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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Psalms 5:7 - 5:7
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(Heb.: 5:8-10) Since the Psalm is a morning hymn, the futt. in Psa 5:8 state what he, on the contrary, may and will do (Psa 66:13). By the greatness and fulness of divine favour (Psa 116:14) he has access (εἴσοδον, for בֹּוא means, according to its root, “to enter”) to the sanctuary, and he will accordingly repair thither to-day. It is the tabernacle on Zion in which was the ark of the covenant that is meant here. That daily liturgical service was celebrated there must be assumed, since the ark of the covenant is the sign and pledge of Jahve's presence; and it is, moreover, attested by 1Ch 16:37. It is also to be supposed that sacrifice was offered daily before the tabernacle. For it is not to be inferred from 1Ch 16:39. that sacrifice was only offered regularly on the Bama (high place) in Gibeon before the Mosaic tabernacle.
(Note: Thus, in particular, Stähelin, Zur Kritik der Psalmen in the Deutsch. Morgenl. Zeitschr. vi. (1852) S. 108 and Zur Einleitung in die Psalmen. An academical programme, 1859. 4to.)
It is true sacrifice was offered in Gibeon, where the old tabernacle and the old altars (or at least the altar of burnt-offering) were, and also that after the removal of the ark to Zion both David (1Ch 21:29.) and Solomon (1Ki 3:4; 2Ch 1:2-6) worshipped and sacrificed in Gibeon. But it is self-evident sacrifices might have been offered where the ark was, and that even with greater right than in Gibeon; and since both David, upon its arrival (2Sa 6:17.), and Solomon after his accession (1Ki 3:15), offered sacrifices through the priests who were placed there, it is probable-and by a comparison of the Davidic Psalms not to be doubted-that there was a daily service, in conjunction with sacrifices, before the ark on Zion.
But, moreover, is it really the אֹהֶל in Zion which is meant here in v. 8 by the house of God? It is still maintained by renowned critics that the tabernacle pitched by David over the sacred ark is never called בית ה or היכל or משׁכן ה or מקדשׁ or קדשׁ. But why could it not have all these names? We will not appeal to the fact that the house of God at Shilo (1Sa 1:9; 1Sa 3:3) is called בית and היכל ה, since it may be objected that it was really more of a temple than a tabernacle,
(Note: Vid., C. H. Graf, Commentation de templo Silonensi ad illustrandum locum Jud. xviii. 30, 31, (1855, 4to.), in which he seeks to prove that the sanctuary in Shilo was a temple to Jahve that lasted until the dissolution of the kingdom of Israel.)
although in the same book, 1Sa 2:22 it is called אֹהֶל מֹועֵד, and in connection with the other appellations the poetic colouring of the historical style of 1 Sam 1-3 is to be taken into consideration. Moreover, we put aside passages like Exo 23:19; Exo 34:26, since it may be said that the future Temple was present to the mind of the Lawgiver. But in Jos 6:24; 2Sa 12:20, the sanctuary is called בית ה without being conceived of as a temple. Why then cannot the tabernacle, which David pitched for the ark of the covenant when removed to Zion (2Sa 6:17), be called בית ה? It is only when אֹהֶל and בַּיִת are placed in opposition to one another that the latter has the notion of a dwelling built of more solid materials; but in itself beit (bêt) in Semitic is the generic term for housing of every kind whether it be made of wool, felt, and hair-cloth, or of earth, stone, and wood; consequently it is just as much a tent as a house (in the stricter sense of the word), whether the latter be a hut built of wood and clay or a palace.
(Note: The Turkish Kamus says: “Arab. byt is a house (Turk. ew) in the signification of châne (Persic the same), whether it be made of hair, therefore a tent, or built of stone and tiles.” And further on: “Beit originally signified a place specially designed for persons to retire to at night from Arab. bâta he has passed the night, if it does not perhaps come from the בוא, Arab. bayya, which stands next to it in this passage, vid., Job at Job 29:15-17]; but later on the meaning was extended and the special reference to the night time was lost.” Even at the present day the Beduin does not call his tent ahl, but always bêt and in fact bêt sha'r (בית שֵׂעָר), the modern expression for the older bêt wabar (hair-house).)
If a dwelling-house is frequently called אהל, then a tent that any one dwells in may the more naturally be called his בַּיִת. And this we find is actually the case with the dwellings of the patriarchs, which, although they were not generally solid houses (Gen 33:17), are called בית (Gen 27:15). Moreover, הֵיכָל (from יָכַל = כּוּל to hold, capacem esse), although it signifies a palace does not necessarily signify one of stone, for the heavens are also called Jahve's הֵיכָל, e.g., Psa 18:7, and not necessarily one of gigantic proportions, for even the Holy of holies of Solomon's Temple, and this par excellence, is called הֵיכָל, and once, 1Ki 6:3, הֵיכַל הַבַּיִת. Of the spaciousness and general character of the Davidic tabernacle we know indeed nothing: it certainly had its splendour, and was not so much a substitute for the original tabernacle, which according to the testimony of the chronicler remained in Gibeon, as a substitute for the Temple that was still to be built. But, however insignificant it may have been, Jahve had His throne there, and it was therefore the היבל of a great king, just as the wall-less place in the open field where God manifested Himself with His angels to the homeless Jacob was בֵּית אֱלֹהִים (Gen 28:17).
