{"collection":"Bible & Christianity","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/bib/cmt/kad/psa007.htm","path":"bib/cmt/kad/psa007.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/bib/cmt/kad/psa007.htm","text":"Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsh, [1857-78]\n(In the Hebrew, v.1 is the designation 'A Shiggayon of David, which he sang....'; from then on v.1-17 in English translation corresponds to v.2-18 in the Hebrew)\nAppeal to the Judge of the Whole Earth against Slander and Requiting Good with Evil\nIn the second part of Psa 6:1-10 David meets his enemies with strong self-confidence in God. Ps 7, which even Hitzig ascribes to David, continues this theme and exhibits to us, in a prominent example taken from the time of persecution under Saul, his purity of conscience and joyousness of faith. One need only read 1 Sam 24-26 to see how this Psalm abounds in unmistakeable references to this portion of David's life. The superscribed statement of the events that gave rise to its composition point to this. Such statements are found exclusively only by the Davidic Psalms.\n(Note: Viz. Psa 7:1, Psa 59:1, Psa 56:1, Psa 34:1, Psa 52:1, Psa 57:1, Psa 142:1, Psa 54:1 (belonging to the time of the persecution under Saul), Psa 3:1, Psa 63:1 (to the persecution under Absolom), Psa 51:1 (David's adultery), Psa 60:1 (the Syro-Ammonitish war).)\nThe inscription runs: Shiggajon of David, which he sang to Jahve on account of the sayings of Cush a Benjamite. \u05e2\u05dc\u05be\u05d3\u05bc\u05d1\u05e8\u05d9 is intentionally chosen instead of \u05e2\u05dc which has other functions in these superscriptions. Although \u05d3\u05bc\u05d1\u05e8 and \u05d3\u05bc\u05d1\u05e8\u05d9 can mean a thing, business, affairs (Exo 22:8; Sa1 10:2, and freq.) and \u05e2\u05dc\u05be\u05d3\u05bc\u05d1\u05e8\u05d9 \"in reference to\" (Deu 4:21; Jer 7:22) or \"on occasion of\" (Jer 14:1), still we must here keep to the most natural signification: \"on account of the words (speeches).\" C\u00fbsh (lxx falsely \u03a7\u03bf\u03c5\u03c3\u03af = \u05db\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05e9\u05c1\u05d9; Luther, likewise under misapprehension, \"the Moor\") must have been one of the many servants of Saul, his kinsman, one of the talebearers like Doeg and the Ziphites, who shamefully slandered David before Saul, and roused him against David. The epithet \u05d1\u05bc\u05df\u05be\u05d9\u05de\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9 (as in Sa1 9:1, Sa1 9:21, cf. \u05d0\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1\u05be\u05d9\u05de\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9 Sa2 20:1) describes him as \"a Benjamite\" and does not assume any knowledge of him, as would be the case if it were \u05d4\u05d1\u05bc\u05e0\u05d9\u05de\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9, or rather (in accordance with biblical usage) \u05d1\u05bc\u05df\u05be\u05d4\u05d9\u05de\u05d9\u05e0\u05d9. And this accords with the actual fact, for there is no mention of him elsewhere in Scripture history. The statement \u05d5\u05d2\u05d5 \u05e2\u05dc\u05be\u05d3\u05d1\u05e8\u05d9 is hardly from David's hand, but written by some one else, whether from tradition or from the \u05d3\u05d1\u05e8\u05d9 \u05d4\u05d9\u05de\u05d9\u05dd of David, where this Psalm may have been interwoven with the history of its occasion. Whereas there is nothing against our regarding \u05dc\u05d3\u05d5\u05d3 \u05e9\u05c1\u05d2\u05bc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df, or at least \u05e9\u05c1\u05d2\u05d9\u05d5\u05df, as a note appended by David himself.