Psalms 63

Psalms 63. THE whole of the Psalm contains the full number of 12 verses, on the assumption that the title is to be considered as an intro-duction, to which the last verse corresponds. The main body contains ten verses: and is divided into two fives. In both halves there is depicted in the midst of trouble, the cordial union of the soul with God for the present, both times in three verses, (ver. 1-3,) and (6-8,) and on the ground of this he raises his hope in reference to the future, ver. 4, 5, and ver. 9, 10, in the first half a hope of his own deliverance, and in the second, a hope of the destruction of his enemies. The conclusion in ver. 11 sums up the whole, and expresses both in a few words. The Psalm is aptly described by Clauss as “a delightful view of the experience of a soul thirsting after God and his grace, and finding itself quickened through inward communion with him, and which knows how to commit its outward lot into his hand.” Its great lesson is, that the consciousness of commu-nion with God in trouble, is the sure pledge of deliverance.

This is the peculiar fountain of consolation, which is opened up to the sufferer of the Psalm. The Berleb.

Bible describes it as a Psalm “which proceeds from a spirit really in earnest. It was the favourite Psalm of M. Schade, the famous preacher in Berlin, which he daily prayed with such earnestness and appro-priation to himself that it was impossible to hear it without emotion.” The title runs: “A Psalm of David when he was in the wil-derness of Judah.” The wilderness of Judah is the whole wil-derness towards the east of the tribe of Judah, bounded on the north by the tribe of Benjamin, stretching southward to the south-west end of the Dead Sea, westward to the Dead Sea and the Jordan, and eastward to the mountains of Judah:-passages in Josephus, Robinson, II. p. 494, and Matthew 3:1, as compared with ver. 6, shew that the country in the neighbourhood of the Jordan, as far at least as that country lies contiguous to Judah, was a complete wilderness. Without any proof, and against the natural import of the name, against the passage before us, and against Matt. iii., it has been repeatedly maintained, that it is only a part of this wilderness, in which Jericho stands like an oasis, that goes by the name of the wilderness of Judah:-ac-cording to Raumer, the region next the Dead Sea, and, accord-ing to Robinson, “the wilderness along the west side of the Dead Sea.” This wilderness is not unfrequently designated simply The Wilderness. In this wilderness David was often found when flying from Saul. In the same wilderness also he took refuge during the rebellion of Absalsom.

That he did so is self-evident, inasmuch as the road from Jerusalem to the Jor-dan leads through it: it is, moreover, expressly asserted in more than one passage in the books of Samuel: 2 Samuel 15:23; 2 Samuel 15:28; 2 Samuel 16:2; 2 Samuel 16:14; 2 Samuel 17:16. We cannot refer our Psalm to the time of Saul, because mention is expressly made of a king in ver. 11.

On the other hand, in favour of the time of Absalom, besides this reason we have a very marked reference, in ver. 1, “In a dry and parched (עיף) land, without water,” to 2 Samuel 16:14," And the king and all the people that were with him came weary, (עיפים) and he rested there;"�. chap. 16:2, where Zibah brought out in the way, wine, “that such as were faint in the wilderness might drink,” and the יגע in chap. 17:2.This reference affords very strong proof in favour of the cor-rectness of the title proof which is strengthened by the cir-cumstance, that, according to verse 11, the speaker must ne-cessarily be the king of Israel. It could only be from not ob-serving the relation in which this concluding verse stands to what goes before, summing up, as it does, the contents of the whole, that any expositors could have been led to consider the king as a different person from the Psalmist, who speaks through-out. From what has been said, it is obvious that the Psalm stands in close connection with the Davidic Psalms generally, and in the closest connection with such of them as belong to thetime of Absalom, especially with Ps. (Ewald remarks both Psalms have a striking similarity, and were undoubtedly compos- ed by the same poet,) and Psalms 2and 4. which are immediately related to the Psalm before us, inasmuch as they were compos-ed during the first night of David’s flight, and with Psalms 42., which belongs to the period when David got beyond Jordan. Modern criticism ought to be somewhat distrustful of itself, as the fact is evident, that, in general, only those Psalms are re- lated to each other, which are announced by the titles to belong to the same era.

