Bible Commentaries
Psalms 31

Introduction

After the Psalmist has shortly set forth his prayer, and indicated the basis on which it rests, in the introduction ( Psalms 31:1), he brings forward the latter of these very prominently in the first division ( Psalms 31:2-8): the Lord may, must, and will help him in his trouble, because He is his God. With confidence thus acquired from the consideration of the general relationship of God towards him, he proceeds, in the second division ( Psalms 31:9-18), more immediately to the, trouble itself, which he describes at length in the first half of this part ( Psalms 31:9-13), and then in the second half ( Psalms 31:14-18) he brings it to God. In the third division ( Psalms 31:19-21) the Psalmist obtains from God the heartfelt assurance of help, and extols loudly the goodness of God towards His own people. A conclusion ( Psalms 31:22) sums up in a few words the personal experience of the Psalmist; and an appendix ( Psalms 31:23-24) unfolds the lesson which the Church ought to learn from this narrative:—all the pious should he led thereby to love God, and confidently to trust in Him in the time of trouble; for, as the example of the Psalmist shows, He will not fail to manifest Himself as faithful to His people.

This Psalm also is distinguished by an elaborate formal arrangement. The main body is governed by the numerals 3, 7, and 10, and is completed in two decades, if we reckon together the three verses of the third and the seven of the first part, which are intimately related to each other:—in the first, we have confidence anticipating an answer; and in the third, confidence resting on the inward response of God. The second decade is divided into two parts of five verses each. If we add the conclusion and the introduction, it appears that the Psalm is an alphabetical one in point of numbers. There is also an evident attempt at alphabetical arrangement as regards the first letters of the verses in the paragraph from Psalms 31:8-12. If we add the application, the verses amount to 24,—the doubled twelve,—the signature of the people of the covenant.

Several abortive attempts have been made to find out; a particular historical occasion for the Psalm. It represents, as Cocceius has well remarked, the perpetual conflict which believers and the Church have to maintain in this world, and the deliverance and victory by which that conflict is ever anew followed. The Psalmist does not speak in his own person, but in the person of every righteous man who finds himself engaged in severe warfare. The want of all special historical reference speaks in favour of this view. Then the language of the Psalm is exceedingly easy; while in those called forth by individual suffering, the style is more or less involved. In like, manner, there is the fact, that there are in this Psalm several, reminiscences from other Psalms which had proceeded from a heart in a state of great emotion. Last of all, there is the alphabetical arrangement. All alphabetical Psalms have a general character.

That Jeremiah found the Psalm suitable to his circumstances, and drew consolation from it, is evident, besides other facts, from Jeremiah 20:10, where we find the very peculiar language of the first half of the ( Psalms 31:13) 13th verse repeated word for word. Modern expositors, entirely misunderstanding the relation; subsisting between Jeremiah and the more ancient sacred writings, and particularly the Psalms, have, from the simple fact of the above agreement, drawn the conclusion that he was the author of the Psalm. The conclusion is just as valid as would be the inference that it had been composed by our Saviour, because He made use of the language of the ( Psalms 31:5) 5th verse on the cross. The more general reasons—such as those drawn from the sameness in point of spirit, the union of complaint and hope, the elegiac mood, etc.—do not suggest Jeremiah any more than any other believer under the Old Testament dispensation. There is, moreover, not the shadow of a reason for setting aside the superscription, which expressly announces the Psalm to have been David’s.

