Commentary on the Psalms

COMMENTARY ON THE PSALMS BY E. W. HENGSTENBERG, DR AND PROFESSOR OF THEOLOGY IN BERLIN. VOL. III. TRANSLATED BY THE REV. JOHN THOMSON, LEITH, AND REV. PATRICK FAIRBAIRN, SALTON. EDINBURGH: T. &L T. CLARK, 38 GEORGE STREET. LONDON : HAMILTON, ADAMS, AND CO.; SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, AND CO. SEELEY AND CO.; WARD AND CO.; JACKSON AND WALFORD, &C, DUBLIN : JOHN ROBERTSON. MDCCCXLVIII, 1848 Digitized by Ted Hildebrandt, Gordon College, Wenham, MA, March 2007 ADVERTISEMENT. THE present Volume of the FOREIGN THEOLOGICAL LIBRARY has been enlarged considerably beyond the regular size, in order to comprize the whole of the remainder of HENGSTENBERG on the PSALMS. Of the portion contained in this volume, it may be proper to state that the translation, as far as the close of Psalm cxxvi., is by Mr Thomson, the remainder by Mr Fairbairn. The Treatises at the close have a separate paging, from its having been found convenient to print that part of the translation before the rest could be got ready for the press. By some accident the short general introduction to the group of Psalms, cxxxv.—cxlvi., was omitted at its proper place between Ps. cxxxiv. and cxxxv.; and it has been inserted at the close of the group, at p. 546. The translators have not thought it necessary to append any notes or explanations of their own, with the exception of a brief statement at the close of the Treatises, for which the translator of that portion is alone responsible. ERRATA. In Ps. cxx., p. 412; Ps. cxxi., p. 418; Ps. cxxii., p. 426; Ps, cxxiii, p. 432, for Pilgrims read Pilgrimages. THE BOOK OF PSALMS. PSALM LXXIX. THE main division of the Psalm contains twelve verses. These are divided, as is frequently the case, into three strophes, each consisting of four verses. Ver. 1-4 contains the representation of the misery:—the land of the Lord has been taken possession of by the heathen, the temple desecrated, Jerusalem laid in ruins, the servants of God have been put to death; the people of God become the objects of contempt to their neighbours. The second and third strophes contain the prayer. The conclusion, ver. 13, containing the result of the whole, gives expression to confi- dence. The Psalm stands nearly related to the lxxiv.; the situation is the same, and they come a good deal in contact as regards the expression. Both Psalms refer to the Chaldean invasion. The Psalm before us proceeds on the supposition that the seventy- fourth had been previously composed, and supplements it. In the seventy-fourth Psalm the destruction of the sanctuary is pre-eminently and almost exclusively brought forward; but in the seventy-ninth it is referred to very briefly, for the purpose of indicating the passages which connect the two Psalms, and other subjects are put in the foreground. There is no good reason for the assertion which has been made, that the Psalm before us must have been composed previously to the seventy- fourth, as the Temple is there spoken of as entirely destroyed, 2 THE BOOK OF PSALMS. whereas it is only its desecration that is spoken of here. The desecration does not exclude its destruction; the destruction is one of the forms of its desecration. Had the Psalmist design- ed, in allusion to the seventy-fourth, to speak of the sanctuary in one single expression, he could not possibly have found a stronger term than this: the most dreadful thing that can befal the sanctuary is that it be desecrated. In saying this every thing that can be affirmed of it is said. Several expositors, both ancient and modern, refer the Psalm to the time of the Maccabees. But there are quite decisive grounds against this view. First, from the close resemblance to Ps. lxxiv., the arguments which were there adverted to are of equal force here. There are no traces here of any reference to the special relations of the times of the Maccabees. And there are two circumstances which are not suitable to those times: the laying of Jerusalem in ruins, ver. 1, and the mention of nations and kingdoms in ver. 6 (comp. 2 Kings ixiv. 2), whereas in the time of the Maccabees Judah had to do only with a single king- dom.a There are also two weighty external reasons. Jeremiah was acquainted with the Psalm, and made use of it (comp. at ver. 6), and in 1 Macc. vii. 16 and 17 it is quoted as forming at that time a portion of the sacred volume.b It is thus not necessary here to avail ourselves of the general reasons which may be urged against the existence of Maccabean Psalms.c The