Rejected Armies, God's Banner, and Victory Through the Lord

Psa 60:6-8 A divine utterance, promising him victory, which he has heard, is expanded in this second strophe. By reason of this he knows himself to be in the free and inalienable possession of the land, and in opposition to the neighbouring nations, Moab, Edom, and Philistia, to be the victorious lord to whom they must bow. The grand word of promise in 2Sa 7:9.

is certainly sufficient in itself to make this feeling of certainty intelligible, and perhaps Psa 60:8-10 are only a pictorial reproduction of that utterance; but it is also possible that at the time when Edom threatened the abandoned bordering kingdom, David received an oracle from the high priest by means of the Urim and Thummim, which assured him of the undiminished and continued possession of the Holy Land and the sovereignty over the bordering nations. That which God speaks “in His holiness” is a declaration or a promise for the sure fulfilment and inviolability of which He pledges His holiness; it is therefore equal to an oath “by His holiness” (Psa 89:36; Amo 4:2).

The oracle does not follow in a direct form, for it is not God who speaks (as Olshausen thinks), to whom the expression אעלזה is unbecoming, nor is it the people (as De Wette and Hengstenberg), but the king, since what follows refers not only to the districts named, but also to their inhabitants. כּי might have stood before אעלזה, but without it the mode of expression more nearly resembles the Latin me exultaturum esse (cf.

Psa 49:12). Shechem in the centre of the region on this side the Jordan, and the valley of Succoth in the heart of the region on the other side, from the beginning; for there is not only a [Arab.] sâkût (the name both of the eminence and of the district) on the west side of the Jordan south of Beisân (Scythopolis), but there must also have been another on the other side of the Jordan (Gen 33:17.

, Jdg 8:4.) which has not as yet been successfully traced. It lay in the vicinity of Jabbok ( ez - Zerka ), about in the same latitude with Shechem (Sichem), south-east of Scythopolis, where Estori ha-Parchi contends that he had found traces of it not far from the left bank of the Jordan. Jos 13:27 gives some information concerning the עמק (valley) of Succoth.

The town and the valley belonged to the tribe of Gad. Gilead, side by side with Manasseh, Psa 60:9 , comprehends the districts belonging to the tribes of Gad and Reuben. As far as Psa 60:9 , therefore, free dominion in the cis-and trans-Jordanic country is promised to David. The proudest predicates are justly given to Ephraim and Judah, the two chief tribes; the former, the most numerous and powerful, is David’s helmet (the protection of his head), and Judah his staff of command (מחקק, the command-giving = staff of command, as in Gen 49:10; Num 21:18); for Judah, by virtue of the ancient promise, is the royal tribe of the people who are called to the dominion of the world.

This designation of Judah as the king’s staff or sceptre and the marshal’s baton shows that it is the king who is speaking, and not the people. To him, the king, who has the promise, are Joab, Edom, and Philistia subject, and will continue so. Joab the boastful serves him as a wash-basin; Edom the crafty and malicious is forcibly taken possession of by him and obliged to submit; and Philistia the warlike is obliged to cry aloud concerning him, the irresistible ruler.

סיר רחץ is a wash-pot or basin in distinction from a seething-pot, which is also called סיר. The throwing of a shoe over a territory is a sign of taking forcible possession, just as the taking off of the shoe (חליצה) is a sign of the renunciation of one’s claim or right: the shoe is in both instances the symbol of legal possession. The rendering of the last line, with Hitzig and Hengstenberg: “exult concerning me, O Philistia,” i.

e. , hail me, though compelled to do so, as king, is forbidden by the עלי, instead of which we must have looked for לי. The verb רוּע certainly has the general signification “to break out into a loud cry,” and like the Hiph . (e. g. , Isa 15:4) the Hithpal . can also be used of a loud outcry at violence.

Psa 60:6-8 A divine utterance, promising him victory, which he has heard, is expanded in this second strophe. By reason of this he knows himself to be in the free and inalienable possession of the land, and in opposition to the neighbouring nations, Moab, Edom, and Philistia, to be the victorious lord to whom they must bow. The grand word of promise in 2Sa 7:9.

is certainly sufficient in itself to make this feeling of certainty intelligible, and perhaps Psa 60:8-10 are only a pictorial reproduction of that utterance; but it is also possible that at the time when Edom threatened the abandoned bordering kingdom, David received an oracle from the high priest by means of the Urim and Thummim, which assured him of the undiminished and continued possession of the Holy Land and the sovereignty over the bordering nations. That which God speaks “in His holiness” is a declaration or a promise for the sure fulfilment and inviolability of which He pledges His holiness; it is therefore equal to an oath “by His holiness” (Psa 89:36; Amo 4:2).

