{"collection":"Bible & Christianity","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/bib/cmt/kad/psa043.htm","path":"bib/cmt/kad/psa043.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/bib/cmt/kad/psa043.htm","text":"Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsh, [1857-78]\nThe Elohimic Judica (the introit of the so-called Cross or Passion Sunday which opens the celebritas Passionis), with which the supplicatory and plaintive first strophe of the Psalm begins, calls to mind the Jehovic Judica in Psa 7:9; Psa 26:1; Psa 35:1, Psa 35:24 : judge me, i.e., decide my cause (lxx \u03ba\u03c1\u1fd6\u03bd\u03cc\u03bd \u03bc\u03b5, Symmachus \u03ba\u03c1\u1fd6\u03bd\u03cc\u03bd \u03bc\u03bf\u03b9). \u05e8\u05d9\u05d1\u05d4 has the tone upon the ultima before the \u05e8\u05d9\u05d1\u05d9 which begins with the half-guttural \u05e8, as is also the case in Psa 74:22; Psa 119:154. The second prayer runs: vindica me a gente impia; \u05de\u05df standing for contra in consequence of a constr. praegnans. \u05dc\u05d0\u05be\u05d7\u05e1\u05d9\u05d3 is here equivalent to one practising no \u05d7\u05e1\u05d3 towards men, that is to say, one totally wanting in that \u05d7\u05e1\u05d3, by which God's \u05d7\u05e1\u05d3 is to be imitated and repaid by man in his conduct towards his fellow-men. There is some uncertainty whether by \u05d0\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1 one chief enemy, the leader of all the rest, is intended to be mentioned side by side with the unloving nation, or whether the special manner of his enemies is thus merely individualised. \u05e2\u05d5\u05dc\u05d4 means roguish, mischievous conduct, utterly devoid of all sense of right. In Psa 43:2 the poet establishes his petition by a twofold Why. He loves God and longs after Him, but in the mirror of his present condition he seems to himself like one cast off by Him. This contradiction between his own consciousness and the inference which he is obliged to draw from his afflicted state cannot remain unsolved. \u05d0\u05dc\u05d4\u05d9 \u05de\u05e2\u05d6\u05bc\u05d9, God of my fortress, is equivalent to who is my fortress. Instead of \u05d0\u05dc\u05da we here have the form \u05d0\u05ea\u05d4\u05dc\u05bc\u05da, of the slow deliberate gait of one who is lost in his own thoughts and feelings. The sting of his pain is his distance from the sanctuary of his God. In connection with Psa 43:3 one is reminded of Psa 57:4 and Exo 15:13, quite as much as of Psa 42:9. \"Light and truth\" is equivalent to mercy and truth. What is intended is the light of mercy or loving-kindness which is coupled with the truth of fidelity to the promises; the light, in which the will or purpose of love, which is God's most especial nature, becomes outwardly manifest. The poet wishes to be guided by these two angels of God; he desires that he may be brought (according tot he Chethb of the Babylonian text \u05d9\u05d1\u05d5\u05d0\u05d5\u05e0\u05d9, \"let come upon me;\" but the \u05d0\u05dc which follows does not suit this form) to the place where his God dwells and reveals Himself. \"Tabernacles\" is, as in Psa 84:2; Psa 46:5, an amplificative designation of the tent, magnificent in itself and raised to special honour by Him who dwells therein.\nThe poet, in anticipation, revels in the thought of that which he has prayed for, and calls upon his timorous soul to hope confidently for it. The cohortatives in Psa 43:4 are, as in Ps 39:14 and frequently, an apodosis to the petition. The poet knows no joy like that which proceeds from God, and the joy which proceeds from Him he accounts as the very highest; hence he calls God \u05d0\u05dc \u05e9\u05c2\u05de\u05d7\u05ea \u05d2\u05bc\u05d9\u05dc\u05d9, and therefore he knows no higher aim for his longing than again to be where the fountainhead of this exultant joy is (Hos 9:5), and where it flows forth in streams (Psa 36:9). Removed back thither, he will give thanks to Him with the cithern (Beth instrum.). He calls Him \u05d0\u05dc\u05d4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05dc\u05d4\u05d9, an expression which, in the Elohim-Psalms, is equivalent to \u05d9\u05d4\u05d5\u05d4 \u05d0\u05dc\u05d4\u05d9 in the Jahve-Psalms. The hope expressed in Psa 43:4 casts its rays into the prayer in Psa 43:3. In Psa 43:5, the spirit having taken courage in God, holds this picture drawn by hope before the distressed soul, that she may therewith comfort herself. Instead of wthmy, Psa 42:6, the expression here used, as in Ps 42:12, is \u05d5\u05bc\u05de\u05d4\u05be\u05ea\u05bc\u05d4\u05de\u05d9. Variations like these are not opposed to a unity of authorship.","title":"Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch: Psalms: Psalms Chapter 43","type":"page"}