Have Mercy on Me, Lord: A Cry from Anguish to Heard Prayer

Psa 6:4-7 (Hebrew_Bible_6:5-8) God has turned away from him, hence the prayer שׁוּבה, viz. , אלי. The tone of שׁוּבה is on the ult . , because it is assumed to be read שׁוּבה אדני. The ultima accentuation is intended to secure its distinct pronunciation to the final syllable of שׁובה, which is liable to be drowned and escape notice in connection with the coming together of the two aspirates (vid.

, on Psa 3:8). May God turn to him again, rescue (חלּץ from חלץ, which is transitive in Hebr. and Aram. , to free, expedire, exuere, Arab. chalaṣa , to be pure, prop. to be loose, free) his soul, in which his affliction has taken deep root, from this affliction, and extend to him salvation on the ground of His mercy towards sinners. He founds this cry for help upon his yearning to be able still longer to praise God, - a happy employ, the possibility of which would be cut off from him if he should die.

זכר, as frequently הזכּיר, is used of remembering one with reverence and honour; הודה (from ודה) has the dat. honoris after it. שׁאול, Psa 6:6 , ἅδης (Rev 20:13), alternates with מות. Such is the name of the grave, the yawning abyss, into which everything mortal descends (from שׁאל = שׁוּל Arab. sâl , to be loose, relaxed, to hang down, sink down: a sinking in, that which is sunken in, a depth).

The writers of the Psalms all (which is no small objection against Maccabean Psalms) know only of one single gathering-place of the dead in the depth of the earth, where they indeed live, but it is only a quasi life , because they are secluded from the light of this world and, what is the most lamentable, from the light of God’s presence. Hence the Christian can only join in the prayer of v.

6 of this Psalm and similar passages (Psa 30:10; Psa 88:11-13; Psa 115:17; Isa 38:18.) so far as he transfers the notion of hades to that of gehenna. In hell there is really no remembrance and no praising of God. David’s fear of death as something in itself unhappy, is also, according to its ultimate ground, nothing but the fear of an unhappy death. In these “pains of hell” he is wearied with (בּ as in Psa 69:4) groaning, and bedews his couch every night with a river of tears.

Just as the Hiph . השׂחה signifies to cause to swim from שׂחה to swim, so the Hiph . המסה signifies to dissolve, cause to melt, from מסה (cogn. מסס) to melt. דּמעה, in Arabic a nom. unit . a tear, is in Hebrew a flood of tears. In Psa 6:8 עיני does not signify my “appearance” (Num 11:7), but, as becomes clear from Psa 31:10; Psa 88:10, Job 17:7, “my eye;” the eye reflects the whole state of a man’s health.

The verb עשׁשׁ appears to be a denominative from עשׁ: to be moth-eaten. The signification senescere for the verb עתק is more certain. The closing words בּכל־צוררי (cf. Num 10:9 הצּר הצּרר the oppressing oppressor, from the root צר Arab. tsr , to press, squeeze, and especially to bind together, constringere, coartare , in which the writer indicates, partially at least, the cause of his grief (כּעס, in Job 18:7 כּעשׁ), are as it were the socket into which the following strophe is inserted.

Psa 6:4-7 (Hebrew_Bible_6:5-8) God has turned away from him, hence the prayer שׁוּבה, viz. , אלי. The tone of שׁוּבה is on the ult . , because it is assumed to be read שׁוּבה אדני. The ultima accentuation is intended to secure its distinct pronunciation to the final syllable of שׁובה, which is liable to be drowned and escape notice in connection with the coming together of the two aspirates (vid.

, on Psa 3:8). May God turn to him again, rescue (חלּץ from חלץ, which is transitive in Hebr. and Aram. , to free, expedire, exuere, Arab. chalaṣa , to be pure, prop. to be loose, free) his soul, in which his affliction has taken deep root, from this affliction, and extend to him salvation on the ground of His mercy towards sinners. He founds this cry for help upon his yearning to be able still longer to praise God, - a happy employ, the possibility of which would be cut off from him if he should die.

זכר, as frequently הזכּיר, is used of remembering one with reverence and honour; הודה (from ודה) has the dat. honoris after it. שׁאול, Psa 6:6 , ἅδης (Rev 20:13), alternates with מות. Such is the name of the grave, the yawning abyss, into which everything mortal descends (from שׁאל = שׁוּל Arab. sâl , to be loose, relaxed, to hang down, sink down: a sinking in, that which is sunken in, a depth).

