INTRODUCTION TO PSALM LXXXVII.

THE FLOWING OF ALL NATIONS UNTO ZION.

TITLE. "To the sons of Korah: a Psalm, a Song."

IN Ps. lxxxvi. 9 we read, "All nations whom Thou hast made shall come and worship Thee, O Lord, and shall glorify Thy name." This verse gives us the key-note to the Psalm before us, the theme of which is-Zion glorified by the call and regeneration of the Gentiles. Abruptly the poet enters on the topic which rouses his pious enthusiasm. "Tis God's foundation on His holy hills, peculiarly beloved of Him, glorified in the sight of all mankind;" he writes, doubtless, with the sacred mount towering before him, “in all its perfection of beauty:" then briefly but clearly the cause of the writer's joyousness is unveiled;-God Himself will acknowledge Egypt and Babylon as among those who "know the Lord;" Philistia and Tyre with Ethiopia, yea, each and every nation shall be born again within those sacred precincts, and reckoned by God among the regenerate of Zion. In Zion is the Psalmist's whole inner life concentrated, his deepest sources of delight are stirred at the thought of her.

It need scarcely be said that the poet's presage was only fully realised by the advent of the Messiah, that this is the Psalm appropriate above all others to the season of Epiphany. But here, as in other outbursts of Messianic expectations, it is the duty of the commentator to consider whether there is a more immediate or primary fulfilment to be detected; whether, in fact, we can find in Jewish history any period that would specially suggest the composition of a Psalm such as the present.

I. Calvin and others regard this Psalm as written for the purpose of consoling the Jews of Nehemiah's time, when on returning from exile they were afflicted at the sight of the dismantled walls and fallen temple of the once prosperous city. This is not a probable theory; it would rather seem that the Psalmist wrote when the glory of the city was in its full perfection; when, moreover, it was noticeable that Gentiles were actually attaching themselves to the Jewish religion. This latter could hardly have been a feature of the early post-Exilic period.

II. More appropriately the reign of Hezekiah has been suggested by Tholuck, and adopted by most commentators, as the probable date of this composition. The following reasons incline us to accept this theory:

I. It was in the reign of Hezekiah that the prospect of a great increase of proselytes was brought most forcibly and most cheeringly before the Jewish mind. Isaiah, the great discourager of the spirit of exclusiveness, had but lately published writings which would induce his countrymen to look forward to an acknowledgment by the nations of the God of the Hebrews. Cf. the

following with the language of this Psalm: “In that day shall there be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt;" "five cities in the land of Egypt shall swear to the Lord of hosts;" "Israel shall be the third with Egypt and with Assyria," Is. xix. 18—25. "And it shall come to pass in the last days that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains,...and many nations shall flow unto it; and many people shall go and say, 'Come ye and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, etc.'" Is. ii. 2, 3. It should be added, that to those who are not prepared to reject the unity of the Book of Isaiah, the great second division, xl.-lxvi., will suggest itself as a strictly contemporary composition, replete with the expectation so prominent in this Psalm. Cf. with vv. 4, 5, 6 the presage of Isaiah in xliv. 5, "One shall say, 'I belong to Jehovah,' another shall solemnly name the name of Jacob, and a third will with his hand inscribe himself to Jehovah, and make the name of Israel his patronymic." Cf. also xlix. 6, lx. 3, 4, lxv. I.

2. Hezekiah seems to have been imbued with the same liberal zeal which characterizes Isaiah's writings. At the time of the great Passover, not only had he endeavoured to reunite the long-dissevered rival kingdoms, he had also brought into fellowship with the congregation "the strangers that came out of the land of Israel, and that dwelt in the land of Judah," 2 Chron. xxx. 25. It is possible that a further reference to the growing harmony betwixt Jew and Gentile may be detected in 2 Chron. xxxii. 23, where we read that after the destruction of Sennacherib's host "many brought gifts unto the Lord in Jeru. salem, and presents to Hezekiah king of Judah;” this account suggesting that the "many" may have been, in part at least, foreigners.

