17 O God, you have been my teacher from the time when I was young; and I have been talking of your works of wonder even till now.
Your servant has overcome lion and bear: and the fate of this Philistine, who is without circumcision, will be like theirs, seeing that he has put shame on the armies of the living God. And David said, The Lord, who kept me safe from the grip of the lion and the bear, will be my saviour from the hands of this Philistine. And Saul said to David, Go! and may the Lord be with you.
And David made a song to the Lord in these words, on the day when the Lord made him free from the hands of all his haters, and from the hand of Saul: And he said, The Lord is my Rock, my walled town, and my saviour, even mine; My God, my Rock, in him will I put my faith; my breastplate, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my safe place; my saviour, who keeps me safe from the violent man. I will send up my cry to the Lord, who is to be praised; so will I be made safe from those who are against me. For the waves of death came round me, and the seas of evil put me in fear; The cords of hell were round me: the nets of death came on me. In my trouble my voice went up to the Lord, and my cry to my God: my voice came to his hearing in his holy Temple, and my prayer came to his ears. Then the earth was moved with a violent shock; the bases of heaven were moved and shaking, because he was angry. There went up a smoke from his nose, and a fire of destruction from his mouth: coals were lighted by it. The heavens were bent, so that he might come down; and it was dark under his feet. And he went through the air, seated on a storm-cloud: going quickly on the wings of the wind. And he made the dark his tent round him, a mass of waters, thick clouds of the skies. Before his shining light his dark clouds went past, raining ice and coals of fire. The Lord made thunder in the heavens, and the voice of the Highest was sounding out. And he sent out his arrows, driving them in all directions; by his flames of fire they were troubled. Then the deep beds of the sea were seen, and the bases of the world were uncovered, because of the Lord's wrath, because of the breath of his mouth. He sent from on high, he took me, pulling me out of great waters. He made me free from my strong hater, from those who were against me, because they were stronger than I. They came on me in the day of my trouble: but the Lord was my support. He took me out into a wide place; he was my saviour because he had delight in me. The Lord gives me the reward of my righteousness, because my hands are clean before him. For I have kept the ways of the Lord; I have not been turned away in sin from my God. For all his decisions were before me, and I did not put away his laws from me. And I was upright before him, and I kept myself from sin. Because of this the Lord has given me the reward of my righteousness, because my hands are clean in his eyes. On him who has mercy you will have mercy; to the upright you will be upright; He who is holy will see that you are holy; but to the man whose way is not straight you will be a hard judge. For you are the saviour of those who are in trouble; but your eyes are on men of pride, to make them low. For you are my light, O Lord; and the Lord will make the dark bright for me. By your help I have made a way through the wall which was shutting me in: by the help of my God I have gone over a wall. As for God, his way is all good: the word of the Lord is tested; he is a safe cover for all those who put their faith in him. For who is God but the Lord? and who is a Rock but our God? God puts a strong band about me, guiding me in a straight way. He makes my feet like roes' feet, and puts me on high places. He makes my hands expert in war, so that a bow of brass is bent by my arms. You have given me the breastplate of your salvation, and your mercy has made me great. You have made my steps wide under me, so that my feet make no slip. I go after my haters and overtake them; not turning back till they are all overcome. I have sent destruction on them and given them wounds, so that they are not able to get up: they are stretched under my feet. For I have been armed by you with strength for the fight: you have made low under me those who came out against me. By you their backs are turned in flight, so that my haters are cut off. They were crying out, but there was no one to come to their help: even to the Lord, but he gave them no answer. Then they were crushed as small as the dust of the earth, stamped down under my feet like the waste of the streets. You have made me free from the fightings of my people; you have made me the head of the nations: a people of whom I had no knowledge will be my servants. Men of other countries will, with false hearts, put themselves under my authority: from the time when my name comes to their ears, they will be ruled by me. They will be wasted away, they will come out of their secret places shaking with fear. The Lord is living; praise be to my Rock, and let the God of my salvation be honoured: It is God who sends punishment on my haters, and puts peoples under my rule. He makes me free from my haters: I am lifted up over those who come up against me: you have made me free from the violent man. Because of this I will give you praise, O Lord, among the nations, and will make a song of praise to your name. Great salvation does he give to his king; he has mercy on the king of his selection, David, and on his seed for ever.