The writers of the Psalms all (which is no small objection against Maccabean Psalms) know only of one single gathering-place of the dead in the depth of the earth, where they indeed live, but it is only a quasi life , because they are secluded from the light of this world and, what is the most lamentable, from the light of God’s presence. Hence the Christian can only join in the prayer of v.

6 of this Psalm and similar passages (Psa 30:10; Psa 88:11-13; Psa 115:17; Isa 38:18.) so far as he transfers the notion of hades to that of gehenna. In hell there is really no remembrance and no praising of God. David’s fear of death as something in itself unhappy, is also, according to its ultimate ground, nothing but the fear of an unhappy death. In these “pains of hell” he is wearied with (בּ as in Psa 69:4) groaning, and bedews his couch every night with a river of tears.

Just as the Hiph . השׂחה signifies to cause to swim from שׂחה to swim, so the Hiph . המסה signifies to dissolve, cause to melt, from מסה (cogn. מסס) to melt. דּמעה, in Arabic a nom. unit . a tear, is in Hebrew a flood of tears. In Psa 6:8 עיני does not signify my “appearance” (Num 11:7), but, as becomes clear from Psa 31:10; Psa 88:10, Job 17:7, “my eye;” the eye reflects the whole state of a man’s health.

The verb עשׁשׁ appears to be a denominative from עשׁ: to be moth-eaten. The signification senescere for the verb עתק is more certain. The closing words בּכל־צוררי (cf. Num 10:9 הצּר הצּרר the oppressing oppressor, from the root צר Arab. tsr , to press, squeeze, and especially to bind together, constringere, coartare , in which the writer indicates, partially at least, the cause of his grief (כּעס, in Job 18:7 כּעשׁ), are as it were the socket into which the following strophe is inserted.

Psa 6:8-10 (Hebrew_Bible_6:9-11) Even before his plaintive prayer is ended the divine light and comfort come quickly into his heart, as Frisch says in his “Neuklingende Harfe Davids. ” His enemies mock him as one forsaken of God, but even in the face of his enemies he becomes conscious that this is not his condition. Thrice in Psa 6:9, Psa 6:10 his confidence that God will answer him flashes forth: He hears his loud sobbing, the voice of his weeping that rises towards heaven, He hears his supplication, and He graciously accepts his prayer.

The twofold שׁמע expresses the fact and יקח its consequence. That which he seems to have to suffer, shall in reality be the lot of his enemies, viz. , the end of those who are rejected of God: they shall be put to shame. The בּושׁ, Syr. behet , Chald. בּהת, בּהת, which we meet with here for the first time, is not connected with the Arab. bht , but (since the Old Arabic as a rule has t` as a mediating vowel between ש and t , )ת with Arab.

bât , which signifies “to turn up and scatter about things that lie together (either beside or upon each other)” eruere et diruere, disturbare, - a root which also appears in the reduplicated form Arab. bṯṯ : to root up and disperse, whence Arab. battun , sorrow and anxiety, according to which therefore בּושׁ (= בּושׁ as Arab. bâta = bawata ) prop. signifies disturbare , to be perplexed, lose one’s self-control, and denotes shame according to a similar, but somewhat differently applied conception to confundi , συγχεῖσθαι, συγχύνεσθαι.

ויבּהלוּ points back to Psa 6:2, Psa 6:3 : the lot at which the malicious have rejoiced, shall come upon themselves. As is implied in יבשׁוּ ישׁבוּ, a higher power turns back the assailants filled with shame (Psa 9:4; Psa 35:4). What an impressive finish we have here in these three Milels , jashûbu jebôshu rāga ) , in relation to the tripping measure of the preceding words addressed to his enemies!

And, if not intentional, yet how remarkable is the coincidence, that shame follows the involuntary reverse of the foes, and that יבשׁו in its letters and sound is the reverse of ישׁבו! What music there is in the Psalter! If composers could but understand it!!

