Psalms 17:15

As for me, in righteousness let me behold thy face:

Let me be satisfied, when I awake, with thy likeness.

With the low desires of worldly men the Psalmist contrasts his own spiritual aspirations. He does not complain of their prosperity; it does not present itself to him as a trial of patience and a moral enigma, as it does to the authors of Psalms 37, 73. Their blessings are not for an instant to be compared with his. -To behold Jehovah's face" is to enjoy communion with Him and all the blessings that flow from it; it is the inward reality which corresponds to -appearing before Him" in the sanctuary. Cp. Psalms 16:11. -Righteousness" is the condition of that -beholding"; for it is sin that separates from God. Cp. Psalms 11:7 note; Psalms 15:1 ff.; Matthew 5:8; Hebrews 12:14.

He concludes with a yet bolder prayer, that he may be admitted to that highest degree of privilege which Moses enjoyed, and be satisfiedwith the likenessor form of Jehovah. See Numbers 12:6-8. Worldly men are satisfied if they see themselves reflected in their sons: nothing less than the sight of the form of God will satisfy the Psalmist. Cp. Psalms 16:11. See Driver on Deuteronomy 4:12.

But what is meant by when I awake? Not -when the night of calamity is at an end"; a sense which the word will not bear. What he desires is (1) the dailyrenewal of this communion (cp. Psalms 139:18; Proverbs 6:22); and (2) as the passage in Numbers suggests, a waking sightof God, as distinguished from a dream or vision.

The words are commonly explained of awaking from the sleep of death to behold the face of God in the world beyond, and to be transfigured into His likeness. Death is no doubt spoken of as sleep (Psalms 13:3), and resurrection as awakening (Isaiah 26:19; Daniel 12:2). But elsewhere the context makes the meaning unambiguous. Here, however, this reference is excluded by the context. The Psalmist does not anticipate death, but prays to be delivered from it (Psalms 17:8 ff.). The contrast present to his mind is not between -this world" and -another world," the -present life" and the -future life," but between the false life and the true life in this present world, between -the flesh" and -the spirit," between the -natural man" with his sensuous desires, and the -spiritual man" with his God ward desires. Here, as in Psalms 16:9-11, death fades from the Psalmist's view. He is absorbed with the thought of the blessedness of fellowship with God [9].

[9] Comp. Delitzsch: "The contrast is not so much here and hereafter, as world (life) and God. We see here into the inmost nature of the O.T. belief. All the blessedness and glory of the future life which the N.T. unfolds is for the O.T. faith contained in Jehovah. Jehovah is its highest good; in the possession of Him it is raised above heaven and earth, life and death; to surrender itself blindly to Him, without any explicit knowledge of a future life of blessedness, to be satisfied with Him, to rest in Him, to take refuge in Him in view of death, is characteristic of the O.T. faith." The Psalms, p. 181.

But the doctrine of life eternal is implicitly contained in the words. For it is inconceivable that communion with God thus begun and daily renewed should be abruptly terminated by death. It is possible that the Psalmist and those for whom he sung may have had some glimmering of this larger hope, though how or when it was to be realised was not yet revealed. But whether they drew the inference must remain doubtful. In the economy of revelation "heaven is first a temper and then a place."

It is indeed impossible for us to read the words now without thinking of their -fulfilment" in the light of the Gospel: of the more profound revelation of righteousness (Romans 1:17); of the sight of the Father in the Incarnate Son (John 14:9); of the hope of transfiguration into His likeness here and hereafter, and of the Beatific Vision (2 Corinthians 3:18; Philippians 3:21; 1 John 3:2; Revelation 22:4).

It may be remarked that none of the ancient versions render as though they definitely referred the passage to the Resurrection. Targ., Aq., Symm., Jer., all give a literal version. The LXX, I shall be satisfied when Thy glory appears: Syr., when Thy faithfulness appears: Theod., when Thy right hand appears: seem to have had a different text. Thy gloryis substituted for thy formin LXX as in Num. 12:18.