8 Around the wicked walk continually, According as vileness is exalted by sons of men!
and ye have risen against the house of my father to-day, and slay his sons, seventy men, on one stone, and cause Abimelech son of his handmaid to reign over the masters of Shechem, because he `is' your brother -- yea, if in truth and in sincerity ye have acted with Jerubbaal and with his house this day, rejoice ye in Abimelech, and he doth rejoice -- even he -- in you; and if not -- fire cometh out from Abimelech and devoureth the masters of Shechem and the house of Millo, and fire cometh out from the masters of Shechem and from the house of Millo, and devoureth Abimelech.' And Jotham hasteth, and fleeth, and goeth to Beer, and dwelleth there, from the face of Abimelech his brother. And Abimelech is prince over Israel three years, and God sendeth an evil spirit between Abimelech and the masters of Shechem, and the masters of Shechem deal treacherously with Abimelech, for the coming in of the violence `to' the seventy sons of Jerubbaal, and of their blood to place `it' on Abimelech their brother, who slew them, and on the masters of Shechem, who strengthened his hands to slay his brethren. And the masters of Shechem set for him ambushes on the top of the hills, and rob every one who passeth over by them in the way, and it is declared to Abimelech. And Gaal son of Ebed cometh -- also his brethren -- and they pass over into Shechem, and the masters of Shechem trust in him, and go out into the field, and gather their vineyards, and tread, and make praises, and go into the house of their god, and eat and drink, and revile Abimelech. And Gaal son of Ebed saith, `Who `is' Abimelech, and who `is' Shechem, that we serve him? is `he' not son of Jerubbaal? and Zebul his commander? Serve ye the men of Hamor father of Shechem, and wherefore do we serve him -- we? and oh that this people were in my hand -- then I turn Abimelech aside;' and he saith to Abimelech, `Increase thy host, and come out.' And Zebul, prince of the city, heareth the words of Gaal son of Ebed, and his anger burneth, and he sendeth messengers unto Abimelech deceitfully, saying, `Lo, Gaal son of Ebed and his brethren are coming into Shechem, and lo, they are fortifying the city against thee; and, now, rise by night, thou and the people who `are' with thee, and lay wait in the field, and it hath been, in the morning, about the rising of the sun, thou dost rise early, and hast pushed against the city; and lo, he and the people who `are' with him are going out unto thee -- and thou hast done to him as thy hand doth find.' And Abimelech riseth, and all the people who `are' with him, by night, and they lay wait against Shechem -- four detachments; and Gaal son of Ebed goeth out, and standeth at the opening of the gate of the city, and Abimelech riseth -- also the people who `are' with him -- from the ambush, and Gaal seeth the people, and saith unto Zebul, `Lo, people are coming down from the top of the hills;' and Zebul saith unto him, `The shadow of the hills thou art seeing like men.' And Gaal addeth yet to speak, and saith, `Lo, people are coming down from the high part of the land, and another detachment is coming by the way of the oak of Meonenim.' And Zebul saith unto him, `Where `is' now thy mouth, in that thou sayest, Who `is' Abimelech that we serve him? is not this the people against which thou hast kicked? go out, I pray thee now, and fight against it.' And Gaal goeth out before the masters of Shechem, and fighteth against Abimelech, and Abimelech pursueth him, and he fleeth from his presence, and many fall wounded -- unto the opening of the gate. And Abimelech abideth in Arumah, and Zebul casteth out Gaal and his brethren from dwelling in Shechem. And it cometh to pass, on the morrow, that the people go out to the field, and they declare `it' to Abimelech, and he taketh the people, and divideth them into three detachments, and layeth wait in a field, and looketh, and lo, the people are coming out from the city, and he riseth against them, and smiteth them. And Abimelech and the detachments who `are' with him have pushed on, and stand at the opening of the gate of the city, and the two detachments have pushed against all who are in the field, and smite them, and Abimelech hath fought against the city all that day, and captureth the city, and the people who `are' in it he hath slain, and he breaketh down the city, and soweth it `with' salt. And all the masters of the tower of Shechem hear, and go in unto the high place of the house of the god Berith, and it is declared to Abimelech that all the masters of the tower of Shechem have gathered themselves together, and Abimelech goeth up to mount Zalmon, he and all the people who `are' with him, and Abimelech taketh the great axe in his hand, and cutteth off a bough of the trees, and lifteth it up, and setteth `it' on his shoulder, and saith unto the people who `are' with him, `What ye have seen I have done -- haste, do ye like it.' And all the people also cut down each one his bough, and go after Abimelech, and set `them' at the high place, and burn by these the high place with fire, and also all the men of the tower of Shechem die, about a thousand men and women. And Abimelech goeth unto Thebez, and encampeth against Thebez, and captureth it, and a strong tower hath been in the midst of the city, and thither flee do all the men and the women, and all the masters of the city, and they shut `it' behind them, and go up on the roof of the tower. And Abimelech cometh unto the tower, and fighteth against it, and draweth nigh unto the opening of the tower to burn it with fire, and a certain woman doth cast a piece of a rider on the head of Abimelech, and breaketh his skull, and he calleth hastily unto the young man bearing his weapons, and saith to him, `Draw thy sword, and thou hast put me to death, lest they say of me -- A woman slew him;' and his young man pierced him through, and he dieth. And the men of Israel see that Abimelech `is' dead, and go each one to his place; and God turneth back the evil of Abimelech which he did to his father to slay his seventy brethren; and all the evil of the men of Shechem hath God turned back on their head, and come unto them doth the cursing of Jotham son of Jerubbaal.