3. Assuming that there were in this reign indications of an increase of proselytes, we find that the specification of nations in v. 4 suggests another harmony. Egypt designated, as twice in Isaiah, by the name "Rahab," was at this time united in its interests with Palestine, both countries being endangered by the power and ambition of Assyria. Cush or Ethiopia was closely associated with Egypt, and Tirhaka king of the Ethiopians was, as we discover from Is. xxxvii. 9, in the train against Sennacherib. Moreover, after the destruction of Sennacherib's host, the princes of Babylon sent ambassadors to Hezekiah "to enquire of the wonder which was done in the land," 2 Chron. xxxii. 31; and the king of Babylon sent a present to him on the occasion of his sickness, 2 Kings xx. 10. Thus three of the five nations mentioned in the Psalm had at this time a peculiarly friendly disposition towards the Hebrews, and after such proof of the wondrous might of Jehovah, may well have inclined to conformity with the Hebrew religion. It is possible, as Mr Plumptre suggests, that we may account for the mention of Philistia also, though by an argument somewhat dissimilar. In 2 Kings xviii. 8 we read that Hezekiah "smote the Philistines even unto Gaza;" the same passage

records how he removed the high places, and brake images, and cut down consecrated groves, v. 4. The defeat may therefore have been succeeded by an introduction of the true religion in the Philistine territory.

4. The spirit and tone of Pss. xlvi. and xlviii., which are best regarded as hymns of praise for Sennacherib's overthrow, are reechoed in the Psalm before us. The praise of Zion is in xlvi., as in this Psalm, a prominent feature, and both may be compared with Isaiah's response concerning Sennacherib, where Zion is assigned an exalted position, “The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn," Is. xxxvii. 22.

H

IS foundation is in the holy
mountains.

2 The LORD loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. 3 Glorious things are spoken of thee,

O city of God. Selah.

4 I will make mention of Rahab and Babylon to them that know me: behold Philistia, and Tyre, with Ethiopia; this man was born there.

I. Rend. "'Tis His foundation on the holy hills,"—viz. yonder city, "beautiful of elevation, the joy of the whole earth” (xlviii. 2). 66 What shall one answer the messengers of a nation? That JEHOVAH hath founded Zion," Is. xiv. 32.

2. "The gates of Zion," perhaps by synecdoche for the whole of Zion, as in cxxii. 2, "Our feet have stood in thy gates, O Jerusalem.” There may, however, be especial reference to the prophecy that the gates of Zion should “afford an opening continually day and night, and not be shut, to bring unto her the wealth of the nations,” Is. lx. II.

3. The construction here is peculiar. The rendg. adopted by the A. V. is probably the best, and has the authority of the Targ., LXX. With this interpretation the words run literally thus, "With glorious [terms], is it spoken concerning thee, etc." For 77, in signif. "speak concerning," cf. 1 Sam. xix. 3, Cant. viii. 8. Hupfeld's explanation, adopted by Del. and Perowne, that the masc. sing. m'dubbâr, "spoken," is to be taken as agreeing with the fem. plur. nicbâdôth, is certainly possible, cf. Is. xvi. 8, but introduces a grammatical irregularity, which is utterly irrequisite. The use of the verb 17, in the pual in Cant. viii. 8 ("What shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for?" lit."when it shall be spoken concerning her," y'dubbar bâh, cf. 1 Sam. xxv. 39) is singularly analogous to its use here. It is even possible that the analogy is one of conception as well as of grammatical structure, so that our v. 3 = "With glorious offers art thou bespoken, O city of God." The Selah at the end of this verse indicates a transition: the poet now specifies Zion's glory more particularly. 4-6. The city of the new birth of the nations.

5 And of Zion it shall be said, This and that man was born in her: and

the highest himself shall establish her.

4. Rend. "I will proclaim Egypt and Babylon as those who know Me: 'lo, Philistia and Tyre with Ethiopia,—these were each born there.""

a. Egypt. H. 277, Rahab, “haughtiness," or "pride," a sobriquet of Egypt, as in lxxxix. 10: it is twice thus used by Isaiah, viz. in li. 9, "Art thou not it that hath cut Rahab?" and in the much misunderstood passage, xxx. 7, "Rahab (i.e. the Egyptians)—they are sitting still." Hengst. infers from this latter passage that Isaiah was the author of the name. That know Me. This verse is spoken by the Psalmist in the person of Jehovah, and the common expression "know the Lord,” is adapted accordingly. Hengst. well cfs. Is. xix. 21, "And the Lord shall be known to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians shall know the Lord in that day." For the use of in ", Pyôd'ay," as those who know me," cf. Is. iv. 3. D", lachayyîm, " as the living.”

