17 God, Thou hast taught me from my youth, And hitherto I declare Thy wonders.
Both the lion and the bear hath thy servant smitten, and this uncircumcised Philistine hath been as one of them, for he hath reproached the ranks of the living God.' And David saith, `Jehovah, who delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, He doth deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.' And Saul saith unto David, `Go, and Jehovah is with thee.'
And David speaketh to Jehovah the words of this song in the day Jehovah hath delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul, and he saith: `Jehovah `is' my rock, And my bulwark, and a deliverer to me, My God `is' my rock -- I take refuge in Him; My shield, and the horn of my salvation, My high tower, and my refuge! My Saviour, from violence Thou savest me! The Praised One, I call Jehovah: And from mine enemies I am saved. When the breakers of death compassed me, The streams of the worthless terrify me, The cords of Sheol have surrounded me, Before me have been the snares of death. In mine adversity I call Jehovah, And unto my God I call, And He heareth from His temple my voice, And my cry `is' in His ears, And shake and tremble doth the earth, Foundations of the heavens are troubled, And are shaken, for He hath wrath! Gone up hath smoke by His nostrils. And fire from His mouth devoureth, Brands have been kindled by it. And He inclineth heaven, and cometh down, And thick darkness `is' under His feet. And He rideth on a cherub, and doth fly, And is seen on the wings of the wind. And He setteth darkness Round about Him -- tabernacles, Darkness of waters -- thick clouds of the skies. From the brightness before Him Were brands of fire kindled! Thunder from the heavens doth Jehovah, And the Most High giveth forth His voice. And He sendeth forth arrows, And scattereth them; Lightning, and troubleth them; And seen are the streams of the sea, Revealed are foundations of the world, By the rebuke of Jehovah, From the breath of the spirit of His anger. He sendeth from above -- He taketh me, He draweth me out of many waters. He delivereth me from my strong enemy, From those hating me, For they were stronger than I. They are before me in a day of my calamity, And Jehovah is my support, And He bringeth me out to a large place, He draweth me out for He delighted in me. Jehovah recompenseth me, According to my righteousness, According to the cleanness of my hands, He doth return to me. For I have kept the ways of Jehovah, And have not done wickedly against my God. For all His judgments `are' before me, As to His statutes, I turn not from them. And I am perfect before Him, And I keep myself from mine iniquity. And Jehovah returneth to me, According to my righteousness, According to my cleanness before His eyes. With the kind Thou shewest Thyself kind, With the perfect man Thou shewest Thyself perfect, With the pure Thou shewest Thyself pure, And with the perverse Thou shewest Thyself a wrestler. And the poor people Thou dost save, And Thine eyes on the high causest to fall. For Thou `art' my lamp, O Jehovah, And Jehovah doth lighten my darkness. For by Thee I run -- a troop, By my God I leap a wall. God! Perfect `is' His way, The saying of Jehovah is tried, A shield He `is' to all those trusting in Him. For who is God save Jehovah? And who a Rock save our God? God -- my bulwark, `my' strength, And He maketh perfect my way; Making my feet like hinds, And on my high places causeth me to stand, Teaching my hands for battle, And brought down was a bow of brass by mine arms, And Thou givest to me the shield of Thy salvation, And Thy lowliness maketh me great. Thou enlargest my step under me, And mine ankles have not slidden. I pursue mine enemies and destroy them, And I turn not till they are consumed. And I consume them, and smite them, And they rise not, and fall under my feet. And Thou girdest me `with' strength for battle, Thou causest my withstanders to bow under me. And mine enemies -- Thou givest to me the neck, Those hating me -- and I cut them off. They look, and there is no saviour; Unto Jehovah, and He hath not answered them. And I beat them as dust of the earth, As mire of the streets I beat them small -- I spread them out! And -- Thou dost deliver me From the strivings of my people, Thou placest me for a head of nations; A people I have not known do serve me. Sons of a stranger feign obedience to me, At the hearing of the ear they hearken to me. Sons of a stranger fade away, And gird themselves by their close places. Jehovah liveth, and blessed `is' my Rock, And exalted is my God -- The Rock of my salvation. God -- who is giving vengeance to me, And bringing down peoples under me, And bringing me forth from mine enemies, Yea, above my withstanders Thou raisest me up. From a man of violence Thou deliverest me. Therefore I confess Thee, O Jehovah, among nations. And to Thy name I sing praise. Magnifying the salvations of His king, And doing loving-kindness to His anointed, To David, and to his seed -- unto the age!'
