{"collection":"Bible & Christianity","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/bib/cmt/kad/psa063.htm","path":"bib/cmt/kad/psa063.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/bib/cmt/kad/psa063.htm","text":"Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsh, [1857-78]\nMorning Hymn of One Who Is Persecuted, in a Waterless Desert\nNow follows Psa 63:1-11, the morning Psalm of the ancient church with which the singing of the Psalms was always introduced at the Sunday service.\n(Note: Constitutiones Apostolicae, ii. 59: \u1f19\u03b5\u03ba\u03ac\u03c3\u03c4\u03b7\u03c2 \u1f21\u03bc\u03ad\u03c1\u1fb3\u03c2 \u03c3\u03c5\u03bd\u03b1\u03b8\u03c1\u03bf\u03af\u03b6\u03b5\u03c3\u03b8\u03b5 \u1f44\u03c1\u03b8\u03c1\u03bf\u03c5 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u1f11\u03c3\u03c0\u03ad\u03c1\u03b1\u03c2 \u03c8\u03ac\u03bb\u03bb\u03bf\u03bd\u03c4\u03b5\u03c2 \u03ba\u03b1\u1f76 \u03c0\u03c1\u03bf\u03c3\u03b5\u03c5\u03c7\u03cc\u03bc\u03b5\u03bd\u03bf\u03b9 \u1f10\u03bd \u03c4\u03bf\u1fd6\u03c2 \u03ba\u03c5\u03c1\u03b9\u03b1\u03ba\u03bf\u1fd6\u03c2\u00b7 \u1f44\u03c1\u03b8\u03c1\u03bf\u03c5 \u03bc\u1f72\u03bd \u03bb\u03ad\u03b3\u03bf\u03bd\u03c4\u03b5\u03c2 \u03c8\u03b1\u03bb\u03bc\u1f78\u03bd \u03c4\u1f78\u03bd \u03be\u03b2 \u0313 (Psa 63:1-11), \u1f10\u03c3\u03c0\u03ad\u03c1\u03b1\u03c2 \u03b4\u1f72 \u03c4\u1f78\u03bd \u03c1\u03bc \u0313 (Psa 141:1-10). Athanasius says just the same in his De virginitate: \u03c0\u03c1\u1f78\u03c2 \u1f44\u03c1\u03b8\u03c1\u03bf\u03bd \u03c4\u1f78\u03bd \u03c8\u03b1\u03bb\u03bc\u1f78\u03bd \u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6\u03c4\u03bf\u03bd \u03bb\u03ad\u03b3\u03b5\u03c4\u03b5 \u03ba. \u03c4. \u03bb. Hence Psa 63:1-11 is called directly \u1f41 \u1f40\u03c1\u03b8\u03c1\u03b9\u03bd\u03cc\u03c2 (the morning hymn) in Constit. Apostol. viii. 37. Eusebius alludes to the fact of its being so in Ps 91 (92), p. 608, ed. Montfaucon. In the Syrian order of service it is likewise the morning Psalm \u03ba\u03b1\u03c4 \u0313 \u1f10\u03be\u03bf\u03c7\u03ae\u03bd, vid., Dietrich, De psalterii usu publico et divione in Ecclesia Syriaca, p. 3. The lxx renders \u05d0\u05e9\u05c1\u05d7\u05e8\u05da in Psa 63:2, \u03c0\u03c1\u1f78\u03c2 \u03c3\u1f72 \u1f40\u03c1\u03b8\u03c1\u03af\u03c7\u03c9, and \u05d1\u05d0\u05e9\u05c1\u05de\u05e8\u05d5\u05ea in Psa 63:7, \u1f10\u03bd \u03c4\u03bf\u1fd6\u03c2 \u1f44\u03c1\u03b8\u03c1\u03bf\u03b9\u03c2 (in matutinis).)\nThis Psalm is still more closely related to Psa 61:1-8 than Psa 62:1-12. Here, as in Psa 61:1-8, David gives utterance to his longing for the sanctuary; and in both Psalms he speaks of himself as king (vid., Symbolae, p. 56). All the three Psalms, Psa 61:1, were composed during the time of Absalom; for we must not allow ourselves to be misled by the inscription, A Psalm, by David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah (also lxx, according to the correct reading and the one preferred by Euthymius, \u03c4\u1fc6\u03c2 \u1f38\u03bf\u03c5\u03b4\u03b1\u03af\u03b1\u03c2, not \u03c4\u1fc6\u03c2 \u1f38\u03b4\u03bf\u03c5\u03bc\u03b1\u03af\u03b1\u03c2), into transferring it, as the old expositors do, to the time of Saul. During that period David could not well call himself \"the king\" and even during the time of his persecution by Absalom, in his flight, before crossing the Jordan, he tarried one or two days \u05d1\u05e2\u05e8\u05d1\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05de\u05d3\u05d1\u05e8, in the steppes of the desert (Sa2 15:23, Sa2 15:28; Sa2 17:16), i.e., of the wilderness of Judah lying nearest to Jerusalem, that dreary waste that extends