{"collection":"Bible & Christianity","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/bib/cmt/kad/psa010.htm","path":"bib/cmt/kad/psa010.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/bib/cmt/kad/psa010.htm","text":"Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsh, [1857-78]\nPlaintive and Supplicatory Prayer under the Pressure of Heathenish Foes at Home and Abroad\nThis Psalm and Ps 33 are the only ones that are anonymous in the First book of the Psalms. But Ps 10 has something peculiar about it. The lxx gives it with Ps 9 as one Psalm, and not without a certain amount of warrant for so doing. Both are laid out in tetrastichs; only in the middle portion of Ps 10 some three line strophes are mixed with the four line. And assuming that the \u05e7-strophe, with which Ps 9 closes, stands in the place of a \u05db-strophe which one would look for after the \u05d9-strophe, then Ps 10, beginning with \u05dc, continues the order of the letters. At any rate it begins in the middle of the alphabet, whereas Ps 9 begins at the beginning. It is true the \u05dc-strophe is then followed by strophes without the letters that come next in order; but their number exactly corresponds to the letters between \u05dc and \u05e7, \u05e8, \u05e9\u05c1, \u05ea with which the last four strophes of the Psalm begin, viz., six, corresponding to the letters \u05de, \u05e0, \u05e1, \u05e2, \u05e4, \u05e6, which are not introduced acrostically. In addition to this it is to be remarked that Ps 9 and Psa 10:1 are most intimately related to one another by the occurrence of rare expressions, as \u05dc\u05e2\u05ea\u05bc\u05d5\u05ea \u05d1\u05e6\u05bc\u05e8\u05d4 and \u05d3\u05bc\u05da; by the use of words in the same sense, as \u05d0\u05e0\u05d5\u05e9\u05c1 and \u05d2\u05bc\u05d5\u05d9\u05dd; by striking thoughts, as \"Jahve doth not forget\" and \"Arise;\" and by similarities of style, as the use of the oratio directa instead of obliqua, Ps 9:21; Psa 10:13. And yet it is impossible that the two Psalms should be only one. Notwithstanding all their community of character they are also radically different. Ps 9 is a thanksgiving Psalm, Ps 10 is a supplicatory Psalm. In the latter the personality of the psalmist, which is prominent in the former, keeps entirely in the background. The enemies whose defeat Ps 9 celebrates with thanksgiving and towards whose final removal it looks forward are \u05d2\u05bc\u05d5\u05d9\u05dd, therefore foreign foes; whereas in Ps 10 apostates and persecutors of his own nation stand in the foreground, and the \u05d2\u05d5\u05d9\u05dd are only mentioned in the last two strophes. In their form also the two Psalms differ insofar as Ps 10 has no musical mark defining its use, and the tetrastich strophe structure of Ps 9, as we have already observed, is not carried out with the same consistency in Ps 10. And is anything really wanting to the perfect unity of Ps 9? If it is connected with Ps 10 and they are read together uno tenore, then the latter becomes a tail-piece which disfigures the whole. There are only two things possible: Ps 10 is a pendant to Ps 9 composed either by David himself, or by some other poet, and closely allied to it by its continuance of the alphabetical order. But the possibility of the latter becomes very slight when we consider that Ps 10 is not inferior to Ps 9 in the antiquity of the language and the characteristic nature of the thoughts. Accordingly the mutual coincidences point to the same author, and the two Psalms must be regarded as \"two co-ordinate halves of one whole, which make a higher unity\" (Hitz.). That hard, dull, and tersely laconic language of deep-seated indignation at moral abominations for which the language has, as it were, no one word, we detect also elsewhere in some Psalms of David and of his time, those Psalms, which we are accustomed to designate as Psalms written in the indignant style (in grollendem Stil).