Bible Commentaries

Alphabetical Song in Praise of God

With Psalm 111:1-10 begins a trilogy of Hallelujah-Psalms. It may beappended to Psalm 110:1-7, because it places the “for ever” of Psalm 110:4 in broaderlight in relation to the history of redemption, by stringing praise uponpraise of the deeds of Jahve and of His appointments. It stands in theclosest relationship to Psalm 112:1-10. Whilst Psalm 111:1-10, as Hitzig correctlysays, celebrates the glory, might, and loving-kindness of Jahve in the circleof the “upright,” Psalm 112:1-10 celebrates the glory flowing therefrom and thehappiness of the “upright” themselves, of those who fear Jahve. The twoPsalms are twin in form as in contents. They are a mixture of materialstaken from older Psalms and gnomical utterances; both are sententious, andboth alphabetical. Each consists of twenty-two lines with the twenty-twoletters of the alphabet at the beginning,

(Note: Böttcher transposes the verses in Psalm 111:1-10, and in Psalm 112:5 corrects יכלכל into וכלכל; in the warmth of his critical zeal he runs against the boundary-posts of the letters marking the order, without observing it.)

and every line for the most part consists of three words. Both songs areonly chains of acrostic lines without any strophic grouping, and thereforecannot be divided out. The analogous accentuation shows how strong is the impression of the close relationship of this twin pair; and both Psalms also close, in Psalm 111:9 and Psalm 111:10, with two verses of three members, being up to this point divided into verses of two members.

That which the poet purposes doing in Psalm 111:1, he puts into execution from Psalm 111:2 onwards. ועדה, according to Psalm 64:7; Psalm 118:14, is equivalent toועדתם. According to Psalm 111:10 , הפציהם in Psalm 111:2 apparently signifies those who find pleasure in them (the works of God);but חפצי = חפצי (like שׂמחי, Isaiah 24:7 =שׂמחי) is less natural than that it should be the construct formof the plural of חפץ, that occurs in three instances, and therewas no need for saying that those who make the works of God the objectof their research are such as interest themselves in them. We are led to theright meaning by לכל־חפצו in 1 Kings 9:11 in comparison with Isaiah 44:28; Isaiah 46:10, cf. Isaiah 53:10, where חפץ signifies God's purpose inaccordance with His counsel: constantly searched into, and therefore aworthy object of research (דרשׁ, root דר, to seek to know byrubbing, and in general experimentally, cf. Arab. (drâ) of knowledgeempirically acquired) according to all their aims, i.e., in all phases of thatwhich they have in view. In Psalm 111:4 זכר points to the festival which propagates theremembrance of the deeds of God in the Mosaic age; טרף, Psalm 111:5,therefore points to the food provided for the Exodus, and to the Passovermeal, together with the feast of unleavened bread, this memorial(זכּרון, Exodus 12:14) of the exemption in faithfulness to thecovenant which was experienced in Egypt. This Psalm, says Luther, looksto me as though it had been composed for the festival of Easter. Even fromthe time of Theodoret and Augustine the thought of the Eucharist has beenconnected with Psalm 111:5 in the New Testament mind; and it is not withoutgood reason that Psalm 111:1-10 has become the Psalm of the church at thecelebration of the Lord's Supper. In connection with הגּיד one isreminded of the Pesach-Haggada. The deed of redemption which it relates has a power that continues in operation; for to the church of Jahve is assigned the victory not only over the peoples of Canaan, but over the whole world. The power of Jahve's deeds, which He has made known to His people, and which they tell over again among themselves, aims at giving them the inheritance of the peoples. The works of His hands are truth and right, for they are the realization of that which is true and which lasts and verifies itself, and of that which is right, that triumphantly maintains its ground. His ordinances are נאמנים (occasionally pointed נאמנים), established, attested, in themselves and in their results authorizing a firm confidence in their salutariness (cf. Psalm 19:8). סמוּכים, supported, stayed, viz., not outwardly, but in themselves, therefore imperturbable (cf. סמוּך used of the state of mind, Psalm 112:8; Isaiah 26:3). עשׂוּים, moulded, arranged, viz., on the part of God, “in truth, and upright;” ישׂר is accusative of the predicate (cf. Psalm 119:37), but without its being clear why it is not pointed וישׁר. If we have understood Psalm 111:4-6 correctly, then פּדוּת glances back at the deliverance out of Egypt. Upon this followed the ratification of the covenant on Sinai, which still remains inviolable down to the present time of the poet, and has the holiness and terribleness of the divine Name for a guarantee of its inviolability. The fear of Jahve, this holy and terrible God, is the beginning of wisdom - the motto of the (Chokma) in Job (Job 28:28) and Proverbs (Proverbs 1:7; Proverbs 9:10), the Books of the (Chokma). Psalm 111:10 goes on in this Proverbs-like strain: the fear of God, which manifests itself in obedience, is to those who practise them (the divine precepts, פקודים) שׂכל טּוב (Proverbs 13:15; Proverbs 3:4, cf. 2 Chronicles 30:22), a fine sagacity, praiseworthy discernment - such a (dutiful) one partakes of everlasting praise. It is true, in glancing back to Psalm 111:3 , תּהלּתו seems to refer to God, but a glance forward to Psalm 112:3 shows that the praise of him who fears God is meant. The old observation therefore holds good: ubi haec ode desinit, sequens incipit(Bakius).