Keil and Delitzsch Commentary - Psalms 71:7 - 71:7

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Keil and Delitzsch Commentary - Psalms 71:7 - 71:7


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Brought safely through dangers of every kind, he is become כְּמֹופֵת, as a wonder, a miracle (Arabic aft from afata, cognate afaka, הָפַךְ, to bend, distort: a turning round, that which is turned round or wrenched, i.e., that which is contrary to what is usual and looked for) to many, who gaze upon him as such with astonishment (Psa 40:4). It is his God, however, to whom, as hitherto so also in time to come, he will look to be thus wonderfully preserved: מַֽחֲסִי־עֹז, as in 2Sa 22:33. עֹז is a genitive, and the suffix is thrown back (vid., supra, p 171) in order that what God is to, and does for, the poet may be brought forward more clearly and independently [lit. unalloyed]. Psa 71:8 tells us what it is that he firmly expects on the ground of what he possesses in God. And on this very ground arises the prayer of Psa 71:9 also: Cast me not away (viz., from Thy presence, Psa 51:13; Jer 7:15, and frequently) in the time (לְעֵת, as in Gen 8:11) of old age - he is therefore already an old man (זָקֵן), though only just at the beginning of the זִקְנָה. He supplicates favour for the present and for the time still to come: now that my vital powers are failing, forsake me not! Thus he prays because he, who has been often wondrously delivered, is even now threatened by foes. Psa 71:11, introduced by means of Psa 71:10, tells us what their thoughts of him are, and what they purpose doing. לִי, Psa 71:10, does not belong to אֹויְבַי, as it dies not in Psa 27:2 also, and elsewhere. The לְ is that of relation or of reference, as in Psa 41:6. The unnecessary לֵאמֹר betrays a poet of the later period; cf. Psa 105:11; Psa 119:82 (where it was less superfluous), and on the contrary, Psa 83:5. The later poet also reveals himself in Psa 71:12, which is an echo of very similar prayers of David in Psa 22:12, Psa 22:20 (Psa 40:14, cf. Psa 70:2), Psa 35:22; Psa 38:22. The Davidic style is to be discerned here throughout in other points also. In place of הִישָׁה the Kerî substitutes חוּשָׁה, which is the form exclusively found elsewhere.