Bible Commentaries

Refusal to Flee When in a Perilous Situation.

Psalm 11:1-7, which likewise confidently sets the all-seeing eye of Jahve beforethe ungodly who carry out their murderous designs under cover of thedarkness, is placed after Ps 10. The life of David (to whom even Hitzigand Ewald ascribe this Psalm) is threatened, the pillars of the state areshaken, they counsel the king to flee to the mountains. These areindications of the time when the rebellion of Absolom was secretlypreparing, but still clearly discernible. Although hurrying on with a swiftmeasure and clear in the principal thoughts, still this Psalm is not free fromdifficult points, just as it is with all the Psalms which contain similar darkpassages from the internal condition of Israel. The gloomy condition of thenation seems to be reflected in the very language. The strophic plan is noteasily discernible; nevertheless we cannot go far wrong in dividing thePsalm into two seven line strophes with a two line epiphonema/>

David rejects the advice of his friends to save his life by flight. Hidden in Jahve (Psalm 16:1; Psalm 36:8) he needs no other refuge. However well-meant and well-grounded the advice, he considers it too full of fear and ishimself too confident in God, to follow it. David also introduces hisfriends as speaking in other passages in the Psalms belonging to the periodof the Absolom persecution, Psalm 3:3; Psalm 4:7. Their want of courage, which heafterwards had to reprove and endeavour to restore, showed itself evenbefore the storm had burst, as we see here. With the words “how can yousay” he rejects their proposal as unreasonable, and turns it as a reproachagainst them. If the Chethîb, נוּדוּ, is adopted, then those who are well-disposed, say to David, including with him his nearest subjects who are faithful to him: retreat to your mountain, (ye) birds (צפּור collective as in Psalm 8:9; Psalm 148:10); or, since this address sounds too derisive to be appropriate to the lips of those who are supposed to be speaking here: like birds (comparatio decurtata as in Psalm 22:14; Psalm 58:9; Psalm 24:5; Psalm 21:8). הרכס which seems more natural in connection with the vocative rendering of צפור (cf. Isaiah 18:6 with Ezekiel 39:4) may also be explained, with the comparative rendering, without any need for the conjecture הר כמו צפור (cf. Deuteronomy 33:19), as a retrospective glance at the time of the persecution under Saul: to the mountains, which formerly so effectually protected you (cf. 1 Samuel 26:20; 1 Samuel 23:14). But the Kerî, which is followed by the ancient versions, exchanges נודו for גוּדי, cf שׁחי; Isaiah 51:23. Even reading it thus we should not take צפור, which certainly is epicoene, as vocative: flee to your mountain, O bird (Hitz.); and for this reason, that this form of address is not appropriate to the idea of those who profer their counsel. But we should take it as an equation instead of a comparison: fly to your mountain (which gave you shelter formerly), a bird, i.e., after the manner of a bird that flies away to its mountain home when it is chased in the plain. But this Kerî appears to be a needless correction, which removes the difficulty of נודו coming after לנפשׁי, by putting another in the place of this synallage numeri.

(Note: According to the above rendering: “Flee ye to your mountain, a bird” it would require to be accented נודו הרכם צפוז (as a transformation from נודו הרכם צפור vid., Baer's Accentssystem XVIII. 2). The interpunction as we have it, נודו הרכם צפור, harmonises with the interpretation of Varenius as of Löb Spira (Pentateuch-Comm. 1815): Fugite (o socii Davidis), mons vester (h. e. praesidium vestrum, Psalm 30:8, cui innitimini) est avis errans.)

