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Psalms 132:1 Young's Literal Translation (YLT)

1 A Song of the Ascents. Remember, Jehovah, for David, all his afflictions.

Cross Reference

Psalms 121:1 YLT

A Song of the Ascents. I lift up mine eyes unto the hills, Whence doth my help come?

Psalms 120:1 YLT

A Song of the Ascents. Unto Jehovah in my distress I have called, And He answereth me.

Psalms 126:1 YLT

A Song of the Ascents. In Jehovah's turning back `to' the captivity of Zion, We have been as dreamers.

Lamentations 5:1 YLT

Remember, O Jehovah, what hath befallen us, Look attentively, and see our reproach.

Lamentations 3:19 YLT

Remember my affliction and my mourning, Wormwood and gall!

Psalms 131:1 YLT

A Song of the Ascents, by David. Jehovah, my heart hath not been haughty, Nor have mine eyes been high, Nor have I walked in great things, And in things too wonderful for me.

Psalms 130:1 YLT

A Song of the Ascents. From depths I have called Thee, Jehovah.

Psalms 129:1 YLT

A Song of the Ascents. Often they distressed me from my youth, Pray, let Israel say:

Psalms 128:1 YLT

A Song of the Ascents. O the happiness of every one fearing Jehovah, Who is walking in His ways.

Psalms 127:1 YLT

A Song of the Ascents, by Solomon. If Jehovah doth not build the house, In vain have its builders laboured at it, If Jehovah doth not watch a city, In vain hath a watchman waked.

Genesis 8:1 YLT

And God remembereth Noah, and every living thing, and all the cattle which `are' with him in the ark, and God causeth a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subside,

Psalms 125:1 YLT

A Song of the Ascents. Those trusting in Jehovah `are' as Mount Zion, It is not moved -- to the age it abideth.

Psalms 124:1 YLT

A Song of the Ascents, by David. Save `for' Jehovah -- who hath been for us, (Pray, let Israel say),

Psalms 123:1 YLT

A Song of the Ascents. Unto Thee I have lifted up mine eyes, O dweller in the heavens.

Psalms 122:1 YLT

A Song of the Ascents, by David. I have rejoiced in those saying to me, `To the house of Jehovah we go.'

Psalms 25:6-7 YLT

Remember Thy mercies, O Jehovah, And Thy kindnesses, for from the age `are' they. Sins of my youth, and my transgressions, Do not Thou remember. According to Thy kindness be mindful of me, For Thy goodness' sake, O Jehovah.

2 Samuel 15:1-20 YLT

And it cometh to pass afterwards, that Absalom prepareth for himself a chariot, and horses, and fifty men are running before him; and Absalom hath risen early, and stood by the side of the way of the gate, and it cometh to pass, every man who hath a pleading to come unto the king for judgment, that Absalom calleth unto him, and saith, `Of what city `art' thou?' and he saith, `Of one of the tribes of Israel `is' thy servant.' And Absalom saith unto him, `See, thy matters `are' good and straightforward -- and there is none hearkening to thee from the king.' And Absalom saith, `Who doth make me a judge in the land, that unto me doth come every man who hath a plea and judgment? -- then I have declared him righteous.' And it hath come to pass, in the drawing nearing of any one to bow himself to him, that he hath put forth his hand, and laid hold on him, and given a kiss to him; and Absalom doth according to this thing to all Israel who come in for judgment unto the king, and Absalom stealeth the heart of the men of Israel. And it cometh to pass, at the end of forty years, that Absalom saith unto the king, `Let me go, I pray thee, and I complete my vow, that I vowed to Jehovah in Hebron, for a vow hath thy servant vowed in my dwelling in Geshur, in Aram, saying, If Jehovah doth certainly bring me back to Jerusalem, then I have served Jehovah.' And the king saith to him, `Go in peace;' and he riseth and goeth to Hebron, and Absalom sendeth spies through all the tribes of Israel, saying, `At your hearing the voice of the trumpet, then ye have said, Absalom hath reigned in Hebron.' And with Absalom have gone two hundred men, out of Jerusalem, invited ones, and they are going in their simplicity, and have not known anything; and Absalom sendeth Ahithophel the Gilonite, a counsellor of David, out of his city, out of Gilo, in his sacrificing sacrifices; and the conspiracy is strong, and the people are going and increasing with Absalom. And he who is declaring tidings cometh in unto David, saying, `The heart of the men of Israel hath been after Absalom.' And David saith to all his servants who `are' with him in Jerusalem, `Rise, and we flee, for we have no escape from the face of Absalom; haste to go, lest he hasten, and have overtaken us, and forced on us evil, and smitten the city by the mouth of the sword.' And the servants of the king say unto the king, `According to all that my lord the king chooseth -- lo, thy servants `do'.' And the king goeth out, and all his household at his feet, and the king leaveth ten women -- concubines -- to keep the house. And the king goeth out, and all the people at his feet, and they stand still at the farthest off house. And all his servants are passing on at his side, and all the Cherethite, and all the Pelethite, and all the Gittites, six hundred men who came at his feet from Gath, are passing on at the front of the king. And the king saith unto Ittai the Gittite, `Why dost thou go -- thou also -- with us? turn back -- and abide with the king, for thou `art' a stranger, and also an exile thou -- to thy place. Yesterday `is' thy coming in, and to-day I move thee to go with us, and I am going on that which I am going! -- turn back, and take back thy brethren with thee, -- kindness and truth.'