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b. Lit. "this one was born there," i. e. according to the common change from plur. to sing. "each of the above-mentioned was born there."

The figurative Birth, denoting admission to special nearness to God, is hinted at in Deut. xxxii., “Is not He thy Father which created thee? He made thee, and founded thee," v. 6;“The Rock which begat thee wilt thou forget?" v. 18. The idea recurs frequently (cf. 2 Sam. vii. 14, “I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son"), but nowhere in so expansive a form as in this Ps. The meaning here is well illustrated by the later Hebrew saying, “A stranger who becomes a proselyte is like a little child that is born" (Sanhed. 90 a). But inasmuch as the narrow-minded Jews, whose chief vaunt it was, "wehave Abraham for our father," had missed the true meaning of this spiritual birth, our Lord's saying, that a man cannot see the kingdom of God, éàv μǹ yevvŋôñ ävwbev, “except he be born anew," was veiled even to Nicodemus, a Master in Israel (John iii. 1—10).

5. Rend. "And of Zion it shall be said, ' Each single one of them [i.e. of foreign nations] has been born there, and HE, even the Most High doth establish her.'" In this the inspired Psalmist reechoes the Divine discourse (v. 4) in his own person. Each single one of them, H. 'N 'N, îsh v'ish, refers to an imaginary company of Gentile nations (not individuals), each one of whom has been joined to Jehovah.

6. Rend. "Jehovah shall reckon in registering peoples: this one was born there," i. e. when all nations shall be numbered, it shall be found that each and every nation has received its new birth in Zion. Delitzsch remarks that the threefold ". was born" of this Psalm cor

6 The LORD shall count, when he writeth up the people, that this man was born there. Selah.

7 As well the singers as the players on instruments shall be there: all my springs are in thee.

responds to the threefold , zeh, "one," "another," 99 66 a third," of Is. xliv. 5—one of the passages to which we referred in the Introduction. The selah at the end of v. 3 preceded the specification of Zion's glory, the selah at the end of this verse denotes its close, and introduces the triumphant words of exultation of v. 7.

7. Rend. "And all my well-springs [of delight] are singing aloud like instrument-players because of [lit. in] thee," i.e. all my hopes are concentrated in thee, O Zion, and at the thought of the glorious things of which thou shalt be the centre, all my innermost feelings well forth and overflow: cf. Ps. xlv. 1, "My heart overfloweth with a good matter." This rendering of v. 7 we owe to the Rev. P. H. Mason. Del. contends that in, chôl'lim, "instrument-players,” must mean dancers, and rends. thus," And singing as well as dancing [they say], 'all my fountains are in thee,'” i. e. the fountains of salvation (Is. xii. 3) are in thee, O city of God. Aq.rends ädovres os xopoí; and Jer. "cantores quasi in choris." But here châlal in the Kal appears to have the meaning which the Piel bears in 1 Kings i. 40, “to play upon an instrument" (lit. "upon a wind instrument"); cf. Gesen. The LXX. (which the Vulg. follows) seems to have mistaken shârîm, "singing," or "making melody,” for sârîm, princes, and mayânay, “my fountains,” for mâôn, a dwelling, and rends. (6) Kúpios dinyĥσetai év ypapĥ λaŵv καὶ ἀρχόντων τούτων τῶν γεγενημένων ἐν αὐτῇ. Διάψαλμα. (7) Ὡς εὐφραι νομένων πάντων ἡ κατοικία ἐν σοί.

INTRODUCTION TO PSALM LXXXVIII.

A PRAYER FOR DELIVERANCE FROM DEEP AFFLICTION.

TITLE. "A Song, a Psalm, to the sons of Korah; to the chief musician upon Mach'lath l'annôth. A Mascîl to Heman the Ezrachite."

THE chief difficulty of this Psalm lies in its connection with the remarkable inscription quoted above. "At the head of the Psalm there stand two different statements respecting its origin side by side, which are irreconcilable," says Delitzsch, assuming that the clause "to the sons of Korah," is intended to denote authorship. And with such an assumption this conclusion is inevitable, for we cannot adopt Hengstenberg's explanation that Heman and Ethan "the Ezrachites" mentioned as among the great sages of Solomon's time in