11 For they intended H5186 evil H7451 against thee: they imagined H2803 a mischievous device, H4209 which they are not able H3201 to perform.
But G235 that G3363 it spread G1268 no G3363 further G1909 G4119 among G1519 the people, G2992 let us straitly G547 threaten G546 them, G846 that they speak G2980 henceforth G3371 to no G3367 man G444 in G1909 this G5129 name. G3686 And G2532 they called G2564 them, G846 and commanded G3853 them G846 not G3361 to speak G5350 at all G2527 nor G3366 teach G1321 in G1909 the name G3686 of Jesus. G2424
Saying, G3004 Sir, G2962 we remember G3415 that G3754 that G1565 deceiver G4108 said, G2036 while he was yet G2089 alive, G2198 After G3326 three G5140 days G2250 I will rise again. G1453 Command G2753 therefore G3767 that the sepulchre G5028 be made sure G805 until G2193 the third G5154 day, G2250 lest G3379 his G846 disciples G3101 come G2064 by night, G3571 and steal G2813 him G846 away, G2813 and G2532 say G2036 unto the people, G2992 He is risen G1453 from G575 the dead: G3498 so G2532 the last G2078 error G4106 shall be G2071 worse than G5501 the first. G4413
And the LORD H3068 hath given me knowledge H3045 of it, and I know H3045 it: then thou shewedst H7200 me their doings. H4611 But I was like a lamb H3532 or an ox H441 that is brought H2986 to the slaughter; H2873 and I knew H3045 not that they had devised H2803 devices H4284 against me, saying, Let us destroy H7843 the tree H6086 with the fruit H3899 thereof, and let us cut him off H3772 from the land H776 of the living, H2416 that his name H8034 may be no more remembered. H2142
And G2532 consulted G4823 that G2443 they might take G2902 Jesus G2424 by subtilty, G1388 and G2532 kill G615 him. But G1161 they said, G3004 Not G3361 on G1722 the feast G1859 day, lest G3363 there be G1096 an uproar G2351 among G1722 the people. G2992
Associate H7489 yourselves, O ye people, H5971 and ye shall be broken in pieces; H2865 and give ear, H238 all H3605 ye of far H4801 countries: H776 gird H247 yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces; H2865 gird H247 yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces. H2865 Take H5779 counsel H6098 together, H5779 and it shall come to nought; H6565 speak H1696 the word, H1697 and it shall not stand: H6965 for God H410 is with us.
Let us go up H5927 against Judah, H3063 and vex H6973 it, and let us make a breach H1234 therein for us, and set H4427 a king H4428 in the midst H8432 of it, even the son H1121 of Tabeal: H2870 Thus H3541 saith H559 the Lord H136 GOD, H3069 It shall not stand, H6965 neither shall it come to pass.
And G1161 when they had brought G71 them, G846 they set G2476 them before G1722 the council: G4892 and G2532 the high priest G749 asked G1905 them, G846 Saying, G3004 Did G3853 not G3756 we straitly G3852 command G3853 you G5213 that ye should G1321 not G3361 teach G1321 in G1909 this G5129 name? G3686 and, G2532 behold, G2400 ye have filled G4137 Jerusalem G2419 with your G5216 doctrine, G1322 and G2532 intend G1014 to bring G1863 this G5127 man's G444 blood G129 upon G1909 us. G2248
And, G2532 behold, G2400 there was G1096 a great G3173 earthquake: G4578 for G1063 the angel G32 of the Lord G2962 descended G2597 from G1537 heaven, G3772 and came G4334 and rolled back G617 the stone G3037 from G575 the door, G2374 and G2532 sat G2521 upon G1883 it. G846 G1161 His G846 countenance G2397 was G2258 like G5613 lightning, G796 and G2532 his G846 raiment G1742 white G3022 as G5616 snow: G5510 And G1161 for G575 fear G5401 of him G846 the keepers G5083 did shake, G4579 and G2532 became G1096 as G5616 dead G3498 men. And G1161 the angel G32 answered G611 and said G2036 unto the women, G1135 Fear G5399 not G3361 ye: G5210 for G1063 I know G1492 that G3754 ye seek G2212 Jesus, G2424 which G3588 was crucified. G4717 He is G2076 not G3756 here: G5602 for G1063 he is risen, G1453 as G2531 he said. G2036 Come, G1205 see G1492 the place G5117 where G3699 the Lord G2962 lay. G2749
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 21
Commentary on Psalms 21 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
Thanksgiving for the King in Time of War
“Jahve fulfil all thy desires” cried the people in the preceding Psalm, as they interceded on behalf of their king; and in this Psalm they are able thankfully to say to God “the desire of his heart hast Thou granted.” In both Psalms the people come before God with matters that concern the welfare of their king; in the former, with their wishes and prayers, in the latter, their thanksgivings and hopes in the latter as in the former when in the midst of war, but in the latter after the recovery of the king, in the certainty of a victorious termination of the war.
