8 Zion hath heard and rejoiceth, And daughters of Judah are joyful, Because of Thy judgments, O Jehovah.
Rejoice doth Mount Zion, The daughters of Judah are joyful, For the sake of Thy judgments.
For Jehovah hath comforted Zion, He hath comforted all her wastes, And He setteth her wilderness as Eden, And her desert as a garden of Jehovah, Joy, yea, gladness is found in her, Confession, and the voice of song.
How comely on the mountains, Have been the feet of one proclaiming tidings, Sounding peace, proclaiming good tidings, Sounding salvation, Saying to Zion, `Reigned hath thy God.' The voice of thy watchmen! They have lifted up the voice, together they cry aloud, Because eye to eye they see, in Jehovah's turning back `to' Zion. Break forth, sing together, O wastes of Jerusalem, For Jehovah hath comforted His people, He hath redeemed Jerusalem. Jehovah hath made bare His holy arm Before the eyes of all the nations, And seen have all the ends of the earth, The salvation of our God.
Cry aloud, O daughter of Zion, shout, O Israel, Rejoice and exult with the whole heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. Jehovah hath turned aside thy judgments, He hath faced thine enemy, The king of Israel, Jehovah, `is' in thy midst, Thou seest evil no more. In that day it is said to Jerusalem, `Fear not, O Zion, let not thy hands be feeble. Jehovah thy God `is' in thy midst, A mighty one doth save, He rejoiceth over thee with joy, He doth work in His love, He joyeth over thee with singing.'
Rejoice exceedingly, O daughter of Zion, Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem, Lo, thy King doth come to thee, Righteous -- and saved is He, Afflicted -- and riding on an ass, And on a colt -- a son of she-asses.
And all this came to pass, that it might be fulfilled that was spoken through the prophet, saying, `Tell ye the daughter of Zion, Lo, thy king doth come to thee, meek, and mounted on an ass, and a colt, a foal of a beast of burden.' And the disciples having gone and having done as Jesus commanded them, brought the ass and the colt, and did put on them their garments, and set `him' upon them; and the very great multitude spread their own garments in the way, and others were cutting branches from the trees, and were strewing in the way, and the multitudes who were going before, and who were following, were crying, saying, `Hosanna to the Son of David, blessed is he who is coming in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.'
`Be glad over her, O heaven, and ye holy apostles and prophets, because God did judge your judgment of her!'
And after these things I heard a great voice of a great multitude in the heaven, saying, `Alleluia! the salvation, and the glory, and the honour, and the power, `is' to the Lord our God; because true and righteous `are' His judgments, because He did judge the great whore who did corrupt the earth in her whoredom, and He did avenge the blood of His servants at her hand;' and a second time they said, `Alleluia;' and her smoke doth come up -- to the ages of the ages! And fall down did the elders -- the twenty and four -- and the four living creatures, and they did bow before God who is sitting upon the throne, saying, `Amen, Alleluia.' And a voice out of the throne did come forth, saying, `Praise our God, all ye His servants, and those fearing Him, both the small and the great;' and I heard as the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, `Alleluia! because reign did the Lord God -- the Almighty! may we rejoice and exult, and give the glory to Him, because come did the marriage of the Lamb, and his wife did make herself ready;
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Keil & Delitzsch Commentary » Commentary on Psalms 97
Commentary on Psalms 97 Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
The Breaking Through of the Kingdom of God, the Judge and Saviour
This Psalm, too, has the coming of Jahve, who enters upon His kingdom through judgment, as its theme, and the watchword “Jahve is King” as its key-note. The lxx inscribes it: τῷ Δαυίδ ὅτε ἡ γῆ αὐτοῦ καθίσταται ( καθίστατο ); Jerome: quando terra ejus restituta est . The τῷ Δαυίδ is worthless; the time of restoration, from which it takes its rise, is the post-exilic, for it is composed, as mosaic-work, out of the earlier original passages of Davidic and Asaphic Psalms and of the prophets, more especially of Isaiah, and is entirely an expression of the religious consciousness which resulted from the Exile.