\nThe Psalm opens with the plaintive inquiry, why Jahve tarries in the deliverance of His oppressed people. It is not a complaining murmuring at the delay that is expressed by the question, but an ardent desire that God may not delay to act as it becomes His nature and His promise. \u05dc\u05de\u05bc\u05d4, which belongs to both members of the sentence, has the accent on the ultima, as e.g., before \u05e2\u05d6\u05d1\u05ea\u05bc\u05e0\u05d9 in Psa 22:2, and before \u05d4\u05e8\u05e2\u05ea\u05d4 in Exo 5:22, in order that neither of the two gutturals, pointed with a, should be lost to the ear in rapid speaking (vid., on Psa 3:8, and Luzzatto on Isa 11:2, \u05e0\u05d7\u05d4 \u05e2\u05dc\u05d9\u05d5).\n(Note: According to the Masora \u05dc\u05de\u05bc\u05d4 without Dag. is always Milra with the single exception of Job 7:20, and \u05d9\u05de\u05bc\u05d4 with Dag. is Milel; but, when the following closely connected word begins with one of the letters \u05d0\u05d4\u05e2 it becomes Milra, with five exceptions, viz., Psa 49:6; Sa1 28:15; Sa2 14:31 (three instances in which the guttural of the second word has the vowel i), and Sa2 2:22, and Jer 15:18. In the Babylonian system of pointing, \u05dc\u05de\u05d4 is always written without Dag. and with the accent on the penultimate, vid., Pinsker, Einleitung in das Babylonish-hebrishce Punktationssystem, S. 182-184.)\nFor according to the primitive pronunciation (even before the Masoretic) it is to be read: lam h Adonaj; so that consequently \u05d4 and \u05d0 are coincident. The poet asks why in the present hopeless condition of affairs (on \u05d1\u05e6\u05bc\u05e8\u05d4 vid., on Psa 9:10) Jahve stands in the distance (\u05d1\u05bc\u05e8\u05d7\u05d5\u05e7, only here, instead of \u05de\u05e8\u05d7\u05d5\u05e7), as an idle spectator, and why does He cover (\u05ea\u05bc\u05e2\u05dc\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd with orthophonic Dagesh, in order that it may not be pronounced \u05ea\u05bc\u05e2\u05dc\u05d9\u05dd), viz., His eyes, so as not to see the desperate condition of His people, or also His ears (Lam 3:56) so as not to hear their supplication. For by the insolent treatment of the ungodly the poor burns with fear (Ges., Stier, Hupf.), not vexation (Hengst.). The assault is a \u03c0\u03cd\u03c1\u03c9\u03c3\u03b9\u03c2, Pe1 4:12. The verb \u05d3\u05bc\u05dc\u05e7 which calls to mind \u05d3\u05bc\u05dc\u05bc\u05e7\u05ea, \u03c0\u03c5\u03c1\u03b5\u03c4\u03cc\u03c2, is perhaps chosen with reference to the heat of feeling under oppression, which is the result of the persecution, of the (\u05d1\u05bc\u05d5) \u05d3\u05bc\u05dc\u05e7 \u05d0\u05d7\u05e8\u05d9\u05d5 of the ungodly. There is no harshness in the transition from the singular to the plural, because \u05e2\u05e0\u05d9 and \u05e8\u05e9\u05c1\u05e2 are individualising designations of two different classes of men. The subject to \u05d9\u05ea\u05bc\u05e4\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05bc is the \u05e2\u05e0\u05d9\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd, and the subject to \u05d7\u05e9\u05c1\u05d1\u05d5\u05bc is the \u05e8\u05e9\u05c1\u05e2\u05d9\u05dd. The futures describe what usually takes place. Those who, apart from this, are afflicted are held ensnared in the crafty and malicious devices which the ungodly have contrived and plotted against them, without being able to disentangle themselves. The punctuation, which places Tarcha by \u05d6\u05d5\u05bc, mistakes the relative and interprets it: \"in the plots there, which they have devised.\"\nThe prominent features of the situation are supported by a detailed description. The praett. express those features of their character that have become a matter of actual experience. \u05d4\u05dc\u05bc\u05dc, to praise aloud, generally with the accus., is here used with \u05e2\u05dc of the thing which calls forth praise. Far from hiding the shameful desire or passion (Psa 112:10) of his soul, he makes it an object and ground of high and sounding praise, imagining himself to be above all restraint human or divine. Hupfeld translates wrongly: \"and he blesses the plunderer, he blasphemes Jahve.