Into this tabernacle of God, i.e., into its front court, will David enter (בֹּוא with acc. as in Psa 66:13) this morning, there will he prostrate himself in worship, προσκυνεῖν (הִשְׁתַּחֲוָה) reflexive of the Pilel שַֽׁחֲוַה, Ges. §75, rem. 18), towards (אֶל as in Psa 28:2, 1Ki 8:29, 1Ki 8:35, cf. לְ Psa 99:5, Psa 99:9) Jahve's הֵיכַל קֹדֶשׁ, i.e., the דְּבִיר, the Holy of holies Psa 28:2, and that “in Thy fear,” i.e., in reverence before Thee (genit. objectivus). The going into the Temple which David purposes, leads his thoughts on to his way through life, and the special de'eesis, which only begins here, moulds itself accordingly: he prays for God's gracious guidance as in Psa 27:11; Psa 86:11, and frequently. The direction of God, by which he wishes to be guided he calls צְדָקָה. Such is the general expression for the determination of conduct by an ethical rule. The rule, acting in accordance with which, God is called par excellence צדיק, is the order of salvation which opens up the way of mercy to sinners. When God forgives those who walk in this way their sins, and stands near to bless and protect them, He shows Himself not less צדיק (just), than when He destroys those who despise Him, in the heat of His rejected love. By this righteousness, which accords with the counsel and order of mercy, David prays to be led לְמַעַן שֹׁורֲרָי, in order that the malicious desire of those who lie in wait for him may not be fulfilled, but put to shame, and that the honour of God may not be sullied by him. שֹׁורֵר is equivalent to מְשֹׁורֵר (Aquila ἐφοδεύων, Jerome insidiator) from the Pilel שֹׁורֵר to fix one's eyes sharply upon, especially of hostile observation. David further prays that God will make his way (i.e., the way in which a man must walk according to God's will) even and straight before him, the prayer one, in order that he may walk therein without going astray and unimpeded. The adj. יָשָׂר signifies both the straightness of a line and the evenness of a surface. The fut. of the Hiph. הֵישִׁיר is יַיִשִׁיר in Pro 4:25, and accordingly the Kerî substitutes for the imper. הֹושַׁר the corresponding form הַיְשַׁר, just as in Isa 45:2 it removes the Hiphil form אֹושִׁר (cf. Gen 8:17 הוצא Keri הַיְצֵא), without any grammatical, but certainly not without some traditional ground.
כִּי in Psa 5:10 is closely connected with למען שׁוררי: on account of my way-layers, for the following are their characteristics. אֵין is separated by בְּפִיהוּ (= בְּפִיו Psa 62:5) from נְכֹונָה the word it governs; this was the more easily possible as the usage of the language almost entirely lost sight of the fact that אֵין is the construct of אַיִן, Ges. §152, 1. In his mouth is nothing that should stand firm, keep its ground, remain the same (cf. Job 42:7.). The singular suffix of בפיהו has a distributive meaning: in ore unuiscujusque eorum. Hence the sing. at once passes over into the plur.: קִרְבָּם הַוֹּות their inward part, i.e., that towards which it goes forth and in which it has its rise (vid., Psa 49:12) is הוות corruption, from הַוַּה which comes from הָוָה = Arab. hawâ, to yawn, gape, χαίνειν, hiare, a yawning abyss and a gaping vacuum, and then, inasmuch as, starting from the primary idea of an empty space, the verbal significations libere ferri (especially from below upwards) and more particularly animo ad or in aliquid ferri are developed, it obtains the pathological sense of strong desire, passion, just as it does also the intellectual sense of a loose way of thinking proceeding from a self-willed tendency (vid., Fleischer on Job 37:6). In Hebrew the prevalent meaning of the word is corruption, Psa 57:2, which is a metaphor for the abyss, barathrum, (so far, but only so far Schultens on Pro 10:3 is right), and proceeding from this meaning it denotes both that which is physically corruptible (Job 6:30) and, as in the present passage and frequently, that which is corruptible from an ethical point of view. The meaning strong desire, in which הַוָּה looks as though it only differed from אַוָּה in one letter, occurs only in Psa 52:9; Pro 10:3; Mic 7:3. The substance of their inward part is that which is corruptible in every way, and their throat, as the organ of speech, as in Psa 115:7; Psa 149:6, cf. Psa 69:4, is (perhaps a figure connected with the primary meaning of הוות) a grave, which yawns like jaws, which open and snatch and swallow down whatever comes in their way. To this “they make smooth their tongue” is added as a circumstantial clause. Their throat is thus formed and adapted, while they make smooth their tongue (cf. Pro 2:16), in order to conceal their real design beneath flattering language. From this meaning, הֶֽחֱלִיק directly signifies to flatter in Psa 36:3; Pro 29:5. The last two lines of the strophe are formed according to the caesura schema. This schema is also continued in the concluding strophe.