one preceding it,
by the word wherefore. The verse, like the one which follows
it, carries forward the thought : " whom should I fear, of whom
should I be afraid, even when, for example, the wicked," &c.
The idea of hostile approach does not lie in 17p, but in 7$*, to
come near over any one, so that one falls upon him, sets on him.
The metaphor in to eat my flesh, is taken from savage beasts of
prey. The *1*N1 and *7¥ are not in apposition to D*J*723- In
that case, the *7 is explicable. It is evident that thisword can
not be " redundant." When it appears to stand thus, as it does
in Ps. cxliv. 2, it renders the my more emphatic than a simple
affix could do : my deliverer to me, = my deliverer, tenderly ex
pressed. But in the case before us such an emphasis is
unsuitable. It is necessary rather to supply 17pl> though my

PSALM XXVII, VER. 3,4. 455
opponents and enemies come near to me : and there is the less ob
jection to this, as^7p is elsewhere connected with 7, Job xxxiii.
22. It is not without reason that the Psalmist gives great pro
minence to the word evil doers. For he cannot expect victory
over his enemies unless he stand to them in the relationship of
a righteous man to the wicked : this was the case in all the con
flicts which David had to maintain. The 1f2l is a word of
emphasis, — they, not I, with whom this would assuredly be the
case, did not the circumstance that the Lord is my light and my
salvation disturb their otherwise very accurate calculations.
The preterites )b&5 and 1733 are explained from the confidence
of faith.
Ver. 3. Though an host encamp against me, yet my heart is not
afraid; though war rise against me, yet in this case I am full of
confidence. This verse agrees remarkably with Psalm iii. 6.
The n3n23 is, in all probability, here, as at Gen. xxxii. 9, united
to a feminine for the sake of the symmetry with DIpH- The
71X11, " in this," is, " even in such circumstances, to all human
appearance desperate :" compare Lev. xxvi. 27 ; Job i. 22. The
exposition, " I trust in this, namely, that thou, 0 Lord, art
my light and my salvation," is unnecessary, because though
undoubtedly ntSl is generally construed with the 2 of the
object, we do repeatedly meet with it in an absolute form, in
Judges xviii. 7 ; Jer. xii. 5 ; Prov. xi. 5. It is moreover opposed
by the analogy of the preceding clauses, which merely expand,
" I am afraid of no one," without again pointing to the cause of
the fearlessness. " I am full of confidence," corresponds particu
larly to il my heart is not afraid." Luther's translation depends
on this exposition : " I trust in him," being only a free rendering.
Ver. 4. One thing I desired of the Lord, after that I seek, that
I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to
behold the beauty of the Lord, and to meditate thereon in his
holy place. The Lord is the Psalmist's light and salvation,
affords him protection against all enemies, and all dangers. On
this account he has only one prayer, one wish, — if this be
granted, happen what may, — namely, that the Lord may abide
with him, in which everything else is given to him, that he may
never lose his favour, or be shut out from his fellowship.
For the Lord, verse 5, protects his own in all dangers. —
The change of tense In TPKB? and &>ftlX, is to be carefully
attended to : it marks out that this desire and seeking are to

456 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
extend throughout the whole of the Psalmist's life. The pre
terite denotes the action completed, concluded, but yet reach
ing unto the present time, Ew. Sm. Gr. 262, (Venema's semper
is more correct than Schmidt's jam olim) the future marks still
more particularly the continuance of this effort in the present. —
The prayer is a true one, only when it goes forth on the ground
of effort and exertion, when the longing desire of the heart is
directed toward its object. — The " dwelling in the house of the
Lord," towards which the prayer and the desire are directed, is
here, as in all other passages, (compare Psalm xxiii. 6; xv. 1,) to
be understood figuratively, as equivalent to " being an inmate of
God's house," " to stand towards him in a confidential relation,"
" to enjoy his favour." The cause of this figurative language is,
that the tabernacle, and afterwards the temple itself, bore a
symbolical character, represented ihe connection between God
and his people who dwelt with him spiritually there: compare
the proof of this in Part III. of the Beitr. p. 831, &c. — It is for
this reason that the Psalmist desires to be, and to continue to be, ,
an inmate in God's house. To this the words point, " That I
may behold," &c, that is, " that I may in this way behold what
is inseparably connected therewith," &c. When God takes any
man into the number of his own people, such a one beholds also
bis beauty, and enjoys the opportunity of meditating upon it in
his sanctuary. ni7* DJ*3, means always the beauty of the Lord :
compare Psalm xc. 17, " Let the beauty of the Lord our God be
upon us," i. e„ let it be made known in our experience, Zech. xi.
7.1 To behold it is to experience it, to know God as beautiful
in his dealings. The expression in the 13th verse is exactly
parallel: " to see the goodness of the Lord." — The 7pl means
always, " to search for," Lev. xiii. 36; xxvii. 33; Ezek. xxxiv.
11, 12; " to meditate on," 2 Kings xvi. 15; Prov. xx. 25, in ac
cordance with the Chaldaic usage, and the fundamental sense of
the word, "to open," "to cleave;" compare Gesenius on the word.
As the word is never followed by 2 of the object, the object of the
inquiry and the meditation cannot therefore be contained in the
171*71, but must thus be drawn from what goes before : " and
meditate thereon," namely, on the beauty of the Lord manifested
in the experience of the inmates of his house, in his holy place.
1 Venema : The beauty of the Lord here denotes whatever in the Lord is sweet,
pleasant, and salutary to the sinner, and therefore his virtues of goodness and grace,
together with all their signs and effects.

PSALM XXVII. VER. 4. 457
The holy place is mentioned as the place of meditation, because
there thanks are offered to the Lord, for tbe manifestations of his
beauty. This exposition is confirmed by the 6th verse, where the
Psalmist expresses his hope that, being delivered by the Lord, he
will bring forward early offerings in his tabernacle : compare also
Psalm xxvi. 7, according to which the Psalmist lets the voice of
praise be heard in the sanctuary, and makes known all God's
wondrous works.— According to the usual interpretation, the
Psalmist expresses a wish to be delivered from danger, to serve
God undisturbed in the temple, and to enjoy the pleasure of
looking upon the splendour of the sanctuary. It is translated
" that I may spend my life in the house of Jehovah, for the
purpose of beholding the splendour of Jehovah, (Luther : ' the
beautiful service of God,') and viewing his temple," (others,
" repairing to his temple.") This translation, in the first place,
is contrary to the usus loquendi, in three respects. It is alto
gether arbitrary to consider " to dwell in the house of the Lord"
equivalent " to attend it carefully," " to abide in it :" compare
against this at Psalm xxiii. 6. This difficulty is not removed
by Hitzig's violent supposition that the Psalm was composed by
a priest: for not even the priests dwelt in the temple. Tho
7in* DJ*3 is arbitrarily translated by " the splendour of the
Lord," and this is just as arbitrarily applied to the splendour of
his sanctuary, or his splendid service. 7pl is never united
with *J, and means neither " to view," nor " to repair to." If
we interpret, agreeably to etymology, the clause, " to behold
the beauty of the Lord," &c, we shall bo compelled to
abandon the idea of outward dwelling in the house of the
Lord; for that wrrich is derived from the dwelling of the Lord,
cannot be regarded as the consequence of outward presence
in the temple. This exposition is, moreover, opposed by the
parallel passages in which dwelling in the temple is spoken
of: in all these the idea is that of spiritual presence ; com
pare, for example, Psalm xxiii. The fifth verse is also op
posed to it. The thought of it, " for he protects me," is not
at all in its proper place, if assigned as a reason why the Psalm
ist wishes to be in the temple ; this is clear from the fruitless
attempt of De Wette to refer the " for," with which he does
not know how to begin, not to our verse, but to the first para
graph of the Psalm (v. 1—3). It is also altogether inadmis
sible if we understand there the " hiding in the pavilion," and

458 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
the " concealing in the tabernacle of the Lord," in a figurative
sense, to interpret literally the " dwelling in his house." Lastly,
it is only, if we adopt the figurative sense of " dwelling in the
house of the Lord," that we can give any explanation of " one
thing I desire of the Lord," &c. The one thing which gives the
Psalmist strength and courage against the whole world is the
favour of God, hence the one thing which he desires and seeks
after is not his bodily presence in the temple, with which in such
a connection a man can have nothing to ,do, but the possession
of the favour of God. In reality, " to dwell in the house of the
Lord" must be similar to " to have him for light and salvation."
This is clear, moreover, from the circumstance that the same'
consequence is deduced from " the dwelling in the house of the
Lord," in verse 5, which is deduced from " the Lord is my light
and salvation" (1 — 5,) namely, safety against all attacks of
enemies : and also from the circumstance that in ver. 6 assur
ance of victory in present trouble, is deduced from the two taken
together, " the Lord is my light and my salvation," and " I dwell
in the house of the Lord."
Ver. 5. For he hides me in his pavilion in the time of trouble,
he covers me in the covering of his tent, he lifts me up upon a
rock. The Psalmist here gives the ground why, in view of
the oppression of his enemies, " the dwelling in the house of
the Lord, the possession of his favour," is sufficient for him :
whom the Lord loves him he also protects. Corresponding
to the representation of the gracious relation to the Lord,
under the figure of dwelling with him in the temple, we have
in the first two clauses of this verse, the protection which
is the consequence of this gracious relation, represented by
the figure of a sure place of refuge and covering, which the
Lord affords to his persecuted people, beside himself in his
tabernacle. These two clauses have been misunderstood in two
ways. First, by those who, like the Jewish expositors and
Knapp, understand the words in a coarse literal sense, and sup
pose that David on one occasion found shelter in the holy taber
nacle, and was in this manner delivered out of the hands of his
enemies. This is opposed by the last clause, which must necessari
ly be taken in a figurative sense. Second, by those who, with De
Wette, maintain that the pavilion and the tabernacle of this passage
are not at all the holy place, but are only emblems of protection,
taken from the master of a house, who gives protection in his

PSALM XXVII. VER. 6. 459
house to a stranger, from some peril to which he may be expos
ed. This is undoubtedly the origin of the figurative expression ;
but that the friendly pavilion and the friendly tabernacle are
the sanctuary of the Lord, is clear from the corresponding ex
pression, " the house of the Lord," in ver. 4, " I have only one
wish, to abide in the house of the Lord, for he hides me in his
house, or his tabernacle,"" and " his tabernacle" in 6th verse, " he
hides me in his tabernacle, therefore shall I bring forward thank-
offerings in his tabernacle." It will not do to refer to Psalm xxxi.
20, " thou keepest them secretly in a pavilion ;" for there it is
in a pavilion, here it is, in his pavilion. 73D, apavilion, is used
poetically for the holy tabernacle in Psalm Ixxvi. 2. It has al
ready been adverted to in the introduction, that the expression,
" in his pavilion and in his tabernacle," involves in insuperable
difficulty the supposition that the Psalm was composed at a pe
riod posterior to that of David. Solomon's temple, especially,
could not possibly be called " a pavilion." The name, " taber
nacle," might have been carried forward from the earlier to the
later sanctuary ; there is, however, no proof even of this.
Ver. 6. And now mine head shall be lifted up above all mine
enemies round about, and I will offer in his tabernacle offerings
of joy, I will sing and praise the Lord. This verse concludes
the first strophe : in v. 1 — 5, the conviction that the Lord is the
Psalmist's light and salvation, and that he dwells in the house of
the Lord, gives him confidence against all conceivable dangers :
here, in the possession of this favour of God, he is completely sure
of victory in the difficulties in which he now finds himself. The
nnj*1 is either " and now,"— quare etiam nunc in presenti
periculo, or it may be considered as the particle of inference,
" and now, since it is so (compare Psalm ii. 10 ; xxxix. 7) I shall
triumph securely over my present enemies." On, " my head
shall be lifted up," compare Psalm iii. 3. The clause, " I will
offer," &c, shows that the Psalmist feels as sure of deliverance
as if he had already obtained it. He is already preparing to
offer thanks for it. Joy-offerings are offerings which are accom
panied with rejoicings for deliverance, and matter-of-fact rejoic
ings themselves. The nj?17n stands here, as in Numb, xxiii.
31, and in all other passages, in the general sense of " shouts of
joy:" comp. 771H 7lp in Ps. xxvi. 7. De Wette and other ex
positors give, " offerings of the sound of trumpets :" " the holy
trumpets were blown at the burnt and thank-offerings," Num.

460 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
x. 10. But this passage refers only to the public thank-offerings
on holy days. The trumpets were never used at private offerings.
At the beginning of the second strophe, the tone changes at
once. Instead of triumphant confidence, we have mournful
supplication. But the last verse of the first strophe softens the
transition. There the Psalmist has descended from the serene
heights of heaven to the earth : from the contemplation oi pos
sible dangers, in which he conquers, through the aid of his hea
venly helper, to whom in faith he rises, he has begun to turn to
the consideration of those that are real. At first the tone of tri
umph still continues : the danger is rather too small than too
great for him, But, in proportion as he gets a nearer view of it,
it becomes greater, he is terrified, and begins to sink, and re
tains only so much of his early confidence as to enable him to
cry out, and to say, " Lord help me." But this is in reality a
very great deal, and for a man who has begun, to take to heart
the sufferings and the dangers of this life, it is really enough.—
It is in this transition from triumphant confidence to mournful
supplication, that is to be found the truth of the Psalm, and also
much of its practical power. We could not have found ourselves
in it, had the tone of triumph been continued to the end. The
first strophe is sufficient only for painted suffering.
Ver. 7. Hear, O Lord, when- I cry with my voice, and be
gracious to me, and answer me. In reference to &$7pX *7lp,
compare what has been said on Psalm iii. 4. The *7lp is not
redundant, it indicates a loud cry.
Ver. 8. My heart always holds forth to thee thy word, " seek
my face," thy face, O Lord, I do seek. As always, so particularly
now, the heart of the Psalmist in trouble is turned towards God,
expecting deliverance from him alone, and whoever is in such
a state of mind is all the more sure of being delivered by God,
inasmuch as his word commands us to seek him in trouble, and
promises that those who seek shall find him. The 1J2a and the
fcJ'pltf stand in the same relation to each other as the *n/NB'
and the fc^plN do in verse 4: always and particularly now.
It is impossible to translate simply: my heart says to thee. There
was no need for inserting " thy word," which we have supplied,
inasmuch as the clause, " seek my face," shows by its form that
what the Psalmist says to God is only an echo of what God has
said to his people. " To seek the face of any one," is to " seek to
be admitted to his presence: compare Prov. xxix. 26, "Many

PSALM XXVII. VER. 9. 461
seek the ruler's face." As admission into the presence is im
parted to those who enjoy the favour of the ruler, is the mark
and expression of this favour, and because it is so, is sought after,
so, to seek the face of the Lord is to seek to be admitted into
his presence, and in reality to seek to enjoy his favour: compare
2 Sam. xxi. 1, " There was a famine in the days of David, and
David sought the face of the Lord," Psalm xxiv. 6, and cv. 4. In
reality, " to seek the face of the Lord," is " to seek the Lord,"
2 Sam. xii. 16; 2 Chron. xx. 4; xv. 2. " The word of God," to
which the Psalmist here refers, occurs, though not exactly in
the same terms, in Deut. iv. 29, " and ye seek from thence the
Lord thy God, and thou findest him, if thou seek him with all
thy heart (compare here, ' my heart says to thee,') and with all
thy soul." The seeking of the Lord, and the finding him, are
there placed in inseparable connection with each other. Hosea
v. 15 refers, like the passage before us, to the same expression ;
{! I will go and return to my place, till they acknowledge their
»ffence, and seek my face, in their affliction, (literally from Deut.)
¦4hey will enquire after me :" compare the Beitr. ii. p. 61. There,
/as here, " to seek the face of God" is substituted for " to seek
God." — Muis, De Wette, and other interpreters, translate the
first words: " my heart speaks of thee." But, in this way the
signification of the preterite is misunderstood, the 7J3K with
7 signifies, with a few exceptions, " to speak to some one," and
the sense of, " to speak of one," is unsupported. " To seek
the face of the Lord," is considered as equivalent to, " to re
pair to the temple." But this sense is one in which the phrase
is never used, and, in the case before us, it is excluded both
by the reference to the fundamental passage, and by what
follows in the next verse, " hide not thy face:" the whole
scope and connection, moreover, are altogether against any refe
rence to repairing to the temple. — After the example of the
Vulgate, " de te dixit cor meum: require 0 facies mea," Hitzig
translates, " my heart speaks of thee, Seek him, my face." But,
irrespective of all other considerations, the phrase 7in* *33 £?pl
will not admit of such a rendering.
Ver. 9. Hide not thy face from me, drive not away thy servant
in anger, thou who hast always been my helper; leave me not, nei
ther forsake me, O God, my salvation. The " hiding" of the face
stands opposed to the " showing" of it, which God in his word
hath promised to those who seek it with all their heart. The

462 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
tDJTI 7K — the apoc. fut. in Hithp. — is not to be translated, " turn
not away," but " drive not away:" compare 1\2l in the sense of
" to set aside," " to put aside," which suits very well to the
hiding of the face, in Job xxiv. 4, compare also xxxvi. 18 ; 2
Sam. iii. 27. " Thy servant," contains in it the ground of the
prayer ; do not act towards thy servant as thou actest only
towards the wicked." This ground is given still more impres
sively in what follows: '¦' thou who hast always been my helper."
This corresponds to the expression at the conclusion, " my sal
vation-God," and must therefore denote the abiding relation
in which God stands to the Psalmist, on which he grounds his
prayer for special deliverance. The fi**n, in the preterite, de
notes past time stretching forward to the present.
Ver. 10. For my father and my mother forsook me, and the
Lord takes me up. The Psalmist gives tbe reason why he had
called upon the Lord for assistance so mournfully in the pre
ceding verse ; the love of God is the only love that is sure, in
heaven, or on earth : the love of men disappears on the ap
proach of misfortune, in which they recognise a dispensation t<!>
renounce love ; but the love of God is proved most gloriously irj
affliction : the afflicted are above all others dear to him. — In the
clause, " father and mother have forsaken me," the Psalmist
speaks of something which had already happened; and the
translation, " though they forsake me," is inadmissible. But
there is no reason why we should feel ourselves necessitated
to seek for an individual reference. Every one who is in great
trouble may speak in this manner. Father and mother stand
as an individualizing reference for those who are united to us
by the closest ties, and in whom love towards us when we
are in a state of suffering, might be expected to continue the
longest. Whoever has no parents, puts his friends in their
room. It lies deep in the being of human nature that suffering
should cool, if it does not extinguish, love : men are only too
much inclined to seek in the sufferer the cause of this. This is
seen in the case of the friends and the wife of Job, compare also
Psalm lxxxviii. 8. The proverb, " that the unfortunate may lay
their account with contempt," is verified even in the case of
nearest relatives. David had, in all probability, had experience
of the instability of human love in suffering, under the very form
to which he here refers, and made choice of this expression in
reference to his own personal experience. His parents, whom,

PSALM XXVII. VER. 11, 12. 463
according to 1 Sam. xxii. 3, he took care of in misfortune, were,
assuredly, on many occasions, (from the character of human na
ture it could scarcely be otherwise) ill pleased with him by whom
their peace had been so often disturbed, and he must have had
to bear with many hard speeches at their hand. The Lord takes
me up, like one who takes a weary wanderer or a fugitive who
has lost his way, into his house, and treats him kindly: compare
ver. 5; Jos. xx. 4; Judges xix. 5.
Ver. 11. Teach me, O Lord, thy way, and lead me in an
even path, because of mine enemies. Most expositors are of
opinion that the Psalmist prays that the Lord would lead him
by his spirit and preserve him from sin. Calvin saw that this
sense would not do in connection with what precedes and fol
lows, where the whole language is about Divine assistance
against enemies. The way of the Lord here is the way of de
liverance: this limitation flows from the person who is speak
ing, for the paths of God can be only paths of safety for his ser
vants. The even path denotes the opposition to the stones and
rocks which rendered the Psalmist's progress through life so
difficult. Psalm xxv. 4 is exactly parallel, where we met with
the same false exposition: compare also Ps. xxvi. 12. " Because
of mine enemies," points out the cause which is more fully open
ed up in the following verse, why the Psalmist stood so much in
need of Divine guidance and help.
Ver. 12. Give me not over to the will of mine enemies, for
there are false witnesses risen up against me, and such as breathe
violence. The soul of the enemies stands for their passions,
because the soul is wholly occupied by these. By " the false
witnesses," and " such as breathe violence," two classes of
enemies are meant, those who seek to accomplish their ardent
wish to annihilate the righteous man by cunning lies and deceit,
and by false and slanderous accusations; and, second, those who
employ open violence. The 7S* is the status constructus of the
adjective nS*. This is to be derived not from n2*, but from
the fut. Hithp. of nifl, which occurs in the same form in Hab.
ii. 3: compare 17* from 1*7- " Those who breathe violence,"
(not who breathe'out) are " those whose every breath is vio
lence :" compare Prov. vi. 19, " A false witness that speaketh
(lit. breatheth) lies," " breathing threatenings and slaughter,"

464

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

Acts ix. 9. " Spirare minas" in Latin, and " xaxica xal euMfamat
tv» in Aristoph.
The conclusion now follows, bringing together, within a
narrow compass, the contents of the Psalm, trouble and distress
in the world, and hope in God.
Ver. 13. If I had not believed to see the goodness of God in
the land of the living,  That this verse is not to be imme
diately connected with what goes before, but marks the beginning
of the conclusion, is clear from this, that whereas, in the former
verses, God is addressed, here he is spoken of, and that we
have here contained the foundation for the exhortation of the
last verse, to trust in God. — Had the Psalmist brought the
sentence to a conclusion, he would have added, I would have
yielded to despair, or I would have been ruined. This fatal
word, however, he finds it very difficult to utter, and ere he
does so, a voice within is raised, exhorting him to continue
firmer and firmer in his trust in God, which he designated as his
only ground of hope. Among all the passages which contain
similar aposiopeses, there is none so exactly like the one before
us, as Gen. xxxi. 42, " except (*717) the God of my fathers, the
God of Abraham, and the fear of Isaac had been with me, . . •
(it would have been all over with me); for thou wouldst have
sent me away empty." Compare also Gen. 1. 15; Zech. vi.jl5.
Ewald, p. 663. In this aposiopesis the Masorites have not been
able to find their feet: they put their puncta extraordinaria over
the *7lS, which seems to have troubled them: these are just as
little deserving of regard as the Keris. The old translators, with
the exception of the Chaldaic, leave out the *717 altogether: no
conclusion, however, ought to be drawn from this against it; they
may have been of the same opinion as De Wette, who remarks
" we may very easily get quit of it, seeing it yields no very suit
able sense." In favour of the genuineness of *717, it may be
remarked, that it would certainly never occur to any one
to insert it, and that on deep reflection, (such, however, as
was not likely to lead to a gloss,) it appears to be indis
pensably necessary to complete the sense.' The bare and un
conditional clause, " I believe to see," &c, is unsuitable and
incongruous, after the anxious prayer of the preceding verse
for deliverance from fake witnesses, and those who breathe
violence, whose look cries out to the Psalmist that he is lost ;

PSALM XXVII. VER. 14. 465
and then the exhortation of the following verse makes it evi
dent that weakness had come over the Psalmist, and that dan
ger had assailed him with great violence : the weakness is here,
the remedy is there. The nin* lift is explained by several
interpreters as " the good things of the Lord," " his blessings
and acts of kindness." — Gesenius: " optima dei munera." But
Min* 11t3 always signifies the " goodness of God," " the good
ness of his nature :" compare Psalm xxv. 7 ; xxxi. 19 ; Zech. ix.
17, where the goodness and the beauty of the Lord occur toge
ther, (Christology, P. 3, p. 135, 6.) and this sense is especially
demanded here by the corresponding clause in ver. 4, QU3
nin*- To see the goodness of the Lord, is to experience his
excellence. The " land of the living" stands in opposition to
" the land of the dead," or " Sheol;" compare Jer. xxxviii. 11;
Ez. xxvi. 20 ; xxxii. 32. The reference revived by Claus and
Stier to the "life to come," has been completely set aside by
Muis. It is assuredly in this life, ere he "go whence he shall
not return, to the land of darkness and the shadow of death,"
Job x. 21, into which his enemies are on the point of sending
him, that the Psalmist hopes still to see the goodness of the Lord.
The writers of the Psalms are far removed from that resignation,
which gives up to the ungodly every thing on this side the
grave. Their faith is far too fresh and powerful for this.
Ver. 14. The reflection, that the grace of God is his only
ground of hope, and that but for it his own weakness, and the
fury and might of his enemies, would have brought him into an
irremediable condition, and left him the prey of despair, gives
the Psalmist occasion to exhort himself to trust in the Lord. —
Wait on the Lord, be strong, and may he strengthen thy heart,
and wait upon the Lord. The strong part of the soul speaks to
the weak, as is the case throughout the whole of the 42d and
43d Psalms. We cannot entertain the idea, that the Psalmist
is addressing the pious, and that he makes an application of his
own experience to the case of those in similar circumstances.
In this way; the connection with the 13th verse would be alto
gether broken. The individual who is here exhorted to trust
in God, must be the same one who had there declared, that but
for his trust in God he must become the victim of despair.
Instead of, " may he strengthen thy heart," most translators
have, " may thy heart get strong." But we cannot give up the
usual sense of the Hiph. either here or in the passage, Ps. xxxi.
2 H

466

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

25 ;— these are the only two passages in which the Hiph. of
Ytia occurs. And the strictly grammatical translation in the
passage before us, brings out a much finer meaning. The Psal
mist, after having exhorted himself to be strong, turns round to
Him who alone can give the strength to comply with this exhor
tation. He does not express his name, because none but he who
is the fountain of all strength can be thought of, when we speak
of being strengthened. There is something very great in the
expression, " be strong." Calvin : " When trembling comes up
on thee, when temptation shaketh thy faith, when the feelings
of thy flesh are driven hither and thither, be not overcome, but
rather rise up with indefatigable power of mind." Nature can
not accomplish this ; none but he can bring it about, who giveth
might to the weary and sufficient strength to the weak. He
gives not only outward strength, but also that which is inward ;
he not only gives deliverance to those who trust in him, but he
also works trust in him.