\" But the \u05e8\u05e9\u05c1\u05e2 who persecutes the godly, is himself a \u05d1\u05bc\u05e6\u05e2 a covetous or rapacious person; for such is the designation (elsewhere with \u05d1\u05bc\u05e6\u05e2 Pro 1:19, or \u05e8\u05e2 \u05d1\u05bc\u05e6\u05e2 Hab 2:9) not merely of one who \"cuts off\" (Arab. b\u1e0d\u201b), i.e., obtains unjust gain, by trading, but also by plunder, \u03c0\u03bb\u03b5\u03bf\u03bd\u03ad\u03ba\u03c4\u03b7\u03c2. The verb \u05d1\u05bc\u05e8\u05da (here in connection with Mugrash, as in Num 23:20 with Tiphcha \u05d1\u05bc\u05e8\u05da) never directly signifies maledicere in biblical Hebrew as it does in the alter Talmudic (whence \u05d1\u05bc\u05e8\u05db\u05bc\u05ea \u05d4\u05e9\u05bc\u05c1\u05dd blasphemy, B. Sanhedrin 56a, and frequently), but to take leave of any one with a benediction, and then to bid farewell, to dismiss, to decline and abandon generally, Job 1:5, and frequently (cf. the word remercier, abdanken; and the phrase \"das Zeitliche segnen\" = to depart this life). The declaration without a conjunction is climactic, like Isa 1:4; Amo 4:5; Jer 15:7. \u05e0\u05d0\u05e5, properly to prick, sting, is sued of utter rejection by word and deed.\n(Note: Pasek stands between \u05e0\u05d0\u05e5 and \u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d4, because to blaspheme God is a terrible thought and not to be spoken of without hesitancy, cf. the Pasek in Psa 74:18; Psa 89:52; Isa 37:24 (Kg2 19:23).)\nIn Psa 10:4, \"the evil-doer according to his haughtiness\" (cf. Pro 16:18) is nom. absol., and \u05d1\u05bc\u05dc\u05be\u05d9\u05d3\u05e8\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d0\u05d9\u05df \u05d0\u05dc\u05d4\u05d9\u05dd (contrary to the accentuation) is virtually the predicate to \u05db\u05bc\u05dc\u05be\u05de\u05d6\u05de\u05bc\u05d5\u05ea\u05d9\u05d5. This word, which denotes the intrigues of the ungodly, in Psa 10:2, has in this verse, the general meaning: thoughts (from \u05d6\u05de\u05dd, Arab. zmm, to join, combine), but not without being easily associated with the secondary idea of that which is subtly devised. The whole texture of his thoughts is, i.e., proceeds from and tends towards the thought, that he (viz., Jahve, whom he does not like to name) will punish with nothing (\u05d1\u05bc\u05dc the strongest form of subjective negation), that in fact there is no God at all. This second follows from the first; for to deny the existence of a living, acting, all-punishing (in one word: a personal) God, is equivalent to denying the existence of any real and true God whatever (Ewald).\nThis strophe, consisting of only three lines, describes his happiness which he allows nothing to disturb. The signification: to be lasting (prop. stiff, strong) is secured to the verb \u05d7\u05d9\u05dc (whence \u05d7\u05d9\u05dc) by Job 20:21. He takes whatever ways he chooses, they always lead to the desired end; he stands fast, he neither stumbles nor goes astray, cf. Jer 12:1. The Cheth\u05deb \u05d3\u05e8\u05db\u05d5 (\u05d3\u05bc\u05e8\u05db\u05d5) has no other meaning than that give to it by the Ker\u05de (cf. Psa 24:6; Psa 58:8). Whatever might cast a cloud over his happiness does not trouble him: neither the judgments of God, which are removed high as the heavens out of his sight, and consequently do not disturb his conscience (cf. Psa 28:5, Isa 5:12; and the opposite, Psa 18:23), nor his adversaries whom he bloweth upon contemptuously. \u05de\u05e8\u05d5\u05dd is the predicate: altissime remota. And \u05d4\u05e4\u05d9\u05d7 \u05d1\u05bc, to breathe upon, does not in any case signify: actually to blow away or down (to express which \u05e0\u05e9\u05c1\u05d1 or \u05e0\u05e9\u05c1\u05e3 would be used), but either to \"snub,\" or, what is more appropriate to Psa 10:5, to blow upon them disdainfully, to puff at them, like \u05d4\u05e4\u05bc\u05d9\u05d7 in Mal 1:13, and flare rosas (to despise the roses) in Prudentius. The meaning is not that he drives his enemies away without much difficulty, but that by his proud and haughty bearing he gives them to understand how little they interfere with him.