1 Samuel 18:1-30 YLT

And it cometh to pass, when he finisheth to speak unto Saul, that the soul of Jonathan hath been bound to the soul of David, and Jonathan loveth him as his own soul. And Saul taketh him on that day, and hath not permitted him to turn back to the house of his father. And Jonathan maketh -- also David -- a covenant, because he loveth him as his own soul, and Jonathan strippeth himself of the upper robe which `is' upon him, and giveth it to David, and his long robe, even unto his sword, and unto his bow, and unto his girdle. And David goeth out whithersoever Saul doth send him; he acted wisely, and Saul setteth him over the men of war, and it is good in the eyes of all the people, and also in the eyes of the servants of Saul. And it cometh to pass, in their coming in, in David's returning from smiting the Philistine, that the women come out from all the cities of Israel to sing -- also the dancers -- to meet Saul the king, with tabrets, with joy, and with three-stringed instruments; and the women answer -- those playing, and say, `Saul hath smitten among his thousands, And David among his myriads.' And it is displeasing to Saul exceedingly, and this thing is evil in his eyes, and he saith, `They have given to David myriads, and to me they have given the thousands, and more to him `is' only the kingdom;' and Saul is eyeing David from that day and thenceforth. And it cometh to pass, on the morrow, that the spirit of sadness `from' God prospereth over Saul, and he prophesieth in the midst of the house, and David is playing with his hand, as day by day, and the javelin `is' in the hand of Saul, and Saul casteth the javelin, and saith, `I smite through David, even through the wall;' and David turneth round out of his presence twice. And Saul is afraid of the presence of David, for Jehovah hath been with him, and from Saul He hath turned aside; and Saul turneth him aside from him, and appointeth him to himself head of a thousand, and he goeth out an cometh in, before the people. And David is in all his ways acting wisely, and Jehovah `is' with him, and Saul seeth that he is acting very wisely, and is afraid of him, and all Israel and Judah love David when he is going out and coming in before them. 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 cometh to pass, at the time of the giving of Merab daughter of Saul to David, that she hath been given to Adriel the Meholathite for a wife. And Michal daughter of Saul loveth David, and they declare to Saul, and the thing is right in his eyes, and Saul saith, `I give her to him, and she is to him for a snare, and the hand of the Philistines is on him;' and Saul saith unto David, `By the second -- thou dost become my son-in-law to-day.' And Saul commandeth his servants, `Speak unto David gently, saying, Lo, the king hath delighted in thee, and all his servants have loved thee, and now, be son-in-law to the king.' And the servants of Saul speak in the ears of David these words, and David saith, `Is it a light thing in your eyes to be son-in-law to the king -- and I a poor man, and lightly esteemed?' And the servants of Saul declare to him, saying, `According to these words hath David spoken.' And Saul saith, `Thus do ye say to David, There is no delight to the king in dowry, but in a hundred foreskins of the Philistines -- to be avenged on the enemies of the king;' and Saul thought to cause David to fall by the hand of the Philistines. And his servants declare to David these words, and the thing is right in the eyes of David, to be son-in-law to the king; and the days have not been full, and David riseth and goeth, he and his men, and smiteth among the Philistines two hundred men, and David bringeth in their foreskins, and they set them before the king, to be son-in-law to the king; and Saul giveth to him Michal his daughter for a wife. And Saul seeth and knoweth that Jehovah `is' with David, and Michal daughter of Saul hath loved him, and Saul addeth to be afraid of the presence of David yet; and Saul is an enemy with David all the days. And the princes of the Philistines come out, and it cometh to pass from the time of their coming out, David hath acted more wisely than any of the servants of Saul, and his name is very precious.

Exodus 2:24 YLT

and God heareth their groaning, and God remembereth His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob;

Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 132

Commentary on Psalms 132 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary


Introduction

Prayer for the House of God and the House of David

Psalms 131:1-3 designedly precedes Psalms 132. The former has grown out of the memory of an utterance of David when he brought home the Ark, and the latter begins with the remembrance of David's humbly zealous endeavour to obtain a settled and worthy abode for the God who sits enthroned above the Ark among His people. It is the only Psalm in which the sacred Ark is mentioned. The chronicler put Psalms 132:8-10 into the mouth of Solomon at the dedication of the Temple (2 Chronicles 6:41.). After a passage borrowed from Psalms 130:2 which is attached by עתּה to Solomon's Temple-dedication prayer, he appends further borrowed passages out of Psalms 132 with ועתּה . The variations in these verses of the Psalms, which are annexed by him with a free hand and from memory ( Jahve Elohim for Jahve , לנוּחך for למנוּחתך , תּשׁוּעה for צדק , בּטּוב ישׂמחוּ for ירנּנוּ ), just as much prove that he has altered the Psalm, and not reversely (as Hitzig persistently maintains), that the psalmist has borrowed from the Chronicles. It is even still distinctly to be seen how the memory of Isaiah 55:3 has influenced the close of 2 Chronicles 6:42 in the chronicler, just as the memory of Isaiah 55:2 has perhaps also influenced the close of 2 Chronicles 6:41.

The psalmist supplicates the divine favour for the anointed of Jahve for David's sake. In this connection this anointed one is neither the high priest, nor Israel, which is never so named (vid., Habakkuk 3:13), nor David himself, who “in all the necessities of his race and people stands before God,” as Hengstenberg asserts, in order to be able to assign this Son of degrees, as others, likewise to the post-exilic time of the new colony. Zerubbabel might more readily be understood (Baur), with whom, according to the closing prophecy of the Book of Haggai, a new period of the Davidic dominion is said to begin. But even Zerubbabel, the פּחת יהוּדה , could not be called משׁיח , for this he was not. The chronicler applies the Psalm in accordance with its contents. It is suited to the mouth of Solomon. The view that it was composed by Solomon himself when the Ark of the covenant was removed out of the tent-temple on Zion into the Temple-building (Amyraldus, De Wette, Tholuck, and others), is favoured by the relation of the circumstances, as they are narrated in 2 Chronicles 5:5., to the desires of the Psalm, and a close kinship of the Psalm with Ps 72 in breadth, repetitions of words, and a laboured forward movement which is here and there a somewhat uncertain advance. At all events it belongs to a time in which the Davidic throne was still standing and the sacred Ark was not as yet irrecoverably lost. That which, according to 2 Sam. 6, 2 Samuel 7:1, David did for the glory of Jahve, and on the other hand is promised to him by Jahve, is here made by a post-Davidic poet into the foundation of a hopeful intercessory prayer for the kingship and priesthood of Zion and the church presided over by both.