Psa 6:8-10 (Hebrew_Bible_6:9-11) Even before his plaintive prayer is ended the divine light and comfort come quickly into his heart, as Frisch says in his “Neuklingende Harfe Davids. ” His enemies mock him as one forsaken of God, but even in the face of his enemies he becomes conscious that this is not his condition. Thrice in Psa 6:9, Psa 6:10 his confidence that God will answer him flashes forth: He hears his loud sobbing, the voice of his weeping that rises towards heaven, He hears his supplication, and He graciously accepts his prayer.

The twofold שׁמע expresses the fact and יקח its consequence. That which he seems to have to suffer, shall in reality be the lot of his enemies, viz. , the end of those who are rejected of God: they shall be put to shame. The בּושׁ, Syr. behet , Chald. בּהת, בּהת, which we meet with here for the first time, is not connected with the Arab. bht , but (since the Old Arabic as a rule has t` as a mediating vowel between ש and t , )ת with Arab.

bât , which signifies “to turn up and scatter about things that lie together (either beside or upon each other)” eruere et diruere, disturbare, - a root which also appears in the reduplicated form Arab. bṯṯ : to root up and disperse, whence Arab. battun , sorrow and anxiety, according to which therefore בּושׁ (= בּושׁ as Arab. bâta = bawata ) prop. signifies disturbare , to be perplexed, lose one’s self-control, and denotes shame according to a similar, but somewhat differently applied conception to confundi , συγχεῖσθαι, συγχύνεσθαι.

ויבּהלוּ points back to Psa 6:2, Psa 6:3 : the lot at which the malicious have rejoiced, shall come upon themselves. As is implied in יבשׁוּ ישׁבוּ, a higher power turns back the assailants filled with shame (Psa 9:4; Psa 35:4). What an impressive finish we have here in these three Milels , jashûbu jebôshu rāga ) , in relation to the tripping measure of the preceding words addressed to his enemies!

And, if not intentional, yet how remarkable is the coincidence, that shame follows the involuntary reverse of the foes, and that יבשׁו in its letters and sound is the reverse of ישׁבו! What music there is in the Psalter! If composers could but understand it!!

Psa 6:8-10 (Hebrew_Bible_6:9-11) Even before his plaintive prayer is ended the divine light and comfort come quickly into his heart, as Frisch says in his “Neuklingende Harfe Davids. ” His enemies mock him as one forsaken of God, but even in the face of his enemies he becomes conscious that this is not his condition. Thrice in Psa 6:9, Psa 6:10 his confidence that God will answer him flashes forth: He hears his loud sobbing, the voice of his weeping that rises towards heaven, He hears his supplication, and He graciously accepts his prayer.

The twofold שׁמע expresses the fact and יקח its consequence. That which he seems to have to suffer, shall in reality be the lot of his enemies, viz. , the end of those who are rejected of God: they shall be put to shame. The בּושׁ, Syr. behet , Chald. בּהת, בּהת, which we meet with here for the first time, is not connected with the Arab. bht , but (since the Old Arabic as a rule has t` as a mediating vowel between ש and t , )ת with Arab.

bât , which signifies “to turn up and scatter about things that lie together (either beside or upon each other)” eruere et diruere, disturbare, - a root which also appears in the reduplicated form Arab. bṯṯ : to root up and disperse, whence Arab. battun , sorrow and anxiety, according to which therefore בּושׁ (= בּושׁ as Arab. bâta = bawata ) prop. signifies disturbare , to be perplexed, lose one’s self-control, and denotes shame according to a similar, but somewhat differently applied conception to confundi , συγχεῖσθαι, συγχύνεσθαι.

ויבּהלוּ points back to Psa 6:2, Psa 6:3 : the lot at which the malicious have rejoiced, shall come upon themselves. As is implied in יבשׁוּ ישׁבוּ, a higher power turns back the assailants filled with shame (Psa 9:4; Psa 35:4). What an impressive finish we have here in these three Milels , jashûbu jebôshu rāga ) , in relation to the tripping measure of the preceding words addressed to his enemies!

And, if not intentional, yet how remarkable is the coincidence, that shame follows the involuntary reverse of the foes, and that יבשׁו in its letters and sound is the reverse of ישׁבו! What music there is in the Psalter! If composers could but understand it!!

In the second part of Psa 6:1-10 David meets his enemies with strong self-confidence in God. Ps 7, which even Hitzig ascribes to David, continues this theme and exhibits to us, in a prominent example taken from the time of persecution under Saul, his purity of conscience and joyousness of faith. One need only read 1 Sam 24-26 to see how this Psalm abounds in unmistakeable references to this portion of David’s life.