\nThen in his boundless carnal security he gives free course to his wicked tongue. That which the believer can say by reason of his fellowship with God, \u05d1\u05bc\u05dc\u05be\u05d0\u05de\u05bc\u05d5\u05d8 (Psa 30:7; Psa 16:8), is said by him in godless self-confidence. He looks upon himself in age after age, i.e., in the endless future, as \u05d0\u05e9\u05c1\u05e8 \u05dc\u05d0 \u05d1\u05e8\u05e2, i.e., as one who (\u05d0\u05e9\u05c1\u05e8 as in Isa 8:20) will never be in evil case (\u05d1\u05e8\u05e2 as in Exo 5:19; Sa2 16:8). It might perhaps also be interpreted according to Zac 8:20, Zac 8:23 (vid., K\u05e6hler, in loc.): in all time to come (it will come to pass) that I am not in misfortune. But then the personal pronoun (\u05d0\u05e0\u05d9 or \u05d4\u05d5\u05bc\u05d0) ought not be omitted; whereas with our interpretation it is supplied from \u05d0\u05de\u05bc\u05d5\u05d8, and there is no need to supply anything if the clause is taken as an apposition: in all time to come he who.... In connection with such unbounded self-confidence his mouth is full of \u05d0\u05dc\u05d4, cursing, execratio (not perjury, perjurium, a meaning the word never has), \u05de\u05e8\u05de\u05d5\u05ea, deceit and craft of every kind, and \u05ea\u05bc\u05da, oppression, violence. And that which he has under his tongue, and consequently always in readiness for being put forth (Psa 140:4, cf. Psa 66:17), is trouble for others, and in itself matured wickedness. Paul has made use of this Psa 10:7 in his contemplative description of the corruptness of mankind, Rom 3:14.\nThe ungodly is described as a lier in wait; and one is reminded by it of such a state of anarchy, as that described in Hos 6:9 for instance. The picture fixes upon one simple feature in which the meanness of the ungodly culminates; and it is possible that it is intended to be taken as emblematical rather than literally. \u05d7\u05e6\u05e8 (from \u05d7\u05e6\u05e8 to surround, cf. Arab. hdr, h\u1e63r, and especially hdr) is a farm premises walled in (Arab. hadar, had\u00e2r, had\u00e2ra), then losing the special characteristic of being walled round it comes to mean generally a settled abode (with a house of clay or stone) in opposition to a roaming life in tents (cf. Lev 25:31; Gen 25:16). In such a place where men are more sure of falling into his hands than in the open plain, he lies in wait (\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1\u05d1, like Arab. q\u201bd lh, subsedit = insidiatus est ei), murders unobserved him who had never provoked his vengeance, and his eyes \u05dc\u05d4\u05dc\u05db\u05d4 \u05d9\u05e6\u05e4\u05bc\u05e0\u05d5\u05bc. \u05e6\u05e4\u05d4 to spie, Psa 37:32, might have been used instead of \u05e6\u05e4\u05df; but \u05e6\u05e4\u05df also obtains the meaning, to lie in ambush (Psa 56:7; Pro 1:11, Pro 1:18) from the primary notion of restraining one's self (Arab. \u1e0dfn, fut. i. in Beduin Arabic: to keep still, to be immoveably lost in thought, vid., on Job 24:1), which takes a transitive turn in \u05e6\u05e4\u05df \"to conceal.