In Psalm 11:2 the faint-hearted ones give as the ground of their advice, the fearful peril which threatens from the side of crafty and malicious foes. As הנּה implies, this danger is imminent. The perfect overrides the future: they are not only already in the act of bending the bow, they have made ready their arrow, i.e., their deadly weapon, upon the string (יתר = מיתר, Psalm 21:13, Arab. (watar), from יתר, (wata) (ra), to stretch tight, extend, so that the thing is continued in one straight line) and even taken aim, in order to discharge it (ירה with ל of the aim, as in Psalm 54:5, with acc. of the object) in the dark (i.e., secretly, like an assassin) at the upright (those who by their character are opposed to them). In Psalm 11:3 the faint-hearted still further support their advice from the present total subversion of justice. השּׁתות are either the highest ranks, who support the edifice of the state, according to Isaiah 19:10, or, according to Psalm 82:5, Ezekiel 30:4, the foundations of the state, upon whom the existence and well-being of the land depends. We prefer the latter, since the king and those who are loyal to him, who are associated in thought with צדּיק, are compared to the שׁתות. The construction of the clause beginning with כּי is like Job 38:41. The fut. has a present signification. The perf. in the principal clause, as it frequently does elsewhere (e.g., Psalm 39:8; Psalm 60:11; Genesis 21:7; Numbers 23:10; Job 12:9; 2 Kings 20:9) in interrogative sentences, corresponds to the Latin conjunctive (here quid fecerit), and is to be expressed in English by the auxiliary verbs: when the bases of the state are shattered, what can the righteous do? he can do nothing. And all counter-effort is so useless that it is well to be as far from danger as possible.

The words of David's counsellors who fear for him are now ended. AndDavid justifies his confidence in God with which he began his song. Jahvesits enthroned above all that takes place on earth that disheartens those oflittle faith. At an infinite distance above the earth, and also aboveJerusalem, now in rebellion, is a קדשׁ היכל קד, Psalm 18:7; Psalm 29:9, and in this holy temple is Jahve, the Holy One. Above the earth arethe heavens, and in heaven is the throne of Jahve, the King of kings. Andthis temple, this palace in the heavens, is the place whence issues the finaldecision of all earthly matters, Habakkuk 2:20; Micah 1:2. For His throne above isalso the super-terrestrial judgment-seat, Psalm 9:8; Psalm 103:19. Jahve who sitsthereon is the all-seeing and omniscient One. חזה prop. tosplit, cf. cernere, is used here according to its radical meaning, of a sharppiercing glance. בּחן prop. to try metals by fire, of a fixed andpenetrating look that sees into a thing to the foundation of its inmostnature. The mention of the eyelids is intentional. When we observe a thing closely or ponder over it, we draw the eyelids together, in order that our vision may be more concentrated and direct, and become, as it were, one ray piercing through the object. Thus are men open to the all-seeing eyes, the all-searching looks of Jahve: the just and the unjust alike. He tries the righteous, i.e., He knows that in the depth of his soul there is an upright nature that will abide all testing (Psalm 17:3; Job 23:10), so that He lovingly protects him, just as the righteous lovingly depends upon Him. And His soul hates (i.e., He hates him with all the energy of His perfectly and essentially holy nature) the evil-doer and him that delights in the violence of the strong towards the weak. And the more intense this hatred, the more fearful will be the judgments in which it bursts forth.