PSALM XXVIII.
The Psalmist first sends forth the petition that he may be
heard in his prayer, remarking, that unless this be done, he is
given over to irremediable destruction. This forms the intro
duction, (ver. 1). After repeating this petition at the beginning
of the first division, he unfolds his request, viz., that God would
not entangle him in that destruction which is the portion
of the wicked, and would inflict upon these, namely his enemies,
the punishment which they deserve, ver. 2 — 5. He obtains
assurance of being heard, and praises the Lord as the Saviour
of his anointed one and of his people, ver. 6 — 8. The conclusion
ver. 9, contains, the prayer that the Lord would reveal himself
in all future time, as he had done on the present occasion, as
the Saviour of his people.
That ver. 1 is to be considered as the introduction, and ver. 9,
which corresponds to it, as -the conclusion, is obvious, not only
from the contents, but also from the circumstance that the as
surance of being heard (ver. 6), which verbally is appended to
the prayer, does not belong to the first but to the second verse.
The main division of the Psalm thus consists of seven verses.
This number is again divided, as it frequently is, into a four and

PSALM XXVIII. 467
a three. The strophe of confidence points to the Mosaic blessing,
not only by the three verses, but also by the threefold repetition
of the word Jehovah. Any further remarks on the formal ar
rangement we shall make in the introduction to Ps. xxix., which.
along with the one now before us, makes up one pair. We shall
there find the arrangement 1. 7. 1. proposed here, confirmed,
and at the same time, we shall see why Jehovah occurs here,
in all, five times.
The situation is that of one who is in great danger, and is
utterly lost unless the Lord help (ver. 1) ; who prays earnestly
for deliverance (ver. 2—6) ; and is threatened with destruction
(ver. 3).
The person who speaks is a righteous man (ver. 3) the Lord's
anointed (ver. 8) ; and whose cause also is identical with that
of the people (ver. 8, 9). It is here that lies the difference
between this Psalm and Psalm xxvi. The situation and the
fundamental thought in both are, that God cannot bind up
together in similarity of outward fate those who inwardly are
different, and that the lot of the wicked cannot be the same
as that of the righteous. There it is the oppressed righteous man
in general that speaks, here it is specially the oppressed
righteous King.
The contents of the Psalm throughout apply very well to Da
vid during the time of Absalom's rebellion, when, to all appear
ance, the design of God was that the lots of the righteous and the
wickedshould be exchanged;the people were brought into danger
on account of the king ; and the enemies especially were those,
who " spoke peace to their neighbours, while mischief was in
their hearts." But in the absence of all special historical cir
cumstances, it is in the highest degree probable, that the design
of David in composing the Psalm, was to draw out a form of
prayer, grounded on his own experience at this time, for the use
of his successors, whom he seems to have had continually in his
eye after the communication made to him by Nathan ; compare
Psalm xviii. 50. If this be the case, it is manifest, at the same
time, that the Psalm in reality possesses a didactic and horta
tory character : — the righteous king, in a time of severe trouble,
desires to set before his eyes the righteous judgment of God,
which will not permit the righteous to be involved in the lot of
the wicked, nor the wicked to go unpunished ; to be calm and
composed in dependence on this ; and to wait with confident ex-

468 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
pectation for the help of God. This didactic tendency is parti
cularly obvious in the 5th verse, where the form of address to
God is abandoned.
The assertion of Ewald and Hitzig, that the portion, from the
6th to the 9th verse, was first written after tbe danger had gone
past, is dependent on the false idea that the Psalm has an indi
vidual character, proceeds from mistaking the nature of the
transitions in the Psalm, and overlooks the truth that faith is
the substance — the virosTaaig — of things hoped for, Heb. xi. 1.

Ver. 1. Unto thee, O Lord, do I cry, my rock ; be not silent
to me : lest, if thou be silent to me,. I become like those who go
down to hell. The expression, " my rock," points to the immu
tability, the certainty, and the inviolable faithfulness of God :
compare Ps. xviii. 1, 3, xix. 14, p. 344. This address contains in
it the ground of the prayer, " be not silent." The faithful God,
who chastises his people, but does not give them over to death,
cannot be silent, when circumstances are such, that it may with
truth be said, that to be silent is the same as to bring destruction.
The " be not silent from me," needs nothing to be supplied.
The idea of " distance from" clearly lies wrapped up in that of
"silence," and, on the other hand, every answer implies the idea
of an approach and a nearness of God. " Lest, if thou be silent
to me, I become like," &c, literally, " lest thou be silentfrom me,
and I become like," &c, implies, " lest in the great danger to
which I am now exposed, I become past deliverance." Calvin :
nullus sum, si a me discesseris ; nisi tu unus succurras, perii. The
711, a pit, is used in the sense of the grave, Is. xiv. 19; of Sheol,
Is. xiv. 15, and Ps. xxx. 3. We are manifestly to take it always in
this sense, in the common phrase 711 *771*- For this phrase
designates, every where, " the dead." But as we must here
translate, " those who go down to the pit," " not those who have
gone down," we must think of the long journey to Sheol, and
not of the short journey to the grave.
Ver. 2. Hear the voice of my supplication when I cry to thee,
when I lift my hands to thy holy oracle. The lifting of the hands
was the usual attitude of prayer, not only among the Israelites,
comp. Ex. ix. 29, xvii. 11, 12, 1 Kings viii. 54, Ps. Ixiii. 4, Lam.
iii. 41, 1 Tim. ii. 8 ; but also among the heathen, comp. the pas
sages in Iken, Dissert, i. p. 220. The lifting up of the hands
symbolized the lifting up of the heart. That the Psalmist lifted
up his hands, not to heaven, but to the most holy place, where

PSALM XXVIII. VER. 2. 469
was the ark of the covenant, (comp. 1 Kings vi. 19), is to be un
derstood in the same sense in which we call upon God only in
Christ. God had, in most amiable condescension to the weak
ness of his people, who were unable to rise to that which is un
seen, except through the medium of something visible, taken,
as it were, a form in the midst of them, in anticipation of the
incarnation of his Son, by which this want, which lies deep in
the being of human nature, was satisfied in a manner infinitely
more real: compare the Beitr. P. iii. p. 629, and at Ps. xxvi. 8.
That by 7*^7 is meant the most holy place in the tabernacle
and temple, admits of no doubt. The derivation, however, and
the import of the word, have been disputed. According to the
ancient expositors, the most holy place was so termed, because it
was from it that God returned answers to those who consulted
him : Aquila and Symmachus xgrifLuerfyoi, Jerome \a\ririjgioii.
Modern expositors, again, after the example of Simon and Iken,
Diss. i. p. 214, give the word the sense of" the back part:" com
pare particularly Gesenius's Thes. It appears, however, that
this exposition owes its introduction merely to the ground which
has been assigned for considering the primary sense of n731 to
be "acovering," — viz. awe for what isconcealed. Etymologically,
there can be no objection to the old exposition. 7*17 is pro
perly, " what is said," and secondarily, " the place where it is
said;" just as ft*DN is, properly, " what is gathered," and then,
" the season when the fruits are gathered." The appellation
given to this part — the place where God speaks to his people, or
converses with them — stands in most beautiful harmony with
the appellation given to the whole, 75?1£3 77X, the taber
nacle of meeting, where God meets with his people. The most
holy place is, as it were, the audience-chamber. But the pecu
liar ground for this exposition, which its opponents pass over
altogether in silence, is given in those passages, Num. vii. 89,
" And when Moses was gone into the tabernacle of the congre
gation to speak with him, then he heard the voice of one speak
ing with him from off the mercy-seat, that was upon the ark of
testimony :'' and Ex. xxv. 22. Finally, the signification given by
, the old expositors answers remarkably well to the passage before
us: — this passage alone is sufficient to refute theobjectionof Iken,
that 7*17 is never used in a connection in which there is any refer
ence to a speaking on the part of God. The Psalmist had prayed
that God would not be silent to him, — that he would hear his

470 THE BOOK OF PSAl.MS.
supplication. What, in these circumstances, could be more na
tural, than that he should stretch out his hands to the place
where God speaks with his people, and that he should, with full
confidence, look for an answer from thence to his cry for help?
Ver. 3. Draw me not away with the wicked, and with the
workers of iniquity, who speak peace to their neighbours, and
have mischief in their hearts. There are marks of quotation to
be supplied at the beginning of this verse. There are here given
the contents of the prayer which God has been called upon in
the preceding verses to hear: " that God would not deliver the
Psalmist his servant over to destruction, for that, according to
his own word, is the portion only of the wicked." 7£J>fois, " to
draw," " to draw away," " to carry off:" comp. Job xxiv. 22, Ez.
xxxii. 20. In the parallel passage, Ps. xxvi. 9, the expression used
is 5]DXn 7N- The description of the character of the wicked,
with whom the Psalmist desires that he would not be united in
community of lot, is borrowed from that of his enemies : " David,"
says Venema, " tacitly transfers these crimes to his enemies, whose
real character was what is here described." ' The description
corresponds rather to domestic villains, who endeavour by the
arts of dissimulation to gain their object, such as Absalom and
his party, than to public enemies, whose weapons are those of
open violence. The wicked are described as men, who conduct
themselves as they ought to do only with their lips, but are hos
tile in their intentions and their deeds towards him, who, both
by the special appointment of God, and by the laws of nature, is
their neighbour, united to them by that common bond by which
all the members of the church of God, are united to each other,
and, in addition to this, by the ties of tenderest affection. Be
tween J*7 and 7*^7 there is a significant paronomasia.
Ver. 4. Give them according to their conduct and according to
their actions of wickedness; give them according to the work of
tlieir hands; make good to them their. portion. This is the second
petition of the Psalmist. The first was, " that the Lord wrould
not punish him with the wicked:" the second, which is here, is,
" tbat he would not let the wicked go unpunished." Them, that
is, the wicked and evil-doers, particularly, my enemies. The ob
jection which has been taken against this prayer of the Psalm
ist, and so many others of a similar kind, is most assuredly an
ungrounded one, in as much as the Psalmist prays that God

PSALM XXVIII. VEIL 5, 6. 471
would do nothing more than what he necessarily must do accord
ing to his own being. " He practises the jus talionis according
to his own righteousness. Justice reverberates : the unrighteous
blow which I aim at another recoils, according to the moral
government of the world, back upon myself." Compare Matth.
vii. 2. On b)t& compare at Ps. vii. 4.
Ver. 5. Because they regard not the operation of the Lord, nor
the work of his hand, therefore shall he destroy them and not build
them. The Psalmist recalls to his recollection the objective ground
of his petitions, on which his confidence of being heard depends:
" it is not without thought that I have directed this prayer to
God; for, inasmuch as they have no thought, &c, the Lord will
destroy them and not build them up. I pray thus for that only,
which the Lord will do and must do." The operation of the
' Lord, and the work of his hands, is the exercise of his righteous
judgments against the ungodly. Compare Ps. xcii. 5; Isa. v. 12.
Not to think on these is the very way to become involved in
these judgments. For he who does not fear the judgment of
God, gives himself over to iniquity. That the not regarding the
operation of the Lord comes here into notice, in so far as it indi
cates wickedness, is obvious from the manifest reference to the
preceding verse: " the operation of the Lord and the work
of his hands, corresponds to " their conduct and the work of
their hands. The idea conveyed consequently is, " because
they do not regard the judgment of the Lord, and therefore give
themselves over, without fear, to wickedness. Several interpre
ters give, " may he destroy them." But, with the optative form,
we can see no reason why the address to God should have been
given up. We cannot substitute for " not to build," " not to
build up again." Nothing is more common than to find what
had been expressed positively, repeated, for the sake of strength
ening the impression, in a negative form.
Prayer according to the will of God, is followed now in natu
ral order by confidence. The Psalmist obtains from the holy
place the answer for which he had prayed, and makes this known
in joyful expressions.
Ver. 6. Blessed be the Lord, because he hath heard the voice of
my supplications. The words of the second verse are here de
signedly repeated, only the imperative is changed into the pre
terite. The Lord be thanked, exclaims the Psalmist joyfully, I
now possess what I have prayed for.

472

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

Ver. 7. The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trust
ed in him, and I have been helped •¦ therefore my heart rejoices ;
and with my song I will praise him. The sense is: " the Lord is
my Saviour: he has manifested himself as such by the help
which he has granted me : therefore," &c. *7*GJ>J3 is properly,
" out of my song ;" in so far as the song is the fountain of the
praise that goes out from it. *3717fc$ is the full poetic form,
with the characteristic He of the Hiphel retained.
Ver. 8. The Lord is their strength, and he is the saving strength
of his anointed one. There follows here the song spoken of in
the preceding verse, so that we are to read this verse as if with
marks of quotation. The reason why we have " their," without
any noun going before to which it might refer, obviously is, that
the king in the preceding verses had prayed for himself, not so
much as an individual, but as a king, and as thus one with his
people. Compare ver. 9. The Psalmist so sunk his personality
in his official position, and so identified himself with his people,
that he wrote simpliciter 1JJ37 instead of *7. When the Psalmist,
in the second clause, applies to himself the title of " the anointed
of the Lord" (compare Psalm xviii. 50), he must thereby be un
derstood as expressly asserting, that the help which had been
vouchsafed to him as king was therefore imparted in him to the
people of God. On the plu. niXIfc?*, compare at Ps. xviii. 50.
In the conclusion, the Psalmist prays that the Lord would do
eternally that which he had now done.
Ver. 9. Help thy people, and bless thine inheritance, and feed
them, and lift them up for ever. On the first clause, compare
the fundamental passage, Deut. ix. 29 ; " They are thy people
and thine inheritance, which thou broughtest out by thy mighty
power and thine outstretched arm." On " feed them," compare
Ps. xxiii. 1. On " lift them up," 2 Sam. v. 12. Several exposi
tors give, " carry them," and refer to Is. xl. 11. But XJJ>3 never
signifies in Pi " to carry," not even in Is. Ixiii. 9, but always " to
lift up," " to lift on high," " to prop up."

PSALM XXIX.
The key to the interpretation of this Psalm is to be found in
its conclusion : " the Lord sitteth enthroned as King for ever :
the Lord will give strength untohis people ; the Lord will bless

PSALM xxix. 473
his people through peace." From this it is obvious that the Psalm
has no personal reference, but that the Psalmist has sung it
from the soul of the people, the congregation of God, and for their
edification. Hence also it is obvious that the situation is that of
the suffering, the danger, and the hostile oppression of the peo
ple of God, and of the fear of the little flock in view of the might
of the world. Hence it is clear from what point of view we are
to contemplate all, that goes before. " That the Lord has
might," which is the substance of the whole Psalm, is introduced
merely as the foundation for this, " the Lord will give might."
The majesty of God in nature is described only for this reason :
— that the Church may thus see that there is a shield ready pre
pared for her against all anxious cares.
In the introduction, ver. 1 and 2, the servants of God in the
heavenly world are exhorted to give to the Lord glory and
strength. In the main division, ver. 3 — 9, the Psalmist describes
the manifestation of Divine glory and strength which forms the
basis of this exhortation. As the sequence of this manifesta
tion,— the revelation of the glory of God in a thunder storm,— the
celestial servants of God comply with the exhortation given them
in the 1st and 2d verses : in his temple every one says " Glory!"
The conclusion in ver. 10 and 11, expresses the hope and con
fidence which spring up for the church of God out of this mani
festation of the Divine glory and majesty : — if her God is such a
God, her own powerlessness need give her no concern.
There is no ground for the idea that the Psalm was occasioned
i by the sight of a thunder-storm. " The freshness of the painting,
the vigorous conceptions, and the rapid transitions of the whole,"
will give rise to this view only when low ideas are entertained of
the power of poetry. According to the analogy of Ps. xvii. and
Job xxxvii. ver. 1—5, where, in the case of similar descriptions
of nature, no one ever thought of any outward occasion ; it was
in spirit that David here also heard the " voice of God."
The Psalm before us gives us a very instructive lesson as to
how we ought to interpret the language of nature, and to turn
it to our own edification. Every thunder-storm, every hurricane
should tell us that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the
Church of God, or against ourselves, if we are really members
of that Church and servants of God. Every thing depends on our
being sure of our condition. The revelations of God in nature
speak a double language: they speak to every man according to

474 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
his own spiritual condition. The thunder-storm, for example, is
a matter-of-fact promise to the pious — to the Church of God,
while to the ungodly — to the world — it is a matter-of-fact
threatening. Whoever feels assured of the love of God, sees, in
the manifestation of the omnipotence of God, a ground of con
solation ; whereas to those who are conscious of being objects of
the Divine displeasure, the sentiment inspired by such appear
ances is that of terror.
The artificial arrangement of the Psalm is seen not only in
the circumstance, that the introduction and also the conclusion
consist each of two verses, and that the description of the thun
der-storm occupies exactly seven verses, but also in the positions
of the names of God. In the introduction and conclusion the
name, Jehovah, occurs in every clause, that is, eight times in all, —
which can scarcely be accidental. In the main body, the " voice
of the Lord" occurs seven times, (Luther has introduced an
eighth voice of the Lord,) which, as the number of verses is ex
actly the same, seven, cannot be regarded as accidental. As
the seven thunders of the Apocalpyse (x. 3, 4,) were obviously
borrowed from this Psalm, it is clear that attention must have
been directed very early to these appearances. In like manner,
it can scarcely be considered accidental that the name Jehovah
should occur, in all, in the main division, ten times. The signa
ture of completion indicates that it is complete and concluded
within itself. Koster's idea that this artificial arrangement is
too great for David, requires no farther refutation, after the dis
coveries which wo have made in the preceding Psalms. In fact
it is characteristic of David to aim at the highest possible kind
of artificial arrangement.
The Psalm before us is united to the 28th, and forms with
it one pair. The fundamental idea in both Psalms is the same,
and is expressed in both, to all appearance designedly, in the
same words: compare " the Lord is their strength," Psalm
xxviii. 8, with " the Lord will give strength to his people,"
xxix. 11 ; — the relation of 1^37 to 1fiJ*7 is obvious. The diffe
rences also render still more evident the design to draw attention
to the connection between the two Psalms, than even an unli
mited agreement, which might have been accidental. The dis
tinction between the two Psalms is, that the Psalmist in the
26th, has to do with domestic, and here, with foreign enemies.
Then, there is a very striking agreement in the arrangement of

PSALM xxix. 475
the two Psalms : in the one, there is an introduction and a con
clusion of one verse, in both a main division of seven verses, and,
in the other, an introduction and a conclusion of two verses.
Further, the nine verses of the 28th, and the eleven of the
29th Psalm, make up together two decades, — the verse which is
wanting in the one Psalm, being supplied from the other.
Finally, the five repetitions of the name Jehovah in the 28th,
mark it out as a half — as incomplete : compare on the number
five as the signature of incompleteness, the divided ten, Bahr.
Symb. P. I. p. 183. Still more remarkable is the circumstance,
that the five repetitions of the name Jehovah in the preceding
Psalm, the eight repetitions of it in the introduction and conclu
sion of this one, together with the seven repetitions of " the
voice of God," make up the number twenty, which is exactly the
number of verses in both Psalms.
Those who are opposed to the idea of attaching any import
ance to the numbers in the arrangement of the Psalms, and are
suspicious as to the existence of any design in the positions of
the names of God, and of the juxtaposition of two Psalms as one
pair, through which the same, or a similar train of thought may
run, (although as to this latter point none of the ancient exposi
tors felt any difficulty), and are disposed to bring forward the
obvious objection of artificial arrangement or conceit, would do
well to bestow a thorough examination on those two Psalms :
those who do so will scarcely fail of obtaining new light on the
matter. Ver. 1. Give to the Lord, ye sons of God, give to the Lord
glory and strength. The call addressed to the celestial servants
of God, to praise his glory and strength, announces that
manifestations of these are to be gloriously set forth in what
follows. If the highest creatures of God, the angels, must
humble themselves in the dust before these manifestations, and
if they feel themselves, in consequence of these, called upon to
express their devout acknowledgment, and to give utterance to
liveliest praise, should not the servants of God on earth be led
thereby to banish from their minds all care and all fear, deeply
impressed by a sense of the presence of him " who appointeth
to the clouds, to the air, and to the wind, their way, their course,
their path, and who findeth out a way where none can trace
him." The Beni Elim are the same as those who, in other pas
sages, are called Beni Elohim. In both cases, the explanation

476 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
of the plural seems to lie in the idea, that the Divine unity is a
unity, not of poverty, but of riches. In the one true God all
that fulness is concentrated which the heathens divided among
their many gods. He alone is instar mnltorum. Elohim and Elim
are the abbreviated forms of D*n7Xn *nS^ and D*7tf 7tf :
compare Deut. x. 17, " for Jehovah, your God, he is the God of
gods, and the Lord of Lords," Daniel xi. 36 ; Psalm cxxxvi. 2,
3. As this use of the plural of majesty is very widely spread
throughout the language, (see on this subject the " Dissertation
on the names of God in the Pentateuch, in the Beitr.,") there is
no reason for adopting the idea of Ewald, that the plural is ex
pressed doubled in the compound — an idea opposed by all tho
parallel passages, and which it is impossible on logical grounds
to justify. — Very many of the older expositors understand by
the Beni Elim the kings and the mighty men of the earth, re
ferring to Psalm xcvi. 7, where, instead of Beni Elim, we find
" kindreds of the people" introduced. This exposition has been
partially revived by Kiister. " Sons of God," he supposes is an
expression which may be applied to whatever is powerful, the
angels in heaven, kings on the earth. But, that the mention
of angels is peculiarly suitable here, appears from comparing
the really parallel passages, Psalm ciii. 20, 21: "bless the
Lord, ye his angels that excel in strength, that do his com
mandments, hearkening unto the voice of his word : bless the
Lord, ye his hosts, ye ministers of his that do his pleasure :" and
Isaiah vi. where the seraphim who stand round the throne of
God, sing, Holy, holy, holy, the whole earth is full of his glory, and
ascribe to the Lord glory and might. Not only is Beni Elohim,
but also Beni Elim, used in other passages very decidedly of
angels : See Psalm Ixxxix. 6. On the other hand, neither Beni
Elim, nor Beni Elohim, nor Beni Eljon, is ever used of the
mighty men of the earth : for, in Psalm lxxxii. 6, to which
Kcister appeals, it is distinctly denied that the mighty ones of
the earth are the sons of God : " I thought that ye were gods,
and sons of the Highest, all of you, but ye shall die as men."
Finally, the 9th verse is decisive against the reference to the
mighty ones of the earth, where everything in the temple of
God says, " glory !" It is impossible here to think of the earth
ly temple, for the rulers of the nations assuredly are not there.
Nothing but the heavenly sanctuary can be meant, in which
the angels make known the praise of God. Most assuredly,

PSALM XXIX. VER. 2. 477
however, there is an indirect reference made, in the passage
before us, to the potentates of earth, and it is to this that the
application made in Psalm xcvi. 7, &c. of the first and second
verses refers :— if the arigels are exhorted to praise the glory
and the might of God, the church of God may be satisfied that
she has very little reason to quail before the potentates of
earth, — the glory and the might of her God, which even the
angels devoutly praise, is a sufficient ground of confidence
in the face of a whole hostile world. — Several expositors take
" glory" here in the sense of praise, and ty in the sense of re-
noun. But, that 1)22 is rather to be understood of " glory," is
evident from the clause, " give to the Lord the glory of his
name," and, that *J* signifies here, as it always does, " strength,"
is evident from the connection, in which the expression, " the
Lord will give strength to his people," in the conclusion stands
to the clause, " give to the Lord strength," at the opening of the
Psalm : he has strength, therefore he will give strength. This
exposition, moreover, is refuted by the parallel passage, Psalm
xcvi. 6, 7 ; " strength is in his holy place, give to the Lord
strength," and by the fundamental passage, Deut. xxxii. 3 : " as
cribe ye greatness to our God." In the fundamental passage,
and in those borrowed from it, " to give," is " to ascribe glory,
strength, greatness to God," " to recognise these as present,"
" to glorify him accordingly." The design of ver. 1 — 9, is to
awaken the mind to a vivid perception of the truth, that the
Lord possesses glory and strength: from this the inference which
concludes the whole is drawn, that the Lord will give strength
to his people.
Ver. 2. Give to the Lord the glory of his name, adore the Lord
in holy attire. The name of the Lord is used as signifying the
product of his deeds : the glory of his name is the glory which
belongs to him as resulting from his glorious manifestations and
deeds. The expression, " in holy attire," is equivalent in sense
to " with deep reverence." As the earthly priests, before en
gaging in the service of God, must put off their usual cloth
ing, and clothe themselves in holy garments (the expression is
used in this sense in 2 Chron. xx. 21 : compare also Ps. ex. 3 ;
xcvi. 9), so must the angels, his servants in heaven, do the same.
Their usual clothing is too mean to allow of their drawing near
in it to their holy and exalted Lord, and testifying that reve-

