HYMNS OF PRAISE AND THANKSGIVING

I

FOR JEHOVAH'S JUST AND GRACIOUS RULE

Pss. 9, 575, 7-11, 75, 113, 92, 107, 145, 33, 138

§ 52. Gratitude for the Evidences of Jehovah's Justice, Ps. 9

Ps. 9 1With my whole heart I give thanks to Jehovah,

I recount all thy marvellous deeds,

2I rejoice and exult in thee,

I sing praise, O Most High, to thy name,

"Because my foes have turned back, a
They stumble and perish at thy presence.

Thanksgiving for deliverance

"Thou didst rebuke the heathen, thou didst destroy the wicked,

Jeho

vah's

judg

ment

upon

Psalms of Thanksgiving. The distinction between the pss. of praise and thanksgiving and those of adoration and trust is not always clearly drawn. Although they are closely related, there is, however, a fundamental difference. The pss. of adoration voice the feelings of the psalmists as they contemplated the gracious character of Jehovah, revealed in the life of the nation, in nature, and in his care for mankind; while the pss. of praise and thanksgiving express the gratitude which the individual or nation felt for definite services performed by Jehovah in their behalf. In the pss. of praise and thanksgiving some national deliverance or signal experience is usually in the mind of the psalmist, or else they were written for liturgical use. As a rule, therefore, these pss. are more national and less individualistic than the pss. of adoration.

The Hebrews conceived of thanksgiving as a form of offering pleasing to Jehovah. It is often compared with sacrifice and other concrete forms of expressing allegiance to their divine King. The pleasure which Jehovah was thought to take in praise is suggested by Ps. 309:

What profit is there in my blood when I go down to the pit?
Can the dust praise thee, and make known thy faithfulness?

No one can question that there is an ultimate truth in this naïve, primitive conception. The
infinite God does not depend for his joy upon the gratitude of mankind; but, from all analogies
between the human and divine Father, there is reason to believe that he delights in the sincere
thanks of his children and, above all, in that development in their character which comes from
the spontaneous and joyous expression of the innate and yet divine impulse of gratitude.

$52 This ps. bears the title, For the chief musician. To be sung by male soprano voices (following a revised text). Psalm of David. Originally Pss. 9 and 10 constituted one alphabetical ps. Ps. 10 has no superscription in the Heb., and the two pss. are joined in Gk. texts. They were evidently divided for liturgical purposes. Only half the alphabetical strophes can now be clearly distinguished. The metre also frequently changes from the three to the four-beat measure, indicating that the original poem has been recast, especially in vss. 7-10, 101-11, by a later editor. Many attempts have been made to recover the original acrostic ps., but the resulting text is only conjectural. The logical connection of thought does not always follow the alphabetical strophic division, so that in the above analysis the acrostic structure has been ignored.

The artificial structure of the ps. points to a post-exilic date. The wicked in the community are arrogantly persecuting the afflicted righteous, 102, and are uttering their sceptical taunts, as in the book of Mal. 313-15 Cf. 104-6. Jehovah is enthroned in his temple in Mount Zion. Evidently the background of this ps., like most of those in the first Davidic collection, is the discouraging days just before the appearance of Nehemiah.

93 The allusion is evidently to some definite event.

the

wicked

His

just rule

A refuge to the afflicted

Praise due him

Cry for deliver

ance

Retribution

Judgment and

vindication

Thou didst blot out their name for ever and ever.
As for the foesb-their swords have disappeared forever,
And the cities thou hast destroyed-their memory hath perished.

Behold, "Jehovah is enthroned forever,

He hath set up his throne for judgment;

"He it is who judgeth the world in righteousness,

He passeth judgment upon the peoples with equity.

"Jehovah is a refugee to the oppressed,

A place of refuge in times of distress,

10 And they who know thy name trust in thee,

For thou, O Jehovah, dost not forsake those who seek thee.

"Make melody to Jehovah who is enthroned in Zion,
Among the peoples declare his deeds,

12 For he who avengeth bloodshed doth remember them,
He doth not forget the distressed cry of the afflicted.h

13 Be gracious to me, O Jehovah, see my affliction,
Thou who liftest me up from the gates of death,i
14In order that I may recite all thy praises,i

That in the gates of Zionk I may exult in thy help.

15 The proud1 are sunk down in the pit they have made,
In the net which they hid their own feet are caught.
16 Jehovah hath made himself known by doing judgment;
By the work of their hands the wicked are trapped.m

17The wicked shall surely go back to Sheol,
All the proud" who are forgetful of God;

18 For the poor are not forgotten forever,

Nor the hopes of the afflicted lost for all time.

b96 Heb., the foe, a collective noun representing all of Israel's foes and especially the early Canaanites.

c96 So Gk., Syr., and several MSS. Heb., ruins. The above translation is also strongly supported by this parallelism.

d96 Heb., they, but a slight change gives the above.

e99 Lit., high, inaccessible place.

1910 Name in Heb. stands for the true self, the real character.

8910 Possibly Jehovah is a scribal addition.

h912 Or, poor.

1913 The Heb. adds from those who hate me; but this fits very awkwardly in its context and appears to be a later explanatory gloss.

1914 The Heb. has here the title of the pss.

his day.

914 Lit., daughter of Zion.

Possibly the poet has in mind the pss. in use in

1915 Following Duhm (Psalmen, p. 30), in slightly correcting the text, as required by the context. Cf. 16. The Heb. has the more common word heathen. Possibly this is due to a Maccabean scribe.

m 916 The Heb. inserts at the end of this line, higgaion selah.

n917 Making the same slight correction in the Heb. as in 15, so that it reads proud instead of heathen. Here again the context supports the correction.