And Saul saith unto David, `Lo, my elder daughter Merab -- her I give to thee for a wife; only, be to me for a son of valour, and fight the battles of Jehovah;' and Saul said, `Let not my hand be on him, but let the hand of the Philistines be upon him.' And David saith unto Saul, `Who `am' I? and what my life -- the family of my father in Israel -- that I am son-in-law to the king?'
and it is contemptible in his eyes to put forth a hand on Mordecai by himself, for they have declared to him the people of Mordecai, and Haman seeketh to destroy all the Jews who `are' in all the kingdom of Ahasuerus -- the people of Mordecai. In the first month -- it `is' the month of Nisan -- in the twelfth year of the king Ahasuerus, hath one caused to fall Pur (that `is' the lot) before Haman, from day to day, and from month to month, `to' the twelfth, it `is' the month of Adar. And Haman saith to the king Ahasuerus, `There is one people scattered and separated among the peoples, in all provinces of thy kingdom, and their laws `are' diverse from all people, and the laws of the king they are not doing, and for the king it is not profitable to suffer them; if to the king `it be' good, let it be written to destroy them, and ten thousand talents of silver I weigh into the hands of those doing the work, to bring `it' in unto the treasuries of the king.' And the king turneth aside his signet from off his hand, and giveth it to Haman son of Hammedatha the Agagite, adversary of the Jews; and the king saith to Haman, `The silver is given to thee, and the people, to do with it as `it is' good in thine eyes.' And scribes of the king are called, on the first month, on the thirteenth day of it, and it is written according to all that Haman hath commanded, unto lieutenants of the king, and unto the governors who `are' over province and province, and unto the heads of people and people, province and province, according to its writing, and people and people according to its tongue, in the name of the king Ahasuerus it hath been written and sealed with the signet of the king, and letters to be sent by the hand of the runners unto all provinces of the king, to cut off, to slay, and to destroy all the Jews, from young even unto old, infant and women, on one day, on the thirteenth of the twelfth month -- it `is' the month of Adar -- and their spoil to seize, a copy of the writing to be made law in every province and province is revealed to all the peoples, to be ready for this day. The runners have gone forth, hastened by the word of the king, and the law hath been given in Shushan the palace, and the king and Haman have sat down to drink, and the city Shushan is perplexed.
Sons of folly -- even sons without name, They have been smitten from the land.
By day and by night they go round it, on its walls. Both iniquity and perverseness `are' in its midst, Mischiefs `are' in its midst. Fraud and deceit depart not from its street.
And the heart of those hastened Understandeth to know, And the tongue of stammerers hasteth to speak clearly. A fool is no more called `noble,' And to a miser it is not said, `rich;' For a fool speaketh folly, And his heart doth iniquity, to do profanity, And to speak concerning Jehovah error, To empty the soul of the hungry, Yea, drink of the thirsty he causeth to lack.
`And stood up on his station hath a despicable one, and they have not given unto him the honour of the kingdom, and he hath come in quietly, and hath strengthened the kingdom by flatteries.
