Keil and Delitzsch Commentary - Psalms 87:5 - 87:5

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Keil and Delitzsch Commentary - Psalms 87:5 - 87:5


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Inasmuch now as the nations come thus into the church (or congregation) of the children of God and of the children of Abraham, Zion becomes by degrees a church immeasurably great. To Zion, however, or of Zion (לְ of reference to), shall it be said אִישׁ וְאִישׁ יֻלַּד־בָּהּ. Zion, the one city, stands in contrast to all the countries, the one city of God in contrast to the kingdoms of the world, and אִישׁ וְאִישׁ in contrast to זֶה. This contrast, upon the correct apprehension of which depends the understanding of the whole Psalm, is missed when it is said, “whilst in relation to other countries it is always only the whole nation that comes under consideration, Zion is not reckoned up as a nation, but by persons” (Hofmann). With this rendering the יֻלַּד retires into the background; in that case this giving of prominence to the value of the individual exceeds the ancient range of conception, and it is also an inadmissible appraisement that in Zion each individual is as important as a nation as a whole. Elsewhere אִישׁ אִישׁ, Lev 17:10, Lev 17:13, or אִישׁ וָאִישׁ, Est 1:8, signifies each and every one; accordingly here אִישׁ וִאִישׁ (individual and, or after, individual) affirms a progressus in infinitum, where one is ever added to another. Of an immeasurable multitude, and of each individual in this multitude in particular, it is said that he was born in Zion. Now, too, וְהוּא כֹֽונֲנֶהָ עֶלְיֹון has a significant connection with what precedes. Whilst from among foreign peoples more and more are continually acquiring the right of natives in Zion, and thus are entering into a new national alliance, so that a breach of their original national friendships is taking place, He Himself (cf. 1Sa 20:9), the Most High, will uphold Zion (Psa 48:9), so that under His protection and blessing it shall become ever greater and more glorious. Psa 87:6 tells us what will be the result of such a progressive incorporation in the church of Zion of those who have hitherto been far removed, viz., Jahve will reckon when He writeth down (כְּתֹוב as in Jos 18:8) the nations; or better - since this would more readily be expressed by בְּכָתְבֹו, and the book of the living (Isa 4:3) is one already existing from time immemorial - He will reckon in the list (כְתֹוב after the form חֲלֹום, חֲלוֹ, פְּקֹוד = כְּתָב, Eze 13:9) of the nations, i.e., when He goes over the nations that are written down there and chosen for the coming salvation, “this one was born there;” He will therefore acknowledge them one after another as those born in Zion. The end of all history is that Zion shall become the metropolis of all nations. When the fulness of the Gentiles is thus come in, then shall all and each one as well singing as dancing say (supply יֹאמְרוּ): All my fountains are in thee. Among the old translators the rendering of Aquila is the best: καὶ ᾄδοντες ὡς χοροί· πᾶσαι πηγαὶ ἐν σοί, which Jerome follows, et cantores quasi in choris: omnes fontes mei in te. One would rather render cholaliym, “flute-players” (lxx ὡς ἐν αὐλοῖς); but to pipe or play the flute is חִלֵּל (a denominative from חָלִיל), 1Ki 1:40, whereas to dance is חֹלֵל (Pilel of חוּל); it is therefore = מְחוללים, like לֽצֲצִים, Hos 7:5. But it must not moreover be rendered, “And singers as well as dancers (will say);” for “singers” is מְשֹׁרֲרִים, not שָׁרִים, which signifies cantantes, not cantores. Singing as dancing, i.e., making known their festive joy as well by the one as by the other, shall the men of all nations incorporated in Zion say: All my fountains, i.e., fountains of salvation (after Isa 12:3), are in thee (O city of God). It has also been interpreted: my looks (i.e., the object on which my eye is fixed, or the delight of my eyes), or: my thoughts (after the modern Hebrew עִיֵּן of spiritual meditation); but both are incongruous. The conjecture, too, of Böttcher, and even before him of Schnurrer (Dissertationes, p. 150), כל־מְעִינֵי, all who take up their abode (instead of which Hupfeld conjectures מעינַי, all my near-dwellers, i.e., those who dwell with me under the same roof)

(Note: Hupfeld cites Rashi as having thus explained it; but his gloss is to be rendered: my whole inmost part (after the Aramaic = מֵעַי) is with thee, i.e., they salvation.)),

is not Hebrew, and deprives us of the thought which corresponds to the aim of the whole, that Jerusalem shall be universally regarded as the place where the water of life springs for the whole of mankind, and shall be universally praised as this place of fountains.