Psalms 118:12

They compassed me about like bees,.... In great numbers (w); as a swarm of bees, which, being irritated and provoked, will fly upon persons in a body, and with great fury; to which the Amorites and

I called upon the LORD in distress: the LORD answered me, and set me in a large place. -At the beginning (Psalms 118:5) and at the close of this division (Psalms 118:13-14) the salvation already received is described.

Like bees; in great numbers, and with great and potent fury, and to their own ruin, as bees do when they fly about a man, and leave their stings in him. They are quenched: so this word is used 18:5,6 21:17. Or, as the LXX. and Chaldee render it, they burnt or flamed, i.e. raged against me like fire, as it follows. And this is supposed to be one of those Hebrew verbs, which have not only divers, but contrary significations. As the fire of thorns; which flameth out terribly, and makes a crackling noise, and burneth fiercely, but quickly spends itself without any considerable or lasting effect. For; or, but, as this very particle is frequently used, and here twice in this very phrase, ,11. So as the former part of the verse notes their hostile attempt, this notes their ill success and utter ruin. Here is an inversion of words in this last clause, which is not unusual in the Hebrew text. Although these words may be, and are by a learned man of our own, rendered as they lie in the Hebrew, I trust (which word may easily be understood out of ,9) in the name of the Lord, therefore (for so the Hebrew chi is oft rendered, and is so taken by the Chaldee in this place) I shall destroy them, or cut them off.

Psalms 118:12 They compassed me about like bees; they are quenched as the fire of thorns: for in the name of the LORD I will destroy them.Ver. 12. They compassed me about like bees] Like so many swarms of bees, which, being angered, - Venenum Morsibus inspirant, et spicula caeca relinquunt Affixae venis, animasque in vulnere ponunt (Virgil) Bees, to be revenged, lose their stings, and therewith their lives, or, at least, they become drones ever after (Aristot.). Wicked men are no less spiteful; they care not to undo themselves, so they may wrong the saints; yea, they are not unlike the scorpion, of which Pliny saith, that there is not one minute wherein it doth not put forth the sting. They are quenched (or kindled) as the fire of thorns] Which is quickly kindled, and as quickly quenched, leaving no coals behind it. See Ecclesiastes 7:6. Ex spinis non fiunt carbones (Kimchi). The enemies of the Church may make a blaze, but they are but a blast.

(12) Like bees.—The image of the “bees” may be derived from Deuteronomy 1:44 (comp. Isaiah 7:18), but the LXX. suggest that the poet employed an original and far more expressive image, for they read, “as bees surround the comb.” Possibly the word comb dropped out of the Hebrew text, because the copyist was thinking of Deu 1:44. The fire of thorns.—See Psalms 58:9, Note. The rapidity with which a fire made of thorns burns gives the point of the comparison. The LXX. and Vulg. gave this more plainly by rendering, “they burnt out like a fire in thorns.” Shakespeare may have had this verse in his thought when he wrote: “Shallow jesters and rash bavin (i.e., brushwood) wit, Soon kindled and soon burnt.”—King Henry IV.

Verse 12. They compassed me about like bees; they are quenched as the fire of thorns] I shall refer to Dr. Delaney's note on this passage. The reader has here in miniature two of the finest images in Homer; which, if his curiosity demands to be gratified, he will find illustrated and enlarged, Iliad ii., ver. 86. --------------- Επεσσευοντοδελαοι. Ηΰτεεθνεαεισιμελισσαωναδιναων, Πετρηςεκγλαφυρηςαιεινεονερχομεναων, Βοτρυδονδεπετονταιεπ' ανθεσινειαρινοισιν, Αἱμεντ' ενθαἁλιςπεποτηαται, αἱδετεανθα Ὡςτωνεθνεαπολλανεωναποκαικλισιαων Ηΐονοςπροπαροιθεβαθειηςεστιχοωντο Ιλαδονειςαγορην. ----------------The following host, Poured forth by thousands, darkens all the coast. As from some rocky cleft the shepherd sees, Clustering in heaps on heaps, the driving bees, Rolling and blackening, swarms succeeding swarms, With deeper murmurs and more hoarse alarms: Dusky they spread a close embodied crowd, And o'er the vale descends the living cloud; So from the tents and ships a lengthening train Spreads all the beach, and wide o'ershades the plain; Along the region runs a deafening sound; Beneath their footsteps groans the trembling ground. POPE The other image, the fire consuming the thorns, we find in the same book, ver. 455: - Ηΰτεπυραΐδηλονεπιφλεγειασπετονὑλην, Ουρεοςενκορυφης·ἑκαθενδετεφαινεταιαυγη· Ὡςτωνερχομενων, αποχαλκουθεσπεσιοιο Αιγληπαμφανοωσαδι' αιθεροςουρανονἱκεν. As on some mountain, through the lofty grove, The crackling flames ascend and blaze above; The fires expanding, as the winds arise, Shoot their long beams, and kindle half the skies; So, from the polished arms, and brazen shields, A gleamy splendour flashed along the fields. POPE. The arms resembling a gleaming fire is common both to the psalmist and Homer; but the idea of that fire being quenched when the army was conquered, is peculiar to the psalmist.

12. like bees] Cp. Deuteronomy 1:44. they were extinguished as a fire of thorns] The sudden collapse of their rage is compared to a fire of thorns which blazes up fiercely and then rapidly dies down. But the form of the preceding verses and the following line lead us to expect a climax in the description of their hostility rather than a description of their extinction, and the LXX may have preserved the true text: They came about me like bees about wax; They blazed like a fire among thorns; In the name of Jehovah, I cut them off. The corruption of the Massoretic text is most ingeniously explained by Baethgen. The Targ. ‘burning like a fire among thorns,’ seems to preserve a reminiscence of this reading. Aq. Symm. Jer. Syr. follow the Mass. text.

They compassed me about like bees - (a) As thick or numerous as bees; (b) armed as bees - or, their weapons might be compared to the stings of bees.

12. Compassed me about—Repeated four times, which Perowne thinks marks their pertinacious hostility. Like bees—Not only as to their number, but the madness with which they pursue those who attack or disturb them.