\nSince \u05e9\u05c1\u05d2\u05bc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df (after the form \u05d4\u05d6\u05bc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df a vision) belongs to the same class as superscribed appellations like \u05de\u05d6\u05de\u05d5\u05e8 and \u05de\u05e9\u05c2\u05db\u05bc\u05d9\u05dc, and the Tephilla of Habakkuk, Hab 3:1 (vid., my Commentary), has the addition \u05e2\u05dc\u05be\u05e9\u05c1\u05d2\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05ea, \u05e9\u05c1\u05d2\u05d9\u05d5\u05df must be the name of a kind of lyric composition, and in fact a kind described according to the rhythm of its language or melody. Now since \u05e9\u05c1\u05d2\u05d4 means to go astray, wander, reel, and is cognate with \u05e9\u05c1\u05d2\u05e2 (whence comes \u05e9\u05c1\u05d2\u05bc\u05e2\u05d5\u05df madness, a word formed in the same manner) \u05e9\u05c1\u05d2\u05d9\u05d5\u05df may mean in the language of prosody a reeling poem, i.e., one composed in a most excited movement and with a rapid change of the strongest emotions, therefore a dithyrambic poem, and \u05e9\u05c1\u05d2\u05d9\u05e0\u05d5\u05ea dithyrambic rhythms, variously and violently mixed together. Thus Ewald and Rdiger understand it, and thus even Tarnov, Geier, and other old expositors who translate it cantio erratica. What we therefore look for is that this Psalm shall consist, as Ainsworth expresses it (1627), \"of sundry variable and wandering verses,\" that it shall wander through the most diverse rhythms as in a state of intoxication - an expectation which is in fact realized. The musical accompaniment also had its part in the general effect produced. Moreover, the contents of the Psalm corresponds to this poetic musical style. It is the most solemn pathos of exalted self-consciousness which is expressed in it. And in common with Hab it gives expression to the joy which arises from zealous anger against the enemies of God and from the contemplation of their speedy overthrow. Painful unrest, defiant self-confidence, triumphant ecstasy, calm trust, prophetic certainty-all these states of mind find expression in the irregular arrangement of the strophes of this Davidic dithyramb, the ancient customary Psalm for the feast of Purim (Sofrim xviii. 2).\n(Heb.: 7:2-3) With this word of faith, love, and hope \u05d1\u05bc\u05da \u05d7\u05e1\u05d9\u05ea\u05bc\u05d9 (as in Psa 141:8), this holy captatio benevolentiae, David also begins in Psa 11:1; Psa 16:1; Psa 31:2, cf. Psa 71:1. The perf. is inchoative: in Thee have I taken my refuge, equivalent to: in Thee do I trust. The transition from the multitude of his persecutors to the sing. in Psa 7:3 is explained most naturally, as one looks at the inscription, thus: that of the many the one who is just at the time the worst of all comes prominently before his mind. The verb \u05d8\u05e8\u05e3 from the primary signification carpere (which corresponds still more exactly to \u05d7\u05e8\u05e3) means both to tear off and to tear in pieces (whence \u05d8\u05e8\u05e4\u05d4 that which is torn in pieces); and \u05e4\u05bc\u05e8\u05e7 from its primary signification frangere means both to break loose and to break in pieces, therefore to liberate, e.g., in Psa 136:24, and to break in small pieces, Kg1 19:11. The persecutors are conceived of as wild animals, as lions which rend their prey and craunch its bones. Thus blood-thirsty are they for his soul, i.e., his life. After the painful unrest of this first strophe, the second begins the tone of defiant self-consciousness.