Psalms 95

Psa 95:3-7 The adorableness of God receives a threefold confirmation: He is exalted above all gods as King, above all things as Creator, and above His people as Shepherd and Leader. אלהים (gods) here, as in Psa 96:4. , Psa 97:7, Psa 97:9, and frequently, are the powers of the natural world and of the world of men, which the Gentiles deify and call kings (as Moloch Molech, the deified fire), which, however, all stand under the lordship of Jahve, who is infinitely exalted above everything that is otherwise called god (Psa 96:4; Psa 97:9).

The supposition that תּועפות הרים denotes the pit-works (μέταλλα) of the mountains (Böttcher), is at once improbable, because to all appearance it is intended to be the antithesis to מחקרי־ארץ, the shafts of the earth. The derivation from ועף (יעף), κάμνειν, κοπιᾶν, also does not suit תועפות in Num 23:22; Num 24:8, for “fatigues” and “indefatigableness” are notions that lie very wide apart.

The כּסף תּועפות of Job 22:25 might more readily be explained according to this “silver of fatigues,” i. e. , silver that the fatiguing labour of mining brings to light, and תועפות הרים in the passage before us, with Gussetius, Geier, and Hengstenberg: cacumina montium quia defatigantur qui eo ascendunt , prop. ascendings = summits of the mountains, after which כסף תועפות, Job 22:25, might also signify “silver of the mountain-heights.

” But the lxx, which renders δόξα in the passages in Numbers and τὰ ὕψη τῶν ὀρέων in the passage before us, leads one to a more correct track. The verb יעף (ועף), transposed from יפע (ופע), goes back to the root יף, וף, to stand forth, tower above, to be high, according to which תועפות = תופעות signifies eminentiae , i. e. , towerings = summits, or prominences = high (the highest) perfection (vid.

, on Job 22:25). In the passage before us it is a synonym of the Arabic mı̂fan , mı̂fâtun , pars terrae eminens (from Arab. wfâ = יפע, prop. instrumentally: a means of rising above, viz. , by climbing), and of the names of eminences derived from Arab. yf' (after which Hitzig renders: the teeth of the mountains). By reason of the fact that Jahve is the Owner (cf.

1Sa 2:8), because the Creator of all things, the call to worship, which concerns no one so nearly as it does Israel, the people, which before other peoples is Jahve’s creation, viz. , the creation of His miraculously mighty grace, is repeated. In the call or invitation, השׁתּחוה signifies to stretch one’s self out full length upon the ground, the proper attitude of adoration; כּרע, to curtsey, to totter; and בּרך, Arabic baraka , starting from the radical signification flectere , to kneel down, in genua (πρόχνυ, pronum = procnum ) procumbere , 2Ch 6:13 (cf.

Hölemann, Bibelstudien , i. 135f.) Beside עם מרעיתו, people of His pasture, צאן ידו is not the flock formed by His creating hand (Augustine: ipse gratiâ suâ nos oves fecit ), but, after Gen 30:35, the flock under His protection, the flock led and defended by His skilful, powerful hand. Böttcher renders: flock of His charge; but יד in this sense (Jer 6:3) signifies only a place, and “flock of His place” would be poetry and prose in one figure.

Psa 95:3-7 The adorableness of God receives a threefold confirmation: He is exalted above all gods as King, above all things as Creator, and above His people as Shepherd and Leader. אלהים (gods) here, as in Psa 96:4. , Psa 97:7, Psa 97:9, and frequently, are the powers of the natural world and of the world of men, which the Gentiles deify and call kings (as Moloch Molech, the deified fire), which, however, all stand under the lordship of Jahve, who is infinitely exalted above everything that is otherwise called god (Psa 96:4; Psa 97:9).

The supposition that תּועפות הרים denotes the pit-works (μέταλλα) of the mountains (Böttcher), is at once improbable, because to all appearance it is intended to be the antithesis to מחקרי־ארץ, the shafts of the earth. The derivation from ועף (יעף), κάμνειν, κοπιᾶν, also does not suit תועפות in Num 23:22; Num 24:8, for “fatigues” and “indefatigableness” are notions that lie very wide apart.

