15 Desolations `are' upon them, They go down `to' Sheol -- alive, For wickedness `is' in their dwelling, in their midst.
and if a strange thing Jehovah do, and the ground hath opened her mouth and swallowed them, and all that they have, and they have gone down alive to Sheol -- then ye have known that these men have despised Jehovah.' And it cometh to pass at his finishing speaking all these words, that the ground which `is' under them cleaveth, and the earth openeth her mouth, and swalloweth them, and their houses, and all the men who `are' for Korah, and all the goods, and they go down, they, and all that they have, alive to Sheol, and the earth closeth over them, and they perish from the midst of the assembly; and all Israel who `are' round about them have fled at their voice, for they said, `Lest the earth swallow us;'
Their table before them is for a snare, And for a recompence -- for a trap. Darkened are their eyes from seeing, And their loins continually shake Thou. Pour upon them Thine indignation, And the fierceness of Thine anger doth seize them. Their tower is desolated, In their tents there is no dweller. For they have pursued him Thou hast smitten, And recount of the pain of Thy pierced ones. Give punishment for their iniquity, And they enter not into Thy righteousness. They are blotted out of the book of life, And with the righteous are not written.
Appoint Thou over him the wicked, And an adversary standeth at his right hand. In his being judged, he goeth forth wicked, And his prayer is for sin. His days are few, his oversight another taketh, His sons are fatherless, and his wife a widow. And wander continually do his sons, Yea, they have begged, And have sought out of their dry places. An exactor layeth a snare for all that he hath, And strangers spoil his labour. He hath none to extend kindness, Nor is there one showing favour to his orphans. His posterity is for cutting off, In another generation is their name blotted out. The iniquity of his fathers Is remembered unto Jehovah, And the sin of his mother is not blotted out. They are before Jehovah continually, And He cutteth off from earth their memorial. Because that he hath not remembered to do kindness, And pursueth the poor man and needy, And the smitten of heart -- to slay, And he loveth reviling, and it meeteth him, And he hath not delighted in blessing, And it is far from him. And he putteth on reviling as his robe, And it cometh in as water into his midst, And as oil into his bones. It is to him as apparel -- he covereth himself, And for a continual girdle he girdeth it on. This `is' the wage of mine accusers from Jehovah, And of those speaking evil against my soul.
this one, indeed, then, purchased a field out of the reward of unrighteousness, and falling headlong, burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed forth, and it became known to all those dwelling in Jerusalem, insomuch that that place is called, in their proper dialect, Aceldama, that is, field of blood, for it hath been written in the book of Psalms: Let his lodging-place become desolate, and let no one be dwelling in it, and his oversight let another take.
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Commentary on Psalms 55 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
Prayer of One Who Is Maliciously Beset and Betrayed by His Friend
Psalms 54:1-7 is followed by another Davidic Psalm bearing the same inscription: To the Precentor, with accompaniment of stringed instruments, a meditation, by David . It also accords with the former in the form of the prayer with which it opens (cf. Psalms 55:2 with Psalms 54:3.); and it is the Elohimic counterpart of the Jahve- Psalms 41:1-13. If the Psalm is by David, we require (in opposition to Hengstenberg) an assignable occasion for it in the history of his life. For how could the faithless bosom friend, over whom the complaint concerning malicious foes here, as in Psalms 41:1-13, lingers with special sadness, be a mere abstract personage; since it has in the person of Judas Iscariot its historical living antitype in the life and passion of the second David? This Old Testament Judas is none other than Ahithפphel, the right hand of Absalom. Ps 55 belongs, like Psalms 41:1-13, to the four years during which the rebellion of Absalom was forming; only to a somewhat later period, when Absalom's party were so sure of their cause that they had no need to make any secret of it. How it came to pass that David left the beginnings and progressive steps of the rebellion of Absalom to take their course without bringing any other weapon to bear against it than the weapon of prayer, is discussed on Psalms 41:1-13.
Hitzig also holds this Psalm to be Jeremianic. But it contains no coincidences with the language and thoughts of Jeremiah worth speaking of, excepting that this prophet, in Psalms 9:1, gives utterance to a similar wish to that of the psalmist in Psalms 55:7, and springing from the same motive. The argument in favour of Jeremiah in opposition to David is consequently referred to the picture of life and suffering which is presented in the Psalm; and it becomes a question whether this harmonizes better with the persecuted life of Jeremiah or of David. The exposition which follows here places itself - and it is at least worthy of being attempted - on the standpoint of the writer of the inscription.
In this first group sorrow prevails. David spreads forth his deep grief before God, and desires for himself some lonely spot in the wilderness far away from the home or lurking-place of the confederate band of those who are compassing his overthrow. “Veil not Thyself” here, where what is spoken of is something audible, not visible, is equivalent to “veil not Thine ear,” Lamentations 3:56, which He designedly does, when the right state of heart leaves the praying one, and consequently that which makes it acceptable and capable of being answered is wanting to the prayer (cf. Isaiah 1:15). שׂיח signifies a shrub (Syriac shucho , Arabic šı̂ḥ ), and also reflection and care (Arabic, carefulness, attention; Aramaic, סח , to babble, talk, discourse). The Hiph . חריד , which in Genesis 27:40 signifies to lead a roving life, has in this instance the signification to move one's self backwards and forwards, to be inwardly uneasy; root רד , Arab. rd , to totter, whence râda , jarûda , to run up and down (IV to desire, will); raida , to shake (said of a soft bloated body); radda , to turn (whence taraddud , a moving to and fro, doubting); therefore: I wander hither and thither in my reflecting or meditating, turning restlessly from one thought to another. It is not necessary to read ואחמיה after Psalms 77:4 instead of ועהימה , since the verb הוּם = המה , Psalms 42:6, 12, is secured by the derivatives. Since these only exhibit הוּם , and not הים (in Arabic used more particularly of the raving of love), ואהימה , as also אריד , is Hiph ., and in fact like this latter used with an inward object: I am obliged to raise a tumult or groan, break out into the dull murmuring sounds of pain. The cohortative not unfrequently signifies “I have to” or “I must” of incitements within one's self which are under the control of outward circumstances. In this restless state of mind he finds himself, and he is obliged to break forth into this cry of pain on account of the voice of the foe which he cannot but hear; by reason of the pressure or constraint ( עקת ) of the evil-doer which he is compelled to feel. The conjecture צעקת (Olshausen and Hupfeld) is superfluous. עקה is a more elegant Aramaizing word instead of צרה .
The second strophe begins with a more precise statement of that which justifies his pain. The Hiph . חמיט signifies here, as in Psalms 140:11 ( Chethîb ), declinare : they cast or roll down evil (calamity) upon him and maliciously lay snares for him בּאף , breathing anger against him who is conscious of having manifested only love towards them. His heart turns about in his body, it writhes ( יהיל ); cf. on this, Psalms 38:11. Fear and trembling take possession of his inward parts; יבא in the expression יבא בי , as is always the case when followed by a tone syllable, is a so-called נסוג אחור , i.e., it has the tone that has retreated to the penult . (Deuteronomy 1:38; Isaiah 7:24; Isaiah 60:20), although this is only with difficulty discernible in our printed copies, and is therefore (vid., Accentsystem , vi. §2) noted with Mercha . The fut. consec . which follows introduces the heightened state of terror which proceeds from this crowding on of fear and trembling. Moreover, the wish that is thereby urged from him, which David uttered to himself, is introduced in the third strophe by a fut. consec.
(Note: That beautiful old song of the church concerning Jesus has grown out of this strophe: -
Ecquis binas columbinas
Alas dabit animae?
Et in almam crucis palmam
Evolat citissime