Psalms 63:1-5

The first Strophe is ver. (1-5.) The Psalmist has a heart-longing after God, ver. 1, in consequence of this he enjoys the most vital communion with him, ver. 2 and 3, and this insures to him the return of his former prosperity, ver. 4 and 5.-Ver. 1. O God, thou art my God, I seek thee, my soul thirsteth after thee, my flesh fainteth after thee in a dry land, and is weary without water. Ver. 2. Therefore I behold thee in the sanctuary, seeing thy power and thy glory. Ver. 3. For thy loving-kind-ness is better than life, my lips praise thee. Ver. 4. Therefore I shall praise thee in my life, in thy name I will lift up my hands. Ver. 5.

As with marrow and with fatness my soul shall be sa-tisfied, and with joyful lips my mouth shall praise thee.-It is a proof of the sincerity of David’s faith, that he loves so well the expression “my God,” with which he begins, (comp. Psalms 3:7; Psalms 18:2; Psalms 18:28; Psalms 22:1; Psalms 22:10), and that he can utter it even when in the deepest misery. Arnd: “Just as a magnet has lost all its power when it does not quickly turn to the north, so faith has lost all its power and is dead, when it does not without delay, turn to God and say, O my beloved God.’” On “my soul thirsteth,” (comp. 42:2,) he says: “Just as bodily hunger and thirst are appeased by meat and drink, so the spiritual hunger and thirst of the soul are satisfied only with God.” The earnestness of the desire affects the body, as well as the soul, as every strong emotion is accompanied with bodily effectscomp. Psalms 84:2. The עיף is generally connected with ארץ, but the reference to “my flesh,” or even to the person is much more natural, as the ארץ is generally feminine, and is used with ציה in the feminine in the preceding clause, and as the parallel passages in the books of Samuel put the matter beyond a doubt. The more recent expositors consider the residence inthe wilderness, and the being weary, as a mere figure descrip- tive of a miserable condition.

This may be so; but the par-allel passages in Samuel show that we must abide by the literal rendering. This particular feature, however, must be regarded as introduced as symptomatic and descriptive of the whole condition in which the Psalmist was placed.

This is particularly true of the idea of a king who could not get even a drink of water to quench his thirst. All human fountains of consolation and happiness were dried up to the Psalmist. But he thirsts all the more earnestly after the divine fountain which still re-mained open to him. It is by this that a child of God may be known. When the children of the world are in a dry land, and are wearied and without water, the last remains of any desire after God disappear from their souls. But real piety, in propor-tion to the severity of personal suffering, becomes all the more intense in its longings after God.

By the extent to which a man, in severe sufferings, can say “I seek thee,” &c. may he decide on the state of his soul. The Psalmist in ver. 2 says that he comes, by these his ear-nest desires, into the most intimate connexion with God, and that he will participate in his grace.