The כּסף תּועפות of Job 22:25 might more readily be explained according to this “silver of fatigues,” i. e. , silver that the fatiguing labour of mining brings to light, and תועפות הרים in the passage before us, with Gussetius, Geier, and Hengstenberg: cacumina montium quia defatigantur qui eo ascendunt , prop. ascendings = summits of the mountains, after which כסף תועפות, Job 22:25, might also signify “silver of the mountain-heights.

” But the lxx, which renders δόξα in the passages in Numbers and τὰ ὕψη τῶν ὀρέων in the passage before us, leads one to a more correct track. The verb יעף (ועף), transposed from יפע (ופע), goes back to the root יף, וף, to stand forth, tower above, to be high, according to which תועפות = תופעות signifies eminentiae , i. e. , towerings = summits, or prominences = high (the highest) perfection (vid.

, on Job 22:25). In the passage before us it is a synonym of the Arabic mı̂fan , mı̂fâtun , pars terrae eminens (from Arab. wfâ = יפע, prop. instrumentally: a means of rising above, viz. , by climbing), and of the names of eminences derived from Arab. yf' (after which Hitzig renders: the teeth of the mountains). By reason of the fact that Jahve is the Owner (cf.

1Sa 2:8), because the Creator of all things, the call to worship, which concerns no one so nearly as it does Israel, the people, which before other peoples is Jahve’s creation, viz. , the creation of His miraculously mighty grace, is repeated. In the call or invitation, השׁתּחוה signifies to stretch one’s self out full length upon the ground, the proper attitude of adoration; כּרע, to curtsey, to totter; and בּרך, Arabic baraka , starting from the radical signification flectere , to kneel down, in genua (πρόχνυ, pronum = procnum ) procumbere , 2Ch 6:13 (cf.

Hölemann, Bibelstudien , i. 135f.) Beside עם מרעיתו, people of His pasture, צאן ידו is not the flock formed by His creating hand (Augustine: ipse gratiâ suâ nos oves fecit ), but, after Gen 30:35, the flock under His protection, the flock led and defended by His skilful, powerful hand. Böttcher renders: flock of His charge; but יד in this sense (Jer 6:3) signifies only a place, and “flock of His place” would be poetry and prose in one figure.

Psa 95:3-7 The adorableness of God receives a threefold confirmation: He is exalted above all gods as King, above all things as Creator, and above His people as Shepherd and Leader. אלהים (gods) here, as in Psa 96:4. , Psa 97:7, Psa 97:9, and frequently, are the powers of the natural world and of the world of men, which the Gentiles deify and call kings (as Moloch Molech, the deified fire), which, however, all stand under the lordship of Jahve, who is infinitely exalted above everything that is otherwise called god (Psa 96:4; Psa 97:9).

The supposition that תּועפות הרים denotes the pit-works (μέταλλα) of the mountains (Böttcher), is at once improbable, because to all appearance it is intended to be the antithesis to מחקרי־ארץ, the shafts of the earth. The derivation from ועף (יעף), κάμνειν, κοπιᾶν, also does not suit תועפות in Num 23:22; Num 24:8, for “fatigues” and “indefatigableness” are notions that lie very wide apart.

The כּסף תּועפות of Job 22:25 might more readily be explained according to this “silver of fatigues,” i. e. , silver that the fatiguing labour of mining brings to light, and תועפות הרים in the passage before us, with Gussetius, Geier, and Hengstenberg: cacumina montium quia defatigantur qui eo ascendunt , prop. ascendings = summits of the mountains, after which כסף תועפות, Job 22:25, might also signify “silver of the mountain-heights.

” But the lxx, which renders δόξα in the passages in Numbers and τὰ ὕψη τῶν ὀρέων in the passage before us, leads one to a more correct track. The verb יעף (ועף), transposed from יפע (ופע), goes back to the root יף, וף, to stand forth, tower above, to be high, according to which תועפות = תופעות signifies eminentiae , i. e. , towerings = summits, or prominences = high (the highest) perfection (vid.

