Bible Commentaries

Cry of a Persecuted One for Help

This short Psalm, placed after Ps 69 on account of the kindred nature ofits contents (cf. more especially v. 6 with Psalm 69:30), is, with but fewdeviations, a repetition of Psalm 40:14. This portion of the second half of Ps40 is detached from it and converted into the Elohimic style. Concerningלהזכּיר, at the presentation of the memorial portion of themincha, vid., Psalm 38:1. It is obvious that David himself is not the author of thePsalm in this stunted form. The לדוד is moreover justified, if he composedthe original Psalm which is here modified and appropriated to a specialliturgical use.

We see at once at the very beginning, in the omission of the רצה (Psalm 40:14), that what we have here before us is a fragment of Ps 40, andperhaps a fragment that only accidentally came to have an independentexistence. The להצּילני, which was under the government of רצה, now belongs to הוּשׁה, and the construction is without example elsewhere. In Psalm 70:3 (= Psalm 40:15) יחד and לספּותהּ are given up entirely; the original is more full-toned and soaring. Instead of ישׁמּוּ, torpescant, Psalm 70:4 has ישׁוּבוּ, recedant (as in Ps 6:11, cf. Psalm 9:18), which is all the more flat for coming after יסגו אחור. In Psalm 70:4 , after ויאמרים the לי, which cannot here (cf. on the contrary, Psalm 35:21) be dispensed with, is wanting.

ויאמרו instead of יאמרו is unimportant. But since the divine name Jahve is now for once chosen side by side with Elohim, it certainly had a strong claim to be retained in Psalm 70:5 . Instead of תּשׁועתך we have ישׁועתך here; instead of עזרתי, here עזרי. And instead of אדני יחשׁב לי we have here אלהים חוּשׁה־לּי - the hope is turned into petition: make haste unto me, is an innovation in expression that is caused by the taking over of the לי.