Paraphrase Upon the Books of the Psalms, Book 1 · Psalm 9
The Ninth Psalm.
TO the chief Musitian upon‖or the death of the Champion a.Muth-Labben, A Psalm of David.
Paraphrase. The ninth Psalm is a solemn thanksgiving for Gods deliverances, and by the title may be thought to reflect on the death of Goliah of Gath, the great Champion of the Philistims, vanquisht and kill'd by David; but the Psalm made some space afterwards, when the Arke was placed in Sion, and the Philistims were utterly destroyed, v. 6. and yet in some other time of distresse, v. 13. and of absence from Sion, v. 14. and committed to the prefect of his Musick.
1. I will praise thee, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will shew forth all thy marvelous works.
O Lord of all power and mercy, which art pleased to interpose thy omnipotence for me, and thereby to inable thy feeble servant to passe through many great difficulties, I doe with all the devotion of my soul acknowledge and proclaim this, and all other thy great mercies.
2. I will be glad and†exult, leap for joy foreign Lxxii. exultabo. Lat. Syr. Arab. Aeth. rejoyce in thee; I will sing praises to thy name, O thou most Highest.
This is matter of infinite joy, and transporting delight unto me, without the least reflection on my selfe, (who am meer nothing) to magnifie thy sublime and most powerfull Majesty, and attribute all my successes unto thee.
3. When mine enemies are turned back, they shallb. †be galled, or lamedfall and perish‖from thy face, or sight foreign at thy presence.
By thee are our enemies put to flight and flying they meet with gall-traps in their way, and so are lamed, overtaken, and killed in the pursuit. (This befell the Philistims on the discomfiture of their proud Champion. 1 Sam. xvii. 51, 52.) And to thee only is it to be ascribed; 'tis thy Majesty that hath done the whole worke intirely for us: thou foughtest against them, and thereby they were thus worsted, put to flight, and destroyed.
4. For thou hast†pleaded foreign See note on Psalm cxxxii. 2. maintained my right and my cause; thou sattest in the throne judging right.
When in the duel between that Champion and me, and so in many other battels with my enemies, the cause was committed to thy sacred judgment, thou we…t pleased to take my part, to defend me, and to judge on my side, and with perfect justice to plead, and decide the controversie betwixt us, and give the victory to thy servant.
5. Thou hast rebuked the heathen, thou hast destroyed the wicked, thou hast put out their name for ever and ever.
By the death of the‖foreign the wicked Goliah; Chald. impious prosane Goliah the Philistims Champion, thou hast put their whole host to slight, and made this victory a foundation of utter extirpation to that nation of the*foreign the peoples of the Philistims, Chald. Philistims.
6. O thou enemy,c. destructions are‖consummate to the end, or for ever. come to a perpetuall end, and thou hast†extirpated foreign destroyed cities, the memorial is perished with them.
They are now finally destroyed, their cities rased to the ground, and (unless it be in the stories of their ruine) no remainders of them discernable: and all this must be attributed to thee, O Lord.
7. d.‖And the Lord shall endure for ever, he shall fit, he hath—But the Lord shall indure for ever: he hath prepared his throne for judgment.
A signal evidence of thy power and immutability, of thy sitting in heaven as on a throne, or tribunal of judicature.
8. And he shall judge the world in righteousnesse; he shall minister judgment to the people in uprightnesse.
From whence thou shalt from time to time dispense and administer, and dispose of all things here below, with all exact justice and uprightnesse.
9. The Lord also will be a sure refuge for the oppressed, a refuge*for seasons, or, opportunities, in distresse. foreign, Lxxii. in opportunitatibus, in tribulatione, Lat. in times of trouble.
And this as to the punishing of the proud obdurate oppressor, so to the seasonable support of all that are not able to relieve themselves; when their tribulations, and so their exigences, are greatest, then have they in thee a sure sanctuary, to which they may opportunely resort, and be confident to receive relief from thee.
10. And they that know thy name, will put their trust in thee: for thou, Lord, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.
And accordingly all that know any thing of religion, that have either learne from others, or experimented in themselves these thy faithful all-righteous dispensations, in the oeconomy of the world, those glories of thine, resulting from the conjuncture of all thy attributes, of power, and justice, and wisdome, and mercy, &c. will thereby be firmely grounded in their trusts and reliances on thee, (without applying themselves to any of the sinfull aids and policies of the world for succour) laying this up for an anchor of hope, that God never forsooke or failed any pious man in his distress, that by prayer and faith made his humble and constant applications to him.