Ps. 57 Be exalted above the heavens, O Jehovah, above all the earth be Refrain thy glory.

"I will thank thee, O Jehovah,' among the peoples," I will praise thee among God's the nations; good

ness

10 For thy lovingkindness is greater than the heavens, and thy faithfulness fills than the skies.t

heaven

11Be exalted above the heavens, O Jehovah; above all the earth be thy glory. Refrain

§ 54. Jehovah's Impartial Rule, Ps. 75

Ps. 75 1We give thanks to thee, O God,
We give thanks and call on" thy name,
We tell of thy wondrous works.

2' When I find a suitable time,w
I indeed judge uprightly.

920 Gk. and Syr., a teacher, from a kindred root.

$53 The brief fifty-seventh ps. contains two independent poems on absolutely distinct themes, which reflect widely different situations. Ps. 577-11 is repeated in 1081-5, indicating that it was once an independent unit. The refrain in 11 is repeated in 5 and probably originally stood both at the beginning and end of the second poem. In this respect the ps. resembles 8, which has the same refrain at the beginning and end. The broad outlook, the happy, trustful spirit, and an atmosphere like that of the II Is. indicate that this brief poem was probably written during the latter part of the Persian period, when the Jewish community experienced the results of Nehemiah's reforms.

P575 Heb., God, which probably stands for an original Jehovah, which has been restored. 4578 So one Heb. MS. and Syr., supported by the parallelism. Heb., my glory; but the parallel 1082 has a variant reading indicating that the text is corrupt.

599 So the parallel, 1083. The Heb. of 9 has Lord.

579 The parallel 1083 adds and.

t5710 An echo of 365.

§ 54 This is one of the more difficult and obscure pss. of the Psalter. It abounds in vigorous figures drawn from the earlier prophets. For the cup of judgment in the hands of Jehovah, cf. Jer. 2515, 4912, Lam. 421, Ezek. 2333, 34, and Is. 5117. Arrogant, malicious foes rise prominently on the psalmist's horizon. The wicked are lifting up their horns, that is, attacking the people of Jehovah. Possibly the ps. comes from the period just before Nehemiah, but its apocalyptic style and the hope expressed in the concluding line, that the horns of the righteous will be lifted up, point to the earlier years of the Maccabean struggle.

u751 Restoring the Heb. with the aid of the Gk. and Syr.

752 An oracle of Jehovah is here abruptly introduced. The Heb. verb means, lit., set. How long the persecuted Jews must suffer until the appointed time should arrive when Jehovah would overthrow their foes is the burning question in the closing chapters of the book of Daniel, which comes from the same period.

w 752 Lit., seize an appointed time.

Exor

dium

Jeho

vah's

asser

tion

of his

moral rule

"The earth and all its inhabitants melt away,
But it is I who set up its pillars.

4I say to the boastful, "Boast not";

To the wicked, "Lift not up thy horn."

"Lift not up your horn on high,
Speak not with a stiff neck;"

For neither from the east nor the west,

And not from the wilderness nor the mountains,"
"But God, he, indeed, is judge;

He abaseth one and lifteth up another.
For a cup is in the hands of Jehovah
Of foaming wine, full of mixed wine,

And he extendeth it to this one and that one,a

And its dregs all the wicked of the earth must drain.b

"But I indeed will exulte forever,

I will make melody to the God of Jacob;

10 For all the horns of the wicked will be cut off,

But the horns of the righteous will be lifted up.

§ 55. Jehovah's Gracious Condescension to the Humble, Ps. 113

Ps. 113 1Praise Jehovah, ye servants, praise his name, 2Blessed be the name of Jehovah from now and evermore,

3From the rising of the sun to its setting Jehovah's name is to be praised.

4Jehovah is high above all nations, his glory above the heavens.
5Who is like Jehovah our God, he who dwelleth on high,h

"Who stoopeth to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth!

"He who raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and the needy from the dunghill,

x754 The horn was the symbol of power exerted. In Zech.'s vision, 118-21, the horns of the nations represented that with which they attacked the Jews.

y 755 Or, slightly revising the Heb., speak not arrogantly against thy Rock. Gk., against God. 2756 Slightly revising the Heb., which is unintelligible. The broken context implies that some such word as deliverance is implied, but the omission is even more impressive.

a758 Following the Gk., which reads, lit., from this one to that one.

b758 Heb. adds drink; but this is probably a note appended by a scribe to explain the preceding verb.

759 So Gk. Heb., I will declare.

d7510 Revising the Heb. text, which reads, and all the horns of the wicked.

7510 The context requires a passive verb, but the Heb. reads, I will cut off.

§ 55 This Hallel ps. was sung, together with 114-118, at the feasts of Dedication and New Moon. It echoes the thought of Mal. and II Is. and has points of contact with the songs sung by the Jewish community during the latter part of the Persian period. Vs. 7 is quoted from I Sam. 28 and may possibly be secondary. Vs. 9 is an echo of Is. 541. Like the other Hallel pss., this probably comes in its complete form from the Gk. period.

1131 So. Gk., Aquila, Sym., Theod., and Lat. Heb., servants of Jehovah. The reference

is evidently to Jehovah's faithful worshippers.

81131 So certain Gk. MSS. supported by the metre. Heb., name of Jehovah.

b1135 Lit., he who exalteth himself to sit enthroned.

i1136 Supplying the word things, implied by the context.

1137 So the parallel in I Sam. 28.