Paraphrase Upon the Books of the Psalms, Book 3 · Psalm 75
The Seventy Fifth Psalm.
TO the chief Musitian, Altaschith, A Psalm or song of Asaph.
Paraphrase. The seventy fifth Psalm was composed by Asaph, to the tune known by the name Altaschith, (see note on Psal. lvii a.) praising God for all his wondrous acts of mercy, and of justice upon the enemies of his people, and was committed to the Praefect of the Musick.
1. Unto thee, O God, doe we give thanks, unto thee doe we give thanks;‖and neer is thy name to them that declare thy wondrous works. for that thy name is neer thy wondrous worksa. declare.
We bless and magnify thy mercies, O Lord, and again we bless and magnify them, and have all manner of inducement and obligation thus to doe, not only because we have received so many signal ingagements from thee, but especially because the performance of this duty of praise is so richly accepted and rewarded by thee, and thy power and providence ascertain'd to the present defense of all those that performe it faithfully, that wait on thee for thy aids, and sail not in acknowledging the receit of them.
2. When I shall‖take a fit time. receiveb. the congregation, I shall judge uprightly.
For God is a most upright judge, and if he doth a while delay the punishing of wicked men, and relieving the godly, that certainly is but an act of his wise disposal, to choose the fittest season for it, a time which in all respects is most agreeable; and then he will certainly interpose in mercy to the one, and just vengeance to the other.
3. The earth and all the inhabiters thereof†were melted foreign are dissolved, I bear up the pillars of it. Selah.
When the whole land was in a civil combustion, one part …s it were melted and dissolved from another, 'twas God alone that kept it from utter destruction, by preserving alive the pious men, who by their prayers and intercessions are wont to contend and prevail for averting of ruine, (see note b.) or supported it still upon the proper basis, and reestablisht David in his throne.
4. I said unto the fools, Deal not so foolishly, and to the wicked, Lift not up the horne.
5. Lift not up your horne on high, speak not with a stiffe neck.
Represt and brought down the wicked Rebells, that scofft at God and his anointed, and were o…stinately bent to exalt themselves in his ruine. These did God in his good time bring down and put to shame.
6. Forc. *neither from the East, nor West, nor desert of Mountainspromotion cometh neither from the East, nor from the West, nor from the South.
7. But God isd. the‖For Governour. Judge, he putteth down one, and setteth up another.
For indeed it is he only that can exalt or suppress, and no power on earth can properly be said to doe it, this is the priviledge and prerogative of the one supreme supereminent ruler of all the world; and in great justice he thus disposeth of this, as of all things here below, as he sees fittest (never suffering wicked men continually to prosper.)
8. For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red, it is full of mixture, and he poureth out of the same; but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them.
All that befalls either good or evill men comes certainly from God, who hath in his power judgments of the most direfull aloy, most fitly compared …o a cup of the strongest wine, with the addition of the most stupifying mixtures, myrthe &c (see note on Rev. xiv. 10. c.) and in the dispensing and pouring out of this, some drops may fall to the portion of godly men in this world, some afflictions for a time; but then for the wicked they must expect the bottome of the cup, the bitterest and most intolerable part of sufferings, every drop of those dregs of Gods wrath to be drunk up by them, in this life probably, but undoubtedly in another.
9. But I will declare for ever, I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.
As therefore it is my part not to faile to proclaim and bless the name of this God for ever, which hath so favourably owned the cause of his servants;
10. All the hornes of the wicked allso will I cut off, but the hornes of the righteous shall be exalted.
So I shall securely remit to him the taking h s own time to execute his judgements, to bring down the power of all his enemies, which he will certainly perform, cherishing, and at last promoting, those that adhere faithfully to his service.
Annotations on Psalm LXXV.
V. 1. Declare] The whole difficulty of this v. 1. seems to be best removed by rendring foreign foreignas a participle plural in the sense of the dative case, for then that will express to whom Gods name, i. e. his power is here said to be nigh, viz. foreign to them that declare (the Chaldee renders it foreign) thy wondrous works. Thus hath the learned Castellio rendred it, cujus praesens adest nomen tua narrantibus miracula. To thee will we give thanks whose name is present at hand (so foreign foreignsignifies) to them that shew forth thy miracles.