The Targum and the Talmud, B. Succa 52 a , understand this Psalms 21:1 of the king Messiah. Rashi remarks that this Messianic interpretation ought rather to be given up for the sake of the Christians. But even the Christian exposition cannot surely mean to hold fast this interpretation so directly and rigidly as formerly. This pair of Psalm treats of David; David's cause, however, in its course towards a triumphant issue - a course leading through suffering - is certainly figuratively the cause of Christ.
(Heb.: 21:2-3) The Psalm begins with thanksgiving for the bodily and spiritual blessings which Jahve has bestowed and still continues to bestow upon the king, in answer to his prayer. This occupies the three opening tetrastichs, of which these verses form the first. עז (whence עזּך , as in Psalms 74:13, together with עזּך , Psalms 63:3, and frequently) is the power that has been made manifest in the king, which has turned away his affliction; ישׁוּעה is the help from above which has freed him out of his distress. The יגיל , which follows the מה of the exclamation, is naturally shortened by the Kerî into יגל (with the retreat of the tone); cf. on the contrary Proverbs 20:24, where מה is interrogative and, according to the sense, negative). The ἁπ. λεγ . ארשׁת has the signification eager desire, according to the connection, the lxx δέηεσιν , and the perhaps also cognate רוּשׁ , to be poor; the Arabic Arab. wrš , avidum esse , must be left out of consideration according to the laws of the interchange of consonants, whereas ירשׁ , Arab. wrṯ , capere, captare (cf. Arab. irṯ = wirṯ an inheritance), but not רוּשׁ (vid., Psalms 34:11), belongs apparently to the same root. Observe the strong negation בּל : no, thou hast not denied, but done the very opposite. The fact of the music having to strike up here favours the supposition, that the occasion of the Psalm is the fulfilment of some public, well-known prayer.
(Heb.: 21:4-5) “Blessings of good” (Proverbs 24:25) are those which consist of good, i.e., true good fortune. The verb קדּם , because used of the favour which meets and presents one with some blessing, is construed with a double accusative, after the manner of verbs of putting on and bestowing (Ges. §139). Since Psalms 21:4 cannot be intended to refer to David's first coronation, but to the preservation and increase of the honour of his kingship, this particularisation of Psalms 21:4 sounds like a prediction of what is recorded in 2 Samuel 22:30 : after the conquest of the Ammonitish royal city Rabbah David set the Ammonitish crown ( עטרת ) , which is renowned for the weight of its gold and its ornamentation with precious stones, upon his head. David was then advanced in years, and in consequence of heavy guilt, which, however, he had overcome by penitence and laying hold on the mercy of God, was come to the brink of the grave. He, worthy of death, still lived; and the victory over the Syro-Ammonitish power was a pledge to him of God's faithfulness in fulfilling his promises. It is contrary to the tenour of the words to say that Psalms 21:5 does not refer to length of life, but to hereditary succession to the throne. To wish any one that he may live לעולם , and especially a king, is a usual thing, 1 Kings 1:31, and frequently. The meaning is, may the life of the king be prolonged to an indefinitely distant day. What the people have desired elsewhere, they here acknowledge as bestowed upon the king.
(Heb.: 21:6-7) The help of God turns to his honour, and paves the way for him to honour, it enables him-this is the meaning of. Psalms 21:6 - to maintain and strengthen his kingship with fame and glory. שׁוּה על used, as in Psalms 89:20, of divine investiture and endowment. To make blessings, or a fulness of blessing, is a stronger form of expressing God's words to Abram, Genesis 12:2 : thou shalt be a blessing i.e., a possessor of blessing thyself, and a medium of blessing to others. Joy in connection with ( את as in Psalms 16:11) the countenance of God, is joy in delightful and most intimate fellowship with Him. חדּה , from חדה , which occurs once in Exodus 18:9, has in Arabic, with reference to nomad life, the meaning “to cheer the beasts of burden with a song and urge them on to a quicker pace,” and in Hebrew, as in Aramaic, the general signification “to cheer, enliven.”
