Keil and Delitzsch Commentary - Psalms 31:19 - 31:19

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Keil and Delitzsch Commentary - Psalms 31:19 - 31:19


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(Heb.: 31:20-25) In this part well-grounded hope expands to triumphant certainty; and this breaks forth into grateful praise of the goodness of God to His own, and an exhortation to all to wait with steadfast faith on Jahve. The thought: how gracious hath Jahve been to me, takes a more universal form in Psa 31:20. It is an exclamation (מָה, as in Psa 36:8) of adoring admiration. טוּב יהוה is the sum of the good which God has treasured up for the constant and ever increasing use and enjoyment of His saints. צָפַן is used in the same sense as in Psa 17:14; cf. τὸ μάννα τὸ κεκρυμμένον, Rev 2:17. Instead of פָּעַלְתָּ it ought strictly to be נָתַתָּ; for we can say פָּעַל טֹּוב, but not פָּעַל טוּב. What is meant is, the doing or manifesting of טֹּוב springing from this טוּב, which is the treasure of grace. Jahve thus makes Himself known to His saints for the confounding of their enemies and in defiance of all the world besides, Psa 23:5. He takes those who are His under His protection from the רֻכְסֵי אִישׁ, confederations of men (from רֹכֶס, Arab. rks, magna copia), from the wrangling, i.e., the slanderous scourging, of tongues. Elsewhere it is said, that God hides one in סֵתֶר אָֽהֳלֹו (Psa 27:5), or in סֵתֶר כְּנָפָיו (Psa 61:5), or in His shadow (צֵל, Psa 91:1); in this passage it is: in the defence and protection of His countenance, i.e., in the region of the unapproachable light that emanates from His presence. The סֻכָּה is the safe and comfortable protection of the Almighty which spans over the persecuted one like an arbour or rich foliage. With בָּרוּךְ ה David again passes over to his own personal experience. The unity of the Psalm requires us to refer the praise to the fact of the deliverance which is anticipated by faith. Jahve has shown him wondrous favour, inasmuch as He has given him a עִיר מָצֹור as a place of abode. מָצֹור, from צוּר to shut in (Arabic misr with the denominative verb maṣṣara, to found a fortified city), signifies both a siege, i.e., a shutting in by siege-works, and a fortifying (cf. Psa 60:11 with Psa 108:11), i.e., a shutting in by fortified works against the attack of the enemy, 2Ch 8:5. The fenced city is mostly interpreted as God Himself and His powerful and gracious protection. We might then compare Isa 33:21 and other passages. But why may not an actual city be intended, viz., Ziklag? The fact, that after long and troublous days David there found a strong and sure resting-place, he here celebrates beforehand, and unconsciously prophetically, as a wondrous token of divine favour. To him Ziklag was indeed the turning-point between his degradation and exaltation. He had already said in his trepidation (חֲפֹז, trepidare), cf. Psa 116:11 : I am cut away from the range of Thine eyes. נִגְרַזְתִּי is explained according to גַּרְזֶן, an axe; Lam 3:54, נִגְרַזְתִּי, and Jon 2:5, נִגְרַשְׁתִּי, favour this interpretation. He thought in his fear and despair, that God would never more care about him. אָכֵן, verum enim vero, but Jahve heard the cry of his entreaty, when he cried unto Him (the same words as in Psa 28:2). On the ground of these experiences he calls upon all the godly to love the God who has done such gracious things, i.e., to love Love itself. On the one hand, He preserves the faithful (אֱמוּנִים, from אֵמוּן = אֱמוּן, πιστοί, as in Psa 12:2), who keep faith with Him, by also proving to them His faithfulness by protection in every danger; on the other hand, not scantily, but plentifully (עַל as in Isa 60:7; Jer 6:14 : κατὰ περισσείαν) He rewardeth those that practise pride-in the sight of God, the Lord, the sin of sins. An animating appeal to the godly (metamorphosed out of the usual form of the expression חֲזַק וֶאֱמַץ, macte esto), resembling the animating call to his own heart in Psa 27:14, closes the Psalm. The godly and faithful are here called “those who wait upon Jahve.” They are to wait patiently, for this waiting has a glorious end; the bright, spring sun at length breaks through the dark, angry aspect of the heavens, and the esto mihi is changed into halleluja. This eye of hope patiently directed towards Jahve is the characteristic of the Old Testament faith. The substantial unity, however, of the Old Testament order of grace, or mercy, with that of the New Testament, is set before us in Psa 32:1-11, which, in its New Testament and Pauline character, is the counterpart of Psa 19:1-14.