1 > Many times they have afflicted me from my youth up. Let Israel now say,
> If it had not been Yahweh who was on our side, Let Israel now say,
I will give her vineyards from there, And the valley of Achor for a door of hope; And she will respond there, As in the days of her youth, And as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt.
"When Israel was a child, then I loved him, And called my son out of Egypt.
and they played the prostitute in Egypt; they played the prostitute in their youth; there were their breasts pressed, and there was handled the bosom of their virginity.
Judah is gone into captivity because of affliction, and because of great servitude; She dwells among the nations, she finds no rest: All her persecutors overtook her within the straits.
Stand now with your enchantments, and with the multitude of your sorceries, in which you have labored from your youth; if so be you shall be able to profit, if so be you may prevail.
> Blessed is everyone who fears Yahweh, Who walks in his ways.
> When Yahweh brought back those who returned to Zion, We were like those who dream.
But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread out. They were grieved because of the children of Israel. The Egyptians ruthlessly made the children of Israel serve, and they made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field, all their service, in which they ruthlessly made them serve.
> I was glad when they said to me, "Let's go to Yahweh's house!"
> I will lift up my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from?
Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity were building a temple to Yahweh, the God of Israel; then they drew near to Zerubbabel, and to the heads of fathers' [houses], and said to them, Let us build with you; for we seek your God, as you do; and we sacrifice to him since the days of Esar Haddon king of Assyria, who brought us up here. But Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of fathers' [houses] of Israel, said to them, You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we ourselves together will build to Yahweh, the God of Israel, as king Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us. Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building, and hired counselors against them, to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia. In the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, wrote they an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem. In the days of Artaxerxes wrote Bishlam, Mithredath, Tabeel, and the rest of his companions, to Artaxerxes king of Persia; and the writing of the letter was written in the Syrian [character], and set forth in the Syrian [language]. Rehum the chancellor and Shimshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to Artaxerxes the king in this sort: then [wrote] Rehum the chancellor, and Shimshai the scribe, and the rest of their companions, the Dinaites, and the Apharsathchites, the Tarpelites, the Apharsites, the Archevites, the Babylonians, the Shushanchites, the Dehaites, the Elamites, and the rest of the nations whom the great and noble Osnappar brought over, and set in the city of Samaria, and in the rest [of the country] beyond the River, and so forth. This is the copy of the letter that they sent to Artaxerxes the king: Your servants the men beyond the River, and so forth. Be it known to the king, that the Jews who came up from you are come to us to Jerusalem; they are building the rebellious and the bad city, and have finished the walls, and repaired the foundations. Be it known now to the king that if this city is built, and the walls finished, they will not pay tribute, custom, or toll, and in the end it will be hurtful to the kings. Now because we eat the salt of the palace, and it is not appropriate for us to see the king's dishonor, therefore have we sent and informed the king; that search may be made in the book of the records of your fathers: so shall you find in the book of the records, and know that this city is a rebellious city, and hurtful to kings and provinces, and that they have moved sedition within the same of old time; for which cause was this city laid waste. We inform the king that, if this city be built, and the walls finished, by this means you shall have no portion beyond the River. [Then] sent the king an answer to Rehum the chancellor, and to Shimshai the scribe, and to the rest of their companions who dwell in Samaria, and in the rest [of the country] beyond the River: Peace, and so forth. The letter which you sent to us has been plainly read before me. I decreed, and search has been made, and it is found that this city of old time has made insurrection against kings, and that rebellion and sedition have been made therein. There have been mighty kings also over Jerusalem, who have ruled over all [the country] beyond the River; and tribute, custom, and toll, was paid to them. Make you now a decree to cause these men to cease, and that this city not be built, until a decree shall be made by me. Take heed that you not be slack herein: why should damage grow to the hurt of the kings? Then when the copy of king Artaxerxes' letter was read before Rehum, and Shimshai the scribe, and their companions, they went in haste to Jerusalem to the Jews, and made them to cease by force and power.
Now there was no smith found throughout all the land of Israel; for the Philistines said, Lest the Hebrews make them swords or spears:
They vexed and oppressed the children of Israel that year: eighteen years [oppressed they] all the children of Israel that were beyond the Jordan in the land of the Amorites, which is in Gilead. The children of Ammon passed over the Jordan to fight also against Judah, and against Benjamin, and against the house of Ephraim; so that Israel was sore distressed. The children of Israel cried to Yahweh, saying, We have sinned against you, even because we have forsaken our God, and have served the Baals. Yahweh said to the children of Israel, Didn't I save you from the Egyptians, and from the Amorites, from the children of Ammon, and from the Philistines? The Sidonians also, and the Amalekites, and the Maonites, did oppress you; and you cried to me, and I saved you out of their hand.