The כן has its usual sense “therefore,” “in consequence of this,” comp. Psalms 61.: -“because the whole desire of my heart goes after thee.” “To behold God,” signifies “always to be assured of his love,” “to enjoy his grace,” comp. at Psalms 17 :Such a beholding of God can only take place in the sanctuary; for this is the taber-nacle of meeting, the type of the church; there God permits his people to approach him, there they are beside him, even though they are far off in body, yea, even though in a desert-wilderness. Instead of, “I behold thee in the sanctuary,” we may ren-der, without any alteration in the sense, “Therefore I dwell with thee in the sanctuary:” comp. at Psalms 27:4, and the pas-sage quoted there, Psalms 61:4. The infinitive with Lamed is to be explained as at Psalms 21:3; Psalms 61:8, to see = so that I see. Where God is beheld, there will his power and glory also be seen: who ever is partaker of his grace, has these developed to him: comp. Psalms 27:13, where to see the goodness of the Lord is to per-ceive his excellence, The power and glory of the Lord are im-mediately developed (and this is what is here spoken of, comp. ver. 3, and its opposite in ver. 4,) in inward comfort, whereby the soul is quickened in the midst of sufferings: compare Psalms 42.-, “The Lord commands his loving-kindness in the day time, and in the night his song is with me,” i. e. by day and by night the Lord makes me partaker of his loving-kindness, and bestows it for this reason, that I may sing songs of praise in the midst of sufferings. This verse has had the misfortune to have been fre-quently and in various ways misunderstood. The interpretation comes nearest the truth: through this desire after thee, or in consequence of it, I walk, though in the wildnerness, in commu-nion with thee, as really as if I were in the sanctuary:-an implied comparison. Against this, however, we have the wide- ly spread parallel passages in the Davidic Psalms, according to which, whosoever enjoys the grace of God, wherever he may be, is really, in a spiritual sense, in the sanctuary, and beholds God there. The following interpretations are altogether at fault: “there I long after thee in thy sanctuary, might I only behold thymight and glory:"-this is contrary to the sense of כן and הזה; “therefore might I behold thee”-contrary to the sense of theperfect, and it is absurd to translate “therefore,” as in ver. 1, mention is made only of desire; “then I behold thee in thesanctuary,” i. e. “then, when I have found thee whom I de-sire, I will rejoice in view of the sanctuary:"-without any foundation, as in ver. 1, the subject spoken of is not finding but seeking, and ver. 3 and 4 would become unintelligible; “there-fore I beheld thee once in the sanctuary is impossible to translate “therefore,"-as I long after thee, therefore I beheld thee! in like manner, ver. 3, and against ver. 4, where כן de-notes in consequence. The true translation contains a most com-forting truth, viz. that in the deepest misery an approach to God and to his grace stands open to us, that he always, and without exception, comes down to us in the exercise of love if we only stretch out to him the arms of desire. “Therefore,” says Calvin, “we should learn from his example, that when God deprives us of all outward tokens of his grace, we should behold God in the midst of the abyss with the eye of faith, in order that we may not turn the back upon him, as often as what is visible is withdrawn from us.

Yea, even when tyrannical power deprives us of the holy ordinance of the supper and other means of grace, we ought to be upon our guard that we do not turn away the eyes of our mind from God."-The Psalmist in ver. 3, gives his ground for saying that he beholds God in the sanctuary, and that he experiences his power and glory:-Hisloving kindness appears in those consolations which quicken his soul, and if so, so strong are those consolations, he can still love and praise him. In view of such proof of fellowship of love with the Lord, any proof to the contrary, which outward suffering seems to afford, is not worth being regarded:-“for thy loving kindness, which I do possess, is better than the life, of which I am deprived.” David’s life at that time, consider-ed outwardly, might more properly be called a death than alife:-comp. on life as equivalent to salvation or prosperity, Psalms 16:11; Psalms 30:5, 36:10, and 42:8. “My lips praise thee,” stands related to the first clause, in the same way as in Psalms 42:8, “in the night, his song is with me,” does to “the Lord commands his loving kindness in the day time.” The man who can praise God must be richly blessed by him, must see his power and glory.-The “therefore,” in ver. 2, draws an infe-rence from ver. 1, and the “therefore,” in ver. 4, draws an infe-rence from verses 2 and 3. As, from the inward longing of the Psalmist after God, there flows inward union with him, in the midst of the trouble of the present, so from this there flows again assurance of the deliverance of the future; for God cannot leave his own people, even outwardly, in death. The man who can praise God in death, has a pledge that he will yet praise him in life, that the Lord will again make him partici-pate even outwardly in his favour. The whole, therefore, de-pends upon this one thing, that the soul has a longing after God. Wherever this is, there is salvation in trouble, and salvationafter trouble. The clause, “I shall bless thee,” (i. e.

