i. The Psalmist praises Jehovah as the Giver of victory (Psalms 144:1-2), and marvels that He Who is so great should condescend to care for man who is so insignificant and transitory (Psalms 144:3-4). He prays that Jehovah will appear and interpose on his behalf, for he is hard pressed by faithless... [ Continue Reading ]
_Blessed_be Jehovah my rock] From Psalms 18:46. _which teacheth my hands to war_, and _my fingers to fight_ An expansion of Psalms 18:34 _a. Hands_and _fingers_are a common parallelism, but possibly _fingers_may refer particularly to the use of the bow. Cp. Psalms 18:34 _b_.... [ Continue Reading ]
Praise of Jehovah the Giver of victory.... [ Continue Reading ]
Cp. Psalms 18:2; Psalms 18:47, and notes there. _My goodness_ Rather, my lovingkindness, a bold expression for _the God of my lovingkindness_(Psalms 59:10; Psalms 59:17), to denote Jehovah as the sum and source of lovingkindness. A partial parallel may be found in Jonah 2:8, but in view of the fact... [ Continue Reading ]
A variation of Psalms 8:4. Cp. 2 Samuel 7:18.... [ Continue Reading ]
From the enthusiastic contemplation of Jehovah's goodness the Psalmist turns to reflect upon the character of the object of it. Man's insignificance and transitoriness enhance the marvel of God's gracious care for him.... [ Continue Reading ]
_vanity_ Or, a breath, unsubstantial and evanescent (a different word from that in Psalms 144:8_; Psalms 144:11_). Cp. Psalms 39:5; Psalms 39:11; Psalms 62:9. _his days_&c. Cp. Psalms 102:11; Psalms 109:23; Job 8:9;... [ Continue Reading ]
The descriptions of Psalms 18:9; Psalms 104:32 are turned into prayer.... [ Continue Reading ]
Prayer that God will appear in His majesty and deliver the Psalmist from his treacherous enemies.... [ Continue Reading ]
Lighten lightning, and scatter them: Send forth thine arrows, and discomfit them. A variation of Psalms 18:14, corresponding again more closely to the text of 2 Samuel 22:15. _Them_must refer to the enemies who are in the Psalmist's mind, though he has not expressly mentioned them.... [ Continue Reading ]
Stretch forth thine hands from on high: Rescue me, and deliver me out of many waters, out of the hand of strangers. From Psalms 18:16; Psalms 18:45, description being again changed to prayer. For _hands_some MSS and all Ancient Versions read _hand_. The word rendered _rescue_is a word used in this... [ Continue Reading ]
_vanity_ i.e. falsehood: cp. Psalms 12:2; Psalms 41:6. _their right hand_&c. Uplifted in swearing a solemn oath. Cp. Psalms 106:26.... [ Continue Reading ]
From Psalms 33:2-3. _O God_ An imitation of the usage of the Elohistic Psalms of Books II and III. Nowhere else in Books IV, V is _Elohim_(God) used absolutely for Jehovah, except in Psalms 108, which is directly taken from two Elohistic Psalms. See _Introd_. p. lv. _upon a psaltery_and _an instru... [ Continue Reading ]
A promise to give thanks for the victory which he is confident will be granted, and a repetition of his prayer for deliverance.... [ Continue Reading ]
Cp. Psalms 18:50. _Who giveth salvation_(or _victory) unto kings_may be meant as a general truth not to be limited to Israel only (cp. Psalms 33:16), and _David his servant_may denote the typical ruler of Jehovah's people (cp. Ezekiel 34:23); or the reference may be historical, _who_gave _victory …... [ Continue Reading ]
The repetition of the prayer of Psalms 144:7 follows naturally upon the mention of Jehovah's attributes in Psalms 144:10.... [ Continue Reading ]
_That our sons_may be like plants well grown in their youth] Cp. Psalms 128:3. _Plant_denotes a freshly planted sapling sending up its young shoots, LXX νεόφυτα, cp. Job 14:9. Vergil uses a similar comparison (_Aen._ix. 674), "Abietibus iuvenes patriis et montibus aequos." The word for _well-grown_... [ Continue Reading ]
A description of the prosperity of Israel under the protection and blessing of Jehovah. Cp. generally Deuteronomy 28:2 ff; Deuteronomy 30:9. The absolute dependence of the earlier verses upon existing Psalms makes it probable that these verses also are borrowed, though the poem from which they were... [ Continue Reading ]
_all manner of store_ Lit. _from kind to kind_, every kind of produce. The word is an indication of the late date of the Psalm. It occurs elsewhere in the Heb. of the O.T. only in 2 Chronicles 16:14; (Heb.) Sir 38:28; Psalms 49:8 (?), but is common in Aramaic. _in our streets_ Rather, in our fields... [ Continue Reading ]
_our oxen … strong to labour_ Both words are of uncertain meaning. (1) Most commentators follow the Ancient Versions in regarding the word _allûphîm_here as a variant form for _alâphîm_, -oxen" or -cattle." Oxen, it is thought, are naturally mentioned after sheep. The participle _m'subbâlîm_is vario... [ Continue Reading ]
Happy is the people of Jehovah's choice, to whom He shews such manifest tokens of His favour in temporal prosperity; and yet more truly happy are they in the spiritual blessing of having Jehovah for their God. He is the source and sum of all true happiness, temporal and eternal. The second line is... [ Continue Reading ]