The superscribed statement of the events that gave rise to its composition point to this. Such statements are found exclusively only by the Davidic Psalms. The inscription runs: Shiggajon of David, which he sang to Jahve on account of the sayings of Cush a Benjamite. על־דּברי is intentionally chosen instead of על which has other functions in these superscriptions.

Although דּבר and דּברי can mean a thing, business, affairs (Exo 22:8; 1Sa 10:2, and freq.) and על־דּברי “in reference to” (Deu 4:21; Jer 7:22) or “on occasion of” (Jer 14:1), still we must here keep to the most natural signification: “on account of the words (speeches). ” Cûsh (lxx falsely Χουσί = כּוּשׁי; Luther, likewise under misapprehension, “the Moor”) must have been one of the many servants of Saul, his kinsman, one of the talebearers like Doeg and the Ziphites, who shamefully slandered David before Saul, and roused him against David.

The epithet בּן־ימיני (as in 1Sa 9:1, 1Sa 9:21, cf. אישׁ־ימיני 2Sa 20:1) describes him as “a Benjamite” and does not assume any knowledge of him, as would be the case if it were הבּנימיני, or rather (in accordance with biblical usage) בּן־הימיני. And this accords with the actual fact, for there is no mention of him elsewhere in Scripture history. The statement וגו על־דברי is hardly from David’s hand, but written by some one else, whether from tradition or from the דברי הימים of David, where this Psalm may have been interwoven with the history of its occasion.

Whereas there is nothing against our regarding לדוד שׁגּיון, or at least שׁגיון, as a note appended by David himself. Since שׁגּיון (after the form הזּיון a vision) belongs to the same class as superscribed appellations like מזמור and משׂכּיל, and the Tephilla of Habakkuk, Hab 3:1 (vid. , my Commentary ), has the addition על־שׁגינות, שׁגיון must be the name of a kind of lyric composition, and in fact a kind described according to the rhythm of its language or melody.

Now since שׁגה means to go astray, wander, reel, and is cognate with שׁגע (whence comes שׁגּעון madness, a word formed in the same manner) שׁגיון may mean in the language of prosody a reeling poem, i. e. , one composed in a most excited movement and with a rapid change of the strongest emotions, therefore a dithyrambic poem, and שׁגינות dithyrambic rhythms, variously and violently mixed together.

Thus Ewald and Rödiger understand it, and thus even Tarnov, Geier, and other old expositors who translate it cantio erratica . What we therefore look for is that this Psalm shall consist, as Ainsworth expresses it (1627), “of sundry variable and wandering verses,” that it shall wander through the most diverse rhythms as in a state of intoxication - an expectation which is in fact realized.

The musical accompaniment also had its part in the general effect produced. Moreover, the contents of the Psalm corresponds to this poetic musical style. It is the most solemn pathos of exalted self-consciousness which is expressed in it. And in common with Hab it gives expression to the joy which arises from zealous anger against the enemies of God and from the contemplation of their speedy overthrow.

Painful unrest, defiant self-confidence, triumphant ecstasy, calm trust, prophetic certainty-all these states of mind find expression in the irregular arrangement of the strophes of this Davidic dithyramb, the ancient customary Psalm for the feast of Purim ( Sofrim xviii. §2).

Psa 7:1-2 (Hebrew_Bible_7:2-3) With this word of faith, love, and hope בּך חסיתּי (as in Psa 141:8), this holy captatio benevolentiae , David also begins in Psa 11:1; Psa 16:1; Psa 31:2, cf. Psa 71:1. The perf . is inchoative: in Thee have I taken my refuge, equivalent to: in Thee do I trust. The transition from the multitude of his persecutors to the sing .

in Psa 7:3 is explained most naturally, as one looks at the inscription, thus: that of the many the one who is just at the time the worst of all comes prominently before his mind. The verb טרף from the primary signification carpere (which corresponds still more exactly to חרף) means both to tear off and to tear in pieces (whence טרפה that which is torn in pieces); and פּרק from its primary signification frangere means both to break loose and to break in pieces, therefore to liberate, e.

g. , in Psa 136:24, and to break in small pieces, 1Ki 19:11. The persecutors are conceived of as wild animals, as lions which rend their prey and craunch its bones. Thus blood-thirsty are they for his soul, i. e. , his life. After the painful unrest of this first strophe, the second begins the tone of defiant self-consciousness.