, on Job 22:25). In the passage before us it is a synonym of the Arabic mı̂fan , mı̂fâtun , pars terrae eminens (from Arab. wfâ = יפע, prop. instrumentally: a means of rising above, viz. , by climbing), and of the names of eminences derived from Arab. yf' (after which Hitzig renders: the teeth of the mountains). By reason of the fact that Jahve is the Owner (cf.

1Sa 2:8), because the Creator of all things, the call to worship, which concerns no one so nearly as it does Israel, the people, which before other peoples is Jahve’s creation, viz. , the creation of His miraculously mighty grace, is repeated. In the call or invitation, השׁתּחוה signifies to stretch one’s self out full length upon the ground, the proper attitude of adoration; כּרע, to curtsey, to totter; and בּרך, Arabic baraka , starting from the radical signification flectere , to kneel down, in genua (πρόχνυ, pronum = procnum ) procumbere , 2Ch 6:13 (cf.

Hölemann, Bibelstudien , i. 135f.) Beside עם מרעיתו, people of His pasture, צאן ידו is not the flock formed by His creating hand (Augustine: ipse gratiâ suâ nos oves fecit ), but, after Gen 30:35, the flock under His protection, the flock led and defended by His skilful, powerful hand. Böttcher renders: flock of His charge; but יד in this sense (Jer 6:3) signifies only a place, and “flock of His place” would be poetry and prose in one figure.

Psa 95:3-7 The adorableness of God receives a threefold confirmation: He is exalted above all gods as King, above all things as Creator, and above His people as Shepherd and Leader. אלהים (gods) here, as in Psa 96:4. , Psa 97:7, Psa 97:9, and frequently, are the powers of the natural world and of the world of men, which the Gentiles deify and call kings (as Moloch Molech, the deified fire), which, however, all stand under the lordship of Jahve, who is infinitely exalted above everything that is otherwise called god (Psa 96:4; Psa 97:9).

The supposition that תּועפות הרים denotes the pit-works (μέταλλα) of the mountains (Böttcher), is at once improbable, because to all appearance it is intended to be the antithesis to מחקרי־ארץ, the shafts of the earth. The derivation from ועף (יעף), κάμνειν, κοπιᾶν, also does not suit תועפות in Num 23:22; Num 24:8, for “fatigues” and “indefatigableness” are notions that lie very wide apart.

The כּסף תּועפות of Job 22:25 might more readily be explained according to this “silver of fatigues,” i. e. , silver that the fatiguing labour of mining brings to light, and תועפות הרים in the passage before us, with Gussetius, Geier, and Hengstenberg: cacumina montium quia defatigantur qui eo ascendunt , prop. ascendings = summits of the mountains, after which כסף תועפות, Job 22:25, might also signify “silver of the mountain-heights.

” But the lxx, which renders δόξα in the passages in Numbers and τὰ ὕψη τῶν ὀρέων in the passage before us, leads one to a more correct track. The verb יעף (ועף), transposed from יפע (ופע), goes back to the root יף, וף, to stand forth, tower above, to be high, according to which תועפות = תופעות signifies eminentiae , i. e. , towerings = summits, or prominences = high (the highest) perfection (vid.

, on Job 22:25). In the passage before us it is a synonym of the Arabic mı̂fan , mı̂fâtun , pars terrae eminens (from Arab. wfâ = יפע, prop. instrumentally: a means of rising above, viz. , by climbing), and of the names of eminences derived from Arab. yf' (after which Hitzig renders: the teeth of the mountains). By reason of the fact that Jahve is the Owner (cf.

1Sa 2:8), because the Creator of all things, the call to worship, which concerns no one so nearly as it does Israel, the people, which before other peoples is Jahve’s creation, viz. , the creation of His miraculously mighty grace, is repeated. In the call or invitation, השׁתּחוה signifies to stretch one’s self out full length upon the ground, the proper attitude of adoration; כּרע, to curtsey, to totter; and בּרך, Arabic baraka , starting from the radical signification flectere , to kneel down, in genua (πρόχνυ, pronum = procnum ) procumbere , 2Ch 6:13 (cf.