First, the Introduction in Psalms 31:1. In Thee, O Lord, do I put my trust; let me never be ashamed: deliver me in Thy righteousness. The Psalmist prays for something which God must grant. His prayer rises on the firm foundation of his faith, which God may not put to shame; and of God’s righteousness, which renders it impossible that the lots of the righteous and the wicked should be interchanged. On “Let me never be ashamed,” the Berleb. Bib. correctly remarks: “Which would be the case, wert Thou not to fulfil my desire and prayer;” and Venema “He shows that he feels himself to be in such a situation, that he must either be immediately delivered, or put to shame for ever.” To be put to shame now, is the same thing as to be put to shame for ever; for matters have come to the very last extremity with the Psalmist: compare Psalms 31:9-13, particularly the words, “They devise to take away my life,” with which this description of the trouble concludes, and, “Deliver me speedily,” of Psalms 31:2. Now the servants of God, notwithstanding all their weaknesses, are not put to shame for ever. God may, yea, must visit His people with transitory suffering; but He cannot be God, and give them over to destruction. This is the part only of the wicked, not of those who put their trust in God. It is utterly impossible to substitute “goodness” for “righteousness.” The only question is, whether the prominent idea intended here to be conveyed is faithfulness in fulfilling promises, or justice in dispensing to each one according; to his works. In favour of the latter view, we have the mention made of the righteous in Psalms 31:18; of them that fear God, in Psalms 31:19; of those who trust in God, Psalms 31:6, as the objects of the Divine assistance; and the corresponding expression in the verse before us itself, in Thee, O Lord, do I put my trust. The righteousness of God demands that He should not give over to destruction (as is the case with the wicked scoffers) those who trust in Him—it being of course understood that it is a real, heartfelt trust that is meant, such a trust as springs from a pure conscience: compare at Psalms 18:1; Psalms 26.

The first division is from Psalms 31:2 to Psalms 31:8. The Psalmist utters the prayer to God for deliverance, grounds it upon the inward relation in which he stands to God, and expresses his assurance of being heard.

Verse 2

Ver. 2. Bow down Thine ear to me, deliver me speedily: be a strong rock to me, and a fortress to help me. Of the two elements contained in the Introduction,—the Prayer and its Basis, —we have the first here, and the second in Psalms 31:3. Jo. Arnd: “O God, Thou hearest such light tones, that Thou hearest even my sigh! Ah! delay not too long! I have no temporal defence, no place of strength and safety; be Thou my castle and stronghold. Here we learn how the children of God ought to speak to their beloved Father, namely, as friend to friend, or as a child to his father: Ah! my beloved Father, bow down Thine ear to me. See, this is what faith, what child-like love and confidence does! It embraces the Lord, and falls upon His neck! O Lord, Thou knowest, and Thou alone art acquainted with my trouble: to Thee alone will I complain, and speak, as it were, secretly into Thy ear.” It is of the nature of fervent prayer to realize the presence of God in the most lively manner; so that, in the prayers of the godly of the Old Testament, even before the incarnation of the Word, He took, as it were, flesh and blood. Hence it is that, in the Psalms, we find the strongest possible instances of what have been termed anthropomorphisms and anthropopathies. The non-existence of the anthropomorphisms of feeling is just as objectionable, yea, more so, than the existence of the anthropomorphisms of dogma, which are met at the threshold of the Old Testament by the law forbidding images—a law which is based on the absolute spirituality of God. Aversion to anthropomorphisms of feeling, or inability to make use of them in a way consistent with inward truth, is the result of practical atheism. “A strong rock and a fortress.” is literally a rock of security, and a house of a mountains top: compare Psalms 18:2.

Verse 3

Ver. 3. For Thou art my rock and my fortress, and for Thy name’s sake Thou wilt lead me and guide me. The Psalmist had, in the preceding verse, prayed to God that He would be his rock and fortress; and he now grounds this prayer on the fact, that the Lord is in reality his rock and fortress, because he knew Him as such, by the faith which God never puts to shame. God must, in the particular case, necessarily help him, because He stands towards him in the general relation of a helper. Hence we see how little ground Koester has for maintaining that the “for” is illogical, and for drawing from this his conclusion that the Psalm is a compilation. The “for” refers to both clauses of the verse. Even in the second clause, the special thing to which the Psalmist lays claim, is referred back to its necessity. Not to allow trouble to darken consciousness, is one of the highest and most difficult tasks set before sufferers.

