THIS psalm consists of two parts, in the first of which the Psalmist describes his feelings and his conduct at a former period, in relation to God’s providential dealings, ver. 2–7 (1–6), while in the second he expresses what he now feels and believes in reference to the same subject, closing with an earnest appeal to the divine compassion, ver. 8–14 (7–13).
If this view of the structure of the psalm is just, the first part ought not to be quoted as an expression of pious feeling, but as an acknowledgment of sin and error. Some interpreters have gone so far as to affirm this of the whole psalm; but there seems to be an obvious change of tone and spirit in ver. 8 (7). There is no impropriety or danger in admitting that the Psalms contain expressions of unhallowed feeling, if the admission be restricted to those cases where the fact is indicated in the psalm itself, and not left to the discretion or caprice of the interpreter.
1. For the Chief Musician. For Jeduthun (or Jedithun). A psalm. By David. The masoretic punctuation requires the first name to be read Jeduthun, while the text itself presents the form Jedithun. The same diversity appears in Ps. 77:1, 1 Chron. 16:38, Neh. 11:17. The first form stands alone in 1 Chron. 16:41, 42, 25:1, 3, 2 Chron. 5:12. In all these places, it is the name of one of David’s chief musicians or levitical singers, whose descendants held the same employment, as appears from Neh. 11:17. The personal name is here added to the official title, perhaps for the purpose of doing honor to the individual, by connecting his name with this inspired composition, as in modern dedications and inscriptions.
2 (1). I said, I will keep my way, from sinning with my tongue; I will keep for my mouth a muzzle, while the wicked (is) before me. Here begins the account of his former experience, but without any intimation of the time which had elapsed before he wrote. The two states of mind here described may have followed one another in immediate succession. I said to myself, implying a resolution, although this is not the meaning of the verb itself, as some allege. The idea of a fixed determination is moreover suggested by the form of the next verb, which is that of the paragogic future. I will keep, guard, preserve. Take heed to, although not incorrect, is an inadequate expression of the meaning. My ways, my course of conduct, my habitual behavior. See above, on Ps. 1:1. From sinning, so as not to sin, that I may not sin, a form in which this idea is frequently expressed in Hebrew. The word translated muzzle occurs only here, but its verbal root is used in Deut. 25:4, thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn, and in Ezek. 39:11, where it evidently means to stop, either the nose or the way. The noun therefore must mean a stopper or a muzzle rather than a curb or bridle, by which some explain it. While the wicked is before me, or more literally, in the wicked’s (being) still before me. If this referred merely to his personal presence, the verse would contain a resolution to avoid unguarded speeches in his company or hearing. But this is not the sin to which the Psalmist afterwards pleads guilty, and the true sense of the clause appears to be, while the prosperity of wicked men is still before my eyes, instead of vanishing at once as I expected. See above, Ps. 37:10, 36.—For my mouth, i.e. in reserve for it, or to my mouth, i.e. in actual contact with it.
3 (2). I was silenced (with) dumbness; I held my peace from good, and my sorrow was stirred. The first clause is highly idiomatic, but the sense is clear, to wit, that he enjoined the strictest silence on himself, in reference to the providential mysteries which excited his envious discontent. The silence meant is abstinence from murmurs and repining against God. The second clause is obscure. From good is understood by some to mean from everything, because that idea is elsewhere expressed by the idiomatic combination, good or evil. See Gen. 31:24, 29, 2 Sam. 13:22. But the antithesis in all such cases is essential, and the omission of one term destroys the meaning. Others give from a negative or privative sense, away from good, without good, i.e. without any good effect. But the simplest construction is the one given in the English Bible, even from good, or more fully in the Prayer-Book version, yea, even from good words. The meaning then is, that in his anxiety to avoid the language of complaint against God, he was silent altogether, and suppressed even what he might have said without sin, or was in duty bound to say. The natural effect was that his inward grief, instead of being soothed, was roused, excited, and exasperated.
