JEHOVAH'S CONDESCENSION TO THE HUMBLE

"That he may seat him with princes, with the princes of his people.
'He maketh the barren woman to keep house, to be the glad mother of
children.k

§ 56. Jehovah's Benign Direction of Human History, Ps. 92

Ps. 92 1It is a good thing to give thanks to Jehovah,
And to sing praises to thy name, O Most High;
2To make known thy lovingkindness in the morning,
Likewise thy faithfulness every night,

With an instrument of ten strings and with the lyre,
With a solemn sound upon the harp.

40 Jehovah, thou hast made me glad through thy deeds,
I exult in the works of thy hands.

"How great are thy works,' O Jehovah!
Thy thoughts are exceedingly deep.
"An unreceptive man knoweth not,
Neither doth a fool understand this:
"When the wicked sprout forth as the grass,

And when all the workers of iniquity blossom,
It is that they may be destroyed forever.
For thou art on high, O Jehovah, forever;

"For, lo, thine enemies shall perish,m

All the workers of iniquity shall be scattered.

10 And my horn thou hast exalted like the wild ox,
Yea, thou hast anointed me" with fresh oil.
"Mine eye also hath seen my foes,°

Mine ears have heard evil-doers.

12The righteous shall flourish like the palm tree,
He shall grow tall like a cedar in Lebanon.

13 Planted in the house of Jehovah,

They shall flourish in the courts of our God. 14In old age they shall bring forth fruit,

They shall be full of sap and green,

15To show that Jehovah is upright.

He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.

*1139 The Heb. text adds praise Jehovah, but this is evidently the superscription of the next ps., which otherwise is lacking.

§ 56 This ps. was written by one of the regular worshippers at the Jerusalem temple. It voices the experience of the Judean community. Cf., e. g., 11, Hostile foes are about, but faith in Jehovah gives peace. The distinctive wisdom teaching in the second stanza recalls the thought of Pr. and indicates that the ps. was probably written during the latter part of the Gk. period. Its superscription, To the Musical Director, indicates that it was used and probably originally written to be sung in the temple service.

1925 So Syr. Targ. and several Heb. texts, works. Heb., deed.

m925 So Gk.B and three Heb. MSS. Heb. repeats for behold thy enemies, O Jehovah, but this is probably due to a scribal gloss.

9210 So Syr. Heb., I am anointed.

921 The text has been expanded, probably through a scribal error.

Jeho

vah worthy of men's praise

His overthrow of the

wicked

His

care

of the upright

Jeho-
vah's

redemp-
tion
of his
people

From perils of the desert

From imprisonment

§ 57. Jehovah's Power and Readiness to Deliver, Ps. 107

Ps. 107 10 give thanks to Jehovah, for he is good,

For his lovingkindness endureth forever.

2Let the redeemed of Jehovah say so,

Whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the adversary,
And gathered together out of the lands,

From the east and the west, from the north and the south.p

4Straying in the wilderness, in the desert,"
They found no way to an inhabited city.
"Hungry, yea, and thirsty,

Their soul was fainting within them.

"Then they cried to Jehovah in their trouble,

That he might deliver them out of their distresses.

"Then he made them walk a straight way,

That they might go to an inhabited city.

Let them give thanks to Jehovah for his lovingkindness,
And his wonderful works for the children of men!
For he satisfieth the longing soul,

And the hungry soul he filleth with good.

10Dwelling in darkness and in gloom,

Being bound in affliction and iron,

"Because they rebelled against the words of God,
And despised the counsel of the Most High,

12 He brought down their heart with labor,

They stumbled, and there was no one to help them.

§ 57 This ps. contains a strong liturgical element and is characterized by a strophic as well as vs. rhythm. A marked peculiarity is that the refrain:

Let them give thanks to Jehovah for his lovingkindness,
And for his wonderful works to the children of men,

which recurs in 8, 15, 21, 31, does not appear at the end of the strophe, but is in each case followed
by a concluding couplet. The same syntactical construction is found in each of the stanzas.
The original ps. apparently ended with 32. Vss. 33-42 contain general illustrations of Jehovah's
goodness and justice. Part of these are drawn from Job and other poetic books. They show un-
mistakable influence of the wisdom school and are didactic in their purpose. They preserve
the metrical structure followed in the rest of the ps. and constitute a fitting conclusion. The
epilogue in 43 is modelled after the similar epilogue in Hos. 1410 and is intended as an index hand
to call attention to the fundamental teachings embodied in the ps. The original ps. was inspired
by the contemplation of II Is. and by the experiences of the generation to which the psalmist
belonged. The horizon is not limited to Palestine but includes the distant lands of the dispersion.
In imagination the reader beholds caravans making long journeys through the parched, trackless
desert far away from inhabited cities. He shares their joy as at last they are guided to the pop-
ulous, well-watered city, which is the goal of their pilgrimage. He sees captives dragged into
distant exile living the life of slaves, in bonds, and afflicted by the lash of the taskmaster. Again
the vision changes and he shares the trials and the perils of the sailors helplessly tossed by the
storm. If not written in one of the lands of the dispersion this ps. is certainly from one who had
travelled widely and observed closely and himself participated in the life that lay beyond the bounds
of Palestine. There is no suggestion of the stress and struggle of the Maccabean period. The
ps. comes rather from the Gk. period, when the life and thought of the Jews of the dispersion were
even more important than those of Palestinian Judaism.