along the western shore of the Dead Sea. We see clearly from Sa2 16:2 (\u05d4\u05d9\u05bc\u05e2\u05e3 \u05d1\u05bc\u05de\u05bc\u05d3\u05d1\u05bc\u05e8) and Sa2 16:14 (\u05e2\u05d9\u05e4\u05d9\u05dd, that he there found himself in the condition of a \u05e2\u05d9\u05e3. The inscription, when understood thus, throws light upon the whole Psalm, and verifies itself in the fact that the poet is a king; that he longs for the God on Zion, where he has been so delighted to behold Him, who is there manifest; and that he is persecuted by enemies who have plotted his ruin. The assertion that he is in the wilderness (Psa 63:1) is therefore no mere rhetorical figure; and when, in Sa2 16:10, he utters the imprecation over his enemies, \"let them become a portion for the jackals,\" the influence of the desert upon the moulding of his thoughts is clearly seen in it.\nWe have here before us the Davidic original, or at any rate the counterpart, to the Korahitic pair of Psalms, Psa 42:1-11, Psa 43:1-5. It is a song of the most delicate form and deepest spiritual contents; but in part very difficult of exposition. When we have, approximately at least, solved the riddle of one Psalm, the second meets us with new riddles. It is not merely the poetical classic character of the language, and the spiritual depth, but also this half-transparent and half-opaque covering which lends to the Psalms such a powerful and unvarying attractiveness. They are inexhaustible, there always remains an undeciphered residue; and therefore, though the work of exposition may progress, it does not come to an end. But how much more difficult is it to adopt this choice spiritual love-song as one's own prayer! For this we need a soul that loves after the same manner, and in the main it requires such a soul even to understand it rightly; for, as the saintly Bernard says, lingua amoris non amanti barbara est.\nIf the words in Psa 63:2 were \u05d0\u05dc\u05d4\u05d9\u05dd \u05d0\u05ea\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d0\u05e9\u05c1\u05d7\u05e8\u05da, then we would render it, with B\u05e6ttcher, after Gen 49:8 : Elohim, Thee do I seek, even Thee! But \u05d0\u05dc\u05d9 forbids this construction; and the assertion that otherwise it ought to be, \"Jahve, my God art Thou\" (Psa 140:7), rests upon a non-recognition of the Elohimic style. Elohim alone by itself is a vocative, and accordingly has Mehupach legarme. The verb \u05e9\u05c1\u05d7\u05e8 signifies earnest, importunate seeking and inquiring (e.g., Psa 78:34), and in itself has nothing to do with \u05e9\u05c1\u05d7\u05e8, the dawn; but since Psa 63:7 looks back upon the night, it appears to be chosen with reference to the dawning morning, just as in Isa 26:9 also, \u05e9\u05c1\u05d7\u05e8 stands by the side of \u05d0\u05d5\u05bc\u05d4 \u05d1\u05dc\u05bc\u05d9\u05dc\u05d4. The lxx is therefore not incorrect when it renders it: \u03c0\u03c1\u1f78\u03c2 \u03b4\u1f72 \u1f40\u03c1\u03b8\u03c1\u03af\u03b6\u03c9 (cf. \u1f41 \u03bb\u03b1\u1f78\u03c2 \u1f64\u03c1\u03b8\u03c1\u03b9\u03b6\u03b5\u03bd \u03c0\u03c1\u1f78\u03c2 \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u1f78\u03bd, Luk 21:38); and Apollinaris strikes the right note when he begins his paraphrase,\n\u039d\u03cd\u03ba\u03c4\u03b1 \u03bc\u03b5\u03c4 \u0313 \u1f00\u03bc\u03c6\u03b9\u03bb\u03cd\u03ba\u03b7\u03bd \u03c3\u1f72 \u03bc\u03ac\u03ba\u03b1\u03c1 \u03bc\u03ac\u03ba\u03b1\u03c1\n\u1f00\u03bc\u03c6\u03b9\u03c7\u03bf\u03c1\u03b5\u03cd\u03c3\u03c9 -\nAt night when the morning dawns will I exult around Thee,\nmost blessed One.