LXV. The feeling pervading this psalm is indicated by the initial words _quiet_ and _praise._ The attitude of Israel towards God is one of silent expectation, or expressed thankfulness — it waits hopeful of blessing to be vouchsafed in history and nature, and then bursts forth, like the refreshed an... [ Continue Reading ]
PRAISE WAITETH... — Literally, _To thee silence praise,_ which recalls Psalms 62:1 (see Note), but must be differently explained. To say, _Praise is silence to thee,_ is hardly intelligible. The LXX. and Vulg. read differently, “praise is comely.” Better supply a conjunction, _To thee are quiet and... [ Continue Reading ]
UNTO THEE SHALL ALL FLESH COME. — This has usually, and most truly, been taken as prophetic of the extension of the true religion to the Gentiles. But we must not let what was, in the Divine providence, a fulfilment of the psalmist’s words, hide their intention as it was conscious to himself. The ps... [ Continue Reading ]
INIQUITIES. — Literally, _Words_ (or, _things_)_ of iniquities, i.e.,_ details of crime, or instances of wickedness. (Comp. Psalms 35:20; Psalms 105:27; Psalms 145:5.) PREVAIL. — Better, _have prevailed, have overcome me, been too much for me. No_ doubt, though the pronoun is singular, we are to th... [ Continue Reading ]
BLESSED. — The ellipse of the relative is common enough (see Psalms 34:8, &c), but here the antecedent is wanting as well. Perhaps we ought to read, _He whom thou choosest and bringest near shall dwell,_ &c COURTS. — From a root meaning _to wall round;_ especially applied to the open space within t... [ Continue Reading ]
BY TERRIBLE THINGS. — Rather, _wondrously,_ a noun used adverbially. WILT THOU ANSWER US. — Better, _Thou dost answer us;_ describing the usual course of God’s providence. The LXX. and Vulg. make it a prayer: “Hear us.” The conviction that God, the God of Israel’s salvation or deliverance, would a... [ Continue Reading ]
GIRDED. — We see the Divine Architect of the world, girt for his labours in the Oriental fashion (see Note, Psalms 18:32), setting the mountains firm on their bases (comp. Psalms 75:3), the poet evidently thinking at the same time how empires, as well as mountains, owe their stability to God.... [ Continue Reading ]
TUMULT. — Here we see the literal passing into the figurative. From the raging seas the poet’s thought goes to the anarchies arising from the wild passions of men, for which in all literature the ocean has furnished metaphors. (Comp. Isaiah 17:12.) In a well-known passage, the Latin poet Virgil reve... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY ALSO... — Or, _So they._ THE OUTGOINGS... — A pregnant expression for the _rising of the morning and setting of the evening sun._ East and west. TO REJOICE. — Better, _to sing for joy._ The whole earth from one utmost bound to the other is vocal with praise of the Creator and Ruler of the uni... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU VISITEST... — Better, _Thou hast visited._ Even if there is not reference to some particular season of plenty, yet with a glance back on the memory of such. Instead of “earth,” perhaps, here, “land.” WATEREST. — Or, _floodest._ The river of God stands for the rain. There is a Arabic proverb, “... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU WATEREST... SETTLEST. — Better, by _watering ..._ _settling._ RIDGES... FURROWS. — These terms would be better transposed since by “settling” (literally, _pressing down_) is meant the softening of the ridges of earth between the furrows. The LXX. and Vulgate have “multiply its shoots.” SHOWER... [ Continue Reading ]
THOU CROWNEST. — Better, _hast crowned._ We generally connect the idea of _completion_ with this metaphor, but the original thought in the Hebrew word, as in the Greek στέφω_,_ is probably to _encompass._ Comp. the Latin _corono_ in _Lucretius,_ 2:802 — “Sylva coronat aquas ingens nemus omne.” All... [ Continue Reading ]
THEY DROP UPON. — Supply “fatness” from the last verse. AND THE LITTLE HILLS. — See margin. The freshness and beauty of plant life, which suddenly, as by a miracle, in Eastern lands clothes the hill-sides, resembles a fair mantle thrown round their shoulders, as if to deck them for some festival.... [ Continue Reading ]