And he putteth before the ark of Jehovah, of the Levites, ministers, even to make mention of, and to thank, and to give praise to Jehovah, God of Israel, Asaph the head, and his second Zechariah; Jeiel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel, and Mattithiah, and Eliab, and Benaiah, and Obed-Edom, and Jeiel, with instruments of psalteries, and with harps; and Asaph with cymbals is sounding; and Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests `are' with trumpets continually before the ark of the covenant of God. On that day then hath David given at the beginning to give thanks to Jehovah by the hand of Asaph and his brethren: -- Give thanks to Jehovah, call in His name, Make known among the peoples His doings. Sing ye to Him, sing psalms to Him, Meditate on all His wonders. Boast yourselves in His holy name, Rejoice doth the heart of those seeking Jehovah. Seek ye Jehovah and His strength, Seek His face continually. Remember His wonders that He did, His signs, and the judgments of His mouth, O seed of Israel, His servant, O sons of Jacob, His chosen ones! He `is' Jehovah our God, In all the earth `are' His judgments. Remember ye to the age His covenant, The word He commanded -- To a thousand generations, Which He hath made with Abraham, And His oath -- to Isaac, And He establisheth it to Jacob for a statute, To Israel -- a covenant age-during. Saying: To thee I give the land of Canaan, The portion of your inheritance, When ye are few of number, As a little thing, and sojourners in it. And they go up and down, From nation unto nation, And from a kingdom unto another people. He hath not suffered any to oppress them, And reproveth on their account kings: Come not against Mine anointed ones, And against My prophets do not evil. Sing to Jehovah, all the earth, Proclaim from day unto day His salvation. Rehearse among nations His glory, Among all the peoples His wonders. For great `is' Jehovah, and praised greatly, And fearful He `is' above all gods. For all gods of the peoples `are' nought, And Jehovah the heavens hath made. Honour and majesty `are' before Him, Strength and joy `are' in His place. Ascribe to Jehovah, ye families of peoples, Ascribe to Jehovah honour and strength. Ascribe to Jehovah the honour of His name, Lift up a present, and come before Him. Bow yourselves to Jehovah, In the beauty of holiness. Be pained before Him, all the earth: Also, established is the world, It is not moved! The heavens rejoice, and the earth is glad, And they say among nations: Jehovah hath reigned. Roar doth the sea, and its fulness, Exult doth the field, and all that `is' in it, Then sing do trees of the forest, From the presence of Jehovah, For He hath come to judge the earth! Give thanks to Jehovah, for good, For to the age, `is' His kindness, And say, Save us, O God of our salvation, And gather us, and deliver us from the nations, To give thanks to Thy holy name, To triumph in Thy praise. Blessed `is' Jehovah, God of Israel, From the age and unto the age;' And all the people say, `Amen,' and have given praise to Jehovah.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 71
Commentary on Psalms 71 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
Prayer of a Grey-Headed Servant of God for Further Divine Aid
The Davidic Psalms 70:1-5 is followed by an anonymous Psalm which begins like Ps 31 and closes like Ps 35, in which Psalms 71:12, just like Psalms 70:2, is an echo of Psalms 40:14. The whole Psalm is an echo of the language of older Psalms, which is become the mental property, so to speak, of the author, and is revived in him by experiences of a similar character. Notwithstanding the entire absence of any thorough originality, it has an individual, and in fact a Jeremianic, impress.
The following reasons decide us in considering the Psalm as coming from the pen of Jeremiah: - (1) Its relationship to Psalms of the time of David and of the earlier times of the kings, but after David, leads us down to somewhere about the age of Jeremiah. (2) This anthological weaving together of men's own utterances taken from older original passages, and this skilful variation of them by merely slight touches of his own, is exactly Jeremiah's manner. (3) In solitary instances the style of Ps 69, slow, loose, only sparingly adorned with figures, and here and there prosaic, closely resembles Jeremiah; also to him corresponds the situation of the poet as one who is persecuted; to him, the retrospect of a life rich in experience and full of miraculous guidings; to him, whose term of active service extended over a period of more than thirty years under Zedekiah, the transition to hoary age in which the poet finds himself; to him, the reference implied in Psalms 71:21 to some high office; and to him, the soft, plaintive strain that pervades the Psalm, from which it is at the same time clearly seen that the poet has attained a degree of age and experience, in which he is accustomed to self-control and is not discomposed by personal misfortune. To all these correspondences there is still to be added an historical testimony. The lxx inscribes the Psalm τῷ Δαυίδ υἱῷν Ἰωναδάβ καὶ τῶν πρώτων αἰχμαλωτισθέντων . According to this inscription, the τῷ Δαυίδ of which is erroneous, but the second part of which is so explicit that it must be based upon tradition, the Psalm was a favourite song of the Rechabites and of the first exiles. The Rechabites are that tribe clinging to a homely nomad life in accordance with the will of their father, which Jeremiah (Jer 35) holds up before the men of his time as an example of self-denying faithful adherence to the law of their father which puts them to shame. If the Psalm is by Jeremiah, it is just as intelligible that the Rechabites, to whom Jeremiah paid such a high tribute of respect, should appropriate it to their own use, as that the first exiles should do so. Hitzig infers from Psalms 71:20, that at the time of its composition Jerusalem had already fallen; whereas in Ps 69 it is only the cities of Judah that as yet lie in ashes. But after the overthrow of Jerusalem we find no circumstances in the life of the prophet, who is no more heard of in Egypt, that will correspond to the complaints of the psalmist of violence and mockery. Moreover the foe in Psalms 71:4 is not the Chaldaean, whose conduct towards Jeremiah did not merit these names. Nor can Psalms 71:20 have been written at the time of the second siege and in the face of the catastrophe.
