The assurance of Jehovah's answer The refrain by the chorus Thanks to Jehovah for the bles sings conferred upon the king Refrain by the chorus His power is invin cible be cause Jehovah helps him "Now I know that he helpeth his anointed, 'Jehovah hath delivered the king, He answereth us when we call upon him.h § 35. The God-Given Might of Israel's King, Ps. 21 Ps. 21 'In thy strength, O Jehovah, the king rejoiceth, "Thou hast granted him his heart's desire, And the request of his lips thou hast not denied; 4Life he asked of thee, thou gavest it to him, "Great is his glory through thy help, Honor and majesty thou bestowest upon him, Thou dost delight him with joy in thy presence. "For the king ever trusteth in the Lord, Through the kindness of the Most High he cannot be moved. "Thine hand will find all thy foes, Thy right hand will find' those who hate thee. 'Thou wilt make them as a furnace of firem At the time of thine appearing. 207 Gk. and Syr., we are great, but the current Heb. reading, lit., make mention, remember, is more in harmony with the rest of the sentence. 1207 So Gk. Heb. adds Jehovah. 8209 Gk. and Lat., answer us. h209 Lit., on the day of our calling. §35 In structure and thought this ps. is closely related to 20. Its second vs. is an echo of 204. The same king evidently originally figured in both. The one ps. is perhaps a litany to be sung before battle and the other a Te Deum to be sung after the victory had been won. The allusions, however, in 21 are not to a definite event but are general. Not merely victory in war but the conferring of the blessings which every Heb. king desired are described in the opening stanza. The warlike note is much stronger in the second main stanza where the king is directly addressed, even as in the first stanza of 20. The ps. presents a noble though warlike kingly ideal. It is the portrait not of a tyrant but of a king who, true to the Hebrew ideal, ruled as the viceroy of Jehovah and the servant of the people. The ps. consists of two stanzas of twelve lines each followed by a refrain of two lines which was probably sung by the people in unison. i211 Possibly this should (with Briggs, Pss., I, 183), here and throughout the ps., be translated victory. 1211 So Gk., Syr., and Lat. k214 Cf., for a similar request, I Sam. 1024, II Sam. 1616, I Kgs. 125. 1218 Or, revising the text to avoid the repetition of the same verb, pierce through, or, shatter. m219 Or, revising the Heb. to bring it into closer harmony with the context, Thou wilt put them in a furnace of fire (so Briggs, Pss., I, 183). THE GOD-GIVEN MIGHT OF ISRAEL'S KING The Lord, in his anger, will swallow them, And the fire of his wrath will devour them. 10 Their offspring thou wilt destroy from the earth, 12 For thou wilt put them to flight," And aim at their faces with thy bowstring. 13 Arise, O Jehovah, in thy strength, We will sing and praise thy might." §36. Confidence in God's Protection of His People and King, Ps. 61 Refrain by the chorus Ps. 61 1Attend to my cry, O Jehovah, give heed to my prayer. 2From the end of the earth I will call to thee, when my heart fainteth. Lead thou me to the rock that is higher than I,o For thou art a refuge for me, a strong tower from the presence of the enemy. 4I will be a guest in thy tent forever; I will take refuge under the cover of Assurthy wings. "For thou, O Jehovah, hast heard my vows; Thou hast granted the request of those who fear thy name. "Days to the king's days wilt thou add, His years shall be for generation to generation. "He shall abide before Jehovah forever, n2112 Lit., Thou will put them the shoulder. 2113 Gk. and Lat., mighty deeds. §36 Vs. 2 of this ps. suggests that the author was an exile; but the declaration that he will call upon Jehovah even from the ends of the earth may be but a superlative expression of his confidence that Jehovah is able to help him wherever he is. The figures of the rock, of the strong tower, and of being Jehovah's guest in his tent point to the earlier and simpler days rather than to the later. In Ps. 23 the psalmist looks forward to dwelling in Jehovah's temple rather than in his tent, as here. The vow was also a prominent pre-exilic institution. The reference to the king in 6-8 is alone satisfied by a pre-exilic setting, for he is a Hebrew ruler. Vs. 5 implies that it was a collective ps. It was a prayer equally fitting for the individual or the community, although the reference to the king emphasized its public character. In the light of all the facts, it may, with 20 and 21, be assigned to a pre-exilic date. The days of Jeremiah and Josiah furnish a fitting background. The original reading, Jehovah, which was changed by a later editor to God, has been restored. P612 Gk., Lat., and Syr., On the rock mayest thou lift me up. But Heb., Syr., Old Lat., and Targ. read as above. 