Salvation Belongs to the Lord: Confidence When Surrounded by Enemies

Psa 3:5-6 (Hebrew_Bible_3:6-7) That this God will protect him, His protection during the past night is now a pledge to him in the early morning. It is a violation of the rules of grammar to translate ואישׁנה: I shall go to sleep, or: I am going to sleep. The 1 pers. fut. consec . which is indicated by the ו, is fond of taking an ah of direction, which gives subjective intensity to the idea of sequence: “and thus I then fell asleep,” cf.

Psa 7:5; Psa 119:55, and frequently, Gen 32:6, and more especially so in the later style, Ezr 9:3; Neh 13:21, vid. , Ges. §49, 2, Böttcher, Neue Aehrenlese , No. 412. It is a retrospective glance at the past night. Awaking in health and safety, he feels grateful to Him to whom he owes it: יהוה יסמכני. It is the result of the fact that Jahve supports him, and that God’s hand is his pillow.

Because this loving, almighty hand is beneath his head (Sol 2:6) he is inaccessible and therefore also devoid of fear. שׁית (שׁוּת) carries its object in itself: to take up one’s position, as in Isa 22:7, synon. חנה Psa 28:3 and שׂים 1Ki 20:12, cf. ἐπιτιθέναι τινί. David does not put a merely possible case. All Israel, that is to say ten thousands, myriads, were gone over to Absolom.

Here, at the close of the third strophe, סלה is wanting because the לא אירא (I will not fear) is not uttered in a tone of triumph, but is only a quiet, meek expression of believing confidence. If the instruments struck up boldly and suddenly here, then a cry for help, urged forth by the difficulties that still continually surrounded him, would not be able to follow.

Psa 3:7-8 (Hebrew_Bible_3:8-9) The bold קוּמה is taken from the mouth of Moses, Num 10:35. God is said to arise when He takes a decisive part in what takes place in this world. Instead of kûmah it is accented kumáh as Milra , in order (since the reading קומה אדני is assumed) that the final ah may be sharply cut off from the guttural initial of the next word, and thus render a clear, exact pronunciation of the latter possible (Hitz.

, Ew. §228, b ). Beside יהוה we have אלהי evah, with the suff . of appropriating faith. The cry for help is then substantiated by כּי and the retrospective perf . They are not such perff . of prophetically certain hope as in Psa 6:9; Psa 7:7; Psa 9:5. , for the logical connection requires an appeal to previous experience in the present passage: they express facts of experience, which are taken from many single events (hence כל) down to the present time.

The verb הכּה is construed with a double accusative, as e. g. , Iliad xvi. 597 τὸν μὲν ἄρα Γλαῦκος στῆθος μέσον οὔτασε δουρί. The idea of contempt (Job 16:10) is combined with that of rendering harmless in this “smiting upon the cheek. ” What is meant is a striking in of the jaw-bone and therewith a breaking of the teeth in pieces (שׁבּר). David means, an ignominious end has always come upon the ungodly who rose up against him and against God’s order in general, as their punishment.

The enemies are conceived of as monsters given to biting, and the picture of their fate is fashioned according to this conception. Jahve has the power and the will to defend His Anointed against their hostility: הישׁוּעה לה penes Jovam est salus . ישׁוּעה (from ישׁע, Arab. wasi‛a , amplum esse ) signifies breadth as applied to perfect freedom of motion, removal of all straitness and oppression, prosperity without exposure to danger and unbeclouded.

In the ל of possession lies the idea of the exclusiveness of the possession and of perfect freedom of disposal. At Jahve’s free disposal stands הישׁוּעה, salvation, in all its fulness (just so in Jon 2:10, Rev 7:10). In connection therewith David first of all thinks of his own need of deliverance. But as a true king he cannot before God think of himself, without connecting himself with his people.

Therefore he closes with the intercessory inference: ברכתך על־עמּך Upon Thy people by Thy blessing! We may supply תּהי or תּבא. Instead of cursing his faithless people he implores a blessing upon those who have been piteously led astray and deceived. This “upon Thy people be Thy blessing! ” has its counterpart in the “Father forgive them” of the other David, whom His people crucified.