\" \u05d7\u05dc\u05db\u05d4, the dative of the object, is pointed just as though it came from \u05d7\u05d9\u05dc: Thy host, i.e., Thy church, O Jahve. The pausal form accordingly is \u05d7\u05dc\u05db\u05d4 with Segol, in Psa 10:14, not with \u1e62ere as in incorrect editions. And the appeal against this interpretation, which is found in the plur. \u05d7\u05dc\u05db\u05d0\u05d9\u05dd Psa 10:10, is set aside by the fact that this plural is taken as a double word: host (\u05d7\u05dc = \u05d7\u05d9\u05dc = \u05d7\u05d9\u05dc as in Oba 1:20) of the troubled ones (\u05db\u05bc\u05d0\u05d9\u05dd, not as Ben-Labrat supposes, for \u05e0\u05db\u05d0\u05d9\u05dd, but from \u05db\u05bc\u05d0\u05d4 weary, and mellow and decayed), as the Ker (which is followed by the Syriac version) and the Masora direct, and accordingly it is pointed \u05d7\u05dc\u05db\u05bc\u05d0\u05d9\u05dd with \u1e62ere. The punctuation therefore sets aside a word which was unintelligible to it, and cannot be binding on us. There is a verb \u05d4\u05dc\u05da, which, it is true, does not occur in the Old Testament, but in the Arabic, from the root Arab. \u1e25k, firmus fuit, firmum fecit (whence also Arab. \u1e25kl, intrans. to be firm, ferm, i.e., closed), it gains the signification in reference to colour: to be dark (cognate with \u05d7\u05db\u05dc, whence \u05d7\u05db\u05dc\u05d9\u05dc\u05d9) and is also transferred to the gloom and blackness of misfortune.\n(Note: Cf. Samachschari's Golden Necklaces, Proverb 67, which Fleischer translates: \"Which is blacker: the plumage of the raven, which is black as coal, or thy life, O stranger among strangers?\" The word \"blacker\" is here expressed by Arab. ahlaku, just as the verb Arab. halika, with its infinitives halak or hulkat and its derivatives is applied to sorrow and misery.)\nFrom this an abstract is formed \u05d7\u05dc\u05da or \u05d7\u05dc\u05da (like \u05d7\u05e4\u05e9\u05c1): blackness, misfortune, or also of a defective development of the senses: imbecility; and from this an adjective \u05d7\u05dc\u05db\u05bc\u05d4 = \u05d7\u05dc\u05db\u05bc\u05d9, or also (cf. \u05d7\u05e4\u05e9\u05c1\u05d9, \u05e2\u05dc\u05e4\u05bc\u05d4 Eze 31:15 = one in a condition of languishing, \u05e2\u05dc\u05e3) \u05d7\u05dc\u05db\u05bc\u05d4 = \u05d7\u05dc\u05db\u05bc\u05d9, plur. \u05d7\u05dc\u05db\u05bc\u05d0\u05d9\u05dd, after the form \u05d3\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05d3\u05d0\u05d9\u05dd, from \u05d3\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05d3\u05d9, Ew. 189, g.\nThe picture of the \u05e8\u05e9\u05c1\u05e2, who is become as it were a beast of prey, is now worked out further. The lustrum of the lion is called \u05e1\u05da Jer 25:38, or \u05e1\u05db\u05bc\u05d4 Job 38:40 : a thicket, from \u05e1\u05db\u05da, which means both to interweave and to plait over = to cover (without any connection with \u05e9\u05c2\u05da a thorn, Arab. sh\u00f4k, a thistle). The figure of the lion is reversed in the second line, the \u05e2\u05e0\u05d9 himself being compared to the beast of prey and the \u05e8\u05e9\u05c1\u05e2 to a hunter who drives him into the pit-fall and when he has fallen in hastens to drag him away (\u05de\u05e9\u05c1\u05da, as in Psa 28:3; Job 24:22) in, or by means of (Hos 11:4, Job 41:1), his net, in which he has become entangled.\nThe comparison to the lion is still in force here and the description recurs to its commencement in the second strophe, by tracing back the persecution of the ungodly to its final cause. Instead of the Chethb \u05d5\u05d3\u05db\u05d4 (\u05d5\u05d3\u05db\u05d4 perf. consec.), the Ker\u05de reads \u05d9\u05d3\u05db\u05bc\u05d4 more in accordance with the Hebrew use of the tenses. Job 38:40 is the rule for the interpretation. The two futures depict the settled and familiar lying in wait of the plunderer. True, the Kal \u05d3\u05bc\u05db\u05d4 in the signification \"to crouch down\" finds no support elsewhere; but the Arab. dakka to make even (cf. Arab. r\u1e63d, firmiter inhaesit loco, of the crouching down of beasts of prey, of hunters, and of foes) and the Arab. dagga, compared by Hitzig, to move stealthily along, to creep, and dugjeh a hunter's hiding-place exhibit synonymous significations. The \u03c4\u03b1\u03c0\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd\u03ce\u03c3\u03b5\u03b9 \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u1f78\u03bd