Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Psalms 56:1 - 56:1
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
אֱלֹהִים and אֱנֹושׁ, Psa 56:2 (Psa 9:20; Psa 10:18), are antitheses: over against God, the majestic One, men are feeble beings. Their rebellion against the counsel of God is ineffective madness. If the poet has God's favour on his side, then he will face these pigmies that behave as though they were giants, who fight against him מָרֹום, moving on high, i.e., proudly (cf. מִמָּרֹום, Psa 73:8), in the invincible might of God. שָׁאַף, inhiare, as in Psa 57:4; לָחַם, as in Psa 35:1, with לְ like אֶל, e.g., in Jer 1:19. Thus, then, he does not fear; in the day when (Ges. §123, 3, b) he might well be afraid (conjunctive future, as e.g., in Jos 9:27), he clings trustfully to (אֶל as in Psa 4:6, and frequently, Pro 3:5) his God, so that fear cannot come near him. He has the word of His promise on his side (דְּבָרֹו as e.g., Psa 130:5); בֵּאלֹהִים, through God will he praise this His word, inasmuch as it is gloriously verified in him. Hupfeld thus correctly interprets it; whereas others in part render it “in Elohim do I praise His word,” in part (and the form of this favourite expression in Psa 56:11 is opposed to it): “Elohim do I celebrate, His word.” Hitzig, however, renders it: “Of God do I boast in matter,” i.e., in the present affair; which is most chillingly prosaic in connection with an awkward brevity of language. The exposition is here confused by Psa 10:3 and Psa 44:9. הִלֵּל does not by any means signify gloriari in this passage, but celebrare; and באלהים is not intended in any other sense than that in Ps 60:14. בָּטַח בְּ is equivalent to the New Testament phrase πιστεύειν ἐν. לֹא אִירָא is a circumstantial clause with a finite verb, as is customary in connection with לֹא, Psa 35:8, Job 29:24, and עָב, Pro 19:23.