Hölemann, Bibelstudien , i. 135f.) Beside עם מרעיתו, people of His pasture, צאן ידו is not the flock formed by His creating hand (Augustine: ipse gratiâ suâ nos oves fecit ), but, after Gen 30:35, the flock under His protection, the flock led and defended by His skilful, powerful hand. Böttcher renders: flock of His charge; but יד in this sense (Jer 6:3) signifies only a place, and “flock of His place” would be poetry and prose in one figure.

Psa 95:3-7 The adorableness of God receives a threefold confirmation: He is exalted above all gods as King, above all things as Creator, and above His people as Shepherd and Leader. אלהים (gods) here, as in Psa 96:4. , Psa 97:7, Psa 97:9, and frequently, are the powers of the natural world and of the world of men, which the Gentiles deify and call kings (as Moloch Molech, the deified fire), which, however, all stand under the lordship of Jahve, who is infinitely exalted above everything that is otherwise called god (Psa 96:4; Psa 97:9).

The supposition that תּועפות הרים denotes the pit-works (μέταλλα) of the mountains (Böttcher), is at once improbable, because to all appearance it is intended to be the antithesis to מחקרי־ארץ, the shafts of the earth. The derivation from ועף (יעף), κάμνειν, κοπιᾶν, also does not suit תועפות in Num 23:22; Num 24:8, for “fatigues” and “indefatigableness” are notions that lie very wide apart.

The כּסף תּועפות of Job 22:25 might more readily be explained according to this “silver of fatigues,” i. e. , silver that the fatiguing labour of mining brings to light, and תועפות הרים in the passage before us, with Gussetius, Geier, and Hengstenberg: cacumina montium quia defatigantur qui eo ascendunt , prop. ascendings = summits of the mountains, after which כסף תועפות, Job 22:25, might also signify “silver of the mountain-heights.

” But the lxx, which renders δόξα in the passages in Numbers and τὰ ὕψη τῶν ὀρέων in the passage before us, leads one to a more correct track. The verb יעף (ועף), transposed from יפע (ופע), goes back to the root יף, וף, to stand forth, tower above, to be high, according to which תועפות = תופעות signifies eminentiae , i. e. , towerings = summits, or prominences = high (the highest) perfection (vid.

, on Job 22:25). In the passage before us it is a synonym of the Arabic mı̂fan , mı̂fâtun , pars terrae eminens (from Arab. wfâ = יפע, prop. instrumentally: a means of rising above, viz. , by climbing), and of the names of eminences derived from Arab. yf' (after which Hitzig renders: the teeth of the mountains). By reason of the fact that Jahve is the Owner (cf.

1Sa 2:8), because the Creator of all things, the call to worship, which concerns no one so nearly as it does Israel, the people, which before other peoples is Jahve’s creation, viz. , the creation of His miraculously mighty grace, is repeated. In the call or invitation, השׁתּחוה signifies to stretch one’s self out full length upon the ground, the proper attitude of adoration; כּרע, to curtsey, to totter; and בּרך, Arabic baraka , starting from the radical signification flectere , to kneel down, in genua (πρόχνυ, pronum = procnum ) procumbere , 2Ch 6:13 (cf.

Hölemann, Bibelstudien , i. 135f.) Beside עם מרעיתו, people of His pasture, צאן ידו is not the flock formed by His creating hand (Augustine: ipse gratiâ suâ nos oves fecit ), but, after Gen 30:35, the flock under His protection, the flock led and defended by His skilful, powerful hand. Böttcher renders: flock of His charge; but יד in this sense (Jer 6:3) signifies only a place, and “flock of His place” would be poetry and prose in one figure.

Psa 95:3-7 The adorableness of God receives a threefold confirmation: He is exalted above all gods as King, above all things as Creator, and above His people as Shepherd and Leader. אלהים (gods) here, as in Psa 96:4. , Psa 97:7, Psa 97:9, and frequently, are the powers of the natural world and of the world of men, which the Gentiles deify and call kings (as Moloch Molech, the deified fire), which, however, all stand under the lordship of Jahve, who is infinitely exalted above everything that is otherwise called god (Psa 96:4; Psa 97:9).

The supposition that תּועפות הרים denotes the pit-works (μέταλλα) of the mountains (Böttcher), is at once improbable, because to all appearance it is intended to be the antithesis to מחקרי־ארץ, the shafts of the earth. The derivation from ועף (יעף), κάμνειν, κοπιᾶν, also does not suit תועפות in Num 23:22; Num 24:8, for “fatigues” and “indefatigableness” are notions that lie very wide apart.