4615 Slightly correcting the Heb., which reads, heritage. 1616 Again revising the obscure Heb. 617 So Syr., Lat., two Heb. MSS., and the demands of the context. ance of that protection And of § 37. Prayer That the King's Rule May Be Just, Beneficent, and Enduring, Ps. 72 1Grant the king thy justice, O Jehovah, "May the mountains bear peace to the people, May he vindicate the afflicted among the people, "May he fear theew while the sun endureth, And abundant peace until the moon be no more. May he rule from sea to sea, And from the river unto the ends of the earth. And his enemies lick the dust. 10 May the kings of Tarshish and the coast-lands bring a gift, "May all kings pay him homage, May all the nations serve him. 12 For he delivereth the needy who cry, And the afflicted who have no helper. §37 At least a century of remarkable moral and religious development apparently lies between this ps. and 20 and 21. Here the ideals of Am., Hos., and Is. are woven into a majestic royal ode. Like the laws in Dt. 1714-20, which define the duties of a Heb. ruler to his subjects, this ps. was evidently written in order to place before the king worthy ideals to guide him in his rule. It recalls the poem of the Egyptian prophet Ipuwer, who lived not long after 2000 B.C. After describing the overthrow of existing political and social evils, this Egyptian forerunner of the Heb. prophets declared that a just king would arise who would smite evil when he raises his arm against it. Josiah was the only king in Judah's later history who, even in part, realized the social ideals set forth in this wonderful ps. Of him Jeremiah declared, He executed law and justice; he judged the cause of the poor and needy (Jer. 2215, 16). Evidently Josiah's benign policy was in the mind of the psalmist. The description in 12-14 fits no other Heb. ruler so well-not even David. Ps. 72 is the poetic counterpart of the book of Dt., which comes from the same period. The poetry in 8-11 is the antithesis of that of the Prince of Peace pictured in the remainder of the ps. It voices Israel's narrow national prejudices and selfish ambitions. The immediate sequel of 1-7 is 12-15 In the light of these facts it is possible that 8-11 came from the hands of a later editor who missed the promise of world-wide dominion which is found in the primitive Balaam oracle and which seemed to him more important than the visions of justice and mercy that were to mark the rule of Jehovah's king. Little wonder that the Christian world has long regarded this ps. as messianic. It so far transcends anything realized by even the best of Israel's rulers that it points unmistakably to the future. It is a marvellous foreshadowing of the divine purpose to be realized in human society. It is by no means an exact portrait of Jesus, the Prince of Peace; but it nobly formulates certain of the social ideals which he strove to implant in the minds of his followers. t721 So Gk., Lat., and Syr. Heb., judgments. u723 Slightly correcting the Heb. and adding the verb implied by the context. 724 The Heb. adds and may he crush the oppressor. This is a later insertion, for it is not grammatically or logically connected with the context and is not metrically complete. w725 Following the Gk. Heb., may they fear thee. 1727 So certain MSS., Gk., Lat., and Syr. Heb., a righteous man. y729 Slightly correcting the corrupt Heb. PRAYER THAT THE KING'S RULE MAY BE JUST 13He hath pity on the poor and needy, And saveth the life of the poor. 14He saveth them" from extortion and violence, 15So may they live and give him of Sheba's gold," And bless him all the day long. 16 May there be abundance of grain in the land, On the hill top may his fruit rustleb like Lebanon; And may they blossom forth from the city like the wild herbs. May his name be established as long as the sun shineth,d 18Blessed be Jehovah, the God of Israel, 19 Let the whole earth be filled with his glory, II THE DIVINE PROMISES TO DAVID AND HIS SUCCESSORS Pss. 8917-21, 3, 4, 22-52, 2, 110, 132 § 38. The Sad Contrast between Jehovah's Promise to David and the Fate of His House, Ps. 8917-21, 3, 4, 22-52 Ps. 89 17Thou art the glory of our strength, And by thy favor thou hast exalted our horn. 18 For our shield belongeth to Jehovah, And our king to the Holy One of Israel. 