\n(Heb.: 7:4-6) According to the inscription \u05d6\u05d0\u05ea points to the substance of those slanderous sayings of the Benjamite. With \u05d1\u05bc\u05db\u05e4\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d0\u05dd\u05be\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1\u05be\u05e2\u05d5\u05dc one may compare David's words to Saul \u05d0\u05d9\u05df \u05d1\u05bc\u05d9\u05d3\u05d9 \u05e8\u05e2\u05d4 Sa1 24:12; Sa1 26:18; and from this comparison one will at once see in a small compass the difference between poetical and prose expression. \u05e9\u05c1\u05dc\u05de\u05d9 (Targ. \u05dc\u05d1\u05e2\u05dc \u05e9\u05c1\u05dc\u05de\u05d9) is the name he gives (with reference to Saul) to him who stands on a peaceful, friendly footing with him, cf. the adject. \u05e9\u05c1\u05dc\u05d5\u05dd, Psa 55:21, and \u05d0\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1 \u05e9\u05c1\u05dc\u05d5\u05dd, Psa 41:10. The verb \u05d2\u05bc\u05de\u05dc, cogn. \u05d2\u05bc\u05de\u05e8, signifies originally to finish, complete, (root \u05d2\u05dd, \u05db\u05dd ,\u05d2\u05dd t, cf. \u05db\u05bc\u05d9\u05de\u05d4 to be or to make full, to gather into a heap). One says \u05d8\u05bc\u05d5\u05d1 \u05d2\u05bc\u05de\u05dc and \u05d2\u05bc\u05de\u05dc \u05e8\u05e2, and also without a material object \u05d2\u05bc\u05de\u05dc \u05e2\u05dc\u05d9 or \u05d2\u05bc\u05de\u05dc\u05e0\u05d9 benefecit or malefecit mihi. But we join \u05d2\u05bc\u05de\u05dc\u05ea\u05bc\u05d9 with \u05e8\u05e2 according to the Targum and contrary to the accentuation, and not with \u05e9\u05c1\u05dc\u05de\u05d9 (Olsh., Bttch., Hitz.), although \u05e9\u05c1\u05dc\u05dd beside \u05de\u05e9\u05c1\u05dc\u05bc\u05dd, as e.g., \u05d3\u05bc\u05d1\u05e8 beside \u05de\u05d3\u05d1\u05bc\u05e8 might mean \"requiting.\" The poet would then have written: \u05d0\u05dd \u05e9\u05c1\u05dc\u05bc\u05de\u05ea\u05bc\u05d9 \u05d2\u05bc\u05de\u05dc\u05d9 \u05e8\u05e2 i.e., if I have retaliated upon him that hath done evil to me. In Psa 7:5 we do not render it according the meaning to \u05d4\u05dc\u05bc\u05e5 which is usual elsewhere: but rather I rescued... (Louis de Dieu, Ewald 345, a, and Hupfeld). Why cannot \u05d4\u05dc\u05bc\u05e5 in accordance with its primary signification expedire, exuere (according to which even the signification of rescuing, taken exactly, does not proceed from the idea of drawing out, but of making loose, exuere vinclis) signify here exuere = spoliare, as it does in Aramaic? And how extremely appropriate it is as an allusion to the incident in the cave, when David did not rescue Saul, but, without indeed designing to take \u05d7\u05dc\u05d9\u05e6\u05d4, exuviae, cut off the hem of his garment! As Hengstenberg observes, \"He affirms his innocence in the most general terms, thereby showing that his conduct towards Saul was not anything exceptional, but sprang from his whole disposition and mode of action.\" On the 1 pers. fut. conv. and ah, vid., on Psa 3:6. \u05e8\u05d9\u05e7\u05dd belongs to \u05e6\u05d5\u05e8\u05e8\u05d9, like Psa 25:3; Psa 69:5.\nIn the apodosis, Psa 7:6, the fut. Kal of \u05e8\u05d3\u05e3 is made into three syllables, in a way altogether without example, since, by first making the Sheb audible, from \u05d9\u05e8\u05d3\u05bc\u05e3 it is become \u05d9\u05e8\u05d3\u05e3 (like \u05d9\u05e6\u05d7\u05e7 Gen 21:6, \u05ea\u05bc\u05d4\u05dc\u05da Psa 73:9; Exo 9:23, \u05e9\u05c1\u05de\u05e2\u05d4 Psa 39:13), and this is then sharpened by an euphonic Dag. forte.\n(Note: The Dag. is of the same kind as the Dag. in \u05d2\u05bc\u05de\u05dc\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd among nouns; Arabic popular dialect farass\u0131\u0302 (my horse), vid., Wetzstein's Inshriften S. 366.)\nOther ways of explaining it, as that by Cahjg = \u05d9\u05ea\u05e8\u05d3\u05e3, or by Kimchi as a mixed form from Kal and Piel,\n(Note: Pinsker's view, that the pointing \u05d9\u05e8\u05d3\u05e3 is designed to leave the reader at liberty to choose between the reading \u05d9\u05e8\u05d3\u05bc\u05e3 and \u05d9\u05e8\u05d3\u05bc\u05e3, cannot be supported. There are no safe examples for the supposition that the variations of tradition found expression in this way.)