Psa 7:3-5 (Hebrew_Bible_7:4-6) According to the inscription זאת points to the substance of those slanderous sayings of the Benjamite. With בּכפּי אם־ישׁ־עול one may compare David’s words to Saul אין בּידי רעה 1Sa 24:12; 1Sa 26:18; and from this comparison one will at once see in a small compass the difference between poetical and prose expression. שׁלמי (Targ.

לבעל שׁלמי) is the name he gives (with reference to Saul) to him who stands on a peaceful, friendly footing with him, cf. the adject. שׁלום, Psa 55:21, and אישׁ שׁלום, Psa 41:10. The verb גּמל, cogn. גּמר, signifies originally to finish, complete, (root גם, כם ,גם t, cf. כּימה to be or to make full, to gather into a heap). One says טּוב גּמל and גּמל רע, and also without a material object גּמל עלי or גּמלני benefecit or malefecit mihi .

But we join גּמלתּי with רע according to the Targum and contrary to the accentuation, and not with שׁלמי (Olsh. , Böttch. , Hitz.) , although שׁלם beside משׁלּם, as e. g. , דּבר beside מדבּר might mean “requiting. ” The poet would then have written: אם שׁלּמתּי גּמלי רע i. e. , if I have retaliated upon him that hath done evil to me. In Psa 7:5 we do not render it according the meaning to הלּץ which is usual elsewhere: but rather I rescued...

(Louis de Dieu, Ewald §345, a, and Hupfeld). Why cannot הלּץ in accordance with its primary signification expedire, exuere (according to which even the signification of rescuing, taken exactly, does not proceed from the idea of drawing out, but of making loose, exuere vinclis ) signify here exuere = spoliare, as it does in Aramaic? And how extremely appropriate it is as an allusion to the incident in the cave, when David did not rescue Saul, but, without indeed designing to take חליצה, exuviae , cut off the hem of his garment!

As Hengstenberg observes, “He affirms his innocence in the most general terms, thereby showing that his conduct towards Saul was not anything exceptional, but sprang from his whole disposition and mode of action. ” On the 1 pers. fut. conv . and ah , vid. , on Psa 3:6. ריקם belongs to צוררי, like Psa 25:3; Psa 69:5. In the apodosis, Psa 7:6, the fut. Kal of רדף is made into three syllables, in a way altogether without example, since, by first making the Shebâ audible, from ירדּף it is become ירדף (like יצחק Gen 21:6, תּהלך Psa 73:9; Exo 9:23, שׁמעה Psa 39:13), and this is then sharpened by an euphonic Dag.

forte . Other ways of explaining it, as that by Cahjúg = יתרדף, or by Kimchi as a mixed form from Kal and Piel , have been already refuted by Baer, Thorath Emeth , p. 33. This dactylic jussive form of Kal is followed by the regular jussives of Hiph . ישּׂג and ישׁכּן. The rhythm is similar so that in the primary passage Exo 15:9, which also finds its echo in Psa 18:38, - viz.

iambic with anapaests inspersed. By its parallelism with נפשׁי and חיּי, כּבודי acquires the signification “my soul,” as Saadia, Gecatilia and Aben-Ezra have rendered it - a signification which is secured to it by Psa 16:9; 30:13; Psa 57:9; Psa 108:2, Gen 49:6. Man’s soul is his doxa , and this it is as being the copy of the divine doxa ( Bibl. Psychol . S. 98, [tr.

p. 119], and frequently). Moreover, “let him lay in the dust” is at least quite as favourable to this sense of כבודי as to the sense of personal and official dignity (Psa 3:4; Psa 4:3). To lay down in the dust is equivalent to: to lay in the dust of death, Psa 22:16. שׁכני עפר, Isa 26:19, are the dead. According to the biblical conception the soul is capable of being killed (Num 35:11), and mortal (Num 23:10).

It binds spirit and body together and this bond is cut asunder by death. David will submit willingly to death in case he has ever acted dishonourably. Here the music is to strike up, in order to give intensity to the expression of this courageous confession. In the next strophe is affirmation of innocence rises to a challenging appeal to the judgment-seat of God and a prophetic certainty that that judgment is near at hand.