And he put some of the Levites before the ark of the Lord as servants, to keep the acts of the Lord in memory, and to give worship and praise to the Lord, the God of Israel: Asaph the chief, and second to him Zechariah, Uzziel and Shemiramoth and Jehiel and Mattithiah and Eliab and Benaiah and Obed-edom and Jeiel, with corded instruments of music; and Asaph, with brass instruments sounding loudly; And Benaiah and Jahaziel the priests, blowing horns all the time before the ark of the agreement of God. Then on that day David first made the giving of praise to the Lord the work of Asaph and his brothers. O give praise to the Lord; give honour to his name, talking of his doings among the peoples. Let your voice be sounded in songs and melody; let all your thoughts be of the wonder of his works. Have glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who are searching after the Lord be glad. Let your search be for the Lord and for his strength; let your hearts ever be turned to him. Keep in mind the great works which he has done; his wonders, and the decisions of his mouth; O you seed of Israel his servant, you children of Jacob, his loved ones. He is the Lord our God: he is judge of all the earth. He has kept his agreement in mind for ever, the word which he gave for a thousand generations; The agreement which he made with Abraham, and his oath to Isaac; And he gave it to Jacob for a law, and to Israel for an eternal agreement; Saying, To you will I give the land of Canaan, the measured line of your heritage: When you were still small in number, and strange in the land; When they went about from one nation to another, and from one kingdom to another people; He would not let anyone do them wrong; he even kept back kings because of them, Saying, Put not your hand on those who have been marked with my holy oil, and do my prophets no wrong. Make songs to the Lord, all the earth; give the good news of his salvation day by day. Make clear his glory to the nations, and his wonders to all the peoples. For the Lord is great, and greatly to be praised; and he is more to be feared than all other gods. For all the gods of the nations are false gods; but the Lord made the heavens. Honour and glory are before him: strength and joy are in his holy place. Give to the Lord, O you families of the peoples, give to the Lord glory and strength. Give to the Lord the glory of his name; take with you an offering and come before him; give worship to the Lord in holy robes. Be in fear before him, all the earth: the world is ordered so that it may not be moved. Let the heavens have joy and let the earth be glad; let them say among the nations, The Lord is King. Let the sea be thundering with all its waters; let the field be glad, and everything which is in it; Then let all the trees of the wood be sounding with joy before the Lord, for he is come to be the judge of the earth. O give praise to the Lord, for he is good: for his mercy is unchanging for ever. And say, Be our saviour, O God of our salvation, and let us come back, and give us salvation from the nations, so that we may give honour to your holy name and have glory in your praise. Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, for ever and for ever. And all the people said, So be it; and gave praise to the Lord.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 71
Commentary on Psalms 71 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
Prayer of a Grey-Headed Servant of God for Further Divine Aid
The Davidic Psalms 70:1-5 is followed by an anonymous Psalm which begins like Ps 31 and closes like Ps 35, in which Psalms 71:12, just like Psalms 70:2, is an echo of Psalms 40:14. The whole Psalm is an echo of the language of older Psalms, which is become the mental property, so to speak, of the author, and is revived in him by experiences of a similar character. Notwithstanding the entire absence of any thorough originality, it has an individual, and in fact a Jeremianic, impress.
The following reasons decide us in considering the Psalm as coming from the pen of Jeremiah: - (1) Its relationship to Psalms of the time of David and of the earlier times of the kings, but after David, leads us down to somewhere about the age of Jeremiah. (2) This anthological weaving together of men's own utterances taken from older original passages, and this skilful variation of them by merely slight touches of his own, is exactly Jeremiah's manner. (3) In solitary instances the style of Ps 69, slow, loose, only sparingly adorned with figures, and here and there prosaic, closely resembles Jeremiah; also to him corresponds the situation of the poet as one who is persecuted; to him, the retrospect of a life rich in experience and full of miraculous guidings; to him, whose term of active service extended over a period of more than thirty years under Zedekiah, the transition to hoary age in which the poet finds himself; to him, the reference implied in Psalms 71:21 to some high office; and to him, the soft, plaintive strain that pervades the Psalm, from which it is at the same time clearly seen that the poet has attained a degree of age and experience, in which he is accustomed to self-control and is not discomposed by personal misfortune. To all these correspondences there is still to be added an historical testimony. The lxx inscribes the Psalm τῷ Δαυίδ υἱῷν Ἰωναδάβ καὶ τῶν πρώτων αἰχμαλωτισθέντων . According to this inscription, the τῷ Δαυίδ of which is erroneous, but the second part of which is so explicit that it must be based upon tradition, the Psalm was a favourite song of the Rechabites and of the first exiles. The Rechabites are that tribe clinging to a homely nomad life in accordance with the will of their father, which Jeremiah (Jer 35) holds up before the men of his time as an example of self-denying faithful adherence to the law of their father which puts them to shame. If the Psalm is by Jeremiah, it is just as intelligible that the Rechabites, to whom Jeremiah paid such a high tribute of respect, should appropriate it to their own use, as that the first exiles should do so. Hitzig infers from Psalms 71:20, that at the time of its composition Jerusalem had already fallen; whereas in Ps 69 it is only the cities of Judah that as yet lie in ashes. But after the overthrow of Jerusalem we find no circumstances in the life of the prophet, who is no more heard of in Egypt, that will correspond to the complaints of the psalmist of violence and mockery. Moreover the foe in Psalms 71:4 is not the Chaldaean, whose conduct towards Jeremiah did not merit these names. Nor can Psalms 71:20 have been written at the time of the second siege and in the face of the catastrophe.