11. Sing praises to the Lord, which dwelleth in Sion; declare among the people his doings.
Let us therefore all joyne in magnifying the power and mercy of God, and to that end assemble to the sanctuary, where he is pleased to presentiate himselfe, giving all men knowledge of the‖his mi… cles. Arab. wonderfull acts he hath wrought for us.
12. When he maketh inquisition for blood, he remembreth them: he forgetteth not the cry of the†afflicted, foreign humble.
The blood of humble, pious, helplesse men, that is shed by oppressors, hath a cry that goes up to heaven, Gen. iv. 19. and is most pretious with God: he will never suffer it to goe unpunisht, but will act severe revenges for it; pursue and finde out the guilty persons, and poure his plagues upon them.
13. Have mercy upon me, O Lord: consider my‖affliction, or, oppression from my enemies foreign trouble which I suffer of them that hate me, thou that liftest me up from the gates of death.
On these grounds I continue to make my addresses to thee, O Lord, beseeching thee to behold in mercy the low and afflicted condition of thy servant at this time; and as thou are wont to interpose thy seasonable reliefs, when there is most need of them, to raise those that are brought lowest, so to reveale thy selfe to me opportunely at this present.
14. That I may shew forth all thy praise in the gates ofe. the daughter of Sion: I will rejoyce in thy salvation.
That so I may have continual matter of thanksgiving to pay thee, when I enter into the assembly, in the midst of the inhabitants of Sion, and triumphantly rejoyce, and blesse thee for thy deliverance afforded me.
15. The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made; in the net which they bid is their own foot taken.
The evil machinations of Godless men bring nothing but certain ruine on them: the mischief that they designe to others, falls constantly on themselves.
16. The Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands.‖See note on Ps. iii. 6. Higgaion, Selah.
And this is a notorious act of Gods righteous judgment on them, that their acts and attempts of hurting others are all converted to their own ruine.
17. The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.
And in summe, that all that forsake and despise God, and refuse to enter into*foreign the fear or worship of God, Chald. his service, or having entred apostatize from him, shall, whole nations together, be utterly and finally destroyed.
18. For the needy shall not alway be forgotten; the expectation of the†oppresse foreign poor shall not perish for ever.
For though God for a while permit his meek and obedient servants to be opprest, and triumpht over, and in the eye of the world to be forgotten, forsaken, and perish; yet if they constantly adhere to him, and contentedly wait his leisure, without flying for relief to any unlawful means, 'tis certain he will at last return to them, and rescue them out of the oppressors hands.
19. Arise, O Lord, let not man prevail; let the heathen be judged in thy sight.
On these grounds, O Lord, I have now all confidence to fly, and pray to thee, that thou wilt not permit‖foreign the son of wickedman Chaldee. wicked men any longer to prosper and be victorious, but that thou wilt interpose thine own just hand of vengeance,
20. ‖or, set them a razor.Put them inf. fear, O Lord, that the Nations may know themselves to be but men.
To chastise them sharply and subdue them; that by this means they and all other presumptuous sinners may be humbled, and instructed, brought to a sight of themselves, and a fear of thee, and thy judgments.
Annotations on Psalm IX.
Tit. Muth-Labben] The title of this Psalm (as of the former) hath been matter of much question and uncertainty, in both parts of it, foreign,foreign and foreign For the former, many of the learned Hebrews incline to read it, as one word, foreign. So Abu Walid, who saith that, perhaps, from that notion of the word, wherein it signifies occultari, it might be a certain way, or kinde of still, hidden, or low Musick or Melody. And so the Jewish Arabick Translator interprets it, an hidden low slender tune. To this the LXXII agree, who rendring it foreign, appear to have read it foreign in one word, and either foreign before it, or else supplying the want of that praeposition by foreign.foreign Then for Labben, the Jewish-Arabick translator would have it to be from Ben, the name of one of the Praefects of Musick, mentioned 1 Chron. xv. 18. as if the Psalm were for Ben, or those belonging to Ben, to sing. And thus, it seems, Kimchi's father took it. To this interpretation that place in the Chronicles seems somewhat favourable, where, as v. 18. of those of the second degree are reckoned Zachariah, Ben, Jaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Ʋnni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maasiah, &c. so ver. 20. eight of the same persons are repeted again (which number must reasonably be supposed to contain all the rest) as singers to sound with Psalteryes on Alamoth, where the Hebrew foreign is reteined by the Lxxii. foreign, and most probably signifies the name of a tune known by that title: and so indeed‖on Ps. 3. Kimchi among the known tunes of the Hebrews names Alamoth for one. And so this is no improbable account of this title. Yet in a matter