The oracle does not follow in a direct form, for it is not God who speaks (as Olshausen thinks), to whom the expression אעלזה is unbecoming, nor is it the people (as De Wette and Hengstenberg), but the king, since what follows refers not only to the districts named, but also to their inhabitants. כּי might have stood before אעלזה, but without it the mode of expression more nearly resembles the Latin me exultaturum esse (cf.

Psa 49:12). Shechem in the centre of the region on this side the Jordan, and the valley of Succoth in the heart of the region on the other side, from the beginning; for there is not only a [Arab.] sâkût (the name both of the eminence and of the district) on the west side of the Jordan south of Beisân (Scythopolis), but there must also have been another on the other side of the Jordan (Gen 33:17.

, Jdg 8:4.) which has not as yet been successfully traced. It lay in the vicinity of Jabbok ( ez - Zerka ), about in the same latitude with Shechem (Sichem), south-east of Scythopolis, where Estori ha-Parchi contends that he had found traces of it not far from the left bank of the Jordan. Jos 13:27 gives some information concerning the עמק (valley) of Succoth.

The town and the valley belonged to the tribe of Gad. Gilead, side by side with Manasseh, Psa 60:9 , comprehends the districts belonging to the tribes of Gad and Reuben. As far as Psa 60:9 , therefore, free dominion in the cis-and trans-Jordanic country is promised to David. The proudest predicates are justly given to Ephraim and Judah, the two chief tribes; the former, the most numerous and powerful, is David’s helmet (the protection of his head), and Judah his staff of command (מחקק, the command-giving = staff of command, as in Gen 49:10; Num 21:18); for Judah, by virtue of the ancient promise, is the royal tribe of the people who are called to the dominion of the world.

This designation of Judah as the king’s staff or sceptre and the marshal’s baton shows that it is the king who is speaking, and not the people. To him, the king, who has the promise, are Joab, Edom, and Philistia subject, and will continue so. Joab the boastful serves him as a wash-basin; Edom the crafty and malicious is forcibly taken possession of by him and obliged to submit; and Philistia the warlike is obliged to cry aloud concerning him, the irresistible ruler.

סיר רחץ is a wash-pot or basin in distinction from a seething-pot, which is also called סיר. The throwing of a shoe over a territory is a sign of taking forcible possession, just as the taking off of the shoe (חליצה) is a sign of the renunciation of one’s claim or right: the shoe is in both instances the symbol of legal possession. The rendering of the last line, with Hitzig and Hengstenberg: “exult concerning me, O Philistia,” i.

e. , hail me, though compelled to do so, as king, is forbidden by the עלי, instead of which we must have looked for לי. The verb רוּע certainly has the general signification “to break out into a loud cry,” and like the Hiph . (e. g. , Isa 15:4) the Hithpal . can also be used of a loud outcry at violence.

Psa 60:6-8 A divine utterance, promising him victory, which he has heard, is expanded in this second strophe. By reason of this he knows himself to be in the free and inalienable possession of the land, and in opposition to the neighbouring nations, Moab, Edom, and Philistia, to be the victorious lord to whom they must bow. The grand word of promise in 2Sa 7:9.

is certainly sufficient in itself to make this feeling of certainty intelligible, and perhaps Psa 60:8-10 are only a pictorial reproduction of that utterance; but it is also possible that at the time when Edom threatened the abandoned bordering kingdom, David received an oracle from the high priest by means of the Urim and Thummim, which assured him of the undiminished and continued possession of the Holy Land and the sovereignty over the bordering nations. That which God speaks “in His holiness” is a declaration or a promise for the sure fulfilment and inviolability of which He pledges His holiness; it is therefore equal to an oath “by His holiness” (Psa 89:36; Amo 4:2).

The oracle does not follow in a direct form, for it is not God who speaks (as Olshausen thinks), to whom the expression אעלזה is unbecoming, nor is it the people (as De Wette and Hengstenberg), but the king, since what follows refers not only to the districts named, but also to their inhabitants. כּי might have stood before אעלזה, but without it the mode of expression more nearly resembles the Latin me exultaturum esse (cf.

