Paraphrase Upon the Books of the Psalms, Book 5 · Psalm 120
The Hundred and Twentieth Psalm.
A Song a.of ‖ascents.Degrees. The hundred and twentieth is a prayer against calumniators and malicious persons, and a complaint of the infelicity of such companions. It seems to have been first formed by David, in relation to Doeg, 1 Sam. xxii. and to have been after made use of in relation to the†so the Syriack (see note a) and R. Kimchi (see note c) Captivity, and is called a Psalm of Ascents, because it was appointed to be sung by the Levites on some place of advantage, with elevation of voice.
1. IN my distress I cried unto the Lord, and he heard me.
Paraphrase. Blessed be the name of the Lord God, for all his mercies vouchsafed unto me: I was in great distress, and accordingly addrest my selfe to God for his relief, and he was pleased to give eare unto me.
2. Deliver my soule, O Lord, from lying lips, and from a deceitfull tongue.
And this was the summe of my prayer; O blessed Lord, I am fallen into the midst of calumniators and malicious false persons, who by treachery and deceit are resolved to destroy me, if thou Lord be not graciously pleased to deliver me out of their hands.
3. b.What shall*a false tongue give thee, or what shall it adde to thee? be given unto thee, or what shall be done unto thee, thou false tongue?
All the good that is to be had by such company, is to be wounded incurably, and mischieved by them.
4. Sharpe arrowes of the mighty with coals of juniper.
Their tongues are as piercing as darts red hot in a flout souldiers hands, no armour of innocence is fence against them.
5. Woe is me that I sojourne‖long, I inc. Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar.
6. My soule hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace.
O what an infelicity and sad condition it is to be forced to spend so much time, as a stranger and sojourner, among such barbarous unhumane people, which are allwayes projecting mischief against me?
7. I am for peace, but when I speake, they are for warre.
Let my actions and my words be never so friendly and pacificatory; their malice is rather accended than slackened thereby. The deceitfullness of their own hearts infuseth jealousies into them, makes them suspect the meekness and friendliness of my behaviour to be but a stratageme of fraud and guile in me,
Annotations on Psalm CXX.
Tit. Degrees] The meaning of this title foreign foreigna Psalm of Ascents, from foreign to ascend, will I suppose best be learnt from Nehem. ix. 4, &c. There we finde foreign the ascent or scaffold or pulpit of the Levites, some place of advantage, whereon they stood when they chaunted out the formes of Praise. Thus we finde in the institution that the Levites were to stand, by Davids last words, to thank and praise the Lord morning and evening, 1 Chron. xxiii. 50. and this at the east or front of the altar, foreign over against it, say the Lxxii. 2 Chron. v. 12. (as before the Arke 1 Chron. xvi. 4.) i. e. probably at the East gate of the Temple, before the courts of the people; for so saith Maimonides Cele Hammikdosh, c. iii. that at both the gates of the mens and womens court, there was a scaffold or pulpit for the Levites, where they stood, twelve at least, to make one sound, to be heard in praising and thanking the Lord, 2 Chron. v. 13. So we see it practised in that place of Nehemiah, Jeshuah and Bani &c. standing up on that ascent cried with a loud voice unto the Lord their God, v. 4. and again Jeshuah and Kadmiel &c. said, stand up and bless the Lord your God for ever and ever, and blessed be thy glorious name— Here is a double ascent, 1. an advantage of ground, whether as on a scaffold, or desk, or pulpit, such as is wont to be set up for such purposes of publick reading, proclaiming, or other services; 2. an elevation of voice. From either or both of which, rather than from the xv. steps or stairs of the Temple, which the Talmudists have fansied, in compliance with the number of the xv. Psalms here so stiled, the Psalm which is there delivered is fitly stiled a Psalm of ascents. Accordingly the Jewish Arab rendereth it a Psalm of praise, with lifting up the voice, which Kimchi takes notice of, as the opinion of R. Saadiah. It may be here farther observed, that that passage in Nehemiah refers to the deliverance of that people out of the captivity of Babylon; and 'tis not improbable, this title may have some respect to that also, the returning of the captives to their own countrey being not unfitly stiled an ascent or coming up. Of this as Theodoret and Euthymius interpret, so 'tis certain the Syriack understand it, making the contents of this Psalm to be a prayer of the people deteined in Babel, and intitling the next a Psalm foreign of eduction, or ascent out of Babel, and so forward in the rest of the fifteen: and to that the Chaldee may be interpreted also, when it paraphrases it, the Psalm which was said foreign upon the ascent from the abyss, thereby resembling the depth of their bottomelesse misery in the captivity, (though 'tis not improbable, they might referr to the wilde Talmudical story of the rising up of the abyss at the building of the Temple, which with much adoe was at last conjujured down.) What is here said of this, is to be applied to the rest of the xv. Psalms, which carry the same title. Not that this and all the rest were first composed on occasion either of the delivery out of the captivity, or of the captivity it selfe; but that being formerly made by David or others, on some other occasion, they were then used, some in their thralldome, some upon their delivery, as they were proper, and thought applicable to some part of this occasion. Aben Ezra resolves it possible that it was no more than a Musical tone.
