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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Psalms 124:1 - 124:1
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It is commonly rendered, “If it had not been Jahve who was for us.” But, notwithstanding the subject that is placed first (cf. Gen 23:13), the שׁ belongs to the לוּלֵי; since in the Aramaizing Hebrew (cf. on the other hand Gen 31:42) לוּלֵי שֵׁ (cf. Arab. lawlâ an) signifies nisi (prop. nisi quod), as in the Aramaic (דְּ) שֶׁ (לואי) לְוַי, o si (prop. o si quod). The אֲזַי, peculiar to this Psalm in the Old Testament, instead of אָז follows the model of the dialectic אֱדַיִן, Arab. iḏan, Syr. hāden (הֵידֵין, הָדֵין). In order to begin the apodosis of לוּלֵי (לוּלֵא) emphatically the older language makes use of the confirmatory כִּי, Gen 31:42; Gen 43:10; here we have אֲזַי (well rendered by the lxx ἄρα), as in Psa 119:92. The Lamed of הָיָה לָנו is raphe in both instances, according to the rule discussed above, p. 373. When men (אָדָם) rose up against Israel and their anger was kindled against them, they who were feeble in themselves over against the hostile world would have been swallowed up alive if they had not had Jahve for them, if they had not had Him on their side. This “swallowing up alive” is said elsewhere of Hades, which suddenly and forcibly snatches away its victims, Psa 55:16; Pro 1:12; here, however, as Psa 124:6 shows, it is said of the enemies, who are represented as wild beasts. In Psa 124:4 the hostile power which rolls over them is likened to an overflowing stream, as in Isa 8:7., the Assyrian. נַחְלָה, a stream or river, is Milel; it is first of all accusative: towards the stream (Num 34:5); then, however, it is also used as a nominative, like לַיְלָה, הַמָּֽוְתָה, and the like (cf. common Greek ἡ νύχθα, ἡ νεόντητα); so that ָתָה- is related to ַת- ( ָה-) as ָנָה-, ָמֹו- to ָן- and ָם- (Böttcher, §615). These latest Psalms are fond of such embellishments by means of adorned forms and Aramaic or Aramaizing words. זֵידֹונִים is a word which is indeed not unhebraic in its formation, but is more indigenous to Chaldee; it is the Targum word for זֵדִים in Psa 86:14; Psa 119:51, Psa 119:78 (also in Psa 54:5 for זרים), although according to Levy the MSS do not present זֵידֹונִין but זֵידָנִין. In the passage before us the Targum renders: the king who is like to the proud waters (לְמֹוי זֵידֹונַיָּא) of the sea (Antiochus Epiphanes? - a Scholium explains οἱ ὑπερήφανοι). With reference to עָבַר before a plural subject, vid., Ges. §147.