Paraphrase Upon the Books of the Psalms, Book 1 · Psalm 5
The Fifth Psalme.
TO the‖Praefect for successive voices. chief Musitian upona. Nehiloth, A Psalm of David.
Paraphrase. This Fifth Psalm was indited by David on consideration of his many enemies, especially his undermining son Absalom, who by flattering the people, and slandering him, sought to get the Crown from him. And by him it was committed to the Master of his Musick to be sung by the whole Quire in parts, one voice following another.
1. Give eare to my words, O Lord,‖understād my sighing, or cry. consider myb. meditation.
O mercifull Lord, vouchsafe to hearken to my prayer, to weigh the groanings of my soul, and relieve my wants.
2. Hearken to the voice of my‖Supplication foreign Heb. foreign Chald. foreign. LXXII. Orationis. Lat. cry, my King and my God, for unto thee will I pray.
Thou art my King to defend, my God to vindicate the power, which thou hast communicated to me. To thee therefore it belongs to grant my requests, and all that remains for me, is to addresse them constantly and importunately to thee.
3. My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord, in the morning will I‖dispose or prepare, wait or stand ready for, or before thee, foreign Heb. foreign Chal. foreign. Lxxii. astabo tibi Lat. direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.
The first fruits and prime care of the day shall be to address and present my heart, and prayer before thee with my eyes fixt on heaven, after the mode of an earnest petitioner, that waits, and never means to move, till his requests are granted. And thou O Lord answerably wilt be pleased, I doubt not to make the same speed to receive that address of mine, to hearken to, and grant my prayer.
4. For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness, neither shall‖the wicked sojourn. evillc. dwell with thee.
Of this I have full confidence, when I consider how impossible 'tis for thee to savour rebellion or any sort of wickedness, such as mine enemies now practice against me, (‖foreign. Chr. Tom. 1. p. 542. l. 11. that is the part of false and Idol Gods, i. e. of Devils) or to abett, or indeed endure, or not oppose them that designe so great a wickedness. A stranger if he undertake not some degree of proselytisme, if he renounce not his Idolatry, is not permitted to abide, or sojourn, or even to be a slave among thy people. How much less then shall any wicked man be endured in thy presence?
5. The‖the mad, or proud foreign foolish shall not stand†before thy eyes foreign in thy sight, thou hatest all workers of iniquity.
The mad folly and presumption of these vainglorious vaunters of their own worth and excellencies, thou dost abhor even to behold, art so farre from allowing or favouring the boasts, or enterprises of such, that thou dost hate them perfectly, and so dost thou all others (whatsoever their language is) whose actions of uniforme obedience do not approve them to thee.
6. Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing, the Lord shall abhor the‖man of bloods and deceit foreign bloody and deceitful man.
Thy justice and patronage of the innocent, ingage thee to destroy the false and treacherous, which under fair pretenses maketh the soulest evils; He whose double property it is to be made up of†foreign. Pythag. mercy and fidelity, utterly detests that falsenesse and treachery, which is designed to the oppressing and shedding the blood of the guiltless.
7. But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy, in thy fear will I worship‖in the Palace of thy holines foreign toward thy holy Temple.
This therefore must ingage me by way of just returne to thy free and undeserved mercies, and the great and continual succession of them, in all my times of need, to make my frequent visits to that place where thou art pleased to prasentiate thy self, I mean the Tabernacle with the Arke of the Testimonie in it. And therein as in the Court and Palace of thy Sacred Majesty, to prostrate my soul before thee with all possible humility, care and reverence.
8. Lead me O Lord in thy righteousness because of my enemies, make thyd. way strait before my face.
And it shall be a speciall part of my request unto thee, O Lord, that by the conduct of thy grace I may be directed and assisted in keeping strictly close to all thy commands; that those that hate me most, and observe me most diligently, on purpose to get some advantage against me, may finde nothing to quarrel or accuse in me. To which end, Lord, do thou give me a clear sight of my duty, and incline my heart to walke exactly, and so acceptably before thee.