The one concluding word of the Psalm - observes Ewald - casts a bright light into the very depths of his noble soul.

Psa 3:7-8 (Hebrew_Bible_3:8-9) The bold קוּמה is taken from the mouth of Moses, Num 10:35. God is said to arise when He takes a decisive part in what takes place in this world. Instead of kûmah it is accented kumáh as Milra , in order (since the reading קומה אדני is assumed) that the final ah may be sharply cut off from the guttural initial of the next word, and thus render a clear, exact pronunciation of the latter possible (Hitz.

, Ew. §228, b ). Beside יהוה we have אלהי evah, with the suff . of appropriating faith. The cry for help is then substantiated by כּי and the retrospective perf . They are not such perff . of prophetically certain hope as in Psa 6:9; Psa 7:7; Psa 9:5. , for the logical connection requires an appeal to previous experience in the present passage: they express facts of experience, which are taken from many single events (hence כל) down to the present time.

The verb הכּה is construed with a double accusative, as e. g. , Iliad xvi. 597 τὸν μὲν ἄρα Γλαῦκος στῆθος μέσον οὔτασε δουρί. The idea of contempt (Job 16:10) is combined with that of rendering harmless in this “smiting upon the cheek. ” What is meant is a striking in of the jaw-bone and therewith a breaking of the teeth in pieces (שׁבּר). David means, an ignominious end has always come upon the ungodly who rose up against him and against God’s order in general, as their punishment.

The enemies are conceived of as monsters given to biting, and the picture of their fate is fashioned according to this conception. Jahve has the power and the will to defend His Anointed against their hostility: הישׁוּעה לה penes Jovam est salus . ישׁוּעה (from ישׁע, Arab. wasi‛a , amplum esse ) signifies breadth as applied to perfect freedom of motion, removal of all straitness and oppression, prosperity without exposure to danger and unbeclouded.

In the ל of possession lies the idea of the exclusiveness of the possession and of perfect freedom of disposal. At Jahve’s free disposal stands הישׁוּעה, salvation, in all its fulness (just so in Jon 2:10, Rev 7:10). In connection therewith David first of all thinks of his own need of deliverance. But as a true king he cannot before God think of himself, without connecting himself with his people.

Therefore he closes with the intercessory inference: ברכתך על־עמּך Upon Thy people by Thy blessing! We may supply תּהי or תּבא. Instead of cursing his faithless people he implores a blessing upon those who have been piteously led astray and deceived. This “upon Thy people be Thy blessing! ” has its counterpart in the “Father forgive them” of the other David, whom His people crucified.

The one concluding word of the Psalm - observes Ewald - casts a bright light into the very depths of his noble soul.

The Davidic morning hymn is now followed by a Davidic evening hymn. It is evident that they belong together from the mutual relation of Psa 4:7 with Psa 3:3, and Psa 3:6 with Ps 4:9. They are the only two Psalms in which the direct words of others are taken up into a prayer with the formula “many say,” רבים אמרים. The history and chronological position of the one is explained from the inscription of the other.

From the quousque Psa 4:3, and the words of the feeble-faiths Psa 4:7, it follows that Psa 4:1-8 is the later of the two. It is at the head of this Psalm that we are first met by למנצּח (or למנצּח with Gaja , Hab 3:19), which still calls for investigation. It is found fifty five times in the Psalter, not 54 as is usually reckoned: viz. , 19 times in book 1, 25 times in book 2, 8 times in book 3, 3 times in book 4.

Only two of the Psalms, at the head of which it is found, are anonymous: viz. , Ps 66, Psa 67:1-7. All the others bear the names of David and of the psalmists celebrated from David’s time, viz. , 39 of David, 9 of the Korahites, 5 of Asaph. No fewer than 30 of these Psalms are Elohimic. למנצח is always the first word of the inscription; only in Ps 88, which is easily liable to be overlooked in reckoning, is it otherwise, because there two different inscriptions are put together.

