CII. This psalm is peculiar for its title, which stands quite alone among the inscriptions. It is neither historical nor musical in its reference; but describes the character of the psalm, and the circumstances amid which it would be found useful. That it was, therefore, affixed at a late time, when... [ Continue Reading ]
PRAYER. — Like love and all emotion, prayer has its own language, and this assumes here the forms of expression that meet us in other psalms. (See, _e.g.,_ in addition to the reference in margin, Psalms 31:2; Psalms 39:12; Psalms 56:9; Psalms 59:16; Psalms 143:7.)... [ Continue Reading ]
This verse may be better arranged, _Hide not_ ... _in the day of my trouble. Incline_ ... _in the day when I call. Answer me speedily. _... [ Continue Reading ]
LIKE SMOKE. — Or, _in smoke._ (See margin. Comp. Psalms 37:20.) HEARTH. — Better, a _brand_ or _fuel;_ so LXX. and Vulgate, Aquila, and this meaning suits Isaiah 33:14. (For the image see Psalms 22:15; Psalms 31:10; Psalms 32:3.)... [ Continue Reading ]
SMITTEN. — As by the sun. Exactly as in Hosea 9:16. SO THAT I FORGET. — Better, _for I have forgotten,_ &c. For this mark of deep sorrow comp. 1 Samuel 1:7; 1 Samuel 20:34, &c. (Comp. Homer, _Iliad, xxiv._ 129.)... [ Continue Reading ]
SKIN. — See margin. In Lamentations 4:8, more correctly, “my skin cleaveth to my bones;” a picture of emaciation, the result of fasting.... [ Continue Reading ]
PELICAN. — See Leviticus 11:18. “It has been objected that the pelican is a water-bird, and cannot, therefore, be the _kâath_ of the Scriptures — “the pelican of the wilderness” — as it must of necessity starve in the desert; but a _midbar_ (wilderness) is often used to denote a wide open space, cul... [ Continue Reading ]
I WATCH — _i.e., am sleepless,_ SPARROW. — See Note, Psalms 84:3. Here render, _like a lonely bird._ Some MSS. read, “a wandering bird.”... [ Continue Reading ]
SWORN AGAINST ME. — Rather, _swear by_ me, _i.e.,_ make his name a byeword of execration, to be explained by Isaiah 65:15; Jeremiah 29:22. LXX. and Vulg., “were swearing against me.”... [ Continue Reading ]
ASHES LIKE BREAD. — Lamentations 3:16. A figurative expression, like “dust shall be the serpent’s meat” (Isaiah 65:25; comp. Genesis 3:14). With the last clause comp. Psalms 42:3, “tears have been my meat day and night.” So too, as an emblem of disappointment, a modern poet: — “But even while I dra... [ Continue Reading ]
INDIGNATION AND THY WRATH. — Comp. Psalms 90:7. The last part of the clause is a figure taken from the action of a whirlwind. (Comp. Job 27:20; Job 30:22.)... [ Continue Reading ]
A SHADOW THAT DECLINETH. — Rather, _a lengthening shadow,_ growing longer as the day declines, and therefore soon to vanish altogether. (Comp. Psalms 109:23.) “And now the sun had stretched out all the hills.” MILTON: _Lycidas,_ See also Note, Song of Solomon 2:17.... [ Continue Reading ]
FOR EVER. — The eternity of God, which must survive the world itself, is a pledge of the truth of the national hopes, in spite of the vicissitudes of individuals, and the swift succession of generations. For the word “remembrance,” see Psalms 30:4. It is explained by Exodus 3:15, “This is my name fo... [ Continue Reading ]
(13-16) The prospect (Isaiah 40:1) that the restoration of Jerusalem will take place simultaneously with the coming of Jehovah in glory, is here re-echoed from the prophet in a lyric form. “The set time” must not be rigidly explained by the “seventy years” of Jeremiah 25:11. The expression is genera... [ Continue Reading ]
STONES... DUST. — This touching description of the devotion of the Jews to their ruined city is best illustrated by the actual history in Nehemiah 3:4, and by the scenes so often described by travellers at the “wailing place” in modern Jerusalem.... [ Continue Reading ]
HEATHEN. — The same result of the restoration of the Holy City, viz., the recognition of Jehovah’s power and glory by the heathen, occupies the great prophecy, Isaiah 40-46.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE DESTITUTE. — Literally, _the naked one._ Here the exiled people, _stripped_ of home and religious rites. The word is only found once more, in Jeremiah 17:6 (comp. Jeremiah 48:6 for a kindred form), where it is translated “heath,” and in Arabic it is to this day the name of a stunted bush that gr... [ Continue Reading ]
WRITTEN. — This is interesting as being the only place in the Psalms where the memory of great events is said to be preserved in writing. Oral tradition is mentioned in Psalms 22:30; Psalms 44:1; Psalms 78:2. SHALL BE CREATED. — See Psalms 22:31, “a people that shall be born” — the coming generatio... [ Continue Reading ]
Comp. Isaiah 61:1, and generally the whole magnificent cycle of prophetic songs at the close of Isaiah. APPOINTED TO DEATH. — See margin. LXX. and Vulg., “the sons of the slain.”... [ Continue Reading ]
IN THE WAY — _i.e., in the course of life._ Others render, “by reason of the way,” but the meaning is the same. The clause is exactly parallel to “shortened my days.”... [ Continue Reading ]
TAKE ME NOT AWAY. — The fear of not living to see the restoration of his race prompts the psalmist to this prayer to the God whose years are not, like man’s, for one generation, but endure from age to age.... [ Continue Reading ]
Comp. Isaiah 44:24; Isaiah 48:13.... [ Continue Reading ]
PERISH. — Compared with man, the victim of incessant change and visible decay, the fixed earth and the uplifted mountains are often employed as symbols of endurance and perpetuity, but compared with God’s eternal existence, they are but like a vesture that wears out. The source of the image is Isaia... [ Continue Reading ]
CONTINUE. — Rather, _dwell, i.e.,_ in the land of Canaan. (Comp. Psalms 37:22; Psalms 69:36.)... [ Continue Reading ]