6 Jehovah is doing righteousness and judgments For all the oppressed.
Father and mother made light of in thee, To a sojourner they dealt oppressively in thy midst, Fatherless and widow they oppressed in thee.
Doing judgment for the oppressed, Giving bread to the hungry.
`Thou dost not oppress a hireling, poor and needy, of thy brethren or of thy sojourner who is in thy land within thy gates; in his day thou dost give his hire, and the sun doth not go in upon it, for he `is' poor, and unto it he is lifting up his soul, and he doth not cry against thee unto Jehovah, and it hath been in thee -- sin.
Is not this the fast that I chose -- To loose the bands of wickedness, To shake off the burdens of the yoke, And to send out the oppressed free, And every yoke ye draw off? Is it not to deal to the hungry thy bread, And the mourning poor bring home, That thou seest the naked and cover him, And from thine own flesh hide not thyself?
Go, now, ye rich! weep, howling over your miseries that are coming upon `you'; your riches have rotted, and your garments have become moth-eaten; your gold and silver have rotted, and the rust of them for a testimony shall be to you, and shall eat your flesh as fire. Ye made treasure in the last days! lo, the reward of the workmen, of those who in-gathered your fields, which hath been fraudulently kept back by you -- doth cry out, and the exclamations of those who did reap into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth have entered; ye did live in luxury upon the earth, and were wanton; ye did nourish your hearts, as in a day of slaughter; ye did condemn -- ye did murder the righteous one, he doth not resist you.
and ye did dishonour the poor one; do not the rich oppress you and themselves draw you to judgment-seats;
Ye who are hating good, and loving evil, Taking violently their skin from off them, And their flesh from off their bones, And who have eaten the flesh of My people, And their skin from off them have stript, And their bones they have broken, And they have spread `them' out as in a pot, And as flesh in the midst of a caldron. Then do they cry unto Jehovah, And He doth not answer them, And hideth His face from them at that time, As they have made evil their doings.
Wo `to' those devising iniquity, And working evil on their beds, In the light of the morning they do it, For their hand is -- to God. And they have desired fields, And they have taken violently, And houses, and they have taken away, And have oppressed a man and his house, Even a man and his inheritance. Therefore, thus said Jehovah: Lo, I am devising against this family evil, From which ye do not remove your necks, Nor walk loftily, for a time of evil it `is'.
A bribe they have taken in thee to shed blood, Usury and increase thou hast taken, And cuttest off thy neighbour by oppression, And Me thou hast forgotten, An affirmation of the Lord Jehovah! And lo, I have smitten My hand, Because of thy dishonest gain that thou hast gained, And for thy blood that hath been in thy midst. Doth thy heart stand -- are thy hands strong, For the days that I am dealing with thee? I, Jehovah, have spoken and have done `it'.
Sojourner, fatherless, and widow, ye oppress not, And innocent blood do not shed in this place, And after other gods do not walk, for evil to yourselves, Then I have caused you to dwell in this place, In the land that I gave to your fathers, From age even unto age. Lo, ye are trusting for yourselves On the words of falsehood, so as not to profit. Stealing, murdering, and committing adultery, And swearing to falsehood, and giving perfume to Baal, And going after other gods whom ye knew not. And ye have come in and stood before Me, In this house on which My name is called, And have said, `We have been delivered,' In order to do all these abominations. A den of burglars hath this house, On which My name is called, been in your eyes? Even I, lo, I have seen, an affirmation of Jehovah. But go ye, I pray you, Unto My place that `is' in Shiloh, Where I caused My name to dwell at first, And see that which I have done to it, For the wickedness of My people Israel. And now, because of your doing all these works, An affirmation of Jehovah, And I speak unto you, rising early and speaking, And ye have not hearkened, And I call you, and ye have not answered, I also to the house on which My name is called, In which ye are trusting, And to the place that I gave to you, and to your fathers, Have done, as I have done to Shiloh. And I have cast you from before My face, As I have cast out all your brethren, The whole seed of Ephraim.