The meaning of the verb נצּח is evident from the Chronicles and the Book of Ezra, which belongs to them. The predilection of the chronicler for the history of religious worship and antiquarian lore is also of use in reference to this word. He uses it in the history of the time of David, of Solomon, of Josiah, of Zerubbabel and Joshua, and always in connection with the accounts of the Temple-service and the building of single parts of the Temple.

To discharge the official duties of the Temple-service is called נצּח על־מלאכת בּית־ה 1Ch 23:4 (comp. Psa 28:1), and the expression is used in Ezr 3:8. of the oversight of the work and workmen for the building of the Temple. The same 3300 (3600) overseers, who are called הרדים בּעם העשׂים בּמּלאכה in 1Ki 5:5 are described by the chronicler (2Ch 2:1) as מנצּחים עליהם.

In connection with the repair of the Temple under Josiah we read that Levites were appointed לנצּח (2Ch 34:12), namely לכל עשׂה מלאכה (2Ch 34:13), instead of which we find it said in 2Ch 2:17 להעביד, to keep the people at their work. The primary notion of נצח is that of shining, and in fact of the purest and most dazzling brightness; this then passes over to the notion of shining over to outshining, and in fact both of uninterrupted continuance and of excellence and superiority (vid.

, Ithpa . Dan 6:4, and cf. 1Ch 23:4 with Psa 9:13; 1Co 15:54 with Isa 25:8). Thus, therefore, מנצּח is one who shows eminent ability in any department, and then it gains the general signification of master, director, chief overseer. At the head of the Psalms it is commonly understood of the direct of the Temple-music. מנצּח est dux cantus - Luther says in one place - quem nos dicimus den Kappellenmeister the band-master, qui orditur et gubernat cantum , ἔξαρχος ( Opp.

lat . xvii. 134 ed. Erl .) But 1st, even the Psalms of Asaph have this למנצח at the beginning, and he was himself a director of the Temple-music, and in fact the chief-director (חראשׁ) 1Ch 16:5, or at any rate he was one of the three (Heman, Asaph, Ethan), to whom the 24 classes of the 4000 Levite singers under the Davidico-Salomonic sanctuary were subordinate; 2ndly, the passage of the chronicler (1Ch 15:17-21) which is most prominent in reference to this question, does not accord with this explanation.

According to this passage the three directors of the Temple-music managed the cymbals להשׁמיע, to sound aloud; eight other musicians of high rank the nablas and six others the citherns לנצּח. This expression cannot mean “to direct,” for the direction belonged to the three, and the cymbals were also better adapted to it than the citherns. It means “to take the lead in the playing”: the cymbals directed and the citherns, better adapted to take the lead in the playing, were related to them, somewhat as the violins to the clarinets now-a-days.

Hence מנצּח is not the director of the Temple-music but in general the master of song, and למנצח addresses the Psalm to him whose duty it is to arrange it and to train the Levite choristers; it therefore defines the Psalm as belonging to the songs of the Temple worship that require musical accompaniment. The translation of the Targum (Luther) also corresponds to this general sense of the expression: לשׁבּחא “to be sung liturgically,” and the lxx: εἰς τὸ τέλος, if this signifies “to the execution” and does not on the contrary ascribe an eschatological meaning to the Psalm.

The בּנגינות which is added is not governed by it. This can be seen at once from Hab 3:19 : to the chief singer, with an accompaniment of my stringed instruments (vid. , my Commentary ), which Hitzig renders: to the chief singer of my musical pieces; but נצּח בּ is not a phrase that can be supported, and נגינה does not mean a piece of music. The Piel , נגּן, complete with בּיר, signifies to touch the strings (cogn.

נגע), to play a stringed instrument. Whence comes נגיות (Psa 77:7; Isa 38:20) which is almost always used as a pluralet . : the play of the stringed instruments, and the superscribed בּנגינות Psa 4:1; Psa 6:1; Psa 54:1; Psa 67:1; Psa 76:1 : with an accompaniment of the stringed instruments; and b is used as in Psa 49:5, Isa 30:29, Isa 30:32. The hymn is to be sung in company with, probably with the sole accompaniment of, the stringed instruments.