where there is not ground for any more then conjecture, it may not be amisse to set down some other descants. First then, it will be found no news, for the antient interpreters to put into one, those words which were, and ought certainly to be divided in the Hebrew. An example we have in this very particular, Psal. xlviii. he shall be our guide foreign unto death. The Chaldee render, as if it were one word, foreign youth, in the daies of our youth: where yet the Masorites read in two words foreign till death; and so there the LXXII. render it in sense, though not in words, foreign for ever, (for by that they might more probably express foreign till death, than be thought to have read foreign secula, as some learned men conjecture.) And thus Kimchi reports of his father, that in his opinion Almuth were two words, yet to be read as one. And if they were two, [foreign upon the death] then all the difficulty will be, what is meant by foreign foreignLabben. That some of the Hebrews will have read by way of Anagramme backward foreign as if it were on the death of Nabal: but that sure is but phansy, though I see it taken up by a very learned man. The LXXII. render it foreign of the son, simply: And some account may be given of that, not from those that will understand it of the death of Christ, the Son by way of eminence, but in a far different sense, so as to understand it of one whose father was not known; in which notion the Latine conceiving foreign 1 Sam. xvii. 4. to be literally [a man, or one of the sons] have rendred it vir spurius, a bastard. And though the LXXII there read in a distant style foreign, a mighty or strong man, a gyant; yet I suppose this is but consequent to the same notion. For it is by the Hebrews observed from Gen. vi. 2. and 4. that the gyants, i. e. great or mighty men, were begotten by those unlawful conjunctions or promiscuous use of women, and so generally lived without observation of any laws of chastity, or marriage, (which is the meaning of corruption and violence v. 11.) and so might well be thought to be meant by that phrase [men of the sons] as that signifies a spurious offspring, whose father is not known (as generally 'tis observable of any gyant in Scripture, that he hath no other extraction taken notice of, but either that he is a son, or of the sons of the gyant, 1 Chron. xx. 4. and 6. or a brother of such a man, as of Goliah v, 5.) somewhat like this we finde ii Sam. xxi. 16. where Ishbibenob is said to be of the sons of the gyant, and in the Chaldee foreign of the sons of the strong man, without naming any father. And it is not improbable that the name it selfe Ishbibenob, was a light variation from that phrase foreign a man of the sons, as a known title for a gyant. And if this be appliable to foreign Labben here, then it may signifie the Gyant of Gath, Goliah and give ground of conjecture either that this Psalm was composed (though long after) in remembrance of, or reflexion on Goliah) his death, as the Chaldee v. 5. (and Kimchi, who is not of this minde for Labben, doth yet acknowledge the matter of the Psalm to agree to Goliah) or else was set to the tune of one that had been composed on that subject, for so Kimchi, as was said, among their known tunes, names Alamoth for one, which sure refers to this place. Besides this, one farther interpretation there is, of which the word may be deemed capable, and that concurring to the same …nd, to determine Goliah the person here referred to. For foreign foreignin Hebrew and Chaldee signifies inter or in medio, between, or in the middle, and may fitly denote a Champion, or Combatant, that stands forth, and is in the middle, to challenge the enemy. So 1 Sam. xvii. 4. when Goliah comes out to challenge the Israelitish host, it is, foreign foreignvir intermedius saith the interlinear, a man, or one in the midst came out from the camp of the Philistims; and the Chaldee in like manner foreign a strong man, or gyant, or champion from among them. And many like passages there are in Authors, of combatants standing forth betwixt the camps: So he whom Manlius Torquatus killed in Livie l. vii. This‖foreign Homer expresses in like style, by foreign in the midst, foreign. i. e. saith Eustathius p. 291. l. 23. foreign, betwixt the two armies, which, saith he, after Homers time, foreign or foreign, they expresse by one word, which signifies between the armies, and is saith he,†Ibid. p. 296. l. 20. afterward more fully described by foreign, there was a little plain or field about them. Agreeable to which is our style of duellers, challenging to the field. And in reference to this it may possibly be, that Goliah should be here noted by foreign, or simply foreign the man between, i. e. the Champion. And then foreign the death of this (here called Labben) will be no more than the plainer words express 1 Sam. xvii. 51. foreign that their strong man or champion was slain or dead: which the Lxxii render foreign, their mighty man (as v. 4. they rendred foreign the man between) and the Syriack, and Arabick, their gyant. Of him then this title may be understood; and the Psalm either have been composed for some anniversary commemoration of his death, or else set to the tune of some that was thus composed. But this is but conjecture in a matter of great uncertainty.