The expression, “for Thy name’s sake,” is equivalent to, “for the sake of Thy historically manifested glory,” viz. “Thy righteousness” of Psalms 31:1: compare at Psalms 23:3. The words תנחני and תנהלני (compare on the meaning of נהל , Psalms 22:2) are to be considered as expressive, not of prayer (Luther: “Wilt Thou not lead and guide me?”), but of hope. This is evident from the connection of the verse with what precedes, and from what follows, when the Psalmist passes from hope to confidence. The prayer of the preceding verse, “that the Lord would deliver the Psalmist,” is here based on the consideration, “that the Lord will deliver him for His name’s sake.”

Verses 4-5

Ver. 4. Thou wilt lead me out of the net which they laid for me, for Thou art my strength. Ver. 5. Into Thine hand I commit my spirit: Thou redeemest me, God of truth. The Preterite, פדיתה , is to be taken in the prophetic sense, as expressive of confident hope, and stands like the Preterite in the ( Psalms 31:7) 7th and ( Psalms 31:8) 8th verses. The basis of this confidence is pointed out in the designation of God as the God of truth: “God of truth” corresponds to “my strength,” in the preceding verse. That God is a God of truth, affords security for deliverance, inasmuch as He has revealed Himself in His word as the righteous rewarder; so that He would not be acting in accordance with truth, were He not to help.

Our Lord uttered on the cross the words of the first half of the verse before us; and this circumstance led many of the old expositors to apply the whole Psalm directly to the Messiah. Huss repeated frequently on the way to the stake the words: “Into Thine hands I commend my spirit: Thou hast redeemed me, my Lord Jesus, God of truth.”

Verse 6

Ver. 6. I hate those who regard lying vanities, and I trust in the Lord. The Psalmist had in the preceding verse rested his hope of deliverance on Jehovah—the God of truth. In the verse before us he expands this thought. He does not, like the ungodly world, which he hates, put his trust in deceitful vanities, in idols, which cannot afford the assistance which they promise to their votaries: he places his trust in the Lord, the I AM, the God of truth, who performs what He promises; and therefore he is sure of deliverance. The emphasis does not lie on the trust, but on the object of the trust. Many expositors substitute שׂ?ָ?נֵ?אתָ? , “Thou hatest,” instead of שׂ?ָ?נֵ?אתִ?י ; but the sense does not suit the connection, and Psalms 16:4 and Psalms 26:5 are in favour of the first person. שמר , in the sense of, “to wait upon anything,” occurs in Hosea 4:10, and Zechariah 11:11. הבלים , “vanities,” is applied to idols in Deuteronomy 32:21, in parallelism with לא אל : and also in Jonah 2:9; Jeremiah 10:3, Jeremiah 10:15, Jeremiah 10:19. That it refers here primarily to idols in the proper sense, is evident from comparing Psalms 16:2-5. The remark of Calvin, however, is substantially perfectly correct: “All those vain hopes which we invent for ourselves, and which withdraw our trust from God, David calls vanities, and even vanities of nothingness or of lies, because they delude and deceive us, though they feed us for a long while with their mighty boastings.” הבלים stands in opposition to יהוה of the preceding verse—the I AM, the pure and absolute entity, in opposition to the nonentity; and שוא , “the lie,” is opposed to אמת , “the truth.” They are in themselves nothing, and, on this account, they are deceitful to all those who place their hope in them. ואני , on which many have stumbled, is to be explained by considering the words, “I hate, etc.,” as equivalent to “Those whom I hate, etc.” Jo. Arnd remarks “The soul remains with that on which it depends, on which it places its hope, where it seeks comfort and rest, with which it is united. Is thy soul united with any earthly thing, has it conceived an affection for it, does it depend on it? Woe to thy poor soul, it will remain where its hope is. Therefore look well to what it is that thy soul is depending on.”

Verse 7

Ver. 7. I will be glad, and rejoice in Thy goodness, Thou who seest my trouble, who knowest the necessity of my soul. The sufferer sees, with the eye of faith, the deliverance for which he hopes already present,—the prayer with which the paragraph begins is based on hope, and the hope soon passes on to confidence,—and exhorts himself, now that God had performed His part, to render Him joyful thanks. The exposition of Michaelis and others, “Let me give thanks,” “Give me, by delivering me, occasion to render thanks,” is confuted by the Preterites.