Therefore the anger of Yahweh was kindled against Israel, and he sold them into the hand of Cushan Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia: and the children of Israel served Cushan Rishathaim eight years.
Wherever they went out, the hand of Yahweh was against them for evil, as Yahweh had spoken, and as Yahweh had sworn to them: and they were sore distressed.
"You shall no longer give the people straw to make brick, as before. Let them go and gather straw for themselves. The number of the bricks, which they made before, you require from them. You shall not diminish anything of it, for they are idle; therefore they cry, saying, 'Let us go and sacrifice to our God.' Let heavier work be laid on the men, that they may labor therein; and don't let them pay any attention to lying words." The taskmasters of the people went out, and their officers, and they spoke to the people, saying, This is what Pharaoh says: "I will not give you straw. Go yourselves, get straw where you can find it, for nothing of your work shall be diminished." So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw. The taskmasters were urgent saying, "Fulfill your work quota daily, as when there was straw!" The officers of the children of Israel, whom Pharaoh's taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, and demanded, "Why haven't you fulfilled your quota both yesterday and today, in making brick as before?" Then the officers of the children of Israel came and cried to Pharaoh, saying, "Why do you deal this way with your servants? No straw is given to your servants, and they tell us, 'Make brick!' and, behold, your servants are beaten; but the fault is in your own people." But he said, "You are idle! You are idle! Therefore you say, 'Let us go and sacrifice to Yahweh.' Go therefore now, and work, for no straw shall be given to you, yet shall you deliver the same number of bricks!" The officers of the children of Israel saw that they were in trouble, when it was said, "You shall not diminish anything from your daily quota of bricks!"
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 129
Commentary on Psalms 129 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
The End of the Oppressors of Zion
Just as Psalms 124:1-8 with the words “let Israel say” was followed by Psalms 125:1-5 with “peace be upon Israel,” so Psalms 128:1-6 with “peace be upon Israel” is followed by Psalms 129:1-8 with “let Israel say.” This Psalms 129:1-8 has not only the call “let Israel say,” but also the situation of a deliverance that has been experienced (cf. Psalms 129:4 with Psalms 124:6.), from which point it looks gratefully back and confidently forward into the future, and an Aramaic tinge that is noticeable here and there by the side of all other classical character of form, in common with Psalms 124:1-8.
Israel is gratefully to confess that, however much and sorely it was oppressed, it still has not succumbed. רבּת , together with רבּה , has occurred already in Psalms 65:10; Psalms 62:3, and it becomes usual in the post-exilic language, Psalms 120:6; Psalms 123:4, 2 Chronicles 30:18; Syriac rebath . The expression “from my youth” glances back to the time of the Egyptian bondage; for the time of the sojourn in Egypt was the time of Israel's youth (Hosea 2:17, Hosea 11:1, Jeremiah 2:2; Ezekiel 23:3). The protasis Psalms 129:1 is repeated in an interlinked, chain-like conjunction in order to complete the thought; for Psalms 129:2 is the turning-point, where גּם , having reference to the whole negative clause, signifies “also” in the sense of “nevertheless,” ὅμως (synon. בּכל־בּכל ), as in Ezekiel 16:28; Ecclesiastes 6:7, cf. above, Psalms 119:24 : although they oppressed me much and sore, yet have they not overpowered me (the construction is like Numbers 13:30, and frequently).