478 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
rence, with which the glorious manifestations of his omnipotence
have filled their minds.
There follows now the description of that revelation of the
glory of God in a thunder-storm, which formed the basis of the
preceding call to the angels to do him homage.
Ver. 3. The voice of the Lord is upon the waters; the God of
glory thundereth: the Lord is upon many waters. The " Jeho
vah" of the first clause, is supplemented in the second, and the
'• water" in the third. " The voice of the Lord" is the thunder,
but only for believers. An ungodly Hebrew would assuredly
not consider it as such. Every gentle breath of air is also the
voice of the Lord : all nature proclaims his glory : God speaks
in everything to men. But because our ears are dull of
hearing, that especially is called his voice, by which he speaks
in loudest tones, and proclaims to us, in spite of all unwillingness
on our part to hear, his omnipotence and his majesty. The
" waters" are the clouds, " the waters which are above the
firmament," Gen. i. 7, " the dark waters," Ps. xviii. 11, " the.mul-
titude of waters," Jer. x. 13: compare Ps. Ixxvii. 17, Job. xxxvi,
28. Several interpreters apply the term to the waters of the sea
and rivers. But the word " many," in the last clause is decisive
against this ; it shows that the waters form a part of the storm
itself; for only in this case is their multiplicity of importance to
the object in view, inasmuch as it serves to bring forward the
greatness of God in the storm. The designation of God as " the
God of glory," points back to ver. I, 2, and shows that the
description which begins in our verse, serves as a basis to
the exhortation which is there addressed to the angels to praise
the glory of God,
Ver. 4. The voice of the Lord is power : the voice of the Lord
is majesty. It is generally remarked that 2 with the substantive
supplies the place of the adjective. But in this way the article
is left altogether out of sight. The 2 in this passage must rather
be considered as indicating that in which the being of anything
consists ; Ewald's Sm. Gr. p. 528. The voice of God has its
essence in the power and majesty which appear in it : it is, as it
were, power and majesty itself.
Ver. 5. The voice of the Lord breaketh the cedars ; the Lord
breaketh the cedars of Lebanon. The lightning is here, as it is
also at ver. 7, and Ex. ix. 28, considered as an appendix to
the thunder. The cedar is named, as the queen of the forest,

PSALM XXIX. VER. 6 — 8. 479
and in the way of cliamax, the cedars of Lebanon are introduced
in the second clause, because they are the stateliest of all. With
the same omnipotence with which God breaks the cedars of Le
banon, he can also annihilate the mighty ones of earth, (fre
quently represented by this emblem,) who threaten to endanger
his church.
Ver. 6. And he maketh them to skip like a calf; Lebanon
and Sirion like a young buffalo. The " them" must be re
ferred to the cedars. As the skipping of the trees, however,
is only the consequence of the skipping of the hills, these also
are mentioned in the second clause. Sirion is, according to
Deut. iii. 9, the Sidonian name of Hermon. Terms of rare oc
currence and of antiquated character are congenial to poetry.
Jo. Arndt has, with great accuracy, expressed the practical im
port of this verse: " Just as in great storms the hills quiver and
quake before the thunder, so our beloved God is able by his word
to make the proud and lofty quiver and quake." Schmid, in like
manner: " sic etiam hostes Jebovse cum omni sua potentia coram
ipso irato dissilient, fulminibus judiciorum ejus disjecti."
Ver. 7. The voice of the Lord heweth with flames of fire. The
brevity of this verse depicts the rapid motion of the lightning,
which comes in here as the wounding instrument in the hands
of the voice of the Lord, the weapon with which it adds de
struction to terror. The verb yil means always to hew, never
to cleave, or to scatter, so that the expositions, " he scatters,"
" he casts abroad," i. e. " fiery thunderbolts," are to be rejected,
compare Hos. vi. 5; Is. Ii. 9, where l¥n is used in speaking of
an avenging God. The &a HlinS is in the accusative, (comp.
Ew. § 512), " with flames of fire." It stands related to the voice
of God, as what is particular does to what is general.
Ver. 8. The voice of the Lord maketh the wilderness to quiver,
the voice of the Lord maketh the wilderness of Kadesh to quiver.
Expositors ask why the wilderness is represented as quivering
by the thunder. The only correct answer is, that the wilder
ness gives the impression of something great, immense, terrible,
compare Deut. i. 19, " the great and terrible wilderness;" viii.
15, " who led thee through the great and terrible wilderness,
where were serpents, and scorpions, and drought ;" Deut. xxxii.
10, " he found him in a desert land, and in a waste howling
wilderness." The wilderness is, next to the hills, the most
appropriate symbol of the power of the world; its quivering be-

480

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

fore the voice of the Lord must convince every pious mind of
the folly of giving way to fear before the might of the world.
In this way we see a very good reason why, as an ascending
climax, there is introduced in the second clause the particularly
horrible wilderness of Kadesh, the northern part of the Arabian
desert. It forms, as it were, one pair with Lebanon and Sirion.
The symbols of the power of the world on the north and south
of the Lord's land are overwhelmed with terror at his voice.
This parallelism with Lebanon explains why that part of the
terrible Arabian desert is mentioned which borders immediately
on the land of Canaan.
Ver. 9. The voice of the Lord maketh the hinds to cast their
young, and strips the forest, and in his temple everything says :
Glory. The opposition between the hinds and the forest
tends to impress upon our minds, that the Lord, in a thunder
storm, makes known his power over every created thing ; that
which is great shall not escape him because of its greatness, nor
that which is little because of its littleness. The 77in* pil.
from 7in, can only be translated " makes them bring forth," i. e.
" so terrifies them with the loud peals of thunder that they cast
their young before the time;" this is evident from Job xxxix. 1,
compare also 1 Sam. iv. 19. According to verse 3 of Job xxxix.
the hinds bring forth their young easily, so that there can be
no room for the idea of Bochart and others being referred to
here, that they bring forth with difficulty. " It strips the fo
rests," is, it strips them of their attire, their branches and
leaves. The Chaldee has correctly given the sense of the last
words: in his upper sanctuary all his servants praise his glory
before him. A common exposition is, the whole universe, hea
ven, and earth, and sea, together with all that they contain, are
awed by the glory of the Lord, as seen in a thunder-storm, and
feel themselves called upon to praise him. But the only correct
point in this exposition, is its opposition to another, according
to which, by " the temple," is meant " the temple at Jerusalem."
The temple of God, however, is much rather according to xi. 4:
xviii. 6, his heavenly dwelling place, and those who there praise
his glory, are the angels. The correctness of this interpretation
appears also from v. 1 and 2. The angels in this verse, after
they have seen the Divine glory, comply with the exhortation
which the Psalmist had addressed to them, grounded upon that
manifestation. If they, the highest of all God's creatures, are

PSALM XXIX. VER. 9, 10. 481
filled with holy awe before the Divine glory, how great must
that glory be, and how easily may the church of God, which is
sure of his protection, trample all danger and all fear under
foot ! He, whom angels praise, must impart to his people un
assailable protection against all their enemies. The suffix in
171, refers back to the temple, — its all, all that is in it, all who
are there. 173 never occurs without a preceding noun to which
the suffix refers. The 7111, which is to be considered as a cry
" Glory !" has its commentary in the " holy, holy, holy is the
Lord, the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his' glory,"
of the seraphim in Isaiah, where the holiness denotes not
specially moral excellence, but also the infinite superiority of
God to all created beings, his glory. Compare what has been
said on Psalm xxii. 3.
Several expositors have endeavoured to exhibit a regular pro
gression of thought in the description of the thunder-storm :
first, the storm is seen in the sky, (ver. 3, 4) then it attacks the
hills, (5, 6) and, last of all, its influence is felt in the plains, (8).
But this progression is altogether forced. Verse 4th contains a
description of the voice of the Lord, which is wholly gene
ral ; it is impossible to see, according to this view, in what way
verse 7th is brought in ; and in verse 8th it is not the plains
that are mentioned, but the wilderness with its frequently lofty
hills. There follows now, in verses 10 and 11, the application : If
God is the God of glory, his people need be afraid of nothing.
Ver. 10. The Lord sat at the deluge, and therefore the Lord
sits as king for ever. As the Lord on one occasion manifested
himself at the deluge as King and Judge, in the destruction
which he prepared for the ungodly, and in the deliverance which*
he imparted to those who feared him, therefore will he also —
this confidence the Psalmist had acquired from the majestic
sight which he had seen with the eyes of his mind, and from the
" glory !" of the sons of God, which had penetrated the very
depths of his soul — throughout all eternity manifest himself as
king and judge in the deliverance of his people, and in the
destruction of all his and their enemies. Sitting is the position
peculiar to a king and judge: comp. Jo. iv. 12; Rev. xviii. 7 ;
see also Ges. Thes. on the word. It derives here its immediate
application from the second clause : " as king" belongs in reality
also to the first. That the 7 in 7ll/!37 has reference to time, at
the deluge — compare on this usage, Ew. Sm. Gr. 527; Ges.
Z 1

482 '

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

Thes, 730 ; the 7 is, in such cases, as it is always, the particle of
proximity — appears from the corresponding D7lJ*7, in which the
usage of 7 seems to have given rise to its usage in 711257. The
article points to a particular flood, and directs attention mani
festly to the deluge, — an event which would occur all the more
suitably to the mind of the Psalmist, that the Lord had, on that
occasion, manifested his glory in the tempest. This is evident,
as 711D is used only of the deluge, Gen. vi. 17 ; vii. 6, 7, &c.,-^
a word which, even at the time when the Pentateuch was com
posed, had disappeared from the ordinary language, and become
a kind of proper noun for that particular flood, withreminiscences
of it from the times of old. The fut. with the V- conv. 1£J>*1,
intimates that what is to come develops itself out of what has
already been. — Other translations of the verse are to be rejected,
such as : the Lord sits on the floods, he directs the inundations
which follow a thunder storm, and guides them, or, he is en
throned above the floods of the sky. But, in addition to the
preterite and the 71J3, it may be urged, that at the conclusion
of the Psalm, where an application only is appropriate, an un
suitable element is brought in.
Ver. 11. The Lord shall give strength to Ms people, the Lord
shall bless his people with peace. The second clause points to
the beginning and end of the Mosaic blessing : " May the Lord
bless thee — and give thee peace." Jo. Arnd remarks on the
first clause : " This is glorious consolation against the contempt
and persecutions of poor Christians, tbe little flock, which has no
outward protection in the world, no outward strength. But the
Holy Ghost imparts consolation, and says, the world shall not
give strength and power to the church, but the Lord ; as king
"Jehosaphat comforted himself when he said, ' With them is an
arm of flesh, but with us is the Lord of Hosts,' and John, ' He
who is in us is greater than he who is in the world.' "
PSALM XXX.
This Psalm, which consists in all of twelve verses, may be
naturally divided into two parts — an introduction of five, and a
main body of seven verses. In the introduction, the Psalmist
takes a rapid survey of the subject of his poem : the Lord has
graciously delivered him out of great danger, danger which
threatened him with entire destruction, v. 1 — 3 ; then, intimat-

psalm xxx. 483
ing that he sings for the church, he exhorts all the pious to
praise the glory of God, his forgiving mercy, which had been
manifested to him on this occasion, ver. 4 and 5. In the detail
he first gives an account of his misfortune: prosperity had pro
duced in him pride and false confidence ; out of this sinful state
he had been roused by a judgment which God had permitted
to befal him, v. 6, 7. He next tells us what the prayer was
which he had offered up to God, from the depths of that misery
into which he had been sunk by him in punishment of his pride,
v.- 8 — 10 ; narrates the deliverance which, in answer to this
prayer, had been vouchsafed to him, v. 11 ; and concludes with
a promise of eternal gratitude for the deliverance thus wrought
out, v. 12.
The occasion for which the Psalm was written is announced
in the title : a Psalm, a song of the dedication of the house of
David. ' We cannot, with De Wette, (Introd. p. 32), consider
these words as intimating the tune, — as if tbe Psalm were to be
sung to a tune which was generally sung at the dedication of
houses. The words do not admit this interpretation ; a song of
the dedication of a house cannot possibly be a song like the
song of the dedication of a house ; the contents possess nothing
at all similar to what would be the contents of a poem composed
for such an occasion; every attempt has failed to prove that the
titles ever indicate the tune to which the Psalms are to be sung,
and this idea has simply originated in the difficulty felt ip en
deavouring to give a satisfactory explanation. In like manner
we must reject the explanation given by Calvin, Grotius, and
others, that the house is the palace of David, and that the
Psalm was composed when David consecrated his house a second
time by a religious service, after it had been polluted by Absa
lom. The term 713n is never used except as applicable to the
consecration of a new building, and the contents of the Psalm
do not at all accord with such an occasion. The house clearly
is the house of God, the temple. And the title indicates that
the Psalm was siing at the dedication by David of the site of
the future temple, as recorded in 2 Sam. xxiv. and 1 Chron.
xxv. The object of the Psalm is very correctly given by Ve
nema : " That the remembrance might be perpetuated to all
posterity of the occasion on which the site of the temple to be
erected by Solomon was selected, and the temple itself conse
crated by a sign from heaven."
Against this view nothing of any consequence can be urged,

484 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
except that the dedication of the future site of the temple, by
the erection' of an altar, can scarcely be called the dedication of
a house. But really one does not see why it may not. That a
house of God may he where there are no splendid buildings, but
only a simple altar, is evident from Gen. xxviii. 22, and that
the house of the Lord was really here present, is unquestionably
evident from 1 Chron. xxi. 26 r '" And David built there an altar
unto the Lord, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings,
and called upon the Lord, and he answered him from heaven by.
fire, upon the altar, of burnt -offering." The place was, in the
fullest sense of the word, even in David's time, a sanctuary, yea
the sanctuary, and therefore the house of God, and in reality
there was nothing added to its dignity by Solomon. The Lord
had pointed it out as his house, in the very act of marking it out,
he had granted David the forgiveness of his sin, he had at its
dedication consecrated it by fire from heaven. David recognised
in this altar the sanctuary of the Lord ; he sacrificed there not
only once, but he used it ever afterwards as a place of sacrifice.
Besides all this, we have one passage in which it is, expressly
said that David gave to that place the name of the house of
the Lord, — an appellation which he would regard as all the
more appropriate from the circumstance that he foresaw that
the form would very soon be superadded to the reality, in that ,
edifice which he knew would be completed' by his son, and in
the preparation for which he henceforth himself engaged with
so much alacrity, compare 1 Chron. xxii. 2, &c. The passage
is 1 Chron. xxii. 1 : " And David said this is the house of the
Lord, and this is the altar of the burnt-offering for Israel."
On the other hand, and in favour of this interpretation, we
have the contents of the Psalm, in exact agreement with 2 Sam.
xxiv. and 1 Chron. xxi. First, there is an agreement in reference
to David's sin. Here, as there, it was no outward sin on the part
of David, that brought down the divine judgment; it was such a
sin as lay concealed within the recesses of the heart. His sin
here as there, was pride, which led him to consider what had
been given him by the Lord, as acquired by his own might, and
as a lasting possession. Here David expressly tells us this, in
the 7th verse, where his sin is represented as consisting in his say
ing, in his prosperity, " I shall never be moved." Buddseus, who
remarks on tho numbering of the people, " the thing itself shows
that David, in the whole matter, was actuated by pride and vain-,
glory," takes a correct view of the matter in opposition to that

PSALM xxx. 485
taken by J. D. Michaelis, who cannot understand what a sin is,
which lies wholly within the heart, and by others who follow, him,
such as Keil, on Chronicles, p. 351, who maintains that the num
bering of the people was for military purposes, was like an enrol
ment for service, and proceeded from that love of conquest which
David had acquired in his old age, in consequence of having
brought so many battles to a successful termination. It is ex
pressly said in 2 Sam. xxiv. 2, that David's design was " to
take the number of the people," and the remark of Joab in ver.
3 renders it evident that David, in so doing, was seeking to
gratify his pride and vain-glory much in the same way that an
avaricious man gratifies his avarice by counting his gold. It is
clearly evident from Ex. xxx. 12, that the numbering of the
people, which is in itself an action entirely innocent, and in
some circumstances absolutely necessary, may very easily be
come a sin through pride. The punishment also shows that
the essence of the sin was pride : quia David multitudine po-
puli superbire voluit, ideo Deus eum diminutione populi punivit.
Thenius in his remarks on the passage, has shown clearly, that
it is only by a false interpretation that 2 Sam. xxiv. 5, can be
made to favour the view taken by J. D. Michaelis. — Further,
the calamity spoken of is one which came upon the Psalmist
after a long season of peace and prosperity, ver. 6, 7. This was
the case at the numbering of the people. The pride, which
prompted David to that act, had been induced by prosperity.
— The calamity referred to in the Psalm was very severe, but it
was of short duration : the pain was quickly and suddenly
changed into joy; compare ver. 2, ver. 11, and especially ver.
5 : " weeping lasts for an evening, and in the morning there is
joy." Such was exactly the case at the numbering of the peo
ple. The calamity, which so rent the heart of David that, in
a state in which it might be said that he was rather dead than
alive, he besought the Lord to make an end of it, at the expense
of his own life, came suddenly to a close, after it lasted less
than one entire day. The calamity, according to 2 Sam. xxiv.
15., " lasted from morning till the time of meeting." That by
this, we are to understand, " the evening religious assembly,"
i.e. "till the time of the evening sacrifice," (1 Kings xviii. 36,
comp. with ver. 29 ; 2 Kings xvi. 15,) is clear from the context.
Of the two religious assemblies of the clay, the first is excluded
by the expression, " from the morning." The usual interpreta
tion, " till the time appointed," is inadmissible, for the phrase •

486

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

must mean some part of the day, standing in opposition to the
morning, and, from the succeeding context, it is evident that
the judgment did not last till the time appointed by God, but
was shortened in consequence of David's repentance. — The
punishment, according to ver. 7 of our Psalm, was such a one
as broke the power of the kingdom. This was the case at the
numbering of the people. The enemy, the usual instrument
of Divine judgments in the Psalms, especially in those that were
inflicted on David, comes into notice here only as rejoicing over
the calamity of the Psalmist — an expression which indicates
simply his presence ; and this is in accordance with 2 Sam.
xxiv. 13, where, among the three evils submitted to David's
choice, we find this, " that he was to flee three months before
his enemies while they pursued him." — Here, as there, the
deliverance followed in immediate connection with the prayer
of David. — Verse 11, " thou hast put off my sackcloth, and gird
ed me with gladness," may be compared with 1 Chron. xxi. 16,
" then David and the elders of Israel who were clothed in sack
cloth fell upon their faces." Lastly, verse 4th indicates, in ac
cordance with our view of the title, that the Psalm was pre
pared for the purpose of being used in public worship.
Our Psalm affords a very remarkable proof of the correctness
and originality of the Titles, The circumstances above advert
ed to, are so very far from being obvious, that the title could
not possibly have been framed from laying them alongside of
each other.
The idea, arbitrarily entertained by Hitzig, that the Psalm
was composed by Jeremiah, is refuted by the obvious allusions
to it in the song of Hezekiah, as recorded in the 38th chapter of
Isaiah: compare ver. 18 and 19 of that chapter, with the 9th
verse of this Psalm.
The forgiving mercy of God towards his own people ismanifestly
pointed out in ver. 5 as the kernel of the Psalm. It is very re
markable, that, previous to the laying of the material founda
tion of the temple, this should have been pointed out by Gpd
himself, as the spiritual basis on which the temple was to rest.
David comes forth in this Psalm, as the interpreter of this an
nouncement, — an announcement implied in the procedure adopt
ed on the occasion by God.

Ver. 1. I will exalt thee, O Lord, for thou hast exalted me, and

PSALM XXX. VER. 1, 2. 487
hast not permitted my foes to rejoice over me. Muis: " I will
praise thee, is followed in the second clause by the ground, why
he desires to praise God; and he expands this in the two follow
ing verses, for the purpose of showing how great is his obliga
tion to praise him." The three verses are bound together as
one whole, by the thrice repeated address to God. The first
clause, " I will exalt thee," stands in manifest reference to the
second, "because thou hastexalted me." Calvin: "because he was,
as it were, exalted from the grave to the vital air, he promises
that he will exalt the name of God. For as God exalts on
high by his hand when we are sunk in the deep, so it is, on the
other hand, our duty to exalt his praise with heart and lips."
The term n77, properly to draw water, is explained by the repre
sentation here given of the calamity under the figure of a deep
well, into which the Psalmist had sunk. That we are to pay
no regard to the literal rendering is manifest from the 3d verse,
" thou hast brought up my soul from the grave," and from verse
2d, where " thou hast drawn me up," corresponds to " thou hast
healed me." The 112W with the 7, indicates, according to the
connection, malicious pleasure. It signifies properly" to rejoice
at any one, so that the joy pertains to him, or stands in reference
to him. David's enemies, like those of every pious king, were
the numerous enemies of the Lord, — the ungodly: compare
2 Sam. xii. 14; " because by this deed thou hast given great oc
casion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also
that is born unto them shall surely die." As these had hither
to contemplated with envy the previous manifestations of the
grace of God towards him, so now they derived a peculiar gra
tification from the calamity with which he had been visited.
They hoped that he would now be utterly destroyed — a consum
mation which they had in vain looked for in the days of Absa
lom. This hope was frustrated, when they saw that God had
forgiven the infirmity of his repentant servant, and that he did
not give him over to the punishment of the ungodly.
Ver. 2. O Lord, my God, I cry to God, and thou didst heal me.
Every severe suffering appears under the figure of a sickness,
and the Lord, who removes it, under the figure of a physician.
Compare Isaiah vi. 10; 2 Chron. xxxvi. 16. " To heal" here is
explained by the " helping" of ver. 10, and the " gladdening"
of ver. 11. To conclude from the expression " thou didst heal
me," that David had been literally ill of a bodily disease, Would

488

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

be as absurd as to conclude from the expression " thou
hast drawii me out," of ,the first verse, that he had fallen into
a well, Ver. 3. O Lord, thou hast brought up my soul from hell, thou
hast brought me alive from among those who go down to the pit. .
David had been brought near death, through grief, on account
of the sufferings in which his criminal conduct had involved his
people: compare on Psalm vi. 6, 7. He was, as it were, dead,
though still literally alive; compare 2 Cor. i. 10. Calvin: " He
thought that he could not otherwise adequately describe the
greatness of the favour of God, than by comparing the darkness
of that time to that of the grave and the pit." In reference to
711 *771*, compare on Psalm xxviii. 1. " From those," is
" taking me out of the number of those." The marginal read
ing *77*fi, " from my going down," that is, " so that I may not
go down," is to be decidedly rejected. For the infinitive of
77* is always H77, (compare verse 9,) and the Psalmist repre
sents himself in the first clause as one who had already sunk to
Sheol. The Masoritea made the change because they could
not understand how the Psalmist reckoned himself among the
dead. After this short glance at the circumstances, there follows in
the 4th and 5th verses the announcement of the kernel of the
doctrine which they contain, which extends far beyond the
range of individual and personal experience, and is of import
ance to the whole community of believers. These are exhorted
to concur in the praise of the Psalmist for the deliverance vouch
safed to him, because it gloriously illustrates the nature of God.
Ver. 4. Sing to the Lord ye saints of his, and praise his holy
memorial. ¦ The memorial of the Lord is what presents itself to
the mind when we think of him, — therefore everything by which
he makes known his nature, — his historically manifested proper
ties, — his character as exhibited in his acts. Were he the hidden
God, he would have no name, no memorial. The fundamental
passage is Ex. iii. 15: " this, (viz. Jehovah, the God of your fa
thers), is my name for ever, and my memorial unto all genera
tions," — that is, Twill always from this time make myself known
as possessed of this property, so that it shall not be possible for
men to name me except by it, or to think of me except accord
ing to it. Compare Isaiah xxvi. 8; Psalm cxxxv. 13; xcvii. 12 ;
Hosea xii. 6. The addition IfcJHp presents us with the contents