\nThe supposition that \u05d1\u05bc\u05d0\u05e8\u05e5 is equivalent to \u05db\u05bc\u05d0\u05e9\u05c1\u05e8 \u05d1\u05bc\u05d0\u05e8\u05e5, or even that the Beth is Beth essentiae (\"as a,\" etc.), are views that have no ground whatever, except as setting the inscription at defiance. What is meant is the parched thirsty desert of sand in which David finds himself. We do not render it: in a dry and languishing land, for \u05e6\u05d9\u05bc\u05d4 is not an adjective, but a substantive - the transition of the feminine adjective to the masculine primary form, which sometimes (as in Kg1 19:11) occurs, therefore has no application here; nor: in the land of drought and of weariness, for who would express himself thus? \u05d5\u05d0\u05d9\u05e3, referring to the nearest subject \u05d1\u05bc\u05e9\u05c2\u05e8\u05d9, continues the description of the condition (cf. Gen 25:8). In a region where he is surrounded by sun-burnt aridity and a nature that bears only one uniform ash-coloured tint, which casts its unrefreshing image into his inward part, which is itself in much the same parched condition, his soul thirsts, his flesh languishes, wearied and in want of water (languidus deficiente aqua), for God, the living One and the Fountain of life. \u05db\u05bc\u05de\u05d4\u05bc (here with the tone drawn back, \u05db\u05bc\u05de\u05d4\u05bc, like \u05d1\u05bc\u05d7\u05e8, Ch1 28:10, \u05e2\u05de\u05d3, Hab 3:11) of ardent longing which consumes the last energies of a man (root \u05db\u05dd, whence \u05db\u05bc\u05de\u05df and \u05db\u05bc\u05de\u05e1 to conceal, and therefore like \u05e2\u05d8\u05e3, \u05e2\u05dc\u05e3, proceeding from the idea of enveloping; Arabic Arab. kamiha, to be blind, dark, pale, and disconcerted). The lxx and Theodotion erroneously read \u05db\u05bc\u05de\u05bc\u05d4 (how frequently is this the case!); whereas Aquila renders it \u1f10\u03c0\u03b5\u03c4\u03ac\u03b8\u03b7, and Symmachus still better, \u1f31\u03bc\u03b5\u03af\u03c1\u03b5\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9 (the word used of the longing of love). It is not a small matter that David is able to predicate such languishing desire after God even of his felsh; it shows us that the spirit has the mastery within him, and not only forcibly keeps the flesh in subjection, but also, so far as possible, draws it into the realm of its own life - an experience confessedly more easily attained in trouble, which mortifies our carnal nature, than in the midst of the abundance of outward prosperity. The God for whom he is sick [lit. love-sick] in soul and body is the God manifest upon Zion.\nNow as to the \u05db\u05bc\u05df in Psa 63:3 - a particle which is just such a characteristic feature in the physiognomy of this Psalm as \u05d0\u05da is in that of the preceding Psalm - there are two notional definitions to choose from: thus = so, as my God (Ewald), and: with such longing desire (as e.g., Oettinger). In the former case it refers back to the confession, \"Elohim, my God art Thou,\" which stands at the head of the Psalm; in the latter, to the desire that has just been announced, and that not in its present exceptional character, but in its more general and constant character. This reference to what has immediately gone before, and to the modality, not of the object, but of the disposition of mind, deserves the preference. \"Thus\" is accordingly equivalent to \"longing thus after Thee.