of the lxx is not far out of the way. And one can still discern in it the assumption that the text is to be read \u05d9\u05e9\u05c1\u05d7 \u05d5\u05d3\u05db\u05d4: and crushed he sinks (Aquila: \u1f41 \u03b4\u1f72 \u03bb\u03b1\u03c3\u03b8\u03b5\u1f76\u03c2 \u03ba\u03b1\u03bc\u03c6\u03b8\u03ae\u03c3\u03b5\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9); but even \u05d3\u05bc\u05db\u05d4 is not found elsewhere, and if the poet meant that, why could he not have written \u05d3\u05bc\u05db\u05d4? (cf. moreover Jdg 5:27). If \u05d3\u05bc\u05db\u05d4 is taken in the sense of a position in which one is the least likely to be seen, then the first two verbs refer to the sculker, but the third according to the usual schema (as e.g., Psa 124:5) is the predicate to \u05d7\u05dc\u05db\u05bc\u05d0\u05d9\u05dd (\u05d7\u05dc\u05db\u05bc\u05d0\u05d9\u05dd) going before it. Crouching down as low as possible he lies on the watch, and the feeble and defenceless fall into his strong ones, \u05e2\u05e6\u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05d9\u05d5, i.e., claws. Thus the ungodly slays the righteous, thinking within himself: God has forgotten, He has hidden His face, i.e., He does not concern Himself about these poor creatures and does not wish to know anything about them (the denial of the truth expressed in Psa 9:13, Psa 9:19); He has in fact never been one who sees, and never will be. These two thoughts are blended; \u05e2\u05d1 with the perf. as in Job 21:3, and the addition of \u05dc\u05e0\u05e6\u05d7 (cf. Psa 94:7) denies the possibility of God seeing now any more than formerly, as being an absolute absurdity. The thought of a personal God would disturb the ungodly in his doings, he therefore prefers to deny His existence, and thinks: there is only fate and fate is blind, only an absolute and it has no eyes, only a notion and that cannot interfere in the affairs of men.\nThe six strophes, in which the consecutive letters from \u05de to \u05e6 are wanting, are completed, and now the acrostic strophes begin again with \u05e7. In contrast to those who have no God, or only a lifeless idol, the psalmist calls upon his God, the living God, to destroy the appearance that He is not an omniscient Being, by arising to action. We have more than one name of God used here; \u05d0\u05dc is a vocative just as in Psa 16:1; Psa 83:2; Psa 139:17, Psa 139:23. He is to lift up His hand in order to help and to punish (\u05e0\u05e9\u05c2\u05d0 \u05d9\u05d3, whence comes the imperat. \u05e0\u05e9\u05c2\u05d0 = \u05e9\u05c2\u05d0, cf. \u05e0\u05e1\u05d4 Psa 4:7, like \u05e9\u05c1\u05dc\u05d7 \u05d9\u05d3 Psa 138:7 and \u05e0\u05d8\u05d4 \u05d9\u05d3 Exo 7:5 elsewhere). Forget not is equivalent to: fulfil the \u05dc\u05d0 \u05e9\u05c1\u05db\u05d7 of Psa 9:13, put to shame the \u05e9\u05c1\u05db\u05d7 \u05d0\u05dc of the ungodly, Psa 10:11! Our translation follows the Ker\u05de \u05e2\u05e0\u05d5\u05d9\u05dd. That which is complained of in Psa 10:3, Psa 10:4 is put in the form of a question to God in Psa 10:13 : wherefore (\u05e2\u05dc\u05be\u05de\u05d4, instead of which we find \u05e2\u05dc\u05be\u05de\u05d4 in Num 22:32; Jer 9:11, because the following words begin with letters of a different class) does it come to pass, i.e., is it permitted to come to pass? On the perf. in this interrogative clause vid., Psa 11:3. \u05de\u05d3\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05e2 inquires the cause, \u05dc\u05de\u05bc\u05d4 the aim, and \u05e2\u05dc\u05be\u05de\u05d4 the motive, or in general the reason: on what ground, since God's holiness can suffer no injury to His honour? On \u05dc\u05d0 \u05ea\u05d3\u05e8\u05e9\u05c1 with \u05db\u05bc\u05d9, the oratio directa instead of obliqua, vid., on Ps 9:21.