This `is' the portion of wicked man with God, And the inheritance of terrible ones From the Mighty they receive. If his sons multiply -- for them `is' a sword. And his offspring `are' not satisfied `with' bread. His remnant in death are buried, And his widows do not weep. If he heap up as dust silver, And as clay prepare clothing, He prepareth -- and the righteous putteth `it' on, And the silver the innocent doth apportion. He hath built as a moth his house, And as a booth a watchman hath made. Rich he lieth down, and he is not gathered, His eyes he hath opened, and he is not. Overtake him as waters do terrors, By night stolen him away hath a whirlwind. Take him up doth an east wind, and he goeth, And it frighteneth him from his place, And it casteth at him, and doth not spare, From its hand he diligently fleeth. It clappeth at him its hands, And it hisseth at him from his place.
That thou hast taken up this simile Concerning the king of Babylon, and said, How hath the exactor ceased, Ceased hath the golden one. Broken hath Jehovah the staff of the wicked, The sceptre of rulers. He who is smiting peoples in wrath, A smiting without intermission, He who is ruling in anger nations, Pursuing without restraint! At rest -- quiet hath been all the earth, They have broken forth `into' singing. Even firs have rejoiced over thee, Cedars of Lebanon -- `saying': Since thou hast lain down, The hewer cometh not up against us. Sheol beneath hath been troubled at thee, To meet thy coming in, It is waking up for thee Rephaim, All chiefs ones of earth, It hath raised up from their thrones All kings of nations. All of them answer and say unto thee, Even thou hast become weak like us! Unto us thou hast become like! Brought down to Sheol hath been thine excellency, The noise of thy psaltery, Under thee spread out hath been the worm, Yea, covering thee is the worm. How hast thou fallen from the heavens, O shining one, son of the dawn! Thou hast been cut down to earth, O weakener of nations. And thou saidst in thy heart: the heavens I go up, Above stars of God I raise my throne, And I sit in the mount of meeting in the sides of the north. I go up above the heights of a thick cloud, I am like to the Most High. Only -- unto Sheol thou art brought down, Unto the sides of the pit. Thy beholders look to thee, to thee they attend, Is this the man causing the earth to tremble, Shaking kingdoms? He hath made the world as a wilderness, And his cities he hath broken down, Of his bound ones he opened not the house. All kings of nations -- all of them, Have lain down in honour, each in his house, And -- thou hast been cast out of thy grave, As an abominable branch, raiment of the slain, Thrust through ones of the sword, Going down unto the sons of the pit, As a carcase trodden down. Thou art not united with them in burial, For thy land thou hast destroyed, Thy people thou hast slain, Not named to the age is the seed of evil doers. Prepare ye for his sons slaughter; Because of the iniquity of their fathers, They rise not, nor have possessed the land, Nor filled the face of the world `with' cities. And I have risen up against them, (The affirmation of Jehovah of Hosts,) And have cut off, in reference to Babylon, Name and remnant, and continuator and successor, The affirmation of Jehovah. And have made it for a possession of a bittern, And ponds of waters, And daubed it with the mire of destruction, The affirmation of Jehovah of Hosts! Sworn hath Jehovah of Hosts, saying, `As I thought -- so hath it not been? And as I counselled -- it standeth; To break Asshur in My land, And on My mountains I tread him down, And turned from off them hath his yoke, Yea, his burden from off their shoulder turneth aside. This `is' the counsel that is counselled for all the earth, And this `is' the hand that is stretched out for all the nations. For Jehovah of Hosts hath purposed, And who doth make void? And His hand that is stretched out, Who doth turn it back?' In the year of the death of king Ahaz was this burden: Rejoice not thou, Philistia, all of thee, That broken hath been the rod of thy smiter, For from the root of a serpent cometh out a viper, And its fruit `is' a flying saraph. And delighted have the first-born of the poor, And the needy in confidence lie down, And I have put to death with famine thy root, And thy remnant it slayeth. Howl, O gate; cry, O city, Melted art thou, Philistia, all of thee, For from the north smoke hath come, And there is none alone in his set places. And what doth one answer the messengers of a nation? `That Jehovah hath founded Zion, And in it do the poor of His people trust!'
Remove not a border of olden times, And into fields of the fatherless enter not,
An oppressor of the poor reproacheth his Maker, And whoso is honouring Him Is favouring the needy.
For He standeth at the right hand of the needy, To save from those judging his soul.
He judgeth the poor of the people, Giveth deliverance to the sons of the needy, And bruiseth the oppressor.