The Psalm consists of four ten-line strophes. Only in connection with the first could any objection be raised, and the strophe be looked upon as only consisting of nine lines. But the other strophes decide the question of its measure; and the breaking up of the weighty Psalms 132:1 into two lines follows the accentuation, which divides it into two parts and places את by itself as being את (according to Accentssystem , xviii. 2, with Mugrash ). Each strophe is adorned once with the name of David ; and moreover the step-like progress which comes back to what has been said, and takes up the thread and carries it forward, cannot fail to be recognised.


Verses 1-5

One is said to remember anything to another when he requites him something that he has done for him, or when he does for him what he has promised him. It is the post-Davidic church which here reminds Jahve of the hereinafter mentioned promises (of the “mercies of David,” 2 Chronicles 6:42, cf. Isaiah 55:3) with which He has responded to David's ענות . By this verbal substantive of the Pual is meant all the care and trouble which David had in order to procure a worthy abode for the sanctuary of Jahve. ענה ב signifies to trouble or harass one's self about anything, afflictari (as frequently in the Book of Ecclesiastes); the Pual here denotes the self-imposed trouble, or even that imposed by outward circumsntaces, such as the tedious wars, of long, unsuccessful, and yet never relaxed endeavours (1 Kings 5:17). For he had vowed unto God that he would give himself absolutely no rest until he had obtained a fixed abode for Jahve. What he said to Nathan (2 Samuel 7:2) is an indication of this vowed resolve, which was now in a time of triumphant peace, as it seemed, ready for being carried out, after the first step towards it had already been taken in the removal of the Ark of the covenant to Zion (2 Sam. 6); for 2 Sam 7 is appended to 2 Sam. 6 out of its chronological order and only on account of the internal connection. After the bringing home of the Ark, which had been long yearned for ( Psalms 101:2), and did not take place without difficulties and terrors, was accomplished, a series of years again passed over, during which David always carried about with him the thought of erecting God a Temple-building. And when he had received the tidings through Nathan that he should not build God a house, but that it should be done by his son and successor, he nevertheless did as much towards the carrying out of the desire of his heart as was possible in connection with this declaration of the will of Jahve. He consecrated the site of the future Temple, he procured the necessary means and materials for the building of it, he made all the necessary arrangements for the future Temple-service, he inspirited the people for the gigantic work of building that was before them, and handed over to his son the model for it, as it is all related to us in detail by the chronicler. The divine name “the mighty One of Jacob” is taken from Genesis 49:24, as in Isaiah 1:24; Isaiah 49:26; Isaiah 60:16. The Philistines with their Dagon had been made to feel this mighty Rock of Jacob when they took the sacred Ark along with them (1 Samuel 5:1-12). With אם David solemnly declares what he is resolved not to do. The meaning of the hyperbolically expressed vow in the form of an oath is that for so long he will not rejoice at his own dwelling-house, nor give himself up to sleep that is free from anxiety; in fine, for so long he will not rest. The genitives after אהל and ערשׂ are appositional genitives; Ps 44 delights in similar combinations of synonyms. יצוּעי (Latin strata mea ) is a poetical plural, as also is משׁכּנות . With תּנוּמה (which is always said of the eyelids, Genesis 31:40; Proverbs 6:4; Ecclesiastes 8:16, not of the eyes) alternates שׁנת (according to another reading שׁנת ) for שׁנה . The āth is the same as in נחלת in Psalms 16:6, cf. 60:13, Exodus 15:2, and frequently. This Aramaizing rejection of the syllable before the tone is, however, without example elsewhere. The lxx adds to Psalms 132:4, καὶ ἀνάπαυσιν τοῖς κροτάφοις μου ( וּמנוּחה לרקּותי ), but this is a disagreeable overloading of the verse.


