Then thou spakest in vision to thy holy one, I have exalted one chosen out of the people. I have found David my servant; With my holy oil have I anointed him: 19 20 21 22 And I will beat down his foes before his face, And plague them that hate him. But my faithfulness and my mercy shall be with him: Psalmist now recites the promise in detail in a poetical expansion of the narrative in 2 Sam. vii. 19. Then] On the well-known occasion already referred to in in vision] See 2 Sam. vii. 17. vv. 3, 4. to thy holy one] Nathan, or more probably David, as the principal recipient of the message. So some MSS. But the traditional text, supported apparently by all the Ancient Versions, reads the plural, to thy saints, or rather to thy beloved; i.e. the people of Israel, for whom the promise made through David to Nathan was intended. The word rendered thy beloved denotes Israel as the object of that lovingkindness which the Psalmist is celebrating. See 1. 5, and Appendix, Note I. I have laid help] Endowed him with the power and assigned to him the office of helping My people in their need. For laid='conferred,' of the Divine endowment of the king, see xxi. 5; and for help as a Divine gift to the king, see xx. 2. The phrase is unusual, but the conjectures a diadem (cp. v. 39) or strength are unnecessary. one that is mighty] Cp. 2 Sam. xvii. 10. The word is chosen with reference to the Divine 'might' of which he was the representative, v. 13: cp. xx. 6; xxi. 13. 3; lxxviii. 70; 1 Kings viii. 16. one chosen] Cp. v. 20. I have found] Sought out and provided. Cp. 1 Sam. xiii. 14; xvi. 1; Acts xiii. 22. David my servant] See on Ixxviii. 70, and cp. 2 Sam. iii. 18; vii. 5, 8. have I anointed him] 1 Sam. xvi. 1, 12 f. 21. With whom &c.] My helping hand shall continually be with him: a stronger equivalent for "the LORD was with him," 1 Sam. xviii. 12, 14; 2 Sam. v. 10. 22. shall not exact upon him] Shall not oppress him as a creditor oppresses a debtor. But the sense is doubtful, and the word probably means surprise him, fall upon him unawares, as in lv. 15. nor the son of wickedness afflict him] The phrase is taken from 2 Sam. vii. 10, where however it is applied to the people. 23. But I will beat down his adversaries before him, And smite them that hate him. 24. And my faithfulness and lovingkindness shall be with him. 23 24 And in my name shall his horn be exalted. 25 I will set his hand also in the sea, And his right hand in the rivers. 26 He shall cry unto me, Thou art my Father, Higher than the kings of the earth. 28 My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, 25. in the sea...in the rivers] R.V., on the sea...on the rivers; i.e. I will extend his dominion to the Mediterranean on the west, and to the Euphrates on the north-east, the boundaries of the land according to ancient promise. See Gen. xv. 18; Ex. xxiii. 31; Deut. xi. 24; 1 Kings iv. 24; cp. Ps. lxxii. 8; lxxx. II. The plural rivers is a poetical generalisation, or may denote the Euphrates and its canals. 26. The promise made to David on behalf of Solomon is here extended to David himself. For my God, and the rock of my salvation cp. xviii. 2; Deut. xxxii. 15. 27. I also corresponds to the emphatic He at the beginning of v. 26. It is God's answer to David's cry of filial love. The titles son and firstborn applied to Israel (Ex. iv. 22; Jer. xxxi. 9) are conferred upon the king who is Israel's representative: and the promise made to Israel (Deut. xxvi. 19, cp. xxviii. 1) is here transferred to David, I also will appoint him as firstborn, Most high above the kings of the earth. David's posterity is included in his person: and the high promise, never fully realised in any of his successors, points forward to Him Whom St John styles in language borrowed from this verse and v. 37, "the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth." 28, 29. The emphasis is on for evermore. The permanence of the promise is expressed in the strongest terms. Cp. 2 Sam. vii. 13, 16. Once more too the notes of lovingkindness and faithfulness are sounded, for the word rendered shall stand fast is from the same root as the word for faithfulness; hence R.V. marg. shall be faithful. as the days of heaven] I.e. for ever; the heaven is the emblem of permanence as well as stability. Again a phrase originally referring to the nation (Deut. xi. 21) is applied to the king. 30-34. The sins of David's descendants will bring chastisement to them, but they will not annul the promise to David. Man's unfaithful If they break my statutes, 31 And keep not my commandments; Then will I visit their transgression with the rod, And their iniquity with stripes. 32 Nevertheless my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from 33 him, Nor suffer my faithfulness to fail. My covenant will I not break, Nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips. Once have I sworn by my holiness His seed shall endure for ever, And his throne as the sun before me. It shall be established for ever as the moon, Selah. ness cannot make void the faithfulness of God, though it may modify the course of its working. 31. If they break] Lit. profane. 32. The rod...stripes] From 2 Sam. vii. 14, where the fuller phrases the rod of men...the stripes of the children of men seem to mean correction such as even human parents know they must administer. The paternal relation involves the duty of chastisement (Prov. xxiii. 13 f.; Heb. xii. 9 f.). 33. But my lovingkindness will I not break off from him, Neither be false to my faithfulness. The word rendered break off is an unusual one to apply to lovingkindness, and its form is anomalous. The change of one letter however gives the word used in 1 Chr. xvii. 13, I will not take away, and this emendation should probably be adopted. Be false to is the word found in 1 Sam. xv. 29, "The Strength of Israel will not lie." 34. break] Lit. profane, as in v. 31. God's covenant, like His laws, is a sacred thing. Men may violate His laws, but He will not violate His covenant. the thing that is gone out of my lips] The word once spoken is irrevocable. The phrase is used of vows in Num. xxx. 12; Deut. xxiii. 