Thou hast seen, For Thou perverseness and anger beholdest; By giving into Thy hand, On Thee doth the afflicted leave `it', Of the fatherless Thou hast been an helper. Break the arm of the wicked and the evil, Seek out his wickedness, find none; Jehovah `is' king to the age, and for ever, The nations have perished out of His land! The desire of the humble Thou hast heard, O Jehovah. Thou preparest their heart; Thou causest Thine ear to attend, To judge the fatherless and bruised: He addeth no more to oppress -- man of the earth!
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 103
Commentary on Psalms 103 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
Hymn in Honour of God the All-Compassionate One
To the “Thou wilt have compassion upon Zion” of Psalms 102:14 is appended Psalms 103, which has this as its substance throughout; but in other respects the two Psalms stand in contrast to one another. The inscription לדוד is also found thus by itself without any further addition even before Psalms of the First Book (Psalms 26:1, Ps 35, Ps 37). It undoubtedly does not rest merely on conjecture, but upon tradition. For no internal grounds which might have given rise to the annotation לדוד can be traced. The form of the language does not favour it. This pensive song, so powerful in its tone, has an Aramaic colouring like Ps 116; Psalms 124:1-8; Psalms 129:1-8. In the heaping up of Aramaizing suffix-forms it has its equal only in the story of Elisha, 2 Kings 4:1-7, where, moreover, the Kerî throughout substitutes the usual forms, whilst here, where these suffix-forms are intentional ornaments of the expression, the Chethîb rightly remains unaltered. The forms are 2nd sing. fem. ēchi for ēch , and 2nd sing. plur. ājchi for ajich . The i without the tone which is added here is just the one with which originally the pronunciation was אתּי instead of אתּ and לכי for לך . Out of the Psalter (here and Psalms 116:7, Psalms 116:19) these suffix-forms echi and ajchi occur only in Jeremiah 11:15, and in the North-Palestinian history of the prophet in the Book of Kings. The groups or strophes into which the Psalm falls are Psalms 103:1, Psalms 103:6, Psalms 103:11, Psalms 103:15, Psalms 103:19. If we count their lines we obtain the schema 10. 10. 8. 8. 10. The coptic version accordingly reckons 46 CTYXOC , i.e., στίχοι .
In the strophe Psalms 103:1 the poet calls upon his soul to arise to praiseful gratitude for God's justifying, redeeming, and renewing grace. In such soliloquies it is the Ego that speaks, gathering itself up with the spirit, the stronger, more manly part of man ( Psychology , S. 104f.; tr. p. 126), or even, because the soul as the spiritual medium of the spirit and of the body represents the whole person of man ( Psychology , S. 203; tr. p. 240), the Ego rendering objective in the soul the whole of its own personality. So here in Psalms 103:3 the soul, which is addressed, represents the whole man. The קובים which occurs here is a more choice expression for מעים ( מעים ): the heart, which is called קרב κατ ̓ ἐξοχήν , the reins, the liver, etc.; for according to the scriptural conception ( Psychology , S. 266; tr. p. 313) these organs of the cavities of the breast and abdomen serve not merely for the bodily life, but also the psycho-spiritual life. The summoning בּרכי is repeated per anaphoram . There is nothing the soul of man is so prone to forget as to render thanks that are due, and more especially thanks that are due to God. It therefore needs to be expressly aroused in order that it may not leave the blessing with which God blesses it unacknowledged, and may not forget all His acts performed ( גּמל = גּמר ) on it ( גּמוּל , ῥῆμα μέσον , e.g., in Psalms 137:8), which are purely deeds of loving-kindness), which is the primal condition and the foundation of all the others, viz., sin-pardoning mercy. The verbs סלח and רפא with a dative of the object denote the bestowment of that which is expressed by the verbal notion. תּחלוּאים (taken from Deuteronomy 29:21, cf. 1 Chronicles 21:19, from חלא = חלה , root הל , solutum, laxum esse ) are not merely bodily diseases, but all kinds of inward and outward sufferings. משּׁחת the lxx renders ἐκ φθορᾶς (from שׁחת , as in Job 17:14); but in this antithesis to life it is more natural to render the “pit” (from שׁוּח ) as a name of Hades, as in Psalms 16:10. Just as the soul owes its deliverance from guilt and distress and death to God, so also does it owe to God that with which it is endowed out of the riches of divine love. The verb עטּר , without any such addition as in Ps 5:13, is “to crown,” cf. Psalms 8:6. As is usually the case, it is construed with a double accusative; the crown is as it were woven out of loving-kindness and compassion. The Beth of בּטּוב in Psalms 103:5 instead of the accusative (Psalms 104:28) denotes the means of satisfaction, which is at the same time that which satisfies. עדיך the Targum renders: dies senectutis tuae , whereas in Psalms 32:9 it is ornatus ejus ; the Peshîto renders: corpus tuum , and in Psalms 32:9 inversely, juventus eorum . These significations, “old age” or “youth,” are pure inventions. And since the words are addressed to the soul, עדי cannot also, like כבוד in other instances, be a name of the soul itself (Aben-Ezra, Mendelssohn, Philippsohn, Hengstenberg, and others). We, therefore, with Hitzig, fall back upon the sense of the word in Psalms 32:9, where the lxx renders τάς σιαγόνας αὐτῶν , but here more freely, apparently starting from the primary notion of עדי = Arabic chadd , the cheek: τὸν ἐμπιπλῶντα ἐν ἀγαθοῖς τὴν ἐπιθυμίαν σου (whereas Saadia's victum tuum is based upon a comparison of the Arabic gdâ , to nourish). The poet tells the soul (i.e., his own person, himself) that God satisfies it with good, so that it as it were gets its cheeks full of it (cf. Psalms 81:11). The comparison כּנּשׁר is, as in Micah 1:16 (cf. Isaiah 40:31), to be referred to the annual moulting of the eagle. Its renewing of its plumage is an emblem of the renovation of his youth by grace. The predicate to נעוּריכי (plural of extension in relation to time) stands first regularly in the sing. fem .
His range of vision being widened from himself, the poet now in Psalms 103:6 describes God's gracious and fatherly conduct towards sinful and perishing men, and that as it shines forth from the history of Israel and is known and recognised in the light of revelation. What Psalms 103:6 says is a common-place drawn from the history of Israel. משׁפּטים is an accusative governed by the עשׂה that is to be borrowed out of עשׂה (so Baer after the Masora). And because Psalms 103:6 is the result of an historical retrospect and survey, יודיע in Psalms 103:7 can affirm that which happened in the past (cf. Psalms 96:6.); for the supposition of Hengstenberg and Hitzig, that Moses here represents Israel like Jacob , Isaac , and Joseph in other instances, is without example in the whole Israelitish literature. It becomes clear from Psalms 103:8 in what sense the making of His ways known is meant. The poet has in his mind Moses' prayer: “make known to me now Thy way” (Exodus 33:13), which Jahve fulfilled by passing by him as he stood in the cleft of the rock and making Himself visible to him as he looked after Him, amidst the proclamation of His attributes. The ways of Jahve are therefore in this passage not those in which men are to walk in accordance with His precepts (Psalms 25:4), but those which He Himself follows in the course of His redemptive history (Psalms 67:3). The confession drawn from Exodus 34:6. is become a formula of the Israelitish faith (Psalms 86:15; Psalms 145:8; Joel 2:13; Nehemiah 9:17, and frequently). In Psalms 103:9. the fourth attribute ( ורב־חסד ) is made the object of further praise. He is not only long ( ארך from ארך , like כּבד from כּבד ) in anger, i.e., waiting a long time before He lets His anger loose, but when He contends, i.e., interposes judicially, this too is not carried to the full extent (Psalms 78:38), He is not angry for ever ( נטר , to keep, viz., anger, Amos 1:11; cf. the parallels, both as to matter and words, Jeremiah 3:5; Isaiah 57:16). The procedure of His righteousness is regulated not according to our sins, but according to His purpose of mercy. The prefects in Psalms 103:10 state that which God has constantly not done, and the futures in Psalms 103:9 what He continually will not do.