We have here nothing but echoes of the older literature: Psalms 97:1, cf. Isaiah 42:10-12; Isaiah 51:5; Psalms 97:2 , cf. Psalms 18:10, Psalms 18:12; Psalms 97:2 = Psalms 89:15; Psalms 97:3 , cf. Psalms 50:3; Psalms 18:9; Psalms 97:3 , cf. Isaiah 42:25. Beginning with the visible coming of the kingdom of God in the present, with מלך ה the poet takes his stand upon the standpoint of the kingdom which is come. With it also comes rich material for universal joy. תּגל is indicative, as in Psalms 96:11 and frequently. רבּים are all, for all of them are in fact many (cf. Isaiah 52:15). The description of the theophany, for which the way is preparing in Psalms 97:2, also reminds one of Hab. 3. God's enshrouding Himself in darkness bears witness to His judicial earnestness. Because He comes as Judge, the basis of His royal throne and of His judgment-seat is also called to mind. His harbinger is fire, which consumes His adversaries on every side, as that which broke forth out of the pillar of cloud once consumed the Egyptians.
Again we have nothing but echoes of the older literature: Psalms 97:4 = Psalms 77:19; Psalms 97:4 , cf. Psalms 77:17; Psalms 97:5 , cf. Micah 1:4; Psalms 97:5 , cf. Micah 4:13; Psalms 97:6 = Psalms 50:6; Psalms 97:6 , cf. Isaiah 35:2; Isaiah 40:5; Isaiah 52:10; Isaiah 66:18. The poet goes on to describe that which is future with historical certainty. That which Psalms 77:19 says of the manifestation of God in the earlier times he transfers to the revelation of God in the last time. The earth sees it, and begins to tremble in consequence of it. The reading ותּחל , according to Hitzig (cf. Ew. §232, b ) traditional, is, however, only an error of pointing that has been propagated; the correct reading is the reading of Heidenheim and Baer, restored according to MSS, ותּחל (cf. 1 Samuel 31:3), like ותּבן , ותּקם , ותּרם , and ותּשׂם . The figure of the wax is found even in Psalms 68:3; and Jahve is also called “Lord of the whole earth” in Zechariah 4:14; Zechariah 6:5. The proclamation of the heavens is an expression of joy, Psalms 96:11. They proclaim the judicial strictness with which Jahve, in accordance with His promises, carries out His plan of salvation, the realization of which has reached its goal in the fact that all men see the glory of God.
When the glory of Jahve becomes manifest, everything that is opposed to it will be punished and consumed by its light. Those who serve idols will become conscious of their delusion with shame and terror, Isaiah 42:17; Jeremiah 10:14. The superhuman powers (lxx ἄγγελοι ), deified by the heathen, then bow down to Him who alone is Elohim in absolute personality. השׁתּחווּ is not imperative (lxx, Syriac), for as a command this clause would be abrupt and inconsequential, but the perfect of that which actually takes place. The quotation in Hebrews 1:6 is taken from Deuteronomy 32:43, lxx. In Psalms 97:8 (after Psalms 48:12) the survey of the poet again comes back to his own nation. When Zion hears that Jahve has appeared, and all the world and all the powers bow down to Him, she rejoices; for it is in fact her God whose kingship has come to the acknowledge. And all the daughter-churches of the Jewish land exult together with the mother-church over the salvation which dawns through judgments.
This distichic epiphonema ( Psalms 97:9 = Ps 83:19; Psalms 97:9 , cf. Psalms 47:3, 10) might close the Psalm; there follows still, however, a hortatory strophe (which was perhaps not added till later on).
It is true Psalms 97:12 is = Psalms 32:11, Psalms 97:12 = Psalms 30:5, and the promise in Psalms 97:10 is the same as in Psalms 37:28; Psalms 34:21; but as to the rest, particularly Psalms 97:11, this strophe is original. It is an encouraging admonition to fidelity in an age in which an effeminate spirit of looking longingly towards lit. ogling heathenism was rife, and stedfast adherence to Jahve was threatened with loss of life. Those who are faithful in their confession, as in the Maccabaean age ( Ἀσιδαῖοι ), are called חסדיו . The beautiful figure in Psalms 97:11 is misapprehended by the ancient versions, inasmuch as they read זרח (Psalms 112:4) instead of זרע . זרע does not here signify sown = strewn into the earth, but strewn along his life's way, so that he, the righteous one, advances step by step in the light. Hitzig rightly compares ki'dnatai ski'dnatai, used of the dawn and of the sun. Of the former Virgil also says, Et jam prima novo spargebat lumine terras .