Psa 49:12). Shechem in the centre of the region on this side the Jordan, and the valley of Succoth in the heart of the region on the other side, from the beginning; for there is not only a [Arab.] sâkût (the name both of the eminence and of the district) on the west side of the Jordan south of Beisân (Scythopolis), but there must also have been another on the other side of the Jordan (Gen 33:17.

, Jdg 8:4.) which has not as yet been successfully traced. It lay in the vicinity of Jabbok ( ez - Zerka ), about in the same latitude with Shechem (Sichem), south-east of Scythopolis, where Estori ha-Parchi contends that he had found traces of it not far from the left bank of the Jordan. Jos 13:27 gives some information concerning the עמק (valley) of Succoth.

The town and the valley belonged to the tribe of Gad. Gilead, side by side with Manasseh, Psa 60:9 , comprehends the districts belonging to the tribes of Gad and Reuben. As far as Psa 60:9 , therefore, free dominion in the cis-and trans-Jordanic country is promised to David. The proudest predicates are justly given to Ephraim and Judah, the two chief tribes; the former, the most numerous and powerful, is David’s helmet (the protection of his head), and Judah his staff of command (מחקק, the command-giving = staff of command, as in Gen 49:10; Num 21:18); for Judah, by virtue of the ancient promise, is the royal tribe of the people who are called to the dominion of the world.

This designation of Judah as the king’s staff or sceptre and the marshal’s baton shows that it is the king who is speaking, and not the people. To him, the king, who has the promise, are Joab, Edom, and Philistia subject, and will continue so. Joab the boastful serves him as a wash-basin; Edom the crafty and malicious is forcibly taken possession of by him and obliged to submit; and Philistia the warlike is obliged to cry aloud concerning him, the irresistible ruler.

סיר רחץ is a wash-pot or basin in distinction from a seething-pot, which is also called סיר. The throwing of a shoe over a territory is a sign of taking forcible possession, just as the taking off of the shoe (חליצה) is a sign of the renunciation of one’s claim or right: the shoe is in both instances the symbol of legal possession. The rendering of the last line, with Hitzig and Hengstenberg: “exult concerning me, O Philistia,” i.

e. , hail me, though compelled to do so, as king, is forbidden by the עלי, instead of which we must have looked for לי. The verb רוּע certainly has the general signification “to break out into a loud cry,” and like the Hiph . (e. g. , Isa 15:4) the Hithpal . can also be used of a loud outcry at violence.

Psa 60:9-12 The third strophe reverts to prayer; but the prayer now breathes more freely with a self-conscious courage for the strife. The fortified city (עיר מצור) is not Rabbath Ammon; but, as becomes evident from the parallel member of the verse and 2Ki 14:7, the Idumaean chief city of Sela' (סלע) or Petra (vid. , Knobel on Gen 36:42, cf. Psa 31:22; 2Ch 8:5; 2Ch 11:5 together with Psa 14:5).

The wish: who will conduct me = Oh that one would conduct me (Ges. §136, 1)! expresses a martial desire, joyful at the prospect of victory; concerning מי נחני, quis perduxerit me , vid. , on Psa 11:3. What follows is not now to be rendered: Not Thou (who but Thou), Elohim, who... (Hitzig) - for in order to have been understood thus and not as in Psa 60:3, Psa 44:10, the poet could not have omitted אשׁר - on the contrary, the interrogatory הלא is the foundation on which the supplicatory הבה is raised.

The king of Israel is hard pressed in the battle, but he knows that victory comes from above, from the God who has hitherto in anger refused it to His people, inasmuch as He has given power to Edom to break through the defensive forces of Israel (vid. , Psa 44:10). עזרת (not עזרת = עזרה) is, as in Psa 108:13, equivalent to עזרתה. The view that it is equal to עזרתי, the suffix being cast away, is not confirmed in this instance, vid.

, on Psa 16:6, cf. Psa 3:3. How vain is human succour, has been seen only very recently in the case of the kings of Zobah and Ammon, who have succumbed in spite of their confederates. Israel prays for its victorious power from above, and also obtains it thence, as is most confidently expressed in v. 14. עשׂה חיל, to do valiantly, to show valour, is equivalent to: to be victorious, as in Psa 118:16.