V. 3. Given to thee] The Hebrew reads foreign foreignwhat shall give to thee, the nominative case being reserved to the end of the verse foreign deceitfull tongue, thus, What shall a deceitfull or false tonge give thee? i. e. profit thee? and so again more explicitly, foreign and what shall the deceitfull tongue adde to thee? i. e. what advantage shall it bring thee? Thee, i. e. the person who converseth with such, i. e. the Psalmist here. Thus the Chaldee understood it, foreign &c. What shall the detractor give thee, or what shall the delator adde to thee by a false tongue? The Syriack more plainly, foreign, What shall deceitfull tongues give thee, or adde to thee? so the Jewish Arab, He shall say to him that hath it, what is that with thee, or that thou hast, and what shall a deceitfull tongue adde to thee? i. e. what shall a man gaine by such a conversation, by living among deceitfull malicious men? Even foreign foreignarrows of the strong man, the military man or gyant, such as men use in warr, on purpose to mischief, and so are foreign foreignvery sharpe, and not only so, but to make them enter the more certainly, and pierce the deeper, and burne together as they wound, they are heat red hot, and that in the scorchingst fire, such as is that which is made of the coals of Juniper, saith S. Hierome, of which‖Schindler in the word foreign others have affirmed, that being once on fire they will keep the fire a year together without going out. And so saith Kimchi foreign they are very hot and will not be quenched, who addes that these coals keep fire in them when they appear dead: and so indeed in nature, the coal that lasts long alive, must cast thick ashes about it (and then it will seem dead, the life not discovering it selfe through the ashes) otherwise the sulphurous parts, wherein fire consists, will presently get out. Thus is this instrument of the deceitfull persons punishment adapted to his sin, and is an emblem of him, the concealing hatred being as destructive as the long burning of it, the ashes, as the coals of Juniper. And so this question and answer being a poetical description of the mischief of such company, that which follows, v. 4. Woe is me that I sojourne, or dwell among such, doth exactly accord with it.
V. 5. Mesech] The Hebrew phrase foreign foreignwhich we render as if Mesech were the name of a place, seems best to be expounded v. 6. by foreign I have a long while dwelt, for so foreign, from foreign to draw or protract, seems to signify adverbially long. So the Lxxii. foreign, my sojourning is lengthened, to which as the Latine and Arabick, so the Syriack accord, foreign my perigrination is protracted, so Aquila foreign, I was a stranger a long time, and Symmachus foreign, I have protracted sojourning. Thus to protract and prolong are the same in all languages, and so is foreign frequently used in that sense of protracting, Prov. xiii. 12. Psal. xxxvi. 11. and Lxxxv. 6. and cix. 12. and oft elsewhere, from whence is foreign a space, and so here adverbially, or for foreign for a space, i. e. a long time. The Chaldee indeed take it here for a people, rendring foreign with the Asiaticks, and from them the latter Jews understand it of Tuscany, and so of Italie and the Roman Empire, as Kedar following they interpret of the Saracens, or Turks. But as all the other antient Interpreters depart from the Chaldee, so Kimchi hath receded from this invention of his fellow Jews, and renders the place, woe is me foreign that my captivity is very much lengthened, drawn out, or protracted. Should it be otherwise interpreted, the conjecture of the learned Bochart would be worth remembring, that foreign in Chaldee and Syriack signifies a skin, and so foreign in Hesychius out of Nicander, foreign a fleece or skin; from whence saith he, Mesech might be the name of a city, so called not from Mesech the son of Japhet, but from the skins with which the Arabes Scenitae covered their tents, mentioned in the end of the verse. But it is no less probable, that in the notion of skins, it should be here joyned with foreign tents, which were thus covered with skins; and if we deduce it from foreign to draw, it may signify a draw-wagon, or traha, and the barbarous nations that were not by agriculture fixt to one place, dwelt as well in their wagons as tents: either way it well agrees with Kedar, i. e. the progeny of Kedar, the son of Ishmael, Gen. xxv. 13. those barbarous people of Arabia, that were called Scenitae, because they continued in tents, without houses, and so the Chaldee reads it foreign the Tabernacles of the Arabians. To whom, as being a barbarous unhumane people, the Psalmist here compares those malicious deceitfull men among whom he dwells. If (because the time of consigning the Canon of Scripture, soon after the Captivity, will not permit it to be spoken literally) we shall interpret the Psalm prophetically to look upon Antiochus, the analogy would well hold, for he is in Scripture exprest as by Gog, so by Mesech, and described by Daniel as a flatterer, a speaker of lies, a worker of deceit, and forecaster of evil devices, &c. and then the foreign foreignenemies of peace, would be those sworn enemies of Jerusalem, both the inhabitants of Asia minor, and the confederate Arabians. The Jewish Arab reads, a people that is after the way or sect or manner of Mesech. David Kimchi, though in his Comment, as was said, he expound it of the protraction of his sojourning, yet in his Roots saith, it is the name of a nation mentioned in the Law, viz. Gen. x. 2.