CXIII. This psalm begins the _Hallel,_ or as sometimes called, _the great Hallel_ — though that name more properly is confined to Psalms 136 — recited at the great Jewish feasts. It is partly modelled on Hannah’s song. Its form is regular.... [ Continue Reading ]
YE SERVANTS OF THE LORD — _i.e._, Israel. (See Psalms 69:36.)... [ Continue Reading ]
Comp. Psalms 8:1, &c... [ Continue Reading ]
HUMBLETH HIMSELF. — Contrast this condescension with the _indifference_ to human joys and sorrows which heathen deities were said to show.... [ Continue Reading ]
DUNGHILL. — Literally, _a heap of rubbish._ “Before each village in Hauran there is a place where the household heap up the sweepings of their stalls, and it gradually reaches a great circumference and a height which rises far above the highest buildings of the village.” “The _mezbela_ serves the in... [ Continue Reading ]
(7-8) See 1 Samuel 2:8, from which the verses are taken; and comp. Luke 1:52. So the heathen poet sang of Jove (Hor.: _Odes_ i., 34, 35).... [ Continue Reading ]
HE MAKETH. — See margin. Motherhood alone assured the wife of a fixed and dignified position in her husband’s house. The quotation from Hannah’s song suggested the allusion to her story. We are no doubt right in taking this joyful mother as emblematic of the nation itself restored to prosperity and... [ Continue Reading ]