The seeing is not without meaning. When God sees the misery of His people, He also helps them. ידע with ב is used of a knowledge which dwells with strong emotion (in this case, that of love) upon its object: compare Job 25:15. The exposition of Luther, “Thou knowest my soul in trouble,” which has been again brought into notice by Stier, is negatived by passages such as Genesis 42:21, where צרת נפש already occurs, and Psalms 25:17.

Verse 8

Ver. 8. And Thou dost not give me over into the hand of my enemy; Thou settest my feet in a large room. “To shut up into the hand,” is to give over into the power, in such a way that there can be no deliverance. The phrase is made use of by David, 1 Samuel 23:11. Compare 1 Samuel 26:8, 1 Samuel 24:19. On the second clause, compare Psalms 18:19.

There follows now the second division ( Psalms 31:9-18), in which the Psalmist, in the spirit of heartfelt trust in the helping grace of God, to which, after much exertion, he had attained, proceeds, first, to describe at length his trouble ( Psalms 31:9-13), and, second, to pray for deliverance ( Psalms 31:14-18).

Verse 9

Ver. 9. Lord, be merciful unto me, for I am hard pressed; mine eye is decayed because of vexation, my soul and my body. Compare Psalms 6:7. We have already seen at this passage, and at Psalms 10:14, that כעס does not signify grief, but vexation or indignation, especially at the unrighteous conduct of enemies.

Verse 10

Ver. 10. For my life is spent with grief, and my years with sighing; my strength is broken through my iniquity, and my bones are consumed. The expressions, “in grief,” and “in sighing,” are to be explained from the effect being conceived as resting in its cause. The sense is, “my constant pain, my continual sighing, wear me out before the time, end my life, shorten my years.” כלה is “to waste away,” “I to tend towards dissolution.” כשל is in many places “to stumble” “to sink from weakness:” compare, for example, Psalms 109:24. It is applied here to sinking, broken strength. Many of the expositors are altogether at sea in their efforts to explain, “through my iniquity:” it was not the guilt of the Psalmist, say they, but the wickedness of his enemies, that had involved him in suffering; he appeals to the justice of God ( Psalms 31:1), and represents himself as an upright and pious man, suffering innocently. They therefore explain the term, “through my suffering.” But עון is always “iniquity,” and never “suffering,” such as befalls an innocent man, nor even “punishment.” The wickedness of enemies, and the guilt of the Psalmist, co-exist as causes that have brought on his distress: the Lord, on account of his guilt, has given power to the malice of his enemies to injure him. Neither are the guilt of the Psalmist and his own righteousness inconsistent with each other: he was a righteous man in regard to the prevailing tendency of his life; but this was quite compatible with the existence of manifold sins of infirmity, which rendered it necessary that he should be purified by the cross. The righteousness of God may have brought on the Psalmist’s suffering; but that need not prevent the Psalmist from hoping that the same righteousness will effect his deliverance. Sins of infirmity call for punishment, not destruction; and it is that this, which the Psalmist finds to be already near, may be averted, that he appeals to the righteousness of God. Finally, the Psalmist might be innocent in reference to his enemies, and might, nevertheless, be given over to suffering by God on account of his guilt. It is, moreover, altogether impossible for us to keep out of view the guilt as the cause of the suffering, inasmuch as, according to the teaching of Scripture, every suffering is, and must be, a punishment, since God is just. To recognise in our sufferings a righteous retribution, is the prime condition of the hope of deliverance: he only who can say with the heart, “My strength is broken through mine iniquity,” will be able to utter with inward truth the prayer, “Deliver me for Thy righteousness’ sake.” The case of Job affords a remarkable illustration of this. His despair of a prosperous issue to his sufferings arose solely from that lack of a knowledge of sin, which rendered it impossible for him to reconcile his experience with the righteousness of God. The same point, which is merely hinted at here, occupies the foreground in other similar Psalms, as, for example, the (Psalms 38) 38th. The bones are mentioned as the seat of strength. Very severe pain penetrates the bones and the marrow, and renders the whole man thoroughly feeble.