And kept habitually are the statutes of Omri, And all the work of the house of Ahab, And ye do walk in their counsels, For My giving thee for a desolation, And its inhabitants for a hissing, And the reproach of My people ye do bear!
And the chief priest, having rent his garments, saith, `What need have we yet of witnesses? Ye heard the evil speaking, what appeareth to you?' and they all condemned him to be worthy of death, and certain began to spit on him, and to cover his face, and to buffet him, and to say to him, `Prophesy;' and the officers were striking him with their palms.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 12
Commentary on Psalms 12 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
Lament and Consolation in the Midst of Prevailing Falsehood
Psalms 11:1-7 is appropriately followed by Psalms 12:1-8, which is of a kindred character: a prayer for the deliverance of the poor and miserable in a time of universal moral corruption, and more particularly of prevailing faithlessness and boasting. The inscription: To the Precentor, on the Octave, a Psalm of David points us to the time when the Temple music was being established, i.e., the time of David - incomparably the best age in the history of Israel, and yet, viewed in the light of the spirit of holiness, an age so radically corrupt. The true people of Jahve were even then, as ever, a church of confessors and martyrs, and the sighing for the coming of Jahve was then not less deep than the cry “Come, Lord Jesus!” at the present time.
This Psalms 12:1-8 together with Psalms 2:1-12 is a second example of the way in which the psalmist, when under great excitement of spirit, passes over into the tone of one who directly hears God's words, and therefore into the tone of an inspired prophet. Just as lyric poetry in general, as being a direct and solemn expression of strong inward feeling, is the earliest form of poetry: so psalm-poetry contains in itself not only the mashal , the epos, and the drama in their preformative stages, but prophecy also, as we have it in the prophetic writings of its most flourishing period, has, as it were, sprung from the bosom of psalm-poetry. It is throughout a blending of prophetical epic and subjective lyric elements, and is in many respects the echo of earlier psalms, and even in some instances (as e.g., Isaiah 12:1-6; Habakkuk 3:1) transforms itself into the strain of a psalm. Hence Asaph is called החזה in 2 Chronicles 29:30, not from the special character of his Psalms, but from his being a psalmist in general; for Jeduthun has the same name given to him in 2 Chronicles 35:15, and נבּא in 1 Chronicles 25:2. (cf. προφητεύειν , Luke 1:67) is used directly as an epithet for psalm-singing with accompaniment-a clear proof that in prophecy the co-operation of a human element is no less to be acknowledged, that the influence of a divine element in psalm-poesy.
The direct words of Jahve, and the psalmist's Amen to them, form the middle portion of this Psalm-a six line strophe, which is surrounded by four line strophes.
(Heb.: 12:2-3) The sigh of supplication, הושׁיעה , has its object within itself: work deliverance, give help; and the motive is expressed by the complaint which follows. The verb גּמר to complete, means here, as in Psalms 7:10, to have an end; and the ἁπ. λεγ . פּסס is equivalent to אפס in Psalms 77:9, to come to the extremity, to cease. It is at once clear from the predicate being placed first in the plur ., that אמוּנים in this passage is not an abstractum , as e.g., in Proverbs 13:17; moreover the parallelism is against it, just as in Proverbs 31:24. חסיד is the pious man, as one who practises חסד towards God and man. אמוּן , primary form אמוּן ( plur . אמונים ; whereas from אמוּן we should expect אמוּנים ), - used as an adjective (cf. on the contrary Deuteronomy 32:20) here just as in Proverbs 31:24, 2 Samuel 20:19, - is the reliable, faithful, conscientious man, literally one who is firm, i.e., whose word and meaning is firm, so that one can rely upon it and be certain in relation to it.
(Note: The Aryan root man to remain, abide (Neo-Persic mânden ), also takes a similar course, signifying usually “to continue in any course, wait, hope.” So the old Persic man , Zend upaman , cf. μένειν with its derivatives which are applied in several ways in the New Testament to characterise πίστις .)