PSALM XXX. VER. 5. 489
of the memorial. The holiness of God is, in this passage also,
his infinite elevation above all created being : compare on
Psalm xxii. 3. This the Lord manifests in the most glorious
manner, in the " being compassionate, gracious, and merciful."
Compare Hos. xi. 9, wjjere, in like manner, the forbearance and
the grace of God are represented as the outgoing of his holi
ness. What is mentioned here in two words as the holy memo
rial of God, is set before us in a more expanded form in the
5th verse. The historical character of God, as the holy one,
rich in forgiveness, and infinitely elevated above all human pas
sion, had been manifested in the experience of David. This
furnished an opportunity for calling upon the whole church to
praise him in- this aspect. Whatever the Lord does in the first
instance to one individual, belongs at all times to the whole
church : and the people of God ought joyfully to avail them
selves of every such opportunity to grow in the knowledge and
love of God.
Ver. 5. For his anger brings on a • moment, his favour
life, weeping in the evening remaineth over the night, and in the
morning joy is there. This verse gives the basis of the exhorta
tion to praise the Lord, and especially his holiness. That 1£JO
is not to be translated, " during his anger," but, " through
his anger," is obvious from the opposite term, " through- his
favour ;" compare the 731X71 in ver. 7. The literal rendering
is: "Because a moment (is) through his anger, life through his
favour:" the import is : " because through his anger there comes
only one sorrowful moment, and then there comes again
life through his favour." The " moment" is defined by the
connection and the parallelism to be a sorrowful one. The
life is to be explained neither as bare life, nor simpliciter as de
liverance. It includes both, — life in the proper sense and deli
verance : compare on Ps. xvii. 11. It is explained on the one
hand, by ver. 3, where the Psalmist says, that the Lord had
brought him back to life from the death into which he had as
good as fallen, and by the " my blood," in ver. 9th, and on the
other hand by ver. 11 and by the parallel term " joy." God de
livers his people from apparent death, and bestows upon them
deliverance. Mere life could not be called life, it would only be
death in disguise. — From attempting to bring out the most exact
parallelism possible, andfrom not at the same time observing, that
the V37 is limited by the connection to be a moment of sorrow,

490 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
denoting suitably the opposite of D**7, critics have been led
into two false expositions. Several, like the Septuagint and
Hitzig, force out of the J*37 a false sense : " sudden death lies in
his anger." Most, however, display their ingenuity on tD**J"!- It
is made to denote the whole of life : " his. anger lasts only one mo
ment, his favour, on the other hand, diffuses happiness among
his people throughout their whole lifetime." But then, Q**n
never occurs as equivalent to " all the days of life ;" it is rather
used throughout the Psalms in opposition to death, in the full
sense of that term : compare for example xvi. 11, xxxiv. 12,
xxxvi. 9. Even in the second clause, there is nothing said of
the long continuance of the deliverance, of which the Psalmist
could as yet know nothing, but only of the short duration of
the suffering and of the sudden transition to joy. The same
observation may be applied to ver. 2 and 11. — In the second
half of the verse, weeping is personified and represented by the
figure of a wanderer, who leaves in the morning the lodging in
to which he had entered the preceding evening. After him an
other guest arrives, viz. joy. The J*7* can refer only to the first
clause : in the second the substantive verb must be supplied. —
The contents of the verse are applicable to those only who are
exhorted in the 4th verse to praise the glory of God therein re
presented, which forms the ground of their joyful hope and of
their patience in affliction, viz. the pious. The Divine judgments
are annihilating in their character to the ungodly : in their case
joy never follows weeping.
There follows after the introduction a more full and distinct
description, on the one hand, of the distress which. David by his
own sin had brought upon himself, and, on the other, of the
grace of God which had wrought out his deliverance.
Ver. 6. And I said in my security, I shall never be moved.
Calvin : " an effeminate indolence had stolen over his spirit, so
that he was disinclined to prayer, and had no sense of his depend-,
ance upon Divine grace, but trusted too much to frail transitory
prosperity." The " speaking" here is the speaking of the heart.
There is no necessity arising from this passage for supposing
that there is another form of the noun 17^, instead of the usual
one, 1)bw '• compare on the dropping of the feminine termina
tion before the suffixes, Hitzig on Hos. xiii. 2. The phrase it
self, " in my security," may be understood either as equivalent

PSALM XXX. VEK. 6. 491
to " when I was prosperous" (Luther,) or as indicating that, car
nal security of the soul which is also indicated by worldly pro
sperity, as in Prov. i. 32, " the prosperity of fools shall destroy
them," and the adj. in Ez. xxiii. 42. In favour of this last inter
pretation it may be urged, that the words, except when consi
dered in this view, are not sufficiently explicit. It is only from the
sense in which they are spoken that they have a sinful character.
Considered in themselves, they may be taken as an expression of
living faith. — The deepest insight into the dangers of prosperity,
and the necessity which thence arises for affliction, had previously
been exhibited in the law: compare for example Deut. xxxii. 15.
" But Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked, thou art waxen fat, thou
art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook
God which made him, and lightly esteemed the rock of his sal
vation:" but especially Deut. viii. 11 — 18, where almost every
word agrees exactly with the case before us : " Beware that
thou forget not the Lord thy God, lest when thou hast eaten
and art full, and thine heart be lifted up, and thou say in thine
heart, my power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me
this wealth: but thou shalt remember the Lord thy God, for he
it is that giveth thee power to get wealth." Besides Israel
(compare Hos. xiii. 16, " according to their pasture so were they
filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted; therefore
have they forgotten me,") and David, we have in the Old Testa
ment a remarkable example of the dangers of prosperity in the
case of Hezekiah, who stood so nobly when in adversity. These
dangers are not only incident to worldly prosperity, but are also
to be dreaded in a season of spiritual enjoyment. J. Arnd says:
" Behold ! we have here a very affecting warning in the example
of beloved David, which should teach us to fear God during our
days of prosperity, and never to be confident, or to put our depen-
dance on earthly things. How did the prophets preach against
the mighty kings and nations in their prophecies against Baby
lon and others ! All those mighty nations, cities, and kings who
depended on their own might and riches, have been broken and
laid waste, and levelled with the ground : while, on the other
hand, all who acted humbly, feared God, and cherished a sense
of dependence on his grace, have been maintained and shall con
tinue to exist for ever. The sentence also is to be understood
in a spiritual sense : many a one is so strong in faith, so spiritual
ly minded, so joyful, so full of confidence, that he bids defiance

41)2

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

to the devil and the world, and says with David, ' I will not fear _
though hundreds of thousands were encamped against me.'
But when our beloved God tries us a little, when he withdraws
from us his grace, 0 then all is over with us, and we are ready
to sink into hell and to give up all for lost. This God does that
we may become acquainted with our own weakness, and may
know that we are entirely dependent on Divine grace." The
Berleb. Bib. : " A change is necessary, in order that the soul
may be brought to know that its firmness is entirely dependent
on the strength which God has imparted. If its beautiful day
had no evening, if its sun were never darkened, the soul would
infallibly ascribe all to its own power and care. But as soon as
God withdraws his sensible co-operation, evening and darkness
destroy its beautiful day : and it then knows that every thing
comes from this source and sun, and that every thing proceeds
from the will of God, and through the working of his grace,
without any merit on our own part at all."
Ver. 7. 0 Lord,, through thy mercy thou hadst imparted
strength to my mountain, thou didst hide thy face and I was con
founded. David complains of his folly, in that it was necessary
for him to learn by misfortune that his prosperity was nothing
else than a gift of Divine grace, the continuance of which did not
depend on any power in its possessor, but on its heavenly author.
The verse may be thus paraphrased : " I have learned by pain
ful experience that the power of my kingdom had its root in thy
favour, for, when thou didst withdraw thy grace, I was in a mi
serable condition, and felt myself to be irretrievably lost." It
is of importance to compare the history here. How speedily
were all the foolish ideas, which led David to number the people,
dissipated, when the Divine judgments broke in upon him I
7*DJ*n, With the accusative of the thing, and the dative of the
person, is " to impart any thing to any one:" compare 2 Chron.
xxxiii. 8, " The land which I have appointed for your fathers :"
— in the parallel passage 2 Kings xxi. 8, it is }n3, " gave."
The " mountain " is in general a striking emblem of dominion.
But there was in the case before us a particular reason why the
Psalmist selected this figure. A mountain was the centre, and
therefore the natural symbol of David's kingdom : Gompare 2
Sam. v. 9, " and David dwelt in the fort, and called it the city
of David." On the top of the high and steep eminence, in the
km tokii, the royal city was situated, (Neh. iii. 25), which was

PSALM XXX. VER. 8. 493
termed the upper king's house. Its situation must have rendered
it a place of great security. This is evident from the contemp
tuous language used by the Jebusites when David was endea
vouring to obtain possession of it. They insinuated that the blind
and the lame were sufficient to defend it. Micah iv. 8 is exact
ly parallel to our passage. The prophet employs the hill of the
daughter of Zion, and specially the tower of the city built upon
it, as an emblem of the dominion of the seed of David ; compare
Christol. P. III. p. 273. Those passages are analogous, in which
the hill of Sion appears as the symbol of the kingdom of God,
on account of the sanctuary erected upon it : Is. ii. 3, Fs. Ixviii.
17, &c. Hence the expression, " thou hast imparted strength to
my mountain," is, " thou hast imparted strength to my king
dom :" compare 2 Sam. v. 12, " And David perceived that the
Lord had established him king over Israel, and that he had exalted
his kingdom." Those expositions are to be rejected in which the
mountain is considered as symbolical either of security, or of
dignity and greatness. Neither security nor dignity can have
strength imparted to them. According to our exposition, the
passage stands in remarkable agreement with the history. The
Divine judgment, which followed the numbering of the people,
destroyed, to a great extent, the strength of the kingdom.
There follows now (v. 8 — 10) the prayer which David, after
he had been brought to a right state of mind, offered up to God
as the fruit of the Divine chastisement. Calvin : " David, who
had hitherto been sound asleep, is suddenly alarmed, and begins
to cry to God. For as iron, when it has become rusty through
long rest, cannot again be made use of till it has passed anew
through the fire, and been struck again with the hammer, so,
when carnal confidence has obtained the mastery, it is impossible
for any man to address himself in right earnest to prayer, until
he has been struck by the cross, and made fit for the work."
Ver., 8. To thee, O Lord, I cried, and I supplicated the Lord
for his grace. Several expositors consider this verse as expres
sive of future time, and consequently read it with marks of quo
tation, as if it formed part of the prayer. This is the view taken
by Luther : " I will call upon thee, 0 Lord, I will supplicate
the Lord." But, in opposition to this, it may be urged, that, in
the second clause, God is not addressed, but is spoken of.
Hence it is better to interpret the future, as arising from the
living realisation of the past.

494 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
Ver. 9. " What profit is there to thee in my blood, that I should
go down to the grave? Will dust praise thee, will it make known
thy truth?" The two first questions (literally, " what gain is
there in my blood ? What gain hast thou if thou spill my blood,
if thou suffer me to die, or in my going down to the grave,") are
answered in the two which follow. God would have very little
profit. He would be deprived of the praise of the Psalmist, who
in the midst of all his weakness, had continued to be his servant,
and whose praise consequently had been pleasant to him : com
pare the parallel passage, Ps. vi. 5. The nfifc? is neither
" grace," nor " faithfulness," nor " friendship," but, as always,
" truth." Prominence is here given to that attribute of God which
the Psalmist will praise, if God does not give him over to death:
compare the song of Hezekiah in Is. xxxviii. 19, " The living, he
shall praise thee, as I do this day, the father to the children
shall makeknown thy truth;" and ver. 18: " Forthe grave cannot
praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee, they that go down into
the pit cannot make known thy truth." God would be chargeable
with untruth, were he to give over his own people to irremediable
destruction, after having declared in his word his readiness to
forgive their infirmities on their sincere repentance. — 1 Chron. ii.
14 — 17 shows how exactly these words suit the situation to which
we suppose them to refer. David had made an offer of his own
life, for the deliverance of his people, to the angel with the
drawn sword, whom he beheld with eyes which had been opened
by a sense of his guilt. Even this offer shows that he looked
upon himself as rather dead than alive. The sufferings of his
people, of which he himself had been the cause, pierced his heart
so severely, that he believed he must have died had they been
prolonged. '
Ver. 10. " Hear, 0 Lord, and be gracious to me, Lord be my
helper." David, after repeating his prayer, tells us that he had been
heard. Ver. 11. Thou turnedstfor me my mourning into danc-.
ing, thou hast put off my sackcloth and girded me with gladness.
pW is a hair garment, which mourners put on : it was, as it were,
the robe of penitence, in which they were led through suffering
to self-examination, and through it to humiliation, under the
mighty hand of God, and to an acknowledgment of their sin,
and to penitent prayer for forgiveness.
The conclusion consists of promises of thanks.

psalm xxxi. 495
Ver 12. In order that glory may praise thee, and not be silent;
O Lord, my God, I will praise thee for ever. Several translators
give : " for this reason," &c. But }J*&7, when joined to verbs,
never signifies, " for this reason," but always, " in order that:"
and this signification, as Calvin saw, is here even more suitable
than any other. As David, in ver. 9, had grounded his prayer for
deliverance on the plea, that otherwise he would not have it in
his power to praise God, so now he brings in the praise of God
as the object of the deliverance which had been really wrought
out for him. And what a motive was there in this for David not
to become weary in praising God ! The " glory'; indicates how
highly God esteemed the praises of the Psalmist. He is made
after the image of God, there is something divine in him : com
pare at Ps. vii. 5 ; xvi. 9. The expression, " in order that glory
may praise thee," is, " in order that my soul may praise thee,
which is glory, or whose praise is pleasant to thee, because it is
glory." We are not to think of an elision of the suffix, which
never takes place. The reference to the Psalmist, that the glory
which is to praise God belongs to him, comes out from the con
nection. The " for ever," indicates that the Psalmist will set no
limits to the praise of God. In reality, it corresponds to " all
the days of our life," of Hezekiah, in the 20 th verse.

PSALM XXXI.
After the Psalmist has shortly expressed his prayer, and in
dicated the basis on which it rests in the introduction (ver. 1),
he brings forward the latter oi these very prominently in the
first division (v. 2 — 8) : the Lord may, must and will help him
in his trouble, because he is his God. With confidence thus ac
quired from the consideration of the general relationship of God
towards him, he proceeds in the second division (v. 9 — 18) more
immediately to the trouble itself which he describes at length in
the first halfoi this part (v. 9 — 13), and then in the second half
(v. 14 — 18) he brings it to God. In the third division (v. 19 — 21)
the Psalmist obtains from God the heartfelt assurance of help,
and extols loudly the goodness of God towards his own people.
A conclusion (ver. 22) sums up in a few words the personal ex
perience of the Psalmist ; and an appendix (ver. 23, 24) unfolds
the lesson which the church ought to learn from this narrative :

496 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
—all the pious shouhTbe led thereby to love God, and "confidently
to trust in him in the time of trouble ; for as the example of the
Psalmist shows, he will not fail to manifest himself as faithful to
his people.
This Psalm also is distinguished by an elaborate formal ar
rangement. The main body is marked by the numbers 3. 7. and
10, and is completed in two decades, if we reckon together the
three verses of the third, and the seven of the first part, which
are intimately related to each other : — in the first we have confi
dence anticipating an answer, and in the third, confidence re
ferring to the inward response of God. The second decade is di
vided into two parts' of five verses each. If we add the conclusion
and the introduction, it appears that the Psalm is an alphabetical
one in point of numbers. There is also an evident attempt at al
phabetical arrangement as regards the first letters of the verses
in the paragraph from ver. 8 — 12. If we add the application,
the verses amount to 24, — the doubled twelve,; — the signature
of the people of the covenant.
Several abortive attempts have been made to find out a parti
cular historical occasion for the Psalm. It represents, as Coc-
ceius has well remarked, the perpetual conflict which believers
and the church have to maintain in this world, and the deliver
ance and victory by which that conflict is sure to be followed.
The Psalmist does not speak from his own person, but from the
the person of every righteous man, who finds himself engaged in
severe warfare. The want of all special historical reference
speaks in favour of this view. Then the language of the Psalm
is exceedingly simple, while in those called forth by individual
suffering, the language is more or less involved. In like
manner, there is the fact, that there are in this Psalm several
reminiscences from other Psalms which had proceeded from a
heart in a state of great emotion. Last of all, there is the al
phabetical arrangement. All alphabetical Psalms have a gene
ral character.
That Jeremiah found the Psalm suitable to his circumstances,
and drew consolation from it, is evident, besides other facts,
from chap. xx. 10, where we find the very peculiar language of
the first half of the 13th verse repeated word for word. Modern
expositors, entirely misunderstanding the relation subsisting be
tween Jeremiah and the more ancient sacred writings, and par
ticularly the Psalms, have, from the simple fact of the above

PSALM XXXI. VER. 1. 497
agreement, drawn the conclusion that he was tho author of tho
Psalm. The conclusion is just as valid as would be the infe
rence that it had been composed by our Saviour, because he made
use of the language of the fifth verse on the cross. The more
general reasons, such as those drawn from the sameness in
point of sense, the connection between lamentation and hope,
the elegiac mood, &c, do not lead to Jeremiah any more than
to any other believer under the old Testament dispensation.
There is, moreover, not the shadow of a reason for setting aside
the superscription, which expressly announces the Psalm to have
been David's.

First, the Introduction in ver. 1. In thee, 0 Lord, do I put
my trust, let me never be ashamed, deliver me inthy righteousness.
The Psalmist prays for something which God must grant. His
prayer rises on the firm foundation of his faith, which God
may not put to shame, and of God's righteousness, which renders
it impossible that the lots of the righteous and the wicked should
be interchanged. On " let me never be ashamed," the
Berleb. Bible correctly remarks: " which would be the case,
wert thou not to fulfil my desire and prayer :" and Venema :
" he shows that he feels himself to bo in such a situation that he
must either be immediately delivered, or put to shame for ever."
To be put to shame now is the same thing as to be put to
shame for ever, for matters have come to the very last extremity
with the Psalmist: compare ver. 9 — 13, particularly the words,
" they devised to take away my life," with which this description
of the trouble concludes, and " deliver me speedily," of ver. 2.
Now the servants of God, notwithstanding all their weaknesses,
are not put to shame for ever. God may, yea must visit his
people with transitory suffering, but he cannot be God, and give
them over to destruction. This belongs only to the wicked, not
to those who put their trust in God. It is utterly impossible to
substitute " goodness" for " righteousness." The only question
is, whether the prominent idea intended here to be conveyed is
faithfulness in fulfilling promises, or justice in dispensing to each
one according to his works. In favour of the latter view, we
have the mention made of the righteous in ver. 18, of them that
fear God in ver. 19, of those who trust in God, ver. 6, as the ob
jects of the Divine assistance, and the corresponding expression in
the verse before us itself, in thee, O Lord, do I put my trust.
The righteousness of God demands that he should not give over
2k

498'

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

to destruction (as is the case with the wicked scoffers) those
who trust in Mm — it being of course understood that it is a real,
heartfelt trust that is meant, such a trust as springs from a pure
conscience: compare at Ps. xviii. 1; Ps. xxvi.
The first division is from ver. 2 to ver. 8. The Psalmist utters
the prayer to God for deliverance, grounds it upon the inward
relation in which he stands to God, and expresses his assurance
of being heard.
Ver. 2. Bow down thine ear to me, deliver me speedily; be a
strong rock to me, and a fortress to help me. Of the two ele
ments contained in the Introduction — the Prayer and its Basis,
— we have the first here, and the second in ver. 3. Jo. Arhd:
" 0 God, thou hearest what is uttered in such a soft voice, that
thou hearest my sigh! Ah! keep not at such a distance
from me ! I have no temporal defence, no place of strength and
safety; be thou my castle and stronghold. Here we learn how
the children of God ought to speak to their beloved father,
namely, as friend to friend, or as a child to his father: ah! my
beloved father, bow down thine ear to me. See, this is what
faith, what child-like love and confidence does! It embraces the
Lord, and falls upon his neck! 0 Lord, thou knowest, and
thou alone art acquainted with my trouble: to thee alone
will I complain, and speak, as it were, secretly into thy
ear." It belongs to fervent prayer to realize the presence of
God in the most lively manner, so that, in the prayers of the
godly of the Old Testament, even before the incarnation
of the Word, He took, as it were, flesh and blood. Hence it is,
that, in the Psalms, we find the strongest possible instances of
what have been termed anthropomorphisms and anthropopathies.
The non-existence of the anthropomorphisms oi feeling is just
as objectionable, yea more so than, the existence of the
anthropomorphisms of belief, which are met at the threshold
of the Old Testament by the law forbidding images — a law
which is based on the absolute spirituality oi God. Aver
sion to the anthropomorphisms of feeling, or inability to make
use of them in a way consistent with inward truth, is the result
of practical atheism. " A strong rock and a fortress" is literal-,
ly a rock of security, and a house of a mountain-top: compare
Ps. xviii. 2.
Ver. 3. For thou art my rock and my fortress, and for thy
name's sake thou wilt lead me and guide me. The Psalmist had,
in the preceding verse, prayed to God that he would be his rock
and fortress, and he now grounds this prayer on the fact that the

PSALM XXXI. VEli. 4 — 6. 499
Lord is in reality his rock and fortress, because he knew him as
such, by the faith which God never puts to shame. God must
in the particular case necessarily help him, because he stands
towards him in the general relation of a helper. Hence- we see
what ground Koester has for maintaining that the " for" is illo
gical, and for drawing from this his conclusion that the Psalm
is a compilation. The " for" refers to both clauses of the verse.
Even in the second clause, the point to which the Psalmist lays
claim, is led back to his trouble. Not to allow trouble to dark
en consciousness, is one of the highest and most difficult tasks
set before sufferers. — The expression "for thy name's sake,"
is equivalent to " for the sake of thy historically manifested
glory," viz., " thy righteousnoss" of ver. 1 : compare at Ps.
xxiii. 3. The words *373H and *3773n (compare on the mean
ing of 7n3, Ps. xxii. 2,) are to be considered as expressive, not
oi prayer, (Luther : " Wilt thou not lead and guide me,1') but of
hope. This is evident from the connection of the verse with
what precedes, and from what follows, when the Psalmist passes
from hope to confidence. The prayer of the preceding verse,
" that the Lord would deliver the Psalmist," has assigned to it
as its basis, " that the Lord will deliver him for his name's sake."
Ver. 4. Thou wilt lead me out of the net which they laid for
me, for thou art my strength. Ver. 5. Into thine hand I com
mit my spirit, thou redeemest me, God of truth. The preterite,
nn*7S is to be taken in the prophetic sense, as expressive of
confident hope, and stands like the preterite in the 7th and 8th
verses. The bdsis of this confidence is pointed out in the re
ference to God as the God of truth : — " God of truth" corre
sponds to " my strength," in the preceding verse. That God is a
God of truth affords security for deliverance, inasmuch as he has
revealed himself in his word as the righteous rewarder : sothat
he would not be acting in accordance with truth, were he not to
help. — Our Lord uttered on the cross the words of the first half
of the verse before us, and this circumstance led many of the
old expositors to apply the whole Psalm directly to tbe Messiah.
Huss repeated frequently on the way to the stake the words :
" Into thine hands I commend my spirit, thou bast redeemed
me, my Lord Jesus, God of truth."
Ver. 6. I hate those who regard lying vanities, and I trust in
the Lord. The Psalmist had in the preceding verse rested his
hope of deliverance on Jehovah — the God of truth. In the verse
before us he expands this thought. He does not, like the un-

500,

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

godly world, which he hates, put his trust in deceitful vanities,'
in idols, which cannot make good the assistance which they pro
mise to their votaries, he places his trust in the Lord, the I am,
the God of truth, who performs what he promises; and therefore
he is sure of deliverance. The emphasis does not lie on the
trust, but on the object of the trust. Many expositors substitute
HN3B', " thou hatest," instead of *n&$3B' : but the sense does
T •" T . .. T
not suit the connection, and Psalm xvi. 4, and xxvi. 5, are in fa
vour of the first person. 7£3£>, in the sense of, " to wait upon any
thing," occurs in Hos. iv. 10, and Zech. xi. 11. E*7l7, " vani
ties" is applied to idols in Deut. xxxii. 21, in parallelism with
7K N7 : and also in Jonah ii. 9 ; Jer. x. 3, 15, 19. That it re
fers here immediately to idols, is evident from comparing Ps.
xvi. 2 — 5. The remark of Calvin, however, is in reality, per
fectly correct : " All those vain hopes which we invent for our
selves, and which withdraw our trust from God, David calls va
nities, and even vanities of nothingness or of lies, because they
delude and deceive us, though they feed us for a long while
with their mighty boastings." The D*71M stands in opposition
to nin* of the preceding verse — the I am, the pure and abso
lute entity in opposition to the nonentity — and the a)&, " the
lie'," is opposed to f^2tt> " the truth." They are in themselves
nothing, and, on this account, they are deceitful to all those
who place their hope in them. The *3N1, on which many have
stumbled, is to be explained by considering the words " I hate,
&c." as equivalent to " Those whom I hate, &c." Jo. Arnd re
marks : " The soul remains with that, on which it depends,
on which it places its hope, where it seeks comfort and rest,
with which it is united : is thy soul united with any earthly
thing, has it conceived an affection for it, does it depend on
it, woe to thy poor soul, it will remain where its hope is. There
fore look well to what it is that thy soul is depending on."
Ver. 7. I will be glad, and rejoice in thy goodness, thou seest
my trouble, thou knowest the necessity of my soul. The sufferer
sees, with the eye of faith, the deliverance, for which he hopes,;
already present, — the prayer with which the paragraph be
gins is based on hope, and the hope soon passes on to con
fidence, — and exhorts himself, now that God bad performed
his part, to render him joyful thanks. The* exposition of Mi
chaelis and others, " let me give thanks" — " Give me, by de
livering me, occasion to render thanks," — is confuted by the