V. 2. Congregation] foreign foreign, from foreign condixit, signifies an appointed time or season, as well as place; and in that former sense 'tis most commonly used either for time in general, or in special for the foure seasons of the year, the months, the solemn feasts, &c. and to this sense of time, not place or congregation, the learned interpreters render it: foreign time, saith the Chaldee; foreign time, saith the Syriack; foreign the Lxxii. and tempus the Latine; and so the Arabick and Aethiopick, and the Interlinear statutum tempus; and Castellio, certum tempus: and then with foreign from foreign cepit, it may fitly signify the taking a fit season. And then follows the foreign I will judge rectitudes, understanding it of the Lord. That the speech belongeth to God, appears by the next verse, his establishing or supporting the pillars of the earth, preserving religious persons, who in the Hebrew dialect are frequently stiled pillars: so Maimonides de Idol: of Abraham that he was foreign the pillar of the world: so Gal. 11.9. those eminent Apostles, are called foreign pillars, and oft elsewhere: Which establishing and preserving of them (foreign say the Lxxii. I have set them firme and solid) can belong to none but God; and so in the following verses, till at length v. 7. 'tis expresly said, God is the judge, he putteth down one, and setteth up another. This is again observable v. 10. For as here v. 1. and 2. there is an alternation between the Psalmist and God, designed to be sung severally by several persons or chori, and so both in the first person, unto thee doe we give thanks, saith one, and when I — I shall judge according to right, saith the other, (foreign the words of God, saith Kimchi;) so again in the conclusion, I will declare, I will sing praises, saith one, and All the hornes of the wicked will I cut off, saith the other; to signify to us the certain answers we may expect from God: If we adhere to him and bless him, bear thankfully and patiently what he layes upon us, he will certainly espouse our cause, defend and secure us, judge rectitudes in one place, and cut off the horns of the wicked in the other, which is but the paraphrase of his judging rectitudes (i. e. the most perfect right judgments) here, which yet he oft defers to doe, till he finde a fitt time, either the time of wicked mens having filled up the measure of their sins, or a choise season when their oppressions grow high, and the godly are ready to sink under them, and then upon their flying to God in their trouble, he delivereth them out of their distress. Another rendring the former part of the verse is capable of, taking foreign foreignin the front in the notion of although, of which there are many instances. So Gen. xlvii. 14. foreign not for, but although Manasses was the first born, he laid his right hand on Ephraim. So Exod. xxxiv. 9. Let the Lord come among us foreign not for, but although it be a stiffnecked people. See Jos. xvii. 18. Dan. ix. 9. Ex. xiii. 17. Ps. xli. 5. Is. xii. 1. Ps. Lxxi. 15. And then foreign will be, though I take time, i. e. delay or make some stay, I will judge rectitudes; according to that of our Saviour Luk. xviii. 7. that God will avenge his elect, though he bear or stay long; and Habak. ii. 3. The vision is for an appointed time, the foreign here, though it tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come, it will not tarry. To which sence it may farther be observed, that foreign hath also the notion of buying, and then buying times, is a solemn phrase Dan. 11.9. for making delayes, from whence S. Paul hath foreign redeeming the time. Eph. v. 16.
V. 6. Promotion] That foreign foreignhere signifies mountains in the genitive plural, and so is governed of foreign from the desert preceding, is agreed by all the antients, and then it is to be rendred from the desert of the mountains, or the mountanous desert: so the Lxxii. foreign; the Latine, neque à desertis montibus, nor from the desert mountains, the Chaldee with some change, neither from the North of the deserts, nor from the South of the mountains; but the Syriack expressely, foreign nor from the desert of the mountains; and so the Interlinear also. And then the speech must be elliptical, and the supply of it fetcht either from the precedent verse, or else rather from the subsequent; and not be promotion only, by which some interpreters render foreign, as if it were the infinitive (from foreign exaltavit) exaltare; or exaltatio; but more fully pulling down; and setting up, thus, For neither from the East (so foreign literally, from the going out, signifies) nor from the West, nor from the desert of mountains, foreign &c. For God judgeth— Thus the Jewish Arab, Neither from the East, nor from the West, nor from the deserts and mountains cometh that unto you. The word foreign here alludes to the foreign ver. 7. and foreign ver. 5. On this verse the Rabbins have their changes. Kimchi's Father would have foreign to be custome or impost (from 1 Ki. x. 28.) foreign to be traffick (Ezek. xxvii. 14.) foreign to be eloquence (Cant. iv. 3.) the several wayes of preferment in the world. R. Obad. Gaon interprets foreign the rising of the starrs, foreign their setting, foreign the primum mobile (for so 'tis called) and so to refer to Astrologicall predictions, pretended from the horoscope. But David Kimchi himself having mentioned his Fathers descant, translates it literally, neither from the East, nor from the West, &c. i. e. it is not acquired by mans diligence in going hither and thither &c. and although he prefer the notion of exaltation, or promotion, yet he gives a note from R. Aba an antient Rabbin, that foreign in every other place of scripture but this, signifies mountains, And then why not in this also?
V. 7. Judge] The word foreign foreignsignifies somewhat more then an ordinary justiciary among us, for to such it scarcely belongs to bestow honours, and preferments at pleasure. It is the style whereby the Captains and managers of the wars of the people of Israel were styled, Gideon, and Samson &c. which, as the Roman Dictators, acted in an unlimited power. These were raised up by God, when the people were opprest, or captivated, to vindicate them to their antient liberties; and from hence the Latine Suffes and Suffetes is derived, qui summus Poenis magistratus est, 8. bell Pun.saith Livy, which was the supreme magistrate among the Carthaginians, and to these the managery of their warrs belonged, quod velut consulare imperium apud Carthaginenses erat, 10. bell. Pun.saith Livy, again, because the government of the Carthaginians, was as it were consular. And in this notion it is here attributed to God, as to judge rectitudes, punish and avenge them of their enemies v. 2. (the foreign here referring to the foreign there) so to subdue their oppressors here (as a Captain in warr) and restore to their countrey again.