Verses 6-10

In Psalms 132:6 begins the language of the church, which in this Psalm reminds Jahve of His promises and comforts itself with them. Olshausen regards this Psalms 132:6 as altogether inexplicable. The interpretation nevertheless has some safe starting-points. (1) Since the subject spoken of is the founding of a fixed sanctuary, and one worthy of Jahve, the suffix of שׁמענוּה (with Chateph as in Hosea 8:2, Ew. §60, a ) and מצאנוּה refers to the Ark of the covenant, which is fem. also in other instances ( 1 Samuel 4:17; 2 Chronicles 8:11). (2) The Ark of the covenant, fetched up out of Shiloh by the Israelites to the battle at Ebenezer, fell into the hands of the victors, and remained, having been again given up by them, for twenty years in Kirjath-Jearim (1 Samuel 7:1.), until David removed it out of this Judaean district to Zion (2 Samuel 6:2-4; cf. 2 Chronicles 1:4). What is then more natural than that שׂדי־יער is a poetical appellation of Kirjath-Jearim (cf. “the field of Zoan” in Psalms 78:12)? Kirjath-Jearim has, as a general thing, very varying names. It is also called Kirjath-ha-jearim in Jeremiah 26:20 ( Kirjath-'arim in Ezra 2:25, cf. Joshua 18:28), Kirjath-ba'al in Joshua 16:1-10 :50, Ba'alah in Joshua 15:9; 1 Chronicles 13:6 (cf. Har-ha-ba'alah , Joshua 15:11, with Har-Jearim in Joshua 15:10), and, as it seems, even Ba'alê Jehudah in 2 Samuel 6:2. Why should it not also have been called Ja'ar side by side with Kirjath-Jearim , and more especially if the mountainous district, to which the mention of a hill and mountain of Jearim points, was, as the name “city of the wood” implies, at the same time a wooded district? We therefore fall in with Kühnöl's (1799) rendering: we found it in the meadows of Jaar, and with his remark: “Jaar is a shortened name of the city of Kirjath-Jearim.”

The question now further arises as to what Ephrathah is intended to mean. This is an ancient name of Bethlehem; but the Ark of the covenant never was in Bethlehem. Accordingly Hengstenberg interprets, “We knew of it in Bethlehem (where David had spent his youth) only by hearsay, no one had seen it; we found it in Kirjath-Jearim, yonder in the wooded environs of the city, where it was as it were buried in darkness and solitude.” So even Anton Hulsius (1650): Ipse David loquitur, qui dicit illam ipsam arcam, de qua quum adhuc Bethlehemi versaretur inaudivisset, postea a se ( vel majroibus suis ipso adhuc minorenni ) inventam fuisse in campis Jaar . But (1) the supposition that David's words are continued here does not harmonize with the way in which they are introduced in Psalms 132:2, according to which they cannot possibly extend beyond the vow that follows. (2) If the church is speaking, one does not see why Bethlehem is mentioned in particular as the place of the hearsay. (3) We heard it in Ephrathah cannot well mean anything else than, per antiptosin (as in Genesis 1:4, but without כּי ), we heard that it was in Ephrathah. But the Ark was before Kirjath-Jearim in Shiloh. The former lay in the tribe of Judah close to the western borders of Benjamin, the latter in the midst of the tribe of Ephraim. Now since אפרתי quite as often means an Ephraimite as it does a Bethlehemite, it may be asked whether Ephrathah is not intended of the Ephraimitish territory (Kühnöl, Gesenius, Maurer, Tholuck, and others). The meaning would then be: we had heard that the sacred Ark was in Shiloh, but we found it not there, but in Kirjath-Jearim. And we can easily understand why the poet has mentioned the two places just in this way. Ephrāth , according to its etymon, is fruitful fields, with which are contrasted the fields of the wood - the sacred Ark had fallen from its original, more worthy abode, as it were, into the wilderness. But is it probable, more especially in view of Micah 5:1, that in a connection in which the memory of David is the ruling idea, Ephrathah signifies the land of Ephraim? No, Ephrathah is the name of the district in which Kirjath-Jearim lay. Caleb had, for instance, by Ephrath, his third wife, a son named Hûr (Chûr), 1 Chronicles 2:19, This Hûr, the first-born of Ephrathah, is the father of the population of Bethlehem (1 Chronicles 4:4), and Shobal, a son of this Hûr, is father of the population of Kirjath-Jearim (1 Chronicles 2:50). Kirjath-Jearim is therefore, so to speak, the daughter of Bethlehem. This was called Ephrathah in ancient times, and this name of Bethlehem became the name of its district (Micah 5:1). Kirjath-Jearim belonged to Caleb-Ephrathah (1 Chronicles 2:24), as the northern part of this district seems to have been called in distinction from Negeb-Caleb (1 Samuel 30:14).