Psalm 11:7, which assumes a declaration of something that is near at hand, isopposed to our rendering the voluntative form of the fut., ימטר, as expressive of a wish. The shorter form of the future isfrequently indicative in the sense of the future, e.g., Psalm 72:13, or of thepresent, e.g., Psalm 58:5, or of the past, Psalm 18:12. Thus it here affirms a fact of thefuture which follows as a necessity from Psalm 11:4, Psalm 11:5. Assuming that פּהים might be equivalent to פּחמים, even then the Hebrew פּחם, according to the general usage of the language, in distinction fromגּחלת, does not denote burning, but black coals. It oughttherefore to have been אשׁ פּחמי. Hitzig reads פּהים fromפּיח ashes; but a rain of ashes is no medium of punishment. Böttcher translates it “lumps” according to Exodus 39:3; Numbers 17:3; but inthese passages the word means thin plates. We adhere to the signification snares, Job 22:10, cf. Job 21:17, Proverbs 27:5; andfollowing the accentuation, we understand it to be a means of punishmentby itself. First of all descends a whole discharge of missiles which renderall attempt at flight impossible, viz., lightnings; for the lightning strikingout its course and travelling from one point in the distance, bending itselflike a serpent, may really be compared to a snare, or noose, thrown downfrom above. In addition to fire and brimstone (Genesis 19:24) we have also רוּח זלעפות. The lxx renders it πνεῦμα καταιγίδος , and the Targum זעפא עלעוּלא, procella turbinea. The root is not לעף, which cannot be sustained as a cognate form of להב, לאב to burn, but זעף, which (as 1 Samuel 5:10 shows) exactly corresponds to the Latin aestuare which combines in itself the characteristics of heat and violent motion, therefore perhaps: a wind of flames, i.e., the deadly simoom, which, according to the present division of the verse is represented in connection with אשׁ וגפרית, as the breath of the divine wrath pouring itself forth like a stream of brimstone, Isaiah 30:33. It thus also becomes clear how this can be called the portion of their cup, i.e., what is adjudged to them as the contents of their cup which they must drain off. מנת (only found in the Davidic Psalms, with the exception of 2 Chronicles 31:4) is both absolutivus and constructivus according to Olshausen (§§108, c, 165, i), and is derived from manajath, or manawath, which the original feminine termination ath, the final weak radical being blended with it. According to Hupfeld it is constr., springing from מנית, like קצת (in Dan. and Neh.) form קצות. But probably it is best to regard it as = מנות or מנית, like גּלות = גּלות.

Thus then Jahve is in covenant with David. Even though he cannot defend himself against his enemies, still, when Jahve gives free course to His hatred in judgment, they will then have to do with the powers of wrath and death, which they will not be able to escape. When the closing distich bases this different relation of God towards the righteous and the unrighteous and this judgment of the latter on the righteousness of God, we at once perceive what a totally different and blessed end awaits the righteous. As Jahve Himself is righteous, so also on His part (1 Samuel 12:7; Micah 6:5, and frequently) and on the part of man (Isaiah 33:15) He loves צדקות, the works of righteousness. The object of אהב (= אהב) stands at the head of the sentence, as in Psalm 99:4, cf. Psalm 10:14. In Psalm 11:7 ישׂר designates the upright as a class, hence it is the more natural for the predicate to follow in the plur. (cf. Psalm 9:7; Job 8:19) than to precede as elsewhere (Proverbs 28:1; Isaiah 16:4). The rendering: “His countenance looks upon the upright man” (Hengst. and others) is not a probable one, just because one expects to find something respecting the end of the upright in contrast to that of the ungodly. This rendering is also contrary to the general usage of the language, according to which פנים is always used only as that which is to be seen, not as that which itself sees. It ought to have been עינימו, Psalm 33:18; Psalm 34:16; Job 36:7. It must therefore be translated according to Psalm 17:15; Psalm 140:13: the upright (quisquis probus est) shall behold His countenance. The pathetic form פנימו instead of פּניו was specially admissible here, where God is spoken of (as in Deuteronomy 33:2, cf. Isaiah 44:15). It ought not to be denied any longer that mo is sometimes (e.g., Job 20:23, cf. Job 22:2; Job 27:23) a dignified singular suffix. To behold the face of God is in itself impossible to mortals without dying. But when God reveals Himself in love, then He makes His countenance bearable to the creature. And to enjoy this vision of God softened by love is the highest honour God in His mercy can confer on a man; it is the blessedness itself that is reserved for the upright, 140:14. It is not possible to say that what is intended is a future vision of God; but it is just as little possible to say that it is exclusively a vision in this world. To the Old Testament conception the future עולם is certainly lost in the night of Sheôl. But faith broke through this night, and consoled itself with a future beholding of God, Job 19:26. The redemption of the New Testament has realised this aspiration of faith, since the Redeemer has broken through the night of the realm of the dead, has borne on high with Him the Old Testament saints, and translated them into the sphere of the divine love revealed in heaven.