The fact of the inscribed words למנצח בנגינות preceding מזמור לדוד probably arises from the fact of their being written originally at the top over the chief title which gave the generic name of the hymn and the author.

Psa 4:1 (Hebrew_Bible_4:2) Jahve is אלהי צדק, the possessor of righteousness, the author of righteousness, and the vindicator of misjudged and persecuted righteousness. This God of righteousness David believingly calls his God (cf. Psa 24:5; Psa 59:11); for the righteousness he possesses, he possesses in Him, and the righteousness he looks for, he looks for in Him.

That this is not in vain, his previous experience assures him: Thou hast made a breadth (space) for me when in a strait. In connection with this confirmatory relation of בּצּר הרהבתּ לּי it is more probable that we have before us an attributive clause (Hitz.) , than that we have an independent one, and at any rate it is a retrospective clause. הרחבת is not precative (Böttch.)

, for the perf . of certainty with a precative colouring is confined to such exclamatory utterances as Job 21:16 (which see). He bases his prayer on two things, viz. , on his fellowship with God, the righteous God, and on His justifying grace which he has already experienced. He has been many times in a strait already, and God has made a broad place for him.

The idea of the expansion of the breathing (of the stream of air) and of space is attached to the ח, Arab. ḥ , of רחב, root רח ( Deutsch. Morgenl . Zeitschr . xii. 657). What is meant is the expansion of the straitened heart, Psa 25:17. Isa 60:5, and the widening of a straitened position, Psa 18:20; Psa 118:5. On the Dag . in לּי vid. , on Psa 84:4. Psa 4:2-3 (Hebrew_Bible_4:3-4) Righteous in his relation to God he turns rebukingly towards those who contemn his whose honour is God’s honour, viz.

, to the partisans of Absolom. In contrast with בּני אדם, men who are lost in the multitude, בּני אישׁ denotes such as stand prominently forward out of the multitude; passages like Psa 49:3; Psa 62:10; Pro 8:4; Isa 2:9; Isa 5:15, show this distinction. In this and the preceding Psalm David makes as little mention of his degenerate son as he does of the deluded king in the Psalms belonging to the period of his persecution by Saul.

The address is directed to the aristocratic party, whose tool Absolom has become. To these he days: till when (עד־מה beside the non-guttural which follows with Segol, without any manifest reason, as in Psa 10:13; Isa 1:5; Jer 16:10), i. e. , how long shall my honour become a mockery, namely to you and by you, just as we can also say in Latin quousque tandem dignitas mea ludibrio?

The two following members are circumstantial clauses subordinate to the principal clause with עד־מה (similar to Isa 1:5 ; Ew. §341, b ). The energetic fut . with Nun parag . does not usually stand at the head of independent clauses; it is therefore to be rendered: since ye love ריק, that which is empty - the proper name for their high rank is hollow appearance - how long will ye pursue after כּזב, falsehood?

-they seek to find out every possible lying pretext, in order to trail the honour of the legitimate king in the dust. The assertion that the personal honour of David, not his kingly dignity, is meant by כּבודי, separates what is inseparable. They are eager to injure his official at the same time as his personal reputation. Therefore David appeals in opposition to them (Psa 4:4) not only to the divine choice, but also to his personal relationship to God, on which that choice is based.

The ו of וּדעוּ is, as in 2Ki 4:41, the ו of sequence: so know then. The Hiph . חפלה (from פּלה = פּלא, cogn. פּלל, prop. to divide) to make a separation, make a distinction Exo 9:4; Exo 11:7, then to distinguish in an extraordinary and remarkable way Exo 8:18, and to show Psa 17:7, cf. Psa 31:22, so that consequently what is meant is not the mere selection (בּחר), but the remarkable selection to a remarkable position of honour (lxx, Vulg.

mirificavit , Windberg translation of the Psalms gewunderlichet ). לו belongs to the verb, as in Psa 135:4, and the principal accent lies on חסיד: he whom Jahve Himself, not men, has thus remarkably distinguished is a חסיד, a pious man, i. e. , either, like the Syriac חסידא = רהימא: God’s favourite, or, according to the biblical usage of the language (cf. Psa 12:2 with Isa 17:1), in an active signification like פּליט, פּריץ, and the like: a lover of God, from חסד (root חס Arab.