Stayed upon Jahve, his ground of trust, from early childhood up, the poet hopes and prays for deliverance out of the hand of the foe. The first of these two strophes (Psalms 71:1-3) is taken from Psalms 31:2-4, the second (Psalms 71:4-6, with the exception of Psalms 71:4 and Psalms 71:6 ) from Psalms 22:10-11; both, however, in comparison with Psalms 70:1-5 exhibit the far more encroaching variations of a poet who reproduces the language of others with a freer hand. Olshausen wishes to read מעוז in Psalms 71:3, Psalms 90:1; Psalms 91:9, instead of מעון , which he holds to be an error in writing. But this old Mosaic, Deuteronomial word (vid., on Psalms 90:1) - cf. the post-biblical oath המעון (by the Temple!) - is unassailable. Jahve, who is called a rock of refuge in Psalms 31:3, is here called a rock of habitation, i.e., a high rock that cannot be stormed or scaled, which affords a safe abode; and this figure is pursued still further with a bold remodelling of the text of Psalms 31:3 : לבוא תּמיד , constantly to go into, i.e., which I can constantly, and therefore always, as often as it is needful, betake myself for refuge. The additional צוּית is certainly not equivalent to צוּה ; it would more likely be equivalent to אשׁר צוית ; but probably it is an independent clause: Thou hast (in fact) commanded, i.e., unalterably determined (Psalms 44:5; Psalms 68:29; Psalms 133:3), to show me salvation, for my rock, etc. To the words לבוא תמיד צוית corresponds the expression לבית מצודות in Psalms 31:3, which the lxx renders καὶ εἰς οἶκον καταφυγῆς , whereas instead of the former three words it has καὶ εἰς τόπον ὀχυρόν , and seems to have read לבית מבצרות , cf. Daniel 11:15 (Hitzig). In Psalms 71:5, Thou art my hope reminds one of the divine name מקוה ישׂראל in Jeremiah 17:13; Jeremiah 50:7 (cf. ἡ ἐλπίς ἡμῶν used of Christ in 1 Timothy 1:1; Colossians 1:27). נסמכתּי is not less beautiful than השׁלכתּי in Psalms 22:11. In its incipient slumbering state (cf. Psalms 3:6), and in its self-conscious continuance. He was and is the upholding prop and the supporting foundation, so to speak, of my life. And גוזי instead of גּחי in Psalms 22:10, is just such another felicitous modification. It is impracticable to define the meaning of this גוזי according to גּזה = גּזה , Arab. jz' , retribuere (prop. to cut up, distribute), because גּמל is the representative of this Aramaeo-Arabic verb in the Hebrew. Still less, however, can it be derived from גּוּז , transire , the participle of which, if it would admit of a transitive meaning = מוציאי (Targum), ought to be גּזי . The verb גּזה , in accordance with its radical signification of abscindere (root גז , synon. קץ , קד , קט , and the like), denotes in this instance the separating of the child from the womb of the mother, the retrospect going back from youth to childhood, and even to his birth. The lxx σκεπαστής ( μου ) is an erroneous reading for ἐκσπαστής , as is clear from Psalms 22:10, ὁ ἐκσπάσας με . הלּל בּ , Psalms 44:9 (cf. שׂיח בּ , Psalms 69:13), is at the bottom of the expression in Psalms 71:6 . The God to whom he owes his being, and its preservation thus far, is the constant, inexhaustible theme of his praise.
