Works Volume 4, Book 5 · Psalm 120
The Hundred and Twentieth PSALM.
A Song 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. 22. 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. 1. Bleſſed be the name of the Lord God, for all his mercies vouchſafed unto me: I was in great diſtreſs, and accordingly addreſt my ſelf to God for his relief, and he was pleaſed to give ear unto me.
2. Deliver my ſoul, O Lord, from lying lips, and from a deceitfull tongue.
Paraphrase. 2. And this was the ſumm 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. What ſhall *a falſe tongue give thee, or what ſhall it add to thee?be given unto thee, or what ſhall be done unto thee, thou falſe tongue?
Paraphrase. 3. All the good that is to be had by ſuch company, is to be wounded incurably, and miſchieved by them.
4. Sharp arrows of the mighty with coals of juniper.
Paraphrase. 4. Their tongues are as piercing as darts red hot in a ſtout ſouldiers hands, no armour of innocence is fence againſt them.
5. Woe is me that I ſojourn ‖long, 1in Meſech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar.
6. My ſoul hath long dwelt with him that hateth peace.
Paraphrase. 5, 6. 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 always projecting miſchief againſt me?
7. I am for peace, but when I ſpeak, they are for war.
Paraphrase. 7. Let my actions and my words be never ſo friendly and pacificatory; their malice is rather accended than ſlackened thereby. The deceitfulneſs of their own hearts infuſeth jealouſies into them, makes them ſuſpect the meekneſs and friendlineſs of my behaviour to be but a ſtratagem of fraud and guile in me.
Annotations on Pſal. CXX.
foreignTit. Degrees] The meaning of this title foreign a Pſalm of Aſcents, from foreign to aſcend, will I ſuppoſe beſt be learnt from Nehem. 9.4, &c. There we find foreign the aſcent or ſcaffold or pulpit of the Levites, ſome place of advantage, whereon they ſtood when they chaunted out the forms of Praiſe. Thus we find in the inſtitution that the Levites were to ſtand, by David's laſt words, to thank and praiſe the Lord morning and evening, 1 Chron. 23.50. and this at the eaſt or front of the altar, foreign over againſt it, ſay the LXXII. 2 Chron. v▪ 12. (as before the Ark 1 Chron. 16.4.) i. e. probably at the Eaſt gate of the Temple, before the courts of the people; for ſo ſaith Maimonides Cele Hammikdoſh, c. 3. 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. 5.13. 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 Kadmiei, &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 15 ſteps or ſtairs of the Temple, which the Talmudiſts have fanſied, in compliance with the number of the 15 Pſalms here ſo ſtyled, the Pſalm which is there delivered is fitly ſtyled a Pſalm of aſcents. Accordingly the Jewiſh Arab rendreth 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 detained 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 bottomleſs miſery in the captivity, (though 'tis not improbable, they might refer to the wild Talmudical ſtory of the riſing up of the abyſs at the building of the Temple, which with much adoe was at laſt conjured down.) What is here ſaid of this, is to be applied to the reſt of the 15 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 ſelf; but that being formerly made by David or others, on ſome other occaſion, they were then uſed, ſome in their thraldom, 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.
foreignV. 3. Given to thee ▪] The Hebrew reads foreign what ſhall give to thee, foreignthe nominative caſe being reſerved to the end of the verſe▪ foreign deceitfull tongue, thus, What ſhall a deceitfull or falſe tongue give thee? i. e. profit thee? and ſo again more explicitly, foreign and what ſhall the deceitfull tongue add 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 add to thee by a falſe tongue? The Syriack more plainly, foreign, What ſhall deceitfull tongues give thee, or add 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 add to thee? i. e. what ſhall a man gain by ſuch a converſation, by living among deceitfull malicious men? Even foreign arrows of the ſtrong man, foreignthe military man or gyant, ſuch as men uſe in war, on purpoſe to miſchief, and ſo are foreign very ſharp, foreignand not onelyonly ſo, but to make them enter the more certainly, and pierce the deeper, and burn together as they wound, they are heat red hot, and that in the ſcorchingeſt fire, ſuch as is that which is made of the coals of Juniper, ſaith S. Hierome, of which ‖… in the word foreignothers 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 adds 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 ſelf 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 ſojourn, or dwell among ſuch, doth exactly accord with it.
V. 5. foreignMeſech] The Hebrew phraſe foreign which 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 ſignifie adverbially long. So the LXXII. foreign, my ſojourning is lengthened, to which as the Latin and Arabick, ſo the Syriack accords, 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. 13.12. Pſal. 36.11. and 85.6. and 109.12. 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 Italy and the Roman Empire, as Kedar following they interpret of the Saracens, or Turks. But as all the other ancient 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 joined with foreign tents, which were thus covered with skins; and if we deduce it from foreign to draw, it may ſignifie 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. 25.13. 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 dwels. 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 enemies of peace, foreignwould 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. 10.2.