Psalms 144

Psalms 144:1-15

CXLIV. Ascribed by LXX and also by T. “to David against Goliath,” but without any shadow of reason.Psalms 144:1-11 is really a mosaic chiefly taken from Psalms 18, but also from Psalms 8, 33, 104. It is a song of anticipated triumph. The Psalmist is in conflict with foreign enemies (“strangers” (Psalms 144:7) can only mean foreigners). God teaches his fingers to fight, for it is the fingers which grasp the bow and subdue “peoples” (not “my people”) under him. He prays that a display in storm and lightning may discomfit his foes. They can be bound by no treaty, for the right hand (Psalms 144:8), which is raised in taking an oath, is false and treacherous. But the Psalmist’s triumph is secure. “David” (Psalms 144:10) is an erroneous gloss on “his servant.” Psalms 144:12-15 is a Ps., or more probably the fragment of a Ps., describing the blessed lot of Yahweh’s people. Observe that the blessing is wholly material. “When” (Psalms 144:12) has in Heb. no intelligible meaning, and may have belonged to the original continuation of Psa 144:1-11. The daughters of the Jews in Psalms 144:12 are compared, according to one interpretation with “corner pillars carved after the fashion of a palace.” But there is no authority for the rendering “pillars,” and it is unlikely that the Psalmist knew anything of Caryatides.