In God does Israel conquer, and God, who is in Israel, will by means of Israel tread down Edom in accordance with its deserts. Prayer and Thanksgiving of an Expelled King on His Way Back to the Throne The Davidic Michtammı̂m are now ended, and there follows a short Davidic song על־נגינת. Does this expression mean “with the accompaniment of stringed instruments?

” Not strictly, for this is expressed by the inscription בּנגינות (Psa 4:1, cf. Isa 30:29, Isa 30:32). But the formula may signify “upon the music of stringed instruments,” i. e. , upon stringed instruments. And this is more probable than that נגינת is the beginning of a standard song. The termination ath is not necessarily the construct state. It was the original feminine termination; and the prevailing one in Phoenician.

Some expositors, like Köster, Ewald, Hitzig, and Olshausen, feel themselves here also bound, by reason of the לדוד of the inscription, to seek a place for this Psalm as far down as the Babylonian exile and the times of the Ptolemies and the Seleucidae. Hupfeld deals somewhat more kindly with the לדוד in this instance, and Böttcher ( De Inferis , p. 204) refutes the hypotheses set up in its stead in order finally to decide in favour of the idea that the king of whom the Psalm speaks is Cyrus - which is only another worthless bubble.

We abide by the proudly ignored לדוד, and have as our reward a much more simple interpretation of the Psalm, without being obliged with Ewald to touch it up by means of a verse of one’s own invention interwoven between Psa 61:5 and Psa 61:6. It is a Psalm of the time of Absalom, composed in Mahanaim or elsewhere in Gilead, when the army of the king had smitten the rebels in the wood of Ephraim.

It consists of two parts of eight lines.

Psa 60:9-12 The third strophe reverts to prayer; but the prayer now breathes more freely with a self-conscious courage for the strife. The fortified city (עיר מצור) is not Rabbath Ammon; but, as becomes evident from the parallel member of the verse and 2Ki 14:7, the Idumaean chief city of Sela' (סלע) or Petra (vid. , Knobel on Gen 36:42, cf. Psa 31:22; 2Ch 8:5; 2Ch 11:5 together with Psa 14:5).

The wish: who will conduct me = Oh that one would conduct me (Ges. §136, 1)! expresses a martial desire, joyful at the prospect of victory; concerning מי נחני, quis perduxerit me , vid. , on Psa 11:3. What follows is not now to be rendered: Not Thou (who but Thou), Elohim, who... (Hitzig) - for in order to have been understood thus and not as in Psa 60:3, Psa 44:10, the poet could not have omitted אשׁר - on the contrary, the interrogatory הלא is the foundation on which the supplicatory הבה is raised.

The king of Israel is hard pressed in the battle, but he knows that victory comes from above, from the God who has hitherto in anger refused it to His people, inasmuch as He has given power to Edom to break through the defensive forces of Israel (vid. , Psa 44:10). עזרת (not עזרת = עזרה) is, as in Psa 108:13, equivalent to עזרתה. The view that it is equal to עזרתי, the suffix being cast away, is not confirmed in this instance, vid.

, on Psa 16:6, cf. Psa 3:3. How vain is human succour, has been seen only very recently in the case of the kings of Zobah and Ammon, who have succumbed in spite of their confederates. Israel prays for its victorious power from above, and also obtains it thence, as is most confidently expressed in v. 14. עשׂה חיל, to do valiantly, to show valour, is equivalent to: to be victorious, as in Psa 118:16.

In God does Israel conquer, and God, who is in Israel, will by means of Israel tread down Edom in accordance with its deserts. Prayer and Thanksgiving of an Expelled King on His Way Back to the Throne The Davidic Michtammı̂m are now ended, and there follows a short Davidic song על־נגינת. Does this expression mean “with the accompaniment of stringed instruments?

” Not strictly, for this is expressed by the inscription בּנגינות (Psa 4:1, cf. Isa 30:29, Isa 30:32). But the formula may signify “upon the music of stringed instruments,” i. e. , upon stringed instruments. And this is more probable than that נגינת is the beginning of a standard song. The termination ath is not necessarily the construct state. It was the original feminine termination; and the prevailing one in Phoenician.