Stayed upon Jahve, his ground of trust, from early childhood up, the poet hopes and prays for deliverance out of the hand of the foe. The first of these two strophes (Psalms 71:1-3) is taken from Psalms 31:2-4, the second (Psalms 71:4-6, with the exception of Psalms 71:4 and Psalms 71:6 ) from Psalms 22:10-11; both, however, in comparison with Psalms 70:1-5 exhibit the far more encroaching variations of a poet who reproduces the language of others with a freer hand. Olshausen wishes to read מעוז in Psalms 71:3, Psalms 90:1; Psalms 91:9, instead of מעון , which he holds to be an error in writing. But this old Mosaic, Deuteronomial word (vid., on Psalms 90:1) - cf. the post-biblical oath המעון (by the Temple!) - is unassailable. Jahve, who is called a rock of refuge in Psalms 31:3, is here called a rock of habitation, i.e., a high rock that cannot be stormed or scaled, which affords a safe abode; and this figure is pursued still further with a bold remodelling of the text of Psalms 31:3 : לבוא תּמיד , constantly to go into, i.e., which I can constantly, and therefore always, as often as it is needful, betake myself for refuge. The additional צוּית is certainly not equivalent to צוּה ; it would more likely be equivalent to אשׁר צוית ; but probably it is an independent clause: Thou hast (in fact) commanded, i.e., unalterably determined (Psalms 44:5; Psalms 68:29; Psalms 133:3), to show me salvation, for my rock, etc. To the words לבוא תמיד צוית corresponds the expression לבית מצודות in Psalms 31:3, which the lxx renders καὶ εἰς οἶκον καταφυγῆς , whereas instead of the former three words it has καὶ εἰς τόπον ὀχυρόν , and seems to have read לבית מבצרות , cf. Daniel 11:15 (Hitzig). In Psalms 71:5, Thou art my hope reminds one of the divine name מקוה ישׂראל in Jeremiah 17:13; Jeremiah 50:7 (cf. ἡ ἐλπίς ἡμῶν used of Christ in 1 Timothy 1:1; Colossians 1:27). נסמכתּי is not less beautiful than השׁלכתּי in Psalms 22:11. In its incipient slumbering state (cf. Psalms 3:6), and in its self-conscious continuance. He was and is the upholding prop and the supporting foundation, so to speak, of my life. And גוזי instead of גּחי in Psalms 22:10, is just such another felicitous modification. It is impracticable to define the meaning of this גוזי according to גּזה = גּזה , Arab. jz' , retribuere (prop. to cut up, distribute), because גּמל is the representative of this Aramaeo-Arabic verb in the Hebrew. Still less, however, can it be derived from גּוּז , transire , the participle of which, if it would admit of a transitive meaning = מוציאי (Targum), ought to be גּזי . The verb גּזה , in accordance with its radical signification of abscindere (root גז , synon. קץ , קד , קט , and the like), denotes in this instance the separating of the child from the womb of the mother, the retrospect going back from youth to childhood, and even to his birth. The lxx σκεπαστής ( μου ) is an erroneous reading for ἐκσπαστής , as is clear from Psalms 22:10, ὁ ἐκσπάσας με . הלּל בּ , Psalms 44:9 (cf. שׂיח בּ , Psalms 69:13), is at the bottom of the expression in Psalms 71:6 . The God to whom he owes his being, and its preservation thus far, is the constant, inexhaustible theme of his praise.