But משׁכּנותיו in Psalms 132:7 is now neither a designation of the house of Abinadab in Kirjath-Jearim, for the expression would be too grand, and in relation to Psalms 132:5 even confusing, nor a designation of the Salomonic Temple-building, for the expression standing thus by itself is not enough alone to designate it. What is meant will therefore be the tent-temple erected by David for the Ark when removed to Zion (2 Samuel 7:2, יריעה ). The church arouses itself to enter this, and to prostrate itself in adoration towards (vid., Psalms 99:5) the footstool of Jahve, i.e., the Ark; and to what purpose? The ark of the covenant is now to have a place more worthy of it; the מנוּחה , i.e., the בּית מנוּחה , 1 Chronicles 28:2, in which David's endeavours have through Solomon reached their goal, is erected: let Jahve and the Ark of His sovereign power, that may not be touched (see the examples of its inviolable character in 1 Samuel 5:1-12, 1 Sam 6, 2 Samuel 6:6.), now enter this fixed abode! Let His priests who are to serve Him there clothe themselves in “righteousness,” i.e., in conduct that is according to His will and pleasure; let His saints, who shall there seek and find mercy, shout for joy! More especially, however, let Jahve for David's sake, His servant, to whose restless longing this place of rest owes its origin, not turn back the face of His anointed one, i.e., not reject his face which there turns towards Him in the attitude of prayer (cf. Psalms 84:10). The chronicler has understood Psalms 132:10 as an intercession on behalf of Solomon, and the situation into which we are introduced by Psalms 132:6-8 seems to require this. It is, however, possible that a more recent poet here, in Psalms 132:7-8, reproduces words taken from the heart of the church in Solomon's time, and blends petitions of the church of the present with them. The subject all through is the church, which is ever identical although changing in the persons of its members. The Israel that brought the sacred Ark out of Kirjath-Jearim to Zion and accompanied it thence to the Temple-hill, and now worships in the sanctuary raised by David's zeal for the glory of Jahve, is one and the same. The prayer for the priests, for all the saints, and more especially for the reigning king, that then resounded at the dedication of the Temple, is continued so long as the history of Israel lasts, even in a time when Israel has no king, but has all the stronger longing for the fulfilment of the Messianic promise.