Some expositors, like Köster, Ewald, Hitzig, and Olshausen, feel themselves here also bound, by reason of the לדוד of the inscription, to seek a place for this Psalm as far down as the Babylonian exile and the times of the Ptolemies and the Seleucidae. Hupfeld deals somewhat more kindly with the לדוד in this instance, and Böttcher ( De Inferis , p. 204) refutes the hypotheses set up in its stead in order finally to decide in favour of the idea that the king of whom the Psalm speaks is Cyrus - which is only another worthless bubble.

We abide by the proudly ignored לדוד, and have as our reward a much more simple interpretation of the Psalm, without being obliged with Ewald to touch it up by means of a verse of one’s own invention interwoven between Psa 61:5 and Psa 61:6. It is a Psalm of the time of Absalom, composed in Mahanaim or elsewhere in Gilead, when the army of the king had smitten the rebels in the wood of Ephraim.

It consists of two parts of eight lines.

Psa 60:9-12 The third strophe reverts to prayer; but the prayer now breathes more freely with a self-conscious courage for the strife. The fortified city (עיר מצור) is not Rabbath Ammon; but, as becomes evident from the parallel member of the verse and 2Ki 14:7, the Idumaean chief city of Sela' (סלע) or Petra (vid. , Knobel on Gen 36:42, cf. Psa 31:22; 2Ch 8:5; 2Ch 11:5 together with Psa 14:5).

The wish: who will conduct me = Oh that one would conduct me (Ges. §136, 1)! expresses a martial desire, joyful at the prospect of victory; concerning מי נחני, quis perduxerit me , vid. , on Psa 11:3. What follows is not now to be rendered: Not Thou (who but Thou), Elohim, who... (Hitzig) - for in order to have been understood thus and not as in Psa 60:3, Psa 44:10, the poet could not have omitted אשׁר - on the contrary, the interrogatory הלא is the foundation on which the supplicatory הבה is raised.

The king of Israel is hard pressed in the battle, but he knows that victory comes from above, from the God who has hitherto in anger refused it to His people, inasmuch as He has given power to Edom to break through the defensive forces of Israel (vid. , Psa 44:10). עזרת (not עזרת = עזרה) is, as in Psa 108:13, equivalent to עזרתה. The view that it is equal to עזרתי, the suffix being cast away, is not confirmed in this instance, vid.

, on Psa 16:6, cf. Psa 3:3. How vain is human succour, has been seen only very recently in the case of the kings of Zobah and Ammon, who have succumbed in spite of their confederates. Israel prays for its victorious power from above, and also obtains it thence, as is most confidently expressed in v. 14. עשׂה חיל, to do valiantly, to show valour, is equivalent to: to be victorious, as in Psa 118:16.

In God does Israel conquer, and God, who is in Israel, will by means of Israel tread down Edom in accordance with its deserts. Prayer and Thanksgiving of an Expelled King on His Way Back to the Throne The Davidic Michtammı̂m are now ended, and there follows a short Davidic song על־נגינת. Does this expression mean “with the accompaniment of stringed instruments?

” Not strictly, for this is expressed by the inscription בּנגינות (Psa 4:1, cf. Isa 30:29, Isa 30:32). But the formula may signify “upon the music of stringed instruments,” i. e. , upon stringed instruments. And this is more probable than that נגינת is the beginning of a standard song. The termination ath is not necessarily the construct state. It was the original feminine termination; and the prevailing one in Phoenician.

Some expositors, like Köster, Ewald, Hitzig, and Olshausen, feel themselves here also bound, by reason of the לדוד of the inscription, to seek a place for this Psalm as far down as the Babylonian exile and the times of the Ptolemies and the Seleucidae. Hupfeld deals somewhat more kindly with the לדוד in this instance, and Böttcher ( De Inferis , p. 204) refutes the hypotheses set up in its stead in order finally to decide in favour of the idea that the king of whom the Psalm speaks is Cyrus - which is only another worthless bubble.

We abide by the proudly ignored לדוד, and have as our reward a much more simple interpretation of the Psalm, without being obliged with Ewald to touch it up by means of a verse of one’s own invention interwoven between Psa 61:5 and Psa 61:6. It is a Psalm of the time of Absalom, composed in Mahanaim or elsewhere in Gilead, when the army of the king had smitten the rebels in the wood of Ephraim.

It consists of two parts of eight lines.

