1 [[A Song H7892 of degrees H4609 of David.]] H1732 LORD, H3068 my heart H3820 is not haughty, H1361 nor mine eyes H5869 lofty: H7311 neither do I exercise H1980 myself in great matters, H1419 or in things too high H6381 for me.
Then answered H6030 Amos, H5986 and said H559 to Amaziah, H558 I was no prophet, H5030 neither was I a prophet's H5030 son; H1121 but I was an herdman, H951 and a gatherer H1103 of sycomore fruit: H8256 And the LORD H3068 took H3947 me as I followed H310 the flock, H6629 and the LORD H3068 said H559 unto me, Go, H3212 prophesy H5012 unto my people H5971 Israel. H3478
Nor G3777 of G1537 men G444 sought G2212 we glory, G1391 neither G3777 of G575 you, G5216 nor G3777 yet of G575 others, G243 when we might G1410 have been G1511 burdensome, G1722 G922 as G5613 the apostles G652 of Christ. G5547 But G235 we were G1096 gentle G2261 among G1722 G3319 you, G5216 even as G5613 a nurse G5162 cherisheth G302 G2282 her G1438 children: G5043
He chose H977 David H1732 also his servant, H5650 and took H3947 him from the sheepfolds: H4356 H6629 From following H310 the ewes great with young H5763 he brought H935 him to feed H7462 Jacob H3290 his people, H5971 and Israel H3478 his inheritance. H5159 So he fed H7462 them according to the integrity H8537 of his heart; H3824 and guided H5148 them by the skilfulness H8394 of his hands. H3709
And Eliab H446 his eldest H1419 brother H251 heard H8085 when he spake H1696 unto the men; H582 and Eliab's H446 anger H639 was kindled H2734 against David, H1732 and he said, H559 Why camest thou down H3381 hither? and with whom hast thou left H5203 those H2007 few H4592 sheep H6629 in the wilderness? H4057 I know H3045 thy pride, H2087 and the naughtiness H7455 of thine heart; H3824 for thou art come down H3381 that thou mightest see H7200 the battle. H4421 And David H1732 said, H559 What have I now done? H6213 Is there not a cause? H1697
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 131
Commentary on Psalms 131 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
This little song is inscribed לדוד because it is like an echo of the answer (2 Samuel 6:21.) with which David repelled the mocking observation of Michal when he danced before the Ark in a linen ephod, and therefore not in kingly attire, but in the common raiment of the priests: I esteem myself still less than I now show it, and I appear base in mine own eyes. In general David is the model of the state of mind which the poet expresses here. He did not push himself forward, but suffered himself to be drawn forth out of seclusion. He did not take possession of the throne violently, but after Samuel has anointed him he willingly and patiently traverses the long, thorny, circuitous way of deep abasement, until he receives from God's hand that which God's promise had assured to him. The persecution by Saul lasted about ten years, and his kingship in Hebron, at first only incipient, seven years and a half. He left it entirely to God to remove Saul and Ishbosheth. He let Shimei curse. He left Jerusalem before Absalom. Submission to God's guidance, resignation to His dispensations, contentment with that which was allotted to him, are the distinguishing traits of his noble character, which the poet of this Psalm indirectly holds up to himself and to his contemporaries as a mirror, viz., to the Israel of the period after the Exile, which, in connection with small beginnings under difficult circumstances, had been taught humbly contented and calm waiting.
With לבּי לא־גבהּ the poet repudiates pride as being the state of his soul; with לא־רמוּ עיני ( lo - ramū' as in Proverbs 30:13, and before Ajin , e.g., also in Genesis 26:10; Isaiah 11:2, in accordance with which the erroneous placing of the accent in Baer's text is to be corrected), pride of countenance and bearing; and with ולא־הלּכתּי , pride of endeavour and mode of action. Pride has its seat in the heart, in the eyes especially it finds its expression, and great things are its sphere in which it diligently exercises itself. The opposite of “great things” (Jeremiah 23:3; Jeremiah 45:5) is not that which is little, mean, but that which is small; and the opposite of “things too wonderful for me” (Genesis 18:14) is not that which is trivial, but that which is attainable.
אם־לא does not open a conditional protasis, for where is the indication of the apodosis to be found? Nor does it signify “but,” a meaning it also has not in Genesis 24:38; Ezekiel 3:6. In these passages too, as in the passage before us, it is asseverating, being derived from the usual formula of an oath: verily I have, etc. שׁוּה signifies (Isaiah 28:25) to level the surface of a field by ploughing it up, and has an ethical sense here, like ישׂר with its opposites עקב and עפּל . The Poel סּומם is to be understood according to דּוּמיּה in Psalms 62:2, and דּוּמם in Lamentations 3:26. He has levelled or made smooth his soul, so that humility is its entire and uniform state; he has calmed it so that it is silent and at rest, and lets God speak and work in it and for it: it is like an even surface, and like the calm surface of a lake. Ewald and Hupfeld's rendering: “as a weaned child on its mother, so my soul, being weaned, lies on me,” is refuted by the consideration that it ought at least to be כּגמוּלה , but more correctly כּן גמולה ; but it is also besides opposed by the article which is swallowed up in כּגּמל , according to which it is to be rendered: like one weaned beside its mother (here כּגמול on account of the determinative collateral definition), like the weaned one (here כּגּמול because without any collateral definition: cf. with Hitzig, Deuteronomy 32:2, and the like; moreover, also, because referring back to the first גמול , cf. Habakkuk 3:8), is my soul beside me (Hitzig, Hengstenberg, and most expositors). As a weaned child - viz. not one that is only just begun to be weaned, but an actually weaned child ( גּמל , cognate גּמר eta , to bring to an end, more particularly to bring suckling to an end, to wean) - lies upon its mother without crying impatiently and craving for its mother's breast, but contented with the fact that it has its mother - like such a weaned child is his soul upon him, i.e., in relation to his Ego (which is conceived of in עלי as having the soul upon itself, cf. Psalms 42:7; Jeremiah 8:18; Psychology , S. 151f., tr. p. 180): his soul, which is by nature restless and craving, is stilled; it does not long after earthly enjoyment and earthly good that God should give these to it, but it is satisfied in the fellowship of God, it finds full satisfaction in Him, it is satisfied (satiated) in Him.
By the closing strain, Psalms 131:3, the individual language of the Psalm comes to have a reference to the congregation at large. Israel is to renounce all self-boasting and all self-activity, and to wait in lowliness and quietness upon its God from now and for evermore. For He resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.