4 (3). Hot was my heart within me; while I muse the fire is kindling; (then) spake I with my tongue. His compulsory silence only rendered more intense the feelings which it was intended to conceal. The less he said the more he thought and felt, until at last it burst forth with more violence than if expressed at first. My heart glowed, or was hot, with angry discontent and envious repining. Within me, literally in my inner part, or inside, an emphatic phrase referring to the studied absence of all outward indications. Without, all seemed calm and cool; within, his heart was in a glow on fire. While I muse, literally in my meditation. See above, on Ps. 5:2 (1). The future verb in this clause marks a transition. The fire will burn, or is about to burn, is kindling. The gradation is completed by the laconic phrase, I spake. “I did what I had fully resolved not to do.” The reference to ver. 2 is made more obvious by the additional words, with my tongue, which would else be unmeaning and superfluous. “That very tongue, with which I had determined not to sin, I nevertheless spake with, in an unadvised and unbecoming manner.”
5 (4). Make me to know, (O) Jehovah, my end, and the measure of my days, what it is; let me know when I shall cease. According to the view already taken of the first part of the psalm, this is not a prayer to be made duly sensible of the brevity of life, which would have been superfluous, but an impatient wish to know how soon its sufferings are to cease. The same sentiment is amplified in Job 6:8–12, 7:7, 14:18, 16:21, 22. The last clause may also be translated, let me know how ceasing, i.e. frail or short-lived, I (am). But the general drift of the passage favors the construction, let me know (at) what (point), or (at) what (time) I (am) ceasing, or about to cease. The indefinite pronoun (מָה has then the same sense as in the compound phrase (עד־מה) until what (point), until when, how long? The verbal adjective (חדל), as in other cases, is only a less usual participial form.
6 (5). Lo (by) spans, or (as) hand-breadths, hast thou given my days, and my life (is) as nothing before me. Only all vanity is every man constituted. Selah. The idea of the first clause is, that God had dealt out life to him in the scantiest measure. Hence the verb given must be taken in its proper sense, and not in that of placed or made, which it sometimes has. See above, on Ps. 8:2 (1), 33:7. The lo or behold, at the beginning, is expressive of surprise, not unmixed with indignation. As if he had said, “See how short a space thou hast allotted me.”—The word rendered life is not the common one, but that employed in Ps. 17:14, and here used in its primary sense of duration or continued existence. As nothing, or more strictly, non-existence, nonentity. See above, on Ps. 14:1. “My duration is so short that I seem scarcely to exist at all.” Before thee, not merely in thy estimation, but by thine authority or sovereign constitution. “I only appear in thy presence long enough to disappear.” Only all vanity, consisting or composed of nothing else. The word translated vanity means primarily breath, but is transferred, by a natural figure, to anything impalpable and evanescent. The whole phrase means a mere breath. Every man, or taking the Hebrew noun as a collective, all mankind. The participle at the end means fixed, established, constituted, ordained, and describes the brevity of life as something not fortuitous but comprehended in the divine purpose. The melancholy nature of the fact alleged, and perhaps the reasonableness of the complaint founded on it, are indicated by a meditative pause.
7 (6). Only in an image does a man walk; only (for) a breath do they make a noise; he hoards up and he knows not who will gather them. So short and transient is man’s life, that what he does, and what befalls him, seems to be not so much a reality as a show, a picture, a phantasma, an ideal scene, in which he walks about, as one of the imaginary actors. For a breath, i.e. the time spent in a single respiration, an instant, a moment. Or as a breath, i.e. something intangible and momentary. Or as vanity, vainly, in vain, without use or effect. This last agrees best with the previous use of חֶבֶל, and its frequent usage elsewhere, in the sense of vanity. What is said in the first clause of the individual is said in the second of the species, as indicated by the plural verb. The noise referred to is the bustling clamorous activity with which men seek for pleasure and especially for wealth. Hence the derivative noun, which properly means noise, has frequently the secondary sense of wealth. See above, on Ps. 37:16. Disquieted is too weak, as denoting passive uneasiness rather than tumultuous exertion. In the last clause the plural is again exchanged for the singular, a clear proof that they both relate to the same subject. The first verb in this clause is applied elsewhere to the heaping up of earth (Hab. 1:10), the storing away of corn (Gen. 41:35), and the hoarding of treasures (Job 27:16), which is its sense here. Who will gather them, i.e. the hoarded treasures, not accumulate them, which is done already, but take them to himself, enjoy, or use them. The future verbs describe this as a process which may be expected to continue, and perhaps to last forever.