I shall thank thee:-compare Psalms 16:7; Psalms 34:1), in reference to “my lips praise thee,” shews that the כן, which refers in reality to the whole contents of verses 2 and 3, is more immediatelyconnected with the conclusion of verse 3. The בהיי, “in my life,” i. e. “when brought back to life or to salvation,” is translated by many, “during my whole life”: but in this way the connection, so full of meaning with מהיים in ver. 3, is not brought out, and, besides, the translation is not correct,- compare at Psalms 30:5. On the lifting up of the hands as thegesture of prayer, see Psalms 28:2. The connection and the parallelism shew that the language refers to prayers of thanks. On the “name of God,” “his glory as it has been manifested in his deeds”:-in this the Psalmist, when rendering thanks, is sunk down:-compare at Psalms 20:1; Psalms 20:5; Psalms 52:9; Psalms 54:1.-Ver. 5 con- tains the continual expression of hope of future deliverance,which appears under the emblem of a banquet: compare at Psalms 23:5. In reference to “according to lips of joy,” i. e. “with them,” see at Psalms 3:4.

Psalms 63:6-10

The second strophe, is ver. 6-10. The Psalmist enjoys most intimate communion with God, and from this he has the confident assurance of the defeat of his enemies.-Ver. 6. When I think of thee on my bed, I meditate in thee in the night watches: Ver. 7. For thou art a help to me, and under the shadow of thy wings I can rejoice. Ver. 8. My soul depends on thee, thy right hand holds me fast. Ver. 9. And those go down who seek after my life, they come into the depths of the earth. Ver. 10. They are given over to the power of the sword, they become the prey of the foxes.-The sense of the sixth verse is: when the Psalmist awakens during the night, his every thought on God is like a meditation in him,-he sinks so deep in his reflections on the grace and compassion of God of which he has been a partaker, (ver. 7), that be cannot again fall asleep. On הגה with ב, compare at Psalms 1:2. “In the night-watches,” is “throughout the whole night:” compare on the night-watches, Psalms 90:4.-In the 7th verse we have the reason why the Psalmist cannot get quit of his meditation on God. On the first clause Arnd says: “But God often conceals his help under the beloved cross.” On “under the shadow of thy wings, a favourite expression of David:” compare 17:8, 36:7, 57:1, 61:4.-In verse 8, there are the mutual relations between a believing soul and the Lord: it depends on him, and cleaves to him, like a bur to a coat, and he takes hold of it, and holds it up with his powerful right hand, so that it does not sink into the abyssof destruction and despair. On תמך with ב, to take holdof, to hold up, to hold fast, see Psalms 17:5. The right handis the seat of strength, Psalms 18:35; Psalms 44:3; Psalms 60:5. Arnd: “God holds heaven and earth with his hand, he will there-fore be able both to hold up and to bear such a little atomof earth as thou art."-On שואה “ruin,” in ver. 9, compare at Psalms 35:8.

The common translation is, “And they who seek my soul to destruction”: but נפש בקש needs no such addition, it stands without any such, as for example in 2 Samuel 15:1:1, and according to the analogy of verse 10, we must expect an independent declaration of the destruction of the enemies in each of the two halves of the verse. They shall come into the deep places of the earth, as did once the fierce rebels in the days of old: compare Numbers 16:31-34, to which David also alludes in Psalms 56:16.-The Hiph. of נגר means always “to pour out.” The third plural stands indefinitely, and instead of the passive -“Over the hands,” after the verb of “giving over,” is equiva-lent to “into the power.” The jackals go after a dead body;–“they become their prey,” is “they remain unburied.” Com-pare, in reference to the fulfilment of the expectation expressed in verses 9 and 10, 2 Samuel 18:7; 2 Samuel 18:8.

Psalms 63:11

The conclusion is in ver. 11. And the king shall rejoice in God, every one that sweareth by him, shall glory, because the mouths of liars shall be stopped. Instead of “I,” the Psalmist says the “king,” in order to point to the ground of his hope and con-fidence. That the suffix in בו refers not to God but to the king, is evident, because it is not Jehovah but Elohim that goes before, and swearing by God being common to both parties, it was only swearing by the king that is a sign of fidelity: comp. Genesis 42:15; Genesis 42:16. These, by the salvation which the Lord imparts to the king, shall have occasion to glory, that is, to triumph. On the rebels as liars see Psalms 62:4. Verses 9 and 10 shew how their mouths are stopped.