{"collection":"Bible & Christianity","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/bib/cmt/kad/psa124.htm","path":"bib/cmt/kad/psa124.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/bib/cmt/kad/psa124.htm","text":"Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsh, [1857-78]\nThe Deliverer from Death in Waters and in a Snare\nThe statement \"the stream had gone over our soul\" of this fifth Son of degrees, coincides with the statement \"our soul is full enough\" of the fourth; the two Psalms also meet in the synonymous new formations \u05d2\u05bc\u05d0\u05d9\u05d5\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd and \u05d6\u05d9\u05d3\u05d5\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd, which also look very much as though they were formed in allusion to contemporary history. The \u05dc\u05d3\u05d5\u05d3 is wanting in the lxx, Codd. Alex. and Vat., here as in Psa 122:1-9, and with the exception of the Targum is wanting in general in the ancient versions, and therefore is not so much as established as a point of textual criticism. It is a Psalm in the manner of the Davidic Psalms, to which it is closely allied in the metaphors of the overwhelming waters, Psa 18:5, Psa 18:17 (cf. Psa 144:7), Psa 69:2., and of the little bird; cf. also on \u05dc\u05d5\u05bc\u05dc\u05d9 Psa 27:13, on \u05d0\u05d3\u05dd used of hostile men Psa 56:12, on \u05d1\u05bc\u05dc\u05e2 \u05d7\u05d9\u05bc\u05d9\u05dd Psa 55:16, on \u05d1\u05bc\u05e8\u05d5\u05bc\u05da \u05d4 Psa 28:6; Psa 31:22. This beautiful song makes its modern origin known by its Aramaizing character, and by the delight, after the manner of the later poetry, in all kinds of embellishments of language. The art of the form consists less in strophic symmetry than in this, that in order to take one step forward it always goes back half a step. Luther's imitation (1524), \"Were God not with us at this time\" (W\u05d4re Gott nicht mit uns diese Zeit), bears the inscription \"The true believers' safeguard.\"\nIt is commonly rendered, \"If it had not been Jahve who was for us.\" But, notwithstanding the subject that is placed first (cf. Gen 23:13), the \u05e9\u05c1 belongs to the \u05dc\u05d5\u05bc\u05dc\u05d9; since in the Aramaizing Hebrew (cf. on the other hand Gen 31:42) \u05dc\u05d5\u05bc\u05dc\u05d9 \u05e9\u05c1 (cf. Arab. lawl\u00e2 an) signifies nisi (prop. nisi quod), as in the Aramaic (\u05d3\u05bc) \u05e9\u05c1 (\u05dc\u05d5\u05d0\u05d9) \u05dc\u05d5\u05d9, o si (prop. o si quod). The \u05d0\u05d6\u05d9, peculiar to this Psalm in the Old Testament, instead of \u05d0\u05d6 follows the model of the dialectic \u05d0\u05d3\u05d9\u05df, Arab. i\u1e0fan, Syr. h\u0101den (\u05d4\u05d9\u05d3\u05d9\u05df, \u05d4\u05d3\u05d9\u05df). In order to begin the apodosis of \u05dc\u05d5\u05bc\u05dc\u05d9 (\u05dc\u05d5\u05bc\u05dc\u05d0) emphatically the older language makes use of the confirmatory \u05db\u05bc\u05d9, Gen 31:42; Gen 43:10; here we have \u05d0\u05d6\u05d9 (well rendered by the lxx \u1f04\u03c1\u03b1), as in Psa 119:92. The Lamed of \u05d4\u05d9\u05d4 \u05dc\u05e0\u05d5 is raphe in both instances, according to the rule discussed above, p. 373. When men (\u05d0\u05d3\u05dd) rose up against Israel and their anger was kindled against them, they who were feeble in themselves over against the hostile world would have been swallowed up alive if they had not had Jahve for them, if they had not had Him on their side. This \"swallowing up alive\" is said elsewhere of Hades, which suddenly and forcibly snatches away its victims, Psa 55:16; Pro 1:12; here, however, as Psa 124:6 shows, it is said of the enemies, who are represented as wild beasts. In Psa 124:4 the hostile power which rolls over them is likened to an overflowing stream, as in Isa 8:7., the Assyrian. \u05e0\u05d7\u05dc\u05d4, a stream or river, is Milel; it is first of all accusative: towards the stream (Num 34:5); then, however, it is also used as a nominative, like \u05dc\u05d9\u05dc\u05d4, \u05d4\u05de\u05bc\u05d5\u05ea\u05d4, and the like (cf. common Greek \u1f21 \u03bd\u03cd\u03c7\u03b8\u03b1, \u1f21 \u03bd\u03b5\u03cc\u03bd\u03c4\u03b7\u03c4\u03b1); so that \u05ea\u05d4- is related to \u05ea- ( \u05d4-) as \u05e0\u05d4-, \u05de\u05d5- to \u05df- and \u05dd- (Bttcher, 615). These latest Psalms are fond of such embellishments by means of adorned forms and Aramaic or Aramaizing words. \u05d6\u05d9\u05d3\u05d5\u05e0\u05d9\u05dd is a word which is indeed not unhebraic in its formation, but is more indigenous to Chaldee; it is the Targum word for \u05d6\u05d3\u05d9\u05dd in Psa 86:14; Psa 119:51, Psa 119:78 (also in Psa 54:5 for \u05d6\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd), although according to Levy the MSS do not present \u05d6\u05d9\u05d3\u05d5\u05e0\u05d9\u05df but \u05d6\u05d9\u05d3\u05e0\u05d9\u05df. In the passage before us the Targum renders: the king who is like to the proud waters (\u05dc\u05de\u05d5\u05d9 \u05d6\u05d9\u05d3\u05d5\u05e0\u05d9\u05bc\u05d0) of the sea (Antiochus Epiphanes? - a Scholium explains \u03bf\u1f31 \u1f51\u03c0\u03b5\u03c1\u03ae\u03c6\u03b1\u03bd\u03bf\u03b9). With reference to \u05e2\u05d1\u05e8 before a plural subject, vid., Ges. 147.\nAfter the fact of the divine succour has been expressed, in Psa 124:6 follows the thanksgiving for it, and in Psa 124:7 the joyful shout of the rescued one. In Psa 124:6 the enemies are conceived of as beasts of prey on account of their bloodthirstiness, just as the worldly empires are in the Book of Daniel; in Psa 124:7 as \"fowlers\" on account of their cunning. According to the punctuation it is not to be rendered: Our soul is like a bird that is escaped, in which case it would have been accented \u05d1\u05e4\u05e9\u05c1\u05e0\u05d5 \u05db\u05e6\u05e4\u05d5\u05e8, but: our soul (subject with Rebia magnum) is as a bird (\u05db\u05bc\u05e6\u05e4\u05d5\u05e8 as in Hos 11:11; Pro 23:32; Job 14:2, instead of the syntactically more usual \u05db\u05bc\u05e6\u05bc\u05e4\u05d5\u05e8) escaped out of the snare of him who lays snares (\u05d9\u05d5\u05e7\u05e9\u05c1, elsewhere \u05d9\u05e7\u05d5\u05e9\u05c1, \u05d9\u05e7\u05d5\u05bc\u05e9\u05c1, a fowler, Psa 91:3). \u05e0\u05e9\u05c1\u05d1\u05e8 (with \u0101 beside Rebia) is 3rd praet.: the snare was burst, and we - we became free. In Psa 124:8 (cf. Psa 121:2; Psa 134:3) the universal, and here pertinent thought, viz., the help of Israel is in the name of Jahve, the Creator of the world, i.e., in Him who is manifest as such and is continually verifying Himself, forms the epiphonematic close. Whether the power of the world seeks to make the church of Jahve like to itself or to annihilate it, it is not a disavowal of its God, but a faithful confession, stedfast even to death, that leads to its deliverance.","title":"Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch: Psalms: Psalms Chapter 124","type":"page"}