PSALM XXXI. VER. 8—10. 501
preterites — The seeing is not without meaning. When God sees
the misery of his people, he also helps them. The J*7* with 2
is used of a knowledge which co-exists with some strong affec
tion; in this case, that of love centred upon its object: com
pare Job xxv. 15. The exposition of Luther, " thou knowest
my soul in trouble," which has been again brought into notice by
Stier, is negatived by passages such as Gen. xiii. 21, where H7X
JJ*S3 already occurs, and Ps. xxv. 17.
Ver. 8. And thou dost not give me over into the hand of my
enemy, thou settest my feet in a large room. " To shut up into
the hand," is to give over into the power in such a way that
there can be no deliverance. The phrase is made use of by
David, 1 Sam. xxiii. 11. Compare xxvi. 8, xxiv. 19. On the se
cond clause, compare Ps. xviii. 19.
There follows now the second division, (ver. 9 — 18), in which
the Psalmist, in the spirit of heartfelt trust in the helping grace
of God, to which, after much exertion, he had attained, proceeds
first, to describe at length his trouble, (ver. 9, 13), and, second,
to pray for deliverance, (.14 — 18.)
Ver. 9. Lord be merciful unto me, for I am hard pressed,
mine eye is decayed because of vexation, my soul and my body.
Compare Ps. vi. 7. We have already seen at this passage, and
at Ps. x. 14, that DJ*1 does not signify grief, but vexation, or de
jection, especially that arising from the unrighteous conduct of
enemies. Ver. 10. For my life is spent with grief, and my years with
sighing, my strength is broken through my guilt, and my bones
are consumed. The expressions, " in grief," and ".in sigh
ing," are to be explained from this, that the effect is thought of
as resting in its cause. "My constant pain," the sense is, "my con
tinual sighing wear me out before the time, end my life, shorten
my years." 771 is " to waste away," " to tend towards dissolu
tion." bW2 is in many places " to stumble," " to sink from
weakness:" compare, for example, Ps. cix. 24. It is applied
here to sinking, broken strength. Many of the expositors are
altogether at sea in their efforts to explain " through my guilt:"
it was not the guilt of the Psalmist, say they, but the wickedness of
his enemies, that had involved him in suffering, he appeals to the
justice of God, (ver. 1), and represents himself as a man of up
rightness and piety, who had led an innocent life. They there
fore explain the term " through my suffering." But \)]} is ab

502 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
ways " guilt," and never " suffering," such as befalls an inno
cent man, and not once " punishment." The wickedness of ene
mies, and the guilt of the Psalmist, co-exist as causes that have
brought on his distress : the Lord, on account of his guilt, has
given power to the malice of his enemies to injure him : Nei
ther are the guilt of the Psalmist and his own righteousness in
consistent with each other, he was a righteous man in regard to
the prevailing direction of his life, but this was quite compatible
with the existence of manifold sins of infirmity, which rendered
it necessary that he should be purified by the cross. The right
eousness of God may have brought on the Psalmist's suffering,
but that need not prevent the Psalmist from looking to the same
righteousness as the ground for which he hopes for deliverance.
Sins of infirmity call for punishment, not destruction; and it is
that this, which the Psalmist finds to be already near, may be
averted, that he appeals to the righteousness of God. Finally,
the Psalmist might be innocent in reference to his enemies, and
might, nevertheless, be given over to suffering by God on ac
count of his guilt. It is, moreover, altogether impossible for us
to keep out of view the guilt as the cause of the suffering, inas
much as, according to the view given in Scripture, every suffer
ing is, and must be, a punishment, since God is just. To recog
nise in our sufferings a righteous retribution is the only sure
foundation on which the hope of deliverance can be made to
rest : he only who can say with the heart, " my strength is brok
en because of my guilt," will be able to utter with inward truth
the prayer, " deliver me for thy righteousness sake." The case
of Job affords a remarkable illustration of this. His despair of
a prosperous issue to his sufferings depended on this, and on
this'alone, that his failing to acknowledge his sinfulness ren
dered it impossible to bring his case into collision with the right
eousness of God. The same point, which is merely hinted at
here, occupies the foreground in other similar Psalms, as, for ex
ample, the 38th. The bones are mentioned as the seat of strength .
Very severe pain penetrates the bones and the marrow, and
renders tbe whole man thoroughly feeble.
Ver. 11. On account of mine enemies I have become a reproach,
and even to my neighbours very much, and an object of aversion
to my acquaintances, those who see me in ihe street flee from me.
The Psalmist complains of the loss of his reputation, which to a
man who feels himself deserted by God, is altogether insuppor-

PSALM XXXI. VER. 12, 13. , 503
table, and even to those in fellowship with God, is very difficult
to be borne. Calvin : " He says the multitude of his enemies have
gained over the whole world to their side, and therefore in the
face of his friends and acquaintances he has been overwhelmed
with reproach ; in these circumstances, public opinion furiously
assaults our souls as with a mighty hurricane." Jo. Arnd: " It
cannot be worse with us than when we are so overwhelmed with
lies and slanders that we come to be publicly despised, so that
people are ashamed of us and shun us, and it is reckoned disre
putable to associate with us, and even our intimate friends for
sake us: this was the case in a remarkable manner at tho cruci
fixion of our Lord ; his friends stood afar off, for had they come
near they would have been recognised as connected with him.
It is a piece of the curse, a portion of the poison, and one of the
most murderous blows of the devil, so to slander a man that he
is looked upon as an abomination and a curse." The ground
work of this description is to be found in the painful trial which
David experienced during the persecution of Saul. The JJ3 is
causal: " on account of," — " the reproach arises from my ene
mies." The Psalmist first says in general, " I have become a
reproach," and then mentions particularly those whose reproach
he felt peculiarly to be painful, " and (particularly I have be
come a reproach to my neighbours) very much, — to a great
extent." Those who see me in the street, &c. Not only will no
one associate with me under the same roof, or hold confiding in
tercourse with me, every one flees from me as soon as I am seen
in the streets.
Ver. 12. I am forgotten in the heart like a dead man, I have
become like a broken vessel. The I7& is properly out of the
heart. On " a broken vessel," the Berleb. Bible remarks: "which
is good for nothing, which can be made no use of, cannot be
made whole again, for which no one cares, and the fragments of
which are thrown away." That this last clause refers not only
to the contempt, but also, in general, to the completely comfort
less condition of the Psalmist, is evident from the " for" with
which the next verse opens.
Ver. 13. For I hear the slander of many, fear is on every side,
when they take counsel together against me, they devise to take
away my life. The sufferer here assigns the basis of the clause,
" I am like a broken vessel." The thought of the slanderings of
the enemies is naturally followed by that of their acts of perse-

504

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

cution: " fear is on every side," &c. To know that they had it
in their power to perpetrate these without hindrance, was the
reason why their slanders were regarded. They withdrew pub
lic sympathy from their victim, by loading him with reproaches,
that they might have it in their power to sacrifice him, undis
turbed and unpunished. On the 77* 7D17 compare on Ps. ii,
2. The representation of the trouble closes with intimating
that the enemies were in readiness to make a determined onset
against the life of the sufferer. If this be the case, God, as was
brought prominently forward in the first part, must, as sure as
he is the Psalmist's God, put forth his helping hand without
delay: delay is dangerous; not to help now, is the same thing
as not to help at all.
Ver. 14. And I trust in thee, O Lord, I say, " thou art my
God." Calvin, by the following remark, removes to the appa
rent contrast between the confidence in God expressed here, and
the complaints uttered in the previous verses. " He was indeed
sunk in the darkness of sorrow and in dreadful affliction, yet the
hidden light of faith still glimmered inwardly in his heart; he
sighed under his heavy load of trial, yet he still had strength left
to call upon God." On " thou art my God," he remarks : " there
is nothing more difficult, when we see our faith despised by the
whole world, than to direct our language to God alone, and to
rest on the testimony of our conscience that " he is our God."
Ver. 15. My times are in thine hand, deliver me from the
hands of my enemies and from my persecutors. D*nj* never sig-
ni&eS'fate, but always times. The Psalmist affirms that the
times, with their suffering and joys (comp. 1 Chron. xxix. 30),
are in the hand of God, and that it requires only a nod from
him to transform the evil into good, while he rises on the wings
of faith above the visible world, even after no such change ap
pears any longer to be possible.
Ver. 16. Make thy face to shine upon thy servant, deliver me
through thy goodness. On the last clause, which refers to Num.
vi. 25, compare at Ps. iv. 6. The words, " upon thy servant,"
contain the basis of the prayer. God|cannot do otherwise than
manifest himself as gracious to his servant.
Ver. 17. Lord, let me not be put to shame, for I call upon thee,
may the wicked be put to shame, and be silent in sheol. " For
I call upon thee," corresponds to " in thee, 0 Lord, do I
put my trust," at the beginning of the^Psalm. ^The " calling"

PSALM XXXI. VER. 18, 19. 505
comes into notice as the outward expression of the " trust."
Jo. Arnd: « the beloved prophet puts God in remembrance of
his promise that he will hear and help those who call upon
him with heartfelt confidence. < I call upon thee,' he says,
' therefore let me not be put to shame.' Whoever can hold fast
by this hope, cannot be put to shame by God: his promises and
even he himself will sooner be put to shame." The contrast be
tween the Psalmist, who calls upon God, and the wicked, shows,
on the one hand, that not to call upon God is an infallible mark of
the wicked, and, on the other hand, that calling upon God
thrives only on the soil of a pure heart. The wicked are not
the enemies of the Psalmist, the enemies only belong to the
wicked ; they are not wicked because they are enemies, but ene
mies because they are wicked : — may I not be ashamed (and in me
all the righteous), may those rather who deserve it be ashamed,
the wicked, and among them, my enemies. The following verse
renders it evident that " may they be silent," is, " may they be
struck dumb," and that the expression represents the contrast
to the blustering noise of the wicked. Jo. Arnd : " May death
and sheol stop their mouth, so that they may not have it in
their power to revile and slander any more." The 7lN£?7, pro
perly " to sheol," indicates that their silence belongs to sheol,
that it originates from their abode in it — the noiseless kingdom
of the dead.
Ver. 18. May the lying lips be put to silence which speak reck
lessly against the righteous man in pride and contempt. Com
pare verse 13. The lying lips are brought to silence by the de
struction of the wicked slanderers.
There follows now the third part, the hearing of the prayer,
(ver. 19—21.)
Ver. 19. How great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up
for them who fear thee, which thou manifestest to them that trust
in thee, before the sons of men. The sufferer, after he had
obtained inwardly the assurance of being heard, first praises in
general (ver. 19, 20) the goodness of God towards his own peo
ple, and next represents (ver. 21) the personal experience which
had given him occasion thus to praise God. In the first clause,
the goodness of God, which had been enjoyed by the Psalmist
in rich abundance on behalf of the Lord's people, appears under
the emblem of a treasure which he has laid up for them. Those
interpreters who cannot see their way through the abbreviated

506 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
comparison, the force of which is, " which in rich fulness, like
a hoarded treasure, is present for those who are thine," are
inclined to substitute "good things" instead of "goodness."
But nin* 11D means always the goodness of the Lord, (com
pare at Ps. xxvii. 13), and that this signification is to be
retained here is obvious from the expression, Ps. xxxvi. 8,
" how precious is thy love," 77Dh- Jo. Arnd: " Oh! whoever
heartily trusts in God with lively steadfast hope, possesses God,
with all his treasures of grace, with all his goodness, and love,
and friendship. God gives himself to those as their own, who
give themselves to him and trust in him. Whoever gives to
God his whole heart, receives in return from God his whole
heart, with all its goodness and felicity."— Arnd expounds cor
rectly, " before the sons of men": " so that every one, friend
and foe, must say that it is a work of God. Thus were the
faith and prayer of Hezekiah made known to the whole world,
when the sun went back: thus was it also with the faith and
prayer of Daniel and the three men in the fiery furnace. Who
would have thought that God would have had such goodness
among his secret treasures to manifest to his people! Such
goodness has he laid up in his treasures for you and for me, if
we. trust in him." Luther and others, in violation of the ac
cents, translate: " who trust in thee before the people." But,
in opposition to this view, there must be urged the reference
as noticed by Arnd, in which " before the sons of men" stands to
n3£¥- Besides, the expression, " to trust in God before the
sons of men," never occurs, and indeed can scarcely occur, inas
much as the trust in God is frequently made public only by the
manifestation, which takes place, before the whole world, and
especially before the enemy, of the grace of God toward his own
people: comp. at Ps. xxiii. 5.
Ver. 20. Thou hidest them in the secret of thy presence from
every man's association, thou concealest them in a pavilion from
the strife of tongues. In the first clause, the regard of God for
his people, his favour, appears as a place of resort, which he
procures for them : compare " make thy face to shine upon thy
servant," ver. 16. The term D17, which occurs in no other
passage, is from D17, " to bind," and signifies " a bond," " a
confederation:" compare, "while they took counsel together
against me," ver. 13. " The slander of many," in that verse,
corresponds to " the strife of tongues," in the verse before us.

psalm xxxi. VEit. 21, 22. 507
The " pavilion," in which God conceals his people, is a spiritual
one, and there is no need for supplying the 2- Arnd: " This
our beloved God does secretly, so that no human eyes may or
can see, and the ungodly do not know that a believer is, in God,
and in the presence of God, so well protected, that no reproach
or contempt, and no quarrelsome tongues can do him any harm."
Psalm xxvii. 5 is parallel.
Ver. 21. Praised be God, for he hath showed me wonderful
goodness in a strong city. Arnd is short and good : " the strong
city is God himself, and his powerful and gracious protection,
in which we are even more secure than in a strong city," Psalm
xlvi. The Psalmist had already prayed (ver. 2) that God would
be to him a stronghold and a high mountain. He now sees
this prayer fulfilled. Verse 22 corresponds to verse 1, in the
same way as the verse before us corresponds to verse 2, — the
last of the second decade to the first of the first.
There follows in ver. 22 the conclusion, which shortly recapi
tulates the whole. And 1 said in my rapid flight, " I am torn
away from thine eyes," but thou heardest the voice of my prayer
when I cried to thee. TS7 always means to hasten from fear:
compare especially 1 Sam. xxiii. 26. Here it is used figuratively :
the dejected man who looks upon his case as lost, appears like
one in a trembling haste. The word shows us how much of
anxiety and despondency lies concealed under the apparently
strong and unwavering faith which seemed to meet us at the be
ginning of the Psalm. 7133, with which J733 evidently agrees
in signification, (compare Psalm lxxxviii. 8), always signifies
to be cut off, to be rooted out, and never to be shut out. *HT733
indicates the irremediable destruction, the death, — compare,
" they think to take my life," ver. 13, and Q**7 pN/S 7T33
t " he was rooted out of the land of tbe living," Isaiah liii. 8.
There can be no reason drawn from the appended words, " from
thine eyes," for giving to T733 an unusual signification. The
man, who is rooted out, who has descended to the kingdom of
the dead, is at the same time removed from the eye of God, that
is, is no longer the object of the delivering grace of God: com
pare Isaiah xxxviii. 11, where Hezekiah says, " I said I shall
not see tbe Lord in the land of the living." The voice of sup
plication is not "the supplicating voice;" but the 0*31370
are the proper objects of answer, and the " voice" is added only
because it is the object of the bodily hearing, the sound, t1 i
call of my supplicatory complaint,

508 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
After the Psalmist had ended matters with God, he turns
round to his brethren in the faith, for the purpose of setting be
fore them the lesson to be drawn from the great drama which
had been acted before their eyes.
Ver. 23. Love ye the Lord all ye his saints, the Lord preserveth
faithfulness, and plentifully rewardeth him who acteth with
haughtiness. The exhortation to love the Lord is followed by
the basis on which it is made to rest, "for the Lord preserveth
faithfulness." After " the Lord preserveth faithfulness," we
must supply, " towards his saints:" and this supplied clause
finds its opposite in " acteth with haughtiness." There is no
reason for translating, "the Lord preserveth the faithful," —
7^3 does occur in the sense of " to hold," " to observe," as for
example, Exodus xxxiv. 7, and Isaiah xxvi. 3, — and, on the other
side, there is no clear proof of Q*31/13N being used as an ad
jective. Compare at Psalm xii. 1. 7n* 7j* is properly " super
abundantly," " plentifully."
Ver. 24. Be ye strong, and may he strengthen the heart of all
of you who trust in the Lord. Compare at Ps. xxvii. 14.

PSALM XXXII.
David celebrates in this Psalm the happiness of a sinner who
has obtained mercy from God, thepreciousness of the forgiveness
of sins, and the blessing of purity and uprightness before God,
which alone lead to the obtaining of forgiveness. In the intro
duction, ver. 1 and 2, he indicates his subject in general, by
pronouncing the man to be blessed who has obtained the forgive
ness of sin, and has not excluded himself from it by inward im
purity. In the main body of the Psalm, he depicts, first, (ver.
3 and 4,) the misery which he endured, so long as the sin of
which he was conscious stood like a partition wall between him
and God, and he, occupied with impurity, had neither repented
before God, nor asked from him the grace of forgiveness.
Then he tells us that forgiveness immediately followed upon
confession, ver. 5. In ver. 6 and 7, he represents, in oppo
sition to ver. 3 and 4, the blessed consequences of forgiveness
)btained through uprightness: he is now concealed from those
•-dgments which hang over sinners, he has God again for his

PSALM xxxii. 509
friend, and in him he has protection against every danger, and
the joyful assurance of deliverance. In ver. 8 and 9, he grounds
a lesson upon this history: the righteous man, who has fallen,
may seek the forgiveness of sin, through the free return to
God, alone worthy of him. In the conclusion, ver. 10 and
11, the Psalmist, proceeding from what is particular to what is
general, pronounces the man to be happy who has placed his
confidence in God: all things, even his sins, must in the end
work together for good, while the ungodly is visited with severe
punishment. The formal arrangement of this Psalm is very obvious. Tho
whole is broken up into strophes of two verses, with the excep
tion that the fifth verse, which may be considered as the heart
of the Psalm, representing, as it does, the inseparable connec
tion between free confession and forgiveness, makes a strophe
by itself, and thus stands apart from the general train of the
Psalm — a circumstance which is evidently pointed out by its
disproportionate length. The introduction consists of two verses,
and there is a corresponding conclusion of an equal number.
The main body is complete in seven. The three chief divi
sions in the historical part are indicated by the thrice repeated
selah. Most commentators suppose that David composed this Psalm
when he obtained forgiveness from God after his adultery with
Bathsheba, and the death of Uriah, to which that sin led. The
correctness of this view can scarcely be called in question. That
the case represented in ver. 3 is no fiction, but a reality, is clear
as day. The Psalmist speaks in language far too definite of
himself and of a particular case, to allow us to regard the mat
ter as a fiction. Now, if the matter be a reality, no other cir
cumstances can be referred to, except those above mentioned.
All the characteristic features agree exactly. Here, as there, it is
none of the common sins of infirmity that are spoken of, but a
dreadful transgression, yea, an assemblage of dreadful trans
gressions: compare the expression in the 5th verse, " I will
confess my transgression to the Lord," in reference to which
the transgression of David with Bathsheba, and the accompany
ing circumstances, are said to hold a peculiar place in the his
tory of David, 1 Kings xv. 5. Here, as there, we have a long
continuance of impenitence: according to ver. 3, "the bones of
the Psalmist waxed old continually," according to ver. 4, " the

510 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
hand of the Lord was heavy upon him day and night;" and, ac
cording to the history, there elapsed nearly a whole year be
tween the sin of David and the repentance. Here, as there,
we have a sudden transition: confession of sin at once breaking
out, and forgiveness immediately following. Compare ver. 5,
" I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and I did not hide my ini
quity; I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord,
and thou didst take away the guilt of my sin," with 2 Samuel
xii. 13, " And David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the
Lord, and Nathan said to David, the Lord forgiveth thy sin,
thou shalt not die." — The reasons which have been adduced,
to show that the historical account given in Samuel, is not wholly
in accordance with the Psalm, are easily set aside. David, it is
said, according to that account, did not confess his sin, but had
it brought before him by Nathan. But, even according to Sa
muel, David did confess his sin, and the circumstance that his
confession was called forth by Nathan's address, did not detract
from its character as a voluntary act. David must have arrived
within his own mind, even at the very threshold of repentance;
otherwise the address of Nathan would not have produced the
effect which it did. Nathan did not originate the confession,
he only developed it. In what other way can we explain the
fact, that Nathan postponed the discharge of his duty towards
the 'king for such a length of time after the sin was committed,
except by assuming, Chat he waited, according to the direction
of God, for the crisis in David's mind. Inasmuch, therefore, as
the address of Nathan occupied only a subordinate place, and
was not the ground, but merely the occasion of David's con
fession, David might very well pass it over in silence in this
Psalm, in the same way in which he does in the 51st Psalm,
which refers to the same circumstance. Again a great deal of
stress is laid upon the circumstance, that the writer of this Psalm
is joyful at having obtained deliverance from the punishment of
his sin with which he had already been visited, (ver. 6 and 7),
whereas in 9, Samuel xii., David obtained forgiveness previous to
the infliction of the punishment. But the punishment, in de
liverance from which the Psalmist rejoices, is not one with which
he had been already visited, but one which he dreaded, with
which he was threatened, one, present indeed, in the view of
conscience, which already saw the angel with the flaming sword
app'roaching, but in reality yet future; in ver. 6, it is said that

PSALM XXXII. 511
" the floods shall not reach to the godly who prays at tho right
time to God for forgiveness of sin," but not that " they shall
turn away from him," and in ver. 7, the preceding clause, " thou
preservest me from trouble," leads us to consider the " songs of
deliverance," as songs called forth by deliverance from threatened
danger. Now, David had been visited with anxiety in regard to
future punishment, after his adultery with Bathsheba. The ex
pression of Nathan, 2 Samuel xii. 10, " Now therefore the sword
shall never depart from thine house, because thou hast despised
me and taken the wife of Uriah," would not have produced such
a dreadful impression on his mind, had not his conscience, before
this, distinctly and repeatedly made the same announcement.
It has been frequently maintained that this Psalm stands in
opposition to the general sense of the Old Testament. " It
teaches inward reconciliation with God through faith, whereas
according to the theocratic view and practice, reconciliation is
outward, and obtained by sacrifice." But there cannot be pro
duced out of the whole Old Testament one single passage in
which the doctrine that sacrifices of themselves, and apart from
the state of mind of the offerers, are well-pleasing to God, is spo
ken of.except for the purpose of vigorously opposing it. The law
of Moses disowns this doctrine with Complete decision. When,
for example, in Lev. xxvi. 31, it is said in reference to the ungod
ly, "Iwillnotsmell the savour of your sweet odours," and when in
Genesis iv. 4, 5, we find that along with an outward similarity, the
offerings of Cain and Abel met with such different receptions
from God, and that this difference is represented as being based on
something personal to the individuals, it is all but expressly as
serted, that sacrifices are regarded only as expressive of the
mind within. Moreover, how could any such importance be at
tached to sacrifices considered as such, when the value of all
that man does is so repeatedly and so decidedly represented
as dependant on his love to God? Compare Beitr. P. iii. p. 611.
Now, just as sacrifices do not exclude faith, but faith is rather
the soul of sacrifices, so faith does not exclude sacrifices. It is
not a matter of any consequence, that David should have made
no reference to them in this- Psalm, inasmuch as, although gene
rally available in the case before us, (compare on this Psalm li.)
they occupy in every instance a very subordinate place.
According to Amyraldus and others, the Psalm is irreconcile-
ably at variance with Psalm i. " For whoever receives prospe-

512

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

rity as the reward of his virtue and holiness, stands in no need
of forgiveness of sin; and, on the other hand, whoever needs
forgiveness of sin, cannot hope for prosperity as the reward of
his good works." But, that tbe variance is altogether in ap
pearance, is obvious from the fact, that in many Psalms, (as for
example, Psalm xix.), both positions are maintained, that salva
tion is the reward of righteousness, (comp. on Psalm xix. 12),
and that salvation is the consequence of forgiveness of sin, and
that in many instances both occur in immediate connection with
each other. As even the righteousness of the man, who is in a
state of grace, (and it is only with such a man tiiat both these
Psalms have to do), is in every instance a righteousness in the
aim, so the reward which is promised to diligence in good works,
and to which Psalm i. refers, can be obtained only when for
giveness of manifold transgressions has been sought and obtain
ed from the compassion of God.
The Psalm is termed in the title, a Maskil of David. The most
obvious explanation of this term which occurs in the titles of thir
teen Psalms, is that oi Instruction — a Didactic Poem: compare
7*1*^7 in the sense of " to make to understand," in Prov. xvi.
23; xxi. 11. A very decisive circumstance in favour of this in
terpretation, is the occurrence of TJ'IK'K in ver. 8, where we
have given us what is as good as an explanation of the title ;
and this circumstance is to be regarded as all the more im
portant, from the fact, that the word is made use of in the
very first Psalm which bears the title. Further, it may be
urged in favour of this interpretation, that the Psalm bears so
entirely a didactic aspect, that the author seems as if he had re
solved beforehand to lose sight of all regard to every thing of
an individual character, for tbe purpose of writing on behalf of
the whole church. To this it may be added, that in Psalm liii.
this interpretation is clearly demanded by the reference to the
title contained in ver. 2. That Poem was designed to bring to
reason the unreasonable men there spoken of. Compare page
211. The current objection against this interpretation, that all
the Psalms so designated do not bear a didactic character, is
not to be set aside by the remark of Stier, that it is of the
nature of such names that they are on these occasions used also
in a vague manner. It may rather be observed, that every
expression of holy feeling is subservient to the purpose of in-
< struction in righteousness, that in the Psalms, which were call-

PSALM XXXII villi. 1. 513
ed forth by ivdiiiaual occasions, the Psalmists express their feel
ings on behalf of the, whole church, that in the very many
Psalms, in which the Righteous man is the speaker, the horta
tory character is obvious to all except the most superficial read
ers. The designation is indeed applicable properly to all the
Psalms, inasmuch as they all have been reckoned worthy to be
made use of in the services of the sanctuary, and to he
admitted as part of the sacred Scriptures: compare 2 Tim.
iii. 16, where as much is said of the whole Scriptures of the Old
. Testament. Just for this reason might it have been, after
that a Psalm had been placed at the head, which in the form at
once makes itself known as a didactic Psalm, that this designa
tion was prefixed especially to those Psalms in which this charac
ter is least apparent. The didactic Psalms, properly so called, did
not need thisN.B. — The common interpretations of 7*l£J''l have
been refuted in the Christology, I. 1, p. 113. The exposition
there adopted — " a pious poem," cannot be maintained against
the positive grounds on which the exposition, " Instruction."
rests.— The relation of 7*1^H3 to 77*1B>{* in ver. 8, leaves little
room for doubt as to David's having composed the title, and af
fords a pretty strong presumption in favour of the titles generally.

