XXXV. This psalm opens in a warlike tone, so as to suggest a soldier for its author, and for its occasion the eye of some battle. But we soon (Psalms 35:7; Psalms 35:11) perceive that these warlike expressions are only metaphors, and that the foes of the poet are malicious slanderers and scoffers o... [ Continue Reading ]
PLEAD MY CAUSE. — Better, _Strive, O Jehovah, with them that strive with me._ The construction requires this, and the parallelism suggests recourse to arms rather than to the law. FIGHT. — Literally, _devour._ (Comp. Numbers 24:8. “He shall eat up the nations.” So a Latin author — “Qua medius pug... [ Continue Reading ]
SHIELD AND BUCKLER. — Better, _buckler and shield,_ as the first (Heb., _magen_) suggests a small, the latter (_tsinnah_) a large shield covering the whole body. Greek, θυρεός (see Note, Psalms 5:12.) Notice that the poet, in the intensity of his purpose, overlooks the anomaly of arming a warrior wi... [ Continue Reading ]
DRAW OUT ALSO THE SPEAR — _i.e.,_ from the sheath, that seems to have been used to guard its point. So δουροδόκη (Homer, _Odyssey,_ i. 128). STOP THE WAY. — So LXX., Vulg., and all ancient versions. Many modern scholars, however, are disposed to treat the word _segor_ not as the imperative of a ver... [ Continue Reading ]
CONFOUNDED. — Comp. Psalms 35:26.... [ Continue Reading ]
AS CHAFF. — Comp. Psalms 1:4, and see Note. There can be little doubt that the “angel of Jehovah” in this and the following verse is (comp. Psalms 104:4) a personification of the “hurricane” itself, which drives before it all obstacles, and overwhelms even whole armies in dangerous places.... [ Continue Reading ]
DARK AND SLIPPERY. — See margin. Delitzsch supposes an allusion to the passage of the Red Sea, but the picture suggests rather the passage of some dangerous mountain pass in a raging storm. “The tracks in the limestone hills of Palestine are often worn as smooth as marble; comp. Psalms 73:18” (quote... [ Continue Reading ]
HAVE THEY HID... — Literally, _they have hid for me the pit of their net,_ which, as it stands, can mean nothing but a “pit with a net in it,” such as was used to entrap lions and other wild beasts. But it is better to remove the word “pit” to the second clause, thus doing away with the necessity of... [ Continue Reading ]
LET DESTRUCTION. — There is considerable difficulty here, and the ancient versions, by their variations, seem to point to some confusion in the text. The LXX., no doubt, are right in reading the pronouns as plurals, instead of singular. The word translated “destruction” means, primarily, a _storm,_... [ Continue Reading ]
ALL MY BONES. — As we say, “all the fibres of my body.” (Comp. Psalms 6:2; Psalms 34:20.) THE POOR... THE POOR. — Better, _the sufferer_ ... _the sufferer. _... [ Continue Reading ]
TO THE SPOILING OF MY SOUL. — Literally, _desolation to my soul._ We may paraphrase, “They rewarded me evil for good, Which to me was desolation.”... [ Continue Reading ]
(13) AND MY PRAYER RETURNED INTO MINE OWN BOSOM. — This has been most variously explained. The context evidently implies something done for the benefit of the whilome friends for whom, in their sickness, the poet had worn sackcloth, and had fasted and adopted all the other signs of mourning. We must... [ Continue Reading ]
I BOWED DOWN HEAVILY. — Better, _I went squalid, and bowed down,_ alluding to the neglected beard and person, and to the dust and ashes of Oriental mourning.... [ Continue Reading ]
IN MINE ADVERSITY. — Better, _at my fall._ THE ABJECTS... — The Hebrew word occurs only here. It is derived from a root meaning _to smite,_ but its form is perplexing. The ancient versions all give it an active sense. LXX. and Vulg. “whips”; Symmachus, “smiters”; Chaldee, “the wicked who smite me w... [ Continue Reading ]
WITH HYPOCRITICAL MOCKERS IN FEASTS. — This clause is full of difficulty. The LXX. and Vulg. have, “they tempted me, they mocked me with a mocking”; Symmachus, “in hypocrisy, with feigned words”; Chaldee, “with derisive words of flattery.” All these take the word rendered in the Authorised Version,... [ Continue Reading ]
DARLING... see margin and Note to Psalms 22:20. THE LIONS is another suitable epithet for the hostile foreign party, so bitter against the genuine Israelite.... [ Continue Reading ]
WINK. — Proverbs 6:13; Proverbs 10:10; a common gesture of agreement among confederates.... [ Continue Reading ]
QUIET IN THE LAND. — For the construction, comp. Isaiah 23:8 : “The honourable of the earth.” They are evidently the pious Jews who wished to preserve their national life and religion against foreign influence and intervention, and certainly among them were Levites.... [ Continue Reading ]
STIR UP THYSELF. — Comp. Psalms 7:6.... [ Continue Reading ]