Brought safely through dangers of every kind, he is become כּמופת , as a wonder, a miracle (Arabic aft from afata , cognate afaka , הפך , to bend, distort: a turning round, that which is turned round or wrenched, i.e., that which is contrary to what is usual and looked for) to many, who gaze upon him as such with astonishment (Psalms 40:4). It is his God, however, to whom, as hitherto so also in time to come, he will look to be thus wonderfully preserved: מחסי־עז , as in 2 Samuel 22:33. עז is a genitive, and the suffix is thrown back (vid., supra , p 171) in order that what God is to, and does for, the poet may be brought forward more clearly and independently [ lit . unalloyed]. Psalms 71:8 tells us what it is that he firmly expects on the ground of what he possesses in God. And on this very ground arises the prayer of Psalms 71:9 also: Cast me not away (viz., from Thy presence, Psalms 51:13; Jeremiah 7:15, and frequently) in the time ( לעת , as in Genesis 8:11) of old age - he is therefore already an old man ( זקן ), though only just at the beginning of the זקנה . He supplicates favour for the present and for the time still to come: now that my vital powers are failing, forsake me not! Thus he prays because he, who has been often wondrously delivered, is even now threatened by foes. Psalms 71:11, introduced by means of Psalms 71:10, tells us what their thoughts of him are, and what they purpose doing. לי , Psalms 71:10 , does not belong to אויבי , as it dies not in Psalms 27:2 also, and elsewhere. The ל is that of relation or of reference, as in Psalms 41:6. The unnecessary לאמר betrays a poet of the later period; cf. Psalms 105:11; Psalms 119:82 (where it was less superfluous), and on the contrary, Psalms 83:5. The later poet also reveals himself in Psalms 71:12, which is an echo of very similar prayers of David in Psalms 22:12, Psalms 22:20 (Psalms 40:14, cf. Psalms 70:2), Psalms 35:22; Psalms 38:22. The Davidic style is to be discerned here throughout in other points also. In place of הישׁה the Kerî substitutes חוּשׁה , which is the form exclusively found elsewhere.
In view of Psalms 40:15 (Psalms 70:3), Psalms 35:4, Psalms 35:26; Psalms 109:29, and other passages, the reading of יכּלמוּ , with the Syriac, instead of יכלוּ in Psalms 71:13 commends itself; but there are also other instances in this Psalm of a modification of the original passages, and the course of the thoughts is now climactic: confusion, ruin (cf. Ps 6:11), and in fact ruin accompanied by reproach and shame. This is the fate that the poet desires for his deadly foes. In prospect of this he patiently composes himself, Psalms 71:14 (cf. 31:25); and when righteous retribution appears, he will find new matter and ground and motive for the praise of God in addition to all such occasion as he has hitherto had. The late origin of the Psalm betrays itself again here; for instead of the praet. Hiph . הוסיף (which is found only in the Books of Kings and in Ecclesiastes), the older language made use of the praet. Ka. Without ceasing shall his mouth tell ( ספּר , as in Jeremiah 51:10) of God's righteousness, of God's salvation for he knows not numbers, i.e., the counting over or through of them (Psalms 139:17.);
(Note: The lxx renders οὐκ ἔγνων πραγματείας ; the Psalterium Romanum, non cognovi negotiationes ; Psalt. Gallicum (Vulgate), non cognovi literaturam (instead of which the Psalt. Hebr., literaturas ). According to Böttcher, the poet really means that he did not understand the art of writing.)
the divine proofs of righteousness or salvation עצמוּ מסּפּר (Psalms 40:6), they are in themselves endless, and therefore the matter also which they furnish for praise is inexhaustible. He will tell those things which cannot be so reckoned up; he will come with the mighty deeds of the Lord Jahve, and with praise acknowledge His righteousness, Him alone. Since גּברות , like the New Testament δυνάμεις , usually signifies the proofs of the divine גּבוּרה (e.g., Psalms 20:7), the Beth is the Beth of accompaniment, as e.g., in Psalms 40:8; Psalms 66:13. בּוא בּ , vernire cum , is like Arab. j'â' b ( atâ ), equivalent to afferre , he will bring the proofs of the divine power, this rich material, with him. It is evident from Psalms 71:18. that בגברות does not refer to the poet (in the fulness of divine strength), but, together with צדקתך , forms a pair of words that have reference to God. לבדּך , according to the sense, joins closely upon the suffix of צדקתך (cf. Ps 83:19): Thy righteousness (which has been in mercy turned towards me), Thine alone ( te solum = tui solius ). From youth up God has instructed him, viz., in His ways (Psalms 25:4), which are worthy of all praise, and hitherto ( עד־הנּה , found only in this passage in the Psalter, and elsewhere almost entirely confined to prose) has he, “the taught of Jahve” ( למּוּד ה ), had to praise the wonders of His rule and of His leadings. May God, then, not forsake him even further on עד־זקנה ושׂיבה . The poet is already old ( זקן ), and is drawing ever nearer to שׂיבה , silvery, hoary old age (cf. 1 Samuel 12:2). May God, then, in this stage of life also to which he has attained, preserve him in life and in His favour, until ( עד = עד־אשׁר , as in Psalms 132:5; Genesis 38:11, and frequently) he shall have declared His arm, i.e., His mighty interposition in human history, to posterity ( דּור ), and to all who shall come (supply אשׁר ), i.e., the whole of the future generation, His strength, i.e., the impossibility of thwarting His purposes. The primary passage for this is Psalms 22:31.