\nhave been already refuted by Baer, Thorath Emeth, p. 33. This dactylic jussive form of Kal is followed by the regular jussives of Hiph. \u05d9\u05e9\u05bc\u05c2\u05d2 and \u05d9\u05e9\u05c1\u05db\u05bc\u05df. The rhythm is similar so that in the primary passage Exo 15:9, which also finds its echo in Psa 18:38, - viz. iambic with anapaests inspersed. By its parallelism with \u05e0\u05e4\u05e9\u05c1\u05d9 and \u05d7\u05d9\u05bc\u05d9, \u05db\u05bc\u05d1\u05d5\u05d3\u05d9 acquires the signification \"my soul,\" as Saadia, Gecatilia and Aben-Ezra have rendered it - a signification which is secured to it by Psa 16:9; 30:13; Psa 57:9; Psa 108:2, Gen 49:6. Man's soul is his doxa, and this it is as being the copy of the divine doxa (Bibl. Psychol. S. 98, [tr. p. 119], and frequently). Moreover, \"let him lay in the dust\" is at least quite as favourable to this sense of \u05db\u05d1\u05d5\u05d3\u05d9 as to the sense of personal and official dignity (Psa 3:4; Psa 4:3). To lay down in the dust is equivalent to: to lay in the dust of death, Psa 22:16. \u05e9\u05c1\u05db\u05e0\u05d9 \u05e2\u05e4\u05e8, Isa 26:19, are the dead. According to the biblical conception the soul is capable of being killed (Num 35:11), and mortal (Num 23:10). It binds spirit and body together and this bond is cut asunder by death. David will submit willingly to death in case he has ever acted dishonourably.\nHere the music is to strike up, in order to give intensity to the expression of this courageous confession. In the next strophe is affirmation of innocence rises to a challenging appeal to the judgment-seat of God and a prophetic certainty that that judgment is near at hand.\n(Heb.: 7:7-9) In the consciousness of his own innocence he calls upon Jahve to sit in judgment and to do justice to His own. His vision widens and extends from the enemies immediately around to the whole world in its hostility towards Jahve and His anointed one. In the very same way special judgments and the judgment of the world are portrayed side by side, as it were on one canvas, in the prophets. The truth of this combination lies in the fact of the final judgment being only the finale of that judgment which is in constant execution in the world itself. The language here takes the highest and most majestic flight conceivable. By \u05e7\u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05d4 (Milra, ass in Psa 3:8), which is one of David's words of prayer that he has taken from the lips of Moses (Psa 9:20; Psa 10:12), he calls upon Jahve to interpose. The parallel is \u05d4\u05e0\u05bc\u05e9\u05c2\u05d0 lift Thyself up, show thyself in Thy majesty, Psa 94:2, Isa 33:10. The anger, in which He is to arise, is the principle of His judicial righteousness. With this His anger He is to gird Himself (Psa 76:11) against the ragings of the oppressors of God's anointed one, i.e., taking vengeance on their many and manifold manifestations of hostility. \u05e2\u05d1\u05e8\u05d5\u05ea is a shorter form of the construct (instead of \u05e2\u05d1\u05e8\u05d5\u05ea Job 40:11, cf. Psa 21:1-13 :31) of \u05e2\u05d1\u05e8\u05d4 which describes the anger as running over, breaking forth from within and passing over into words and deeds (cf. Arab. f\u0161\u0161, used of water: it overflows the dam, of wrath: it breaks forth). It is contrary to the usage of the language to make \u05de\u05e9\u05c1\u05e4\u05bc\u05d8 the object to \u05e2\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8\u05d4 in opposition to the accents, and it is unnatural to regard it as the accus. of direction = \u05dc\u05de\u05bc\u05e9\u05c2\u05e4\u05d8 (Psa 35:23), as Hitzig does. The accents rightly unite \u05e2\u05d5\u05bc\u05e8\u05d4 \u05d0\u05dc\u05d9: awake (stir thyself) for me i.e., to help me (\u05d0\u05dc\u05d9 like \u05dc\u05e7\u05dc\u05d0\u05ea\u05d9, Psa 59:5). The view, that \u05e6\u05d5\u05bc\u05d9\u05ea is then precative and equivalent to \u05e6\u05d5\u05bc\u05d4: command judgment, is one that cannot be established according to syntax either here, or in Psa 71:3. It ought at least to have been \u05d5\u05e6\u05d5\u05bc\u05d9\u05ea with Waw consec. On the other hand the relative rendering: Thou who hast ordered judgment (Maurer, Hengst.), is admissible, but unnecessary. We take it by itself in a confirmatory sense, not as a circumstantial clause: having commanded judgment (Ewald), but as a co-ordinate clause: Thou hast indeed enjoined the maintaining of right (Hupfeld).