Keil and Delitzsch Commentary - Psalms 17:10 - 17:10

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Keil and Delitzsch Commentary - Psalms 17:10 - 17:10


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Psa 17:10 tell what sort of people these persecutors are. Their heart is called fat, adeps, not as though חֵלֶב could in itself be equivalent to לֵב, more especially as both words are radically distinct (חֵלֶב from the root לב, λιπ; לֵב from the root לב, לף to envelope: that which is enveloped, the kernel, the inside), but (without any need for von Ortenberg's conjecture חֵלֶב לִבָּמֹו סָגָרוּ “they close their heart with fat”) because it is, as it were, entirely fat (Psa 119:70, cf. Psa 73:7), and because it is inaccessible to any feeling of compassion, and in general incapable of the nobler emotions. To shut up the fat = the heart (cf. κλείειν τὰ σπλάγχνα 1Jo 3:17), is equivalent to: to fortify one's self wilfully in indifference to sympathy, tender feeling, and all noble feelings (cf. הִשְׁמִין לֵב = to harden, Isa 6:10). The construction of פִּימֹו (which agrees in sound with פִּימָה, Job 15:27) is just the same as that of קֹולִי, Psa 3:5. On the other hand, אַשּׁוּרֵנוּ (after the form עַמּוּד and written plene) is neither such an accusative of the means or instrument, nor the second accusative, beside the accusative of the object, of that by which the object is surrounded, that is usually found with verbs of surrounding (e.g., Ps 5:13; Psa 32:7); for “they have surrounded me (us) with our step” is unintelligible. But אשׁורנו can be the accusative of the member, as in Psa 3:8, cf. Psa 22:17, Gen 3:15, for “it is true the step is not a member” (Hitz.), but since “step” and “foot” are interchangeable notions, Psa 73:2, the σχῆμα καθ ̓ ὅλον καὶ μέρος is applicable to the former, and as, e.g., Homer says, Iliad vii. 355: σὲ μάλιστα πόνος φρένας ἀμφιβέβηκεν, the Hebrew poet can also say: they have encompassed us (and in fact) our steps, each of our steps (so that we cannot go forwards or backwards with our feet). The Kerî סְבָבוּנוּ gets rid of the change in number which we have with the Chethîb סבבוני; the latter, however, is admissible according to parallels like Psa 62:5, and corresponds to David's position, who is hunted by Saul and at the present time driven into a strait at the head of a small company of faithful followers. Their eyes - he goes on to say in Psa 17:11 - have they set to fell, viz., us, who are encompassed, to the earth, i.e., so that we shall be cast to the ground. נָטָה is transitive, as in Psa 18:10; Psa 62:4, in the transitively applied sense of Psa 73:2 (cf. Psa 37:31): to incline to fall (whereas in Psa 44:19, Job 31:7, it means to turn away from); and בָּאָרֶץ (without any need fore the conjecture בָּאֹרַח) expresses the final issue, instead of לָאָרֶץ, Psa 7:6. By the expression דִּמְיֹנֹו one is prominently singled out from the host of the enemy, viz., its chief, the words being: his likeness is as a lion, according to the peculiarity of the poetical style, of changing verbal into substantival clauses, instead of דָּמָה כְּאַרְיֵה. Since in Old Testament Hebrew, as also in Syriac and Arabic, כְ is only a preposition, not a connective conjunction, it cannot be rendered: as a lion longs to prey, but: as a lion that is greedy or hungry (cf. Arab. ksf, used of sinking away, decline, obscuring or eclipsing, growing pale, and Arab. chsf, more especially of enfeebling, hunger, distinct from חָשַׂף = Arab. ks̆f, to peel off, make bare) to ravin. In the parallel member of the verse the participle alternates with the attributive clause. כְּפִיר is (according to Meier) the young lion as being covered with thicker hair.