\" The two \u05db\u05df in Psa 63:3 and Psa 63:5 are parallel and of like import. The alternation of the perfect (Psa 63:3) and of the future (Psa 63:5) implies that what has been the Psalmist's favourite occupation heretofore, shall also be so in the future. Moreover, \u05d1\u05d0\u05e8\u05e5 \u05e6\u05d9\u05d4 and \u05d1\u05bc\u05e7\u05bc\u05d3\u05e9\u05c1 form a direct antithesis. Just as he does not in a dry land, so formerly in the sanctuary he looked forth longingly towards God (\u05d7\u05d6\u05d4 with the conjoined idea of solemnity and devotion). We have now no need to take \u05dc\u05e8\u05d0\u05d5\u05ea as a gerundive (videndo), which is in itself improbable; for one looks, peers, gazes at anything just for the purpose of seeing what the nature of the object is (Psa 14:2; Isa 42:18). The purpose of his gazing upon God as to gain an insight into the nature of God, so far as it is disclosed to the creature; or, as it is expressed here, to see His power and glory, i.e., His majesty on its terrible and on its light and loving side, to see this, viz., in its sacrificial appointments and sacramental self-attestations. Such longing after God, which is now all the more intense in the desert far removed from the sanctuary, filled and impelled him; for God's loving-kindness is better than life, better than this natural life (vid., on Psa 17:14), which is also a blessing, and as the prerequisite of all earthly blessings a very great blessing. The loving-kindness of God, however, is a higher good, is in fact the highest good and the true life: his lips shall praise this God of mercy, his morning song shall be of Him; for that which makes him truly happy, and after which he even now, as formerly, only and solely longs, is the mercy or loving-kindness (\u05d7\u05e1\u05d3) of this God, the infinite wroth of which is measured by the greatness of His power (\u05e2\u05d6) and glory (\u05db\u05d1\u05d5\u05d3). It might also be rendered, \"Because Thy loving-kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise Thee;\" but if \u05db\u05bc\u05d9 is taken as demonstrative (for), it yields a train of thought that that is brought about not merely by what follows (as in the case of the relative because), but also by what precedes: \"for Thy loving-kindness...my lips shall then praise Thee\" (\u05d9\u05e9\u05c1\u05d1\u05bc\u05d7\u05d5\u05bc\u05e0\u05da with the suffix appended to the energetic plural form \u00fbn, as in Isa 60:7, Isa 60:10; Jer 2:24).\nThis strophe again takes up the \u05db\u05bc\u05df (Psa 63:3): thus ardently longing, for all time to come also, is he set towards God, with such fervent longing after God will he bless Him in his life, i.e., entirely filling up his life therewith (\u05d1\u05bc\u05d7\u05d9\u05bc\u05d9 as in Psa 104:33; Psa 146:2; cf. Baruch 4:20, \u1f10\u03bd \u03c4\u03b1\u1fd6\u03c2 \u1f21\u03bc\u03ad\u03c1\u03b1\u03b9\u03c2 \u03bc\u03bf\u03c5), and in His name, i.e., invoking it and appealing to it, will he lift up his hands in prayer. The being occupied with God makes him, even though as now in the desert he is obliged to suffer bodily hunger, satisfied and cheerful like the fattest and most marrowy food: velut adipe et pinguedine satiatur anima mea. From Lev 3:17; Lev 7:25, Grussetius and Frisch infer that spiritualies epulae are meant. And certainly the poet cannot have had the sacrificial feasts (Hupfeld) in his mind; for the \u05d7\u05dc\u05d1 of the shelamim is put upon the altar, and is removed from the part to be eaten. Moreover, however, even the Tra does not bind itself in its expression to the letter of that prohibition of the fat of animals, vid., Deu 32:14, cf. Jer 31:14. So here also the expression \"with marrow and fat\" is the designation of a feast prepared from well-fed, noble beasts. He feels himself satisfied in his inmost nature just as after a feast of the most nourishing and dainty meats, and with lips of jubilant songs (accus. instrum. according to Ges. 138, rem. 3), i.e., with lips jubilant and attuned to song, shall his mouth sing praise. What now follows in Psa 63:7 we no longer, as formerly, take as a protasis subsequently introduced (like Isa 5:4.): \"when I remembered...meditated upon Thee,\" but so that Psa 63:7 is the protasis and Psa 63:7 the apodosis, cf. Psa 21:12; Job 9:16 (Hitzig): When I remember Thee (meminerim, Ew. 355, b) upon my bed (stratis meis, as in Psa 132:3; Gen 49:4, cf. Ch1 5:1) - says he now as the twilight watch is passing gradually into the morning - I meditate upon Thee in the night-watches (Symmachus, \u03ba\u03b1\u03b8 \u0313 \u1f11\u03ba\u03ac\u03c3\u03c4\u03b7\u03bd \u03c6\u03c5\u03bb\u03b1\u03ba\u03ae\u03bd), or during, throughout the night-watches (like \u05d1\u05bc\u05d7\u05d9\u05bc\u05d9 in Psa 63:5); i.e., it is no passing remembrance, but it so holds me that I pass a great part of the night absorbed in meditation on Thee. He has no lack of matter for his meditation; for God has become a help (auxilio, vid., on Psa 3:3) to him: He has rescued him in this wilderness, and, well concealed under the shadow of His wings (vid., on Psa 17:8; Psa 36:8; Psa 57:2), which affords him a cool retreat in the heat of conflict and protection against his persecutors, he is able to exult (\u05d0\u05e8\u05e0\u05bc\u05df, the potential). Between himself and God there subsists a reciprocal relationship of active love. According to the schema of the crosswise position of words (Chiasmus), \u05d0\u05d7\u05e8\u05d9\u05da and \u05d1\u05bc\u05d9 intentionally jostle close against one another: he depends upon God, following close behind Him, i.e., following Him everywhere and not leaving Him when He wishes to avoid him; and on the other side God's right hand holds him fast, not letting him go, not abandoning him to his foes.\nThe closing strophe turns towards these foes. By \u05d5\u05d4\u05de\u05bc\u05d4 he contrasts with his own person, as in Psa 59:16., Psa 56:7., the party of the enemy, before which he has retreated into the desert. It is open to question whether \u05dc\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05d0\u05d4 is intended to be referred, according to Psa 35:17, to the persecuted one (to destroy my life), or, with Hupfeld, to the persecutors (to their own destruction, they themselves for destruction). If the former reference to the persecuted be adopted, we ought, in order to give prominence to the evidently designed antithesis to Psa 63:9, to translate: those, however, who..., shall go down into the depths of the earth (Bttcher, and others); a rendering which is hazardous as regards the syntax, after \u05d4\u05de\u05bc\u05d4 and in connection with this position of the words. Therefore translate: On the other hand, those, to (their own) ruin do they seek my soul. It is true this ought properly to be expressed by \u05dc\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05d0\u05ea\u05dd, but the absence of the suffix is less hazardous than the above relative rendering of \u05d9\u05d1\u05bc\u05e7\u05bc\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05bc. What follows in Psa 63:10-11 is the expansion of \u05dc\u05e9\u05c1\u05d5\u05d0\u05d4. The futures from \u05d9\u05d1\u05d0\u05d5\u05bc onwards are to be taken as predictive, not as imprecatory; the former accords better with the quiet, gentle character of the whole song. It shall be with them as with the company of Korah. \u05ea\u05bc\u05d7\u05ea\u05bc\u05d9\u05bc\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d0\u05e8\u05e5 is the interior of the earth down into its deepest bottom; this signification also holds good in Psa 139:15; Isa 44:23.