Psa 60:9-12 The third strophe reverts to prayer; but the prayer now breathes more freely with a self-conscious courage for the strife. The fortified city (עיר מצור) is not Rabbath Ammon; but, as becomes evident from the parallel member of the verse and 2Ki 14:7, the Idumaean chief city of Sela' (סלע) or Petra (vid. , Knobel on Gen 36:42, cf. Psa 31:22; 2Ch 8:5; 2Ch 11:5 together with Psa 14:5).

The wish: who will conduct me = Oh that one would conduct me (Ges. §136, 1)! expresses a martial desire, joyful at the prospect of victory; concerning מי נחני, quis perduxerit me , vid. , on Psa 11:3. What follows is not now to be rendered: Not Thou (who but Thou), Elohim, who... (Hitzig) - for in order to have been understood thus and not as in Psa 60:3, Psa 44:10, the poet could not have omitted אשׁר - on the contrary, the interrogatory הלא is the foundation on which the supplicatory הבה is raised.

The king of Israel is hard pressed in the battle, but he knows that victory comes from above, from the God who has hitherto in anger refused it to His people, inasmuch as He has given power to Edom to break through the defensive forces of Israel (vid. , Psa 44:10). עזרת (not עזרת = עזרה) is, as in Psa 108:13, equivalent to עזרתה. The view that it is equal to עזרתי, the suffix being cast away, is not confirmed in this instance, vid.

, on Psa 16:6, cf. Psa 3:3. How vain is human succour, has been seen only very recently in the case of the kings of Zobah and Ammon, who have succumbed in spite of their confederates. Israel prays for its victorious power from above, and also obtains it thence, as is most confidently expressed in v. 14. עשׂה חיל, to do valiantly, to show valour, is equivalent to: to be victorious, as in Psa 118:16.

In God does Israel conquer, and God, who is in Israel, will by means of Israel tread down Edom in accordance with its deserts. Prayer and Thanksgiving of an Expelled King on His Way Back to the Throne The Davidic Michtammı̂m are now ended, and there follows a short Davidic song על־נגינת. Does this expression mean “with the accompaniment of stringed instruments?

” Not strictly, for this is expressed by the inscription בּנגינות (Psa 4:1, cf. Isa 30:29, Isa 30:32). But the formula may signify “upon the music of stringed instruments,” i. e. , upon stringed instruments. And this is more probable than that נגינת is the beginning of a standard song. The termination ath is not necessarily the construct state. It was the original feminine termination; and the prevailing one in Phoenician.

Some expositors, like Köster, Ewald, Hitzig, and Olshausen, feel themselves here also bound, by reason of the לדוד of the inscription, to seek a place for this Psalm as far down as the Babylonian exile and the times of the Ptolemies and the Seleucidae. Hupfeld deals somewhat more kindly with the לדוד in this instance, and Böttcher ( De Inferis , p. 204) refutes the hypotheses set up in its stead in order finally to decide in favour of the idea that the king of whom the Psalm speaks is Cyrus - which is only another worthless bubble.

We abide by the proudly ignored לדוד, and have as our reward a much more simple interpretation of the Psalm, without being obliged with Ewald to touch it up by means of a verse of one’s own invention interwoven between Psa 61:5 and Psa 61:6. It is a Psalm of the time of Absalom, composed in Mahanaim or elsewhere in Gilead, when the army of the king had smitten the rebels in the wood of Ephraim.

It consists of two parts of eight lines.

Psa 61:1-4 Hurled out of the land of the Lord in the more limited sense into the country on the other side of the Jordan, David felt only as though he were banished to the extreme corner of the earth (not: of the land, cf. Psa 46:10; Deu 28:49, and frequently), far from the presence of God (Hengstenberg). It is the feeling of homelessness and of separation from the abode of God by reason of which the distance, in itself so insignificant (just as was the case with the exiles later on), became to him immeasurably great.

For he still continually needed God’s helpful intervention; the enveloping, the veiling, the faintness of his heart still continues (עטף, Arab. ‛tf , according to its radical signification: to bend and lay anything round so that it lies or draws over something else and covers it, here of a self-enveloping); a rock of difficulties still ever lies before him which is too high for his natural strength, for his human ability, therefore insurmountable.

But he is of good courage: God will lead him up with a sure step, so that, removed from all danger, he will have rocky ground under his feet. He is of good courage, for God has already proved Himself to be a place of refuge to him, to be a strong tower, defying all attack, which enclosed him, the persecuted one, so that the enemy can gain no advantage over him (cf.