Ver. 1 . Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose
sin is covered. Ver. 2. Blessed is the man unto luhom the Lord
imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile.
The reasons why the Psalmist pronounces the man to be blessed
who has obtained forgiveness of sin, are apparent in the follow-
in<* verses : compare Rom. iv. 6. lie, whose sins have not been
foro-iven, has the hand of God lying heavy upon him, and is in
frightful expectation of the judgment with which, at its own
time, he will infallibly be visited. In this declaration of bless
edness belonging to the man whose sin has been forgiven, there
lies an indirect exhortation not to shut ourselves out from this
benefit by our own fault. Compare 1 John i. 8, 9. Hence is
explained the stringing on of the last clause, in which that is
named which has this exclusion infallibly as its consequence.
The words are directed against the error of those who seek
to come to terms with their sin, by expiating it themselves,
by concealing, or by charging themselves with it. The
Be leb Bible : " As children imagine that they are not seen
2 L

514 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
when they put their hands upon their eyes, and cover them so
that they themselves see no one, in like manner, men act with
equal folly, in supposing that their sins and crimes, when con
cealed from themselves, are also concealed from the all-seeing
eye of God." The three expressions applied to sin,' (compare
on $}£>S at Psalm xix. 14,) are borrowed from the fundamental
passage on the forgiveness of sin, Ex. xxxiv. 7, " Keeping mercy
for thousands, and forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin."
The form *1£>3 instead of K1BM, is adopted on account of its si
milarity in form to *1D1- The 2V?1 with the 7 occurs, as it does
hero, in 2 Sam. xix. 19, where Shimei addresses David, appar
ently in allusion to common religious expressions, and particu
larly, perhaps, to this very Psalm : " Let not my lord impute
iniquity to me, neither do thou remember that which thy ser
vant did perversely." The king, who knew to extol so gloriously,
the forgiving grace of God, would not turn away the man who
had fled to his forgiving grace. Compare Matt, xviii. 23, &c. —
The succeeding context contains an explanation, as to where it
is that the guile lies. As the results of it, we find mention made
of " keeping silence," of " not making known," of " hiding
iniquity," and of " not confessing transgressions." The guile,
the want of inward truth, which denies, extenuates, excuses, or
seeks for apologies, is the cause why so few attain to the blessed
ness of forgiveness here praised by David, which is bestowed
only for sin acknowledged and confessed. The roots of this guile,
which makes its appearance immediately after a fall into sin,
are pride, want of confidence in God, and love of sin. Many are
hereby prevented altogether from confessing sin : they fall into
a state of Pelagian self-dulusion in their misery, and consider
themselves as altogether excellent. Others, again, exhibit
the first beginnings of true confession of sin, but they do not
reach the proper point, because this guile will not allow them to
acknowledge the whole magnitude of their guilt. But even
those also who have really come to the state of favour, embitter,
in many ways, by means of this guile, the blessing of forgive
ness, which they have obtained in the exercise of integrity of
mind. What exposes them particularly to this temptation is,
their stern views of sin, and of their condemnation before God,
and the consciousness of the favour obtained from God, and
of their state. Nature struggles hard against that thorough
humiliation of soul which brings with it for them convic
tion and acknowledgment of sin. Hence it is necessary

PSALM XXXII. VER. 3. 515
for them to lay to heart the expressions of this verse, dictated
for their use by David, as the result of a peculiarly painful ex
perience of the misery which flows from sin unforgiven because
of the prevalence of guile. In the case of David, although his
transgressions were so enormous, guile met, as it generally
does, when the heart is so inclined, with many subterfuges.
The first sin wTas not one which he had not sought for ; it was
one, the temptation to which presented itself before him :
and a monarch, especially an eastern one, in a case of this
kind, would feel quite disposed to adopt a standard of his own.
And after the first sin was committed, it is easy to see how he
might look upon after circumstances rather as the result of a sad
necessity than as involving heinous guilt.
In the main body of the Psalm the Psalmist unfolds the
grounds which led him to pronounce the man to be blessed
whose sin had been forgiven, and in whose spirit there was no ~
guile. These grounds, as manifested in his own experience,
were the sufferings which he had endured when, through guile,
he continued shut out from the forgiveness of sin, and the peace
which he enjoyed when he had unreservedly acknowledged his
guilt. Upon this he founds an exhortation addressed to the
fallen, to follow him in the way of integrity and repentance.
Ver. 3. For I kept silence, when my bones wasted away
through my howling continually. The particle *3, which is ren
dered by some expositors " when," and by others " because," is,
as the particle of reasoning, altogether in the right place : it
may be considered as referring, either merely to the verse be
fore us— the suffering induced by the silence, the guile, with which
the holding fast of sin is inseparably connected, lays the basis of
the declaration of blessedness belonging to the man whose sin
has been forgiven because in his spirit there is no guile— or to
the whole following exposition in reference to the two introduc
tory verses. The object of the silence is intimated in what fol
lows : I was silent in regard to my sin. " I made known to thee
my sin," in ver. 5, is the opposite clause. The expression, " I
was silent," does not imply that David altogether refrained from
prayer, but intimates that he had never once brought forward
in prayer the matter in question. Even although he had spo
ken of it to God as a small weakness, and asked forgiveness for
it as such, he might still be said to have kept silence. In all
probability, however, he carefully avoided the mention of it in

516

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

prayer altogether : his conscience must have spoken with too
loud a voice to permit him to attempt even to extenuate such a
matter either before himself or before God. But in very propor
tion to the depth of his silence, would be the loudness of his
sighs and his groans. He who resists the confession of his sin,
and gives way to guile, lays himself open to the torments of
conscience, which it is beyond the reach of human power to
calm. 77l is " to grow old," " to pine away." The bones are
named as the seat of strength in the human frame. When they
become as it were corroded, the whole body is weak and power
less. Jo. Arnd : " Melancholy arising from sin consumes away
the body, reduces it to a wretched condition, and gives rise to a
secret weeping at heart, so that there is constantly a rugitus, a
howling. This inward pain and melancholy continues to in
crease, so that even the bones, says David, waste away, when a
man is determined to hide his sins from God, and will not con
fess them from the bottom of his heart, with supplication and
humble prayer. As soon, however, as a man turns with his
whole heart to God, confesses to him his sins, complains of his
melancholy and sorrow, and humbly deprecates the offence
which he has given him, the pain diminishes, and conscience
becomes tranquil and happy. For, previous to humble sup
plication, there is always fear and anxiety at heart, so that
the man takes God for his enemy ; as we see Adam did, who
was afraid of God, and hid himself among the trees, where he
was in perpetual fear, regarding God as his enemey. Wherefore,
the best plan to obtain a quiet conscience is to mourn over sin
before God, and humbly to deprecate his wrath."
Ver. 4. For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me, my
heart was changed through the heat of summer. Selah. The
" for" gives the reason why the bones of the Psalmist were
wasted perpetually. How should a man not howl, upon whom
the hand of God (Job xiii. 21) is laid ! We learn from verses 6
and 7, in what the Divine inflictions consisted : for there we find
David rejoicing that in consequence of his having received the
foregiveness of his sins, he had obtained security against the
judgments of God, protection against trouble, and the full as
surance of deliverance. Conscience, according to Luther's ex
pression, pictures the wrath of God standing as with a club over
us. He thought upon the terrible threatenings of Divine judg
ments against sinners as they occur in the law, for example in

PSALM XXXII. VER. 5. 517
Deut, xxviii. 15, &c. He looked back upon the fate of Saul and
of his family as prophetic of his own. — 7&J>7 is generally translat
ed by " animal spirits." This translation is derived from the
Arabic, where tho verb signifies " to suckle." But in the only
other passage where the word occurs, (Num. xi. 8.) this view is
altogether unsuitable. There 7JJ>7 signifies a " compact mass."
According to that passage, and Ps. cii. 4, " my heart is smitten
and withered like grass," it appears that it ought to be consi
dered as a poetical expression for " the heart." The heart was
changed; instead of being a strong beating, lively heart, it had
become faint and dead. The " heat of summer," is a poetical
expression for the. torments of conscience, anxiety in regard to
threatened judgments — identical with " the hand of God" in
the preceding clause. This is to the heart what the heat of
summer is to the plants: compare Ps. cii. 4,
Ver. 5. / made known to thee my sin, and mine iniquity I did
not cover : I said, I will confess my transgression to the Lord,
and thou forgavest the iniquity of my sin. What is expressed
here as the result of personal experience is announced in Prov.
xxviii. 13, as doctrine: " he that covereth his sins shall not
prosper, but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall find
mercy." The Psalmist designedly repeats the three terms ap
plied to sin in verses 1 and 2, for the purpose of announcing
that his experience had amply confirmed the general truth there
expressed. The expression, " I make known my sin to thee,"
on which many expositors have refined much, is to be ex
plained by the simple consideration, that the strength of the
Psalmist's feelings made him speak of what was past as actually
present; compare the corresponding term 71in (ver. 4),
properly " is heavy." It is obvious that the Psalmist is not
speaking of " a making known" by the mouth, but " of an
inward confession, such as is accompanied with painful re
pentance and sorrow, with begging of pardon for sin and for
the offence rendered to the Divine majesty. Mary Magdalene
did not utter one word, she wept and spoke with the heart.''
Arnd. The confession which is here spoken of, as the subjec
tive condition of forgiveness, is distinguished from tbe confes
sion of a Cain and of a Judas, by its being the fruit of faith which
opens the heart and the mouth. The Psalmist confesses his
sins freely to God, because he has the conviction that God both
can and will help him, while the forced confession of the un-

518

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

godly is bound up with despair and murmuring against God.
It must have been infinitely more difficult, under the Old Tes
tament dispensation, to rise to this confidence, than it now is,
under the New, where we behold the compassion of God in
Christ, and are taught to regard Christ's merits as the cause of
our justification. If we hesitate to take refuge in the forgiving
grace of God, we shall be much more guilty than David was. —
The expression, " I covered not," stands in marked contrast to
the experience of hypocrites, in which the Psalmist hitherto had
participated. They endeavour, as far as they possibly can, to
conceal and to gloss over their sins. The words also stand in
reference to the expression " whose sin is covered," in ver. 1.
He only has his sins covered, who does not himself cover them.
Forgiveness of sin is in exact proportion to confession of sin.
n7^ in Hiph., with the accusative, is, " to confess;" with the Sj*
" to lay confession over."
Ver. 6. For this reason let every pious man pray to thee at
the time when thou mayest be found, truly when great water-
floods come, they shall not reach him. Already, even in this
verse, the Psalmist makes an attempt to pass from the represen
tation of his own personal experience, to the teaching and ex
hortation founded upon it. Still, even in this attempt, there
remains, (and indeed this strophe sets forth), a representation of
personal experience. This is clear from the contents of the 7th
verse, and from the circumstance, that for the first time in the
8th verse, the Psalmist makes known his resolution in accord
ance with the title 7*1EJ>23, to ground his instruction upon the
historical details. It is as if he had said : " Because in my case
forgiveness immediately followed confession, therefore may
every pious man pray for the same at the right time. For my
experience has rendered it obvious that this is the sure means
of avoiding Divine judgments: I have obtained as the sequel
of forgiveness, a joyful assurance of deliverance, and a sure re
fuge in God. The main idea of the strophe is contained in
ver. 7, which cannot be entered into by those who look upon
the whole strophe as having an applicatory character. ]"|j$T 7K
is " therefore," " for this reason," — " on account of the real
connection, manifested in my case, between confession and for
giveness," — the effect resting upon the cause— the consequence
upon its basis : — it corresponds to the ordinary expression p 7W
After the example of the Vulgate (pro hac) many expositors give

PSALM XXXII. VER. 6. 519
;- for this thing," viz. " for tho forgiveness of sin." But ^7Sn7
never occurs with b$ of the object. The object of the prayer,
viz. the forgiveness of sin, is not specified, because the connection
renders it apparent. Tho " time of finding," is " so long as thou
mayest be found :" compare Is. Iv. 6, " Seek ye the Lord while
he may be found." The object of the finding — God — is also to
be supplied from the context. The fundamental passage, Deut.
iv. 29, directs us here : " and ye seek from thence the Lord
thy God, and thou findest." The " finding," there, as here,
stands without any object. The " seek," there, corresponds to
the " pray," here. Compare also the passage, Jeremiah xxix.
12 — 14, which rests upon the one in Deuteronomy. The " finding
of the Lord," is there also the opposite of " the seeking," and
corresponds to the " being found," in ver. 14. The expositions
" at the time of obtaining," and " at the time of surprisal, i. e.
when misery comes upon men," are to be rejected. The last is
altogether contrary to the sense, for the exhortation of the Psalm
ist implies, that men may be reconciled to God before misery
comes. — The time when God, according to the sure promise in
the fundamental passage, may be found, is the time previous to
the infliction oi that punishment which invariably follows sin un
less averted by forgiveness. The expression, " at. the time of
finding," corresponds exactly to " ere the decree is executed,"
" ere the day of the wrath of the Lord comes upon you." " The
time of finding," is the space between the sin and the punishment,
the day of Grace which is designed to lead the sinner to repent
ance. p7 stands here in its usual sense of " only." The sim
plest view to take of the word, and one in entire accordance
with its position, is to consider it as implying the assurance that
only this, ahd no other, will be the consequence : in reality,
it is equivalent to " assuredly." That the 7 in S|t3£J>7 is to be
regarded as a note of time (at the floods of many waters, comp.
Psalm xxix. 10), is evident from the reference, which it is im
possible not to notice,' to the preceding nj*7 :— " whoever at
the time of finding, during the season of graee, flies to God for
forgiveness, shall at the time of judgment be exempted from it.
The expression, water-flood, indicates some great Divine judg
ment spreading over everything. Perhaps the Psalmist refers
to the deluge, at which, though it overspread the whole earth,
the pious Noah was delivered as one who had obtained the for
giveness of sin. This reference is the more obvious, from the

520

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

circumstance, that there is also a reference in Psalm xxix. 10,
to the deluge.
Ver. 7. Thou art my hiding place, thou preservest me from
trouble, thou surroundest me with songs of deliverance. " For"
might have stood at the beginning of the verse. For it confirms,
by the experience of the Psalmist, the assertion contained in the
preceding verse, that whoever has obtained from the Lord for
giveness of sin, is at the same time delivered from danger and
judgment. Many expositors regard this verse, very inaptly, as
containing the prayer to be addressed by the pious man to God.
The object of thiR prayer can bo nothing else than forgiveness
of sin. It is, however, only of the blessed consequences of for
giveness, and not at all of forgiveness itself, that this verse
speaks. Between 7tf and *37tfn, and also between *37XH and
*37 there is a significant alliteration. Tho plural form *37 occurs
nowhere else. According to rule, the Psalmist ought to have
written p ; and this form also occurs really as the infinitive of
|37 in Job xxx viii. 7 : compare the infinitives of £75 and j*^n
used as nouns. Some, and among others, Hitzig, are inclined
to cancel *37. Against this, however, we have the alliteration,
the reference to a fulness and a crowd in " thou surroundest
me," the 13*377 in ver. 11, and the baldness of £375, if it stands
by itself. The words point to a whole host of dangers and
troubles, by which the Psalmist formerly, when he had God for
his enemy, saw himself in spirit surrounded. He now sees
around him a joyful, instead of this sorrowful ring.
The Psalmist had hitherto spoken to God : now having laid
the foundation for his instruction in historical details, he turns
to his brethren. The circumstance, that it is here, for the first
time, that such a transition occurs, is sufficient to show, that it
is here for the first time that we enter the domain of application.
The Psalmist informs us first, of his determination to give good
advice to his brethren, ver. 8, and then, in ver. 9, he gives them
that advice.
Ver. 8. I will instruct thee, and teach thee the^way which thou
shouldst go, I will counsel thee with my eye. It is the pious
man, laden with the guilt of sin, that is here addressed. The
singular is used for the purpose of giving more impressive-
ness to the exhortation. Language is most impressive, when it is
made use of in the presence only of four eyes. In ver. 9, the plu-

PSALM XXX11. VER. 9. 521
ral is made use of instead of the singular: and at the end of the
Psalm the singular again occurs, for the purpose of showing
that the same party is addressed. According to several exposi
tors, it is God that speaks in this verse, expressing approval of
the trust of David the returning sinner, and promising him
further help. But against this idea, which is not only without
foundation, but which entirely destroys the connection and train
of thought, there may be urged, in addition to many other rea
sons, the manifest reference which the clause, " I will instruct
thee," bears, on the one hand, to the title, in which David an
nounces his purpose to deliver instruction, and, on the other, to
the " without understanding," or ver. 9: — the instruction given
is designed to remove the want oi understanding. Then, there is
the parallel passage, Psalm li. 13, where David promises to the
Lord, that he will teach sinners his ways, when he shall have
obtained forgiveness. This promise he here fulfils. — On the
words, " the way which thou shalt go" Jo. Arnd remarks, " this
way means repentance and the forgiveness of sins." *3*J*, pro
perly, " according to my eye," is the accusative, which is often
used in this way, when, besides the whole, any particular part
is added, which is more especially brought into action: compare
on Psalm iii. 4. The tender care of the counsellor is expressed
by the construction of W* with 7J* — properly, " to take counsel
over any one." The eye, besides, is the organ by which tender
care is expressed. Hence tender forbearance is expressed by
" mine eye pities:" compare Gen. xliv. 21, where Joseph says,
" bring him down and I will set mine eye upon him," Jeremiah
xxiv. 6. Many expositors give, " I will counsel, mine eye shall
be upon thee." But, in this way, words inseparably connected
are torn asunder: after counsel, the person who receives the
counsel ought to be named. — After the end of this verse, we
should read with marks of quotation. For the counsel of ten
der and thoughtful love follows in the 9th verse.
Ver. 9. Be not like the horses and the mules without understand
ing, whose ornaments are bridle and bit, for restraint, because they
do not come near thee. David compares impenitent sinners to the
irrational beasts, which must be kept under by strong instru
ments of restraint. By this comparison he directs attention to
the degradation inseparable from such obstinacy— (in man, es
pecially in a pious man, and it is with such alone that David
has to do, a free, willing, and joyful obedience is becoming ; for
such a one it is particularly humbling to be compelled)— and

522 THE BOOK' OF PSALMS,
also to the fruitlessness of it, since God knows as well how to
subdue it, as man knows how to manage the obstinate brutes.
The Berleb. Bible: " If we do not consent to serve God ivilling-
ly, we must serve him in the long run whether we will or not.
He, who runs away from God's willing service, falls into his com
pulsory service. On this account the wise Stoic prayed, ' lead
me, 0 God, the way which thou hast chosen : and if I will not
nothing is better than that I be compelled.' Recourse is not had
to bit and bridle, unless we will not become wise by gentler
means. God employs these for the purpose of delivering us from
destroying ourselves. May we then rather follow with good will
than be dragged along by compulsion  The ungodly
will make a cross of every thing that has been sent them by
God in punishment of their sins. But that is not worth the
name. It is rather the rod of punishment for an ass." Jo.
Arnd: " You have received from God a reasonable soul, yea,
you hear the friendly pleasing voice of your Father and his dear
Son. But, if you will be as stupid as the horse or the mule, God,
in that case, will act well in putting upon your neck a bridle and
a bit, for the purpose of compelling and restraining you like a
senseless brute. God, for example, put a bridle and bit into
Nebuchadnezzar's mouth, and tamed the proud beast. God also
put a bridle and bit into Manasseh's mouth : when he lay bound
in iron chains he would gladly have bowed the knee before God,
if bis iron fetters would have permitted him. God brought down
the proud Pharaoh by means of contemptible creatures, frogs,
lice, and grasshoppers, and put a wonderful bridle into the mouth
of tho proud horse." — *7J* has always the sense of " ornament:''
and this is to be retained here, and by no means to be exchang
ed for the arbitrary one " harness," (on which Gesenius remarks,
frigidius hoc est et otiosum), nor for " jaw," (Luther's : " into the
mouth.") They answer very well as ornaments for their obsti
nacy, says the Psalmist : men put upon them bridle and bit, and
know how to restrain them by these. The 1 indicates that in
which the ornament consists. The infinitive Q7l occupies the
place of the noun, and therefore the suffix is unnecessary. Da
vid speaks here in part out of his own painful experience : bit
and bridle were, if not put upon him, yet threatened to be put
upon him : compare ver. 3d and 4th. — The last clause, lit. : not
to come near thee, is abrupt, and implies, " because they do not
come near thee, for the purpose of rendering a willing obe
dience." The " to thee,"- refers " to the person addressed, who

PSALM XXXIII. 523
is exhorted not to render it necessary for God to use the same
violence with him which he himself uses with his beast." Sfier.
There follows in ver. 10 and 11 the Conclusion, in which Da
vid, in contrast to the miserable condition of the wicked, praises
the happy state of the righteous, who put their confidence in
God, in language called forth by the deliverance which, when he
had fallen very deeply, had been vouchsafed to him by God, out
of apparently irremediable destruction. The verses lead from
the particular to the general; and several expositors have in
vain attempted to find in them an exact reference to the case on
which the Psalm is grounded.
Ver. 10. The ivicked has many sorrows, but he who trusts in
the Lord he encompasseth him ivith mercy. We may either trans
late, " mercy surrounds him," or, " he surrounds him with mer
cy." In favour of the latter translation we have the seventh
verse, where, in like manner, HID is construed with a double
accusative. " He who trusts in the Lord" is the pious man.
The contrast shows that the language does not refer to a single
act, but to an abiding relation. Inasmuch as David stood re
lated to God, in general, as one who trusted in him, God visited
him with fatherly chastisement, and even this chastisement
tended to his good. Jo. Arnd : " The cross of believers is a
fatherly rod applied for the best of purposes, for correction and
instruction, and it has a joyful termination. But the punish
ment of the ungodly is a plague and a pain by which their pride
and impudence are put to shame."
Ver. 11. Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice ye righteous, and
shout for joy all ye upright. It is very obvious here that the
Righteous Men of the Psalms are not absolutely righteous.