8 (7). And now what have I waited for? Lord, my hope is in thee. The conclusion, to which the previous complaints seemed to tend, was that he would wait no longer, but abandon the hope of divine favor in despair. But this result did not ensue, and he asks, as if in wonder at his own inconsistency, how it is that he has waited after all, or still waits, for the good which seemed, a little while ago, so desperate. The answer is given in the other clause. His hope was, from the first, in God, and although sorely tried, was not extinct. At this point it revives, and recovers its ascendancy, and from this point he takes a new and more believing view of those very inequalities and riddles, which before so severely exercised his faith. This may, therefore, be regarded as the turning-point of the whole psalm, the transition from a worse to a better state of feeling. And now may be strictly understood, in opposition to past time and to a previous state of mind. At the same time, it serves as a term of logical resumption and connection, as in Ps. 2:10. Now, i.e. since this is the case. In thee, literally to (or as to) thee, the Hebrew particle denoting relation in the widest sense; the particular relation is suggested by the context. See above, on Ps. 30:2 (1). The divine name, Adhonai, Lord, seems to belong more naturally to the second clause, although the masoretic interpunction joins it with the first. And now, what wait I for, O Lord? The emphatic pronoun at the end of the sentence cannot well be imitated in translation. (As for) my hope, in thee (is) it.
9 (8). From all my transgressions free me; the reproach of the fool do not make me. The first clause contains an implicit acknowledgment that his error was a sinful one. Transgressions, treasons, or apostasies, committed against God. The Hebrew word is much stronger than its English equivalent. In asking to be freed from his transgressions, he asks to be delivered from their consequences, one of which is then particularly mentioned. A reproach, an object of derision and contempt. See above, on Ps. 22:7 (6). The fool, by way of eminence, the impious unbeliever. See above, on Ps. 14:1. Do not make me, literally place (or put) me, i.e. set me up, exhibit, or expose me, as a mark for their invective or their ridicule.
10 (9). I am silenced, I will not open my mouth, because thou hast done (it). This is far from being a reiteration of the statement in ver. 3 (2) above. The common version of the second verb (I opened not) is altogether arbitrary, and even the first, although a preterite, does not mean I was dumb, i.e. at some former time, but I have been silenced or am dumb, at present. There is obvious allusion to the similar expressions of ver. 3 (2), but rather in the way of contrast than of repetition. As before he was kept silent by an obstinate suppression of the rebellious feelings which he really experienced, so now he is kept silent by a filial submission to his father’s chastisements. I will not open my mouth, to murmur or give utterance to undutiful complaints. Thou hast done the very thing at which I was tempted to repine. See above, on Ps. 22:32 (31). The pronoun is emphatic: (it is) thou (who) hast done (it), and no other. See above, on Ps. 30:7 (6), 33:9.
11 (10). Remove from upon me thy stroke; from the strife of thy hand I have wasted away (or consumed). The silence vowed in the preceding verse had reference merely to repining and undutiful complaint, not to prayer, which he immediately subjoins. Remove, or retaining the form of the original, cause to remove, make to depart, take away, withdraw, not merely from me, but from upon me, implying previous pressure. Thy stroke, thy chastisement, thy punishment. See above, on Ps. 38:12 (11). The same thing is intended by the strife of thy hand, the judgments of God being sometimes represented as a controversy or contention between him and the afflicted person. See Isa. 66:16, Ezek. 38:22. The last verb is not a passive but a neuter, as in Ps. 37:20. Here again the pronoun is emphatic. I, even I, and not merely men in general, know this by experience.