The ingenious figures in Psalms 103:11. (cf. Psalms 36:6; Psalms 57:11) illustrate the infinite power and complete unreservedness of mercy (loving-kindness). הרחיק has Gaja (as have also השׁחיתו and התעיבו , Psalms 14:1; Psalms 53:2, in exact texts), in order to render possible the distinct pronunciation of the guttural in the combination רח . Psalms 103:13 sounds just as much like the spirit of the New Testament as Psalms 103:11, Psalms 103:12. The relationship to Jahve in which those stand who fear Him is a filial relationship based upon free reciprocity (Malachi 3:11). His Fatherly compassion is (Psalms 103:14) based upon the frailty and perishableness of man, which are known to God, much the same as God's promise after the Flood not to decree a like judgment again (Genesis 8:21). According to this passage and Deuteronomy 31:21, יצרנוּ appears to be intended of the moral nature; but according to Psalms 103:14 , one is obliged to think rather of the natural form which man possesses from God the Creator ( ויּיצר , Genesis 2:7) than of the form of heart which he has by his own choice and, so far as its groundwork is concerned, by inheritance (Psalms 51:7). In זכוּר , mindful, the passive, according to Böttcher's correct apprehension of it, expresses a passive state after an action that is completed by the person himself, as in בּטוּה , ידוּע , and the like. In its form Psalms 103:14 reminds one of the Book of Job Job 11:11; Job 28:23, and Psalms 103:14 as to subject-matter recalls Job 7:7, and other passages (cf. Psalms 78:39; Psalms 89:48); but the following figurative representation of human frailty, with which the poet contrasts the eternal nature of the divine mercy as the sure stay of all God-fearing ones in the midst of the rise and decay of things here below, still more strongly recalls that book.
The figure of the grass recalls Psalms 90:5., cf. Isaiah 40:6-8; Isaiah 51:12; that of the flower, Job 14:2. אנושׁ is man as a mortal being; his life's duration is likened to that of a blade of grass, and his beauty and glory to a flower of the field, whose fullest bloom is also the beginning of its fading. In Psalms 103:16 בּו (the same as in Isaiah 40:7.) refers to man, who is compared to grass and flowers. כּי is ἐάν with a hypothetical perfect; and the wind that scorches up the plants, referred to man, is an emblem of every form of peril that threatens life: often enough it is really a breath of wind which snaps off a man's life. The bold designation of vanishing away without leaving any trace, “and his place knoweth him no more,” is taken from Job 7:10, cf. ibid . Job 8:18; Job 20:9. In the midst of this plant-like, frail destiny, there is, however, one strong ground of comfort. There is an everlasting power, which raises all those who link themselves with it above the transitoriness involved in nature's laws, and makes them eternal like itself. This power is the mercy of God, which spans itself above ( על ) all those who fear Him like an eternal heaven. This is God's righteousness, which rewards faithful adherence to His covenant and conscientious fulfilment of His precepts in accordance with the order of redemption, and shows itself even to ( ל ) children's children, according to Exodus 20:6; Exodus 34:7; Deuteronomy 7:9 : on into a thousand generations, i.e., into infinity.
He is able to show Himself thus gracious to His own, for He is the supra-mundane, all-ruling King. With this thought the poet draws on to the close of his song of praise. The heavens in opposition to the earth, as in Psalms 115:3; Ecclesiastes 5:12, is the unchangeable realm above the rise and fall of things here below. On Psalms 103:19 cf. 1 Chronicles 29:12. בּכּל refers to everything created without exception, the universe of created things. In connection with the heavens of glory the poet cannot but call to mind the angels. His call to these to join in the praise of Jahve has its parallel only in Psalms 29:1-11 and Psalms 148:1-14. It arises from the consciousness of the church on earth that it stands in living like-minded fellowship with the angels of God, and that it possesses a dignity which rises above all created things, even the angels which are appointed to serve it (Psalms 91:11). They are called גּבּרים as in Joel 3:11, and in fact גּבּרי כּח , as the strong to whom belongs strength unequalled. Their life endowed with heroic strength is spent entirely - an example for mortals - in an obedient execution of the word of God. לשׁמע is a definition not of the purpose, but of the manner: obediendo (as in Genesis 2:3 perficiendo ). Hearing the call of His word, they also forthwith put it into execution. the hosts ( צבאיו ), as משׁרתיו shows, are the celestial spirits gathered around the angels of a higher rank (cf. Luke 2:13), the innumerable λειτουργικὰ πνεῦματα (Psalms 104:4, Daniel 7:10; Hebrews 1:14), for there is a hierarchia caelestis . From the archangels the poet comes to the myriads of the heavenly hosts, and from these to all creatures, that they, wheresoever they may be throughout Jahve's wide domain, may join in the song of praise that is to be struck up; and from this point he comes back to his own soul, which he modestly includes among the creatures mentioned in the third passage. A threefold בּרכי נפשׁי now corresponds to the threefold בּרכוּ ; and inasmuch as the poet thus comes back to his own soul, his Psalm also turns back into itself and assumes the form of a converging circle.