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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Psalms 31:9 - 31:9
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(Heb.: 31:10-14) After the paean before victory, which he has sung in the fulness of his faith, in this second part of the Psalm (with groups, or strophes, of diminishing compass: 6. 5. 4) there again breaks forth the petition, based upon the greatness of the suffering which the psalmist, after having strengthened himself in his trust in God, now all the more vividly sets before Him. צַר־לִּי, angustum est mihi, as in Psa 69:18, cf. Psa 18:7. Psa 31:10 is word for word like Psa 6:8, except that in this passage to עֵינִי, the eye which mirrors the state of suffering in which the sensuous perception and objective receptivity of the man are concentrated, are added נֶפֶשׁ, the soul forming the nexus of the spirit and the body, and בֶּטֶן, the inward parts of the body reflecting the energies and feelings of the spirit and the soul. חַיִּים, with which is combined the idea of the organic intermingling of the powers of soul and body, has the predicate in the plural, as in Psa 88:4. The fact that the poet makes mention of his iniquity as that by which his physical strength has become tottering (כָּשַׁל as in Neh 4:4), is nothing surprising even in a Psalm that belongs to the time of his persecution by Saul; for the longer this persecution continued, the more deeply must David have felt that he needed this furnace of affliction.
The text of Psa 31:12 upon which the lxx rendering is based, was just the same as ours: παρὰ πάντας τοὺς ἐχθρούς μου ἐγενήθην ὄνειδος καὶ τοῖς γείτοσί μου σφόδρα καὶ φόβος τοῖς γνωστοῖς μου. But this σφδόρα (Jerome nimis) would certainly only be tolerable, if it could be rendered, “I am become a reproach even to my neighbours exceedingly” - in favour of this position of מְאֹד we might compare Jdg 12:2, - and this rendering is not really an impossible one; for not only has וְ frequently the sense of “even” as in 2Sa 1:23, but (independently of passages, in which it may even be explained as “and that,” an expression which takes up what has been omitted, as in Amo 4:10) it sometimes has this meaning direct (like καὶ, et -etiam), Isa 32:7; Hos 8:6 (according to the accents), 2Ch 27:5; Ecc 5:5 (cf. Ew. §352, b). Inasmuch, however, as this usage, in Hebrew, was not definitely developed, but was only as it were just developing, it may be asked whether it is not possible to find a suitable explanation without having recourse to this rendering of the וְ as equivalent to גַּם, a rendering which is always hazardous. Olshausen places ולשׁכני after למידעי, a change which certainly gets rid of all difficulty. Hitzig alters מְאֹד into מֻנָּד, frightened, scared. But one naturally looks for a parallel substantive to חֶרְפָּה, somewhat like “terror” (Syriac) or “burden.” Still מָגֹור (dread) and מַשְּׂאֵת (a burden) do not look as though מאד could be a corruption of either of those words. Is it not perhaps possible for מאד itself to be equivalent in meaning to משׂאת? Since in the signification σφόδρα it is so unsuited to this passage, the expression would not be ambiguous, if it were here used in a special sense. J. D. Michaelis has even compared the Arabic awd (awdat) in the sense of onus. We can, without the hesitation felt by Maurer and Hupfeld, suppose that מאד has indeed this meaning in this passage, and without any necessity for its being pointed מָאֹד; for even the adverb מְאֹד is originally a substantive derived from אוּד, Arab. âd (after the form מְצָד from צוּד) gravitas, firmitas, which is then used in the sense of graviter, firmiter (cf. the French ferme). אוּד, Arab. âd, however, has the radical signification to be compressed, compact, firm, and solid, from which proceed the significations, which are divided between âda, jaı̂du, and âda, jaûdu, to be strong, powerful, and to press upon, to burden, both of which meanings Arab. 'dd unites within itself (cf. on Psa 20:9).
The number of opponents that David had, at length made him a reproach even in the eyes of the better disposed of his people, as being a revolter and usurper. Those among whom he found friendly shelter began to feel themselves burdened by his presence because they were thereby imperilled; and we see from the sad fate of Abimelech and the other priests of Nob what cause, humanly speaking, they, who were not merely slightly, but even intimately acquainted with him (מְיֻדָּעִים as inn Psa 55:14; Psa 88:9, 19), had for avoiding all intercourse with him. Thus, then, he is like one dead, whom as soon as he is borne out of his home to the grave, men are wont, in general, to put out of mind also (נִשְׁכַּח מִלֵּא, oblivione extingui ex corde; cf. מִפֶּה, Deu 31:21). All intimate connection with him is as it were sundered, he is become כִּכְלִי אֹבֵד, - a phrase, which, as we consider the confirmation which follows in Psa 31:14, has the sense of vas periens (not vas perditum), a vessel that is in the act of אֲבֹד, i.e., one that is set aside or thrown away, being abandoned to utter destruction and no more cared for (cf. Hos 8:8, together with Jer 48:38, and Jer 22:28). With כִּי he gives the ground for his comparison of himself to a household vessel that has become worthless. The insinuations and slanders of many brand him as a transgressor, dread surrounds him on every side (this is word for word the same as in Jer 20:10, where the prophet, with whom in other passages also מָגֹור מִסָּבִיב is a frequent and standing formula, under similar circumstances uses the language of the psalmist); when they come together to take counsel concerning him (according to the accents the second half of the verse begins with בְּהִוָּֽסְדָם), they think only how they may get rid of him. If the construction of ב with its infinitive were intended to be continued in Psa 31:14, it would have been וְזָֽמְמוּ לקחת נפשׁי or לקחת נפשׁי יָזֹמּוּ.