The כּסף תּועפות of Job 22:25 might more readily be explained according to this “silver of fatigues,” i. e. , silver that the fatiguing labour of mining brings to light, and תועפות הרים in the passage before us, with Gussetius, Geier, and Hengstenberg: cacumina montium quia defatigantur qui eo ascendunt , prop. ascendings = summits of the mountains, after which כסף תועפות, Job 22:25, might also signify “silver of the mountain-heights.

” But the lxx, which renders δόξα in the passages in Numbers and τὰ ὕψη τῶν ὀρέων in the passage before us, leads one to a more correct track. The verb יעף (ועף), transposed from יפע (ופע), goes back to the root יף, וף, to stand forth, tower above, to be high, according to which תועפות = תופעות signifies eminentiae , i. e. , towerings = summits, or prominences = high (the highest) perfection (vid.

, on Job 22:25). In the passage before us it is a synonym of the Arabic mı̂fan , mı̂fâtun , pars terrae eminens (from Arab. wfâ = יפע, prop. instrumentally: a means of rising above, viz. , by climbing), and of the names of eminences derived from Arab. yf' (after which Hitzig renders: the teeth of the mountains). By reason of the fact that Jahve is the Owner (cf.

1Sa 2:8), because the Creator of all things, the call to worship, which concerns no one so nearly as it does Israel, the people, which before other peoples is Jahve’s creation, viz. , the creation of His miraculously mighty grace, is repeated. In the call or invitation, השׁתּחוה signifies to stretch one’s self out full length upon the ground, the proper attitude of adoration; כּרע, to curtsey, to totter; and בּרך, Arabic baraka , starting from the radical signification flectere , to kneel down, in genua (πρόχνυ, pronum = procnum ) procumbere , 2Ch 6:13 (cf.

Hölemann, Bibelstudien , i. 135f.) Beside עם מרעיתו, people of His pasture, צאן ידו is not the flock formed by His creating hand (Augustine: ipse gratiâ suâ nos oves fecit ), but, after Gen 30:35, the flock under His protection, the flock led and defended by His skilful, powerful hand. Böttcher renders: flock of His charge; but יד in this sense (Jer 6:3) signifies only a place, and “flock of His place” would be poetry and prose in one figure.

What Psa 95:3 says: “A great God is Jahve, and a great King above all gods,” is repeated in Psa 96:1-13. The lxx inscribes it (1) ᾠδὴ τῷ Δαυίδ, and the chronicler has really taken it up almost entire in the song which was sung on the day when the Ark was brought in (1Ch 16:23-33); but, as the coarse seams between vv. 22-23, vv. 33-34 show, he there strings together familiar reminiscences of the Psalms (vid.

, on Ps 105) as a sort of mosaic, in order approximately to express the festive mood and festive strains of that day. And (2) ὅτε ὁ οἶκος ᾠκοδομεῖτο (Cod. Vat. ᾠκοδόμηται) μετὰ τὴν αἰχμαλωσίαν. By this the lxx correctly interprets the Psalm as a post-exilic song: and the Psalm corresponds throughout to the advance which the mind of Israel has experienced in the Exile concerning its mission in the world.

The fact that the religion of Jahve is destined for mankind at large, here receives the most triumphantly joyous, lyrical expression. And so far as this is concerned, the key-note of the Psalm is even deutero-Isaianic. For it is one chief aim of Isa 40:1 to declare the pinnacle of glory of the Messianic apostolic mission on to which Israel is being raised through the depth of affliction of the Exile.

All these post-exilic songs come much nearer to the spirit of the New Testament than the pre-exilic; for the New Testament, which is the intrinsic character of the Old Testament freed from its barriers and limitations, is in process of coming into being ( im Werden begriffen ) throughout the Old Testament, and the Exile was one of the most important crises in this progressive process. Psa 96:1 are more Messianic than many in the strict sense of the word Messianic; for the central (gravitating) point of the Old Testament gospel ( Heilsverkündigung ) lies not in the Messiah, but in the appearing (parusia) of Jahve - a fact which is explained by the circumstance that the mystery of the incarnation still lies beyond the Old Testament knowledge or perception of salvation.