We find similar complaints of the universal prevalence of wickedness in Micah 7:2; Isaiah 57:1; Jeremiah 7:28, and elsewhere. They contain their own limitation. For although those who complain thus without pharisaic self-righteousness would convict themselves of being affected by the prevailing corruption, they are still, in their penitence, in their sufferings for righteousness' sake, and in their cry for help, a standing proof that humanity has not yet, without exception, become a massa perdita . That which the writer especially laments, is the prevailing untruthfulness. Men speak שׁוא (= שׁוא from שׁוא ), desolation and emptiness under a disguise that conceals its true nature, falsehood (Psalms 41:7), and hypocrisy (Job 35:13), ἕκαστος πρὸς τὸν πλησίον αὐτοῦ (lxx, cf. Ephesians 4:25, where the greatness of the sin finds its confirmation according to the teaching of the New Testament: ὅτι ἐσμὲν ἀλλήλων μέλη ). They speak lips of smoothnesses ( חלקות , plural from חלקה , laevitates , or from חלק , laevia ), i.e., the smoothest, most deceitful language (accusative of the object as in Isaiah 19:18) with a double heart, inasmuch, namely, as the meaning they deceitfully express to others, and even to themselves, differs from the purpose they actually cherish, or even (cf. 1 Chronicles 12:33 בלא לב ולב , and James 1:8 δίψυχος , wavering) inasmuch as the purpose they now so flatteringly put forth quickly changes to the very opposite.
(Heb.: 12:4-5) In this instance the voluntative has its own proper signification: may He root out (cf. Psalms 109:15, and the oppositive Psalms 11:6). Flattering lips and a vaunting tongue are one, insofar as the braggart becomes a flatterer when it serves his own selfish interest. אשׁר refers to lips and tongue, which are put for their possessors. The Hiph . הגבּיר may mean either to impart strength, or to give proof of strength. The combination with ל , not בּ , favours the former: we will give emphasis to our tongue (this is their self-confident declaration). Hupfeld renders it, contrary to the meaning of the Hiph .: over our tongue we have power, and Ewald and Olshausen, on the ground of an erroneous interpretation of Daniel 9:27, render: we make or have a firm covenant with our tongue. They describe their lips as being their confederates ( את as in 2 Kings 9:32), and by the expression “who is lord over us” they declare themselves to be absolutely free, and exalted above all authority. If any authority were to assert itself over them, their mouth would put it down and their tongue would thrash it into submission. But Jahve, whom this making of themselves into gods challenges, will not always suffer His own people to be thus enslaved.
(Heb.: 12:6-7) In Psalms 12:6 the psalmist hears Jahve Himself speak; and in Psalms 12:7 he adds his Amen. The two מן in Psalms 12:6 denote the motive, עתּה the decisive turning-point from forebearance to the execution of judgment, and ימר the divine determination, which has just now made itself audible; cf. Isaiah's echo of it, Isaiah 33:10. Jahve has hitherto looked on with seeming inactivity and indifference, now He will arise and place in ישׁע , i.e., a condition of safety (cf. שׂים בּחיּים Psalms 66:9), him who languishes for deliverance. It is not to be explained: him whom he, i.e., the boaster, blows upon, which would be expressed by יפיח בּו , cf. Psalms 10:5; but, with Ewald, Hengstenberg, Olshausen, and Böttcher, according to Habakkuk 2:3, where הפיח ל occurs in the sense of panting after an object: him who longs for it. יפיח is, however, not a participial adjective = יפח , but the fut ., and יפיח לו is therefore a relative clause occupying the place of the object, just as we find the same thing occurring in Job 24:19; Isaiah 41:2, Isaiah 41:25, and frequently. Hupfeld's rendering: “in order that he may gain breath ( respiret )” leaves אשׁית without an object, and accords more with Aramaic and Arabic than with Hebrew usage, which would express this idea by ינוּח לו or ירוח לו .
In Psalms 12:7 the announcement of Jahve is followed by its echo in the heart of the seer: the words ( אמרות instead of אמרות by changing the Shebâ which closes the syllable into an audible one, as e.g., in אשׁרי ) of Jahve are pure words, i.e., intended, and to be fulfilled, absolutely as they run without any admixture whatever of untruthfulness. The poetical אמרה (after the form זמרה ) serves pre-eminently as the designation of the divine power-words of promise. The figure, which is indicated in other instances, when God's word is said to be צרוּפה (Psalms 18:31; Psalms 119:140; Proverbs 30:5), is here worked out: silver melted and thus purified בּעליל לארץ . עליל signifies either a smelting-pot from עלל , Arab. gll , immittere , whence also על (Hitz.); or, what is more probable since the language has the epithets כוּר and מצרף for this: a workshop, from עלל , Arab. ‛ll , operari (prop. to set about a thing), first that which is wrought at (after the form מעיל , פּסיל , שׁביל ), then the place where the work is carried on. From this also comes the Talm. בּעליל = בּעליל manifeste , occurring in the Mishna Rosh ha-Shana 1. 5 and elsewhere, and which in its first meaning corresponds to the French en effet .
