Oldalképek
PDF
ePub

Glosses express confidence in Yahweh (v.23 24c), make vows of public prayer (v.17-18) and urgent petition (v.2), refer to deliverances from battle (v.19), and enlarge upon various features of the original (v.1. 166. 206).

[blocks in formation]

O GIVE ear, (Yahweh), to my prayer;
And hide not Thyself from my supplication.

O attend to me, and answer me.

I am depressed, and I moan in my complaint.

MY heart writhes within me,

And terrors have fallen upon me.

Fear comes upon me,

And trembling and shuddering cover me.

PINIONS O that I had!

As a dove I would fly away and settle down,

So I would make afar off my flight.

I would haste away to my place of escape.

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

WITH a tempestuous wind, O Lord, divide their tongues.

For I see violence and strife in the city;

Day and night they go round about upon the walls thereof.

Trouble and mischief are in the midst of it, engulfing ruin in its (square); And oppression and deceit depart not from its square.

FOR it is not an enemy who reproaches me, I could get away (from him). It is not he that hateth me that magnifieth himself against me, I could have hidden from him.

But thou, a man mine equal, mine associate and my familiar acquaintance! Together we used to hold sweet counsel, we used to walk in concord. Let death come treacherously upon them, let them descend alive to Sheol. HE put forth his hands against his confederate: he profaned his covenant; His face was smoother than curds; but war was in his mind. His words were softer than oil, but they were drawn swords. But, O Thou, (Yahweh), bring them down to the Pit of Sheol. Let not men of blood and deceit live out half their days.

Ps. 55 was in, of the class, which is justified by the original Ps.A, not by the present Ps. It was taken up into E, when the divine name was changed as elsw. It was also in DK, where it was assigned ♫♪♪ (v. Intr. §§ 26, 27, 32, 33, 34). The Ps. has an unusual number of glosses. (1) V.17 This could not have been in E, or in DR, which follows its sources in its use of divine names. The three hours of prayer, v.18, appear elsw. Dn. 611 as a late usage. V.19 belongs with v.18. It implies deliverance from a recent battle. These verses all come from a Maccabean editor adapting the Ps. to the circumstances of his times. V.206 belongs also to the same hand,

יהוה has

and it is probable that he changed v.204, which was an earlier marginal gl. with in the sense of answer, to ny in the sense of humiliation of the enemies. V. is a couplet of similar tone, and probably came from him also. (2) V.23 has also, and must have been a gl. later than DR. It expresses, however, a calm confidence in Yahweh which was more characteristic of the Greek period before the Maccabean trials. V. 23 is based on 229 669. The Aramaic is also an evidence of late date. V.24 is also a trimeter gl., concluding the Ps. with an expression of trust in Yahweh. After the glosses have been removed, the Ps. is composite of an early Maskil, v.2-3. 5-9a and a later imprecatory Ps., v.98-16a. 21-22. 24ab. The former was a little prayer, which originally was apart by itself, resembling Ps. 54. It was doubtless in E, because the original n has been changed to D. The combination with the prayer may have been made by E. The imprecatory Ps. is based in v.10 upon the story of the dispersion from Babel Gn. 111-9 (J); in v.16 on the story of Korah and his company Nu. 1683 (P). The traditional ascription of the Ps. to David in the time of the treachery of Ahithophel, 2 S. 15, has no other propriety than that Ahithophel was just such a person as is described in v. 13-15. 21-22; but he could hardly have been regarded as the equal of the king. The reference to Pashhur, Jer. 20, would be more probable, if we could suppose that the Ps. was composed by Jeremiah; but this is improbable, and there is no evidence that Pashhur was such an intimate friend as is here described. The reference to the walls of the city and its public squares, v.11-12, prevents us from thinking of the times of the restoration previous to Nehemiah. It is therefore probably a Ps. of the time of Nehemiah, when there was no special peril from foreign enemies, but great corruption, violence, and strife in the city itself.

PSALM LV. A.

Str. I. 2-3 is a prayer in a syn. tristich with a synth. line giving reason. ·2-3. O give ear || O attend to me, and the climax, answer me, are usual terms of petition.—and hide not Thyself]. Yahweh seems to hide His face from His people if He gives no response to their prayers when they are in trouble; cf. 10'. — I am depressed], lit. brought down in humiliation, as 3, favoured also by paraphrase of 6, PBV., AV., to be preferred to H, RV., and most moderns, from a different Hebrew stem, "I am restless." —I moan], as v., 6, 3, RV., to be preferred to H, "am distracted." — in my complaint], plaintive expostulation with Yahweh for leaving him in this condition.

Str. II. is a syn. tetrastich, continuing the description of suffering.-5. My heart writhes], in the pain and anguish of the situation. And terrors] of the consequences which will result if

Yahweh does not save him.

