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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Psalms 12:1 - 12:1
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(Heb.: 12:2-3) The sigh of supplication, הֹושִׁיעָה, has its object within itself: work deliverance, give help; and the motive is expressed by the complaint which follows. The verb גָּמַר to complete, means here, as in Psa 7:10, to have an end; and the ἁπ. λεγ. פָּסַס is equivalent to אָפֵס in Psa 77:9, to come to the extremity, to cease. It is at once clear from the predicate being placed first in the plur., that אֱמוּנִים in this passage is not an abstractum, as e.g., in Pro 13:17; moreover the parallelism is against it, just as in Pro 31:24. חָסִיד is the pious man, as one who practises חֶסֶד towards God and man. אֵמוּן, primary form אֱמוּן (plur. אֱמונים; whereas from אָמוּן we should expect אֲמוּנִים), - used as an adjective (cf. on the contrary Deu 32:20) here just as in Pro 31:24, 2Sa 20:19, - is the reliable, faithful, conscientious man, literally one who is firm, i.e., whose word and meaning is firm, so that one can rely upon it and be certain in relation to it.
(Note: The Aryan root man to remain, abide (Neo-Persic mânden), also takes a similar course, signifying usually “to continue in any course, wait, hope.” So the old Persic man, Zend upaman, cf. μένειν with its derivatives which are applied in several ways in the New Testament to characterise πίστις.)
We find similar complaints of the universal prevalence of wickedness in Mic 7:2; Isa 57:1; Jer 7:28, and elsewhere. They contain their own limitation. For although those who complain thus without pharisaic self-righteousness would convict themselves of being affected by the prevailing corruption, they are still, in their penitence, in their sufferings for righteousness' sake, and in their cry for help, a standing proof that humanity has not yet, without exception, become a massa perdita. That which the writer especially laments, is the prevailing untruthfulness. Men speak שָׁוְא (= שָׁוֶא from שֹׁוא), desolation and emptiness under a disguise that conceals its true nature, falsehood (Psa 41:7), and hypocrisy (Job 35:13), ἕκαστος πρὸς τὸν πλησίον αὐτοῦ (lxx, cf. Eph 4:25, where the greatness of the sin finds its confirmation according to the teaching of the New Testament: ὅτι ἐσμὲν ἀλλήλων μέλη). They speak lips of smoothnesses (חֲלָקֹות, plural from חֶלְקָה, laevitates, or from חָלָק, laevia), i.e., the smoothest, most deceitful language (accusative of the object as in Isa 19:18) with a double heart, inasmuch, namely, as the meaning they deceitfully express to others, and even to themselves, differs from the purpose they actually cherish, or even (cf. 1Ch 12:33 בלא לב ולב, and Jam 1:8 δίψυχος, wavering) inasmuch as the purpose they now so flatteringly put forth quickly changes to the very opposite.