\nThe psalmist now, so to speak, arranges the judgment scene: the assembly of the nations is to form a circle round about Jahve, in the midst of which He will sit in judgment, and after the judgment He is to soar away (Gen 17:22) aloft over it and return to the heights of heaven like a victor after the battle (see Psa 68:19). Although it strikes one as strange that the termination of the judgment itself is not definitely expressed, yet the rendering of Hupfeld and others: sit Thou again upon Thy heavenly judgment-seat to judge, is to be rejected on account of the \u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05d4 (cf. on the other hand 21:14) which is not suited to it; \u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05d1 \u05dc\u05de\u05bc\u05e8\u05d5\u05dd can only mean Jahve's return to His rest after the execution of judgment. That which Psa 7:7 and Psa 7:8 in the boldness of faith desire, the beginning of Psa 7:9 expresses as a prophetic hope, from which proceeds the prayer, that the Judge of the earth may also do justice to him (\u05e9\u05c1\u05e4\u05ea\u05e0\u05d9 vindica me, as in Psa 26:1; Psa 35:24) according to his righteousness and the purity of which he is conscious, as dwelling in him. \u05e2\u05dc\u05d9 is to be closely connected with \u05ea\u05bc\u05de\u05bc\u05d9, just as one says \u05e0\u05e4\u05e9\u05c1\u05d9 \u05e2\u05dc\u05d9 (Psychol. S. 152 [tr. p. 180]). That which the individual as ego, distinguishes from itself as being in it, as subject, it denotes by \u05e2\u05dc\u05d9. In explaining it elliptically: \"come upon me\" (Ew., Olsh., Hupf.) this psychologically intelligible usage of the language is not recognised. On \u05ea\u05bc\u05dd vid., on Psa 25:21; Psa 26:1.\n(Heb.: 7:10-11) In this strophe we hear the calm language of courageous trust, to which the rising and calmly subsiding caesural schema is particularly adapted. He is now concerned about the cessation of evil: Oh let it come to an end (\u05d2\u05bc\u05de\u05e8 intransitive as in Psa 12:2; Psa 77:9).... His prayer is therefore not directed against the individuals as such but against the wickedness that is in them. This Psalm is the key to all Psalms which contain prayers against one's enemies. Just in the same manner \u05d5\u05bc\u05ea\u05db\u05d5\u05e0\u05df is intended to express a wish; it is one of the comparatively rare voluntatives of the 2 pers. (Ew. 229): and mayst Thou be pleased to establish.... To the termination of evil which is desired corresponds, in a positive form of expression, the desired security and establishment of the righteous, whom it had injured and whose continuance was endangered by it. \u05d5\u05bc\u05d1\u05d7\u05df is the beginning of a circumstantial clause, introduced by \u05d5, but without the personal pronoun, which is not unfrequently omitted both in the leading participial clause, as in Isa 29:8 (which see), and in the minor participial clause as here (cf. Psa 55:20): cum sis = quoniam es. The reins are the seat of the emotions, just as the heart is the seat of the thoughts and feelings. Reins and heart lie naked before God-a description of the only kardiognoo'stees, which is repeated in Jer 11:20; Jer 20:12, Rev 2:23. In the thesis the adjective is used with \u05d0\u05dc\u05d4\u05d9\u05dd