Pro 18:10). He is already on the way towards his own country, and in fact his most dearly loved and proper home: he will or he has to (in accordance with the will of God) dwell (cf. the cohortative in Isa 38:10; Jer 4:21) in God’s tabernacle (vid. , on Psa 15:1) throughout aeons (an utterance which reminds one of the synchronous Psa 23:6). With גּוּר is combined the idea of the divine protection (cf.

Arabic ǵâr ollah , the charge or protegé of God, and Beduinic ǵaur , the protecting hearth; ǵawir , according to its form = גּר, one who flees for refuge to the hearth). A bold figure of this protection follows: he has to, or will trust, i. e. , find refuge, beneath the protection of God’s wings. During the time the tabernacle was still being moved from place to place we hear no such mention of dwelling in God’s tabernacle or house.

It was David who coined this expression for loving fellowship with the God of revelation, simultaneously with his preparation of a settled dwelling-place for the sacred Ark. In the Psalms that belong to the time of his persecution by Saul such an expression is not yet to be found; for in Psa 52:7, when it is desired that Doeg may have the opposite of an eternal dwelling-place, it is not the sacred tent that is meant.

We see also from its second part that this Psa 61:1-8 does not belong to the time of Saul; for David does not speak here as one who has drawn very near to his kingly office (cf. Psa 40:8), but as one who is entering upon a new stage in it.

Psa 61:1-4 Hurled out of the land of the Lord in the more limited sense into the country on the other side of the Jordan, David felt only as though he were banished to the extreme corner of the earth (not: of the land, cf. Psa 46:10; Deu 28:49, and frequently), far from the presence of God (Hengstenberg). It is the feeling of homelessness and of separation from the abode of God by reason of which the distance, in itself so insignificant (just as was the case with the exiles later on), became to him immeasurably great.

For he still continually needed God’s helpful intervention; the enveloping, the veiling, the faintness of his heart still continues (עטף, Arab. ‛tf , according to its radical signification: to bend and lay anything round so that it lies or draws over something else and covers it, here of a self-enveloping); a rock of difficulties still ever lies before him which is too high for his natural strength, for his human ability, therefore insurmountable.

But he is of good courage: God will lead him up with a sure step, so that, removed from all danger, he will have rocky ground under his feet. He is of good courage, for God has already proved Himself to be a place of refuge to him, to be a strong tower, defying all attack, which enclosed him, the persecuted one, so that the enemy can gain no advantage over him (cf.

Pro 18:10). He is already on the way towards his own country, and in fact his most dearly loved and proper home: he will or he has to (in accordance with the will of God) dwell (cf. the cohortative in Isa 38:10; Jer 4:21) in God’s tabernacle (vid. , on Psa 15:1) throughout aeons (an utterance which reminds one of the synchronous Psa 23:6). With גּוּר is combined the idea of the divine protection (cf.

Arabic ǵâr ollah , the charge or protegé of God, and Beduinic ǵaur , the protecting hearth; ǵawir , according to its form = גּר, one who flees for refuge to the hearth). A bold figure of this protection follows: he has to, or will trust, i. e. , find refuge, beneath the protection of God’s wings. During the time the tabernacle was still being moved from place to place we hear no such mention of dwelling in God’s tabernacle or house.

It was David who coined this expression for loving fellowship with the God of revelation, simultaneously with his preparation of a settled dwelling-place for the sacred Ark. In the Psalms that belong to the time of his persecution by Saul such an expression is not yet to be found; for in Psa 52:7, when it is desired that Doeg may have the opposite of an eternal dwelling-place, it is not the sacred tent that is meant.

We see also from its second part that this Psa 61:1-8 does not belong to the time of Saul; for David does not speak here as one who has drawn very near to his kingly office (cf. Psa 40:8), but as one who is entering upon a new stage in it.

Psa 61:1-4 Hurled out of the land of the Lord in the more limited sense into the country on the other side of the Jordan, David felt only as though he were banished to the extreme corner of the earth (not: of the land, cf. Psa 46:10; Deu 28:49, and frequently), far from the presence of God (Hengstenberg). It is the feeling of homelessness and of separation from the abode of God by reason of which the distance, in itself so insignificant (just as was the case with the exiles later on), became to him immeasurably great.