ḥs , stringere , whence ḥassa to curry, maḥassa a curry-comb) prop. to feel one’s self drawn, i. e. , strongly affected (comp. ḥiss is mental impression), in Hebrew, of a strong ardent affection. As a חסיד he does not call upon God in vain, but finds a ready hearing. Their undertaking consequently runs counter to the miraculously evidenced will of God and must fail by reason of the loving relationship in which the dethroned and debased one stands to God.

Psa 4:1 (Hebrew_Bible_4:2) Jahve is אלהי צדק, the possessor of righteousness, the author of righteousness, and the vindicator of misjudged and persecuted righteousness. This God of righteousness David believingly calls his God (cf. Psa 24:5; Psa 59:11); for the righteousness he possesses, he possesses in Him, and the righteousness he looks for, he looks for in Him.

That this is not in vain, his previous experience assures him: Thou hast made a breadth (space) for me when in a strait. In connection with this confirmatory relation of בּצּר הרהבתּ לּי it is more probable that we have before us an attributive clause (Hitz.) , than that we have an independent one, and at any rate it is a retrospective clause. הרחבת is not precative (Böttch.)

, for the perf . of certainty with a precative colouring is confined to such exclamatory utterances as Job 21:16 (which see). He bases his prayer on two things, viz. , on his fellowship with God, the righteous God, and on His justifying grace which he has already experienced. He has been many times in a strait already, and God has made a broad place for him.

The idea of the expansion of the breathing (of the stream of air) and of space is attached to the ח, Arab. ḥ , of רחב, root רח ( Deutsch. Morgenl . Zeitschr . xii. 657). What is meant is the expansion of the straitened heart, Psa 25:17. Isa 60:5, and the widening of a straitened position, Psa 18:20; Psa 118:5. On the Dag . in לּי vid. , on Psa 84:4. Psa 4:2-3 (Hebrew_Bible_4:3-4) Righteous in his relation to God he turns rebukingly towards those who contemn his whose honour is God’s honour, viz.

, to the partisans of Absolom. In contrast with בּני אדם, men who are lost in the multitude, בּני אישׁ denotes such as stand prominently forward out of the multitude; passages like Psa 49:3; Psa 62:10; Pro 8:4; Isa 2:9; Isa 5:15, show this distinction. In this and the preceding Psalm David makes as little mention of his degenerate son as he does of the deluded king in the Psalms belonging to the period of his persecution by Saul.

The address is directed to the aristocratic party, whose tool Absolom has become. To these he days: till when (עד־מה beside the non-guttural which follows with Segol, without any manifest reason, as in Psa 10:13; Isa 1:5; Jer 16:10), i. e. , how long shall my honour become a mockery, namely to you and by you, just as we can also say in Latin quousque tandem dignitas mea ludibrio?

The two following members are circumstantial clauses subordinate to the principal clause with עד־מה (similar to Isa 1:5 ; Ew. §341, b ). The energetic fut . with Nun parag . does not usually stand at the head of independent clauses; it is therefore to be rendered: since ye love ריק, that which is empty - the proper name for their high rank is hollow appearance - how long will ye pursue after כּזב, falsehood?

-they seek to find out every possible lying pretext, in order to trail the honour of the legitimate king in the dust. The assertion that the personal honour of David, not his kingly dignity, is meant by כּבודי, separates what is inseparable. They are eager to injure his official at the same time as his personal reputation. Therefore David appeals in opposition to them (Psa 4:4) not only to the divine choice, but also to his personal relationship to God, on which that choice is based.