All human intervention in the matter of salvation accordingly appears as purely human, and still more, it preserves a national and therefore outward and natural impress by virtue of the national limit within which the revelation of salvation has entered. If the ideal Davidic king who is expected even does anything superhuman, he is nevertheless only a man - a man of God, it is true, without his equal, but not the God-man.

The mystery of the incarnation does, it is true, the nearer it comes to actual revelation, cast rays of its dawning upon prophecy, but the sun itself remains below the horizon: redemption is looked for as Jahve’s own act, and “Jahve cometh” is also still the watchword of the last prophet (Mal 3:1). The five six-line strophes of the Psalm before us are not to be mistaken.

The chronicler has done away with five lines, and thereby disorganized the strophic structure; and one line ( Psa 96:10 ) he has removed from its position. The originality of the Psalm in the Psalter, too, is revealed thereby, and the non-independence of the chronicler, who treats the Psalm as an historian.

Psa 96:1-3 Call to the nation of Jahve to sing praise to its God and to evangelize the heathen. שׁירוּ is repeated three times. The new song assumes a new form of things, and the call thereto, a present which appeared to be a beginning that furnished a guarantee of this new state of things, a beginning viz. , of the recognition of Jahve throughout the whole world of nations, and of His accession to the lordship over the whole earth.

The new song is an echo of the approaching revelation of salvation and of glory, and this is also the inexhaustible material of the joyful tidings that go forth from day to day (מיּום ליום as in Est 3:7, whereas in the Chronicles it is מיום אל־יום as in Num 30:15). We read Psa 96:1 verbally the same in Isa 42:10; Psa 96:2 calls to mind Isa 52:7; Isa 60:6; and Psa 96:3 , Isa 66:19.

Psa 96:1-3 Call to the nation of Jahve to sing praise to its God and to evangelize the heathen. שׁירוּ is repeated three times. The new song assumes a new form of things, and the call thereto, a present which appeared to be a beginning that furnished a guarantee of this new state of things, a beginning viz. , of the recognition of Jahve throughout the whole world of nations, and of His accession to the lordship over the whole earth.

The new song is an echo of the approaching revelation of salvation and of glory, and this is also the inexhaustible material of the joyful tidings that go forth from day to day (מיּום ליום as in Est 3:7, whereas in the Chronicles it is מיום אל־יום as in Num 30:15). We read Psa 96:1 verbally the same in Isa 42:10; Psa 96:2 calls to mind Isa 52:7; Isa 60:6; and Psa 96:3 , Isa 66:19.

Psa 96:4-6 Confirmation of the call from the glory of Jahve that is now become manifest. The clause Psa 96:4 , as also Psa 145:3, is taken out of Psa 48:2. כל־אלהים is the plural of כּל־אלוהּ, every god, 2Ch 32:15; the article may stand here or be omitted (Psa 95:3, cf. Psa 113:4). All the elohim, i. e. , gods, of the peoples are אלילים (from the negative אל), nothings and good-for-nothings, unreal and useless.

The lxx renders δαιμόνια, as though the expression were שׁדים (cf. 1Co 10:20), more correctly εἴδωλα in Rev 9:20. What Psa 96:5 says is wrought out in Isa 40, Isa 44, and elsewhere; אלילים is a name of idols that occurs nowhere more frequently than in Isaiah. The sanctuary (Psa 96:6) is here the earthly sanctuary. From Jerusalem, over which the light arises first of all (Isa.

60), Jahve’s superterrestrial doxa now reveals itself in the world. הוד־והדר is the usual pair of words for royal glory. The chronicler reads Psa 96:6 עז וחדוה בּמקמו, might and joy are in His place (הדוה( ecalp siH ni era yoj d a late word, like אחוה, brotherhood, brotherly affection, from an old root, Exo 18:9). With the place of God one might associate the thought of the celestial place of God transcending space; the chronicler may, however, have altered במקדשׁו into במקמו because when the Ark was brought in, the Temple (בית המקדשׁ) was not yet built.