For he still continually needed God’s helpful intervention; the enveloping, the veiling, the faintness of his heart still continues (עטף, Arab. ‛tf , according to its radical signification: to bend and lay anything round so that it lies or draws over something else and covers it, here of a self-enveloping); a rock of difficulties still ever lies before him which is too high for his natural strength, for his human ability, therefore insurmountable.

But he is of good courage: God will lead him up with a sure step, so that, removed from all danger, he will have rocky ground under his feet. He is of good courage, for God has already proved Himself to be a place of refuge to him, to be a strong tower, defying all attack, which enclosed him, the persecuted one, so that the enemy can gain no advantage over him (cf.

Pro 18:10). He is already on the way towards his own country, and in fact his most dearly loved and proper home: he will or he has to (in accordance with the will of God) dwell (cf. the cohortative in Isa 38:10; Jer 4:21) in God’s tabernacle (vid. , on Psa 15:1) throughout aeons (an utterance which reminds one of the synchronous Psa 23:6). With גּוּר is combined the idea of the divine protection (cf.

Arabic ǵâr ollah , the charge or protegé of God, and Beduinic ǵaur , the protecting hearth; ǵawir , according to its form = גּר, one who flees for refuge to the hearth). A bold figure of this protection follows: he has to, or will trust, i. e. , find refuge, beneath the protection of God’s wings. During the time the tabernacle was still being moved from place to place we hear no such mention of dwelling in God’s tabernacle or house.

It was David who coined this expression for loving fellowship with the God of revelation, simultaneously with his preparation of a settled dwelling-place for the sacred Ark. In the Psalms that belong to the time of his persecution by Saul such an expression is not yet to be found; for in Psa 52:7, when it is desired that Doeg may have the opposite of an eternal dwelling-place, it is not the sacred tent that is meant.

We see also from its second part that this Psa 61:1-8 does not belong to the time of Saul; for David does not speak here as one who has drawn very near to his kingly office (cf. Psa 40:8), but as one who is entering upon a new stage in it.

Psa 61:1-4 Hurled out of the land of the Lord in the more limited sense into the country on the other side of the Jordan, David felt only as though he were banished to the extreme corner of the earth (not: of the land, cf. Psa 46:10; Deu 28:49, and frequently), far from the presence of God (Hengstenberg). It is the feeling of homelessness and of separation from the abode of God by reason of which the distance, in itself so insignificant (just as was the case with the exiles later on), became to him immeasurably great.

For he still continually needed God’s helpful intervention; the enveloping, the veiling, the faintness of his heart still continues (עטף, Arab. ‛tf , according to its radical signification: to bend and lay anything round so that it lies or draws over something else and covers it, here of a self-enveloping); a rock of difficulties still ever lies before him which is too high for his natural strength, for his human ability, therefore insurmountable.

But he is of good courage: God will lead him up with a sure step, so that, removed from all danger, he will have rocky ground under his feet. He is of good courage, for God has already proved Himself to be a place of refuge to him, to be a strong tower, defying all attack, which enclosed him, the persecuted one, so that the enemy can gain no advantage over him (cf.

Pro 18:10). He is already on the way towards his own country, and in fact his most dearly loved and proper home: he will or he has to (in accordance with the will of God) dwell (cf. the cohortative in Isa 38:10; Jer 4:21) in God’s tabernacle (vid. , on Psa 15:1) throughout aeons (an utterance which reminds one of the synchronous Psa 23:6). With גּוּר is combined the idea of the divine protection (cf.

Arabic ǵâr ollah , the charge or protegé of God, and Beduinic ǵaur , the protecting hearth; ǵawir , according to its form = גּר, one who flees for refuge to the hearth). A bold figure of this protection follows: he has to, or will trust, i. e. , find refuge, beneath the protection of God’s wings. During the time the tabernacle was still being moved from place to place we hear no such mention of dwelling in God’s tabernacle or house.

It was David who coined this expression for loving fellowship with the God of revelation, simultaneously with his preparation of a settled dwelling-place for the sacred Ark. In the Psalms that belong to the time of his persecution by Saul such an expression is not yet to be found; for in Psa 52:7, when it is desired that Doeg may have the opposite of an eternal dwelling-place, it is not the sacred tent that is meant.

We see also from its second part that this Psa 61:1-8 does not belong to the time of Saul; for David does not speak here as one who has drawn very near to his kingly office (cf. Psa 40:8), but as one who is entering upon a new stage in it.