\nNow comes the confirmation of his cry to God: It is with Him entirely different from what the ungodly imagine. They think that He will not punish; but He does see (cf. Ch2 24:22), and the psalmist knows and confesses it: \u05e8\u05d0\u05ea\u05d4 (defective = \u05e8\u05d0\u05d9\u05ea\u05d4 Psa 35:22), Thou hast seen and dost see what is done to Thine own, what is done to the innocent. This he supports by a conclusion a genere ad speciem thus: the trouble which is prepared for others, and the sorrow (\u05db\u05bc\u05e2\u05e1, as in Ecc 7:3) which they cause them, does not escape the all-seeing eye of God, He notes it all, to give it into (lay it in) His hand. \"To give anything into any one's hand\" is equivalent to, into his power (Kg1 20:28, and frequently); but here God gives (lays) the things which are not to be administered, but requited, into His own hand. The expression is meant to be understood according to Psa 56:9, cf. Isa 49:16 : He is observant of the afflictions of His saints, laying them up in His hand and preserving them there in order, in His own time, to restore them to His saints in joy, and to their enemies in punishment. Thus, therefore, the feeble and helpless (read \u05d7\u05dc\u05db\u05bc\u05d4 or \u05d7\u05dc\u05db\u05bc\u05d4; according to the Masoretic text \u05d7\u05dc\u05db\u05d4 Thy host, not \u05d7\u05dc\u05db\u05d4, which is contrary to the character of the form, as pausal form for \u05d7\u05dc\u05db\u05d4) can leave to Him, viz., all his burden (\u05d9\u05d4\u05d1\u05d5, Psa 55:23), everything that vexes and disquiets him. Jahve has been and will be the Helper of the fatherless. \u05d9\u05ea\u05d5\u05dd stands prominent by way of emphasis, like \u05d0\u05d5\u05ea\u05dd Psa 9:13, and Bakius rightly remarks in voce pupilli synecdoche est, complectens omnes illos, qui humanis praesidiis destituuntur.\nThe desire for Jahve's interposition now rises again with fresh earnestness. It is a mistake to regard \u05d3\u05bc\u05e8\u05e9\u05c1 and \u05de\u05e6\u05d0 as correlative notions. In the phrase to seek and not find, when used of that which has totally disappeared, we never have \u05d3\u05bc\u05e8\u05e9\u05c1, but always \u05d1\u05bc\u05e7\u05bc\u05e9\u05c1, Psa 37:36; Isa 41:12; Jer 50:20, and frequently. The verb \u05d3\u05bc\u05e8\u05e9\u05c1 signifies here exactly the same as in Psa 10:4, Psa 10:13, and Psa 9:13 : \"and the wicked (nom. absol. as in Psa 10:4) - mayst Thou punish his wickedness, mayst Thou find nothing more of it.\" It is not without a meaning that, instead of the form of expression usual elsewhere (Psa 37:36; Job 20:8), the address to Jahve is retained: that which is no longer visible to the eye of God, not merely of man, has absolutely vanished out of existence. This absolute conquest of evil is to be as surely looked for, as that Jahve's universal kingship, which has been an element of the creed of God's people ever since the call and redemption of Israel (Exo 15:18), cannot remain without being perfectly and visibly realised. His absolute and eternal kingship must at length be realised, even in all the universality and endless duration foretold in Zac 14:9; Dan 7:14, Rev 11:15. Losing himself in the contemplation of this kingship, and beholding the kingdom of God, the kingdom of good, as realised, the psalmist's vision stretches beyond the foes of the church at home to its foes in general; and, inasmuch as the heathen in Israel and the heathen world outside of Israel are blended together into one to his mind, he comprehends them all in the collective name of \u05d2\u05bc\u05d5\u05d9\u05dd, and sees the land of Jahve (Lev 25:23), the holy land, purified of all oppressors hostile to the church and its God. It is the same that is foretold by Isaiah (Isa 52:1), Nahum (Nah 2:1), and in other passages, which, by the anticipation of faith, here stands before the mind of the suppliant as an accomplished fact - viz. the consummation of the judgment, which has been celebrated in the hymnic half (Ps 9) of this double Psalm as a judgment already executed in part.