P1073 This vs. is unmetrical and loosely connected with the context. It may be a later scribal note. The parallelism demands the change from Heb., west to south, at the end of the vs. a 1074 So in 10, 17, 23. Heb., they strayed.

1074 So Gk. and Syr. and the implications of the context.

JEHOVAH'S READINESS TO DELIVER

13 Then they cried to Jehovah in their trouble, That he might save them out of their distresses. 14 He brought them out of darkness and gloom, And broke their bonds in sunder.

15 Let them give thanks to Jehovah for his lovingkindness, And for his wonderful works for the children of men!

16 For he hath broken the gates of brass,

And hewed bars of iron in sunder.

17Fools because of their transgression,

And because of their iniquities are afflicted. 18 Their appetite abhorreth all food,

And they draw near to the gates of death. 19Then they cry to Jehovah in their trouble, That he may save them out of their distresses. 20 He sendeth his word, and healeth them,

And delivereth their life from destruction."

21 Let them give thanks to Jehovah for his lovingkindness, And for his wonderful works for the children of men!

22 And let them offer the sacrifices of thanksgiving, And recount his works with singing.

23 Those who go to the sea in ships, Who do business in great waters; 24These see the works of Jehovah,

And his wonders performed in the deep.

25 For he commandeth, and raiseth the wind,t

And the tempest lifteth up its waves.

26They mount heavenward, they go down into the depths, Their soul melteth because of trouble,

27They reel and stagger like a drunken man,

And all their skill is exhausted."

28Then they cry to Jehovah in their trouble, That he may bring them out of their distresses.

29 He maketh the storm a calm,

So that the waves of the sea are still.

30 Then they are glad because they are quiet;

So he bringeth them to their desired haven.

31 Let them give thanks to Jehovah for his kindness,
For his wonderful works to the children of men!
32Let them exalt him in the assembly of the people,
And praise him in the session of the elders.

33 He turneth rivers into a wilderness,
And water springs into a thirsty ground;

Heb., from their destructions.

10720 Revising the Heb. as the text requires. +10725 Dividing the vs. as the metre and parallelism demand. u 10727 Lit., swallows itself up.

From sickness and

distress

From perils of the

sea

Gen-
eral

illustra-
tions
of Je-
hovah's
justice

10729 So Syr.

34A fruitful land into a salt desert,w

For the wickedness of them that dwell therein;

35 He turneth a wilderness into a pool,

And a dry land into watersprings.

36 And there he causeth the hungry to dwell,

And maketh it an inhabited city.

37 And they sow fields, and set out vineyards,

And get them the fruits of increase.

38 He blesseth them so that they are greatly multiplied,
And he suffereth not their cattle to decrease.
39But when they are diminished and bowed down
Through oppression, trouble, and sorrow,"
41Then the needy he lifteth out of his affliction,
And maketh his families like a flock."

42 The upright see it, and are glad,
And all iniquity stoppeth her mouth.

43 Who is wise, let him heed these things,

And let him consider the kind deeds of Jehovah.

§ 58. Jehovah's Justice and Beneficence, Ps. 145

Ps. 145 1I will extol thee, my God, O King,
And I will bless thy name forever.
2All the day long will I bless thee,
And I will praise thy name forever.

3Great is Jehovah, and highly to be praised,
Yea, his greatness is unsearchable.

4One generation will laud thy works to another,
And will declare thy deeds of might.

"On the glorious splendor of thy majesty,"

And thy wondrous works will they meditate.b

"And they will speak of the might of thy terrible acts,

And recount how great are thy deeds.

w 107 The reference is probably to the destruction of Sodom and the cities of the plains, recounted in Gen. 19.

10735 Lit., pool of water.

10739 The next vs.:

He poureth contempt upon princes,

And causes them to wander in the waste, where there is no way,

is clearly a very late insertion based on Job. 1221, 24b, for it separates 39 from its immediate sequel, 41. 10741 I. e., increase rapidly.

§ 58 This is an acrostic ps.: each succeeding vs. begins with a succeeding letter of the Heb. alphabet except that one, which the Gk. attempts to supply, has been lost. It is the most original of the nine acrostic pss. of the Psalter. At the same time it draws freely from the older pss. and prophetic books. Its universalism and didactic purpose connect it with similar writings of the Gk. period. The thought in 13 which reappears in Dan. 43, 34 seems to be native to the ps. In any case both of these writings probably come from the middle of the Gk. period.

a1455 So Gk. Heb. is corrupt.

b 1455 So Gk.

1456 So another Heb. reading.

13Thy kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,

And thy dominion endureth throughout all generations.

h14516 So Gk. and the demands of the metre. Heb. omits the emphatic thou.

i1452 Heb. adds, destroying the metre, forever and ever. In some MSS. this addition is also expanded to read, and we will praise Jah; from now and evermore, praise Jah.

His response to all who

call

upon him

Epilogue