(Note: On this word with reference to this passage of the Psalm vid., Steinschneider's Hebr . Bibliographie 1861, S. 83.)
According to this, the ל in לארץ is not the ל of property: in a fining-pot built into the earth, for which לארץ without anything further would be an inadequate and colourless expression. But in accordance with the usual meaning of לארץ as a collateral definition it is: smelted (purified) down to the earth. As Olshausen observes on this subject, “Silver that is purified in the furnace and flows down to the ground can be seen in every smelting hut; the pure liquid silver flows down out of the smelting furnace, in which the ore is piled up.” For it cannot be ל of reference: “purified with respect to the earth,” since ארץ does not denote the earth as a material and cannot therefore mean an earthy element. We ought then to read לאבץ , which would not mean “to a white brilliancy,” i.e., to a pure bright mass (Böttch.), but “with respect to the stannum , lead” (vid., on Isaiah 1:25). The verb זקק to strain, filter, cause to ooze through, corresponds to the German seihen, seigen , old High German sihan , Greek σακκεῖν ( σακκίζειν ), to clean by passing through a cloth as a strainer, שׂק . God's word is solid silver smelted and leaving all impurity behind, and, as it were, having passed seven times through the smelting furnace, i.e., the purest silver, entirely purged from dross. Silver is the emblem of everything precious and pure (vid., Bähr, Symbol . i. 284); and seven is the number indicating the completion of any process ( Bibl. Psychol . S. 57, transl. p. 71).
(Heb.: 12:8-9) The supplicatory complaint contained in the first strophe has passed into an ardent wish in the second; and now in the fourth there arises a consolatory hope based upon the divine utterance which was heard in the third strophe. The suffix eem in Psalms 12:8 refers to the miserable and poor; the suffix ennu in Psalms 12:8 (him, not: us, which would be pointed תצרנוּ , and more especially since it is not preceded by תשׁמרנוּ ) refers back to the man who yearns for deliverance mentioned in the divine utterance, Psalms 12:6. The “preserving for ever” is so constant, that neither now nor at any future time will they succumb to this generation. The oppression shall not become a thorough depression, the trial shall not exceed their power of endurance. What follows in Psalms 12:8 is a more minute description of this depraved generation. דּור is the generation whole and entire bearing one general character and doing homage to the one spirit of the age (cf. e.g., Proverbs 30:11-14, where the characteristics of a corrupt age are portrayed). זוּ (always without the article, Ew. §293, a ) points to the present and the character is has assumed, which is again described here finally in a few outlines of a more general kind than in Psalms 12:3. The wicked march about on every side ( התחלּך used of going about unopposed with an arrogant and vaunting mien), when (while) vileness among () ל the children of men rises to eminence ( רוּם as in Proverbs 11:11, cf. משׁל Proverbs 29:2), so that they come to be under its dominion. Vileness is called זלּוּת from זלל (cogn. דּלל ) to be supple and lax, narrow, low, weak and worthless. The form is passive just as is the Talm. זילוּת (from זיל = זליל ), and it is the epithet applied to that which is depreciated, despised, and to be despised; here it is the opposite of the disposition and conduct of the noble man, נדיב , Isaiah 32:8, - a baseness which is utterly devoid not only of all nobler principles and motives, but also of all nobler feelings and impulses. The כּ of כּרם is not the expression of simultaneousness (as e.g., in Proverbs 10:25): immediately it is exalted - for then Psalms 12:8 would give expression to a general observation, instead of being descriptive - but כּרם is equivalent to בּרם , only it is intentionally used instead of the latter, to express a coincidence that is based upon an intimate relation of cause and effect, and is not merely accidental. The wicked are puffed up on all sides, and encompass the better disposed on every side as their enemies. Such is the state of things, and it cannot be otherwise at a time when men allow meanness to gain the ascendency among and over them, as is the case at the present moment. Thus even at last the depressing view of the present prevails in the midst of the confession of a more consolatory hope. The present is gloomy. But in the central hexastich the future is lighted up as a consolation against this gloominess. The Psalm is a ring and this central oracle is its jewel.