PSALM XXXIII.
The design of this Psalm is to fill the little flock of Israel
with comfort and courage and joy, in view of the infinitely su
perior might of the world ; its fundamental tone is, " fear not
thou Worm Jacob, thou little nation, Israel." The weapon which
the Psalmist proposes that the church should use against all the
assaults and attacks that are made against her on the part of
the whole world, is the Praise of God ; if you know him as he
is, you may despise all trouble and all danger, and say in the

524

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

language of the 29th verse, (which may be considered as the
heart of the Psalm, containing a very clear exposition of its de
sign by the author himself,) " our soul waiteth for the Lord,
he is our help and shield."
The Psalm begins (ver. 1 and 2) with an exhortation address- -
ed to the church of God to praise Mm. In laying down a basis
for this exhortation, the Psalmist next is led to contemplate the
glorious attributes of God. This contemplation divides itself in
to two great parts. First, (ver. 4 — 11,) the Lord is true and faith
ful, righteous and gracious, (ver. 4, 5,) and almighty (ver. 6 — 11.)
Second, (ver. 12—19,) it is under his government, and by his
infinite influence, that all things on earth are kept in their pre
sent condition. Hence the people, whom he chooses for an in
heritance, are happy, for, as sure as he is Lord over all, all things
must work together for their good. Nothing depends upon
earthly power ; hence the want of it is no reason why the Lord's
people should despair : his omnipotent love and his loving omni
potence afford them the full assurance of deliverance. In the
conclusion, (ver. 20 — 22,) the church gives utterance to that full
confidence which had been called forth, by this contemplation of
the glory of God, and prays, that she may receive according to
her faith.
The Introduction and the Conclusion, each of three verses,
corresponds to one another, and, in like manner, there are two
halves of the main body, each of the same length, namely, eight
verses. The number of the verses of the whole Psalm corre
sponds to that of the letters of the alphabet. The main division
falls exactly into the middle.
The Psalm, along with the one before it, forms one pair. The
chief reason for adopting this view is, that the Psalm begins
in the same strain as that with which the preceding one con
cludes, namely, an exhortation to rejoice in the Lord : there,
be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous, and shout for joy
all ye that are upright in heart; here rejoice in the Lord, ye
righteous, for praise is comely for the upright. It is impossible
to explain this. circumstance by the supposition that the collec-
- tor of the Psalms placed the two together on account of the ac
cidental resemblance between the concluding verse of the one,
and the opening verse of the other. For the transition from the
particular to the general in Psalm xxxii. takes place in such
a striking and sudden manner, as to lead to the idea that it was

PSALM XXXIU. VER. 1 — 3. 525
intended to prepare the way for passing on to a Psalm of a gene
ral character. Another reason is, the want of a title in our Psalm,
though standing in the middle of an assemblage of Psalms which
are all designated Psalms of David. This appearance met us in
Psalm x., where we found strong reasons for regarding it and
Psalm ix. as forming one pair. A third reason is to be found in the
relation which the numbers of the verses of both Psalms bear to
each other. In the 33d Psalm the number of the verses corre
sponds to the number of the letters of the alphabet, a circum
stance which we have the less reason for considering as ac
cidental, as the following Psalm is truly an alphabetical one. And
in the 32d Psalm the number is equal to one half of the letters of
the alphabet. It is at the same time to be observed that even
in the 33d Psalm, the main body is divided into two equal
parts, and that the one signature of completion, namely, the
twenty-two, is as frequently divided into two elevens, as the other,
viz. the ten, is divided into two fives. This relation of the verses
would therefore lead us to regard the thirty-second Psalm as
introductory to the thirty-third.
From these remarks, the view we have taken of the relation
of the two Psalms to each other, may be considered as esta
blished. David, inwardly and deeply moved by the proof of the
glory of God, which he had obtained in the forgiveness of his
dreadful offence, begins with praising it, and this its outward
manifestation. But his heart is so full that he cannot bo con
fined to this, but must take a wider range. He must unfold to
Israel all that he has generally in God, especially God's protec
tion and help against a hostile world.
Amyraldus has very correctly characterized the style of the
Psalm. " The style is pleasing, flowing, measured, without any
poetical digressions, or figures, at least of such a kind as to oc
casion any difficulty." These properties are consistent with the
fact that the Psalm has no individual reference whatever, and
that both in its introduction and contents it is in the most
proper sense a Psalm for the public worship of God.
Ver. 1 . Rejoice ye righteous in the Lord, praise is comely for
the upright. Ver. 2. Praise the Lord with harp, sing unto him
with the Psalter of ten strings. Ver. 3. Sing unto him a new
song, play skilfully with shouts of joy. Tho "righteous" and
the " upright" are the Israelites : compare " righteous," used
of the people as such in Num. xxiii. 10, and verse 1 2 of this

"526 • THE' BOOK OF PSALMS.
Psalm, as also verse 10 and 11, ver. 16 and 17, from which it is
evident that the Psalm has a national character. But although
it is undoubtedly Israel that is referred to as the righteous and
the upright, it is at the same time obvious, that the address is
directed towards the true Israelites only, to the exclusion of
those who are Israelites in appearance — the souls who are root
ed out from their people. Compare at Psalm xv. ; xxxiv. The
reason why the righteous and the upright should praise the
Lord, is contained in the conclusion of the preceding Psalm, —
" he encompasseth them with mercy,''— and in the 18th verse,
where " the eye of the Lord," it is said, " are upon them that
fear him." To the unrighteous the glory of God is not the ob
ject of joy and praise, but of terror and aversion: the highest
wish of their hearts is, that he may not be true, righteous, full
of mercy towards his own people, or almighty. To rejoice in
the Lord, is not exactly to rejoice over the Lord, but to re
joice in finding the inclination of the heart towards God, who
gives so many causes for such a joy. Compare on 7^*, upright,
at Psalm xxv. 8. The word denotes a condition, which is con
formable to the rule and the idea, as these are represented in
reference to the members of the church in the law of God.
71X3 is the feminine of 71iO> beautiful, becoming. As it is
T T V T
comely for God to help, so it is comely for the righteous to
praise. — The 71^J* belongs here, not as in Psalm xcii. 3, to 733.
The two words stand either in the stat. construct, the lute often,
or they stand unconnected, the lute ten, the ten-lute. The ten-
stringed lute would assuredly not have been mentioned specially
by the Psalmist, had the number of the strings not been full
of significance to him. In all probability he does not impart
this significance, but the instrument had with reference to it
been strung with ten strings. The exhortation to join musical ¦
instruments with the voice in the worship of God, is grounded
on the infinite glory of God, which cannot be sufficiently praised
by the voice alone. — A new song, (compare Ps. xi. 3 ; xcvi. 1 ;
xcviii. 1 ; Rev. v. 9), is a song which springs up new from the heart.
The glory of God is new every morning: we know it not only by
the hearsay and from the history of ancient times ; and
therefore we ought to do more than merely repeat the old
song. It is a melancholy proof of the decline of the church,
when the exhortation to sing a new song is no longer attended
to : in such a case, there is need of the greatest care to prevent

PSALM XXXIII. VER. 4. 527
the old ones from falling into oblivion. 1 Sam. xvi. 17, agrees
remarkably with the expression, " do good to play," i. e. " play
beautifully." Possibly these words of Saul made a deep im
pression on David's mind. On n$*17ni, from which some,
without any foundation, would conclude that the Psalm was in
tended to be sung at the offering oi sacrifices, compare at Psalm
xxvii. 5.
In ver. 4—11, the exhortation to praise God is grounded upon
his glory. First, in ver. 4,' the Psalmist speaks of his truth and
faithfulness. This is placed in the foreground, because the
books of Moses abound with most glorious iiromises given by
God to his church, for the fulfilment of which, the truth and
the faithfulness of God are the security.
Ver. 4. For upright is the word of the Lord, and all his work
is faithfulness. Luther's translation is rather free, but per
fectly correct as to the sense, which is more than can be
said of most of the recent translators. " For the word of the
Lord is true, and what he has said, that he holds for certain."
Stier has very unwarrantably objected to it, that it is " a preci
pitate effort at specializing." According to the parallelism,
" the word of the Lord" is not in general his revelation, or
even " his will as made known in the creation and government
of the world," but the word which he has spoken in reference
to his own people. What the Psalmist here predicates in gene
ral of the word of God, (comp. Psalm xix. 9), is, according to the
parallelism, to be considered as having special reference to the
word of promise. This word is said to " be upright," inasmuch
as it is in exact accordance with the idea : the speaker has pro
mised what he is both able and willing to perform. Compare
IN umbers xxiii. 19 : " God is not a man that he should lie, nor
^the son of man that he should repent : hath he said and shall ho
not do it ? or hath he spoken and shall he not make it good ?'•
Ps. cv. 42. — Iu the second clause, the ivork of God stands opposed
to his word : he promises nothing which he does not perform,
and he does nothing which he has not promised. 73123N1 can
only be translated, in faithfulness. 73123N never signifies truth,
After considering the Divine truth and faithfulness, the Psalm
ist leads the church to contemplate the Divine righteousness,
which sets limits to unrighteous oppression, and the Divine love
which before all men must be manifested in sending deliverance
to the Lord's people.

528

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

Ver. 5. He loveth righteousness and justice, the earth is full
of the mercy of the Lord. The consideration of the Divine right
eousness can be a source of comfort only to the righteous. For,
as such, they must have right upon their side in their contests
with their enemies. From the injustice which they suffer on
earth they lift their eyes towards heaven, and in this way attain
to the confidence that justice will get justice at last. Compare
Hab. i. 13, where the church addresses God : " wherefore lookest
thou upon them that deal treacherously, and holdest thy tongue
when the wicked devoureth the man that is more righteous than
he ?" — On the second clause the Berleb. Bib. remarks : " the
earth is a good mother, which nourishes us daily, and gives us
all things richly to enjoy." If natural blessings thus manifest
the love of God, how gloriously will that love be developed to
wards his own people !
The faithfulness, the righteousness, and the love of God, on
which the Psalmist has hitherto dwelt, and which are exhibited
as linked together in the same way in Hos. ii. 21, 22, afford se
curity to his people when in danger, that he is willing to help
them. But that the consolation be complete, it is necessary to
contemplate also the omnipotence of God, which secures his
ability. In reference to the love of God, tbe Psalmist had look
ed to the earth as the main seat of it3 manifestation, and in re
ference to his omnipotence, he looks as he had done in Ps. viii.
xix. xxiv- to the heavens with their stars, and to the sea with its
waves. Has not he, who called tho heavens into being by his
word, and who restrains the fury of the waves, so that they do
not overflow the earth, enough of power to protect you, 0 ye of
little faith ? If he is for you, who can be against you ?
Ver. 6. Through the word of the Lord were the heavens made,
and all their hosts by the breath of his mouth. The host of th%
heavens is the sun, moon, and stars. That the idea of the
angels being referred to is out of the question, becomes evident
when we observe the verbal references to Genesis ii. 1, " thus
the heavens and the earth were founded, and all their hos*-, —
(in the preceding context nothing had been said of the creation
of angels, but merely of the creation of- the heavenly bodies). —
and when we reflect that it is some tangible proof of the omni
potence of God that must be here adverted to. Moreover, the
heavenly bodies are throughout designated, by way of pre-emin
ence, the hosts of God : compare at Ps. xxiv. 10. That the ni7,

PSALM XXXIII. veil 7. 529
is not spirit, but breath, is evident from the words of "his mouth "
(compare Is. xi. 4), and from the parallelism with " word '¦"
simple word corresponds to simple breath : both together, they
stand m contrast to the exercise of strength, the labour, the
use of means and instruments, without which feeble man can
accomplish nothing. Then there are the parallel passages, Job
xxvii. 3, " all the while my breath is in me, and the Spirit of
God is in my nostrils," xxxiii. 4, " the Spirit of God hath made
me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life," Ps.
civ. 29, 30, " thou takest away their breath, they die and return
to their dust, thou sendest forth thy breath, they are created."
But, on the other hand, the exposition which would interpret
1*3 ni7, without reference to the Spirit of God, cannot be cor
rect. In the history of the creation, to which the verse before
us, as well as verses 7 and 9, generally refer, the creation is de
scribed as the work of the Spirit of God, and his Word. First,
the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters, then God
said. We may thus suppose that the Spirit and the power of
God are here represented by the figure oi breath, because that
in man is the first sign of life.
Ver. 7. He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap,
he lays down the floods in store-houses. The Psalmist brings it
forward as a proof of the omnipotence of God, that the great
fluid mass is brought together by the Lord like a heap of firm
materials, so that it does not spread over the earth, as it did at first.
The D31 is not " he gathered," but " he gathers." The wonder
Of Divine omnipotence here depicted is still of daily occurrence;
if God did not keep back the waters they would overflow the
earth'. The expression " as a heap," stands concisely for " in the
way that a heap is gathered." There is assuredly no reference
here to the elevated appearance which the sea presents at a dis
tance. To collect the waves, as if they were firm materials, must
be a work of omnipotence. Allusion is made here, as also in
Psalm Ixviii. 13, and in Jos. iii. 13, 16, to Exod. xv. 8, where, in re
ference' to the waters of the Red Sea, it is said in the song of Moses,
" the waters stood as an heap, 73 \122" The expression which is
there employed to describe the miraculous effect produced by the
power of God, is here applied to the ordinary course of nature,
for the purpose of announcing that this, when deeply considered,
bears a distinct evidence to the omnipotence of God. The old
expositors, whom Luther follows, (" he holds the^waters in the
2 m

530

THE BOOK OF PSALMS.

sea together as in a bag,") have confounded 73 with7K3. — The
second clause is perfectly parallel to the first. The 171X311717 are,
as usually, " the floods of the sea." These are deposited by
God within the bounds set to the sea, like treasures in a
place of security. The point of resemblance is the sure keeping.
Several expositors refer here, as at Psalm xxiv. 2, to the subter
raneous waters. But the reasons which were there adduced
against this view, are partly available in the present instance,
viz. the obvious reference to Gen. i., where nothing whatever is
said of subterraneous waters, the necessity of some palpable
proof of Divine omnipotence, &c. — Jo. Arnd. quite correctly ap
prehended the practical tendency of this verse : " The prophet
comes down from heaven, and leads us to the sea, where we may
observe the omnipotence of God, and the power of his word.
The great sea is shut up by the commandment of God : how then
can he not tame men upon the earth, and put a bridle in their
mouth?" Ver. 8. Let all the world fear the Lord, let everything that
dwells on ihe earth stand in awe of him. Ver. 9. For he spake
and it was done, he commanded, and it stood fast. That the
Lord deserves holy fear and reverence, that therefore the fear
of those men, who have him on their side, is marked by supreme
folly, is here made manifest from his omnipotence as seen in the
creation of the world. Jo. Arnd: " Lo ! the God who has
made by his word the great incomprehensible heavens, and
upholds and manages them by his word, shall also be able to
uphold and manage thee, a poor little worm." There is no
reason for translating : " he speaks, and it is done, he com
mands, and it stands." The use of the pret. and the fut. conv.,
the reference to Genesis, in which the 7£3X*1 and *n*1 alternate,
and the comparison in the 6th verse, show that the creation of
the world is here spoken of as a thing finished. Ps. cxix. 90
shows that 7J3J* has here its usual sense, " to stand :" compare
with verse 91. In reality, "to stand" is "to exist:" what
does not exist " lies."
Ver. 10. The Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen to
nought, he maketh the devices of the people of none effect. Ver.
11. The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever, the thoughts of
his heart to all generations. To the Lord, who has manifested
his omnipotence so gloriously in creation, it is an easy matter to
bring to nothing the plans of the people ; while his own plans

PSALM XXXIII. VER. 12, 13. 531
are eternal, and cannot be frustrated, or hindered in their dc-
velopement by any one. How could it be possible, then, that
Israel should quail in the presence of the heathen ? If their
thoughts towards them are for evil, they are only thoughts of
powerlessness; while, on the other hand, the thoughts of omni
potence towards them are thoughts of peace.
There follows the second main division, ver. 12 — 19. The
position with which it is headed, " Blessed is the nation whose
God is the Lord," the Psalmist proves* from this that every
thing on earth stands under the unlimited control of God, ver.
13 — 15, who abundantly compensates, by his, the Almighty's
loving providence, for what his people want in worldly power,
ver. 16—19.
Ver. 12. Blessed is the nation whose God is ihe Lord, the peo
ple whom he chooses for an inheritance. The whole is grouped
around this position. On the one side, it is a result from
what goes before, and, on the other, it is a thesis which is
proved in what follows. The Psalmist alludes, it is true, to
Israel; still he expresses himself in general terms: Mich.:
beatam igitur gentem, quozcunque sit.
Ver. 13. The Lord looketh from heaven, he sees all the chil
dren of men. Ver. J.4. From the place of his habitation he look
eth upon all who dwell on the earth. Ver. 15. He who fashion-
eth for them all the heart, who marketh all their ivories. The
looking of the Lord from heaven is not an idle act, it is the act of
the king and judge. The 15th verse manifestly shows this. In
it the heart and the works stand in contrast to each other. The
heart comes into notice as the workshop of the thoughts: compare
ver. 11. The thoughts are wholly under God's control, " for he
fashioneth the heart : so are the works, " for he observes them."
Who then need be afraid on account of the plans and works of
men, if he only have God for his friend ? God is mentioned
here, as the use of the participle shows, as the Creator of tho
human spirit, in reference not only to his original act of crea
tion, but also to his constant creating influence : compare Zech.
xii. 1, and tbe Christology on the passage, P. II. p. 274. God,
as the God of the spirits of all flesh, Num. xvi. 22; xxvii. 16,
has all emotions and thoughts in his hands: compare Prov.
xxi. 1, " The king's heart is in the. hand of the Lord as the
rivers of water ; he turneth it whithersoever he will. Ver. 16,

532 tHB BOOK OF PSALMS.
To the king Ms great power affords no help, a warrior is not
saved by his great strength. Ver. 17. The horse is a vain thing
for safety, neither does he deliver any by Ms great strength. The
inference from the position, " that everything on tbe earth is
done by God," is, that nothing is done, with our own strength.
This inference was in the highest degree consolatory to Israel.
If the issue of events depended on human strength, they must
go down. The article in 77237 is generic — the horse is the
species : compare Prov. xxi. 31, " the horse is prepared for the
day of battle, but safety is of the Lord."
Ver. 18. Behold, the eye of the Lord looks upon those who fear
him, who hope in his mercy. Ver. 19. To deliver their soul, and
to keep them alive in famine. What cannot be effected by what
Israel has not, worldly power, is accomplished by the loving care
of his almighty God in which he rejoices.
There follows, in verse 20 — 22, the conclusion,, in which the
church gives expression to the faith which has been produced
in her by contemplating the glory of God, and prays that she
may receive according to this her faith.
Ver. 20. Our soul waiteth for the Lord, he is our help and
shield. The first clause refers to the words of dying Jacob, in
Gen. xlix. 18 : I have waited for thy salvation, 0 Lord ; and the
second to Deut. xxxiii. 26. Ver. 21. For our heart rejoices in him
because we trust in his holy name. The holiness of God is, in
this place also, his glory : compare at Ps. xxii. 3. The holy
name of God is the product of the long series of the manifesta
tions of his holiness. Whoever trusts in this, and not in his
own strength, may rejoice in the Lord, sure of safety. Ver. 22.
Let thy mercy come upon us, O Lord, as we trust in thee. When
faith, the condition of deliverance, is present, deliverance also
must therefore soon appear. „

PSALM XXXIV.
The Psalmist renders thanks to the Lord for a deliverance
vouchsafed to him, and exhorts all the pious to join with him in
the praise of the Lord, inasmuch as the Lord always mani
fests himself as equally ready to help his people as he had
been on the present occasion, ver. 1 — 10. " In the second

PSALM XXXIV. 533
part, he turns to believers, addresses them, and says, that it is
his design to teach them the art of leading a quiet life, and of
being secure against enemies. This art consists in the fear
of God, in keeping watch on the lips, in doing no evil, and in
following after peace: the consequences of these are prayer
heard, deliverance out of all danger, the gracious presence of
God, communion with him, consolation from him, and the pro
tection of person and life." Jo. Arnd.
Both parts of this alphabetical Psalm contain an equal num
ber of verses — a circumstance which must have been designed,
as that number is exactly ten. Verse 11 is as little to be con
sidered as forming part of the second division, as the title of the
Psalm is of the first : it has altogether the character of an in
troduction. And verse 22 is evidently the conclusion of the
whole, summing up its contents, and not more particularly be
longing to the second than to the first division. Like the con
cluding verse of the 25th Psalm, which resembles still further
the Psalm before us, in having no verse allotted to Vau, it be
gins with 3, stands out of the alphabetical series whieh ter
minates at ver. 21, with the final letter of the alphabet. The first
¦decade is divided, as it often is, into a three and a seven : ver. 1
— 3 contain the determination of the Psalmist to praise God,
and the exhortation to the pious to take part in that praise :
ver. 4 — 10, the basis of this determination and exhortation.
The occasion on which the Psalm was written is announced in
the title : Of David, when he concealed his intellect, i. e. feigned
himself mad, (Luther, after the example of the Septuagint
and the Vulgate, has erroneously given, "his behaviour,") be
fore Abimelech, whereupon lie drove him from his presence, and
he went away. The history is related in 1 Sam. xxi. Being
persecuted by Saul, he betook himself to the land of the Philis
tines. There, he who had on former occasions injured the Phi
listines so grievously, was recognised and brought into the pre
sence of king Achish. For the purpose of saving his life, which
at the time was in very imminent dafiger, he feigned himself
mad ; and God blessed this expedient, which, considered by it
self, was one of a very doubtful character. The 56th Psalm also
refers to the same occasion : there we have the prayer which
David addressed to God in his extremity, and here his thanks
givings for deliverance.
' It is not, however, to be imagined that David composed the

534 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
Psalm when immediately threatened by danger. In opposition
to any such idea, we have the quiet tone by which it is pervad
ed, whereas all the Psalms which were immediately called forth
by a particular occasion, are characterized by a great deal more
of emotion. Besides this, we have the unquestionably predo
minant effort to draw consolation and instruction for the church
from his own personal experience. Finally, we have the alpha
betical arrangement, which never occurs in those Psalms which
consist of an expression of feelings, immediately called forth by
a particular object, but always in those, in which the prevailing
design is to edify others. The fact is, that David, when, on
some occasion in the subsequent part of his history, his mind
became filled with lively emotions arising frpm the recollection
of this wonderful escape, in reference to which he even here
says, " I will praise the Lord at all times, his praise shall be
continually in my lips," made it the ground- work of a treasure
of edification for the use of the godly in all ages.
After thus limiting the sense in which to understand the
title, it becomes an easy matter to defend it against the attacks
of modern criticism. It has been said : 1st, That it cannot be
David's, because the Achish of the book of Samuel is exchanged
for the Abimelech of the patriarchal times." But this apparent
contradiction disappears, when we observe that Abimelech
among the Philistines was the title of rank given to all their
kings, just as the kings of Egypt were called Pharaoh, of Jeru
salem, Adonizedeck or Melchisedeck, of the Amalekites, Agag,
of Hazor, Jabin, of Temen, Zoba, &c. : compare Beitr. P. III.
p. 306, on Bileam, p. 149. In favour of this idea we have three
reasons : the first is dawn from Gen. xx. as compared with
Gen. xxvi., where Abraham and Isaac have both to do with
Abimelech king of the Philistines ; the second, from comparing
the title of our Psalm with 1 Sam. xxi. ; and the third, from the
nature of the name itself. Abimelech means " father of a king";
and refers to the hereditary descent of the crown among the
Philistines, in opposition to the practice of electing the sovereign,
which obtained in the neighbouring nation of the Edomites. It
is altogether natural that the proper name should be made use
of in the books of Samuel, which bear the character throughout
of very exact historical treatises, and that the generic designation
should occur in the title of a poem, which, to a certain extent,
must wear a poetical aspect. 2. " The title," it is maintained,

PSALM XXXIV. - 535
" is literally copied from 1 Sam. xxi. 14, and therefore cannot
have been composed by David, or by any of his contempora
ries." But the*title agrees with the passage referred to, only
in the single expression, " he feigned himself mad." And if it
will not be granted that this may have been accidental, it may
at once be urged, that the author of the books of Samuel may
have borrowed that expression from the title before us, as it un
doubtedly has more of a poetical than a prosaic character. 3.
" In verses 4 and 6, a deliverance from many dangers," it is
said "is referred to, and in. ver. 10 the Psalmist speaks of want
and privation." But that one trouble consisted of many parts,
danger threatened David in many forms, and verses 9 and 10 do
not refer merely to the particular occasion, but contain a general
affirmation which points not only to want of the necessaries of
life, but also to want of whatever is good, to want of salvation.
4. "The language and the style," it is maintained, "are different
from the real Davidic Psalms.'' We reply, they differ certainly
from those which modern criticism has marked out as exclusively
the Psalms of David, but not at all from a great number, which,
from their titles, and from internal evidence, were unquestion
ably composed by him. The difference is perfectly accounted
for by the difference as to occasion, tone, and object. We may
here advert particularly to the expression, " Come to me, ye
sons, listen to me, I .will teach you the fear of God." David
had hence to do with the poor simple people, and directed his
voice to them in love, and spoke so simply that even a child
might understand and participate in the blessing which God had
given him.
In favour of the originality of the title, we have to urge, in
addition to the general ground, that there is nothing in the con
tents of the Psalm to contradict it,— the more general the histo
rical references in the Psalms are, the less likely is the title to be
the result of combination,— first, that the strain is altogether
characteristic of David, who is so often found endeavouring to
turn his own personal experience to the good of the whole com
munity of the righteous, and second, that a title referring to the
occasion in question, is what might have been expected, as David
appears to have aimed at perpetuating in the titles of the
Psalms, tbe remembrance of all the most remarkable incidents
of his life.