9. For there is no‖truth, rectitude foreign Heb. foreign lxxii. veritas vulg. lat. faithfulness in their mouth, their inward part is very wickedness, their throat is an open sepulchre, they †lyflatter with their tongue.
This I am most neerly concerned in, having so malitious treacherous eyes upon me, enemies that will not spare to forge falsities against me, that in their hearts meditate nothing but mischief, and when they open their mouths, 'tis as when a grave is digged or a pit laid open, or as when‖foreign as scheol, Chald. Paraph. the state of the dead is said to gape, only to swallow up and devour the most innocent, their tongues when they are softest, and most flattering, are full of all kinde of deceit.
10. ‖Hold them guilty foreign condemn, Chaldee, & Syr. judge them, lxxii. vulg. Arab. Aeth.Destroy thou them, O God, let them fall by their own counsels, cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions, for they have rebelled against thee.
This I am confident, thou wilt not suffer to goe unpunished, even in this life; Their own malitious projects shall betray and ruine themselves, instead of prospering against me, the more their designes of mischief are, the more multiplyed are their rebellions against God, and thereby will he be certainly provoked to eject and eradicate them.
11. But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoyce, let them ever shout for joy‖and thou shalt protect, overshadow, or dwell among them foreign Heb. foreign overshadow Chald. foreign dwell LXXII. habitabis Lat. and so Syr. Arab. Aeth. because thou desendest them, let them also that love thy name be joyfull in thee.
On the other side, all such as rely on God, that do their duty with faithfulnesse, and resort to his safeguard for their protection, shall never want cause of joy and exultation, his providence shall signally watch over them, and his presence secure them; And as love is a delightful affection, and never suffers them, that are possest with it, to be sad, in the presence, and mutual Returns of the beloved, so in a most eminent manner, the lovers of God, whose hearts are fixt on him, and their greatest pleasures placed in injoying the constant pledges of his love, shall never want matter of the most exuberant joy; so good a God will never fail to give them whatsoever they desire.
‖croun him foreign from foreign coronavit, foreign Chald. from foreign corona foreign Lxxii. and so Lat. Arab Aeth.12. For thou Lord wilt bless the righteous, with favour wilt thou † compass him as with a shield.
For thy promises, O God, have obliged thee to prosper the righteous, to reward, and crown his fidelity to thee with thy special kindness toward him, and then how can he want any other shield or protection, that hath the guard of thy favour, under which to secure himself?
Annotations on Psal. V.
Tit. Nehiloth] The word foreign being an foreign,foreign but this one time found in the whole Bible, we can but divine at the signification of it, having no certain guide to rely on for it. Lexicographers say 'tis an eminent Musical Instrument, and the word being of affinity both with foreign a torrent, or running river and with foreign a bee, it is by some deemed to have the name from the one or other, as imitating the murmurs of either of them: Some have derived it from foreign perforavit, and then it must signifie a hollow wind-instrument, Thus indeed foreign signifies a pipe, or flute, or timbrel, and the verb foreign to play on a pipe &c. but foreign is no where used in this sense. The regular way of deriving it and that which is allowed by Lexicographers, is from foreign haeres fuit, haereditate aut successione accepit, and is oft rendered by the Lxxii. foreign, dividing or distributing into parts, but most frequently foreign, succeeding to by inheritance. And in this notion it may possibly signifie a song or hymn divided to be sung in parts, as in Quires it is ordinary, one sort of voices succeeding where the other ends, and so dividing it betwixt them, taking it up one from the other, the Tenor from the Trebble and the like. That in this notion the Lxxii. understood it, is probable by their rendring it foreign for the inheritor, i. e. for that kinde of Musick that inherits, or takes up successively, one part of the quire from the other, and so the Latine, and Arabick, and Aethiopick, all which must be conceived to have rendred the phrase intelligibly, and yet 'twill be hard to assign any other sense of their rendring, [pro eâ quae haereditatem consequitur, and de haereditate] save this. And then the Chaldee's foreign to be sung on, or by the Quires, agrees very well with it also, one part of the Quire singing one verse, the other another, and so succeeding and taking up one from the other, and dividing it betwixt them, which is the obvious notation of foreign. And so this notion seems to agree to the sense of all the Antient Translators. But 'tis yet most probable, which Kimchi hath resolved on Psal. iii. that Nechiloth was the name of a tune; and then 'tis as probable, that this tune took its name from Heritage, or somewhat of that kinde, in the song that was first set to that tune, and so all the Antient rendrings will be salved by that means.