7214 Possibly this word is secondary. 7215 This line may be secondary. The verbs in the Heb. are singular. b7216 The exact meaning of this word is not certain. 7216 Possibly the text is here corrupt. 47217 The Heb. is untranslatable. The above rendering is based on a plausible reconstruction of the text. 7217 The Gk. adds all the families of the earth. 17219 Vss. 18, 19 are the doxology with which this section of the Psalter closes. The Heb. adds the prayers of David the son of Jesse are ended. 38 As Briggs has shown (Pss., II, 250-254), Ps. 89 consists of two and possibly three originally independent poems. This is evinced by the different metre employed and by the dissimilar themes treated in different parts of the ps. The older ps., written in the three-beat measure, based on the traditional covenant with David recorded in II Sam. 78-16, and emphasizing the contrast between the promise and the fate of the reigning house of Judah, is clearly the older literary unit. In theme and style it is closely parallel to the older poems in the book of Lam. The description in 38-45 implies that the psalmist was personally acquainted with the king whose fate he bewailed. It describes well either Jehoiachin or Zedekiah. Vs. 45 perhaps fits best the ill-fated 8917 The editor who combined the two pss. in 89 has added for at the beginning of this line and transformed the original our required by the parallelism into his. Jeho vah's original choice and cove nant with David The divine promise to protect him, to extend his rule, and to make it eternal Conditions upon which the divine prom ises were based 19Once thou didst speak in a vision To thy holy one, and didst say: I have placed a crownd upon a hero, I have exalted one chosen from the people; 20I found David my servant, With my holy oil I anointed him; 21 With whom my hand is established, 4'I will establish thy seed forever, And build thy throne for all generations.' 22 The enemy shall not exact from him, 24But my faithfulness and lovingkindness shall be with him, 25I will set his hand also on the sea, And his right hand on the rivers.i 26 He shall cry to me, "Thou art my father, My God, and the rock of my salvation.' 27I will also make him my first-born, Most high above the kings of earth. 28 My lovingkindness will I keep for him forevermore, And my covenant shall stand fast for him. 29 His seed will I preserve forever, And his throne as the days of heaven. 30If his sons forsake my law, And walk not in my judgments, 31If they profane my statutes, And keep not my commands; 32Then will I visit their transgressions with a rod, And their iniquity with stripes. Zedekiah. The later editor, in the process of reconstruction, evidently transferred 3, 4 from their original position after 21 and injected them into the midst of a later poem written in the four-beat measure describing Jehovah's might and goodness. This wonderfully symmetrical and powerful song of adoration is found in 1, 2. 5-16. Cf. § 94. To the royal hymn which comes from the earlier part of the Babylonian exile, the final editor of the ps., who probably lived in the Gk. period not long before the beginning of the Maccabean struggle, has appended a four-beat poem, in 46-51, bewailing the fate that had overtaken Jehovah's people, and especially the faithful in the Jewish community. b8919 Lit., then, i. e., referring to the promises to David recorded in II Sam 78-16. 8919 So certain Heb. MSS. Heb., holy ones. The reference is clearly to Nathan. Cf. II Sam. 74. d8919 Correcting the Heb. which reads, probably through a scribal error, help. e8919 I. e., David, the mighty warrior. 1893 Cf. the natural antecedent in 19. 88922 So Gk. and a possible translation of the Heb. Syr. and Lat., come treacherously upon. b8922 Lit., son of wrong. The Heb. phrase clearly has a collective meaning. 18925 If the plural is retained it refers to the Tigris as well as the Euphrates, and probably includes the connecting canals. |