The ו of וּדעוּ is, as in 2Ki 4:41, the ו of sequence: so know then. The Hiph . חפלה (from פּלה = פּלא, cogn. פּלל, prop. to divide) to make a separation, make a distinction Exo 9:4; Exo 11:7, then to distinguish in an extraordinary and remarkable way Exo 8:18, and to show Psa 17:7, cf. Psa 31:22, so that consequently what is meant is not the mere selection (בּחר), but the remarkable selection to a remarkable position of honour (lxx, Vulg.

mirificavit , Windberg translation of the Psalms gewunderlichet ). לו belongs to the verb, as in Psa 135:4, and the principal accent lies on חסיד: he whom Jahve Himself, not men, has thus remarkably distinguished is a חסיד, a pious man, i. e. , either, like the Syriac חסידא = רהימא: God’s favourite, or, according to the biblical usage of the language (cf. Psa 12:2 with Isa 17:1), in an active signification like פּליט, פּריץ, and the like: a lover of God, from חסד (root חס Arab.

ḥs , stringere , whence ḥassa to curry, maḥassa a curry-comb) prop. to feel one’s self drawn, i. e. , strongly affected (comp. ḥiss is mental impression), in Hebrew, of a strong ardent affection. As a חסיד he does not call upon God in vain, but finds a ready hearing. Their undertaking consequently runs counter to the miraculously evidenced will of God and must fail by reason of the loving relationship in which the dethroned and debased one stands to God.

Psa 4:4-5 (Hebrew_Bible_4:5-6) The address is continued: they are to repent and cleave to Jahve instead of allowing themselves to be carried away by arrogance and discontent. The lxx has rendered it correctly: ὀργίζεσθε καὶ μὴ ἁμαρτάνετε (cf. Eph 4:26): if ye will be angry beware of sinning, viz. , backbiting and rebellion (cf. the similar paratactic combinations Psa 28:1; Jos 6:18; Isa 12:1).

In connection with the rendering contremiscite we feel to miss any expression of that before which they are to tremble (viz. , the sure punishment which God decrees). He warns his adversaries against blind passion, and counsels them to quiet converse with their own hearts, and solitary meditation, in order that they may not imperil their own salvation. To commune with one’s own heart, without the addition of the object, is equivalent to to think alone by one’s self, and the bed or resting-place, without requiring to be understood literally, points to a condition of mind that is favourable to quiet contemplation.

The heart is the seat of the conscience, and the Spirit of God (as Hamann, Werke i. 98, observes on this subject) disguises itself as our own voice that we may see His exhortation, His counsel, and His wisdom well up out of our own stony heart. The second imper . continues the first: and cease, prop. be still (דּמם from the sound of the closed mouth checking the discourse), i.

e. , come to your right mind by self-examination, cease your tumult-a warning coming with the semblance of command by reason of the consciousness of innocence on his part; and this impression has to be rendered here by the striking in of the music. The dehortation passes over into exhortation in Psa 4:6. Of course the sacrifices were continued in the sanctuary while David, with his faithful followers, was a fugitive from Jerusalem.

Referring to this, David cries out to the Absolomites: offer זבחי־צדק. Here at least these are not offerings consisting of actions which are in accordance with the will of God, instead of slaughtered animals, but sacrifices offered with a right mind, conformed to the will of God, instead of the hypocritical mind with which they consecrate their evil doings and think to flatter God.

In Ps 51:21, Deu 33:19 also, “the sacrifices of righteousness” are real sacrifices, not merely symbols of moral acts. Not less full of meaning is the exhortation וּבטחוּ אל־ה. The verb בּטח is construed with אל as in Psa 31:7; Psa 56:4; Psa 86:2, combining with the notion of trusting that of drawing near to, hanging on, attaching one’s self to any one. The Arabic word bṭḥ , expandere , has preserved the primary notion of the word, a notion which, as in the synon.

Arab. bsṭ , when referred to the effect which is produced on the heart, countenance and whole nature of the man by a joyous cheerful state of mind, passes over to the notion of this state of mind itself, so that בּטח (like the Arab. inbasaṭa to be cheerful, fearless, bold, lit. , expanded [cf. רהב Isa 60:5] = unstraitened) consequently signifies to be courageous, confident.

They are to renounce the self-trust which blinds them in their opposition to the king who is deprived of all human assistance. If they will trustingly submit themselves to God, then at the same time the murmuring and rancorous discontent, from which the rebellion has sprung, will be stilled. Thus far the address to the rebellious magnates goes.