Elsewhere it is said that the enemies have driven over Israel (Psalms 66:12), or have gone over its back (Isaiah 51:23); here the customary figurative language חרשׁ און in Job 4:8 (cf. Hosea 10:13) is extended to another figure of hostile dealing: without compassion and without consideration they ill-treated the stretched-forth back of the people who were held in subjection, as though it were arable land, and, without restraining their ferocity and setting a limit to their spoiling of the enslaved people and country, they drew their furrow-strip ( מעניתם , according to the Kerî מענותם ) long. But מענה does not signify (as Keil on 1 Samuel 14:14 is of opinion, although explaining the passage more correctly than Thenius) the furrow (= תּלם , גּדוּד ), but, like Arab. ma‛nât , a strip of arable land which the ploughman takes in hand at one time, at both ends of which consequently the ploughing team ( צמד ) always comes to a stand, turns round, and ploughs a new furrow; from ענה , to bend, turn (vid., Wetzstein's Excursus II p. 861). It is therefore: they drew their furrow-turning long (dative of the object instead of the accusative with Hiph ., as e.g., in Isaiah 29:2, cf. with Piel in Psalms 34:4; Psalms 116:16, and Kal Psalms 69:6, after the Aramaic style, although it is not unhebraic). Righteous is Jahve - this is an universal truth, which has been verified in the present circumstances; - He hath cut asunder the cords of the wicked ( עבות as in Psalms 2:3; here, however, it is suggested by the metaphor in Psalms 129:3, cf. Job 39:10; lxx αὐχένας , i.e., ענוק ), with which they held Israel bound. From that which has just been experienced Israel derives the hope that all Zion's haters (a newly coined name for the enemies of the religion of Israel) will be obliged to retreat with shame and confusion.
The poet illustrates the fate that overtakes them by means of a picture borrowed from Isaiah and worked up (Psalms 37:27): they become like “grass of the housetops,” etc. שׁ is a relative to יבשׁ ( quod exarescit ), and קדמת , priusquam , is Hebraized after מן־קדמת דּנה in Daniel 6:11, or מקּדמת דּנה in Ezra 5:11. שׁלף elsewhere has the signification “to draw forth” of a sword, shoe, or arrow, which is followed by the lxx, Theodotion, and the Quinta: πρὸ τοῦ ἐκσπασθῆναι , before it is plucked. But side by side with the ἐκσπασθῆναι of the lxx we also find the reading exanthee'sai; and in this sense Jerome renders ( statim ut ) viruerit , Symmachus ἐκκαυλῆσαι (to shoot into a stalk), Aquila ἀνέθαλεν , the Sexta ἐκστερεῶσαι (to attain to full solidity). The Targum paraphrases שׁלף in both senses: to shoot up and to pluck off. The former signification, after which Venema interprets: antequam se evaginet vel evaginetur , i.e., antequam e vaginulis suis se evolvat et succrescat , is also advocated by Parchon, Kimchi, and Aben-Ezra. In the same sense von Ortenberg conjectures שׁחלף . Since the grass of the house-tops or roofs, if one wishes to pull it up, can be pulled up just as well when it is withered as when it is green, and since it is the most natural thing to take חציר as the subject to שׁלף , we decide in favour of the intransitive signification, “to put itself forth, to develope, shoot forth into ear.” The roof-grass withers before it has put forth ears of blossoms, just because it has no deep root, and therefore cannot stand against the heat of the sun.
(Note: So, too, Geiger in the Deutsche Morgenländische Zeitschrift , xiv. 278f., according to whom Arab. slf ( šlf ) occurs in Saadia and Abu-Said in the signification “to be in the first maturity, to blossom,” - a sense שׁלף may also have here; cf. the Talmudic שׁלופפי used of unripe dates that are still in blossom.)
The poet pursues the figure of the grass of the house-tops still further. The encompassing lap or bosom ( κόλπος ) is called elsewhere חצן (Isaiah 49:22; Nehemiah 5:13); here it is חצן , like the Arabic ḥiḍn (diminutive ḥoḍein ), of the same root with מחוז , a creek, in Psalms 107:30. The enemies of Israel are as grass upon the house-tops, which is not garnered in; their life closes with sure destruction, the germ of which they (without any need for any rooting out) carry within themselves. The observation of Knapp, that any Western poet would have left off with Psalms 129:6, is based upon the error that Psalms 129:7-8 are an idle embellishment. The greeting addressed to the reapers in Psalms 129:8 is taken from life; it is not denied even to heathen reapers. Similarly Boaz (Ruth 2:4) greets them with “Jahve be with you,” and receivers the counter-salutation, “Jahve bless thee.” Here it is the passers-by who call out to those who are harvesting: The blessing ( בּרכּת ) of Jahve happen to you ( אליכם ,
(Note: Here and there עליכם is found as an error of the copyist. The Hebrew Psalter , Basel 1547, 12mo, notes it as a various reading.)
as in the Aaronitish blessing), and (since “we bless you in the name of Jahve” would be a purposeless excess of politeness in the mouth of the same speakers) receive in their turn the counter-salutation: We bless you in the name of Jahve . As a contrast it follows that there is before the righteous a garnering in of that which they have sown amidst the exchange of joyful benedictory greetings.