in the sing. as in Psa 78:56, cf. Ps 58:12. God is the righteous God, and by his knowledge of the inmost part He is fully capable of always showing Himself both righteous in anger and righteous in mercy according to the requirements and necessity of the case. Therefore David can courageously add \u05e2\u05dc\u05be\u05d0\u05dc\u05d4\u05d9\u05dd \u05de\u05d2\u05e0\u05bc\u05d9, my shield doth God carry; \u05dc Psa 89:19) would signify: He has it, it (my shield) belongs to Him, \u05e2\u05dc (Ch1 18:7) signifies: He bears it, or if one takes shield in the sense of protection: He has taken my protection upon Himself, has undertaken it (as in Psa 62:8, cf. Jdg 19:20), as He is in general the Saviour of all who are devoted to Him with an upright heart, i.e., a heart sincere, guileless (cf. Psa 32:1 with Psa 7:2). \u05e6\u05d3\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd is intentionally repeated at the end of the first two lines - the favourite palindrome, found more especially in Isa 40:1. And to the mixed character of this Psalm belongs the fact of its being both Elohimic and Jehovic. From the calm language of heartfelt trust in God the next strophe passes over into the language of earnest warning, which is again more excited and somewhat after the style of didactic poetry.\n(Heb.: 7:12-14) If God will in the end let His wrath break forth, He will not do it without having previously given threatenings thereof every day, viz., to the ungodly, cf. Isa 66:14; Mal 1:4. He makes these feel His \u05d6\u05e2\u05dd beforehand in order to strike a wholesome terror into them. The subject of the conditional clause \u05d0\u05dd\u05be\u05dc\u05d0 \u05d9\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05bc\u05d1 is any ungodly person whatever; and the subject of the principal clause, as its continuation in Psa 7:14 shows, is God. If a man (any one) does not repent, then Jahve will whet His sword (cf. Deu 32:41). This sense of the words accords with the connection; whereas with the rendering: \"forsooth He (Elohim) will again whet His sword\" (Bttch., Ew., Hupf.) \u05d9\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05bc\u05d1, which would moreover stand close by \u05d9\u05dc\u05d8\u05d5\u05e9\u05c1 (cf. e.g., Gen 30:31), is meaningless; and the \u05d0\u05dd\u05be\u05dc\u05d0 of asseveration is devoid of purpose. Judgment is being gradually prepared, as the fut. implies; but, as the perff. imply, it is also on the other hand like a bow that is already strung against the sinner with the arrow pointed towards him, so that it can be executed at any moment. \u05db\u05bc\u05d5\u05e0\u05df of the making ready, and \u05d4\u05db\u05d9\u05df of the aiming, are used alternately. \u05dc\u05d5, referring to the sinner, stands first by way of emphasis as in Gen 49:10; Sa1 2:3, and is equivalent to \u05d0\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5, Eze 4:3. \"Burning\" arrows are fire-arrows (\u05d6\u05e7\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd, \u05d6\u05d9\u05e7\u05d5\u05ea, malleoli); and God's fire-arrows are the lightnings sent forth by Him, Psa 18:15; Zac 9:14. The fut. \u05d9\u05e4\u05e2\u05dc denotes the simultaneous charging of the arrows aimed at the sinner, with the fire of His wrath. The case illustrated by Cush is generalised: by the sword and arrows the manifold energy of the divine anger is symbolised, and it is only the divine forbearance that prevents it from immediately breaking forth. The conception is not coarsely material, but the vividness of the idea of itself suggests the form of its embodiment.