CXV. That this is a late liturgical psalm all commentators agree, but the precise period of its composition cannot be ascertained. The belief that death cut the Hebrew off from all the privileges of the covenant seems to forbid so late a date as the Maccabæan age, though a psalm so priestly in its... [ Continue Reading ]
NOT UNTO US... — This rejection of all self-praise is implied in all Hebrew poetry. MERCY... TRUTH... — Both a distinct reference to the covenant. Both these covenanted blessings were assailed by the heathen taunt, “Where is now their God?” It is difficult for us to reproduce in imagination the ap... [ Continue Reading ]
(4-8) This passage cannot compare with the magnificent irony of Isaiah 44:9, but there is still a noticeable vein of sarcasm running through it, visible even more in the original than in the English. (Comp. Psalms 135:15.)... [ Continue Reading ]
NEITHER SPEAK THEY. — The Hebrew implies not only the want of articulate speech, but of utterance at all.... [ Continue Reading ]
EVERY ONE THAT TRUSTETH... — “Who moulds in gold or stone a sacred face Makes not the god; but he who asks his grace.”... [ Continue Reading ]
O ISRAEL. — There is consummate art in this sudden change of address. It is like the pointed application of some general truth in a sermon. It is possible that in the liturgic use a change in the music was made here, the Levites and choir turning to the people with a loud burst of song. HE IS THEIR... [ Continue Reading ]
THEM THAT FEAR THE LORD — _i.e._, all Israel.... [ Continue Reading ]
THE LORD SHALL INCREASE. — More literally, “Jehovah shall heap blessings on you, On you and on your children.”... [ Continue Reading ]
SILENCE. — The land of silence is, of course, Sheôl, the under-world. (So the LXX., “Hades.”)... [ Continue Reading ]
The connection of these verses with the rest of the psalm is far from plain. Why the psalmist should suddenly be struck with the dreadful thought that death broke the covenant relationship, and silenced prayer and praise, is not easy to see. Was the psalm first chanted after some victory? and was th... [ Continue Reading ]