The specification "of death" was due to dittography, and was not original, as indeed it makes the line too long for the measure. -4 is a pentameter gloss, assigning a reason for the anxiety. The enemy and wicked are a plurality of foreign enemies, as v.17-20. These dislodge trouble], a metaphor of rolling stones down from heights upon enemies in the valley beneath, or in a siege from walls upon those assailing them.— cherish animosity]. They habitually and with set purpose, due to anger, take every opportunity of hostile action.-6. shuddering] is an intensification of fear and trembling. These have not only come upon him, as a dark and gloomy cloud, but cover over, enveloping and shutting him in from any relief except from his God. Str. III. is a tetrastich of stairlike advance. — 7-9 a. O that I had], the usual formula of the wish. -pinions]. He is unable to escape in any other way than by the wings of a bird. As a dove]. This belongs to the second line. The poet is thinking not simply of flying, but that he himself is like a dove, too weak to resist the enemy, whose only hope is in flight. — I would fly away], seeking refuge in clefts of the rocks, Ct. 3.- and settle down], in safety. - afar off], away from the danger of the city. I would lodge in the wilderness], abandoning the metaphor of the bird for that of the traveller, as Je. 9'. This is not suited to the context, it destroys the measure of the line, and is doubtless a gloss from Je.- hasten], syn. with previous lines and so intransitive.

PSALM LV. B.

Str. I. is a pentastich, giving an introductory line of imprecation and the reason for it in a syn. tetrastich.-9 b. with a tempestuous wind]. There is here a conflation, due to textual error, of "stormy wind" and "devouring tempest." All of these words except "devouring" are attached to previous lines by and Vrss. at the expense of measures and right connection of the two Pss. As so connected it represents a wayfarer flying for refuge from an impending storm, but really it belongs with the next v. as the instrument used by Yahweh for the purpose of division. 10-12. O Lord, divide their tongues], imprecation upon persons not mentioned as yet, a divine visitation such as that upon the builders of Babel, Gn. 111-9, and indeed in the same way by a

theophanic storm.-For I see].

The reason for the previous wish is now given, and the peril is explained as something that was distinctly seen. The places are in the city], Jerusalem; upon the walls thereof], the place of watchful defence; in the midst of it], in its public square, a place of public concourse. This is as much as to say, in its enclosing walls and in its public places, within the city in its entirety. — violence and strife], these as personified are guilty of preying on the city instead of defending it, || trouble and mischief, engulfing ruin, oppression and deceit], heaping up epithets, to describe the utter corruption that prevailed in the city, especially among its rulers and soldiers, who ought rather to have defended the city from all such things.

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

Str. II. is a pentastich, with four lines syn. and the fifth synth. thereto as an imprecation, thus in the reverse order of Str. I. on the principle of inclusion.-13-15. For it is not an enemy], neither foreign, as v. 4. 16, 19 nor even domestic, he that hateth me], a personal enemy; but the very reverse, Thou, a man mine equal], of like estimation, of the same rank and public esteem as himself. — mine associate], in close social relations. my familiar acquaintance], well known by friendly personal intercourse. Together used to hold sweet counsel], accustomed to meet together in the intimacy of a confidential circle and take counsel together, and this was made sweet by mutual words and acts of friendliness. -we used to walk in concord], G, Y, as friends" PBV., which is greatly to be preferred to RV. " with the throng," thinking of the procession in the temple as 425, which latter meaning has no appropriateness if "the house of God" is regarded as a gloss, making, as it does, the line too long. Indeed, there is no good reason for limiting the walking in concord to the walk in temple processions, which would not be suggested by anything else in this Ps. Such was the man who was at the bottom of all this trouble, and such were the circumstances under which he had acted.—who reproaches me]. The man who was not an enemy acts as an enemy, and makes false representations and bitter taunts. He who did not hate now acts as if he hated, by making unworthy comparisons with his equal, by magnifying himself in hostility to his friend. This inconsistency between their present and former relations made it extremely difficult to act

wisely. ·He could get away from an open enemy; he could have hidden from a man that was pronounced in his hatred; but what could he do in this strange situation in which his best friend had become his worst enemy?—16. Let death come treacherously upon them]. These are the enemies led by the treacherous friend; cf. the personified attributes of wickedness v.106-12. This is an imprecation upon them. The wish is that death may beguile them, coming upon them when they least expect it, taking them unprepared. Let them descend alive to Sheol]. The author is thinking of Korah and his company, Nu. 1633 (P), who by divine visitation were swallowed up by an earthquake, and, without the experience of death, descended living into the gulf and went down to the cavern of Sheol. A glossator thought it needful to append a reason for the imprecation: -for evils are in their dwellings], the place where the enemies dwell, their houses, the enemies being resident in the same city as the author.

Str. III. is a further description of the false friend. The pentastich has an introductory line and two syn. couplets.—2122. He put forth his hands]. His reproaches had advanced to personal violence, cf. v.10, and that against his confederate, the one who was in a covenant of peace and friendship with him, sealed as it was in the times of the Psalmist by the communion meal and the joint application of the blood of the victim; and so he profaned his covenant], defiled it, as a sacred thing in which God, by the sacrifice, was also involved, and so was guilty of impiety toward the God of the covenant. The false friend is now described in the inconsistency between his words and deeds, his profession and practice. His face], so 6, required by pl. vb.; better than "his mouth," , which has been assimilated to his words. The antith. between face and mind is more natural. The face was smoother than curds]. With a round, smiling, beaming face, he addressed his friend; but in his mind, hidden away in secret, was war, which he was only waiting for a convenient opportunity to wage. — softer than oil], were his words; they were smooth, oily, flattering in appearance, but in reality they were drawn swords, sharp, taunting, piercing reproaches. This Str. is interrupted by a gloss which inserts a comforting exhortation to the afflicted before the imprecation :

« ElőzőTovább »