\nStill standing on this eminence from which he seems to behold the end, the poet basks in the realisation of that which has been obtained in answer to prayer. The ardent longing of the meek and lowly sufferers for the arising, the parusia of Jahve (Isa 26:8), has now been heard by Him, and that under circumstances which find expression in the following futt., which have a past signification: God has given and preserved to their hearts the right disposition towards Himself (\u05d4\u05db\u05d9\u05df, as in Psa 78:8; Job 11:13, Sir. 2:17 \u1f11\u03c4\u03bf\u03b9\u03bc\u03ac\u03b6\u03b5\u03b9\u03bd \u03ba\u03b1\u03c1\u03b4\u03af\u03b1\u03c2, post-biblical \u05db\u05bc\u05d5\u05bc\u05df\n(Note: B. Berachoth 31a: the man who prays must direct his heart steadfastly towards God (\u05d9\u05db\u05d5\u05bc\u05df \u05dc\u05d1\u05bc\u05d5 \u05dc\u05e9\u05bc\u05c1\u05de\u05d9\u05dd).)\nand to be understood according to Sa1 7:3; Ch2 20:33, cf. \u05dc\u05d1 \u05e0\u05db\u05d5\u05df Psa 51:12; Psa 78:37; it is equivalent to \"the single eye\" in the language of the New Testament), just as, on the other hand, He has set His ear in the attitude of close attention to their prayer, and even to their most secret sighings (\u05d4\u05e7\u05e9\u05c1\u05d9\u05d1 with \u05d0\u05d6\u05df, as in Pro 2:2; to stiffen the ear, from \u05e7\u05e9\u05c1\u05d1, Arab. qasuba, root \u05e7\u05e9 to be hard, rigid, firm from which we also have \u05e7\u05e9\u05c1\u05d4, Arab. qs\u00e2, \u05e7\u05e9\u05c1\u05d4, Arab. qsh, qsn, cf. on Isa 21:7). It was a mutual relation, the design of which was finally and speedily to obtain justice for the fatherless and oppressed, yea crushed, few, in order that mortal man of the earth may no longer (\u05d1\u05bc\u05dc, as in Isa 14:21, and in post-biblical Hebrew \u05d1\u05bc\u05dc and \u05dc\u05d1\u05dc instead of \u05e4\u05bc\u05df) terrify. From the parallel conclusion, Ps 9:20-21, it is to be inferred that \u05d0\u05e0\u05d5\u05e9\u05c1 does not refer to the oppressed but to the oppressor, and is therefore intended as the subject; and then the phrase \u05de\u05df\u05be\u05d4\u05d0\u05e8\u05e5 also belongs to it, as in Psa 17:14, people of the world, Psa 80:14 boar of the woods, whereas in Pro 30:14 \u05de\u05d0\u05e8\u05e5 belongs to the verb (to devour from off the earth). It is only in this combination that \u05de\u05df\u05be\u05d4\u05d0\u05e8\u05e5 \u05d0\u05e0\u05d5\u05e9\u05c1 forms with \u05dc\u05e2\u05e8\u05e5 a significant paronomasia, by contrasting the conduct of the tyrant with his true nature: a mortal of the earth, i.e., a being who, far removed from any possibility of vying with the God who is in heaven, has the earth as his birth-place. It is not \u05de\u05df\u05be\u05d4\u05d0\u05d3\u05de\u05d4, for the earth is not referred to as the material out of which man is formed, but as his ancestral house, his home, his bound, just as in the expression of John \u1f41 \u1f62\u03bd \u1f10\u03ba \u03c4\u1fc6\u03c2 \u03b3\u1fc6\u03c2, Joh 3:31 (Lat. ut non amplius terreat homo terrenus). A similar play of words was attempted before in Psa 9:20 \u05d0\u05e0\u05d5\u05e9\u05c1 \u05d0\u05dc\u05be\u05d9\u05e2\u05d6. The Hebrew verb \u05e2\u05e8\u05e5 signifies both to give way to fear, Deu 7:21, and to put in fear, Isa 2:19, Isa 2:21; Isa 47:12. It does mean \"to defy, rebel against,\" although it might have this meaning according to the Arabic \u201br\u1e0d (to come in the way, withstand, according to which Wetzstein explains \u05e2\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05e5 Job 30:6, like Arab. \u201bir\u1e0d, \"a valley that runs slantwise across a district, a gorge that blocks up the traveller's way\"\n(Note: Zeitschrift fr Allgem. Erdkunde xviii. (1865) 1, S. 30.)).\nIt is related to Arab. \u201br\u1e63, to vibrate, tremble (e.g., of lightning).","title":"Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch: Psalms: Psalms Chapter 10","type":"page"}