V. 1. Meditation] foreign from foreign gemuit, sonuit, foreignregularly signifies sighing or cry, not a loud sonorous voice, but such as complaints are made in; so Isa. xxxviii. 14. foreign I mourned, the Chaldee reads foreign I sighed, as a dove, and so the Lxxii. here render it foreign cry, and so the Latine and Aethiopick, and Arabick; And though it signifie also Metaphorically the speech not of the mouth, but of the heart, (foreign, saith‖Tom. 1. p. 541. l. 17. Chrysostome, not the lifting up of the voice, but the disposition of the minde, as when God said to Moses, Why cryest thou unto me? when he said nothing) and so is most frequently rendred foreign to meditate; yet when it is so rendred, it is oft in the sence of speaking, as Psal. xxxv. 28. foreign, my tongue shall meditate, we rightly render it, speak of righteousness, and so Psal. xxxvii. 30. the mouth of the righteous foreign shall meditate, certainly that is, shall speak wisdome. So Psal. Lxxi. 24. Prov. viii. 7. Isa. xxxviii. 14. lix. 3.13. and elsewhere 'tis foreign to speak, Psal. cxv. 7. and even foreign to cry or roare as a Lyon doth, Isa. xxxi. 4. and elsewhere foreign and foreign song or melody, both of them sounds uttered and not kept in the minde. And to this agrees the Chaldee also, rendring it foreign either in the notion of desire, or of fremitus of making a noise, both which foreign signifies in the Chaldee.
V. 4. Dwell foreign from foreign peregrinatus est, foreignis best rendred sojourn, or make a short abode. From hence is foreign & foreign a guest, or stranger which the Greek have transform'd into foreign & foreign, and it belongs to a Proselyte, one of any Heathen nation, that lived among the Jews. Of these some renounced Idolatry, and undertook the seven precepts of the sons of Adam and Noah, and these were foreign strangers, or proselytes of the gate, and such might live amongst them, others undertook their whole law and were Proselytes of righteousness. And to these Rules of not admitting any strangers, but on one of these conditions, the Psalmist seems here to refer. The wicked man foreign foreignis all one in effect with an Heathen Idolater; and therefore as such an one must not dwell, or sojourn among the Jews, (the Captive Slave, if after a years abode he renounce not his Idolatry, was to be slain,) so foreign the wicked man shall not sojourn with thee, shall be so farre from being favoured by thee, that he shall not be allowed the least abode in thy presence.
V. 5. Thy way The Hebrew foreign must literally be rendered [thy way before thy face] yet the Lxxii.foreign have foreign my way before thy face, and thence some learned men are perswaded that they read otherwise than we doe foreign But 'tis more reasonable to believe that they did thus (by way of periphrasis, not literal rendring) endeavour to express the meaning of it, it being the prime aime of that prayer which petitions Gods clear revelation of his will, or making his way straight before us, that we might thereby be directed & assisted to walk exactly, and so approve our wayes to God. This latter indeed comprehending the former, Gods directing and assisting, presupposing his illuminating grace, the revelation of his will: and therefore it is duly here used by the Lxxii. the more fully to express it, and the end of it. And herein the Arabick and Aethiopick and vulgar Latine, as they are wont, follow the Septuagint, and therefore our Paraphrase hath taken notice of both. In the former part of this verse the Chaldee seems to have much mistaken, reading foreign foreignmy enemies (which comes from foreign observavit, because enemies are spyes and observe critically what they may finde fault with) in a very distant sense, foreign my praise, as if it came from foreign and denoted a canticle or hymn of praise, but herein as the context doth resist, so doth not any one of the antient versions favour them.