Verse 11

Ver. 11. On account of mine enemies I have become a reproach, and even to my neighbours very much, and an object of aversion to my acquaintances; those who see me in the street flee from me. The Psalmist complains of the loss of his reputation, which, to a man who feels himself deserted by God, is altogether insupportable, and even to those in fellowship with God, is very difficult to be borne. Calvin: “He says the multitude of his enemies have gained over almost the whole people to their side, and therefore even amongst his friends and acquaintances he has been covered with disgrace: in these circumstances, public opinion carries away our souls like. a mighty hurricane.” Jo. Arnd: “It cannot be worse with us than when we are so overwhelmed with lies and slanders that we come to be utterly despised, so that people are ashamed of us and shun us, and it is reckoned disreputable to associate with us, and even our intimate friends forsake us. This was the case in a remarkable manner at the crucifixion of our Lord: His friends stood afar off; for had they come near, they would have been recognised as connected with Him. It is a piece of the curse, a portion of the poison, and one of the most murderous blows, of the devil, so to slander a man that he is looked upon as an abomination and a curse.” The groundwork of this description is to be found in the painful trial which David experienced during the persecution of Saul. The מן is causal: “on account of,” “the reproach arises from my enemies.” The Psalmist first says in general, “I have become a reproach,” and then mentions particularly those whose contempt he felt peculiarly to be painful, “and (particularly, I have become a reproach to my neighbours) very much—in a high degree.” Those who see me in the street, etc. Not only will no one associate with me under the same roof, or hold confiding intercourse with me, every one flees from me as soon as I am seen in the streets.

Verse 12

Ver. 12. I am forgotten in the heart like a dead man; I have become like a broken vessel. מלב is, properly, out of the heart. On “a broken vessel,” the Berleb. Bib. remarks: “which is good for nothing, which can be made no use of, cannot be made whole again, for which no one cares, and the fragments of which are thrown away.” That this last clause refers not only to the contempt, but also, in general, to the completely comfortless condition of the Psalmist, is evident from the “for” with which the next verse opens.

Verse 13

Ver. 13. For I hear the slander of many; fear is on every side: when they take counsel together against me, they devise to take away my life. The sufferer here assigns the basis of the clause, “I am like a broken vessel.” The thought of the slanderings of the enemies is naturally followed by that of their acts of persecution: “fear is on every side,” etc. In order to be able to perpetrate these without hindrance, they devised their slanders. They withdrew public sympathy from their victim by covering him with disgrace, that they might then be able to sacrifice him undisturbed and unpunished. On הוסד יחד compare Psalms 2:2. The representation of the trouble closes with intimating that the enemies were preparing to make a determined onset against the life of the sufferer. If this be the case, God, as was brought prominently forward in the first part, must, as sure as He is the Psalmist’s God, put forth His helping hand without delay: delay is dangerous; not to help now, is the same thing as not to help at all.

Verse 14

Ver. 14. And I trust in Thee, O Lord; I say, “Thou art my God.” Calvin, by the following remark, removes the apparent contradiction between the confidence in God expressed here, and the complaints uttered in the previous verses:—”He was indeed sunk in the darkness of sorrow and in dreadful affliction, yet the hidden light of faith still glimmered inwardly in his heart; he sighed under his heavy load of trial, yet he still had strength left to call upon God.” On “Thou art my God,” he remarks: “There is nothing more difficult, when we see our faith despised by the whole world, than to direct our language to God alone, and to rest on the testimony of our conscience that He is our God.’“

Verse 15

Ver. 15. My times are in Thine hand: deliver me from the hands of my enemies, and from my persecutors. עתים never signifies fate, but always times. The Psalmist affirms that the times, with their sufferings and joys (comp. 1 Chronicles 29:30), are in the hand of God, and that it requires only a nod from Him to transform the evil into good; while he rises on the wings of faith above the visible world, even after no such change appeared any longer possible.

