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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Psalms 89:15 - 89:15
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The poet has now described what kind of God He is upon whose promise the royal house in Israel depends. Blessed, then, is the people that walks in the light of His countenance. הִלֵּךְ of a self-assured, stately walk. The words יֹֽדְעֵי תְּרוּעָה are the statement of the ground of the blessing interwoven into the blessing itself: such a people has abundant cause and matter for exultation (cf. Psa 84:5). תְּרוּעָה is the festive sound of joy of the mouth (Num 23:21), and of trumpets or sackbuts (Psa 27:6). This confirmation of the blessing is expanded in Psa 89:17-19. Jahve's שֵׁם, i.e., revelation or manifestation, becomes to them a ground and object of unceasing joy; by His צְדָקָה, i.e., the rigour with which He binds Himself to the relationship He has entered upon with His people and maintains it, they are exalted above abjectness and insecurity. He is תִּפְאֶרֶת עֻזָּמֹו, the ornament of their strength, i.e., their strength which really becomes an ornament to them. In Psa 89:18 the poet declares Israel to be this happy people. Pinsker's conjecture, קַרְנָם (following the Targum), destroys the transition to Psa 89:19, which is formed by Psa 89:18. The plural reading of Kimchi and of older editions (e.g., Bomberg's), קַרְנֵינוּ, is incompatible with the figure; but it is immaterial whether we read תָּרִים with the Chethîb (Targum, Jerome), or with the Kerî (lxx, Syriac) תָּרוּם.
(Note: Zur Geschichte des Karaismus, pp. קפא and קפב, according to which, reversely, in Jos 5:1 עברֵוּ is to be read instead of עברם, and Isa 33:2 זרעֵנוּ instead of זרעם, Psa 12:8 תשמרֶנּוּ instead of תשמרם, Mic 7:19 חטאתֵנוּ instead of חטאתם, Job 32:8 תבינֶנּוּ instead of תבינם, Pro 25:27 כבודֵנוּ instead of כבודם (the limiting of our honour brings honour, - an unlikely interpretation of the חקר).)
מָגִנֵּנוּ and מַלְכֵּנוּ in Psa 89:19 are parallel designations of the human king of Israel; מָגֵן as in Ps 47:10, but not in Psa 84:10. For we are not compelled, with a total disregard of the limits to the possibilities of style (Ew. §310, a), to render Psa 89:19: and the Holy One of Israel, (as to Him, He) is our King (Hitzig), since we do not bring down the Psalm beyond the time of the kings. Israel's shield, Israel's king, the poet says in the holy defiant confidence of faith, is Jahve's, belongs to the Holy One of Israel, i.e., he stands as His own possession under the protection of Jahve, the Holy One, who has taken Israel to Himself for a possession; it is therefore impossible that the Davidic throne should become a prey to any worldly power.