The thought of this proclamation so thoroughly absorbs the poet that he even now enters upon the tone of it; and since to his faith the deliverance is already a thing of the past, the tender song with its uncomplaining prayer dies away into a loud song of praise, in which he pictures it all to himself. Without Psalms 71:19-21 being subordinate to עד־אגיד in Psalms 71:18, וצדקתך is coupled by close connection with בגורתך . Psalms 71:19 is an independent clause; and עד־מרום takes the place of the predicate: the righteousness of God exceeds all bounds, is infinite (Psalms 36:6., Psalms 57:11). The cry כמוך מי , as in Psalms 35:10; Psalms 69:9, Jeremiah 10:6, refers back to Exodus 15:11. According to the Chethîb , the range of the poet's vision widens in Psalms 71:20 from the proofs of the strength and righteousness of God which he has experienced in his own case to those which he has experienced in common with others in the history of his own nation. The Kerî (cf. on the other hand Psalms 60:5; Psalms 85:7; Deuteronomy 31:17) rests upon a failing to discern how the experiences of the writer are interwoven with those of the nation. תּשׁוּב in both instances supplies the corresponding adverbial notion to the principal verb, as in Psalms 85:7 (cf. Psalms 51:4). תּהום , prop. a rumbling, commonly used of a deep heaving of waters, here signifies an abyss. “The abysses of the earth” (lxx ἐκ τῶν ἀβύσσων τῆς γῆς , just as the old Syriac version renders the New Testament ἄβυσσος , e.g., in Luke 8:31, by Syr. tehūmā' ) are, like the gates of death (Psalms 9:14), a figure of extreme perils and dangers, in the midst of which one is as it were half hidden in the abyss of Hades. The past and future are clearly distinguished in the sequence of the tenses. When God shall again raise His people out of the depth of the present catastrophe, then will He also magnify the גּדלּה of the poet, i.e., in the dignity of his office, by most brilliantly vindicating him in the face of his foes, and will once more ( תּסּוב , fut. Niph . like תּשׁוּב ekil .h above) comfort him. He on his part will also (cf. Job 40:14) be grateful for this national restoration and this personal vindication: he will praise God, will praise His truth, i.e., His fidelity to His promises. בּכלי נבל instead of בּנבל sounds more circumstantial than in the old poetry. The divine name “The Holy One of Israel” occurs here for the third time in the Psalter; the other passages are Psalms 78:41; Psalms 89:19, which are older in time, and older also than Isaiah, who uses it thirty times, and Habakkuk, who uses it once. Jeremiah has it twice (Jeremiah 50:29; Jeremiah 51:5), and that after the example of Isaiah. In Psalms 71:23, Psalms 71:24 the poet means to say that lips and tongue, song and speech, shall act in concert in the praise of God. תּרנּנּה with Dagesh also in the second Nun , after the form תּקוננּה , תּשׁכּנּה , side by side with which we also find the reading תּרנּנּה , and the reading תּרנּנה , which is in itself admissible, after the form תּאמנה , תּעגנה , but is here unattested.
(Note: Heidenheim reads תּרנּנּה with Segol , following the statement of Ibn-Bil'am in his טעמי המקרא and of Mose ha-Nakdan in his דרכי הנקוד , that Segol always precedes the ending נּה , with the exception only of הנּה and האזנּה . Baer, on the other hand, reads תונּנּה , following Aben-Ezra and Kimchi ( Michlol 66b ).)
The cohortative after כּי (lxx ὅταν ) is intended to convey this meaning: when I feel myself impelled to harp unto Thee. In the perfects in the closing line that which is hoped for stands before his soul as though it had already taken place. כי is repeated with triumphant emphasis.