Keil and Delitzsch Commentary - Psalms 14:6 - 14:6

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Keil and Delitzsch Commentary - Psalms 14:6 - 14:6


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The psalmist himself meets the oppressed full of joyous confidence, by reason of the self-manifestation of God in judgment, of which he is now become so confident and which so fills him with comfort. Instead of the sixth tristich, which we expected, we have another distich. The Hiph. הֵבִישׁ with a personal object signifies: to put any one to shame, i.e., to bring it about that any one must be ashamed, e.g., Psa 44:8 (cf. Psa 53:6, where the accusative of the person has to be supplied), or absolutely: to act shamefully, as in the phrase used in Proverbs, בֵּן מֵיבִישׁ (a prodigal son). It appears only here with a neuter accusative of the object, not in the signification to defame (Hitz.), - a meaning it never has (not even in Pro 13:5, where it is blended with הִבְאִישׁ to make stinking, i.e., a reproach, Gen 34:30) - but to confound, put to shame = to frustrate (Hupf.), which is at once the most natural meaning in connection with עֲצַת. But it is not to be rendered: ye put to shame, because..., for to what purpose is this statement with this inapplicable reason in support of it? The fut. תָּבִישׁוּ is used with a like shade of meaning as in Lev 19:17, and the imperative elsewhere; and כִּי gives the reason for the tacitly implied clause, or if a line is really lost from the strophe, the lost clause (cf. Isa 8:9.): ye will not accomplish it. עֵצַה is whatsoever the pious man, who as such suffers reproach, plans to do for the glory of his God, or even in accordance with the will of his God. All this the children of the world, who are in possession of worldly power, seek to frustrate; but viewed in the light of the final decision their attempt is futile: Jahve is his refuge, or, literally the place whither he flees to hide himself and finds a hiding or concealment (צֵל, Arab. dall, סֵתֶר, Arab. sitr, Arabic also drâ). מַחְסֵּהוּ has an orthophonic Dag., which obviates the necessity for the reading מַחְסֵּהוּ (cf. תַּעְלִּים Psa 10:1, טַעְמֹּו Psa 34:1, לֶאְסֹּר Psa 105:22, and similar instances).