Psa 7:3-5 (Hebrew_Bible_7:4-6) According to the inscription זאת points to the substance of those slanderous sayings of the Benjamite. With בּכפּי אם־ישׁ־עול one may compare David’s words to Saul אין בּידי רעה 1Sa 24:12; 1Sa 26:18; and from this comparison one will at once see in a small compass the difference between poetical and prose expression. שׁלמי (Targ.

לבעל שׁלמי) is the name he gives (with reference to Saul) to him who stands on a peaceful, friendly footing with him, cf. the adject. שׁלום, Psa 55:21, and אישׁ שׁלום, Psa 41:10. The verb גּמל, cogn. גּמר, signifies originally to finish, complete, (root גם, כם ,גם t, cf. כּימה to be or to make full, to gather into a heap). One says טּוב גּמל and גּמל רע, and also without a material object גּמל עלי or גּמלני benefecit or malefecit mihi .

But we join גּמלתּי with רע according to the Targum and contrary to the accentuation, and not with שׁלמי (Olsh. , Böttch. , Hitz.) , although שׁלם beside משׁלּם, as e. g. , דּבר beside מדבּר might mean “requiting. ” The poet would then have written: אם שׁלּמתּי גּמלי רע i. e. , if I have retaliated upon him that hath done evil to me. In Psa 7:5 we do not render it according the meaning to הלּץ which is usual elsewhere: but rather I rescued...

(Louis de Dieu, Ewald §345, a, and Hupfeld). Why cannot הלּץ in accordance with its primary signification expedire, exuere (according to which even the signification of rescuing, taken exactly, does not proceed from the idea of drawing out, but of making loose, exuere vinclis ) signify here exuere = spoliare, as it does in Aramaic? And how extremely appropriate it is as an allusion to the incident in the cave, when David did not rescue Saul, but, without indeed designing to take חליצה, exuviae , cut off the hem of his garment!

As Hengstenberg observes, “He affirms his innocence in the most general terms, thereby showing that his conduct towards Saul was not anything exceptional, but sprang from his whole disposition and mode of action. ” On the 1 pers. fut. conv . and ah , vid. , on Psa 3:6. ריקם belongs to צוררי, like Psa 25:3; Psa 69:5. In the apodosis, Psa 7:6, the fut. Kal of רדף is made into three syllables, in a way altogether without example, since, by first making the Shebâ audible, from ירדּף it is become ירדף (like יצחק Gen 21:6, תּהלך Psa 73:9; Exo 9:23, שׁמעה Psa 39:13), and this is then sharpened by an euphonic Dag.

forte . Other ways of explaining it, as that by Cahjúg = יתרדף, or by Kimchi as a mixed form from Kal and Piel , have been already refuted by Baer, Thorath Emeth , p. 33. This dactylic jussive form of Kal is followed by the regular jussives of Hiph . ישּׂג and ישׁכּן. The rhythm is similar so that in the primary passage Exo 15:9, which also finds its echo in Psa 18:38, - viz.

iambic with anapaests inspersed. By its parallelism with נפשׁי and חיּי, כּבודי acquires the signification “my soul,” as Saadia, Gecatilia and Aben-Ezra have rendered it - a signification which is secured to it by Psa 16:9; 30:13; Psa 57:9; Psa 108:2, Gen 49:6. Man’s soul is his doxa , and this it is as being the copy of the divine doxa ( Bibl. Psychol . S. 98, [tr.

p. 119], and frequently). Moreover, “let him lay in the dust” is at least quite as favourable to this sense of כבודי as to the sense of personal and official dignity (Psa 3:4; Psa 4:3). To lay down in the dust is equivalent to: to lay in the dust of death, Psa 22:16. שׁכני עפר, Isa 26:19, are the dead. According to the biblical conception the soul is capable of being killed (Num 35:11), and mortal (Num 23:10).

It binds spirit and body together and this bond is cut asunder by death. David will submit willingly to death in case he has ever acted dishonourably. Here the music is to strike up, in order to give intensity to the expression of this courageous confession. In the next strophe is affirmation of innocence rises to a challenging appeal to the judgment-seat of God and a prophetic certainty that that judgment is near at hand.