(Heb.: 21:8-9) With this strophe the second half of the Psalm commences. The address to God is now changed into an address to the king; not, however, expressive of the wishes, but of the confident expectation, of the speakers. Hengstenberg rightly regards Psalms 21:8 as the transition to the second half; for by its objective utterance concerning the king and God, it separates the language hitherto addressed to God, from the address to the king, which follows. We do not render Psalms 21:8 : and trusting in the favour of the Most High - he shall not be moved; the mercy is the response of the trust, which (trust) does not suffer him to be moved; on the expression, cf. Proverbs 10:30. This inference is now expanded in respect to the enemies who desire to cause him to totter and fall. So far from any tottering, he, on the contrary, makes a victorious assault upon his foes. If the words had been addressed to Jahve, it ought, in order to keep up the connection between Psalms 21:9 and Psalms 21:8, at least to have been איביו and שׁנאיו (his, i.e., the king's, enemies). What the people now hope on behalf of their king, they here express beforehand in the form of a prophecy. מצא ל (as in Isaiah 10:10) and מצא seq. acc . (as in 1 Samuel 23:17) are distinguished as: to reach towards, or up to anything, and to reach anything, attain it. Supposing ל to represent the accusative, as e.g., in Psalms 69:6, Psalms 21:9 would be a useless repetition.
(Heb.: 21:10-11) Hitherto the Psalm has moved uniformly in synonymous dipodia, now it becomes agitated; and one feels from its excitement that the foes of the king are also the people's foes. True as it is, as Hupfeld takes it, that לעת פּניך sounds like a direct address to Jahve, Psalms 21:10 nevertheless as truly teaches us quite another rendering. The destructive effect, which in other passages is said to proceed from the face of Jahve, Psalms 34:17; Leviticus 20:6; Lamentations 4:16 (cf. ἔχει θεὸς ἔκδικον ὄμμα ), is here ascribed to the face, i.e., the personal appearing (2 Samuel 17:11) of the king. David's arrival did actually decide the fall of Rabbath Ammon, of whose inhabitants some died under instruments of torture and others were cast into brick-kilns, 2 Samuel 12:26. The prospect here moulds itself according to this fate of the Ammonites. כּתנּוּר אשׁ is a second accusative to תּשׁיתנו , thou wilt make them like a furnace of fire, i.e., a burning furnace, so that like its contents they shall entirely consume by fire ( synecdoche continentis pro contento ). The figure is only hinted at, and is differently applied to what it is in Lamentations 5:10, Malachi 4:1. Psalms 21:10 and Psalms 21:10 are intentionally two long rising and falling wave-like lines, to which succeed, in Psalms 21:11, two short lines; the latter describe the peaceful gleaning after the fiery judgment of God that has been executed by the hand of David. פּרימו , as in Lamentations 2:20; Hosea 9:16, is to be understood after the analogy of the expression פּרי הבּטן . It is the fate of the Amalekites (cf. Psalms 9:6.), which is here predicted of the enemies of the king.
(Heb.: 21:12-13) And this fate is the merited frustration of their evil project. The construction of the sentences in Psalms 21:12 is like Psalms 27:10; Psalms 119:83; Ew. §362, b . נטה רעה is not to be understood according to the phrase נטה רשׁת (= פּרשׁ ) , for this phrase is not actually found; we have rather, with Hitzig, to compare Psalms 55:4, 2 Samuel 15:14 : to incline evil down upon any one is equivalent to: to put it over him, so that it may fall in upon him. נטה signifies “to extend lengthwise,” to unfold, but also to bend by drawing tight. שׁית שׁכם to make into a back, i.e., to make them into such as turn the back to you, is a more choice expression than נתן ערף , Psalms 18:41, cf. 1 Samuel 10:9; the half segolate form שׁכם , (= שׁכם ) becomes here, in pause, the full segolate form שׁכם . חצּים must be supplied as the object to תּכונן , as it is in other instances after הורה , השׁליך , ידה ; כּונן חץ , Psalms 11:2, cf. Psalms 7:14, signifies to set the swift arrow upon the bow-string ( מיתר = יתר ) = to aim. The arrows hit the front of the enemy, as the pursuer overtakes them.
(Heb.: 21:14) After the song has spread abroad its wings in twice three tetrastichs, it closes by, as it were, soaring aloft and thus losing itself in a distich. It is a cry to God for victory in battle, on behalf of the king. “Be Thou exalted,” i.e., manifest Thyself in Thy supernal (Psalms 57:6, 12) and judicial (Psalms 7:7.) sovereignty. What these closing words long to see realised is that Jahve should reveal for world-wide conquest this גּבוּרה , to which everything that opposes Him must yield, and it is for this they promise beforehand a joyous gratitude.