536 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
First, Ver. I — 3, the Psalmist intimates his intention of
praising God, and exhorts all the godly to join with him in the
praise. Ver. 1 . / will praise the Lord at all times, his praise shall
ever be in my mouth. The assurance of ever-during praise ex
alts the greatness of the benefit, and places it in contrast to the
smaller protections of God which we daily experience. Ver.
2. My soul shall make her boast of the Lord, may the meek hear
thereof and be glad. 777nn with 2 is " to boast of anything."
The meek (Luther, erroneously: the miserable) boast of what
the Lord has done for the Psalmist, because it is prophetic of
their own deliverance. Ver. 4. Magnify the Lord with me,
and let us exalt his name together. As the 7 cannot be the
sign of the accusative, and as nm* 773- never occurs, but only
"to make great the name of the Lord," Psalm Ixix. 30, and as
773 is never generally to praise, but always to make great, it is
necessary to supply )f2V? in the first clause from the second.
In ver. 4 — 10, we have the basis of the determination, and of
the exhortation to praise God. Ver. 4. I sought the Lord, and
he answered me, and delivered me out of all my fear. 7713J!3 is
the object oi the fear, the thing that is feared : comp. Is. Ixvi. 4.
Ver. 5. They look at him and are brightened, and their counte
nance is not ashamed. The Psalmist considers himself through
out as the representative of the meek. The transition, there
fore, is easy from the singular of the preceding verse, to the
plural here. He lays down a general position, which is anew
confirmed by his own experience. Besides, the somewhat un
defined description of the subject, has been caused by the al
phabetical character of the Psalm, which sufficiently explains
the somewhat loose connection with what goes before and fol
lows. On, " they look to him," Jo. Arnd remarks : " Just as
in grqat extremity, we look around for help to see if any one
will deliver us, or, as a child in severe sickness looks mournfully
upon its parents, and they are unable to help, so our heart in
faith looks mournfully at God." Of the two significations of
773, " to flow together," and " to brighten," or " to be bright,"
we cannot, with Luther, take the first, but must prefer the second;
compare Is. Ix. 5, where " the being bright," is in like manner
used of the restoration of serenity to the countenance. The
7S17 is " to be read," viz. with shame at the refusal of the pray-

PSALM XXXIV. VER. 6 — 8. 537
er, and is the opposite of " the brightening." The ba, the
subjective negative, is stronger than N7- The Psalmist is hor
rified at the idea of being ashamed, as something altogether ir
regular. Ver. 6. This miserable man cried, and the Lord heard
and helped him out of all his troubles. As the Psalmist had
made a transition from the particular to the general, as brought
to view in his own case, he now returns to the particular, which
warrants the reality of the general, y23£"> is the preterite.
Ver. 7. The Angel of the Lord encamps round about those who
fear Mm, and delivers them. As the word Jehovah is a proper.
noun, and thus a definite one, we can only translate, " the
angel of the Lord." Considered by itself, " the angel of the
Lord" might be taken in a collective sense, as, for example, the
horses, in Psalm xxxiii. 17. But yet there occurs no single
passage in which nin* 7,723 is unquestionably used in that sense,
and it appears that this designation of the angels is designedly
refrained from, because 7in* 7723 was the common designation of
the angel of the Lord xar. t%., the angel in whom is the name
of God, according to the Pentateuch, the angel of the presence,
Is. Ixiii. 9 : compare on this the treatises on the divinity of
Christ in the Old Testament, the Christology, I. 1. The rea
sons for excluding this sense here, viz. the expression, " en
camps round," and the parallel passages, such as Ps. xci. 11, 12;
2 Kings xvi. 17, where angels are spoken of in a similar con
nection, disappear when narrowly examined. The Angel of
the Lord, as the Captain of tho Lord's hosts, (Jos. v. 14 ; 1
Kings xxii. 19,) is to be thought of as attended by armies of
inferior ministering angels. And n3ll is applied not only to
an army but also to the commander, for example, 2 Sam.
xii. 28. Allusion is made to Gen. xxxii. 2, 3, where Jacob,
on returning from Mesopotamia, and when afraid of his brother
Esau, saw with the eye of the spirit a double encampment of
angels, at the head of which, from comparing ch. xxviii. 13, and
xxxii. 25, we are to suppose the Angel of the Lord to have been,
and between which his own encampment would lie. These cir
cumstances, the memory of which was perpetuated by the name
Mahanaim given to the place, contained a prophecy embodied
in action for the benefit of all who fear the Lord. Ver. 8. Taste
and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth
in him. The " taste and see" invite, as it were, to a sumptuous

538 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
feast, which has long been ready, — to a rich sight openly ex
posed to view. The imperatives are in reality not hortatory
but promissory : compare, " they have no want," ver. 10. Ver.
9. Fear the Lord, ye Ms holy ones, for they have no want who
fear him. The emphasis lies, according to the connection, more
on the consequence than on the condition: " only fear," or "if you
only fear." A true and lively, fear of God, which proves itself
to be such by obedience to his commandments, (compare ver.
13, 14), need never be afraid of losing its reward. On Q*feJ>17p
as designating the true Israelites, compare at Ps. xvi. 3. Ver.
10. The lions are reduced to poverty, and are hungry, but they
that seek the Lord have want of on one good thing. That by
" the lions" here, as at Ps. lvii. 5, Neh. ii. 12 — 14, Ezek. xxxviii.
13, xix. 2, 3, we are to understand powerful and violent men,
is evident, besides the connection, and the " being reduced to
poverty," from the parallel passage, Job iv. 10, 11. Luther,
after the Septuagint, gives, rather indefinitely, " the rich." We
have here no special Old Testament truth before us. This is
evident from the petition dictated to us by our Lord himself,
and from the promise which that petition necessarily implies,
regarding our daily bread. It is also evident from Matt. vi. 32,
33. The 19th verse gives the necessary limitation, the reference
to the manifold sufferings by which in this life the righteous
are exercised.
There follows the second strophe, in which the Psalmist invites
all to come to the enjoyment of safety through the sincere fear
of God, which is intended for those only who thus come, but
also assuredly for those.
Ver. 11. Come ye sons, listen to me, I will teach you the
fear of the Lord. In "'ye sons," we find one experienced in the
ways of God, addressing the young : compare Prov. i. 8 ; x. 15.
On, " I will teach you the fear of the Lord," the Berleb. Bible
remarks : " And I will not only show you what it is, but will also
after that give you the strongest reasons which will move you,
and incite you. As the author in what follows, manifestly directs
his attention exclusively to the second point, it is obvious that
the first is to be kept out of view, although it alone has occupied
the attention of most commentators.
Ver. 12. Who is the man that desires life, that loves days
ivhen he may see good ? The Psalmist asks the question, who
desires to be happy ? To him who desires this, — and where is

PSALM XXXIV. VER. 13 — 18. 539
the man who does not ? — he prescribes, in what follows, the
only and unfailing means by which it may be obtained. The
" life," according to the explanation given in the second clause,
is not mere life, which frequently may be rather called death,
but a happy life. Days peculiar to the seeing of good are happy
days. Ver. 13. Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips that they
speak not guile. Ver. 14. Turn from evil, and do good, seek
peace, and pursue it. In giving the details of the fear of God,
the duties toward our neighbour are, according to David's usual
way, dwelt upon with particular care, because there hypocrisy,
which is so ready to appropriate to itself promises with which it
has nothing to do, finds least scope for its exercise. Verse 13
refers to words, and verse 14 to deeds. It is self-evident that
by " peace" here, we are not to understand " virtue," or " good
ness." Jo. Arnd: " Hence must every man who desires to have
a good life, take care not to cause disagreement. The devil
and the world give many occasions of dispeace. But be thou
wary, be silent rather, suffer somewhat, be patient, be gentle, be
not easily provoked, be not revengeful. That thou destroy not
noble peace, and God, with his blessing, depart from thee."
Compare Rom. xii. 18 ; 2 Cor. xiii. 11.
Ver. 15. The eyes of the Lord look upon the righteous, and his
ears upon their cry. Ver. 16. The face of the Lord is against
those that do evil, that he may root out their remembrance from
the earth. Properly, it is, " the face of the Lord is in the evil
doers: compare on 2 used in the hostile sense, Ewald's KI. Gr.
p. 521.
Ver. 17. They cry, and the Lord hears, and delivers them out
of all their trouble. The subject, the righteous— is to be sup
plied from verse 15. This is less harsh than might well be sup
posed ; as the author, according to the announcement in ver.
11, has to do only with those who fear God, what concerns
the ungodly comes into notice only as the shade which is in
tended to relieve the light. Thus in the 15th and 16th verses:
" the eyes of the Lord, &c. while his face, &c."
Ver. 18. The Lord is near to those who are of a broken heart,
and helps them who have a contrite spirit. The brokenness of
heart, and the contrition of spirit, designate the deep, yet soft,
and mild sadness which is to be found only in the godly.
Compare Isa. lvii. 15, and the introduction to Ps. vi.

540 THE BOOK OF PSALMS.
Ver. 19. The righteous man must suffer much, but the Lord
helps him out of it all. The fact that the righteous man must
suffer much, shows how imperfect human righteousness is : for
where there is still suffering there is still sin, and where there is
much suffering there is much sin. That the Lord will deliver
him out of it all, shows the greatness of the Divine compassion.
Ver. 20. He keeps all his bones, so that not one of them is
broken, viz. without his will and gracious permission. Compare
Matthew x. 30, where we are told that the hairs on the head of
the godly are all numbered.
Ver. 21. Misfortune slays the wicked, and the haters of the
righteous become guilty. , The relation in which this verse stands
to the 19th, does not permit us to render 7J*7 by " wickedness,"
the term for which, in the Psalms, is always J*7- There the
godly man is delivered out of all misfortune, here misfortune is
fatal to the wicked. To " become guilty," is to be represented,
or to appear guilty.
Ver. 23. The Lord delivereth the soul of Ms.servant, and none
of those who trust in him, becomes guilty. This is the sum of the
whole Psalm. The soul is mentioned, because, as is obvious
from the opposition to ver. 21, and from the personal experience
of David, compare ver. 1, the subject of which the author ia
treating, is danger to life.

END OF VOL. I.

J. THOMSON, PRINTER, MILNE SQUARE.

clark's list of new publications.— Edinburgh, 38 georoe street.

v<vwvinv««MviWmv«

"*'rrrrrr***""+'rr+*ffm,*t+rn

FAIRBAiRN'S EZEKIEL.

Now ready, in Demy 8vo, price 10s. 6d. Cloth,
EZEKIEL, AND THE BOOK OF HIS PROPHECY;
AN EXPOSITION.

REV. PATRICK FAIRBAIRN,
Author of " Typology of Scripture," " Jonah,'' &c.

"The author of this work gives evidence, in his pages, of the possession of abilities and attainments
which fully entitle him to assume the onerous task of commentator on Ezekiel." — English Review.
" In the department of critical exposition, it is long since anything comparable to it has ap
peared in this country ; and on that particular portion of Scripture to which it is devoted, it stands
alone. What was wanted in this country was, an indigenous and independent production, to
which, with foreign aids, English criticism and theology should throw their highest light on this
very important part of the living oracles, and this, we can assure our readers, they will find in the
work before us. Further remarks we must reserve for the present. Meantime we congratulate
the author on this, the happiest effort as yet of his able pen." — Free Church Magazine.
" The exposition in general bears evidence that the author possesses a sound judgment and cor
rect habits of thinking. Many of the practical remarks are pertinent and striking. It will be re
garded as among the few books in the language, or even in any language, which casts much light
on this very difficult prophecy." — Bibliotheca Sacra, July 1851.
" We have to thank Mr. Fairbairn for this very valuable addition to our store of critical exposi
tions. He was well prepared for his task by his previous investigations into the Typology of the
Old Testament, and the expectations thus raised, have been amply fulfilled. So that we can now
point to the volume before us as the standard work on Ezekiel, and can assure those who take an
interest in such subjects, that its study will amply repay them." — Christian Magazine.
" A writer on the prophetic parts of Scripture stands in need of high qualifications to be fully
furnished for his work, of a spirit capable of appreciating the poetry, and of entering into and fol
lowing out the design of the Old Testament bards, a calm judgment, correct* taste, and not least,
an intimate acqaintance with the original. These qualifications Mr. Fairbairn possesses in no mean
measure, and he is also gifted with much industry and perseverance.'' — M'Phail's Journal.
" The work as a whole is intellectually and morally a fine production. While its critical skill
and unostentatious learning indicate the accomplished scholar, its simplicity and earnestness well be
seem the Christian pastor." — Scottish Guardian.
" He has lucidly explained numerous passages of difficult import, and has set before his readers
a connected view of this most interesting series of prophetic announcements, which cannot tail to
render their meaning at once intelligible and consistent. It is no exaggeration, therefore, but
simply the statement of a palpable fact, when we aver, that the author has produced, on the sub-
ject before us, incomparably the best work in the English language —Banner oj I her.

clark's list of new publications — iidinburgh, .38. cboiige street.
HE^GSTE¥i¥RG~ON~ THE PENTATEUCH.

DISSERTATIONS ON THE GENUINENESS OF
THE PENTATEUCH.
By Dr. E. W. HENGSTENBERG,
PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF BERLIN.
TRANSLATED FROM TUE German BY J. E. RYLAND, Esq.
In Two Volumes 8vo. Price 21s. Cloth.
Contents of Vol. I.

Introduction. Causes of the opposition to the Pentateuch
towards the close of the eighteenth century.
Historical scepticism
Prevalent views of Sin and Holiness
Dislike of the leading characters of the Penta
teuch
Want of Sympathy with the spirit of the Sa
cred History
Different Views respecting the Composition
of the Pentateuch, and its Historical Cha
racter
Review of the attacks on the Genuineness of
tbe Pentateuch
Principles of the Controversy
Plan and Tone of the present Work
Dissertation I.— The Samaritan Copy,
and the Existence or the Pentateuch
in the Kingdom of Israel
Who were the Samaritans ?
Enmity of the Jews and Samaritans
Why the Samaritans received only the Pen
tateuch

Dissertation IV.
the time of the Judges
Preliminary Remarks
The Book of Joshua
Tbe Book of Judges
Sacred Places
Sacred Persons
Sacred Times
Sacred Rites

Traces of the Pentateuch in Hosea
Traces of the Pentateuch in Amos
Traces of the Pentateuch in the Books ol
Kings.
Dissertation II. — On the Names of God
in the Pentateuch
History of the Investigation
Origin of the Name Jehovah
Origin of the Name Elohim
The relation of Jehovah and Elohim
Examination of particular passages in the Pen
tateuch
Dissertation III. — The Genuineness of
the Pentateuch ,n relation to the
History of the Art of Writing.
History of the Investigation
Knowledge of the Art of Writing in the Mo
saic age «
Acquaintance of the Hebrews with Alphabetic!
Writing in the Mosaic age
Extension of the Art of Writing among tbe
Hebrews in the Mosaic age
Materials used for Writing in the Mosaic age
Contents of Vol. II.
The Pentateuch, and The Book of the Wars of the Lord
Havoth-JairHermon The Bedstead of King Og
The Law of the King in Deut. xvii.
Geographical Ant chronismi —
Historical Anachronisms —
Hadad
" This was Esau"

Relation of the time of the Judgos to the Civil Prophetical Anachronisms —

Legislation of the Pentateuch
State of Religion and Morals in the time of
the Judges
Dissertation V  Statements of the
Pentateuch respecting its Author
Dissertation VI. — The Alleged traces
of a later age in the Pentateuch
Preliminary Remark
The Canaanites
HebronDan Moriab.
Bethel"Before there reigned any King over the
Children of Israel."
" These are that Aaron and Moses"
Exodus xvi. 33—35
The Omer
Sin-Offerings and Trespass-Offerings
H or inah

Numbers xxiv. 17, 18
Genesis xxvii. 40
Genesis xxv23
Amalek " The other side Jordan"
" Unto this day"
The Threatening of Exile
The Prophets
The alleged Abstract Unhistorical character
of the Mosaic Polity
Dissertation VII  The Contradictions
OF THE PENTATECCH
Preliminary Remarks
Chronological Contradictions, Gen. xxxv. 26 ;
Gen. xxix 30 ; Gen. xxxiv. Gen. xxxviii. 40.
Contradictions in reference to the Passover
The Time of the Passover
Unleavened Bread and the Passover
Deuteronomy xvi. 2
Exodus xvii. 1 ; Numbers, xx. 1, &c.
Exodus xxiii. 16; and xxxiv. 22

2

CLARK S U.,T 01' NEW PUBLICATIONS— EDINBURGH , 38. GEORCF ST

The two Tables of the Law
The Levites' Age of Service
Joshua — Hoshea
Horeb and Sinai
The Plains of Moab, and the Land of Moab
Priests and Levites
Judges The Spies
The Amorites and Amalekites
SihonThe Punishment of Moses
Deuteronomy x. 6
The Sabbatical and Jubilee Year
The Release of Bondsmen
Cities of Refuge
Administration of Justice
Dissertation VIII — The Theology of
the Pentateuch in Relation to its
Genuineness
Preliminary Remarks

Tbe Anthropomorphisms of the Penutcucli
The Repentance of God
The Jealousv of God
The Wrath of God
The Vengeance of God
The Hardening of Pharaoh's heart
The Immutability of God, Numbers xxii.
The Right of the Israelites to Palestine
The alleged Purloining of the vessels of thi'
Egyptians
The Unholiness of Sacred Persons
Visitingthe sins of the Fathers on theChildren
The Partiality of the Pentateuch
The Silence of the Pentateuch respecting the
Doctrine of Immortality
The Doctrine of Retribution
The Alleged Outwardness of the Mosaic Le
gislation
The Ceremonial Law
The Levitical Bias of the Pentateuch.

HENGSTENBERG ON DANIEL AND ZECHARIAH.
DISSERTATIONS on the GENUINENESS of DANIEL
and the INTEGRITY of ZECHARIAH.
By Dr. E. W. HENGSTENBERG,
Translated by the Ret. B. P. PRATTEN,
And A DISSERTATION ON THE HISTORY AND PROPHECIES
OF BALAAM,
By the same Author.
Tbanslated By J. E. RYLAND,
One Volume 8vo. Price 12s.
" His Works on the Authenticity of Daniel, Zechariah, and the Pentateuch, have secured hiir,
a place in the highest rank of Theologians." — British Quarterly Review.
CONTENTS.

THE GENUINENESS OF DANIEL.
Chap. I. — History of Attacks on the
Book of Daniel.
Chap II  Reply to Objections
Sect. i. Alleged Greek Words — ii. Impure He
brew — iii. Silence of Jesus Sirach— iv. Po.
sition in the Canon — v. Depreciatory State
ments of the Jews — vi. The O. T. referred
to as a complete Whole — vii. Aimless Pro
fusion of Miracles— viii. Historical Errors —
ix. Irreconcileable Contradictions — x. Im
probable and Suspicious Accounts — xi. Later
Ideas and,Usages — xii. Unusual Definiteness
of the Prophecies — xiii. This Definiteness
ceases with Antiochus Epiphanes — xiv. Other
Objections— 1. The Passage, Chap. xii. ; 2.
Correspondence in ideas and expressions
with much Later Books ; 3. Marks of Jew
ish National Pride ; 4. Absence of all higher
Moral Tendency ; 5. Passages which speak
in praise of Daniel.
Chap. III. — Arguments for the Genuine
ness.
Sect. i. Testimony of the Author himself — ii.
Reception into the Canon, and General Ac
knowledgment of Canouicity — iii. Testimony
of Christ and the Apostles — iv. Traces of
the Book in pre-Maccabean Times — 1. The
passage of Josephus, .4rcA. xi. 8; 2. 1 Macc.ii.
59, 60 ; 3. The LXX. of Deut. xxxii. 8, and
Isaiah xxx. 4; Badness of the Alex. Version

of Daniel, which was nearly cotemporary
with the alleged original composition  v.
Character of the language; I. Use of Hebrew
and Aramsean ; 2. Correspondence of its Ara-
meean with that of Ezra, and Deviation
from that of the Targums — vi. Exact Know.
ledge of History — vii. Familiar acquaintance
with the Institutions, Manners, and Customs
of the Times of Daniel — viii. Other argu
ments; 1. The entire peculiarity of Prophe
tic Style, and the mode of representation
adopted in the Book ; Several things at va
riance with the spirit of the Maccabean
times; 3. Exact agreement of the Histori
cal part and the Prophecies ; 4. Immediate
conjunction of the death of Antiochus Epi
phanes and the Messianic times.
THE INTEGRITY OF ZECHARIAH.

-History or attacks upon it. !
Arguments forthe Genuineness
of the Second Part.
III. — Reply to Objections.

Chap. I.
I I.

BALAAM AND HIS PROPHECIES.
Introductory Observations
The Character of Balaam
Geographical Observations
Age and Genuineness oethe Histouy
On Mistakesin reference IotheM an :

HAVERNiCK ON THE PENTATEUCH.

In Demy Octavo, Price 10*. 6d: Clo/h,
AN HISTORICO- CRITICAL INTRODUCTION to ihe PENTATEUCH. By
H. A. C. HAVERNICK, Doctor and Professor of Theology in the University of
Koningsburgh. Translated by Alex. Thomson, A. M., Professor of Biblical Litera
ture, Glasgow Theological Academy. From Baptist Magazine.
" Whoever is acquainted with other pf Havernick's writings will be prepared to expect in thii
the same rare union of searching analysis, with serious earnest piety. , Not proposing so wide mid
discursive a range as Hengstenberg, but addressing himself entirely to the internal condition and
character of the Pentateuch, be sends a more sifting penetrating glance through the mutual rela-
tions of parts, and lays bare those finer threads of connective thoughts, which are apt to escape a
broader survey. The objection so often taken against the theological writings of our German
neighbours, that they give no satisfaction, but merely build up large huge piles of oscillating and
unsettled argument, which, like the rocking stones of our own country, may serve for monuments-
of prodigious power on the part of their author ; but the practical utility of which would be hard
to divine, has no bearing on Havernick. Intensely in earnest, as one who believes that the highest
interests are imperilled, it is with him no mere mental exercise nor feat of arms. Such as are dis
posed to investigate thoroughly, and trace beneath the surface the joints and bands of organic uni
ty, through the five books of Moses, will find themselves amply repaid both in instruction and in
pleasure." From Kitto's Journal.
" It is interesting to' observe, that while Germany has been, for some years, peculiarly the soil
on which writings, in opposition to the authenticity of different books of Scripture, have sprung up,
it also has produced some of the most able defenders of those portions of divine revelation which
have been assailed. Amongst such defenders, Havernick holds an honoured place. The publica
tion of an English translation of this portion of Havernick's Introduction to the Old Testament, is;,
particularly welcome to us." In Post Octovo, Price 4s. Cloth,
BRIEF OUTLINE OF THE STUDY OF THEOLOGY. By the late Dr. F.
SCH LEIERM ACHER. To which are prefixed Reminiscences of Schleiermacher.
By Dr.F. LiicKE. Translated from the German by the Rev. William Farrer, LL.B.
" The work of a gigantic mind. It is incomparably the most suggestive work we ever read-S
every sentence is a mine of thought.'' — Kitto's Journal.
From M'Phail's Journal.
" The work before us, partakes very much of the mental character of Schleiermacher, clear-, me
thodical, and epigramatic. He thinks and writes with mathematical precision, and indeed may be
said to have reduced theology to a science. These outlines might be called the Euclid of theology.1
Every article forms a distinct proposition — accompanied with explanatory notes, which maybe
termed the corollaries, and the publication of the work in English, cannot fail to have a beneficial
effect on the theological studies of our country. Its utterly unsectarian and orthodox character,
adapts it to all denominations, and th<"' could not do greater honour to themselves than by adopting
it as a text book. We thank hira for making this timely and valuable addition to our theological
literature. "The work is a gem, and that too of the first water."
From Nonconformist.
" Of the numerous translations from German theological writers, which have, lately appeared in
this country, we have received none with greater satisfaction than the work here presented, to us
by Mr. Farrer." From Witness.
" Dr. Lucke's Reminiscences of Schleiermacher, which are prefixed, will be found interesting.
This book should be in the hands of all our students." t
NEANDERS COMMENTARIES.

In Post Octavo, Price 3s. Cloth.
THE EPISTLES of PAUL to the PHILIPPIANS, and the GENERAL
EPISTLE of JAMES, PRACTICALLY and HISTORICALLY EXPLAIN
ED. By Dr. AUGUSTUS NEANDER. To which is added an Essay on the
Second Coming of our Lord. By the same Author. Translated by the Rev. Alix-.J
ander Napibk, M. A., Vicar of Holkham, Norfolk. f
" It consists of a succinct but masterly digest, " Historical and Practical," of the Epistle to the Philippians and *he
General Epistle of James,— a sort of running commentary, along with which is interwoven, a careful explication of the
more difficult texts and passages. Uhere is a delightful freshness throughout its pages."— Christian Magazine, Sept. 1851.
SKELETON THEMES,

In Foolscap Octavo, Price 3*. Clolh.
SKELETON THEMES and EXERCISES, for the Use of Schools and Families,
By MARGARET THORNLEY, Author of " The. True Plan of Education."

05094 0296

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