title, "a Psalm of Asaph," is confirmed by the fact that the Psalm stands closely related to a whole class of Psalms which bear in their titles the name of Asaph. Those critics who re- a The remark of Venema renders it evident that even verses 2 and 3 will not suit the times of the Maccabees: "that the expressions, they delivered the servants of God to birds and wild beasts, and there was none to bury them, are to be taken in a restricted sense, as used only of some, and in reference to the attempts and intentions of the enemies." b kata> to>n lo<gon o{n e@graye: sa<rkaj o[si<wn k.t.l. The Syrian translation: " according to the word which the prophet has written." This is the usual way of quoting Scripture: comp. Harless on Eph. iv. 8. Hitzig translates falsely: according to the words which a certain one wrote. The obscure productions of unknown authors are never quoted in this way. The fact that the author omits, in the passage from the Psalm, what does not suit his purpose, renders it evident that the Psalm was not composed for the occasion there referred to: comp. J. D. Michaelis. c Amyrald.: besides it cannot be doubted that there were prophets at the time of Ne- buchad who were able to compose such poems; whereas in the age of Antiochus there were none, at least none whose writings have reached posterity. PSALM LXXIX. VER. 1-8. 3 ject the titles are unable to explain this similarity admitted by themselves, which obtains among all the Asaphic Psalms, even among those which were composed at different eras. If we fol- low the title the reason of this is clear as day. The descendants of Asaph looked upon themselves as the instruments by which the Asaph of David's time, their illustrious ancestor, continued to speak, and therefore they very naturally followed as closely in his footsteps as possible: the later descendants, moreover, would always have the compositions of their more early, ancestors before their minds. The unity of the persons named in the titles is connected with the unity of character by which all these Psalms are pervaded. Any one who composed at his own hand, and did not look at his ancestor or the early or contemporaneous instruments of that ancestor, could not have adopted it. Ver. 1-4.—Ver. 1. 0 God, the heathen have come into thine inheritance, they have polluted thy holy temple; they have laid Jerusalem in ruins. Ver. 2. They have given the bodies of thy servants for food to the fowls of heaven, the flesh of thy saints to the wild beasts of the earth. Ver. 3. They have shed their blood like water round about Jerusa- lean, and the was no one to bury. Ver. 4. We have become a reproach to our neighbours, a scorn and derision to them that are round about us.—On ver. 1, Calvin: The Psalmist says, the order of nature is, as it were, inverted; the heathen have come into the inheritance of God." Berleb.: "Faith utters a similar complaint in its struggles: the heathen have made an inroad into my heart as thy inheritance." The pollution of the temple by the heathen presupposes its previous pollution by the Israelites: comp. Ex. v. 11, xxiii. 38. Ps. lxxiv. 7, is parallel. On vtyH in ver. 2, comp. at Ps. 1. 10. That the Crx is to be understood of the earth and not of the land is obvious from the term in contrast heaven.—The expression, "and there was none to bury," points to a great and general desolation, such as did not exist at any other period except during the Chaldean invasion.—Ver. 4 is from Ps. xliv. 13. Ver. 5-8.—Ver. 5. How long, 0 Lord, wilt thou be angry for ever? shall thy jealousy burn like fire! Ver. 6. Pour out thy floods of wrath upon the heathen who know thee not, and upon the kingdoms which do not call upon thy name. Ver. 7. 4 THE BOOK OF PSALMS. For he devours Jacob, and they lay waste his pasture. Ver. 8. Remember not against us the iniquities of our ancestors, make haste to surprise us with thy tender mercies, for we have become very much reduced.—On "how long . for ever," in ver. 5, comp. at Ps. lxxiv. 9; xiii. 1. On the second clause, Deut. xxix. 19. Ex. xx. 5.a –In ver. 6, the heathen and the kingdoms are not at all the heathen nations generally, but those who had risen up against Israel. The prayer rests upon what God does constantly. Judgment begins at the house of God, but it proceeds thence to those whom God has employed as the instruments of his punishment: the storm of the wrath of God always re- mains to fall at last upon the world at, enmity with his church; b comp.

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