This Psalm is a joyous profession of faith and hope, springing from the sense of a living fellowship with Jehovah. The danger, if special danger there was, which prompted the prayer of Psalms 16:1, lies entirely in the background. The Psalmist's whole soul is possessed and kindled by the thought tha... [ Continue Reading ]
_Preserve me_ Not that he is at the moment in special danger; but only in God's keeping (Psalms 12:7; Psalms 17:8) can soul and body be safe. _God El_, as in Psalms 5:4; Psalms 17:6. _for in thee_&c. For in thee have I taken refuge. God is responsible for protecting His liegeman. See note on Psalm... [ Continue Reading ]
The Psalmist's prayer and profession of faith.... [ Continue Reading ]
The Massoretic Text reads _thou_(fem.) _hast said_, assuming that the poet holds colloquy with himself, and addresses his soul, as in Psalms 42:5; Lamentations 3:24 (a passage evidently based on this psalm). So the Targum. But an ellipse of _O my soul_cannot be grammatically justified; and R.V. is c... [ Continue Reading ]
A difficult verse, the text of which appears to be corrupt. (1) The best rendering is that of R.V. It is true that it can only be wrung from the Massoretic text by some violence, but an easy emendation removes the grammatical difficulty. As for the saints [lit. _holy ones_ that are in the earth [o... [ Continue Reading ]
The Psalmist's society.... [ Continue Reading ]
_Their sorrows_ This, and not _their idols_(Targ. Symm. Jer.), is the right rendering. Cp. Psalms 32:10; 1 Timothy 6:10. that _hasten_after _another_god] The Heb. cannot be so rendered. Rightly R.V., that exchange _the Lord_for another _god_. Cp. Psalms 106:20; and the exact parallel in Jeremiah 2:... [ Continue Reading ]
Jehovah is the Psalmist's portion.... [ Continue Reading ]
_the portion_&c. Lit. _the portion of my share and my cup_: i.e. my allotted portion and cup. The word rendered _share_denotes _a portion assigned_, whether of land or property or food. The A.V., _portion of mine inheritance_, implies that Jehovah is compared to the share allotted him in the distrib... [ Continue Reading ]
_The lines_&c. Portions of land measured by line and distributed by lot. The language is still figurative. Jehovah is to him as the choicest of possessions in the goodly land. (Psalms 16:11; Psalms 27:4; Psalms 90:17; Proverbs 3:17; Jeremiah 3:19.) _Yea_&c. The peculiar phrase in the original expre... [ Continue Reading ]
_given me counsel_ Taught me to choose Him and to follow Him. Cp. Psalms 32:8 (R.V.); Psalms 73:24. _my reins also_&c. This clause may be taken as still depending on _I will bless the Lord_, and rendered, yea, that in the night seasons my reins have instructed me. In the quiet hours of the night Go... [ Continue Reading ]
The mutual relation of the Psalmist and Jehovah.... [ Continue Reading ]
The true -practice of the Presence of God" (Psalms 119:30; Psalms 18:22). The LXX has, _I beheld the Lord always before my face_. _at my right hand_ As advocate (Psalms 109:31), or champion (Psalms 110:5; Psalms 121:5). A warrior defending another person would naturally stand on his right.... [ Continue Reading ]
_my glory_ i.e. my soul. See note on Psalms 7:5. The LXX renders freely _my tongue_. _my flesh also shall rest in hope_ So the Vulg., _insurer et caro mea requiescet in spe_. Beautiful and suggestive as this rendering is, it is inaccurate and misleading, and must be replaced by that of R.V. My fle... [ Continue Reading ]
The blessed outcome of this fellowship is joy, confidence, progress.... [ Continue Reading ]
Once more the translation must be revised; For thou wilt not abandon my soul to Sheol; Neither wilt thou suffer thy beloved one to see the pit. Jehovah will not surrender him to the unseen world, which is like some monster gaping for its prey. He can plead, as one of Jehovah's _beloved ones_(_cha... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thou wilt shew me_&c. Lit. Thou wilt cause me to know (Psalms 143:8) the path of life: not only preserve me from death, but lead me onward in that fellowship with Thee which alone is worthy to be called life. See Proverbs 10:17; Proverbs 15:24; Matthew 7:14; John 17:3. -The path of life" is not mer... [ Continue Reading ]