Brought safely through dangers of every kind, he is become כּמופת , as a wonder, a miracle (Arabic aft from afata , cognate afaka , הפך , to bend, distort: a turning round, that which is turned round or wrenched, i.e., that which is contrary to what is usual and looked for) to many, who gaze upon him as such with astonishment (Psalms 40:4). It is his God, however, to whom, as hitherto so also in time to come, he will look to be thus wonderfully preserved: מחסי־עז , as in 2 Samuel 22:33. עז is a genitive, and the suffix is thrown back (vid., supra , p 171) in order that what God is to, and does for, the poet may be brought forward more clearly and independently [ lit . unalloyed]. Psalms 71:8 tells us what it is that he firmly expects on the ground of what he possesses in God. And on this very ground arises the prayer of Psalms 71:9 also: Cast me not away (viz., from Thy presence, Psalms 51:13; Jeremiah 7:15, and frequently) in the time ( לעת , as in Genesis 8:11) of old age - he is therefore already an old man ( זקן ), though only just at the beginning of the זקנה . He supplicates favour for the present and for the time still to come: now that my vital powers are failing, forsake me not! Thus he prays because he, who has been often wondrously delivered, is even now threatened by foes. Psalms 71:11, introduced by means of Psalms 71:10, tells us what their thoughts of him are, and what they purpose doing. לי , Psalms 71:10 , does not belong to אויבי , as it dies not in Psalms 27:2 also, and elsewhere. The ל is that of relation or of reference, as in Psalms 41:6. The unnecessary לאמר betrays a poet of the later period; cf. Psalms 105:11; Psalms 119:82 (where it was less superfluous), and on the contrary, Psalms 83:5. The later poet also reveals himself in Psalms 71:12, which is an echo of very similar prayers of David in Psalms 22:12, Psalms 22:20 (Psalms 40:14, cf. Psalms 70:2), Psalms 35:22; Psalms 38:22. The Davidic style is to be discerned here throughout in other points also. In place of הישׁה the Kerî substitutes חוּשׁה , which is the form exclusively found elsewhere.
In view of Psalms 40:15 (Psalms 70:3), Psalms 35:4, Psalms 35:26; Psalms 109:29, and other passages, the reading of יכּלמוּ , with the Syriac, instead of יכלוּ in Psalms 71:13 commends itself; but there are also other instances in this Psalm of a modification of the original passages, and the course of the thoughts is now climactic: confusion, ruin (cf. Ps 6:11), and in fact ruin accompanied by reproach and shame. This is the fate that the poet desires for his deadly foes. In prospect of this he patiently composes himself, Psalms 71:14 (cf. 31:25); and when righteous retribution appears, he will find new matter and ground and motive for the praise of God in addition to all such occasion as he has hitherto had. The late origin of the Psalm betrays itself again here; for instead of the praet. Hiph . הוסיף (which is found only in the Books of Kings and in Ecclesiastes), the older language made use of the praet. Ka. Without ceasing shall his mouth tell ( ספּר , as in Jeremiah 51:10) of God's righteousness, of God's salvation for he knows not numbers, i.e., the counting over or through of them (Psalms 139:17.);
(Note: The lxx renders οὐκ ἔγνων πραγματείας ; the Psalterium Romanum, non cognovi negotiationes ; Psalt. Gallicum (Vulgate), non cognovi literaturam (instead of which the Psalt. Hebr., literaturas ). According to Böttcher, the poet really means that he did not understand the art of writing.)
the divine proofs of righteousness or salvation עצמוּ מסּפּר (Psalms 40:6), they are in themselves endless, and therefore the matter also which they furnish for praise is inexhaustible. He will tell those things which cannot be so reckoned up; he will come with the mighty deeds of the Lord Jahve, and with praise acknowledge His righteousness, Him alone. Since גּברות , like the New Testament δυνάμεις , usually signifies the proofs of the divine גּבוּרה (e.g., Psalms 20:7), the Beth is the Beth of accompaniment, as e.g., in Psalms 40:8; Psalms 66:13. בּוא בּ , vernire cum , is like Arab. j'â' b ( atâ ), equivalent to afferre , he will bring the proofs of the divine power, this rich material, with him. It is evident from Psalms 71:18. that בגברות does not refer to the poet (in the fulness of divine strength), but, together with צדקתך , forms a pair of words that have reference to God. לבדּך , according to the sense, joins closely upon the suffix of צדקתך (cf. Ps 83:19): Thy righteousness (which has been in mercy turned towards me), Thine alone ( te solum = tui solius ). From youth up God has instructed him, viz., in His ways (Psalms 25:4), which are worthy of all praise, and hitherto ( עד־הנּה , found only in this passage in the Psalter, and elsewhere almost entirely confined to prose) has he, “the taught of Jahve” ( למּוּד ה ), had to praise the wonders of His rule and of His leadings. May God, then, not forsake him even further on עד־זקנה ושׂיבה . The poet is already old ( זקן ), and is drawing ever nearer to שׂיבה , silvery, hoary old age (cf. 1 Samuel 12:2). May God, then, in this stage of life also to which he has attained, preserve him in life and in His favour, until ( עד = עד־אשׁר , as in Psalms 132:5; Genesis 38:11, and frequently) he shall have declared His arm, i.e., His mighty interposition in human history, to posterity ( דּור ), and to all who shall come (supply אשׁר ), i.e., the whole of the future generation, His strength, i.e., the impossibility of thwarting His purposes. The primary passage for this is Psalms 22:31.