V. 3. Shall fall] The notion of foreign foreignhere is militarie, being spoken of enemies in warre, and it refers to those that either faint in a march, or are wounded in a battel, or especially that in flight meet with galltraps in their way, and so are galled and lamed, rendred unable to goe forward, and so sall, and become liable to all the ill chances of pursuits, and, as here, are overtaken, and perish in the sall. And thus 'tis by the Chaldee foreign being lightly varied from this) impingent, stumble or light on any galltrap, or other sort of scandall. But the LXXII. both here and in most other places render it foreign being weak, and so the Latine infirmabuntur, and the Arabick and Aethiopick all to the same sense; meaning no other then this of being galled, and so made unfit for progress: See Psal. xxvii. 2. foreign, they were weak, or wounded, or galled in their march, and then they fell, as a consequent of it. And thus must it be rendred here, not falling, but being gall'd and lame, praecedent to falling. And so in S. Paul Rom. xiv. 21. foreign, offended and made weak, are in the same sense for him that is gall'd and discouraged, or hindred in his Christian course. See note on 1 Cor. viii. b.
V. 6. Destructions] The Hebrew foreign foreignvaslatus est, hath many nouns derived from it: foreign desolation, destruction, and also a fight, or war; foreign a sword; and foreign a souldier. And accordingly the LXXII. render foreign here foreign swords, and so the Syriack, and Latine; the Arabick read it weapons, and the Chaldee paraphrase it by armies and castles. But the ordinary rendring is to be preferred (though the other need not be despised) and so the sense will be, that the Philistims destructions are completed to the uttermost; (as foreign to the end, by which the LXXII. render foreign here, is duly translated 1 Thess. ii. 16.) and then that which follows, and thou hast destroyed cities,] must not be applyed to the enemy, in the beginning of the verse, but to the God of Israel, who destroyed them. And thus the Jewish-Arabick translator applyes it. The enemies countrey desolation hath fully seised on, made a full end of it; The people of their cities thou hast cut off, till, or so that their memory is utterly perished.
In the end of the verse where the Hebrew hath foreign foreignwith them, the LXXII. it seems read foreign a noise or tumult, and so render it foreign with a sound; and so the Latine and Arabick and Aethiopick after them: But the Chaldee have foreign from them; and the Syriack leave it out as redundant, being conteined in foreign their memoriall, precedent.
V. 7. But the Lord] The rendring of this verse is best learnt from the Chaldee, who make three parts of it. 1. foreign foreigni. e. literally, And the Lord for ever, they render, The word of the Lord for ever, by way of Ellipsis, to be supplyed by addition of some verbe, is, or abideth for ever. 2. foreign foreignhe shall sit, which they paraphrase, his habitation in the highest heavens. 3. foreign foreign— he hath prepared his throne, or tribunal for justice. The two former of these the Lxxii confound, and put into one, and so the Syriack and Latine, and Arabick, and Aethiopick after them: but the more distinct reading, which the Chaldee follows, is most literal and full, and with reason to be preferred.
V. 14. Daughter of Sion] The word daughter, foreignapplyed to a city or nation, signifies the people or inhabitants of it, the city being as it were the parent from whence they spring; and accordingly the Chaldee here expresses it by foreign the assembly of Sion, from foreign and foreign congregavit.
V. 20. In fear] foreign foreignhere is by the LXXII. rendred foreign a Law-giver; and so the Syriack and vulgar and Aethiopick follow them, and the Arabick with a little change, a doctor or teacher of the Law, probably referring to foreign a doctor or teacher, coming regularly from foreign docuit. The Chaldee render it foreign fear, as if it were foreign foreignfrom foreign timuit. And so between these, the generality of interpreters is divided. If the former be accepted, the sence will well bear it, thus; Set them a teacher, an instructer, that, as it follows, they may know themselves to be but men, learn humility and piety by this means, and Gods judgements or punishments may be this teacher: as 1 Tim. 1 20. delivering to Satan to be buffeted, and afflicted by him, is foreign, that they may be taught not to blaspheme. If it be the second, then 'tis; Put them in fear — i. e. bring them to the acknowledgement and fear of thee, and that by thy punishments also. But 'tis sure the Hebrew foreign according to its punctation here signifies a Razor; so Jud. xiii. 5. foreign and a razor, foreign say the Chaldee, shall not come upon his head, and 1 Sam. i. 11. in like manner. Now this in the Prophetick style is frequently used for the execution of Gods vengeance: See Is. vii. 20. The Lord shall shave with a razor that is hired, even the King of Assyria, and Ezek. v. 1. take thee a barbers razor, thereby to signify Gods judgments upon Jerusalem. And this, and nothing but this, is the importance of the word, thus pointed; and then it will fitly be rendred, in prophetick dialect, set them, or thou wilt set them a razor, bring some sharp punishment upon them, that so they may know themselves to be but men.