Verse 16

Ver. 16. Make Thy face to shine upon Thy servant; deliver me through Thy goodness. On the last clause, which refers to Numbers 6:25, compare at Psalms 4:6. The words, “upon Thy servant,” contain the basis of the prayer. God cannot do otherwise than manifest Himself as gracious to His servant.

Verse 17

Ver. 17. Lord, let me not be put to shame, for I call upon Thee: may the wicked be put to shame, and be silent in shed. “For I call upon Thee,” corresponds to “in Thee, O Lord, do I put my trust,” at the beginning of the Psalm. The “calling” is noticed merely so far as it is an act of “trust.” Jo. Arnd: “The beloved prophet puts God in remembrance of His promise, that He will hear and help those who call upon Him with heartfelt confidence. ‘I call upon Thee,’ he says, ‘therefore let me not be put to shame.’ Whoever can hold fast by this hope, cannot be put to shame by God: His promises, and even He Himself, must sooner be put to shame.” The contrast between the Psalmist, who calls upon God, and the wicked, shows, on the one hand, that not to call upon God is an infallible mark of the wicked; and, on the other hand, that calling upon God thrives only on the soil of a pure heart. The wicked are not the enemies of the Psalmist, the enemies only belong to the wicked; they are not wicked because they are enemies, but enemies because they are wicked:—let me not be ashamed (and in me all the righteous); may those rather, who deserve it, be ashamed, even the wicked, and among them, my enemies. The following verse renders it evident that “may they be silent,” is equivalent to “may they be struck dumb,” and that the expression forms the contrast to the blustering noise of the wicked. Jo. Arnd: “May death and sheol stop their mouth, so that they may not have it in their power to revile and slander any more.” The לשאול , properly “ to sheol,” indicates that their silence belongs to sheol, that it originates from their abode in it—the noiseless kingdom of the dead.

Verse 18

Ver. 18. May the lying lips be put to silence, which speak recklessly against the righteous man, in pride and contempt. Compare Psalms 31:13. The lying lips are brought to silence by the destruction of the wicked slanderers.

There follows now the third part, the hearing of the prayer ( Psalms 31:19-21).

Verse 19

Ver. 19. How great is Thy goodness which Thou hast laid up for them who fear Thee, which Thou manifestest to them that trust in Thee, before the sons of men. The sufferer, after he had obtained inwardly the assurance of being heard, first praises in general ( Psalms 31:19-20) the goodness of God towards His own people, and next sets forth ( Psalms 31:21) the personal experience which had given him occasion thus to praise God. In the first clause, the goodness of God, which had been enjoyed by the Psalmist in rich abundance on behalf of the Lord’s people, appears under the emblem of a treasure which He has laid up for them. Those interpreters who cannot see their way through the abbreviated comparison, the force of which is, “which in rich fulness, like a hoarded treasure, is present for those who are Thine,” are inclined to substitute “possessions” instead of “goodness.” But תוב יהוה means always the goodness of the Lord (compare at Psalms 27:13); and that this signification is to be retained here, is obvious from the expression, Psalms 36:7, “How precious is Thy love!” הסדך . Jo. Arnd: “Oh! whoever heartily trusts in God with lively stedfast hope, possesses God, with all His treasures of grace, with all His goodness, and love, and friendship. God gives Himself to those as their own, who give themselves to Him and trust in Him. Whoever gives to God his whole heart, receives in return from God His whole heart, with all its goodness and felicity.”

Arnd expounds correctly, “before the sons of men:” “so that every one, friend and foe, must say that it is a work of God. Thus were the faith and prayer of Hezekiah made known to the whole world, when the sun went back: thus was it also with the faith and prayer of Daniel and the three men in the fiery furnace. Who would have thought that God would have had such goodness among His secret treasures to manifest to His people! Such goodness has He laid up in His treasures for you and for me, if we trust in Him.” Luther and others, in violation of the accents, translate: “who trust in Thee before the people.” But, in opposition to this view, there must be urged the reference, as noticed by Arnd, in which “before the sons of men” stands to צפנת . Besides, the expression, “to trust in God before the sons of men,” never occurs, and indeed can scarcely occur; whereas repeated and emphatic mention is made of the fact, that the grace which God manifests towards His own people is visible to the whole world, and specially to their enemies: comp. Psalms 23:5.