\n(Note: In this passage in Isaiah are meant the depths of the earth (lxx \u03b8\u03b5\u03bc\u03ad\u03bb\u03b9\u03b1 \u03c4\u1fc6\u03c2 \u03b3\u1fc6\u03c2), the earth down to its inmost part, with its caverns, abysses, and subterranean passages. The apostle, however, in Eph 4:9 by \u03c4\u1f70 \u03ba\u03b1\u03c4\u03ce\u03c4\u03b5\u03c1\u03b1 \u03c4\u1fc6\u03c2 \u03b3\u1fc6\u03c2 means exactly the same as what in our passage is called in the lxx \u03c4\u1f70 \u03ba\u03b1\u03c4\u03ce\u03c4\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1 \u03c4\u1fc6\u03c2 \u03b3\u1fc6\u03c2: the interior of the earth = the under world, just as it is understood by all the Greek fathers (so far as my knowledge extends); the comparative \u03ba\u03b1\u03c4\u03ce\u03c4\u03b5\u03c1\u03bf\u03c2 is used just like \u1f10\u03bd\u03ad\u03c1\u03c4\u03b5\u03c1\u03bf\u03c2.)\nThe phrase \u05d4\u05d2\u05bc\u05d9\u05e8 \u05e2\u05dc\u05be\u05d9\u05d3\u05d9 \u05d7\u05e8\u05d1 here and in Jer 18:21; Eze 35:5 (Hiph., not of \u05d2\u05bc\u05e8\u05e8, to drag, tear away, but \u05e0\u05d2\u05e8, to draw towards, flow), signifies properly to pour upon = into the hands (Job 16:11), i.e., to give over (\u05d4\u05e1\u05d2\u05bc\u05d9\u05e8) into the power of the sword; effundent eum is (much the same as in Job 4:19; Job 18:18, and frequently) equivalent to effundetur. The enallage is like Psa 5:10; Psa 7:2., and frequently: the singular refers to each individual of the homogeneous multitude, or to this multitude itself as a concrete persona moralis. The king, however, who is now banished from Jerusalem to the habitation of jackals, will, whilst they become a portion (\u05de\u05e0\u05ea = \u05de\u05e0\u05d5\u05ea), i.e., prey, of the jackals (vid., the fulfilment in Sa2 18:7.), rejoice in Elohim. Every one who sweareth by Him shall boast himself. Theodoret understands this of swearing \u03ba\u03b1\u03c4\u1f70 \u03c4\u1f74\u03bd \u03c4\u03bf\u1fe6 \u03b2\u03b1\u03c3\u03b9\u03bb\u03ad\u03c9\u03c2 \u03c3\u03c9\u03c4\u03b7\u03c1\u03af\u03b1\u03bd. Hengstenberg compares the oath \u05d7\u05d9 \u05e4\u05e8\u05e2\u05d4, Gen 42:15. Ewald also (217, f) assumes this explanation to be unquestionable. But the Israelite is to swear by the name of Jahve and by no other, Deu 6:13; Isa 65:16, cf. Amo 8:14. If the king were meant, why was it not rather expressed by \u05d4\u05e0\u05e9\u05c1\u05d1\u05bc\u05e2 \u05dc\u05d5, he who swears allegiance to him? The syntax does not help us to decide to what the \u05d1\u05bc\u05d5 refers. Neinrich Moeller (1573) says of the \u05d1\u05d5 as referred to the king: peregrinum est et coactum; and A. H. Franke in his Introductio in Psalterium says of it as referred to Elohim: coactum est. So far as the language is concerned, both references are admissible; but as regards the subject-matter, only the latter. The meaning, as everywhere else, is a searing by God. He who, without allowing himself to turn from it, swore by Elohim, the God of Israel, the God of David His anointed, and therefore acknowledged Him as the Being exalted above all things, shall boast himself or \"glory,\" inasmuch as it shall be practically seen how well-founded and wise was this recognition. He shall glory, for the mouth of those who speak lies shall be stopped, forcibly closed, viz., those who, together with confidence in the Christ of God, have by falsehood also undermined the reverence which is due to God Himself. Psa 64:1-10 closes very similarly, and hence is placed next in order.","title":"Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch: Psalms: Psalms Chapter 63","type":"page"}