Verses 11-13

The “for the sake of David” is here set forth in detail. אמת in Psalms 132:11 is not the accusative of the object, but an adverbial accusative. The first member of the verse closes with לדוד , which has the distinctive Pazer , which is preceded by Legarmeh as a sub-distinctive; then follows at the head of the second member אמת with Zinnor , then לא־ישׁוּב ממּנּה with Olewejored and its conjunctive Galgal , which regularly precedes after the sub-distinctive Zinnor . The suffix of ממּנּה refers to that which was affirmed by oath, as in Jeremiah 4:28. Lineal descendants of David will Jahve place on the throne ( לכסּא like לראשׁי in Psalms 21:4) to him, i.e., so that they shall follow his as possessors of the throne. David's children shall for ever (which has been finally fulfilled in Christ) sit לכסּא to him (cf. Jeremiah 9:5; Jeremiah 36:7). Thus has Jahve promised, and expects in return from the sons of David the observance of His Law. Instead of עדתי זוּ it is pointed עדתי זו . In Hahn's edition עדתי has Mercha in the penult . (cf. the retreat of the tone in זה אדני , Daniel 10:17), and in Baer's edition the still better attested reading Mahpach instead of the counter-tone Metheg , and Mercha on the ultima . It is not plural with a singular suffix (cf. Deuteronomy 28:59, Ges. §91, 3), but, as זו = זאת indicates, the singular for עדוּתי , like תּחנתי for תּחנוּתי in 2 Kings 6:8; and signifies the revelation of God as an attestation of His will. אלמּדם has Mercha mahpach ., זו Rebia parvum , and עדתי Mercha ; and according to the interpunction it would have to be rendered: “and My self-attestation there” (vid., on Psalms 9:16), but zow is relative: My self-attestation (revelation), which I teach them. The divine words extend to the end of Psalms 132:12. The hypotheses with אם , as the fulfilment in history shows, were conditions of the continuity of the Davidic succession; not, however - because human unfaithfulness does not annul the faithfulness of God - of the endlessness of the Davidic throne. In Psalms 132:13 the poet states the ground of such promissory mercy. It is based on the universal mercy of the election of Jerusalem. אוּהּ has He mappic . like ענּה in Deuteronomy 22:29, or the stroke of Raphe (Ew. §247, d ), although the suffix is not absolutely necessary. In the following strophe the purport of the election of Jerusalem is also unfolded in Jahve's own words.


Verses 14-18

Shiloh has been rejected (Psalms 78:60), for a time only was the sacred Ark in Bethel (Judges 20:27) and Mizpah (Judges 21:5), only somewhat over twenty years was it sheltered by the house of Abinadab in Kirjath-Jearim ( 1 Samuel 7:2), only three months by the house of Obed-Edom in Perez-uzzah ( 2 Samuel 6:11) - but Zion is Jahve's abiding dwelling-place, His own proper settlement, מנוּחה (as in Isaiah 11:10; Isaiah 66:1, and besides 1 Chronicles 28:2). In Zion, His chosen and beloved dwelling-place, Jahve blesses everything that belongs to her temporal need ( צידהּ for זידתהּ , vid., on Psalms 27:5, note); so that her poor do not suffer want, for divine love loves the poor most especially. His second blessing refers to the priests, for by means of these He will keep up His intercourse with His people. He makes the priesthood of Zion a real institution of salvation: He clothes her priests with salvation, so that they do not merely bring it about instrumentally, but personally possess it, and their whole outward appearance is one which proclaims salvation. And to all her saints He gives cause and matter for high and lasting joy, by making Himself known also to the church, in which He has taken up His abode, in deeds of mercy (loving-kindness or grace). There ( שׁם , Psalms 133:3) in Zion is indeed the kingship of promise, which cannot fail of fulfilment. He will cause a horn to shoot forth, He will prepare a lamp, for the house of David, which David here represents as being its ancestor and the anointed one of God reigning at that time; and all who hostilely rise up against David in his seed, He will cover with shame as with a garment (Job 8:22), and the crown consecrated by promise, which the seed of David wears, shall blossom like an unfading wreath. The horn is an emblem of defensive might and victorious dominion, and the lamp ( נר , 2 Samuel 21:17, cf. ניר , 2 Chronicles 21:7, lxx λύχνον ) an emblem of brilliant dignity and joyfulness. In view of Ezekiel 29:21, of the predictions concerning the Branch ( zemach ) in Isaiah 4:2; Jeremiah 23:5; Jeremiah 33:15; Zechariah 3:8; Zechariah 6:12 (cf. Hebrews 7:14), and of the fifteenth Beracha of the Shemone - Esre (the daily Jewish prayer consisting of eighteen benedictions): “make the branch ( zemach ) of David Thy servant to shoot forth speedily, and let his horn rise high by virtue of Thy salvation,” - it is hardly to be doubted that the poet attached a Messianic meaning to this promise. With reference to our Psalm, Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, changes that supplicatory beracha of his nation (Luke 1:68-70) into a praiseful one, joyfully anticipating the fulfilment that is at hand in Jesus.