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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comKeil and Delitzsch Commentary - Psalms 89:38 - 89:38
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Now after the poet has turned his thoughts towards the beginnings of the house of David which were so rich in promise, in order that he might find comfort under the sorrowful present, the contrast of the two periods is become all the more sensible to him. With וְאַתָּה in Psa 89:39 (And Thou - the same who hast promised and affirmed this with an oath) his Psalm takes a new turn, for which reason it might even have been וְעַתָּה. זָנַח is used just as absolutely here as in Psa 44:24; Psa 74:1; Psa 77:8, so that it does not require any object to be supplied out of Psa 89:39. נֵאַרְתָּה in Psa 89:40 the lxx renders kate'strepsas; it is better rendered in Lam 2:7 ἀπετίναξε; for נֵאֵר is synonymous with נִעֵר, to shake off, push away, cf. Arabic el-menâ‛ir, the thrusters (with the lance). עַבְדֶּֽךָ is a vocational name of the king as such. His crown is sacred as being the insignia of a God-bestowed office. God has therefore made the sacred thing vile by casting it to the ground (חִלֵּל לָאָרֶץ, as in Psa 74:17, to cast profaningly to the ground). The primary passage to Psa 89:41-42, is Psa 80:13. “His hedges” are all the boundary and protecting fences which the land of the king has; and מִבְצָרָיו “the fortresses” of his land (in both instances without כל, because matters have not yet come to such a pass).
(Note: In the list of the nations and cities conquered by King Sheshonk I are found even cities of the tribe of Issachar, e.g., Shen-ma-an, Sunem; vid., Brugsch, Reiseberichte, S. 141-145, and Blau as referred to above.)
In שַׁסֻּהוּ the notions of the king and of the land blend together. עֽבְרֵי־דֶרֶךְ are the hordes of the peoples passing through the land. שְׁכֵנָיו are the neighbouring peoples that are otherwise liable to pay tribute to the house of David, who sought to take every possible advantage of that weakening of the Davidic kingdom. In Psa 89:44 we are neither to translate “rock of his sword” (Hengstenberg), nor “O rock” (Olshausen). צוּר does not merely signify rupes, but also from another root (צוּר, Arab. ṣâr, originally of the grating or shrill noise produced by pressing and squeezing, then more particularly to cut or cut off with pressure, with a sharply set knife or the like) a knife or a blade (cf. English knife, and German kneifen, to nip): God has decreed it that the edge or blade of the sword of the king has been turned back by the enemy, that he has not been able to maintain his ground in battle (הקֵמתו with ē instead of ı̂, as also when the tone is not moved forward, Mic 5:4). In Psa 89:45 the Mem of מטהרו, after the analogy of Eze 16:41; Eze 34:10, and other passages, is a preposition: cessare fecisti eum a splendore suo. A noun מִטְּהָר = מִטְהָר with Dag. dirimens,
(Note: The view of Pinsker (Einleitung, S. 69), that this Dag. is not a sign of the doubling of the letter, but a diacritic point (that preceded the invention of the system of vowel-points), which indicated that the respective letter was to be pronounced with a Chateph vowel (e.g., miṭŏhar), is incorrect. The doubling Dag. renders the Shebâ audible, and having once become audible it readily receives this or that colouring according to the nature of its consonant and of the neighbouring vowel.)
like מִקְדָּשׁ Exo 15:17, מִנְּזָר Nah 3:17 (Abulwalîd, Aben-Ezra, Parchon, Kimchi, and others), in itself improbable in the signification required here, is not found either in post-biblical or in biblical Hebrew. טֹהַר, like צֹהַר, signifies first of all not purity, but brilliancy. Still the form טֹהַר does not lie at the basis of it in this instance; for the reading found here just happens not to be טָֽהֳרֹו, but מִטְּהָרֹו; and the reading adopted by Norzi, Heidenheim, and Baer, as also by Nissel and others, so far as form is concerned is not distinct from it, viz., מִטֳּהָרֹו (miṭtŏharo), the character of the Shebâ being determined by the analogy of the å following (cf. בַּסֳּעָרָה, 2Ki 2:1), which presupposes the principal form טְהָר (Böttcher, §386, cf. supra, 2:31, note). The personal tenor of Psa 89:46 requires that it should be referred to the then reigning Davidic king, but not as dying before his time (Olshausen), but as becoming prematurely old by reason of the sorrowful experiences of his reign. The larger half of the kingdom has been wrested from him; Egypt and the neighbouring nations also threaten the half that remains to him; and instead of the kingly robe, shame completely covers him.