23. 35-37. The irreversible nature of a promise confirmed by God's oath. 35. Once] Once for all (LXX ära, Vulg. semel): or, one thing. have I sworn] Cp. v. 3. by my holiness] See note on lx. 6. that I will not lie] R.V. omits that, and makes this clause parallel to, not dependent on, the preceding line. 36. Cp. vv. 4, 29; lxxii. 5, 7, 17. 37. Construction and meaning are doubtful. (1) The original passage in 2 Sam. vii. 16 is in favour of making his throne the subject to shall be established, and against the marginal alternatives of R.V., As the 34 35 36 37 38 But thou hast cast off and abhorred, Thou hast been wroth with thine anointed. 39 Thou hast made void the covenant of thy servant: Thou hast profaned his crown by casting it to the ground. moon which is established for ever, and as the faithful witness in the sky: or, and is a faithful witness in the sky. (2) The A.V., with which substantially agrees the R. V., And (as) the faithful witness in the sky, raises the question what is meant by 'the faithful witness in the sky.' Is it the sun, or the moon, or the rainbow? Or is it the fixed laws of nature which are appealed to in Jer. xxxi. 35, 36, xxxiii. 20 f., 25 f., as a symbol of the permanence of God's covenant with Israel and with David? This last explanation is the best, but it seems somewhat far-fetched; and the omission of the particle of com. parison as points (3) to another rendering: And the witness in the sky is faithful. The witness is God Himself, Who thus confirms His promise with a final attestation. Cp. Jer. xlii. 5, "Jehovah be a true and faithful witness against us”: Job xvi. 19, “my witness is in heaven.” 38-45. But present realities are in appalling contrast to this glorious promise: the king is rejected and dethroned, his kingdom is overrun by invaders, his enemies are triumphant. 38. And THOU, thou hast cast off and rejected, Hast been enraged with thine anointed. The Psalmist has drawn out God's promise in the fullest detail, and now he confronts God with it:-THOU Who art omnipotent, faithful, and just; THOU Who hast made this promise, and confirmed it with the most solemn oath; THOU hast broken it! Some punishment might have been expected (vv. 30 ff.), but not this total abandonment (vv. 33 ff.). David's heir has the same fate as Saul (1 Sam. xv. 23, 26), in spite of the express promise that it should not be so (2 Sam. vii. 15). The audacity of the expostulation scandalised many ancient Jewish commentators, and the famous Aben-Ezra of Toledo (d. 1167) relates that there was a certain wise and pious man in Spain, who would neither read nor listen to this Psalm. But the boldness is that of faith, not of irreverence: it finds a parallel in xliv. 9 ff., and in Habakkuk's questionings (i. 2 ff., 13 ff.). 39. Thou hast abhorred the covenant of thy servant: Thou hast cast his desecrated crown to the ground. Thine anointed, thy servant (cp. v. 20) include both David and the successor who represents him. The titles plead the claim which the king had on God's protection. The word nezer means (1) consecration, and (2) the crown or diadem of the high priest (Ex. xxix. 6) or the king (2 Sam. i. 10), as the mark of consecration to their office. For the phrase profaned to the ground cp. lxxiv. 7. 40. Insensibly the king is identified with the nation whose head and representative he was. The first line is taken from the description of Israel as a vine in lxxx. 12. Thou hast broken down all his hedges; Thou hast brought his strong holds to ruin. He is a reproach to his neighbours. Thou hast set up the right hand of his adversaries; And cast his throne down to the ground. Selah. How long, LORD? wilt thou hide thyself, for ever? Shall thy wrath burn like fire? Remember how short my time is : hedges] Or, as R. V. in lxxx. 12, fences. The 'neighbours' are 41. The first line from lxxx. 12, with the substitution of spoil for pluck: the second from lxxix. 4; cp. xliv. 13. surrounding nations, once tributary to Israel. 42. Thou hast set up] R.V. thou hast exalted. Contrast vv. 19, 24. to rejoice] The malignant delight of enemies is constantly deprecated as an aggravation of the bitterness of misfortune. Cp. xxv. 2; xxx. 1; XXXV. 19, 24 ff.; xxxviii. 16; and the close parallel in Lam. ii. 17. 43. Yea, thou turnest back the edge of his sword (R. V.): i.e. not as A. V. might seem to mean, bluntest it, but as the parallelism shews, makest it give way in battle. Cp. 2 Sam. i. 22. 44. his glory] R.V. his brightness: the lustre of his kingdom. 45. He is prematurely old. Cp. cii. 23. The words might be figuratively applied to the nation (Hos. vii. 9), or to the kingdom, prematurely brought to an end: but it is more natural to regard them as referring to the king himself. Jehoiachin was but 18 (2 Kings xxiv. 8), or according to 2 Chron. xxxvi. 9, only 8 years old, when he came to the throne, and he reigned only three months and ten days. The prime of his life was spent in exile, apparently in actual confinement in which he was literally clothed with dishonour' (2 Kings xxv. 29). · 46-51. The Psalmist appeals to God to withdraw His wrath and remove this contradiction, pleading the shortness of life and the taunts of God's enemies as grounds for a speedy answer. 46. How long, Jehovah, wilt thou hide thyself for ever? (How long) shall thy wrath burn like fire? A repetition of lxxix. 5, with slight variations. 47. Literally, if the text is right, O remember what a fleeting life I am! but it is possible that the letters of the word cheled have been 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 |
