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INTRODUCTION TO PSALM LXXV.

A RULER'S PIETY CONFIRMED BY DIVINE MERCIES.

TITLE. "To the Precentor on 'Al Taschêth': a Psalm to Asaph; a Song."

THIS Psalm is apparently written by a ruler who under the conviction of the recent mercies of Jehovah declares his intention of quelling arrogant ungodliness among his subordinates and inculcating general subjection to the Most High. The majority of Commentators suppose that by an abrupt transition of person in v. 2 God is introduced as uttering this and the three following verses, the Psalmist again speaking in propria persona from v. 6 to the end. This theory is apparently based on the idea that v. 3 would be egotistical or inappropriate in the mouth of a mere mortal. Presuming however that "the earth" referred to means here, as constantly, nothing more than the land of Palestine, we see no reason why a pious ruler who had at the time of invasion deterred his people from faithlessness and despair, might not say that he had warded a threatening dissolution of the state and "poised its pillars." And apart from the difficulty of the abrupt transition required in v. 3 by the exegesis alluded to above, we have thus at the end of the Psalm a strange recurrence in the mouth of the Psalmist of the determinations which have been in these four verses the determinations of God. It is allowed by all that the words, "All the horns of the wicked will I smite down, and the horns of the righteous shall be exalted," are spoken by the writer in his own character. Surely the similar language, "I, even I will judge uprightly-I have said to the boastful, Boast not, and to the evil-doers, Lift not up your horn," must proceed from the same lips. If we are asked what was the precise occasion of this authoritative reformation, we may reply that the reign of Sennacherib adopted by Ewald, Tholuck, and Delitzsch as the date of this Psalm is the very reign of which it might most truly be said that the king had to support by his own strength the burden of the constitution, in the face of much impending peril.

Hezekiah is chiefly known to us as the reformer of abuses in Israel, the king who purged and reopened the Temple, abolished the high places, and endeavoured to end by a harmonious fusion at the great Passover the rivalry of the dissevered kingdoms of Israel and Judah. If we conceive

the position of this monarch at the time of an impending danger, as for instance the invasion of Sennacherib, bearing in mind how disorganization within continually paralysed his pious attempts, and how the party of Shebna endeavoured to effect an alliance with Egypt in defiance of the Divine prohibition, we may well imagine him looking back to the period of danger, and expressing his recollections of its onerous requirements in the words, "The land was dissolved and its inhabitants, it was I who poised up its pillars."

And thus the allusion to a work of reformation already begun and yet to be continued harmonizes with the burst of thanksgiving with which the Psalm opens. With this interpretation the "wicked," of whom mention is thrice made, are not Gentile adversaries only, as is ordinarily supposed. Included in this designation are the enemies from within, those subjects of the king, who disregarded Jehovah, and who during the recent northern invasion (see v. 6,) looked to material sources for deliverance instead of relying upon the promises of God. The resemblance of this Psalm to the Song of Hannah is noticeable: the student should compare espec. VV. I, 3, 7, 10 of 1 Sam. ii.

U

NTO thee, O God, do we give thanks, unto thee do we give thanks: for that thy name is near thy

wondrous works declare.

2 When I shall receive the congregation I will judge uprightly.

1. Rend. "We give thanks to thee, O God; we give thanks: and verily Thy name is nigh; [men] have recounted Thy wonderful works:" i.e. we thank Thee, and thanks are indeed due, for Thou art verily accessible to our prayers, and Thy wonders on our behalf are spoken of throughout the world. "Thy name is nigh," cf. Is. xxx. 27, where this punishment of the Assyrians is alluded to in similar terms-"Behold the name of the Lord cometh from far, burning with his anger." LXX. rends. Kaì éπikaλdeσóμeða тò ovoμá σov. Similarly Vulg.

.וקרוא was misread וקרוב as if

2. Rend. "When the appointed time is come I will judge in equity." Lit. "When I receive the appointed time, etc." I. e. when the nation is wholly quit of the invaders and restored tranquillity gives an opportunity for political measures I will pass decrees that shall deter the impious. "Appointed time," H. mô-êd, which word also bears the meaning "assembly" or "congregation,” cf. A.V., P.B.V. We prefer here the equally common meaning "appointed time," as giving a better sense. So LXX. orav λáßw κaιρóv. Del. and Hengst. somewhat differently "for I will seize [or fix] the right moment."

3 The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved: I bear up the pillars of it. Selah.

4 I said unto the fools, Deal not foolishly and to the wicked, Lift not up the horn:

5 Lift not up your horn on high: speak not with a stiff neck.

6 For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south.

3. Rend. "[When] the land and all its inhabitants were disorganized [lit. dissolved], it was I who poised up its pillars. Selah." At the threaténing moment, when men's hearts failed them, and all social institutions were in danger of being upset, it was Hezekiah's task to restore the equilibrium of the state, by lowering the self-confidence of the godless, and persuading all to put their whole trust in Jehovah. Cf. vv. 4-7.

4. a. Rend. "I said to the boastful, Boast not, and to the wicked, Set not your horn on high." The lifting up of the horn expresses metaphorically self-importance in this verse: more generally it denotes the acquisition of substantial dignity. The horn of the wild-beast regarded as an emblem of strength, or its representative, the high conical head-covering worn by the wealthy, suggested the figure.