12 (11). With rebukes for iniquity thou dost chasten man, and waste like the moth what he desires. Only vanity is every man (or all mankind). Selah. He here presents his new and more correct view of God’s providential strokes which he has now learned to regard as the punishment of sin. The emphasis of the sentence rests upon the first clause. It is not with cruel and vindictive strokes, it is not with random and unmeaning blows, but with penal visitations, with rebukes (or chastisements) for sin, that thou dost chasten man. The past tense of the verb implies that what he suffers is but one link in a long chain of consistent uniform experiences. He is looking not at what has happened once or for the first time, but at something which has always been so. It is God’s accustomed mode of dealing with his sinful creatures. The deduction of meanings in תּרֹכַחַת is first argument, then conviction, then condemnation, then punishment. See above, on Ps. 38:15 (14).—Waste, literally cause to melt away. The same verb is used above, Ps. 6:7 (6), and below, Ps. 147:18.—Like the moth, not as the moth decays, but as the moth consumes. See Job 4:19, 13:28.—What he desires, literally his desired or desirable, whatever he delights in. Beauty is too specific and confined a sense. The last clause, with the selah at the close, announces that the Psalmist has come back to the point from which he started, but, as we have seen, with an extraordinary change of views and feelings.
13 (12). Hear my prayer, O Jehovah, and to my cry (for help) give ear; to my weeping be not silent, for a stranger (am) I with thee, a sojourner like all my fathers. The word translated weeping properly means tear, but is always used collectively for tears. Be not silent, as an expression of indifference or hostility, not to be moved even by the sight of tears. A stranger, and by implication homeless and friendless, wholly dependent on thy hospitable bounty. To a Hebrew, familiar with the law of Moses, which continually joins the stranger with the widow and the orphan, as legitimate objects of compassionate regard, this description must have been peculiarly affecting. With thee, under thy roof, at thy fireside, or in Scripture phrase, within thy gates, (Ex. 20:10), i.e. at thy mercy, and dependent on thee. The parallel term (תּוֹשָׁב) means one who has no land of his own, but is settled upon that of another, as a tenant, a vassal, or a beneficiary. The same description is applied by Abraham to himself (Gen. 23:4), by Moses to all Israel, considered as the feudal subjects and dependents of Jehovah (Lev. 25:23), and by David to himself and his contemporaries (1 Chron. 29:15), on a different occasion from the one before us, and in a different connection, thus affording a striking incidental confirmation of the truth of the inscription which makes him the author of the psalm. See above, on ver. 1. In both cases, the expression like our fathers shews the relation which the words describe to be not merely personal but national. Another interesting parallel is 1 Kings 19:4, where Elijah, in a state of feeling not unlike the one recorded in the first part of this psalm, “requested for himself that he might die, and said, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am not better than my fathers.”
14 (13). Look away from me, and let me cheer up before I go (hence), and am no more. Both Hebrew words are causatives, and seem to govern face understood. “Cause thy face, thy angry countenance, to look away from me, and let me cheer up or exhilarate my own face.” The last clause in Hebrew is exceedingly laconic; the literal translation is, before I go and am not. It has been justly represented as remarkable, that all the words and phrases of this verse occur in different places of the book of Job. How long wilt thou not look away from me? (Job 7:19). Look away from him and let him cease (Job 14:6). Are not my days few? Cease then and let me alone, that I may cheer up a little before I go (hence) and return no more (Job. 10:20, 21). Thine eyes are upon me, and I am not … thou shalt seek me in the morning and I am not, or I shall not be (Job 7:8, 21). These repeated coincidences, not in common but comparatively rare expressions, together with the analogies already mentioned in the explanation of ver. 6 (5) above, seem to shew, not only that the writer of that book was acquainted with the psalm before us, but that the germ or seminal idea of the book itself is really included in this psalm. We have seen already that the thirty-seventh psalm sustains a similar relation to the Book of Proverbs. See above, p. 159. Thus the Psalter, and especially the Psalms of David, furnished themes and models to the inspired writers of a later date, while at the same time they abound themselves with allusions to the Pentateuch and imitations of it. This was the more natural, and even unavoidable, because the books of Moses and the Psalms were especially familiar to all pious Jews from their incessant use in public worship. That the Book of Job is not, in this case, the original, is clear from the number and dispersion of the passages in which this one psalm is alluded to or copied.
Alexander, J. A. (1864). The Psalms Translated and Explained (pp. 172–177). Andrew Elliot; James Thin. (Public Domain)
Comments