\n(Heb.: 7:15-18) This closing strophe foretells to the enemy of God, as if dictated by the judge, what awaits him; and concludes with a prospect of thanksgiving and praise. Man brings forth what he has conceived, he reaps what he has sown. Starting from this primary passage, we find the punishment which sin brings with it frequently represented under these figures of \u05d4\u05d3\u05d4 and \u05d9\u05dc\u05d3 (\u05d4\u05d5\u05dc\u05d9\u05d3, \u05d7\u05d1\u05bc\u05dc, \u05d7\u05d9\u05dc), \u05d6\u05e8\u05e2 and \u05e7\u05e6\u05e8, and first of all in Job 15:35. The act, guilt, and punishment of sin appear in general as notions that run into one another. David sees in the sin of his enemies their self-destruction. It is singular, that travail is first spoken of, and then only afterwards pregnancy. For \u05d7\u05d1\u05bc\u05dc signifies, as in Sol 8:5, \u1f60\u03b4\u03af\u03bd\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd, not: to conceive (Hitz.). The Arab. \u1e25abila (synonym of \u1e25amala) is not to conceive in distinction from being pregnant, but it is both: to be and to become pregnant. The accentuation indicates the correct relationship of the three members of the sentence. First of all comes the general statement: Behold he shall travail with, i.e., bring forth with writhing as in the pains of labour, \u05d0\u05d5\u05df, evil, as the result which proceeds from his wickedness. Then, by this thought being divided into its two factors (Hupf.) it goes on to say: that is, he shall conceive (concipere) \u05e2\u05de\u05dc, and bear \u05e9\u05c1\u05e7\u05e8. The former signifies trouble, molestia, just as \u03c0\u03bf\u03bd\u03b7\u03c1\u03af\u03b1 signifies that which makes \u03c0\u03cc\u03bd\u03bf\u03bd; the latter falsehood, viz., self-deception, delusion, vanity, inasmuch as the burden prepared for others, returns as a heavy and oppressive burden upon the sinner himself, as is said in Psa 7:17; cf. Isa 59:4, where \u05d0\u05d5\u05df instead of \u05e9\u05c1\u05e7\u05e8 denotes the accursed wages of sin which consist in the unmasking of its nothingness, and in the undeceiving of its self-delusion. He diggeth a pit for himself, is another turn of the same thought, Psa 57:7; Ecc 10:8. Psa 7:16 mentions the digging, and Psa 7:16 the subsequent falling into the pit; the aorist \u05d5\u05d9\u05bc\u05e4\u05bc\u05dc is, for instance, like Psa 7:13, Psa 16:9; Psa 29:10. The attributive \u05d9\u05e4\u05e2\u05dc is virtually a genitive to \u05e9\u05c1\u05d7\u05ea, and is rightly taken by Ges. 124, 3, a as present: in the midst of the execution of the work of destruction prepared for others it becomes his own. The trouble, \u05e2\u05de\u05dc, prepared for others returns upon his own head (\u05d1\u05bc\u05e8\u05d0\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5, clinging to it, just as \u05e2\u05dc\u05be\u05e8\u05d0\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5 signifies descending and resting upon it), and the violence, \u05d7\u05de\u05e1, done to others, being turned back by the Judge who dwells above (Mic 1:12), descends upon his own pate (\u05e7\u05d3\u05e7\u05d3\u05d5 with o by q, as e.g., in Gen 2:23). Thus is the righteousness of God revealed in wrath upon the oppressor and in mercy upon him who is innocently oppressed. Then will the rescued one, then will David, give thanks unto Jahve, as is due to Him after the revelation of His righteousness, and will sing of the name of Jahve the Most High (\u05e2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5\u05df as an appended name of God is always used without the art., e.g., Psa 57:3). In the revelation of Himself He has made Himself a name. He has, however, revealed Himself as the almighty Judge and Deliverer, as the God of salvation, who rules over everything that takes place here below. It is this name, which He has made by His acts, that David will then echo back to Him in his song of thanksgiving.","title":"Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch: Psalms: Psalms Chapter 7","type":"page"}