The thought of this proclamation so thoroughly absorbs the poet that he even now enters upon the tone of it; and since to his faith the deliverance is already a thing of the past, the tender song with its uncomplaining prayer dies away into a loud song of praise, in which he pictures it all to himself. Without Psalms 71:19-21 being subordinate to עד־אגיד in Psalms 71:18, וצדקתך is coupled by close connection with בגורתך . Psalms 71:19 is an independent clause; and עד־מרום takes the place of the predicate: the righteousness of God exceeds all bounds, is infinite (Psalms 36:6., Psalms 57:11). The cry כמוך מי , as in Psalms 35:10; Psalms 69:9, Jeremiah 10:6, refers back to Exodus 15:11. According to the Chethîb , the range of the poet's vision widens in Psalms 71:20 from the proofs of the strength and righteousness of God which he has experienced in his own case to those which he has experienced in common with others in the history of his own nation. The Kerî (cf. on the other hand Psalms 60:5; Psalms 85:7; Deuteronomy 31:17) rests upon a failing to discern how the experiences of the writer are interwoven with those of the nation. תּשׁוּב in both instances supplies the corresponding adverbial notion to the principal verb, as in Psalms 85:7 (cf. Psalms 51:4). תּהום , prop. a rumbling, commonly used of a deep heaving of waters, here signifies an abyss. “The abysses of the earth” (lxx ἐκ τῶν ἀβύσσων τῆς γῆς , just as the old Syriac version renders the New Testament ἄβυσσος , e.g., in Luke 8:31, by Syr. tehūmā' ) are, like the gates of death (Psalms 9:14), a figure of extreme perils and dangers, in the midst of which one is as it were half hidden in the abyss of Hades. The past and future are clearly distinguished in the sequence of the tenses. When God shall again raise His people out of the depth of the present catastrophe, then will He also magnify the גּדלּה of the poet, i.e., in the dignity of his office, by most brilliantly vindicating him in the face of his foes, and will once more ( תּסּוב , fut. Niph . like תּשׁוּב ekil .h above) comfort him. He on his part will also (cf. Job 40:14) be grateful for this national restoration and this personal vindication: he will praise God, will praise His truth, i.e., His fidelity to His promises. בּכלי נבל instead of בּנבל sounds more circumstantial than in the old poetry. The divine name “The Holy One of Israel” occurs here for the third time in the Psalter; the other passages are Psalms 78:41; Psalms 89:19, which are older in time, and older also than Isaiah, who uses it thirty times, and Habakkuk, who uses it once. Jeremiah has it twice (Jeremiah 50:29; Jeremiah 51:5), and that after the example of Isaiah. In Psalms 71:23, Psalms 71:24 the poet means to say that lips and tongue, song and speech, shall act in concert in the praise of God. תּרנּנּה with Dagesh also in the second Nun , after the form תּקוננּה , תּשׁכּנּה , side by side with which we also find the reading תּרנּנּה , and the reading תּרנּנה , which is in itself admissible, after the form תּאמנה , תּעגנה , but is here unattested.
(Note: Heidenheim reads תּרנּנּה with Segol , following the statement of Ibn-Bil'am in his טעמי המקרא and of Mose ha-Nakdan in his דרכי הנקוד , that Segol always precedes the ending נּה , with the exception only of הנּה and האזנּה . Baer, on the other hand, reads תונּנּה , following Aben-Ezra and Kimchi ( Michlol 66b ).)
The cohortative after כּי (lxx ὅταν ) is intended to convey this meaning: when I feel myself impelled to harp unto Thee. In the perfects in the closing line that which is hoped for stands before his soul as though it had already taken place. כי is repeated with triumphant emphasis.