5. b. Rend. "Speak not arrogancy with a stiff neck." Lit. "speak not arrogancy with neck." B'tsavvâr âthâk is not to be rendered as if b'tsavvar áthak, "with a neck of arrogance." "Parallel passages like xxxi. 19, xciv. 4 (vide Hebr.), and more especially the primary passage I Sam. ii. 3, 'talk no more exceeding proudly, let not arrogancy come out of your mouth'-shew that athak is an object-notion and that b'tsavvâr by itself, according to Job xv. 26, has the sense of rpaχηλιώτες οι ὑπεραυχοῦντες.” Del. The LXX. has μὴ λαλεῖτε κατὰ τοῦ beoû ȧdikiav, probably confounding Y tsavvâr with 1 tsûr "Rock," this term when applied to God being in most cases freely rendered by the LXX. θεὸς or κύριος.

6. Rend. "For not from the East, nor from the West: nor yet from the mountainous desert [cometh assistance]." Israel must not trust for aid against the great "northern army" [cf. Joel ii. 20], in the material resources of the East or West, nor yet in the much coveted alliance of Egypt in the South beyond the Idumæan wilderness, the site of Horeb and Sinai. The words "cometh assistance" are to be supplied. Cf. for a similar instance of aposiopesis Ps. cxxxvii. 5, "Let my right hand forget" [scil. "her deftness"]. We cannot suppose that hârîm, which means "lifting up," "exaltation," as well as "mountains," here contains both senses, so that the meaning is "nor yet from the mountainous wilderness is exaltation." There are no parallel cases of such pregnant construction in Biblical Hebrew though it is

7 But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.

8 For in the hand of the LORD there is a cup, and the wine is red; it is full of mixture; and he poureth out of the same: but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the

earth shall wring them out, and drink them.

9 But I will declare for ever; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.

IO All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off; but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.

common enough in Rabbinic. Some have been led by a statement of R. D. Kimchi, "It is written mimmidbâr with a Kawmetz and therefore cannot be in the constructive," to read the absolute form mimmidbâr for the constructive mimmidbar, which is the reading of the majority of extant MSS.; rendering "nor yet from the wilderness comes exaltation." Cf. Perowne. This reading is countenanced by the Midrasch: the evidence of the Targ. is doubtful, as it rends. " nor from the South, the place of mountains." Ewald adopts it, but strangely renders "nor from the wilderness [nor] the mountains." On the other hand mimmidbar the reading of most MSS. is supported by the LXX., Syriac, Vulg., and Aben Ezra.

7. a. Rend. "For it is GOD who is the Judge," i.e. He it is who shall determine the issues of the war; according to His omnipotent will He exalts by the honours of victory or brings low by a disgraceful defeat.

8. Rend. "For there is a cup in the hand of Jehovah, and with wine it foameth, it is full of mixed drink, He hath poured from it, yea the dregs thereof must all the wicked of the earth sip, drink up.” Cf. Jer. xxv. 15-33, "Take the wine cup of this fury at my hand, and cause all the nations to whom I send thee to drink it." According to the interpretation we adopt [see Introd.], the allusion here is primarily to the destruction of Sennacherib's host, while there is a secondary allusion to the faithless within Israel itself, against whom especially is aimed the warning involved in the emphatic "the dregs thereof must all the wicked of the earth, etc." As it has fared with the proud Gentile who "reproached the living God," so shall it be with all within Israel who put not their trust in Him. In contrast to these latter the Psalmist expresses in conclusion (vv. 9, 10) his determination to put his continual trust in Jehovah, and so to govern the commonwealth that righteousness shall be rewarded and ungodliness exterminated.

9. a. "I will declare,” scil. the praises of God.

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM LXXVI.

A THANKSGIVING FOR A RECENT VICTORY.

TITLE. "To the Precentor on stringed instruments: A Psalm to Asaph: a Song." LXX. Εἰς τὸ τέλος ἐν ὕμνοις ψαλμὸς τῷ ̓Ασάφ ᾠδὴ πρὸς τὸν ̓Ασσύριον. THIS Psalm describes a great victory wrought for the Hebrew nation by Divine interposition. As in Pss. xlvi-xlviii, the triumph is ascribed throughout to the mighty power of God, nothing being said of human endeavour to repel the foe. In the opening of the Psalm God is said to have come like a mighty spoiler from his covert in the Holy City; overwhelming the enemy and paralysing their energies, so that they yielded unresistingly to spoliation and death. The Poet's conception rises as he pursues his theme and, changing the figure in the latter half of the Psalm, he regards God in the full attributes of His divinity working this deliverance by one awful utterance from Heaven, which Earth obeys with trembling. In recognition of this Divine intervention the nations are bid present their offerings of gratitude to Him who is Terrible, who brings to nought the purposes of earthly potentates. The language of this Psalm befits no occasion so well as the miraculous overthrow of Sennacherib, when 185,000 men of the Assyrian army were miraculously destroyed in one night, without the operation of the military agencies of the invaded nation. And to this event the Septuagint (v. Title) has apparently referred it, as has also Rashi among Rabbinic writers, and a large majority of modern commentators.

I

N Judah is God known; his name is great in Israel.

2 In Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling place in Zion.

I. The mention of Israel in the second hemistich is, as Perowne observes, in remarkable accordance with the theory that the Psalm treats of the overthrow of Sennacherib. For Israel and Judah, dissevered since the time of Solomon, were, after the invasion of Esarhaddon and the fall of Samaria, again united, under Hezekiah, some twenty years before the notable second invasion of Sennacherib. We find Hezekiah including all the northern tribes in his summons to attendance at the great Passover. Proclamation was made "throughout all Israel from Beersheba even to Dan that they should come and keep the Passover,” 2 Chron. xxx. 5. And though some of the northern tribes appear to have manifested a bad spirit (v. 18), in discarding the rites of purification, this did not mar the harmony of the federa

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