Verse 20

Ver. 20. Thou hidest them in the secret of Thy presence from every man’s league: Thou concealest them in a pavilion from the strife of tongues. In the first clause, the regard of God for His people, His favour appears as a place of resort, which He provides for them: compare “make Thy face to shine upon Thy servant,” Psalms 31:16. The term רכם , which occurs in no other passage, is from רכם , “to bind,” and signifies “a bond,” “a confederation:” compare, “while they took counsel together against me,” Psalms 31:13. “The slander of many,” in that verse, corresponds to “the strife of tongues,” in the verse before us. The “pavilion,” in which God conceals His people, is a spiritual one, and there is no need for supplying the כ . Arnd “This our beloved God does secretly, so that no human eyes may or can see; and the ungodly do not know that a believer is, in God, and in the presence of God, so well protected, that no reproach or contempt, and no quarrelsome tongues can do him any harm.” Psalms 27:5 is parallel.

Verse 21

Ver. 21. Praised be God, for He bath showed me wonderful goodness in a strong city. Arnd is short and good: “The strong city is God Himself, and His powerful and gracious protection, in which we are even more secure than in a strong city:” Psalms 46. The Psalmist had already prayed ( Psalms 31:2) that God would be to him a stronghold on a high mountain. He now sees this prayer fulfilled. Psalms 31:22 corresponds to Psalms 31:1, in the same way as the verse before us corresponds to Psalms 31:2,—the last of the second decade to the first of the first.

There follows in Psalms 31:22 the conclusion, which shortly recapitulates the whole. And I said in my rapid flight, “I am torn away from Thine eyes;” but Thou heardest the voice of my prayer when I cried to Thee. חפן always means to hasten from fear: compare especially 1 Samuel 23:26. Here it is used figuratively: the dejected man, who looks upon his case as lost, appears like one in a trembling haste. The word shows us how much of anxiety and despondency lies concealed under the apparently strong and unwavering faith which met us at the beginning of the Psalm. נגזר , with which נגרן evidently agrees in signification (compare Psalms 88:8), always signifies to be cut off, to be rooted out, and never to be shut out. נגרזתי denotes irremediable destruction, death,—compare, “they think to take my life,” Psalms 31:13, and נגזר מארץ חיים “he was rooted out of the land of the living,” Isaiah 53:8. There can be no reason drawn from the appended words, “from Thine eyes,” for forcing on נגרז a meaning foreign to the term. The man who is rooted out, who has descended to the kingdom of the dead, is at the same time removed from the eye of God, that is, is no longer the object of the delivering grace of God: compare Isaiah 38:11, where Hezekiah says, “I said, I shall not see the Lord in the land of the living.” The voice of supplication is not “the supplicating voice;” but תחנונים are the proper objects of answer, and the “voice” is added only because it is the object of the bodily hearing: the sound, the call of my supplicatory complaint.

After the Psalmist had ended matters with God, he turns round to his brethren in the faith, for the purpose of setting before them the lesson to be drawn from the great drama which had been acted before their eyes.

Verse 23

Ver. 23. Love ye the Lord, all ye His saints: the Lord keepeth faith, and plentifully rewardeth him who acteth with haughtiness. The exhortation to love the Lord is followed by the basis on which it is made to rest, “ for the Lord keepeth faith.” After “the Lord keepeth faith,” we must supply, “towards His saints;” and this supplied clause finds its opposite in “acteth with haughtiness.” There is no reason for translating, “the Lord preserveth the faithful,”—נצר does occur in the sense of “to hold,” “to observe,” as, for example, Exodus 34:7, and Isaiah 26:3,—and, on the other side, there is no clear proof of אמונים being used as an adjective. Compare at Psalms 12:1. על יתר is, properly, “superabundantly,” “plentifully.

Verse 24

Ver. 24. Be ye strong, and may He strengthen the heart of all of you who trust in the Lord. Compare at Psalms 27:14.