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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Psalms 17:6 - 17:6
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It is only now, after his inward parts and his walk have been laid open to Jahve, that he resumes his petition, which is so well justified and so soundly based, and enters into detail. The אני
(Note: The word is pointed אֲֽנִי, in correct texts, as אני always is when it has Munach and Dechî follows, e.g., also Psa 116:16. This Gaja demands an emphatic intonation of the secondary word in its relation to the principal word (which here is קראתיך).)
found beside קְרָאֹתִיךָ (the perfect referring to that which has just now been put into execution) is meant to imply: such an one as he has described himself to be according to the testimony of his conscience, may call upon God, for God hears such and will therefore also hear him. הַט אָזְנְךָ exactly corresponds to the Latin au-di (aus-cul-ta). The Hiph. הִפְלָה (הִפְלִיא, Psa 31:22, cf. Psa 4:4) signifies here to work in an extraordinary and marvellous manner. The danger of him who thus prays is great, but the mercies of God, who is ready and able to help, are still greater. Oh that He may, then, exhibit all its fulness on his behalf. The form of the address resembles the Greek, which is so fond of participles. If it is translated as Luther translates it: “Show Thy marvellous lovingkindness, Thou Saviour of those who trust in Thee, Against those who so set themselves against Thy right hand,” then חֹוסִים is used just as absolutely as in Pro 14:32, and the right hand of God is conceived of as that which arranges and makes firm. But “to rebel against God's right (not statuta, but desteram)” is a strange expression. There are still two other constructions from which to choose, viz., “Thou Deliverer of those seeking protection from adversaries, with Thy right hand” (Hitz.), or: “Thou Helper of those seeking protection from adversaries, at Thy right hand” (Aben-Ezra, Tremell.). This last rendering is to be preferred to the two others. Since, on the one hand, one says מחסה מן, refuge from..., and on the other, חָסָה בְּ to hide one's self in any one, or in any place, this determining of the verbal notion by the preposition (on this, see above on Psa 2:12) must be possible in both directions. מִמִּתְקֹומַמִים is equivalent to ממתקוממֵיהֶם Job 27:7; and חוסים בימינך, those seeking protection at the strong hand of Jahve. The force of the ב is just the same as in connection with הִסְתַּתֵּר, 1Sa 23:19. In Damascus and throughout Syria - Wetzstein observes on this passage - the weak make use of these words when they surrender themselves to the strong: Arab. anâ b-qabḍt ydk, “I am in the grasp of thy hand (in thy closed hand) i.e., I give myself up entirely to thee.”
(Note: Cognate in meaning to חסה ב are Arab. 'sttr b and tadarrâ b, e.g., Arab. tḏrrâ b-'l-ḥâ'ṭ mn 'l-rı̂ḥ he shelters (hides) himself by the wall from the wind, or Arab. bâl‛ḍât mn 'l-brd, by a fire against the cold, and Arab. ‛âḏ, which is often applied in like manner to God's protection. Thus, e.g., (according to Bochâri's Sunna) a woman, whom Muhammed wanted to seize, cried out: Arab. a‛ûḏu b-'llh mnk, I place myself under God's protection against thee, and he replied: Arab. ‛uḏti bi-ma‛âḏin, thou hast taken refuge in an (inaccessible) asylum (cf. Job, i. 310 n. and ii. 22 n. 2).)